by Mamare Touno
However, when the sun had climbed to a certain height, and there was a bit less than an hour before noon, ripples of surprise began to spread.
They’d probably been made in the kitchen of some guildhall. A huge amount of parcels was delivered to each temporary shop, and an indescribably wonderful smell began to waft from them.
It was the fragrant smell of browning oil. The alluring scent of mixed spices.
At the same time, a woman with a gorgeous figure stepped forward and raised her voice, her long green hair swaying.
“Stop by and give us a try! We’re Snack Shop Crescent Moon, open for business as of today! Is the flavorless yech of your everyday meals gettin’ you down? Have we got news for you! Come rediscover real food! You’re not even gonna believe how tasty this is! It’s yum, yum, yummy!!”
Marielle delivered her spiel at the top of her lungs; she was already feeling pretty desperate.
The uniforms the guild’s Tailors had put together featured pure white blouses, tight-fitting skirts with pink pinstripes, and bright salmon-pink frilly aprons with big bows—the sort of uniform family restaurant waitresses or fast-food workers had worn in the old world.
Serara, who was standing at the ready next to her, raised her small voice frantically, determined not to lose.
“Thank you! Thank you! Thank you for your purchase!”
She must have been incredibly nervous. They hadn’t sold a single item yet, but she was already thanking people profusely and handing out flyers.
Crescent Burger: fifteen gold coins. Super Crescent Burger: thirty gold coins. Crispy Chicken (one piece): eighteen gold coins; (three pieces): fifty gold coins. Fish and Chips (small): ten gold coins; (large): twenty gold coins. Black Rose Tea (cup): five gold coins; (canteen): fifteen gold coins.
The flyers had a header that read “Grand Opening” and a menu.
Compared to a hamburger shop on Earth, the menu was pretty poor, but for the players of Akiba, it was more than enough to provoke nostalgia.
Spurred on by the savory smells and idle curiosity, several players made purchases.
Even the most diplomatic couldn’t have called the prices economical. As a matter of fact, they were expensive.
In Akiba, a night in the cheapest room at an inn cost at least ten gold coins. One meal’s worth of food items could be purchased for five. Viewed that way, the cost per meal here was three to six times higher than usual. This was not a minor expense.
However, at the same time, it wasn’t an impossible amount.
Surviving in this other world didn’t cost all that much. As far as places to sleep were concerned, provided one had a sleeping bag, if worst came to worst, they didn’t even need to rent a room.
There were lots of ruined buildings. Simply taking shelter from the evening dew didn’t cost anything. As far as food went, the market was overflowing with cheap items, and clothes and equipment didn’t need to be replaced all that frequently.
Of course there were always more luxurious options to aspire to, but if one was frugal, it was possible to live on fifteen gold coins a day. The running costs that any endeavor incurred, such as guildhall maintenance fees and overhaul fees on weapons and equipment, made it difficult to save up large sums of money in this world, but it was easy to earn enough to keep oneself going from day to day.
A price of a thousand gold coins would have made players hesitate, weighing that cost against the cost of a magic item, but ten-odd gold coins was practically pocket money, an amount no one worried about spending.
Driven by that mentality, the onlookers purchased several items.
Marielle and Serara charmed customers who’d made purchases with smiling hospitality. The young male guild members who’d carried the parcels from the hall where they’d been prepared also smiled and yelled, “Thank you very much!” in chorus with Marielle and Serara.
When—half-hopeful, half-curious—the onlookers took the first bite, the shock nearly knocked them off their feet.
“Wha—?! Wha—?! What the heck is this?!”
It tasted. Put into words, that was all it was, but from the thrill that ran through the people who experienced it, the world might as well have turned inside out.
The meat tasted like meat.
The lettuce was juicy and refreshing enough to rinse away the grease from the meat, and the tomato added just the right acidity.
The sweetness of the lightly browned bread. The smoothness of the butter. The spicy bite of the mustard.
Each taste was novel and deeply moving.
The food was far from perfect. In the old world, it would have been closer to home cooking than restaurant fare, and the taste wasn’t so exquisite that it could have graced the first pages of a gourmet magazine. However, in this world, it was easily the best flavor there was.
The players ate as if in a dream, fighting back tears.
This was, without a doubt, the best thing any of them had ever eaten in their entire lives. Before that thought even had time to sink in, the hamburgers were gone.
They even licked up the meat juice that had dripped onto the paper wrappers.
No one thought it was embarrassing.
If they’d had the wherewithal to feel embarrassed, they would have made themselves stop crying.
In less than an hour, the same shock they’d experienced had run through the streets of Akiba.
The event was revolutionary, as if people who’d seen only in monochrome had abruptly been given full true-color vision.
Suddenly, the people of Akiba seemed to realize just how dispirited they’d been. Everyone had forgotten how important it was for food to taste good. They’d given up on it.
Snack Shop Crescent Moon became Akiba’s newest legend.
2
Marielle’s office looked like a battlefield in its own right.
A plain, solid conference desk had been set in front of Marielle’s grand work desk, which had been in the room to begin with, and the fancy sofa had been exiled to a corner.
The conference desk held a mountain of materials and documents.
All the papers had been covered with fine figures, scribbled there by Henrietta, the accounting supervisor, and Shiroe, the strategy manager.
By the time the Crescent Moon League members returned to the guildhall after winding up that astounding first day, it was already ten at night. In the midst of a fatigue worse than if they’d spent all day fighting tough monsters, many of the members collapsed where they stood.
Physical stamina in this world seemed to be related to the ability values, or levels, of their Elder Tales characters. Since most of the Crescent Moon League members were midrange players, this sight was only natural, and the players deserved praise for lasting as long as they had.
However, sparing only a glance or two for the fallen sales team, Shiroe and Henrietta continued their battle with the paperwork, working as though they were running from the demons of hell.
A corner of the room held stacks of paper and inkpots, generated through Shiroe’s Scribe skills. Pulling several dozen sheets from the stack, Henrietta silently documented the latest figures. Then she heaved a great sigh and raised her head.
“I’ve finished the totals for today.”
“Good work.”
At her words, Shiroe looked up as well, letting his hand fall still.
“If you’d like to reward me, give me Akatsuki.”
“…I won’t give her to you, but you can cuddle her for an hour.”
“My!”
Averting his eyes from Henrietta—who was wriggling with joy, her own eyes sparkling—Shiroe picked up a nearby sheet of paper covered in figures.
“The percentage wasted was lower than we expected, wasn’t it?”
“That’s because the customers never stopped coming. We sold the entire amount we’d planned on.”
“…Meaning it’s going to be an issue of laying in materials…”
“Yes, it will.”
The figu
res in front of them were within the estimated range. As a matter of fact, they looked quite good, but that didn’t mean there were no problems. This huge sales operation had harnessed the full power of the Crescent Moon League, but since they were dealing in food, they were bound to run through materials.
During the preparations period, they’d hunted monsters and animals that dropped items, building up their stores, and even today, the day the shops had opened, a party that had included Naotsugu and Shouryuu had been organized and sent out to gather materials. Still, if they kept burning through them at this rate, their materials would only last four days.
“…The materials really won’t stretch.”
“Shall we start buying?”
“We’ll have to see what Mari says about it.”
Shiroe and Henrietta fiddled with several more figures, running simulations of different models. What if they pared down the menu or increased their offerings? What if they raised the prices or lowered them?
No matter what combination they used, their stores of materials wouldn’t last five days. The Crescent Moon League was a small guild, and apparently this was the limit of their storeroom and manpower.
“’Scuse the intrusion, you two. …Wait, it’s my room anyway.”
Just as the two of them finished their review and reached for their tea, the door opened wide and Marielle entered the office. She probably hadn’t been drawn there by their conversation, but Marielle—elated and showing no signs of fatigue—approached them with her usual bright smile and ruffled Shiroe’s hair.
“Well done, kiddo. You, too, Henrietta.”
She hugged Henrietta tightly to her generous bosom, but Henrietta seemed used to it; she only greeted her with a nonchalant “Welcome back, Mari.”
Without heading for her work desk, Marielle claimed a chair at the conference desk and filled their glasses, including one for herself, from a bottle of black-leaf tea she said she’d filched from the kitchen. When they sold it at the shop, they changed the name to Black Rose Tea, but it had nothing to do with roses. The name was just a reflection of Henrietta’s tastes.
“And? How were our sales, y’all?!”
As she questioned them, Marielle’s eyes sparkled.
At times like this, she really sounds like an Osakan… Well, it’s cute, so I guess it’s not a problem.
While Shiroe hid a sigh, Henrietta began to report their numbers.
“Our sales totaled 43,776 gold coins. We had 1,159 customers, and the average customer spent thirty-eight coins. We sold out of the Crescent Burgers and Super Crescent Burgers. Except for the Black Rose Tea, all other items sold out as well.”
“Wow! That’s fantastic! Forty thousand coins… Compared to our monthly budget, that’s, um…”
“Forty times greater.”
“Yep, forty!! What a haul! If we keep this up, we’ll hit five million in no time!”
Marielle broke into a cheerful little dance, still facing the conference desk. Stealthily averting his eyes from her swaying chest, Shiroe checked her enthusiasm. “We won’t make it in time, Mari. Not even close.”
“Oh?”
“Think about it. That’s a hundred and twenty days. It would take us four months.”
“But we had to turn away so many customers! If we’d wanted to sell, there were plenty of folks who wanted to buy. If we just lay in more stock…”
Raising a hand to interrupt Marielle’s words, Shiroe objected.
“We probably have tens of thousands of potential customers. There are over fifteen thousand players here in Akiba. That isn’t the problem. The problem is in the number of Crescent Moon League members and how that affects the number of shops and the amount of merchandise we can arrange for.”
“Is it?”
Marielle looked troubled, as if she hadn’t completely understood. Henrietta explained in careful detail.
“Yes, he’s correct. If it takes one salesclerk three minutes to hand the customer their merchandise and ring them up, that salesclerk can process twenty customers per hour. That’s 160 customers in eight hours of business. Ten salesclerks could serve 1,600 customers. Even if we made every Crescent Moon League member a salesclerk, the most they could handle would be four thousand customers per day. Besides, that’s if we focused exclusively on the selling aspect and completely ignored acquisition, preparation, cooking, and paperwork. It’s a number we really couldn’t sustain… In that sense, I think the plan we set up has the best balance of members assigned to sales, the kitchen, odd jobs, and procurement. And when we conducted sales with that balance, the results were…”
With a teacher’s gesture, Henrietta pointed to the documents.
“Slightly over one thousand customers, an amount nearly equal to the number of visitors. …In other words, at the Crescent Moon League’s size, no matter how much the users want the items, we won’t be able to handle more than one thousand customers per day.”
“Is that right…? Hmmm. And we could be makin’ a killin’, too…”
On having this pointed out to her, Marielle frowned, her eyebrows drawing together in disappointment. However, she recovered almost immediately and came back with a counter:
“Well, why not recruit more members? I bet we could at this point. I mean, we’re the home of the miraculous Snack Shop Crescent Moon, Akiba’s rapid growth stock. Right?”
“We can’t do that.”
Shiroe was the one to check her this time.
“Being suspicious isn’t a very good thing, but if we recruit new members at a time like this, I think most of the people who join will be spies. We’re already incredibly busy, and we won’t be able to deal with them.”
“Agreed.”
“I see,” sighed Marielle.
“Mari, money isn’t the point of this strategy anyway.”
“Uh-huh… That’s right! The fortune right in front of my nose blinded me for a sec. …Still, we do need money, don’t we? You said if this keeps up, it’ll take us over three months. If we won’t make it in time that way, then… Should we do that other thing? Will it work?”
Henrietta smiled at Marielle’s timid question.
“Don’t worry. No merchant worth his salt would refuse. I’m the one telling you, so rest assured it’s true. Any simpleton that daft would qualify to be guillotined by Pareto optimality.”
At Henrietta’s beaming face, Shiroe gave a wry smile of his own.
The trajectory the project was following was almost exactly what he’d anticipated.
A team play by the two of them will probably be quite a sight…
Shiroe mentally ran through the plan in his head. Over the next few days, the three of them would have to successfully conclude three different sets of negotiations.
“All right, then, Miss Henrietta, please take care of those negotiations. I leave the details to you.”
“Yes, sir. You can count on me.”
Henrietta cocked her head to one side, smiling like a proper young lady.
“Mari, you handle product procurement.”
“Roger that. …Although I’m not so great with numbers, y’know…”
“If you carry things through to a basic agreement, I’ll help you explain the conditions. …In fact, why don’t we conduct my negotiations and the product negotiations as a team? That should save time and trouble.”
The sight of Henrietta encouraging Marielle relieved Shiroe.
Henrietta was far more capable than Shiroe had assumed. He’d gotten the impression that she was sharp from his previous dealings with her and from little things she said, but he hadn’t expected her to be this good.
Marielle had great talent, but she was a little spacey; she probably needed companions like Henrietta and Shouryuu.
He thought of Akatsuki, who even now was running through the darkened streets on a special mission, and Naotsugu, who’d volunteered to organize the storeroom even though he must have been tired from the hunting he’d done during the day, and Nyanta, who was
still doing basic prep work on the Crescent Burgers they’d sell tomorrow.
Everyone’s performing their missions even better than I’d hoped. If we wipe out now, I’ll have no choice but to claim total responsibility for it…
“What’s wrong, kiddo?”
“Nothing.”
Doubt as to whether he was a worthy companion for them skimmed through his mind.
…But only for a moment. It was his responsibility to become worthy. So that he wouldn’t let down the companions who’d waited for him. So that he wouldn’t make liars out of them.
Just as he’d promised Akatsuki that day. Just as he’d sworn in front of Naotsugu and Nyanta, Marielle and the others.
No, even the question of whether he was worthy or not was arrogant and pointless. The important thing now was to make the operation in front of him succeed. The path toward fulfilling his responsibility as the one who’d suggested this plan—a plan that required everyone’s strength—lay, just barely, in doing this over and over.
“I’ll lay the groundwork for the conference. Everything we’re doing now is advance preparation. Let’s move forward with plans for the festival without tipping our hand.”
3
Kneading her fingers together nervously, Marielle sighed for the umpteenth time. In public, she smiled as though she was full of self-confidence, but she had absolutely no confidence when attempting something she had no experience with.
She knew why Shiroe had nominated her.
It was true that she had quite a lot of friends among the small and midsized guilds of Akiba. The person Marielle was about to meet was one of her acquaintances, and in that sense, he’d be easy to talk to. That said…he was one of the most influential of those acquaintances.
She tugged at her outfit here and there.
She’d dusted off some of her finest clothes for this, but she couldn’t quite relax. That was only natural: She’d never taken part in a business talk in the game. She couldn’t imagine that there were many people who had.
