Chapter 78

Chapter 78 – Bear-san Opens The Shop

Mylene-san said that she would prepare the signboard at the Commerce Guild .

Since the name of the shop was 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』, the idea of making the shop more Bear-like came up .

Everyone suggested doing something that looked similar to the Bear House, so that the customers would understand why it was named 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』 .

A Bear-like shop, what sort of shop was that!?

Did I have to make the entire shop look like a bear, like the Bear House?

Many different ideas were suggested up . In the end we decided on the shop’s name and the uniform, and then the tasting party ended .

After everyone went back, I, who stayed at the shop, started to make the shop look like a 『Bear-san’s Relaxing Shop』 .

First, I made two deformed bears with earth magic and put them at the entrance . They were like character figurines .

In Japan, there were character figurines called nendoroids .

I made the bears with those nendoroids as reference .

I used clay .

They were one color .

I really wanted more colors…

I tried making them while using magic to assemble different kinds of colored earth .

Of course, I couldn’t really make beautiful colors, but it was cuter this way when compared to being just one color .

Magic was really convenient .

Next, I made some bears on the second floor, where they would stand out, and some more on the roof .

I figured the store would look good with that .

Then I went to the garden .

We weren’t going to do a café terrace, but since it was visible from the interior of the shop, I decided to arrange it .

A bear near a tree, a bear in the middle of a punch, a bear and her cub, and a sleeping bear . This would do for the decorations .

After that, I entered the shop and put little bears striking different poses in the center of each table .

I decorated the tables with a standing bear, a fighting bear, a sleeping bear, a running bear, bears on top of each other, a dancing bear, and a bear holding a sword .

Once I finished the tables, I made bears climb and hang randomly on the walls and pillars .

I decorated the interior of the shop by putting figurines here and there .

I thought it would be fine with this .

When I was satisfied, Karin-san came down from the second floor .

「Yuna-san, what are you doing?」

「I made it more Bear-like . 」

「It’s really cute . If you saw those types of bears in the forest, you wouldn’t be afraid, right?」

Karin-san poked one of the table bears .

「Will clients come here?」

She asked worriedly .

An unknown location, a new store, a new kind of food . I guess she had those kinds of worries .

「I think they will come . I asked people to advertise it in different places too . Also, we have pizza, pudding, potato chips, fries, and Morin-san’s bread, after all . 」

「The potatoes were delicious . I didn’t know that the poison was in the eyes . 」

I brought them out during the taste testing, and since it was really popular, we decided that it would be sold in the shop .

Well, you wouldn’t die from the poison .

The problem was the distribution .

After the taste test, I was really worried about the stockpile of potatoes and cheese .

「The hamburger was really good, too . I didn’t know that putting the bread made by mother together with cheese, meat, and vegetables would be this good . 」

「I am a little worried about the stock of cheese, you see . Depending on the sales rate, it is possible that we won’t have enough of it…」

A lot of cheese was used for the pizza .

「Where did you buy the cheese?」

「I bought it from a grandpa who was selling it in the capital . 」

「In the capital? Then…」

「There isn’t a problem . I asked him where his village was, so when we start running out, I will go buy some . 」

「And the potatoes?」

「They normally arrive next month, but if it isn’t in time, I will have to go and buy them myself . 」

「I hope clients will come, that’s all . 」

「That will depend on everyone’s efforts . 」

The shop’s opening was planned to be two days after the signboard was finished .

The signboard was supposed to be finished in three days, so the shop would open in five days .

Everyone’s uniforms, except for Morin-san’s, would be prepared for that day as well .

The next day, Terumi-san and Fina came to help with the shop .

When they saw the bear figurines I made yesterday, they froze .

「Big Sis Yuna…W…W…What are those!?」

「They are bears . Everyone said that I had to make something that is Bear-like, like the Bear House, so I made them . Is it no good?」

「It’s not that! It’s terribly cute!」

Were they shocked because there were no figurines in this world?

When I thought of all the statues I had seen, there were only realistic stone statues .

「They are cute, but if it’s like this, the male customers will have problems entering . 」

Terumi-san gave her impressions while looking at the figurines .

She was right .

There would be more male customers asking for pizza and hamburgers .

The girls would be asking for pudding and potato chips .

「Then, do I make a more realistic bear?」

「If you do that, the girls would be the ones having a hard time entering . 」

「Then, what do I do?」

I knew that the answer wasn’t here .

Therefore, I went to find someone with experience in sales .

I asked Morin-san and her daughter, who were looking at the ingredient stockpile .

「I don’t know . I have never seen a shop this strange in the capital, after all . 」

「Won’t it be okay if you just think about it after the shop opens? We don’t know how many clients will come in, after all . 」

The two of them said .

Just in case, I had begun the advertisement yesterday .

I left some leaflets at the Commerce Guild, the Adventurer’s Guild, Helena’s Inn, and other places that took care of me .

I also asked Cliff to talk about it with his acquaintances .

With only this much, I didn’t know how many customers would come for the opening day .

「You’re right . For now, we don’t even know if girls will come, and it’s not decided that men won’t come in . We will think about it after opening the shop . 」

The appointed day…

It was hell .

People, people, people, people, people, people, people, people…

At the beginning of the opening day, no one came .

I wanted to help out in the background for the opening day .

We opened the store and, after we had waited for some time, the first client was the guild master of the Adventurer’s Guild .

「Hey, I came . 」

「Welcome . 」

「By the way, this is a strange shop . 」

「Like I thought . Was it hard to enter?」

「This bear? I don’t really know . I think that it might be hard to enter for some people but…a bear that’s so well made, won’t the client be interested and want to see the interior?」

「Thanks . That’s good to know . So, what will you order?」

「What do you recommend?」

「Pizza and hamburger are the main courses . The potatoes are the side dish, and pudding is a snack . Ask your stomach . 」

The method of ordering was like this: order at the counter at the back, pay, and then receive the food .

Pizza was the only thing that had to be baked after ordering, so you had to go to your seat first . It would be brought to you a little later, using number plates .

「I see . Then, since I have time and someone advised me to get the pizza, so I will go with that . 」

「What will you drink? The pizza is oily, so I suggest having a refreshing drink . 」

「Then, I will take Oren juice . 」

「Understood . It will take some time to bake, so take this number plate and wait wherever you want . 」

Immediately after Morin-san finished baking the pizza, the children brought it to the guild master .

「So this is a pizza . 」

It was a S size pizza, enough for one adult .

(ED: S size = small size, probably . Literally written down as S in the raws . )

「Then, thanks for the food . 」

The guild master started eating a piece .

He ate two, three pieces…

The guild master’s hands didn’t stop, and the whole pizza quickly disappeared . After he finished, he drank the Oren juice in one gulp .

「It was delicious . 」

「I am happy that it pleased you . 」

「Are the other things delicious too?」

「All I can say is that you will have to see for yourself . Everyone has different preferences, after all . 」

「I see, what do I have to do to ask for something else?」

「You have to go to the counter and pay for a new order . 」

「I see . 」

The guild master got up and went to ask for a hamburger .

He ate it while looking happy, and then left the store satisfied .

After some time, people started trickling in .

They all started by timidly eating the unknown food, but when they had finished, they went back satisfied .

However, there weren’t many clients for now .

I forced myself to make 300 servings of pudding, but at this pace, it would hold out for a few days .

…There was a time when I thought this .

The people who came and ate in the morning might have talked about it .

At lunch, male and female customers came, regardless of the bear statues .

Did the guild master recommend us? People related to the guild came, and people I remembered seeing in the Commerce Guild also came .

Pizza, hamburgers, bread, and potato fries were all selling .

None of us could take a break, and we were constantly moving around the kitchen .

Lunchtime ended, and right when I thought that it would calm down, more customers came in, one after another .

The customers who came in after lunch mainly ordered pudding and potato related things .

The people who were preparing the potatoes with oil were really going through a hard time .

The pudding was in the fridge, so we just had to take them out .

The price of the pudding was a little high, even if the price of eggs had dropped . Even then, the female customers didn’t stop buying them .

The 300 servings of pudding vanished .

The last piece of bread also disappeared, so we decided to close the shop before dinner and told the customers who came to go back .

「So tired~」

「Yes, I am exhausted too . 」

I kidnapped Terumi-san and Fina, who came to see how the store was doing, to make them help in the kitchen .

「Why were there so many customers?」

「When I asked, the men said that they came after hearing about it from the guild master and Helen . The girls said that Mylene-san highly praised the pudding . 」

The customers who came also talked about it afterwards .

I couldn’t thank or hate the three of them .

「It is not looking good for tomorrow . 」

Morin-san said, after seeing what happened today .

「Morin-san, how was it in the kitchen?」

「Let’s see…For now, we don’t have enough stone ovens for the number of pizza orders . On the other hand, after looking at the potato orders, we can do some more of them, so it’s okay . However, it will be difficult to prepare everything after the shop closes . If we don’t prepare well, it will have the same result as today . 」

She was right .

The ingredients we had prepared were nearly gone .

Morin-san’s bread and the pudding .

There wasn’t enough bread dough .

「I see, then we will open the shop for lunch . We will prepare in the morning and eat our own lunch . We will close the shop before dinner . 」

「You could earn money if you open for dinner, though?」

Terumi-san asked .

「In all honesty, I don’t plan to make money from this shop, so it’s okay . 」

「Really?」

「It’s fine if it’s not a deficit . As it is now, it is already profitable . I am also worried about the stockpile of eggs, cheese, and potatoes . 」

「You’re right, huh . There is a limit to the egg supply, after all . 」

「In order to increase the opening hours of the store, the number of employees and ingredients will have to be increased as well . 」

「Selling too much will cause troubles too, huh . I didn’t know that . 」

「For now, Terumi-san, can you ask Liz about the number of children who can be assembled without affecting the job of caring for the birds?」

「Understood . 」

「And also, Terumi-san, can you work here after lunch? Of course, I will pay you for this too . 」

「Let’s see, the egg exchange finishes in the morning, so it won’t be a problem . But, is it really okay to change the opening time all of a sudden? Considering the rate of customers we had today, won’t they start coming during morning?」

That was right .

There were customers we refused due to the lack of ingredients as well .

There was a great chance that many clients would come in the morning .

「Morin-san, is it possible to open the shop in the morning just for tomorrow?」

「If we start preparing now…we could do it . But…」

I looked at Morin-san and the children .

The children were dozing off in the chairs .

They were probably really tired after their first day of service .

In this world, children also worked .

However, in every world, children were children .

They weren’t slaves, so I had to let them rest .

Hmmm, what could I do?

After some thought, I decided to prioritize the children over the customers .

「Like I thought, we will open at lunchtime starting from tomorrow . 」

「Is that okay?」

「For now, we will do what we can . Terumi-san, please go to the shop where the pamphlets were displayed . 」

「But, what will we do about the customers who come first thing in the morning?」

「We will ask them to come back for lunch . 」

「Won’t they be angry?」

「I will do something about it . 」

「Something, huh…」

Terumi-san seemed worried .

「We will also have one day off a week . 」

「Day off?」

People in this world worked as much as possible, and on top of this, they didn’t have any holidays .

I had never seen inns and restaurants close, not even once .

To counterbalance this, there were periods of free time during the day when they could do whatever they wanted .

However, there was no free time in this shop .

During operating hours, you had to deal with customers, and when that was over, you had to clean and prepare for the next day . There was a lot of things to do .

「A day when we won’t open . A day when it’s fine to go shopping or sleep . It’s a day off so that you can work well on the other days . 」

「Is it okay to have a day off? The sales will decrease, you know!」

「Truthfully, I wanted to have shifts of days off, but there isn’t enough people, you see . Also, at this rate, the eggs would disappear . I prepared multiple days worth of eggs today, but there are a limited number of eggs laid per day, so it’s impossible to make more than what we did today . 」

「You’re right, we can’t really decrease the number of eggs we’re selling to the Commerce Guild, after all . 」

I had already had them lower the number of eggs that were sold to the Commerce Guild, in order to open the shop .

「That’s why, with the current circumstances, we don’t have to force ourselves to open the shop . 」

「The new thing to think about is a method of increasing the number of eggs . 」

Should we hatch the eggs? Should I go back to capture more cluckers? Those were the two possibilities .

If we hatched the eggs, the number of eggs being sold would diminish .

If we had to capture more cluckers, I would have to go myself .

That was really troublesome .

I decided to think about it later .

「When you change the schedule, could you please mark the day off as well?」

「Okay . 」

「After that is the store’s interior . Was there anything troublesome?」

「The customers apparently wanted to take the bears . 」

That’s right, I saw some clients trying to take the bears on the tables .

However, I made it so that they were fixed to the tables and you couldn’t take them off .

「There were some customers saying that they wanted us to give the bears to them . 」

「I think I will put up a poster saying that they are not for sale . Was there anything else?」

I asked the group in charge of the shop’s interior .

「The people lining up at the counter…」

「There were some who were angry because they had to wait for some time . 」

「Then we will make another counter for tomorrow . There were also many customers who came just for the pudding, so we will put a fridge next to the counter to buy some time . 」

The opening day finished on this note .

It seemed that Morin-san and the children had some more work to do as preparations for tomorrow .

If the bread dough and the pudding weren’t made now, they wouldn’t be ready for tomorrow .

I decided to go back, leaving everything to the pros .

Only the stone oven was needed first thing in the morning, so I made it before going back .

Author’s note:

Thank you for the 10,000 bookmarks .

I am thinking of opening an impressions column .

My mental fortitude is like tofu, so please don’t make it so harsh that I will crumble .

I will count on all of you from now on too .