Volume 3 Prologue Part 1
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Translator: Kureha
Editor: Weasalopes
「Okonomiyaki skewer and one plate of Takoyaki, that will be 1000 seneca all together.」
「There you go,」
「Thank you for dining here everyday, we look forward to your next visit.」
It was around midday, when Hiroshi and his friends arrived at the capital city of Darl Nation, Darl. They went to greet the Adventurer’s Association and went to the labour guild to put in an application to run their food stall. Which allowed Hiroshi’s party to start working the following day. The stall which they worked at sold okonomiyaki skewers, takoyaki and fish cakes. As the stall was made from something Hiroshi has built into the minivan, it possessed an unusual shape. Even knowing Hiroshi’s superhuman ability when it comes to crafting, it was still hard to take in the sight of a van morphing into a food stall.
On top of that, the currency between Farlane and Darl is different. One tirol in Farlane is ten seneca in Darl. Furthermore, there is no currency equivalent to Farlane’s chrone. So, one chrone becomes a thousand seneca. Luckily, there are no issues with communication since the language spoken in Farlane can be understood in Darl. Also, the language spoken in Darl is very similar to the one spoken in Farlane and the same goes to the country located to the north of Farlane, Forre.
During VR times, all the shopping could be done just with chrone. Therefore, there were very few people who spoke the language in Farlane.
「… Hey, Haruna…」
「What is it, Makoto-san?」
「Why are we running a food stall?」
「To sort out our stock and to make some money?」
To Haruna’s obvious reply, Makoto deepened her frown.Yet she did not rest her hand which were baking fishcakes in an orderly manner. Perhaps it was some sort of professional instinct.
This information might be fairly obvious; however, Hiroshi and Tasuya are currently off doing another errand. Since nobody knows how long they will be staying in the capital, the two of them have decided to go and look for a house to rent. Although Haruna knew that they were not around, she occasionally acted as though she was looking for Hiroshi. Yet, when the customers are around, she works as usual. At one point, she seemed a little restless around Hiroshi. However, once they started the long-distance travel on the minivan, she has started to act natural again.
「Don’t we have plenty of money to live comfortably for a while?」
「Well, I guess so?」
「And food isn’t a problem as long as we hunt, right?」
「Well, we have plenty of food stock so we don’t have to worry about hunting for a while.」
「So why are we trying to earn more money?」
Makoto deepened her frown as Haruna ignored her bitter question over humming and cooking up five okonomiyaki skewers. However, this did not stop Makoto from lining up the freshly baked fish cakes in the showcase. Next to her was Mio cooking up takoyaki expressionlessly yet joyfully.
The reason why they started a food stall in the first place was that they needed money to buy equipment for Hiroshi and Haruna, who were adventurers. However, they have now obtained enough equipment. Their combat skills have increased to the point where they have had many achievements in their quests. So, there was no need for them to run a food stall which was only time-consuming.
「Come on Haruna, don’t you think what we’re doing is pointless?」
「How so?」
「I mean, we’re in a fantasy world where half of the lands are in the tropical region. Yet here we are selling takoyaki and fish cakes. We stick out like a sore thumb.」
「I don’t think it’s weird to sell curry buns and pork skewers here. I mean the buildings here are European themed, just like in the game.」
After hearing Haruna’s careless response, Makoto dropped her shoulders as she poured in the batter for the fish cakes. While Makoto continued to vent about their current situation, a child who has heard the rumours about a new food stall walked over. He looked up at her with curious eyes and handed over 100 seneca in bronze coin. The child had a very innocent appearance with the paper brown skin tone which was a common trait amongst the locals in Darl.
「Which flavour would you like?」
Not being able to ignore the child, she placed even numbers of white bean paste and custard cream fish cakes. Those were the only flavours they sold as the Japanese people were not able find a decent replacement for coco or red bean paste. Just the other day, Haruna and Hiroshi were talking about trying to make Matcha cream one day.
「The one with white stuff inside~ !」
「I want custard cream!」
「I want both ~!」
As the children cried out their orders one after another, Makoto took out the fish cakes in the order and exchanged it with their money. She was careful not to touch the food with her bare hands to avoid contaminating them. The children took the fish cakes without realising Makoto’s mindfulness.
「Make sure to wash your hands before eating them. Also, they’re still very warm so be careful when you eat.」
「Okay~」
Nodding understandingly to Makoto’s words, the children washed their hands on the spot using water magic and started to eat the fish cakes. It was a comforting scene to see the children cheerfully eat the fish cakes which were kept warm in the showcase. Moreover…
「Could I have one with the white things inside?」
「I would like the one with the custard cream in it.」
Even the adults came in to order their food, gaining influence from the local children. So, everyone who was working at the food stall didn’t have time to enjoy such scenery.
「I can’t believe that hot food would sell so well in such a warm country…」
「I guess it’s because these types of foods are unusual? Also, maybe because of the warm climate, they’re worried about eating something that hasn’t been cooked properly.」
「A lot of the food sold in this town are hot food.」
Mio and Haruna commented as Makoto hurriedly started to make more fish cakes to fill up the empty showcase. The fish cakes have been selling well thanks to the children in this town. However, the okonomiyaki skewers and takoyaki were also selling well. The capital city Darl, which was located further north from the equator had a subtropical climate with beaches stretching across the western side of the city. However, unlike Wulls, this was an ordinary port side village.
「Since we’re in such a warm area, should we try selling shaved ice or popsicles as well?」
Makoto spoke out her idea irresponsibly. She wasn’t thinking clearly after long hours of working over hot plates in the subtropical climate. However, this did not stop her from cooking more fish cakes and the same went for the two other girls. The weather felt very warm even with the temperature adjusting enchantment on their clothings. So, understandably, it would become harder to think straight over time.
「Those would definitely sell well.」
「Enough to kill us from overwork,」
To Haruna’s weirdly dry comment, Mio replied with a cynical one. However, Mio wasn’t exaggerating anything. Maintaining the coldness of an object is one thing. However, a tool which can produce ice would use a lot of magical powers. That is why such an item is rarely used to make products for commercial purpose. Compared to equipment which just produces heat, the efficiency of such equipment is much lower. Therefore, food such as ice cream and gelato are sold at a high price. Food such as popsicles could not be sold at the price which ordinary people could afford. Countries such as Farlane and Forre can harvest ice during winter since they have cold climate areas. The ice which they collected over the winter could be kept cool with an enchantment so there’s no need to use ice-making machines.
However, in the subtropical climate like Darl, ice is very rare. So, if a day where ice could be sold at an affordable price comes, having a production line would not be enough.
「Unless we put the production rate to the max, the stocks won’t last until lunch time.」
「So what you’re saying is that if we’re using up time to place the skewers into the juice, we would run out of time unless we freeze the juice on the spot?」
「Yeah, something like that. Actually, we would need to make about a hundred at a time.」
To Haruna’s comment, Makoto showed a bitter expression. She didn’t have a clue on how the item would work. However, she knew very well that taking the popsicles out of the machine would have to be done manually. The thought of spending all day taking out the popsicles seemed beyond mind-numbing. There was nothing interesting or accomplishing about the whole process.
「Either way, running this food stall is just a waste of time…」
「You’re going back to that topic?」
「Of course…」
As Makoto checked the fish cakes, she brought back the original topic in a weary tone. If they took one of the jobs from Adventurer’s Association, they would be able to earn a couple thousand seneca in a short period of time. However, they are currently running a food stall, pitifully cooking up Japanese food, earning only a hundred seneca off from kids in the area. Yet the fish cakes were being sold at a fast pace, regardless of Makoto’s thoughts.
「oh no…」
As she was baking fish cakes, the fillings ran out. That itself wasn’t a problem; however…
「Damn it, what should I do?」
「What’s the matter?」
「I accidentally started baking the base when we’ve run out of the fillings.」
「Oops.」
Only two out of the eight cake templates had fillings in them. This was because Makoto, who has never worked in the food industry before, has measured the amount of fillings by eyeballing them.
「… this only leaves me one option.」
After thinking about it for a moment, Makoto stuck her hand into the food bag and pulled out something. She has turned down the heat on the hot plates the moment she noticed her mistake. So, there was enough time to make some adjustments. As it has a preserve function, the temperature on the hot plate didn’t change.
「… Makoto-san, don’t you think that’s a reckless idea?」
「If the fish cakes are going down, I’m going down with them!」
To Haruna’s concerned comment, Makoto cried back confidently. Out of the six empty fish cakes, she put curry used for curry bun in three of them and cheese in the other three.
「Now it’s time for taste testing. You two, give me your opinions as well.」
「Okie dokie~」
「Makoto-nee, cheese might just make the cut but I have some doubts about the curry.」
「I know, so don’t worry.」
「That’s easier said than done.」
As expected, the cheese didn’t taste good or bad. But the spice of the curry contrasted badly with the sweetness of the fish cake base. It was still edible, yet it wasn’t something which the girls were able to sell it at the food stall.
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