Volume 3 Chapter 5 Part 1
Upon arriving home, we immediately left again, this time heading towards the dungeon’s first floor.
After we made our way to the Thieves’ Guild headquarters, I showed my smartphone to Noela.
「S-so this is a Japanese festival.」Noela murmured. 「It looks amazing.」
At first, she’d been more astonished by the smartphone than anything else, but now, she was looking at the festival video in awe.
「But… ah, I see. If it’s only small shops like these, even the Thieves’ Guild can replicate this. They’re flashy and colorful, but at the end of the day, they’re only tents.」She said in contemplation.
「Yeah. I was thinking we might sell some Japanese food and items. As long as we limit it to just those things, it should be fine. Since you can probably make those goods with materials from this world.」
This was something I was quite particular about.
I didn’t mind making use of knowledge from Japan, but if we started selling stuff that was beyond the scope of the other world’s technology, my apartment might be discovered.
And ultimately, whether it be the orphanage or Thieves’ Guild redevelopment, I wanted to do it by my own efforts.
Noela and I delved into the logistics of the festival, including the advertisement and how it would be run. Ria, Deet, and Miri left us alone and discussed the types of shops that would be suitable for the festival.
「Presently, we’ve cleaned up most of the territory, but that’s caused it to become deserted.」Noela explained. 「It’s mostly just an empty land where children play.」
「I don’t see a problem there. If we can get the children on board, the adults will naturally follow.」
「I see. You might be right.」
In Japan, a common idea for attracting customers was to appeal to children, who would then take their parents along. But even if many of the children here were orphans, the presence of children would surely draw in adults all the same.
And regardless, attractions and entertainment were rare in the other world. Though there were quite a few ‘immoral’ attractions, that was altogether different from what we were going for.
「The territory is also pretty close to the dungeon entrance in Herakleon, so hopefully people from the surface will stop by as well.」
「Yeah. That’s another one of our aims.」
「But we’ll have to somehow inform them of our festival, which will be difficult.」
I’d given some thought to that earlier.
「I figured we could post some flyers on the surface.」
「Flyers… that’ll cost a lot, I suppose.」
Paper was a luxury good in the other world. And furthermore, flyers had to be individually handwritten.
However, even if it did cost both capital and time, it wasn’t as if the other world didn’t possess the capability to make flyers. In other words, this was where I could make use of Japanese technology.
And maybe a printed flyer alone would be novel enough to attract customers.
「By the way, does the Thieves’ Guild have any famous members?」I asked. 「Preferably someone who stands out even among the Merchant’s Guild and Bodyguard’s Guild.」
「Eh? Ah, I see. Since we have to hide the fact that Miri is our leader.」
「Noela, wouldn’t you be that person?」
「…I guess it would.」
Though she looked a little stern, Noela was undoubtedly beautiful, and would suit the role perfectly.
「Would you mind turning this way for a second?」
「W-what is it?」
I raised my phone, opening the camera app.
Kacha. Kacha.
「Mm. Looks good. Really good.」
「W-what does?」
「Please have a look.」
I turned the screen to her.
「Wha-what is this!? Hey!」
「Earlier, I showed you a video that I took on my phone, but you can also take still images like this. They’re called photos.」
「I-I see. B-but why take one of me!?」
「Actually, in Japan, you can produce flyers really cheaply.」
「What does that have to do with my picture?」
Recently, I’d found out that Tateishi was really good at drawing anime-style images.
She’d sent me several drawings of both myself and the manager through LIME.
I didn’t think her drawings of me were particularly accurate, but there was a striking resemblance between her images of the manager and the real thing.
「If we put your image on the flyers, everyone will know that the Thieves’ Guild is the one running the festival.」
「What!? A picture of me?」
「Yup, exactly. Since paper printouts are so unique in this world, people will want to visit just from the flyers, especially if we put a moe Noela on them.」
「What’s that? ‘Moe’?」
「This.」I searched up an image on my phone and showed it to Noela.
Her usual narrowed eyes widened in surprise.
「W-what is this? You’re going to make me into this kind of image?」
「Yeah. It’ll only be on the corner of the flyer. Is that okay?」
「P-please show me the photo you took earlier!」
「O-okay.」
For a while, she did nothing but switch between the two images, comparing them intently.
Finally: 「We have to redo this photo!」
「Huh? Why?」
「My pose isn’t good.」
「I mean, you don’t have to, since the artist will just change it as they see fit…」
「I don’t care!」
At that point, Ria and the others returned from their conversation, armed with a proposal about the types of food stalls to include.
「In that case, how about I teach you how to take a photo?」I suggested to Noela. 「Then you can ask other Thieves’ Guild members to take your photos.」
「Understood.」
So while the photo problem had been resolved, it appeared that Noela would be out of commission for a while… at least until she’d gotten a satisfactory photo of herself.
In the meantime, I took a look at Ria and the others’ proposal.
「I want to do a candied apple stand.」Ria said.
「Sure. That seems fine.」
The other world had both apples and sugar, so I didn’t see any problems.
Though sugar was expensive, so I’d bring some over from Japan.
I already knew what Deet was going to make.
「Crepes.」
「Yeah, yeah. I know.」I waved my hand. 「But you can’t do bananas and chocolate.」
「Ah… then, what about just fresh cream?」
Fresh cream, huh. I remembered there being a thriving cow ranch in the direction of the orphanage, so maybe fresh cream wasn’t out of the question.
And maybe I’d been too quick to reject bananas. After all, there were probably various types of fruit in the other world.
「Yeah, let’s try that.」
「Yay!」
Besides that, there were also suggestions of takoyaki, yakisoba, Japanese savory pancakes, buttered baked potatoes, frankfurters, various fried foods, to name a few.
「This area has a lot of the necessary ingredients, so this looks doable.」
Apart from foods, there was also a raffle, and a tug of war contest.
「Hm? You didn’t put goldfish scooping?」
Miri had even brought the goldfish bowl containing goldfish back with her.
She pouted. 「I know right~ I tried, Tooru, but they all rejected it.」
At Miri’s complaint, Ria and Deet both jumped in to explain that goldfish didn’t exist in the other world. Which made sense, since goldfish were the result of generations of cross-breeding to achieve a beautiful fish.
「Besides,」Deet added. 「The only people who keep pets are nobles.」
That pattern was present on earth as well. Not everyone had the means to raise and take care of pets.
And while most people in Tachikawa probably could afford to raise pets, I was a prime example of someone who couldn’t.
「If we have goldfish scooping, that’ll get people to come! I swear I swear I swear I swear!」Miri protested.
「But we can’t have goldfish so…」
「What about seven-colored fish?」
「Seven-colored fish? What’s that?」
「They’re fish that eat almost anything, and have no problem living in captivity, or so I hear. What if we did seven-colored fish scooping?」
I see. They sounded like perfect pets.
「Where do you catch them?」
「No clue.」
Apparently, Miri didn’t know.
In which case, we were back at square one.
Or so I thought, but Deet came to the rescue. 「They live in the dungeon’s 7th floor.」
「Eh? Really?」
Come to think of it, I vaguely remembered that Yomi Dungeon’s 7th floor was called the lake floor.
The entire floor was a lake, dotted by various islands.
「There’s an island covered in forests there with a freshwater spring in the center. The seven-colored fish live there.」
「Ooh~」
「If you toss breadcrumbs into the spring, they all come out to eat. It’s really cute.」
Essentially, if we could get there, catching the fish would be a simple task. If we could get there.
「But the dungeon gets more difficult the further down you go, right?」
「Basically, yeah.」
I guess Ria and Deet hadn’t rejected Miri’s proposal without reason.
Even Miri, who seemed to understand the implications, slouched despondently.
「…Deet, let’s say the four of us went. I’m guessing it’d still be dangerous?」I asked tentatively.
「Huuh? We’re going?」Deet asked, narrowing her eyes. On the flipside, Miri brightened instantly.
「Well, it wouldn’t hurt to have a variety of shops, even if some are less popular than others.」I conceded. 「So, would it be dangerous?」
「Well, with the four of us, as long as we’re careful, it shouldn’t be too risky, I guess.」Deet said cautiously.
「I just feel like we should try and let everyone run the shops they want to, is all.」
Deet sighed exasperatedly. 「I get it, I get it. Whatever. You’re letting me run my crepe shop, after all. But are you sure about this?」
「About what?」
「Letting Miri into danger, even if it’s just a little. She’s the princess of the Thieves’ Guild, right? Speaking of which, where’s her chaperone?」
At that time, Noela returned from her photo escapades.
「I-I did it! What do you think!?」
Deet and Ria, who didn’t know anything, glanced at each other.
On the smartphone screen was a single, miraculous shot of Noela.
「Nice photo…」Ria commented.
「I know right?」Deet agreed.
In the photo was a beaming Noela, looking like a perfect secretary.
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