Chapter 110.1
The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 3 Chapter 110: The Last Night (1/2)
The next day.
After the brilliant festivities came to an end and the night passed and the day came, Gimuru went back to how it usually was.
Festival decors could still be seen here and there on the street corners, but they’ll be cleaned up in a day or two. The merchants that came from elsewhere have already closed their stores, and there are even groups who’ve already left town.
“Because of all the merchants that came for the tourists, the southern gate is so hectic right now.” [Guard]
When I passed through the northern gate, the guard stationed there said that thoughtlessly.
As for me…
“We’ll reuse that part!” [Stage Commander]
“Alright, we’ll divide it then!” [Prenence]
The person in charge of the Semroid Troupe’s stage gave out orders as the members dismantled the stage.
I specialize at carpentry too, but when it comes to stages and other related stuff, it’s a bit different, as such, helping them out should prove to be quite educational. Even just by dismantling, I can somewhat understand the construct of these thnigs.
“Excuse me, what do I do with this screw-like pillar?” [Ryouma]
“That’s for the stage setting, so we’ll be reusing it. You use it by wrapping your hand around the knob under and lifting it up along with the people and stuff loaded on it. We didn’t get to use it this time, though.” [Stage Commander]
“I see.” [Ryouma]
There are hidden apparatuses that can’t be seen with a glance. These are all actually quite interesting.
“Boss!” [Dolce]
“Dolce-san. What is it?” [Ryouma]
“The guards came for the soap thief incident.” [Dolce]
“Got it. Excuse me.” [Ryouma]
“I heard you. We’ll be fine, so just go.” [Soldio]
“Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
Dolce-san and I went back to the store together, passing by a great many crowd along the way.
It’s right after the day of the festival, but despite working a lot during the festivities, my store is in business as usual.
At first, I was considering making today a holiday, but then the husbands and wives that worked with us told me that they had a lot of dirty clothes piled up because of all the preparations that had to be done, so seeing as there would be a demand, I decided to make it a regular working day. In exchange, I decided to hold a party in the evening like the social gathering we had before.
My suspicions about were proven true when the customers this morning were 20% more than usual. Moreover, Arnold-San, whom I just met yesterday, was present too. The Founding Festival occurs every year, so the decorative cloths and flags used aren’t one-time things.
In the previous year, before people deposited their clothes, the job of sorting the clothes and washing them would be split, but this year, given our store’s price and efficiency, they’re actually considering asking us to take care of everything insead. It was for that reason that Arnold-san came.
I’m not sure if he’s decided on us just yet, but we might be able to sign an unexpectedly huge contract.
“Excuse me.” [Ryouma]
Now then, to meet with the guards.
I entered the reception office, and the male guards stood up from the sofa.
We went through the usual greetings as per formalities, and then we went on to the topic.
“The other day a report was filed for a thief who’d stolen a bar of soap. We apprehended him just recently.
Is this your soap” [Guard]
A package was placed on the table in front of us, and then opened. Inside was the soap used at the store. It even had the net attached.
Did they really catch him? No offense to the people who search very hard for these sort of stuff, but I honestly never thought that my stolen good would actually be returned to me.
“Of course, there are times when stolen goods never come back, but you see, the soap thief wasn’t just into soaps, he was also a pickpocket. But he was not as successful as a pickpocket as he was a soap thief, and his poor attempts landed him with us. Caught him just yesterday, in fact. When we seized his luggage from the inn he was staying at, we found this. A report had been filed, so we were able to confirm that he was indeed the culprit.” [Guard]
So, I got lucky. I’ll pray to Gayn and the others later.
While I was thinking that, they asked me to sign a form to confirm the return of the stolen item. After looking through the document, I signed it.
“…Yes. Everything is in order. Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]
The guard accepted the document with a smile and quickly left.
Looks like the guards are busy too.
“FUN, FU, FU~N.” [Fina]
After seeing the guards to the entrance, I heard Fina-san humming as she carried goods into the store.
“You sound like you’re in a good mood today.” [Ryouma]
“HIYA!? Oh, it’s you, Boss. Since when were you there?” [Fina]
“Just now. The guards just left.” [Ryouma]
“Ahh, from a while ago…”
“Did I startle you?” [Ryouma]
“A little… Do you know this song?” [Fina]
“It’s Prenence-san’s song, right?’ [Ryouma]
She blushed, her face turning beet red. She was humming pretty well. I don’t think there’s really anything to be embarrassed about… Rather than that, I wonder if something good happened to her.
“Ah, that’s right. Listen to this, Boss. Actually, just now, a customer I was dealing with asked me, ‘Aren’t you going to sell those barley tea of yours anymore?’ And then he said, ‘There were a lot of customers, you know?’ ‘It was really delicious.’ ” [Fina]
Oh… So something like that happened.
“Until now tea made out of barely hasn’t sold well at all, so hearing someone tell me those things made me so happy.” [Fina]
That’s also the reason why they had to leave their villages to work. But in that case, why don’t they sell Barley Tea then?
“At this store?” [Fina]
“At your village. If you can’t sell barley as is, then why don’t you try processing it first?” [Ryouma]
When it comes to processing raw ingredients and selling them, one has to first consider what product would sell, but in this case, they don’t have to do that, as they already know that the people want barley tea. At the very least, it’s guaranteed that there’s a market for it.
Incidentally, after calculating all of sales last night, we found out that 70% of the sales from beverages were made from barley tea. People didn’t just buy the drink and try it once, there were also many returning customers who bought the drink more than once.
If it could sell that well in just two days, think about how much it could sell were it to be sold properly. There might be even more people who’ll come to like it.
Their village cultivates barley, which is the main ingredient of barley tea. And then there’s the process of transforming barley into something suitable for tea. Wouldn’t it be good if with just those two things alone they were able to sell their crops to the public? If they are able to make this happen, they’ll be able to reduce some of the crops they’re making so much of and also increase the income of the village.
If necessary, I could also write them a letter of introduction to Pioro-san. The barley tea sold at the festival were made by roasting the barley from their village. Even they could make it by themselves. If they work together with the Saionji Company… Yeah, it could work.
I might be being overoptimistic, but the possibility isn’t zero.