A potential deal
Alvar made his way toward the Hostess. It was currently in the middle of the night, so the only people walking around were adventurers coming back from the dungeon. The rest were going inside the Hostess to splurge.
Alvar walked inside and listened to all the laughter, stories, and arguments from the adventurers as he went to an empty spot at the counter and sat down.
"You've been gone for quite a while there, kid," Mamma Mia said as she walked to Alvar and leaned on the counter with a grin.
"Was at the library," Alvar took out one of the books and his grimoire from his backpack and continued his summarising.
One of Mama Mia's eyebrows rose as she said "Oh? No one uses the libraries except for mages and scholars. Well, not like I care anyway. What do you want to drink? Can't have you use one of these seats where a potential customer could sit."
"I heard you have a specialty, so you can give me that please," Mia grinned and started making his drink.
*Stare*
"..."
*Stare*
"..."
"...You're patience is quite something, nya" One of the waitresses said at Alvar's side.
"Your staring just doesn't bother me is all," Alvar said while he turned to look at her.
She was a catkin with green eyes and black hair, cat ears and tail. Although her eyes hold a curiosity and a hint of waryness.
"What are ya working on? Nya" She took a peak at the books and the grimoire.
"And what is that language nya? That book looks expensive too nya" She was pretty close to him at this point and leaning over his shoulders.
"I am making notes about some things I am currently studying, while the language is one I made myself to keep my research to myself. Anything else you are curious about, miss...?"
"Chloe, nya. and drop the miss nya, and you must be Alvar nya" Her eyes still shining with curiosity.
"That I am,"
"Are you a scholar perhaps nya? Where are you from nya? How did you get that scar nya? Are you an adventurer nya?" Chloe started firing question after question.
"Not a scholar, just curious about certain topics, I am from a village, had a fight with a scary-looking fire eye and I am a freelancer. That is all the answers you'll get for now though, I don't think Mamma Mia would like you standing here during work hours," Alvar chuckled as Chloe looked a bit frightened.
"Nya! I will be back Nya!" She says as she scurries off just as Mamma Mia comes back with the drink.
"Had a nice chat there? She's still gonna get an earful after we close though," She let out a laugh when she noticed Chloe flinch.
"Here's my specialty! Some fruit liquor." Mamma Mia grinned as she placed the mug in front of him, careful enough not to spill any on his pages and books.
"Thanks, I have a feeling I won't like the bill though," Mia only laughed in return.
"Don't be such a cheap skate, kid, and try it out."
Alvar only chuckled and grabbed the mug and took a sip for a taste.
The fruity smell mixed with the sweetness of the drink blends well, with the added effect of offsetting the bitterness of the liquor.
'I understand now why most customers order this specialty of hers, but there seems to be something missing. At the moment it tastes more of a battle between the fruity taste and the liquor instead of them enhancing each other's properties.' Alvar thought as he drank a bit more and placed the mug back on the table.
"It's pretty good, and using fruits to offset the liquor's bitterness is smart. But the only problem is that it seems more like the two different flavors are 'battling' than enhancing each other's flavors. It also lacks a bit of coldness that people might enjoy." Alvar said as he riffled through his 'backpack' and took out a bundle of Shiverthorns. The plant consists of several frozen petals arranged in a circular pattern, with its stem holding a few small frozen spikes.
Everyone in the pub, including the waitresses looked at first in fear and pity at Alvar for his words while Mia only grinned as he took out the plants from his bag. He neatly removed one from the bundle and crushed it over the drink. As some of the crushed petals and stem bits fall into the drink, it slowly gained a colder exterior as the drink slowly gained a frosty tint.
"The plant is called shiverthorn, it usually grows in extremely cold environments. It should solve the cold problem and bring an improved flavor to the drink." Alvar said as he continued the drink with a soft smile on his face as he stared at Mamma Mia.
"I have a few in stock if you want to buy some of them," Mamma Mia's grin only grew further at Alvar's words.
Mia leaned forward over the counter. "And I guess you have more interesting recipes and ingredients too?"
"Of course, one intuition rarely lies after all," Alvar smirked as he raised his hand which Mamma Mia shakes.
The best way to placate a money-hungry person is a way to make money, while Alvar would iron out the payments he'll get in return.
A win-win scenario as one would say.
"I like you, kid." She grinned.
"You like the money," Alvar corrected, as they both laughed. While the rest of the pub is completely confused at this sudden change in dynamic.
"We'll talk about the rest after the store closes kid. I also need to check your recipes and ingredients first to see if they are worthy of the Hostess of Fertility's menu."
Alvar nodded as Mia went to the back to help out in the kitchen and left the counter in Ryuu's hands. While Alvar went back to his books, completely ignoring the curious stares of the waitresses and the stares of awe from the adventurers.
While all Alvar could think of was how to replicate a falna and the properties the blood of these deities could have.
'Guess I'll have to find some blood donations.'
'So, from what I read here, a falna is made when a diety drops some of their blood onto the back of the person that wishes to join their familia. But to what extent do the stats go? And how strong would these stats make these people? Could it possibly work on me too? I wonder how it would work with my equipment.' Alvar couldn't help getting caught up in his thoughts.
'But first I need to see a falna and get the blood for some testing. I would rather create my own version of the Falna than be connected to a deity. Things are going to get interesting here, and while I do this, I'll be getting intel on what happened to Cali.' Alvar glanced at Ryuu for a moment and looked back at his book.
He made a light gesture with his hand as small insects started to form inside the pub's blind spots. These insects began to scurry their way to the tables of certain adventurers, while some exited the pub.
A couple of these insects were butterflies, as they swiftly flew outside the windows while some landed on some of the waitresses.
'As I thought, these waitresses aren't normal at all, they easily noticed the butterflies flying towards them. From their movement, they should be experienced adventurers. Chloe's movement is a bit more fluid and quiet so possibly an assassin or stealth type. The rest seem to focus on dexterity and strength. Not sure how strong they are compared to this world's standards though, nor based on mine. I would need to see them fight first to figure that out.' Alvar thought, as he stealthily watched the waitressess carefully pick up the butterflies and look at them while talking to each other for a bit. Seeing that the butterflies weren't flying away they placed them on their shoulders and continued on their work.
'We will go to the dungeon after dropping off the books, Stardust. So try not to use your breath too much in there.'
*Huff*
'Yea, yea. Keep telling yourself that' Alvar laughed on the inside.
After a couple of hours, the Hostess closed up and Alvar decided to help in cleaning up the place.
"Nya, so you're the new guy. I'm Anya, nya!" The catkin with brown hair and brown eyes yelled while pointing at Alvar, as he was cleaning up some of the messes with a broom.
"That I am, my name is Alvar. Nice to meet you." Alvar said with a smile as he packed the plates neatly on a table.
"Now then, I have a very important question nya! Otherwise, I'll kick you out nya!" She said, with flames of determination burning in her eyes.
"How did you placate Mamma Mia so easily nya?!?!? She didn't even yell at you for talking about her fruit liquor nya! In fact, she started grinning nya!"
"Tell me, no nya! Teach me nya!"
Her actions caused everyone to laugh as Ryuu introduced the rest of the waitresses.
"Don't ignore me! Nyaa?!" She yelled as she nearly tripped over something.
"This is Lunoire and this is May," Ryuu said as she pointed at Lunoire, who has brown eyes and medium-length brown hair, and May, who is a young girl with short, bobbed hair... and a catkin.
'I am starting to think that Mamma Mia has a thing for cats... or they just bring in more customers.' Alvar smiled on the outside.
"Nice to meet all of you, my name is Alvar," He gave them a friendly wave to all of them with a small smile.
May had a small smile on her face in return while Lunoire smiled as well and nodded in return, but she looked a bit wary at him.
"These butterflies are so beautiful and cute nyaa!" Anya yelled at the side as she started playing with the butterfly, who has been flying around her.
"You need to be careful where you run otherwise you'll fall," Alvar warned her as Anya was about to hit a chair but missed it just in time.
"Thanks for the warning there nyaa!" she sat down on the chair and leaned back as the butterfly sat on her forehead.
"I wonder where these butterflies came from?" Ryuu asked as she lifted the butterfly in her hands up.
'As stoic as she may be, that small smile on her face says that she likes it.' Alvar smiled.
"Oi! Brat! I am finished cleaning over here so we can discuss those ingredients and recipes you have!" Mia yelled from the room behind the counter.
Alvar said his goodbyes to the waitresses and made his way towards Mia for some light discussions.
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In a small room with Mamma Mia and Alvar sitting across from each other at a table. There seemed to be a few bundles of different herbs and fruits with a bundle of paper in front of Mamma Mia. Alvar had a calm smile on his face while Mamma Mia had a wry smile on her face as she went through the papers. If you look close enough, you can even see it lightly twitching.
"I didn't expect there to be so many... And where do you store all of these? I am positive none of this was in your room when one of my staff cleaned it?" Mamma Mia squinted and asked bewildered, although the greed in her eyes stayed there. Who wouldn't have greed with so many new options for their pub?
"Meh, who cares where you stored all these? As long as you are selling to my pub then there aren't any problems," She laughed. As she stopped laughing a serious look dawned on her face as she leaned forward on the table.
"So, how much do you want for all of this – the ingredients and recipes?"
"I want to clarify that it's not just the recipes; it's also the methods and necessary items for making the dishes. I'm thinking, instead of a one-time payment, what if we work out a deal where I receive a percentage of the sales from dishes made using my recipes? This way, you get everything you need, and we both benefit financially."
"Hmm, that makes sense, but I have other expenses like paying my waitresses and restocking ingredients. How about a 10% cut for you?"
"We both know these dishes will be a hit, especially if they're made correctly. How about we do a 30-70 split, and I'll even lower the pricing on the ingredients for you."
"...I'm thinking more along the lines of a 25-75 split. To sweeten the deal, you could sell us a specified quota of ingredients each month, and we'll buy them at 80% of the price. What do you think?"
"That is fine by me, as for the quota, well figure that out on the contract." They both nodded and shook hands.
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'Now that that is said and done, I have a suitable set of income for the future. It's best to keep the income percentage based since that would leave the selling price to someone else and I am still unsure how this world's money works.' Alvar thought as he made his way back to his room. He sat back at his desk and started writing in his grimoire again.