49 Volume 2 Chapter 5: A House
(Walson)
I'm lying on the chair, looking like a zombie, and I'm starting to feel a little regretful about letting Melon go to school now.
Remember that I said that I've rent a store near the Academy? Today is its the first day of its opening. It's right next to the school area, in other words, it's at the edge of the residential area.
Alright, when back to the Earth, what do people like to sell near schools?
-The answer is, FOOD!
During break time, the students can either eat in the cafeteria or hang out around the Academy.
Of course, stores can't just 'open' and expect the business to survive, strategizing is required. The food at the Academy is actually not bad, so if you want to have a restaurant there, you'll want to sell food that can lure students away from the cafeteria.
There are thousands of students in the Academy, and the maximum capacity of the cafeteria only holds up to 10% of the students for one lunchtime. So nearby restaurants are important, but that also means I'll have to compete with others.
That's why I'm selling my marinated meat/bacon, made with all kinds of rare spices! By the way, in this world, meat and spices are still counted as luxuries, so these will definitely sell. Ehehehehe.
The smell from the roasted meat had always been the favorite thing during mealtimes amongst our group.
But, I raised the price a little because the Academy is full of rich students. When you run a store, it's important to decide what kind of customer you want to hold on to. But looking at the regular prices of meat and spices, my price is really too cheap in comparison.
As a result, my restaurant was full of people right after I started cooking.
My level is 33, even though I don't have as much endurance as Melon, but it is enough as a Commoner. Plus, it's been really easy to produce food by using my Minecraft skill… But now my muscles are SORE! The customers simply were that numerous.
...Alright, a set of roasted meat cuts is one silver and 50 copper. Just in one day, I got 10 gold, deducting the costs (which is basically nothing), I have gained 10 gold total.
Somewhere around 600 roasted meat cuts were sold. But that's too tiring. Maybe I should set a limit, like 200 sets per day.
I can already afford Melon's tuition fee within only two days of work. I think I have created a money-making monster... Running a restaurant seems pretty fitting for me right now. But without Melon, I can't do it just by myself or I'll work myself to death.
Today, after I closed the restaurant, I went to [Mart Chamber of Commerce] again. And the chairman was startled by my tired appearance.
I like to finish all the work as soon as it begins, so my schedule is very full these days… It's kinda rude to do business with others in this regard, but I'm only here to sign a contract.
I'll sell them a bottle of MPOH Beta, plus 10 bottles of the diluted version per month for a year. Maybe I'll think about contract renewal later because I still don't want to sell that many potions.
I didn't tell them those 10 potions were diluted, of course, just stated that they were of lower quality. Letting them think that it's not easy to produce potions that can heal mutilations. Looks like they've analyzed those two bottles I gave to Maron, that's why they're so interested.
With this contract, I can get 500 gold per month… I can't carry this much money on me, so I need to make a bank account.
Banks are really cool in this world. They use some sort of magic to confirm your identity when withdrawing money. There is no chance for those fake identity scams, so your money is truly safe.
It'll be better if there are bills/paper money. But what a pity, this world is not that modern.
After all these things, I got back to the restaurant. In the dark of the night, there are only lamps to guide me back. By the way, I live in a restaurant. On the second floor and above.
Only the first floor is being used for a restaurant. We live on the second and third floor.
There are rooms for me, Melon, and Grace... Grace, might come here often... maybe? I don't want to think about the answer. Maybe I'm hoping for something, but that's ridiculous.
I made the bathroom a little bigger, and there's a redstone heating system, so it's fine to just bathe in here without going to the public baths.
Redstone powering systems, training room, potion brewery, and plant cultivation room… I spent a whole day upgrading this house to the level as "high-tech" as the secret base used to be.
And I have a space for Rifle near the door, so he can become a Watchdog(Watchwolf?) when the restaurant is open. This is why I gave the name "Dog House" to the restaurant.
In short, Melon had left for two days now. I upgraded the house on the first day and started working on the second day. I didn't have time to have a break at all.
Even now, at night, I'm still busy.
Because... Grace has got a new friend. She brought her to the [Dog House], asked me to make her a meal, and repair a weapon.
In the night, at the [Dog House], indoors.
"This is our signature meal, enjoy." I served her a fried hamburger steak, "How's the Brandy? Is it to your satisfaction?"
"It's really good, thanks for having me, Walson." She is an elven girl with Curly Blond hair.
She has clear-cut facial features. Elegant, but with signs of temperament and bearing of nobility. You can also see some... naughty feelings from her eyes, the look of a prank schemer.
Oh, by the way, her breasts are approximately D+ Cup, Melon's melons have been surpassed.
Her name is Aurevia.
Well, as a gentleman, when a beautiful girl is in front of me, I shall serve her with great wine... And I feel oh-so-regretful now. After a few glasses of wine, I found out this woman is really good with alcohol.
When I got back here, Grace had already entered the closed DogHouse.
Looks like they're busy with all sorts of procedures in the school, so Grace and Aurevia didn't have dinner, but every restaurant is closed, so Grace brought her to me.
How did she know that I'm running a restaurant….? Oh, maybe she heard the rumors. Because the DogHouse had already gotten very popular on its first day opening.
"...Walson, this is my friend, Aure. Feed us, and repair her weapon, now." I was lying on the armchair tiredly when Grace just came in and ordered me straight up.
I'm not really happy about Grace talking to me with this attitude, but she looks to be in a very bad mood, so I did what she said. It's not really a big deal, anyway.
I served them the meal and with wine, of course, wine is for Aurevia specifically. Grace doesn't like wine.
When I started to drink wine with Aurevia, she just sat there watching us drinking quietly….Hmm, maybe our relationship hasn't gone that bad?
Even though I wanted to talk to her, to fix our problems, I still didn't do it, because there is another person - an unfamiliar person - here.
- Okay, the topic has strayed too far, now back on this elven girl.
She looks polite like a lady. But has a really straightforward personality and unquenchable desire for alcohol. I'm getting drunk just by a few glasses, so I surrendered and let her drink by herself.
"There's a saying that goes 'You make friends through wine,' so do we count as friends now?" After a WHOLE BARREL of Brandy - Oh boy can she drink, she still looks fine, and I feel her taunting smile, mocking at my low drinking capacity.
For your information, these Brandy are my test brews - moonshines, basically. The actual amount of alcohol is much higher than regular Brandy!
This girl is bad bad. A bad girl, bad girl. Alright, the name Aurevira is too troublesome, I'll call her "Barrella".
"Yes, we're friends, Barella. You're a Barrel of a girl."
"You're so rude! What kind of person talks to a lady like this? This name makes me feel like I'm fat."
"What kind of 'lady' drinks a whole barrel of Brandy?!"
Maybe she was right, you become friends after drinking with them. We even come into a relationship that we can quarrel with each other, she acts just like a man.
I didn't say it out loud, but I only pretended to despise her. And our strange little meeting of three had finally come to an end. It's midnight already.
"Take it, this is your bow," Before they left, I returned the weapon that Grace wanted me to repair back to Barrella.
This is a bow with medium-level quality, and it was broken very badly. When you say a bow is "broken," it usually means that the bowstring is broken. But this bow had literally become two broken sticks.
I thought every elf should have his/her own "Elven Weapon." Like the [Elvenized] staff Mirabella has. This bow clearly doesn't look like an Elven weapon… Whatever, it's not my business.
I used some better ingredients to repair the weapon. Even though it's still not comparable to my [Apollo], the bow is still better than what it was before.
"W-when did you fix that?! Within this short amount of time? I thought it should take a few days..." Barrella looked shocked, she stared at her better-than-new bow.
"Trade secret," I said.
With my Minecraft abilities, I can repair anything in just a few seconds.
"Good night, Grace," I said, before Grace left with Barrella.
"...Good night, Walson," Grace hesitated, and replied in kind.
It will be great if that can fix our relationship a little. Alright, time to prepare things for tomorrow's opening.
After that, Barrella had come to the DogHouse very often. Sometimes she even came without Grace and smooched off me for some meals, but it's another story.
After they left, the whole building had gone very quiet, different than in the morning.
My neck and shoulders are so sore after these days of working, if there's a place that can let me relax… Oh! I remember that the people of [Mart Chamber of Commerce] have invited me to go to the red light district with them, to celebrate the success of making the contract.
You guys know what red light districts do, right? No? Well... it's a place where you can get massages from pretty girls.
...But I'm not fifteen yet, so I probably can't get other services rather than actual real massages.
…
…
…
Later on, I have no idea how Grace found out, but she beat me up for going to the red light district.
