Chapter 223 - Emergency Response
Chapter 223 – Emergency Response
The staff are really accustomed in cleaning the store.
Some of the customers are also helping them.
Thank you for your support.
While looking at them cleaning, I reflected on what’s happening with the kitchen.
I made a mistake.
A big mistake.
To put it simply, my mistake is deciding the compensation, free curry.
I underestimated the size of our store.
I thought that this is a big commercial establishment and we’re only one of the tenants.
I thought Marcos and Paula are only occupying a single booth.
However, I never thought that this big roofed establishment “is” the store of Marcos and Paula.
I can’t take it back now.
Though I’m at lost, I praised the job well done by Marcos and Paula.
They even hired a lot of employees.
However, aren’t they too young?
Maa, there might be certain circumstances in this place that leads to it.
There are four counters at the center, but the other three sides are relatively small in terms of dining capacity.
The store I’m imagining is a stall with a serving capacity enough for a small house which means cooking speed will surely be not enough.
It is good that they didn’t serve rice and served bread instead.
If they insist on serving rice, there won’t be enough time for it to cook.
It seems like I have to order bread from several bakery nearby.
The ingredients I bought this time is insufficient but we will be able to buy some time using them.
The insufficiency is also imbalance. Some ingredients will be little insufficient while some will be severely lacking.
Once a pot finished cooking, it will be used again to cook….
And we are already using a large number of utensils.
But it is still insufficient.
Indeed.
……
It is now impossible to correct my “make the curry free” mistake.
Let’s survive this day first.
I look at ancestor-san.
He dealt with treating the injured earlier.
「Ancestor-san, the situation’s bad, can you go back to the village?」
「What went wrong for you to suddenly request that?」
「Please bring reinforcement.」
「Ahaha. Alright, I’ll take care of it. Who should I bring?」
「No, I must come with you.」
「You may but who’ll take care of things here if village chief goes?」
「Ugh」
「I’ll bring them here. Ehto….there is a room at the depths of the kitchen. I’ll teleport them there this time.」
But, isn’t teleporting directly inside the city or building not allowed?
「They’ll understand it. So, what are your orders?」
I told him the names of the reinforcements.
Next…..Michael-san.
「Have you call for me?」
「My apologies for the commotion.」
「No no. You have taken care of it splendidly. As expected of you.」
「Hahaha. Ehto, I just want to confirm something, this whole building is ours, is that correct?」
「Yes」
「Can you do me a favor?」
「Of course.」
「Great……then, can you lend me manpower? Someone who’s good at negotiation. In addition, that person must be well informed about the law of this city. I want him to procure goods for me.」
「Then, leave it to my son.」
Michael-san recommended Maron.
「….Is that alright?」
「No problem. All of our schedule for today was canceled.」
As for Maron….there seems to be no problem.
And not only Maron, Tito, Randy, and Milford move forward too.
That will save us but….is your company going to be alright?
No, this is not the time to hold back.
「I want you to procure necessary things.」
First of all, tablewares are insufficient.
The current situation is in need of a large amount of tableware to be used.
Next, chairs and tables.
This doesn’t have to be elegant.
Even barrels as chairs and tables are okay.
Rope, wood, and big cloth are good too.
For big cloth, it should be 3 meters on all sides.
A lot of those.
Especially the big clothes.
Finally, oil, wheat, and chicken.
Michael-san’s group tried moving out immediately after my instruction but I stopped Michael-san and Maron.
「Michael-san, stay beside me. I want you to watch over what I’m doing.」
I want to know if what I’m doing is something that can be done in this city.
I don’t know much about this city after all.
There’s a possibility of me breaking rules.
「I understand.」
I thank Michael-san for his answer.
「Though I’m troubling Maron, I can only rely on you.」
「Okay?」
My apologies, Maron.
「Village chief, we await your instruction.」
It was Marcos, Paula, and all the employees who had just finished cleaning up.
「Good….now, let’s get it on.」
Looking behind our employees, I saw men who don’t seem to be our employees.
Could they be customers….
But they are not acting like customers at all.
One of them even gives me this dangerous feeling.
「You are?」
To answer my doubt, one of them steps forward.
And it is the one with a really scary face.
Marcos introduced him.
「Let me introduce him to you. His name is Goldie. He’s the one in charge of crowd control.」
「I am fully responsible for this commotion that hindered our business. I’m really sorry.」
I heard that the reason for the commotion was a particular area being neglected which was taken advantage of by others.
Goldie’s group, which is around 10 people, are the ones who should be dealing with that.
And they neglected that particular area for too long…..which caused dissatisfaction.
That made me become more conscious about the arrangement of the store.
That’s alright.
I look around.
The store is large and it is divided into four areas which are northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest.
The main eating and drinking area is located in the southeast which is the nearest to the main street intersection.
There is a playing area in the northeast. A mini bowling alley is laid in there.
As for the southwest and northwest area, nothing.
Though there are chairs and tables near the counters in all areas, they are minimal compared to the one on the southeast.
However, the queue will not bother with how it is set up.
I started instructing the minotaurs and the lizardmen to rearrange the location of the chairs and tables.
I had them arrange it to maximize the usage whether the customers are in a group or alone.
There will be at least 10 tables per block and each block will have one person to guide customers there.
I left the manpower arrangement to Goldie.
Next, the employees.
「In order to survive this crowd, today will be a special shift.」
「Eh? What about after this is all over?」
One of the employees raises up her doubt politely.
「…..we will be selling curry for free. What will you think others will do once they heard the news?」
「They will….surely come.」
「How many do you think will come?」
「…..a lot?」
「No. This crowd we have here is only the first wave. All employees, let’s unite to receive them.」
The first thing to do is arranging the line.
Currently, there are lines on each counter manned by each of the girls.
With this setup, the customer will need to pass through a large number of other customers who are also waiting for their order at the counter.
Given that, it was crowded.
To prevent this from happening, it is necessary to prepare a path that the customer who received their orders can pass through.
In addition, the initial process is fast.
It is free of charge this time.
So they don’t need to pay money when ordering.
Thus, the line is now as it is.
Therefore, we should decrease the counter girls in order to make way.
Ah, the counter girls acknowledge it easily.
What will they do next?
I did not consider that.
I’ll have Paula arrange what they’ll do next.
「Village chief, I brought them.」
The reinforcements arrived via ancestor-san’s teleportation magic.
Five oni maids, two dwarves, four high elves, six mountain elves, and 10 beastkins.
「This place is too busy to the point that it can be considered bad, I want you to help out to ease the situation.」
Hearing my request, every one of them nods.
Now, three of the oni maids.
「Cook curry with Marcos and Paula.」
The other two oni maids will be cooking another dish.
The purpose of that is to reduce the attention to the free curry.
I made the counter on the southeast area to be the one responsible for the distribution of the free curry.
In addition, one side will be selling liquor with the dwarves as the manpower.
There is no order limit and it will be sold per cup.
Though the dwarves might not like selling them, they surely want to spread the drinker soul.
Because of that, they might attract the eye of those who also have drinker soul.
The 10 beastkins will be back up manpower of the 2 oni maids who are cooking other dishes and the two dwarves.
And if Marcos and Paula can’t take it anymore, they’ll help them too.
However, I don’t want them to help Marcos and Paula in order to not damage the pride of the employees here.
It will be better for them to fail first before having the beast girls help them for them to obediently accept their help.
Though I might not be the expert in situations like this, I would rather sacrifice a little since I don’t have the proper grip of this place.
For others, some things are hard to accept.
In addition, if they notice how much difference in war potential they have with my people, it might potentially leave a stain in their hearts.
The four high elves are making partitions of the area.
「Divide them to four which are northeast, northwest, southeast, and southwest. Isn’t it too late to build walls?」
「Think of it as an emergency response. The partition will be built in order to visually understand which area is which.」
So install them on the floor but make sure that they are movable.
You don’t have to make it high either.
As for the materials…..I’ll have Tito’s group to bring them.
Ah, it seems like those 20 people carrying baggage are from the company.
I’ll have them go to the northwest area.
That will be the material depository for now.
The mountain elves are bolstering up the northeast area in order to become a full pledge gaming area.
Currently, there is a mini bowling alley in the northeast area.
There are 10 lanes.
However, we cannot designate the northeast area for its exclusive use.
Thus, new gaming equipments were made.
Though I said made, they are not particularly hard to make.
It’s just an ordinary quoit.
Circular rope will be thrown to sticks.
If they can throw the rope in the right stick, they’ll get a prize.
I originally thought of shooting game but there’s no gun here so I thought of using bows and arrows instead.
However, bows and arrows can be dangerous so I have them make toy arrows.
If we use real ones, an amateur can easily injure someone.
Thus, I had them prepare places for quoits and shooting.
No need to panic.
What you are doing right now is for pulling customers in the future.
Also, if you thought of something new, just do it.
……
「Gulf, I have a task for you.」
「?」
Prize is necessary for quoits and shooting.
Especially for the bullseye.
I think that it is good that I have bought souvenirs earlier.
「I understand. I’ll buy more.」
「You actually don’t need to buy more. I just want you to know that I’ve decided to make them the prices. Thus, I want you to go to the places we bought them from.」
「Then, what should I…..I mean, we already bought them, right?」
「We’re not doing business just for money. The weapon shop you brought me to, how do you think they would feel if they knew that we made the weapon we bought there our prize?」
「I see. I understand. I’ll inform them and buy things they are fine with.」
I gave Gulf money….. because I only brought a few, I had to borrow some from Michael-san.
I’m sorry, Michael-san.
「I just handed the money I haven’t paid yet. Rather than that, what are you going to do with a large amount of rope and big cloth? 」
The rope will be used to arrange the queue.
We just need to arrange poles and tie ropes on top of them in a way the customer can queue up neatly.
I made a sample and explain it to the others and leave the rest to them.
The customers who helped with the cleaning.
When I asked them why, they said that they felt guilty because of the commotion earlier.
「Curry is delicious. If this shop close down, we’ll regret it.」
「Right right. If there will be no more curry, I will go on a rampage.」
Now, it’s time to deal with the big cloth…..
It must meet my requirements.
If not, we don’t need them.
With our present condition, they are not yet needed.
People have begun to gather outside the store.
This is an open store so anyone can enter if they want to enter.
But they are still not going in since we are still giving off the busy atmosphere.
……..
For the time being, let’s lay the rope on the floor as marker.
The southeast is the eating and drinking area. The northeast is the gaming area.
We blockaded the other two areas.
The entry is prohibited.
I had the minotaurs and lizardmen, who are done moving the tables, to block the customers.
We are still not ready.
「Marcos and Paula, how’s the curry?」
「All clear. The breads are also okay but it will be better if we buy more.」
「I want you to promote the two new dishes but our goal for today is to minimize the queue so give in to the customer’s demands first.」
「Affirmative.」
「To those who are in charge of collecting tablewares, though you need to collect the tableware of those who are done eating……you don’t need to be too hasty. Remember not to collect tableware immediately after they’re done eating.」
「Eh? Isn’t that a waste of time?」
「If you do that, it will upset or even anger the customer. Make sure the customer is already standing before trying to collect the tablewares. In addition, avoid leaving dirt on the table at all cost.」
「We understand.」
「As for water….」
「As village chief said before, water is free of charge.」
It is common sense for me but in this city, it is not.
Reflect.
As of now, we have not set any price.
We can only follow through.
Presently, a glass of water is passed down to the customer together with the curry.
「How many people did you assign for that task? They should not be timid even if they are facing adults.」
Paula has chosen five people.
Though they are not tall, they don’t seem to be timid which meets my requirement.
They will be going around each table while pushing a wagon full of glasses of water.
「Please pass them to those who would want them. You should also occasionally collect glasses when they are empty.」
「Understood.」
「The oni maids’ dishes and the dwarves’ alcohol will begin their sales a little later.」
At the end of the counter of the eating and drinking area, the dwarves and the oni maids are making their preparations.
Though their purpose is to divert the customer’s attention, they can also be considered as future business.
「A little later….about an hour later. Promote them to the customers. Of course, look at the customer’s appearance first before promoting.」
Paula is already making the queue ready.
Looking at the customers, it looks like most of them are carpenters.
The division of each area seems to be…. working.
Though the gaming area has still a way to go.
I sent signal to the minotaurs and lizardmen who are blocking the customers. They have begun moving.
In addition to the staff guiding the customers, there are flags with something written on them on the posts so the customers know where exactly to queue up.
As for the customers who helped us earlier, my bad but I’ll have them help us until the end.
I know I’m taking advantage of them but we really need any available hand.
I’ll just bait them with some things later.
Ancestor-san.
Please use magic to increase the volume of my voice again.
「Please don’t run. There is enough curry. We won’t run out. Please fall in line.」
Hearing my loud voice, they slowed down a little.
This….won’t we need more ingredients and reinforcements?
Ah….making things free really made such a big impact.
Reflect, me.