Chapter 225 - Upheaval of the Neighboring Food Stalls
Chapter 225 – Upheaval of the Neighboring Food Stalls
My name is Marisa.
I’m a businesswoman operating a small restaurant at Shashaato City.
My husband is an adventurer.
There are times where he can’t find a job for several months and can’t do anything else besides staying home.
Though he takes back some income home from time to time, it is really unstable.
Maa, that is the main reason of our usual quarrel and up to now, it is still happening frequently.
Though my story about my husband is somewhat a little unpleasant, we have a son and a daughter.
My son Mark will be 15 this year and my daughter Sun will be 13.
Though they help me with my business, my son and daughter decided to open up a stall in the main street. They are manning and helping me alternately.
I can be called as on job training.
Originally, I thought it would be good to let them go to work somewhere, but they both said they wanted to help me with my shop.
Though I’m happy with their intention, my son and daughter’s happiness is on the line so I have to turn them down. We quarreled because of it.
「If that is the case, I’ll be an adventurer.」
Hearing that, I broke down….I consented with their request with the condition that they’ll run a stall as training.
That condition is favorable for me but I still can’t help but be worried about my children.
However, the complexion of the two of them turns bad these past few days.
A new store opens up and that made the customers flow change completely.
That’s stupid.
So what if there’s a new store? They can just change location.
That’s the advantage of a stall. It is movable.
Both my son and daughter vomited a big sigh because of my suggestion.
How can they reply with a sigh with their mother’s advice?
It seems like to move the stall, they need to decide on a new place and apply for a permit at the merchant’s guild.
After receiving the permit, they’ll have to pay the merchant’s guild before getting the right to move the stall at the place and there is also a time limit.
If they want to move to another place, they need to apply at the merchant’s guild again.
In other words, it is similar to paying rent.
After the explanation, I finally know the trouble of my son and daughter.
Indeed.
A stall can’t just come and go whenever they want.
I finally know why the other wives of the neighborhood stopped me when I said that I encouraged my children to set up a stall.
I was thinking if there’s a way I could help my son and daughter.
However, I can’t think of any.
If there’s no other way, let’s just make them operate a bigger store.
Haa.
I gave out a sigh.
Though I’m always asking about my son and daughter, I still haven’t seen it in person so I decided to check it out today.
I want to check the state of their stall.
…….
Though I heard it from the rumor, that is a really big store.
This kind of establishment will surely change the customer flow. So this is the root of the suffering of my son and daughter.
They are serving food called curry. Sounds like a not so delicious food.
I enter it because of curiosity…..it is incredibly popular.
If even a hundredth of the customers here come to my restaurant….no, to my son and daughter’s stall, they’ll surely be saved.
The smell is really good.
…..though I intended to eat at home this noon, I’ll eat here to spy on the enemy.
My name is Mark.
When I was a child, I used to eat street food and there were many stalls that served baked goods or served soups.
However, in these last few years, Shashaato City’s food stalls evolved.
No, not just the stall, even the stores changed.
I don’t know why.
However, a senpai who runs a stall told me that it was related to the Goroun Company.
Maa, that doesn’t matter.
What matters is that I’m going to open up a stall with my little sister so I only have to go with the flow.
We’re selling roasted lamb with bones.
It is a food that has already taken the test of time and we devised its seasonings to make it flavorful.
It gave us a good reputation.
To the point that scouts from other stalls come to us.
Our sales are also more than expected and I’m really proud of it.
If it continues to go like this, we might be able to make our dream of having our own store come true.
But the long rainy season smashed our dream to pieces.
Weather is a stall’s weak point after all.
Rain in particular greatly affects the number of our customers.
Especially heavy rain, it is enough reason for not opening the stall.
Haa
The world is not all sweet.
Although it is not that cold in Shashaato during winter, it rains a lot here in return.
But we can’t do anything about the weather.
God wills it.
It is not something that can be compensated with hard work.
The world, is cruel.
The customer’s flow suddenly changed.
I know why.
There is construction going on at one of the corners of an important intersection. It is at the former material warehouse.
Though I don’t know what they are building, all the carpenters downtown were employed.
There are a lot of workers too.
The customer flow will continue like this for a while.
Thinking about it, how about changing the location of my stall?
Fortunately, my permit will expire soon.
I’ll give up on our present location and probably move near that material warehouse.
Given its size, the construction will continue for a while.
There are a lot of carpenters and workers in that place after all….
Charges in setting up a stall at good intersections are expensive but given the pedestrian traffic, return of investment will be fast.
My younger sister also agreed.
Great, let’s move there.
It all went well according to plan. It was popular with the carpenters and workers.
Our sales these last several days are twice as much compared to our previous location.
If only that continued…..
The construction ended.
Impossible.
How can it be so early?
I thought that it will continue for one year.
Moreover, what is that building?
Building without walls?
Are they that stingy?
It can only be described as a big roof.
When I was thinking about those kinds of things, they have begun selling food.
It is called curry.
It was already popular from the first day.
Any person will be attracted by such a big building.
All the customers just passed by our stall.
No, they are only curious.
Everything’s fine.
They’ll get tired of it immediately.
They should be getting tired of it…..
Therefore, there’s no need to fret.
I shouldn’t lose patience.
My name is Sun.
A lovely girl who is managing a stall with her oniichan.
My cute face is cloudy.
There is a reason for it.
It is because the sales of our stall have dropped to the extreme level.
Changing our location was a fatal move.
A big mistake.
I think no one would have expected that after we moved, the construction of the building was immediately completed and a delicious restaurant opens up on that exact place.
Ah…when we applied to apply to move at that location at the merchant’s guild, we were advised to think about it carefully.
Those people know that this would happen.
We should have listened to their advice.
We reflected.
When we were done reflecting, it is time to think of our next move.
What should we do?
Right now, the best thing to do is to move to another location but the problem is the charges.
We haven’t earned enough money to pay for relocation yet.
There are still two and a half months before our current permit expires.
These days…..if our present sales continue, the next application will be troublesome.
….no, it will be impossible.
Given oniichan’s character, he will still continue but I know that we should give up our stall. What we need to do now is to work on a store somewhere.
Like the one before us….
The employee’s uniform is so pretty.
If I work there, will they make me wear the same uniform?
There are some children who only wears the apron as uniform, is the uniform decided according to performance?
A few days later.
A great event happened.
A commotion occurred at the store.
But that’s not the great event.
The great event happened after that.
“The store’s curry will be free of charge today”, that’s what I heard.
I must queue up now.
I’ve been interested in it for quite some time.
I always smell tasty and the customers eating there are eating deliciously.
Our stall?
No one will look after it?
We don’t have any customers anyway.
Let’s temporarily close it.
Where should I queue?
It’s really delicious.
We can’t hold a candle to it.
There’s no way we can beat it.
Somewhere in my heart, I want to think that our stall didn’t lose but I just can’t.
We’re not even qualified to be its opponent.
Mother was worried about me and oniichan so she came to check us out. She’s also eating the curry here and gives me a gentle smile while looking at me.
It is not a smile of encouragement.
It is a smile of pity.
I look at oniichan eating beside me.
Yes, eyes full of despair.
Ah, mother….she’s queuing up again before I notice it.
But what should we do now?
That’s what I’m thinking while eating my second serving of curry.
This is hopeless.
Even us, street vendors, can’t sell our products free of charge.
I’ve just eaten curry but I feel like I’m already craving for more…. So this is what the customers feel.
I’m always thinking about the reason for their popularity and now that I’ve tried it, I now understand.
The amount per serving is good but I feel like I only ate a little.
I thought that this dish is cheap for 5 medium copper coins per serving but if you eat two servings, it is no longer cheap.
That’s why people usually buy in stalls.
We have no choice but to hope that we can at least earn money for the next application at our stall.
If we can’t, we can only close our stall.
However, does this mean that our daily labor will only go to permit charges?
How can this happen?
Oniichan.
I don’t think you can do much damage to this store no matter how many glasses of water you drink.
They are even giving it away for free on normal days.
Though free curry can be considered as a great event, the true great event happened immediately.
The owners of all the stalls and stores nearby came together to this shop to complain.
The complaint…..maa, hearing its content makes me feel ashamed.
「Because of this store, the sales of our businesses have dropped. We need explanation.」
Not some good reason.
Business is always the survival of the fittest.
They complain because this store sells too much?
Are you telling them to stop doing business?
In addition, how can you prove that this shop has really done something that made your sales drop?
Even the merchant’s guild will not take their side regarding this issue.
When I was thinking about how will this store react…..a big shot from the Goroun Company appeared.
I’m so surprised that I’ve fallen down from my chair.
It is the next president, Maron-san.
That woke me up.
He is a good person.
As for the people who came here to complain….they all know who he is.
They remained silent.
I expect no less.
The Goroun Company is a large firm that can even boss around the merchant’s guild.
If you defy them, it will be impossible for you to do business in the demon king’s kingdom especially this city.
Maron-san guides the people who came here to complain on a table nearby.
While I was thinking about how he would conciRiate regarding the curry, he started talking about business.
……..
………….I listen intensely.
I don’t consider this as shamelessness.
They are the ones having a business talk at the wrong place.
I mean, I guess they are not going to keep it a secret.
It doesn’t look like they’re going to cover it up.
On the contrary, it looks like they want it to spread.
I thought Maron-san will say something difficult but he said something easy to understand.
「The space of this store is so big. How about opening your stores and stalls here?」
One “space” of a stall or store is three meters on all sides.
There are two rules.
One, your stall should only have one front.
Two, if you cause a small fire or food poisoning, you will be kicked out immediately.
The rent will be 10 big copper coins per month.
If you are going to use fire, you need to pay an additional five big copper coins.
Your location will be decided via lottery every half a year.
However, if a stall becomes so popular that customers will need to wait in line for some time….
That shop will be asked to move to a specific location.
10 big copper coins per month?
Since we need to use fire, that will be 15 big copper coins per month for our stall.
That’s cheap.
I look at oniichan.
He’s counting our money in his bag.
But I don’t think we have enough.
We just paid our meat supplier and thinking about our recent sales…..
Should we borrow from mother?
…..
Mother bought karaage and she’s now eating while moaning.
When did she…?
I haven’t tasted that yet, you have two, give me the other one!
Ah, but, will setting up our stall here really increase our sales?
Gathering stalls here, will people really come to this place in order to eat and drink?
…..certainly.
Tables and chairs will be for common use.
Water is free too?
There’s a roof so we don’t need to worry about rain.
In the future, they want to include non-food related stalls here.
That might be good.
「Ah, right right. It is truly 10 big copper coins per month but the manager of this store said that because of the trouble he caused you this time, the first month will be free of charge. You can consider this first month as a trial period.」
「I’ll do it! Please let me!」
Though Maron-san is still talking, I involuntarily blurted that out when I heard the “free of charge” part.
I know that I did something impolite but that is something I can’t afford to miss.
People who heard us also raise their hands one after another.
Maron-san looks at me, smiles, and laughs lightly.
「Alright, then, let’s continue our talk with the young lady here.」
He doesn’t seem to be angry.
Our stall outside moved into this shop a little while ago.
Even if we use fire, all the smoke runs up.
Amazing.
As for the things we sell….it has expanded.
At first, the manager of this store, the man named village chief showed up, tried our product, and said that it is not good enough.
He added our mutton to the curry and ate it.
That was shocking.
He’s helping us.
「This mutton will taste better if you eat it with curry. Why don’t you remove all the bones?」
Coexist with curry.
Then….
「Once you always eat curry, don’t you want to try something else to eat?」
We already earned 15 large copper coins.
I decided that it would be best for us to continue operating our stall here.
Oniichan feels the same.