Shifting Markets

They closed the shop and sent the employees home.

The rush had left plenty of work undone, but keeping the staff late meant extra wages.

Times like these, the owner had to shoulder the burden.

He worked through the day's closing procedures.

Today's sales were staggering.

Nearly double what they'd been before the expansion.

Checking what had sold, the spread was broad, but the first items to fly off the shelves had been travel supplies, consumables, and food.

The portable rations they kept well-stocked for adventurers had sold out, a rarity.

Even travel socks and journey packs were cleaned out.

Some items would be delivered by the usual suppliers tomorrow morning; whatever was still short, he'd place additional orders for. But there were things he had to pick up in person.

This level of sell-out just didn't happen under normal circumstances.

The shelves were bare. Doing it all alone would have been backbreaking.

But he had Azu and the others.

"This is everything from the warehouse."

Azu and Elza appeared in the storefront carrying crates.

He had them arrange the contents on the shelves as they were.

"I keep a decent stock, but you lot managed to wipe it out."

"Seriously. Never thought I'd be making holy water the second I got home."

"People were practically snatching the stock out of my hands when I brought it out. It was scary."

"Customers that worked up are something else."

Azu added that she was more tired than after a day of adventuring.

Elza had been churning out holy water for much of the day, so she sank into a chair to rest.

"Where's Alexia?"

"Uh, Alexia-san is in the kitchen."

"You called?"

Alexia came out carrying a plate piled with sandwiches. She'd made them whenever she had a spare moment.

"I figured we wouldn't be resting anytime soon, so I prepared these."

"That helps."

They were cut into bite-sized pieces so they could eat while working. The mountain of sandwiches shrank rapidly.

"Delicious."

"Well, this much is nothing."

"It really hits the spot on an empty stomach."

Alexia cleared the empty plate.

Yohane's work was finally winding down. The bookkeeping was beyond Azu, so all she could do was stay nearby and watch.

At some point, Elza had fallen asleep leaning against a pillar. Her chest rose and fell with each breath.

"You can all turn in now."

"Very well. I'll take you up on that."

Alexia woke Elza and led her away still half-asleep.

"Mm…"

Elza, still drowsy, tried to kiss Alexia, but Alexia's right hand stopped her face.

"If you're going to sleep, do it in bed."

Alexia grabbed her by the waist and gave her a push. Elza's feet wobbled forward.

"Azu, you should sleep too."

"No, I can't do anything to help, but I'll stay up. Oh—let me go get you something to drink."

"Alright."

Azu disappeared into the back. Yohane finished the ledger and put the money in the safe.

The bag was noticeably heavy as he transferred the money. There were even gold coins, a rarity for their shop.

"That's a serious haul. If every day were like this, we'd be set."

He murmured to himself.

To push revenue further, the only option was making the shop itself larger. It was a capacity problem.

If they'd had more stock to move today, they could have pushed sales even higher.

Well, after a day like this, tomorrow would probably be quieter.

"Sorry for the wait."

Azu returned with two glass cups filled with the usual diluted apple vinegar.

The mild tartness and sweetness seeped into his tired body.

"Good stuff."

"It is."

Azu took the empty cups to wash.

"Why did so many customers show up, I wonder? Did a new labyrinth pop up or something?"

"It came out of nowhere. I'll head to the Adventurer's Guild tomorrow and look into it."

"Right. Thanks."

"Of course."

Even Azu was visibly drowsy.

But she wouldn't try to sleep as long as Yohane was still up.

He understood that much.

Right now, sleep was the best reward he could give her.

"It'll be another early morning. Let's turn in."

"Oh, um… yes."

Azu's response was slower than usual.

He extinguished the lights and walked Azu to the back.

"Good night, then."

"Yeah. Night. See you tomorrow."

Azu slipped into the slave quarters.

Elza and Alexia were already fast asleep.

Yohane went to his own room. The moment he acknowledged how exhausted he was, he collapsed onto the bed.

He was out instantly.

 

＊　＊　＊

 

The next morning, Yohane was shaken awake.

He'd overslept, apparently.

"Come on, it's time to get up."

Alexia had come to wake him. She'd gone to bed early, which explained why she was up first.

"Right, it's already that time?"

"I don't know much about the shop, but don't you have quite a bit to do?"

"Yeah."

Alexia filled a wooden basin with water using magic, then warmed it with fire magic.

"Wash your face with this."

"Thanks."

"It's nothing."

The warm water on his face jolted him awake. He dried off with the offered towel, and his thoughts finally sharpened.

Through the window, he could see it was bright outside.

The wholesaler's delivery would be arriving around now. He'd given his regular supplier a key, so they'd drop goods directly into the warehouse. But today, with additional orders to place, he needed to be there in person.

"Um…"

Azu came into the room.

"What's up?"

"The delivery person says they'd like to speak with you, Master."

Yohane listened to Azu's report, changed quickly, and went outside. The delivery man was waiting, having already finished unloading.

"Good morning. Pretty girl you've got there. A live-in helper?"

"Something like that."

He glossed over it. He could've said they were slaves and it would've been fine, but he didn't want Azu and the others looked down on because of it.

"So, what's going on? I actually needed to see you, so this works out."

"Right, well, let me start with our end. We're raising our prices a bit starting next delivery—do you want to keep the same volume?"

"Go ahead."

"Oh, great. Good to hear."

A price hike.

He accepted it without argument.

If this supplier was raising prices, every other one would be too.

Better to stick with the relationship he had.

"Mind if I ask the reason?"

"Demand's gone up, and it's getting harder to source goods from the Allied Nations."

The Allied Nations of the Sun God, the Church's home territory. A new nation formed when the Church of the Sun God unified a region of weak, fractured states.

They conducted significant trade with both the Empire and the Kingdom.

The deteriorating relationship between the Church and the Kingdom was probably a factor.

"I see. Can you handle additional orders, by the way?"

"Sure, no problem."

He placed the supplementary order with the wholesaler and saw him off.