Have a Piece of Candy

I called out as loudly as I could, and the first to respond were a boy and a girl.

A promising start.

The children approached, studied us for a moment, then spoke up.

"You're giving away candy?"

"It's really free?"

"That's right. I'd just like you to try one and tell me what you think."

I turned to Azu and asked her to take out the candies.

Azu handed one to each of them, and both children held their pieces up toward the sun.

"So pretty!"

"Yeah. It's all sparkly."

Satisfied with the viewing, they popped the candies into their mouths and broke into wide smiles.

At their age, a sweet treat was a rare luxury.

"It's sweet!"

"It's so good! Thank you!"

With that, the two of them ran off.

If their reaction was anything to go by, they'd spread the word to their friends.

People nearby had been watching the children and started paying attention to us.

Drawing in kids first was always the most effective way to attract a crowd.

A mother carrying a baby approached.

"Are you selling candy?"

"No. We're giving them out for free."

She looked slightly skeptical.

The word "free" had powerful appeal, but conversely, there were people who were suspicious of it.

"We're handing these out because we'd like people to try our new product. Here, take a look."

When dealing with that type, you just had to show them something else that established credibility.

In this case, my commercial permit.

The permit wasn't something you could get without going through proper channels.

It was more than enough proof that we were a legitimate operation.

The mother's demeanor softened visibly once she saw it.

"Please, have one."

Elza handed her a candy.

No candy for the baby, though. There was a risk of choking.

Besides, a baby wouldn't be ingesting drugs on its own.

"It looks like a jewel. Almost feels like a waste to eat it."

"We designed it to be a treat for the eyes as well."

This was one of those situations where saying it with confidence was half the battle.

She didn't know the details, so I picked words that would sound good.

The mother nodded, impressed by the sales pitch, and popped the candy into her mouth.

"It's been ages since I've had a sugar sweet, but this is delicious."

"Thank you very much."

I watched her leave.

Attention was building. People were noticing that something was going on.

"Step right up, everyone! We're giving away delicious candy, completely free of charge!"

I called out again, and the people who'd been hovering at a distance came over.

Good momentum.

They'd probably heard that there were three good-looking women among the salesgirls, too. Young men were stealing glances at Alexia and Elza.

When the candies were handed to them directly, the men went all starry-eyed.

We were merchants. I'd let them look, at least.

One per person, but I'd give extras for those who wanted some for their families.

Some would no doubt take more than their share, but that was factored in.

That said, the people in this town didn't seem like the type to do that.

We finished handing out candies to the crowd that had gathered.

The feedback was, of course, universally positive.

We hadn't skimped on the sugar one bit. The praise was well deserved.

"How many did we go through?"

"Um, about a hundred and fifty."

One bag was nearly empty.

For the first day, that was more than enough.

A man came up to us.

"Give me one too. You doing this again tomorrow?"

"Here you go. Yes, we'll be back tomorrow. Though we'd like to get as many different opinions as possible, so we want to reach as many people as we can."

"Makes sense. Not many events in winter, so everyone's bored. You'll get an even bigger crowd tomorrow."

The man crunched through his candy and walked off.

After that, people continued to trickle in, and we handed out candies until we called it a day.

"I heard you were giving out candy. Is it over already?"

A young woman came over just as we were packing up.

"We still have some left. Please, try one. It's our pride and joy. We'll be here again tomorrow, so spread the word to your friends if you would."

"Hmm. Thanks."

The woman left.

That was a good number of people who'd eaten the treated candy.

Even if someone tried to spread drugs around now, they wouldn't get much out of it.

At this pace, we'd hand out every last piece.

"I'm kind of worn out. You were shouting at the top of your lungs all day, Master, and you seem totally fine."

"Same reason you three don't get tired from a bit of fighting. I'm used to it."

"Well, as expected of a merchant, I suppose."

"If you're going to compliment me, just say it straight."

When I said that to Alexia, she grinned and gave me a hearty slap on the back.

We returned to the inn and found that Finn had just gotten back too.

"Your candy's been a hit, you know. Spreading the word was easy. At this rate, you'll get even more people tomorrow."

"I see. Well, this time all we need to focus on is drawing a crowd."

If only it were this easy to attract customers to the shop.

"Oh, and that big shot in Luido? I'll check on them tomorrow too. I didn't see any other operators around, but I want to see if they've at least hired some bodyguards."

"Safety first."

"Yeah, yeah, I've heard that one enough times."

Dinner was a chunky vegetable pot-au-feu.

The sausages were huge, and there were plenty of them.

The next day, we started preparing to hand out candy first thing in the morning. Word had already spread, and people were gathering.

We spent the entire day giving out candy from morning to night.

We'd gone through two full bags.

So far, so good.

It was getting late and the crowd had cleared out for the moment, so we started cleaning up when a group of men walked toward us.

From the look of them, they hadn't come for candy.

"Hey, you the ones handing out candy around here?"

"That's us. Is there a problem?"

"Free or not, you're handling food. You need a permit to do business here. Nobody told us anything about this."

"Please, have a look at this."

Officials, apparently.

That was sooner than expected.

But we had the commercial permit.

One that had been issued with royal involvement, no less.

Not something a petty bureaucrat in Luido could overrule.

"Hmm… This is a permit, all right, but…"

"Indeed it is."

He stared at it so hard I thought he might bore a hole through it. Probably checking for forgery. But eventually, he gave up.

"Care for a candy?"

"Sure, why not. Just know that if you're handing out anything suspicious, there'll be hell to pay."

With that, they left.

If they were going to say that, you'd think they'd investigate more thoroughly, but it was within my expectations.

They were probably just genuinely checking up on us.

If the mastermind were involved, they'd have pushed harder.