Business Is Booming

After Finn watched the mule farriery work with interest alongside Azu, she said only that she was going to sleep and returned to her room.

Her footing was steady, but she must have been tired.

"Finn-san seemed happy, didn't she?"

"Yeah. She seemed in better spirits than usual."

When she came back, she had seemed less energetic than normal, but for some reason she perked up partway through.

Had the work been that interesting?

An unexpected side of her.

He could ask about what happened in Princess Tianis's chambers after Finn woke up.

If Finn had returned safely, it meant she had completed the job.

Leaving the cleanup of tools to Azu, he spoke with the craftsmen working on the shop renovation.

Given the large scale, there were many workers, and they were fired up.

Since the renovation had been in the planning stages for a while, they had gone over the blueprints many times, and all that remained was execution.

"Normally you'd close the shop for something like this."

"There aren't any convenient shops nearby. If we close, it would inconvenience a lot of people."

"I see. In that case, we'll have to work hard to finish quickly."

"Please do."

This renovation was extremely extensive.

Not just the shop, but the house as well.

The shop floor area would increase by roughly fifty percent, and the warehouse would nearly triple in size.

A room could be prepared for Orleans, and the others would finally have their own private rooms.

Finn aside, he had thought that since the others were slaves, putting them all in one large room would be fine.

But they had worked hard, and they were now indispensable to the household.

Giving them private rooms wouldn't bring divine punishment.

Even with business going well recently, it felt like quite an adventure.

Once completed, it would become one of the premier shops in the city of Kassad in both name and substance.

But of course, he had undertaken this because he saw prospects for success.

Governor Jacob had been a tax collector, and he understood well how to make a city that attracted people.

He was also strong on economic matters, and Kassad had been developing remarkably.

Compared to before the governor changed, sales had increased by over thirty percent.

At this rate, it wasn't impossible for Kassad to become the Kingdom's third-largest city within a few years.

It wasn't that expanding the shop after the city developed would be too late.

But if you could see a wave coming, riding it directly was the most profitable.

There were several benefits to enlarging the shop, but the main one was being able to increase the quantity and variety of merchandise.

Customers who came to shop often bought something extra while they were there.

Surprisingly, those extras added up to a significant amount.

When purchasing from wholesalers, larger scale meant larger discounts.

Pure customer traffic was also expected to increase.

Incidentally, at Kazusa's suggestion, they had been giving out coupons for a small discount at Cat's Paw Inn with purchases at his shop.

Conversely, Cat's Paw Inn distributed coupons for a small discount at his shop.

This created a system to get customers to return.

Actually, neither side lost money even when coupons were used.

The shop gave out mini-sized soap as samples, which had low cost and high profit margins, and repeat customers had skyrocketed.

It was especially popular with adventurers.

It was apparently useful when they couldn't take baths during labyrinth exploration or monster subjugation and could only wash in streams.

Azu and the others always brought soap with them too, so it must be a matter of vital importance.

Once the shop was larger, he planned to set up a dedicated corner.

Many customers were eagerly waiting for it.

The volume of orders to Ramiza-san would increase, but that woman had fairies do the work anyway, so it wouldn't be a problem.

Kazusa's Cat's Paw Inn had apparently reduced waste to nearly zero thanks to the coupon effect.

The turnover rate had originally been good, so food waste had been low, but it had finally reached that point.

Eliminating waste meant lowering cost ratios.

It more than paid for the coupons.

She had apparently introduced a ticket system using secondhand magic tools, and momentum had only grown.

Like this, the effects had been excellent.

There had been many things he wanted to do for a long time, but with just one small shop, there were limits.

Finding partners to collaborate with often ended in refusal, and it had taken until now to finally realize these plans.

Shop operations and management were fine.

The renovation could be left entirely to the skilled craftsmen.

If there were problems, they lay elsewhere.

The most immediate was everything related to Princess Tianis's coronation.

The frequency of being summoned had been increasing, and at this rate he'd be staying over just before the coronation.

His role had been to assist Princess Tianis and Lady Anatia, but he was listening to complaints and consultations while also helping with paperwork.

Things should settle down after the coronation, but until then he'd be tied up.

Depending on Finn's report, there might be more things to do.

Good thing he'd been able to tend to the mules before getting busy.

He was also concerned about Duke Baroba.

There had been no updates since then, and he wondered how the war with the Church of the Sun God was going.

Hopefully it would be settled soon…

The Wind Elemental Stone still showed no reaction. It had become nothing but an ornament.

Since he had it, he wanted to do something with it, but he was too busy right now.

For now, the priority was getting through the coronation safely.

That was the most important thing.

An envoy from the Empire was scheduled to arrive for the coronation.

Guests would also be coming from Spartia and neighboring small nations, so failure was absolutely not an option.

Lady Anatia was relying on him, and whether it succeeded or not would determine the future of Princess Tianis as queen.

If Princess Tianis stumbled, it would affect Yohane too.

He had to make it succeed no matter what.