Isekai Nonbiri Nouka

The test opening of the patisserie Fairy Fairy had begun in Village Five.

It was planned to last for several days, with the first day reserved for invited guests.

From the second day onward, it would be open to the public.

After running the shop for a few days, it would temporarily close to make any necessary improvements before officially launching.

On the first day, I was also invited—or rather, as the store manager, I had to make an appearance.

However, the one who should take center stage was the acting manager, Rorone.

So, I brought the children along.

「It’s Roro-nee!」

「She’s wearing fancy clothes!」

All the products offered during the test opening had been sampled and approved by the Fairy Queen.

The invited guests had nothing but praise for them.

The employees handled all the product explanations.

That left me with the task of greeting the invited guests.

Even though I considered Rorone the star of the event, from an outsider’s perspective, she was just the acting manager.

It would have been inappropriate to leave the greetings to her after inviting these guests.

As the store manager, I had to handle it properly.

Still, there were many people I wasn’t familiar with, so I wanted Youko to help…

But Youko had to take care of Hitoe, who had come with me.

I had no choice but to tough it out.

-0-

After Dinner.

Rorone, who had returned to Big Tree Village, reported that the first day of Fairy Fairy’s test opening had ended successfully.

I had to apologize—I had returned to the village with the children partway through the day.

Since all the invited guests had arrived in the morning, the store had closed in the afternoon.

However, Rorone had various tasks to handle with the employees, so she couldn’t return with me.

Was everything alright?

「Yes. There were no problems.」

Do you think you can manage?

「For now, everything is fine. If anything comes up, I’ll report it.」

Alright, I’m counting on you.

Rorone wasn’t the type to hide things or keep them bottled up.

If anything happened, she would report it honestly.

Besides, the angel assistants were there to support her.

That said, leaving everything to her wasn’t ideal either.

I needed to check in at the shop regularly.

I should also ask Senna to keep an eye on Rorone.

Oh, right.

How did the uniforms work out?

I had handed them out rather suddenly yesterday, so I was a bit worried.

For the pastry chefs, there were white chef’s coats and hats.

For the sales staff, white-based maid outfits and caps.

And for the angel assistants, cream-colored jackets and long skirts.

「Everyone was delighted. They said it helped them get into the right mindset.」

I see.

That’s good to hear.

「I thought mine was a little too stylish for me…」

As the acting manager, Rorone had been given a light green jacket, a long skirt, a white shirt, and a red ribbon tie.

She was still wearing it now.

I think it suits you well.

「You think so? Ehehe…」

Most of the uniforms were white or cream-colored, but Rorone’s was green to make her stand out as the acting manager.

It was a thoughtful touch from Zabuton, ensuring that even unfamiliar visitors wouldn’t underestimate her.

「Oh, and those little ones as well…」

She meant the spiderlings, who were in charge of the store’s security.

To help them blend in inside the store, Zabuton had provided them with chef hats.

They looked good in them.

By the way, if you flip that chef’s hat inside out, a camouflage sheet that blends into the building’s colors will unfold.

Even without it, they could hide just fine, but it was likely Zabuton’s way of ensuring their safety, even just a little.

Loo had also enhanced the camouflage sheet by infusing it with powdered dragon scales from Hakuren, improving its resistance to magic.

That wasn’t my idea.

I only gave my approval.

Well, setting that aside…

How was the reception for the chocolate?

I’ve heard it was well received, but that might just be because people were being polite in front of me.

「It was highly praised. However, many were concerned about the limited quantity…」

That’s understandable.

Even I think one piece per day is too little.

But cacao yields are low.

If we want to increase production beyond Village Four, we’ll need to find another place to cultivate it.

A larger area would be ideal…

But around Village Five, most of the land has already been turned into pastures or fields, and the remaining open spaces are already part of development plans.

Shashaato City is in a similar situation.

That leaves… the Mereo breeding grounds we visited a while back.

There were demon beasts and monsters there, but there was also plenty of land.

A large cacao plantation could be built.

The issues would be getting approval, securing people to manage and harvest it, and the fact that it’s too far away for me to oversee directly.

Well, no point in just mulling it over.

I’ll consult Beezel about it.

For now, we’ll have to make do with the current chocolate supply.

Even if we want to do something about it, there’s nothing we can do yet.

Anything else, Rorone?

「Let’s see… If no issues arise, I’d like to continue the test opening for another five days. Would that be alright?」

Yeah, no problem.

I’ll leave that decision to you.

As I’ve said before, I don’t expect us to make huge profits right from the start.

Just take it slow and work with the employees to build up the store.

「Understood. I’ll do my best!」

-0-

Ten days later.

Patisserie Fairy Fairy was finally set to open officially.

The doors hadn’t opened yet.

Yet in front of the store, ten small, covered four-wheeled carts were lined up.

Each cart had a refrigeration magic tool and a cash register installed in its cargo area, making it clear they were meant for sales.

Of course, the product they carried was cake.

These carts had been specially prepared for mobile cake sales.

Each cart was assigned two guards who also doubled as transporters, along with two salespeople.

With ten carts in total, that meant forty people.

These forty had been newly hired, trained for a short period at Fairy Fairy, and now stood neatly lined up in front of the store.

Facing them was Rorone.

「Everyone is present. Alright, carts one through ten, begin operations! Stay safe out there!」

At Rorone’s command, all forty saluted in unison and set off.

「Cart One, heading out!」

「Cart Two, departing!」

「Cart Three, moving out!」

Each team either pulled or pushed their assigned cart, making their way toward the central area of Village Five.

The carts were quite heavy, loaded with supplies, but in reality, they were equipped with magic-assisted wheels to help with movement.

Essentially, they were magically powered assist carts.

Since Village Five was built on a small mountain, there were many slopes to pass through, and this feature was designed to help with that.

The mountain elves had taken great pride in their work, saying they had spent a lot of time fine-tuning the gear combinations for these carts.

Honestly, I had thought it would be easier to just use floating platforms, like the floating gardens, rather than bothering with carts…

However, using floating platforms required Loo’s assistance, and she had been too focused on installing magic tools for the store itself.

So, I had to rely on the mountain elves instead.

Looking back, I’d asked them to handle quite a lot this time.

I should think of some way to express my gratitude…

Calling it a “reward” sounds too grand.

But I’ll have to come up with something.

-0-

The carts that headed to the central area of Village Five moved to their designated spots and began advertising and selling cakes.

At first glance, this might seem like it would take customers away from Fairy Fairy, the shop we worked so hard to build…

But let’s be real—customers weren’t coming to the shop in the first place.

That was already made clear during the trial opening.

The shop’s location was simply too inconvenient.

That’s why mobile sales were necessary.

If customers wouldn’t come to us, we’d go to them.

Besides, Youko had been pushing for more patisserie to open throughout Village Five, so this was also a way to gather data on where to establish new locations.

By tracking where and when cakes sold the best, we’d get a better idea of the ideal spots for future stores.

Another key reason was to address the issue of resellers.

Since Fairy Fairy was in such an inconvenient location, some people had taken to buying cakes and reselling them elsewhere in Village Five.

They weren’t charging outrageous prices, so part of me wanted to overlook it…

But cakes were fresh, meant to be eaten the same day.

If resellers mishandled them and food poisoning occurred, it would be a major problem.

That had to be prevented.

For reference, Goroun Company’s resale operations focused on long-lasting chocolates, which wasn’t an issue.

That had already been discussed and agreed upon.

For the time being, Fairy Fairy would function primarily as a workshop for making cakes to be sold through mobile vendors.

Through this strategy, we’d spread awareness of both the cakes and the shop itself while waiting patiently for the area around Fairy Fairy to develop.

-0-

Later.

Behind the carts selling cakes across the Village Five, another set of carts appeared, selling tea.

「It seems that eating cake makes people crave tea. Sales have been quite good.」

Rorone reported.

It seems she doesn’t let business opportunities slip by.

Reliable as always.

-0-

●In front of the elevator

Raimeiren: 「To think you would falter at something like this.」

Youko: 「You’re floating, you’re floating! You’re using levitation magic! That’s cheating!」