Chapter 52 (2/2)
The reason why I changed the main product to fabric was because wool yarn was unexpectedly expensive— There were other items as well, but in any case, fabric was the stall’s main product, at least for now.
Also, yesterday, there were about 20 b.a.l.l.s of wool yarn that remained unsold at the end of the day. In spite of that, I had still earned about 900 El after selling 30 of them for 30 El each. That would be equivalent to 135,000 yen once I converted it, so it was overall fine in the end.
I had also informed the customer of where my stall would be located today, in hopes that she would be a repeat customer.
A brief digression. Hemp is an item that is cheap here but expensive in j.a.pan. Whenever I heard that item mentioned, I a.s.sociated it with coffee filters, so I was under the impression that it was a cheap material. (1)However, if you actually tried purchasing an item made of hemp from a handicraft store, you would be surprised by how expensive it was. Cotton is seriously much cheaper in comparison.
Because it was actually expensive, I wondered if I should stock up on products made of hemp, as it might have appeared strange if I had none for sale at all. In the end, I decided to add the hemp products to my display. It wouldn’t even matter if I couldn’t sell them off, since they were mostly there as ‘camouflage’.
On the first day I opened my stall in the market, the goods I displayed seemed to be selling well. As expected, there were not many people who wished to purchase yarn. Fabrics, on the other hand, seemed to be high in demand. I wasn’t sure if there would always be a constant demand for fabrics, but I soon realized that half of the customers were actually queuing up for that item.
I wondered if I should have a promotion to celebrate my grand opening, something like, “Customers who make any purchase today will receive a free needle set!”
…Just kidding. Back to the topic. I knew the real reason why there was such a high demand for my fabrics.
The local fabrics were all handwoven from handspun thread, while the ones I was selling were machine-woven fabrics, made of machine-spun thread. In terms of the fine details, softness, and elasticity, my products were far superior.
In terms of net value, that is, if you were to ask which fabric is worth more in j.a.pan, nothing compares to how expensive handwoven fabrics can be. The ‘organic cotton’ that you hear about lately is probably part of that movement.
Handwoven fabrics have an uneven s.p.a.cing between threads, and the texture itself is thick and coa.r.s.e. But if you put it in another way, it could be said to ‘have personality’, which is highly valued amongst certain eccentrics.
There were also customers who asked me questions, such as “How is it possible to sell such a great item for such a cheap price?” or “Hey, where is this from?” but I gave all of them the same reply: “Just between you and me, this is a special product only from the Elf’s village… I got my own connections, so I was able to sign a special contract with them…”
I explained the same thing to them, each time in a whisper.
Diana seemed to be against it, though, as she looked as if she wanted to make a remark about it. However, her presence made it easier for me to convince the customers, so I’d like her to forgive me, her master, for being such an eloquent speaker.
Even though the items were discounted, 80% of them were sold by 2 pm, so we decided to close for the day. We purchased some ingredients and went back to the mansion to partake in the maid’s home cooking.
Quite a few stalls in the market were already closed, so packing up by 2 pm was definitely not too early.
If I could have constant sales like this, it might be better for me to just open my stall in the morning. That way, I could make use of the spare time in the afternoon to hunt for items in the net auction, put other goods for sale, or spend some time with Diana and Marina. I would like to practice horse riding and improve my swordsmans.h.i.+p, too.
The total sales on the first day was 1680 El.
That would be equivalent to… 252,000 yen.
Halfway through, I noticed that I was making a little too much profit, so I suggested to the customers an alternative.
“We accept trade-ins, such as second-hand clothing that are still in good condition, fabrics, or even yarn.” [Jirou]
In doing so, I might be able to acquire other high-quality goods from another world.
Either way, I will be stocking up on used clothes and fabrics from here, so now is as good a time as any. In terms of efficiency, it might be better to earn a huge sum of money to acquire new clothes or fabrics. However, it didn’t seem as if there would be any difference to the amount of bids I would receive, even if I were to auction new or old ones. For example: “Woven Cotton Fabric, brand new” or “Antique Cotton Fabric, used item in mint condition (or dead stock)”, both descriptions might get me the same amount of bids.
Either way, I have to keep my trade-in service going (I have experience offering trade-in service for suits at a men’s clothing store, so this was something similar.) In truth, there weren’t that many customers who would come rus.h.i.+ng in for this type of service. Even when there were, in the case of those who offered low quality goods as trade-ins, I could just offer a small discount. I would just feel grateful if I happened to acquire any possible good items from the trade-in.
All the goods this time were from a large local handicraft store, so none of the items were from the 100 yen shop. Naturally, the total cost of all these items was much higher compared to the amount I would have spent if I were to purchase from a 100 yen shop. For instance, the price for a 100% plain white fabric with 100cm in width and 10cm in length is 60 yen. So if 1 meter long costs 600 yen, then 10 meters will be 6000 yen. This surprisingly made me realize how pricey fabrics could be.
However, I still procured them despite the expense, as I could still sell them for a profit in the market. In Erishe, the colours that were a.s.sociated with Le Baraka, red, blue, white and green, were popular, so I got 30 meters (one-tenth hectare) of each.
In reality, I had wanted to procure velvet fabrics because I was under the impression that they were in quite high demand in the other world. I decided against it, simply because, at over 2000 yen per meter, they were expensive. Additionally, they couldn’t be purchased in large quant.i.ties. If I were to sell such a product, I would have to deal with extremely wealthy customers as well, so it would be better to do so after observing the condition of the flea market a little more.
Since fabrics are sold by the meter, I thought of bringing mother’s scissors from home to divide the fabrics, but it seemed impossible for a complete amateur to cut a 110 cm wide fabric perfectly straight.
Even when I gave it my best, my effort still wound up in disgrace when my cutting gradually slanted to one side. I couldn’t cut a straight line at all.
After practicing with everyone, I realized that Marina was surprisingly the one among us who was most adept at cutting the fabric, so I entrusted her with that duty initially. Nonetheless, I was surprised to receive negative feedback from my customers. Many said, “I don’t want those Turks to touch my fabric.”
In the end, after practicing numerous times, and wasting so much fabric, I somehow learned to cut a straight edge.
The price for the fabric was fixed at 10 El per meter.
Since I acquired them at 600 yen per meter, selling them at 1500 yen per meter was probably reasonable. Actually, considering the amount of profit earned from the yarn, the price for the fabric was really fair.
Well, you know how the saying goes, “You win some, you lose some.” At least I hadn’t exactly lost anything.
However, my customers might have gotten a different impression. Since the price set was at 70% of the market price, they might have thought that I wasn’t making much of a profit.
Well, anyway, there were various complications along the way, but I sold off 80% of the fabrics. The fact that white and red were popular while green was unpopular somehow made me relate it to reality.
In any event, if the booming sales were to continue at this rate, there was no doubt that my inventory in j.a.pan would soon be depleted, so I had to replenish the merchandise through the net auction.
Once I save up enough money here, I could purchase items such as small statues made of pure gold, or other gold accessories, as it would be easier to convert them into cash in j.a.pan. (They might fetch a pretty decent amount of money if I were to sell them at a gold purchase centre.) It might be a better idea to work hard to earn money here until I reach that amount rather than just focussing on profiting through the net auction.
If you are reading this on any other place than rinkagetranslation.com, this chapter has been stolen and is neither the most recent or complete chapter.
The moment I returned to the mansion, I was welcomed by Aurica.
“Welcome back, Danna-sama!” [Aurica]
…What was that? Didn’t men dream of being welcomed home by a maid?
Though, just that wasn’t enough. I had properly prepared the most crucial thing!
I calmly handed the maid’s clothing to Aurica.
Though it wasn’t new, it was cla.s.sic maid’s clothing; it was a dark blue long dress with a white ap.r.o.n attached. The headdress was not included when I purchased it, so I bought it separately.
Once she changed into this outfit, the place transformed into Shangri-la .
An elf, a dark elf, and even a maid were in the mansion living and eating together with me…
What should I do? What on earth should I do?
I didn’t know what to do with the excitement bubbling up inside of me.
…So, I decided to snap pictures for the time being. (TL & ED: …)
Footnotes
(1) Hemp is a type of material used to make coffee filter. More about it here.
(2) A Vicuña is a wild relative of the llama and is believed to be an ancestor of the alpaca. Vicuña’s wool is one of the most expensive wool in the world. More about it hereunder “Vicuña”.
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