Vol 2 Chapter 3 (1/2)
Chapter 03: Sunflower and Lily of the Valley
1
The following day, they started four days of preparation for the battle
It was beyond being a tight schedule as everyone went beyond their limits in order to meet the deadline The preparation was miraculously completed on time thanks to the efforts of everyone
The three project leaders humbly pushed the reason for their success onto each other
Crescent Moon Alliance’s guild ure loved by everyone, Maryele said: ”Our guild Accountant is excellent, give her any number-related information, and she will take care of it accurately with less than 001 error As long as Henrietta handled the accounts, both the deels with their truiveness” She finished by proudly sticking out her voluminous chest
The Accountant Henrietta said with her blond, curly hair swaying slightly, ”I feel that ement skills have been pushed to the limits shi+roe-sama's naturally cold-blooded proposal is vicious to the point of absurdity, to the point where it shakes the heavens Calling him shi+roe is like a joke, we should refer to him as Pitch-Black Kuroe If not for Akatsuki-chan, I would want to offer myself to him” shi+roe was unable to tell fro him down
As for the shi+roe as being bullied, he pushed up his falling glasses and said in a sincere tone: ”I think3 year-old kids This cannot be couild meing sement, people will even rise from the dead” He was dead serious as he said these words
Anyway, the schedule set by these three had pushed Akatsuki, Naotsugu, Nyanta, and the Crescent Moon Alliance to their limits For the members with shallow experience, this was a literal 'deadline' The people taking part in the plan were like zoed After finishi+ng the preparations, they ushered in thethe plan
That veryAs Akiba htly earlier everyday As the day started to get warmer, temporary stores that looked fancy but at the same time shabby appeared in three different locations
A canvas was propped up by bundles of ba tent Akin to a fair or event, colorful banners fluttered in the sky In the center of the tent was aas a store The only stylish decoration was the wooden counter table
The design of the store varied slightly in each location, but all of thenboard with colorful letters that said 'Crescent☪Moon'
In today's Akiba, restaurants and street stores were a dying business
Because all the food had the same taste
Following the setting of the gae stations and bars, and many hotels also provided meals
But all the meals available had the same taste, frorilled chicken, all of therease or flavor; even if it wereyou depressed as you ate
It was the saes No matter what it was, even if the color was different, the smell and taste were just like ater The only difference was alcohol, which tasted like water but made you warm inside, and eventually drunk
Since that was the case, no one went to restaurants or bars anymore
There were still so for a place to rest and headed towards these places Co in the central square, a place with shade and chairs was much more comfortable There was indeed a need for such services, but they were not there for the food
They would only order the cheapest food as their 'chair rental' fee
Most players in Akiba bought their food directly from NPCs
All the food had the saet the necessary nutrients, the only criteria would be price
High-class food had the added effect of iht need such items, but the demand was only a minority, probably less than 1 percent
Theyou needed when you were hungry, so buying cheap food was enough
This led to a drastic price war
The production rate for food in this world was very fast, and even the h-level food could be made from the menu in 10 seconds
If there were enough ingredients, a Chef could make 300 meals in an hour Chef was not a popular subclass, but the supply of cheap food in theThe etting the ingredients for high-class food In this slow econoh tocheap h
Even though eating was necessary and there was a steady demand for it in the h it was one of the three basic desires of consuer had taste
'Since thea restaurant?' This hat the citizens thought as they saw the flag and banners
All the Chefs entrusted their goods to the NPC marketplace to sell This was not only convenient, but it also avoided the pressure of selling it upfront by yourself This was to be expected as there was no joy in selling tasteless food to the custo it solely for subsistence All Chefs wanted to see their custo their food, and so Chefs had all but disappeared from the storefront
But as the sun rose to a good angle, just one hour before noon, the shockwave started to spread
Probablyboxes of food arrived at the three stores, and an unfarance spread in the air
It was the enchanting srease and spice
A lady with a voluptuous body walked to the front of the store, with her green hair flowing behind her, and started shouting,
”We are opening today, please visit our store! We are from Crescent☪Moon! For the people who are sick of the tasteless food, we bring good news! Now is the ti norood that your jaill drop!”
Maryele shouted as if she had given up her self-esteemGuild Tailors made uniforms with a white blouse and skirts with vertical pink stripes There were also bright orange ribbon bow ties and aprons with lotus designs on its edge; this was the standard appearance for fast food restaurants in the real world
Serara, as standing by, raised her tiny voice with a 'refuse to lose' attitude,
”Thank you! Thank you everyone! Thank you for your patronage!”
Maybe she was too tense, but she was handing out brochures while shouting 'thank you' repeatedly to the crowd
Crescent Burger 15 gold, Super Crescent Burger for 30 gold
Fried Chicken(1 piece) 18 gold, (3 pieces) for 50 gold
Fish & Chips(sold
Black Rose Tea(1 cup) 5 gold, (1 bottle) for 15 gold
The brochures contained proans as well as the price list
The hbrow than a real world fast food chain, but it still brought a sense of nostalgia to the players
A few custorance and curiosity to the store
The price was honestly quite steep
A one-night stay in the cheapest rooold The price at Crescent☪Moon was 3 to 6 tie price, so it was not a small expense
But it was not an impossible price
The expenses needed to live in this world were s, the worst you could do was use a sleeping bag instead of renting a room
There were s in the city; if you just wanted shelter from the outdoors you could stay there Food was plentiful and cheap, clothes were not soe frequently
If you wanted to live luxuriously there were no liold would be enough In this world, guild hall old, so it was hard for players to aet by everyday
You ic itee
With this in mind, members from the crowd purchased a few of the items
Maryele and Serara received inco the food that was just delivered by the young uild They would also thank the custoether
The first customer who only purchased out of curiosity bit into his food with a mixture of shyness and expectation And, with just one bite he received a shock that s feel like jelly
”This! This! What is this?”
There was taste You could only use these three words to describe it, but for the people who experienced it first hand, this was a joy that made the world spin
Meat had the taste of meat
The lettuce was crisp with the flavor and grease of the antly with the sour taste of the tomato
The sweetness of the lightly toasted bun, the s of the yellow mustard
Every taste was refreshi+ng andIn terms of completeness, this was still far from perfection In the real world, this taste was akin to fah to be featured in gourazines But you could definitely say that this was the peak of taste in this world
Thishis meal with teary eyes
This must be the best food he ever had Before he could process this thought, the burger was already gone
He even licked the grease inside the box packaging clean
He did not feel any shame
If he felt any sha
The shock he felt spread across Akiba in less than an hour
This was a revolutionary discovery, as if people from a black and white environment were suddenly thrown into a colorful world
The citizens of Akiba started to recall how otten the i
Crescent☪Moon becaend
2
Maryele's office was like a battlefield
In front of her table was another si table, her couch had been pushed to a corner, documents piled up on the table like mountains
All of them were full of words written by Henrietta who did the accounting and shi+roe who directed the operation
After the i day, it was already 10 pm when the Crescent Moon Alliance hting monsters for a whole day
The staame era That was to say, they were related to the player’s levels The uild members were only mid-level, so they were like this In fact, they should be complimented for their effort But shi+roe and Henrietta had no ti the docu from demons in hell
The paper and ink produced by shi+roe using his Scribe abilities sat in the corner of the room Henrietta took a stack of the a word She raised her head and let out a long sigh
”The accounts for today are done”
”Thank you for your hard work”
Hearing that, shi+roe stopped his pen and looked up
”If you want to reward ive Akatsuki-chan to me”
” I can't give her to you, but you have permission to toy with her for an hour”
”Wah!”
Henrietta's eyes sparkled and she twisted her body in joy shi+roe averted his eyes, and picked up the paper she riting on
”The wastage rate is lower than expected”
”Because the custo, you can say that we have reached our targeted sales”
”If that is the case, then the probleredient stock”
”That is right”
The nuood number too But this didn'tof the stores used up all the manpower available to the Crescent Moon Alliance Since it was food, it would surely deplete the ingredient stocks
Everyone had been hunting thethe preparation period Even on the opening day, a tearedients According to the depletion rate, the stocks would last for 4 more days
”Ingredients are hard to gather”
”Want to start purchasing in bulk?”
”We will need to wait for Mary-nee to report for that part”
shi+roe and Henrietta continued h different ways For instance, decreasing or increasing theprice up or down
No matter what combination they used, the stock wouldn't last e and manpower, this was the limit
”Sorry for intruding Wrong, this is my room”
Just as they were reaching for tea after finishi+ng their discussion, Maryele entered the rooh she was not drawn there by their discussion, Maryele was in high spirits as she walked in and gently petted shi+roe's head
”Good work shi+ro-bou, and you too, Henrietta”
As Maryele stuffed Henrietta's face into her huge chest with a hug, Henrietta replied calmly as if this were normal,
”Welcome back, Mary”
Maryele didn't return to her table, opting to take a seat in a chair beside the lasses from a bottle she claimed she stole from the kitchen This was sold in the franchise as “Black Rose Tea”, but had nothing to do with roses, just Henrietta's preference
”How is it? What are the sales like!”
Maryele asked with sparkling eyes
(This part is the character of people from Osaka but it is cute so that's okay)
shi+roe sighed while Henrietta read out her report
”Store revenue is 43,776 gold, a total of 1,159 sales were er and Super Crescent Burger sold out, the side meals other than Black Rose Tea also sold out”
”That’s incredible! Outstanding! 40,000 gold is, let et”
”40 times”
”That's right, 40 ti! If we maintain this pace, 5 million will be ours in no time!”
Maryele danced happily at the table shi+roe shi+fted his gaze fro breasts and said,
”Mary-nee, this is not fast enough”
”Is that so?”
”Using rough estimation, this will take 120 days, that is over 3 months correct?”
”Wait ato the customers the whole day! If ant to sell, there are still lots of customers, so we need more stock”
shi+roe raised his hand interrupting Maryele and retorted,
”Potential customers should be more than 10,000 Since Akiba has at least 15,000 players, that is not the probleuild members can operate, and the number of merchandise we can prepare”
”Is that so?”
Maryele gave a confused expression that suggested she did not understand Henrietta explained in detail for her,
”Hht, the time to serve a customer and complete a transaction, let's assume is 3 minutes for 1 sale 1 hour is 20 people, 8 hours is 160 people, 10 staff can serve 1600 custouild takes part in sales, we can only serve 4000 people And that is ignoring deliveries, cooking, and ad on sales, so it is not a sustainable nuood balance of , delivery, andterm, and our profits”
Henrietta pointed to the documents like a teacher
”Should be similar to the result today, about 1000 In other words, with the scale of the Crescent Moon Alliance, no matter how much ant to, we can only handle 1000 orders per day”
”I see I ood chance to rake in the cash but”
After listening to the analysis, Maryele frowned at the htened up immediately and asked,
”Hey, should we recruit ood chance to expand our nuht noe are the ht?”
”We cannot do that”
shi+roe raised his objection
”It is not good to doubt others, but the new recruits will probably all be spies We are busy enough as it is, we have no time to handle this”
”I agree with that too”
Henrietta chipped in
Maryele sighed as she said,
”Is that so”
”Mary-nee, our objective in the end is not to raise funds”
”Hht! I was blinded for ain But it is a pain to have no o at the current pace, it will take 3 months, that will be too late So we need to use the other plan? Can it succeed?”
Maryele asked ti Henrietta smile
”Relax, a normal merchant will not reject us Trust uillotine”
shi+roe smiled sheepishly at Henrietta
The plan wasin line with shi+roe's prediction
(I will be expecting great things from this two-man show)
shi+roe confirotiation in the next few days would be critical with no room for error
”I leave the negotiation details in your hands, Henrietta-san”
”Roger, leave it to me”
Henrietta nodded slightly, giving her princess smile
”Mary-nee, I leave restocking to you”
”I understand, but, I aood with numbers”
”You just need to get the other party to agree, I will co to discuss the details Or should I say, I will do both the restocking and the negotiations together, this will be easier”
Henrietta was far ined He felt her aptitude for business during normal conversations, but he did not expect her to be so excellent
Maryele, as a bit clu, needed companions like Henrietta and Shouryuu to assist her
shi+roe recalled Akatsuki as traveling the city carrying out her special h he had been far the Crescent Burgers for tomorrow
(Everyone is working up to expectations, and even giving higher standards than the targeted goal If we fail in the end, the fault will lie totally on me)
”What is the matter, shi+ro-bou?”
”Nothing”
(A their teammate?)
That thought flashed through his mind
But that was only for an instant For the sake of the co for him, in order to not let them become fakes, he had the responsibility to match up to them
Just as he prou, Nyanta, Maryele, and everyone
No, 'worthy or not', this question was athe plan work, to play out his role as the plan proposer who needed everybody’s help in the slew of ongoing operations
”I will finish up the preparation work for theWhat we can do now is to prepare ourselves By not exposing our ace in the hole, let's set up a grand festival”
3
Maryele put her fingertips together in an absent-ain She was always confident and s in front of others, but when she had to operate in an unknown field, she had no confidence
She understood the reason shi+roe requested her to attend to this personally
Since she was a guildin Akiba, her circle of friends ide The person she waswas also an acquaintance; in some ways he was easy to communicate with but he was also a famous and influential man
Maryele adjusted her clothes once again
She earing her most fancy dress, but she could not calm down This was quite natural since she didn't have any experience with negotiating in-game, which was rare for most players too
Elder Tales' costuo it was a type of equipree of freedom
When adventuring or hunting the only things thatequip soes European fantasy in design Vanguards would wear plate armor while the second roould wear chainmail or leather armor
Healers have all kinds of armor to choose from, but Maryele, the Cleric, preferred heavy arht breastplate and leather accessories, a tight fit shi+rt, pants, and a cloak The guild crest could be added and the color customized For equipment chosen for their performance, its appearance could not be altered too much
But the clothes foraround the city could be customized more freely
Elder Tales was a es fantasy style RPG, but it did not follow the classical style totally The design was influenced by current trends and fashi+on
Middle-ages European fantasy designs were the default, but clothes unique to ethnic groups, uniforns influenced byin the fashi+on culture
As for the 'module and infor coiven a lot of freedom, which was only natural
This world was different from earth This zone, which was representative of japan, had low humidity In this suing from shorts and cotton shi+rts for the casual feel, fantasy-style long robes, Greek-style loose robes, or japanese kih-class tailored suits, players had a variety of dresses
Maryele earing a white silk blouse and a tight-fitting long skirt without any jacket She had a loose scarf on her shoulders The guild's Tailorvictory, but Maryele worried if this outfit was suitable
”Don't look so lost”
Henrietta sat beside her said while looking in front
Henrietta tied her blond wavy hair with a black ribbon and wore a black and white formal dress
Maryele looked at her and thought that she could be so popular if she had her very own style
”Is it okay”
”Don't be so insecure You need to be strong when negotiating This is just the first step in the challenge we ain with someone else, it's not like we have no room for error”
Maryele nodded in reply
Today's negotiation topic was securing the supply of ingredients If they could not replenish their depleting stock, they would still be fine toin to affect the operation
Inversely, if they succeeded in settling the ingredient supply proble and sales
What folloould be
(Let's worry about what follows in the future We have shi+roe and Henrietta with us, and as long as I do ive otiation)
”But if today's negotiation goes well it will ive it your all”
”Boohoo, please don't give me more pressure”
Just when Maryele was cheering up, Henrietta gave a cool retort, ood and bad at; Maryele understood that she would never learn how to maintain a poker face
”Hi! Sorry for the wait!”
A player with sharp eyes appeared He was a huuildCenter, one of Akiba's top 3 production guilds
Charasin greeted the the door, and proceeded to sit down
This was a room in a bar near the central square, available for 2 hours at the price of a few gold coins, suitable for private conversation Maryele and Charasin had met before
They went raiding together during their tiinners
Maryele and Charasin both started their own guilds and had had no chance to raid together since, but the relationshi+p between the guilds was quite good
Charasin's guild, 8th District Shopping Center, and Crescent Moon Alliance were located in different zones; exchanging information would be convenient for the both of them Because of this, the two of them still kept in contact
”Wah, Mary-san has a scary expression, what can I do for you today?”
Because they were quite close, Charasin expressed his concern gently
The two of them ay back, but the scale of operation between 8th District Shopping Center and Crescent Moon Alliance was different
Crescent Moon Alliance had about 30 people It was a uild was a loose group where anything goes It was made up of mid-level players where ether
Charasin's guild, 8th District Shopping Center, was a pure production guild It did not provide battle or exploration support The redients, bulk sales, production, and trade It had 700nu the production guilds
The face of battle changed dramatically after the Catastrophe
shi+roe and Naotsugu, ere experienced ga the skills and abilities of the monsters, and adjust to thee was the horror of battling in person
Even if you could win easily against low-level ht Sword, axe, fang, claw, fire, or curses would coically understand that you could handle it if your level were high enough, the nu because of its bloody nature was not small
Even if this were an alternate world, even if you were stuck here, even if fightingif you could it was ht
The actual amount could not be determined, but Maryele estimated that after the Catastrophe, about half the population preferred to avoid battling The production guilds gained popularity a the players and expanded their member base
In Akiba, the biggest production guild was Oceanic Systems with 2500 members, followed by The Rodrick Firm with 1800 members
Adding the guild led by theCenter's 700 uilds nuuilds Before the Catastrophe, players who focused solely on production were rare, but this had changed
”Today, I have a request for the 8th District Shopping Center”
Maryele explained
”What is the request?”
Maryele was more serious than usual, so Charasin replied candidly Charasin had already guessed the reason behind thisMaryele successfully operated Crescent☪Moon
In the eyes of the production guild, she was at the top of the food industry Just like a person as used to a colorful world would find it hard entering a world without color, players who ate the food with taste could not go back to eating a tasteless product akin to cheax
Maryele had received reports that the price of food in the opendrastically
Elder Tales was no longer a game
Without a way of logging out, this was their reality now Even if you could not die here, no one could deny the fact that you could not avoid living on as well
The 30,000 players in the japanese server needed to live here, unable to escape
To exaggerate, in this far east region, the control of the food industry lay in the hands of the Crescent Moon Alliance At least that was how Charasin saw it
(Wah, Charasin is all business-like, leading a big guild is not that simple indeed)
Charasin re Maryele form this opinion If Henrietta did not instruct her with ”We have the initiative in all thestance”, she would have been pushed around easily
”We would like to coredient stocks in our guild are depleting fast, so we need to outsource the supply The ite deer meat, lettuce, tomato, flour, potato, sun sun fish, and thunder bird meat that is about all We can discuss the price and ae quantity”
”Buying in bulk”
Charasin replied curtly
He expected this, and in a way this was natural
Crescent Moon Alliance was a s operation would deplete their stocks in a blink of the eye, and they would need to stop supplying their merchandise
The aredients they could far all this, they came up with this request Be it Maryele or Charasin who just found out about this, this was easy to understand
” What about the price and quantity?”
Maryele took out a piece of paper and gave hiures
”Is that so”
Charasin breathed slowly and see if he should take up the commission
Noruild like 8th District Shopping Center had many raw items in stock There had been a price war recently, so if he could dump the stock that orthless in the market at a reasonable price, it would help clear space in their warehouse
If there was a need they could keep an eye on the h to Crescent Moon Alliance
From the business point of view, there was no reason to reject
This was the conclusion Maryele and Henrietta had reached
But that didn't mean the request would be accepted easily Maryele recalled Henrietta saying ”We are now in the spotlight, they won't accept these excellent terms so easily, and will try to squeeze more benefit out of us”
After a moment of silence, Charasin smiled sociably
He asked: ”These are the ingredients for Crescent☪Moon?” Maryele replied with a smile ”Yes”
”It see very well”
”Thanks to everyone, everyone is happy with the food, and our chef is also all smiles”
”Is it a new recipe?”
”Our chef has excellent skills”
Maryele replied to the probing Charasin with a smile
With a sracefully prepared for anything But the truth was, Maryele was already at her limits
Charasin's queryher the feeling of cold sweat
But shi+roe instructed: ”Mary-nee please maintain your beautiful s As long as you continue s, others will assist you in other ways”
So Maryele smiled like there was no toreen eyes drooped slightly, displaying a s With the combination of her voluptuous breasts and motherly nature, this could open a war her But Maryele was unaware of this
”I will look into this contract in detail But in order to increase the scale of the operation, the 8th District Shopping Center and Crescent Moon Alliance can take this opportunity to”
”Charasin, I apologize but it is almost time”