Chapter 51
Chapter 51
The initial response was just so-so.
People showed interest in the unfamiliar stand as they passed by, but it didn’t lead to purchases of ice cream waffles.
However, both Yen and I had anticipated this, so it wasn’t a problem.
Only young Yuri sat alone in a corner, blaming himself for possibly making the stand wrong.
“It’s not like that.”
“But people…!”
Thanks to my ‘Minion 1’ who had started to blame himself despite my reassurances, I felt the need to explain for a moment.
I had planned to explain calmly when the opportunity arose, but since the situation turned out like this, it seemed better to give a brief explanation.
‘What time is it now?’
[3:20 PM!]
‘Not bad.’
It’s just the right time.
By my current estimation, after 4 PM, there should be quite a few people buying ice cream.
So if I needed to explain, now was good when it wasn’t too crowded.
“Yuri. There’s a reason why we didn’t start selling from the morning.”
“Because there aren’t many people?”
“More precisely, because there’s no one to buy ice cream waffles. There are many people in the morning, but they’re mostly heading to work. Those people have no reason to buy ice cream waffles on their way to work.”
Yuri opened his eyes wide and nodded vigorously, saying “I see~”.
If you think about who would mainly eat ice cream waffles, you can sufficiently predict when they’ll sell well.
Ice cream is a dessert, and from the moment we decorated the stand so colorfully, it became a food that gives a slight feeling of deviation.
In other words, it’s closer to an after-meal dessert than a meal, but it’s not an everyday dessert like commonly eaten fruits or cookies.
‘Of course, my goal is to bring ice cream into everyday life.’
[Irina can do it.]
[Our Irina will naturally do well.]
Due to these characteristics, people going to work are not my customers.
“Who do you think will mainly want to eat ice cream?”
“Hmm, people who came to play? Or people in a good mood…?”
Correct.
Although I said that people of all ages and genders like ice cream, there are certainly preferences depending on the situation.
Ice cream will be sought more when people are out for fun or shopping rather than on ordinary days.
“That’s right. My main customer base is people who came to this street for fun or shopping.”
“Or people who came to the theater!”
“Right. Who did our Yuri take after to be so smart?”
I stroked the child’s hair.
“Today is a weekday, and we officially started selling ice cream at 2 PM, right? Usually at this time, the theater isn’t operating, and there aren’t many people in the passing shopping street.”
“That’s right. At this time, newspapers or anything else don’t sell well.”
“So it’s natural that it’s not selling. It’s not because Yuri made the stand poorly.”
And to be honest, the stand was perfect from any perspective, with not a single flaw.
When viewing the world through modern eyes, there are often times when you might think something is tacky or unsophisticated.
But this stand was not like that at all.
How can it be so cute and lovely?
The only regret was that we’d only be using this stand for about 2 weeks to a month.
While I was chatting with Yuri, Yen quietly approached my side.
I silently used my skill to create about eight ice cream waffles and placed them on the plate.
“Miss Irina, I think we’ve sold about thirty so far.”
“Good job, Yen. How are the reactions?”
“Most were curious or showed interest. If my sales pitch works from there, they open their wallets, if not, they just pass by.”
The reason I thought Yen was easy to work with wasn’t just because he was good at sales.
Yen knew what to focus on to sell a lot.
“In 20 minutes, one of the nearby academies ends. About 10 minutes after that, students will flood into this shopping street. I think we might be able to sell quite a lot then.”
Like this.
He understood who the main customer base was and when they would crowd this street.
“By the way, starting with that academy, we can expect about five schools to end, from elementary academies to the Imperial Academy.”
“That’s good information.”
“So, Miss Irina, I don’t think this is the time for you to be playing around here.”
“…”
I started running the factory again.
Ice cream popped out of my hand and settled between the waffles.
As I was busily preparing, I started to hear bells ringing in the distance.
After hearing the ‘ding’ sound ringing four times in a row, a little time passed, and students in uniforms began to appear one by one.
“Oh? Isn’t this the dessert shop from yesterday?”
“Wow, it’s so pretty.”
It seems they were customers who came yesterday.
All four female students were wearing uniforms, and judging by the magic circle design, they seemed to be students from the nearby Lucretia Private Academy.
Certainly, students’ interest was more likely to lead to action than that of middle-aged and elderly people.
They approached me standing in front of the ice cream stand without any hesitation.
“Hello.”
“Hello! I ate what you gave out here yesterday.”
“How was the ice cream waffle? Did it taste good?”
As soon as I finished speaking, the four girls laughed brightly and each showered praises.
“I keep thinking about that texture. So I told everyone at school about it, and they all said they wanted to try it at least once.”
“Thank you. Today we’re selling them for 3 jurang each.”
The magic school ladies ordered four ice cream waffles while chattering and laughing.
[SYSTEM | You earned 12 jurang by selling ‘Ice Cream Waffles’, and now have 99,992,259 jurang left until debt repayment.]
“Will you be selling here every day from now on?”
“Not every day… unless there’s something major.”
“Can’t you come out every day?”
“I’ll try my best.”
I laughed “haha” while loosening my robe and made four ice cream waffles to hand over.
They each took an ice cream waffle and moved to the side, chattering as they started to devour them.
“This won’t do. I need to buy more to take home.”
One of the girls approached me with determined steps.
“Um, sister?”
I quietly clutched my heart at the sight of a young magician who looked to be only about sixteen calling me ‘sister’ with a cute face.
“Yes.”
“Can I order a few more of these? I want to take them home!”
“Won’t they melt on the way? Will that be okay?”
At my words, they snapped their fingers once.
Seeing the magic swirling around their fingers, I made an “Ah” sound.
“Are you going to use subspace?”
“Yes! So please pack five ice cream waffles for me!”
“Three for me!”
“Me too…!”
[SYSTEM | You earned 15 jurang by selling ‘Ice Cream Waffles’, and now have 99,992,244 jurang left until debt repayment.]
[SYSTEM | You earned 9 jurang by selling ‘Ice Cream Waffles’, and now have 99,992,235 jurang left until debt repayment.]
[SYSTEM | You earned 30 jurang by selling ‘Ice Cream Waffles’, and now have 99,992,205 jurang left until debt repayment.]
[SYSTEM | You earned 3 jurang by selling ‘Ice Cream Waffles’, and (continued).]
It was truly hectic.
After selling ice cream waffles to one group like this, the next group would approach me, and after selling a bunch of ice cream to them, another group would come.
While frantically making ice cream and asking what they liked to conduct surveys, Yen approached with a pale face.
“Soon… we’ll run out, so please start preparing.”
“What? I just made thirty earlier!”
“…People keep flooding in. Haha.”
That’s how it went.
Yen used his head well at the beginning.
When it seemed like no one was showing interest, he went out to sell himself, but at the same time, he sent some people to the stand.
As people gathered in one place, those who were interested in the stand but hesitant to come in and look around also started to gather.
People slowly started to gather in front of this one ice cream stand.
The speed at which I was making ice cream waffles was gradually increasing.
[Irina’s going to collapse again today.]
[We’re doomed, even after getting scolded like that by Cassis and Roen yesterday.]
‘Give me the hangover cure.’
[I told you, it’s peacefully staying in the North right now.]
Tell it to come to the capital immediately.
I whined internally while repeatedly making ice cream, making even more.
Thanks to Apple’s advance work, there were almost 500 waffles, but due to the limit on how many ice creams I could make, we ended up finishing with just 400.
Still, we were able to give one to each of those waiting in front.
“Irina… I’m dying.”
“I feel like I’m going to die too…”
It was 7 PM when Yen and I collapsed on the ground, completely exhausted.
According to Yen, if I was capable, it would be good to sell from evening to night next time.
“The theater operates until 10 PM. Since the theater is open, people keep flocking to this area.”
“Moreover, if it’s theater people… they’re basically people who came to play, and such people would be more generous with desserts like this.”
“Yes.”
In fact, that was partly why we set up the stand near the theater.
The first reason is that people visiting the theater are there to enjoy entertainment.
[What’s the second reason?]
‘I was looking for a warm indoor activity that many people could enjoy simultaneously.’
[Ah! So that’s why you thought of the theater.]
‘Yes. Yesterday, I noticed that when people came out after the play ended, they were all carrying their coats in their hands before putting them on.’
Seeing that, I could guess that it was warm enough inside that they didn’t need to wear coats.
But to sell in the evening hours, I’ll need to either increase my divine power or bring in Sian Terezia to fix me.
“Yen, so how much did we sell today?”
“I… sold five trays of thirty each, so 150 in total.”
I fumbled around and took out money to hand over Yen’s daily wage.
Yen received the money and stared at me blankly.
“What?”
“No. Are you coming out tomorrow too?”
“Should we just start business from 4 PM tomorrow?”
“That’s not bad either.”
“Then come here by 3 PM tomorrow.”
Yen left, holding Yuri’s hand.
I collapsed into the chair behind the stand.
[SYSTEM | Today’s total sales amount for ‘Ice Cream Waffles’ is ‘1,239’ jurang.]
[SYSTEM | Quest ‘Hire Minion 2’ has been completed.]
[SYSTEM | Receiving reward ‘Minion 2’.]
Where and how do I receive ‘Minion 2’ anyway?
I was dumbfounded by the quest that had already ended.
I didn’t expect to achieve 1,000 jurang in sales in just one day.
[I didn’t expect it to be achieved from the first day either.]
It doesn’t matter.
If we can gain various things while selling a lot, that’s good.
It’s even better if it’s good manpower.
I stretched and said,
“Still, it’s better than yesterday.”
[Divine power will increase little by little as you keep using it.]
I sat blankly for a while, then finally got up and headed towards Luwin in the capital.
I had a lot to do after getting home and recovering quickly.
[What more do you have to do?]
‘I have to attend a reading meeting at the Count Blende’s house tomorrow morning.’
[Ohhh!]
When I went to see Cassis after receiving the message from Roen last time, I was a bit touched.
<Irina. There’s a quite famous reading club, would you like to attend once?>
<Suddenly?>
<It’s a club I’ve been involved with for quite a long time, and the club president is someone who cares for me quite a bit.>
Of course, I nodded eagerly just at the fact that he was introducing me to the social circles of the capital, but I couldn’t help but drop my jaw at the name of the club Cassis mentioned next.
<The name of the reading club is ‘Ophelia’. It’s a meeting hosted by the current Count Blendeheir, Roen’s sister.>
That’s because ‘Ophelia’ was currently the most famous social club in the empire, and its members were all people who had a big influence on society.
To me, who had become dazed, Cassis smiled gently and said,
<I asked a friend thinking it might help promote Irina’s ice cream.>
How could I not be touched?
Especially when Roen, the club president’s younger brother, had been half-driven out of the house and couldn’t exert any influence.
Anyway, I was invited to the reading club’s tea party, and I plan to bring ice cream and introduce it directly.
For that reason…
‘I need to prepare ice cream in advance to serve at the tea party.’
I giggled while pressing my head, which was starting to throb with an approaching headache.
[SYSTEM | 99,991,032 jurang left until debt repayment.]
Anyway, first day’s total ice cream waffle sales: 413.
Closing with a total sale of 1,239 jurang.
