"The oil we use for deep frying is orc's fat, so in the beginning, if you use the orc's meat I provide, you won’t need to buy oil. Of course, we use oak meat for frying, but we also use cook chicken, other meats, and vegetables. I will provide some of those ingredients, but please purchase the rest yourself. I think it would be good to think of and find various ingredients that are suitable for frying. Once the restaurant is up and running, you will need to purchase all of the orc meat and other ingredients yourselves. I will only be providing them until the restaurant is up and running. Otherwise, if you continue to rely on me providing it to you free of charge, if I had to travel far away on my job as a hunter, ...or if I failed in my job, it would be a problem, right?" (Mile)
When a Hunter failed in his job, that was when he "Never comes back."
Mile had intended to continue providing orcs free of charge from time to time even after the store was on track, but she didn't want them to get complacent and rely on it from the start, so she was being a little cold towards them here.
"…………,Understood……" (Director)
The director knew that much too.
A hunter who set out cheerfully that morning never returned.
Or, just a part of he might return, carried by his comrades.
Surely there must have been people like that among those who left this orphanage. Many, many...
Being a hunter, a low-level job, was a prime example of a profession that an orphan could take up.
...Why did Mile suggest such a troublesome "food shop"?
The director, an elder, knew the reason very well.
Food stores had low-cost ratios.
It's not that they're making excessive profits. Other than the ingredients, the rent, utilities, labor costs, and other expenses were all expensive.
Compared to stores that purchased large quantities of products that do not spoil or rot, and had clerks simply take out the cash register, a restaurant required ingredients that spoil, many waitresses, cooks, dishwashers, and cannot accommodate more customers than the number of tables, with each customer staying for hours. It was very difficult to make a profit this way.
...Especially for a beginner starting out.
But what if labor and rent were free there?
What if all you needed to pay for were ingredients (cost), utilities, and other miscellaneous expenses, and the rest could all be turned into operating profit?
...There's no way other normal restaurants could compete on price.
In other words, even if other stores opened later, they would be able to coexist.
A customer base that ate regular priced food in the city center.
And so, although it meant walking a little to the restaurant, these customers chose to eat at a low price and would feel good about the fact that they were "Contributing to the running of the orphanage."
No matter how hard large stores tried to imitate this, the fact that they had zero labor costs and zero rent was something that they would never be able to achieve.
If this were any other business, they would quickly lose customers to a competing store.
And although she hadn't mentioned this to the director yet, from Mile's perspective of "information gathering," restaurants were more advantageous than stores that simply handed over products and took money.
In any case, Mile hadn't been thinking about anything either.
"When you deep fry food, the heat penetrates the ingredients properly, so there is less risk of food poisoning, and even if you use a variety of ingredients, the only thing that changes in the cooking method is the frying time, right? However, using oil is a little dangerous. There is a risk of children getting burned, and there is also a risk of a fire. So let's build the kitchen not in the orphanage building, but at the edge of the garden. I'll build it with earth magic... And to prevent the biggest concern, 'Children tipping over a pot of boiling oil,' the pot is fixed to the hearth so it cannot be moved. Of course, I'll take every precaution in terms of height, size, and enclosure to prevent children from accidentally falling into the pot... And taking advantage of the fact that we have an ample manpower, let's assign one of the elders to always keep an eye on the pot and not allow her to do other work, and in any case make sure she pays attention to safety." (Mile)
For the time being, Mile also seemed to have thought about that.
It was true that using oil was a little dangerous, but when it came to steaming, the effort required to process the ingredients and the time it took to steam would make it difficult for amateurs to cook large quantities in a short amount of time.
Also, Mile wasn't very knowledgeable about steamed food to begin with, so fried food was the only option.
Also, she might be thinking that even if the oil splashed and they got a small burn, she could manage it with healing magic.
She didn't think she wanted to make the children feel hot or hurt, but perhaps she was thinking think that this was within the acceptable range...
Anyway, it seemed that the first store was finally on track.
"...And so, negotiations for our first store are off to a good start!" (Mile)
Mile happily reported this at dinner, then quickly went back to her room alone.
She was probably planning to make preparations for the orphanage starting tomorrow.
Reina and the other 2 stayed behind in the dining room drinking tea after the meal.
"What do you think?" (Mavis)
"Even if you ask me,..." (Pauline)
In response to Mavis's gesture, Pauline shrugged her shoulders.
"Well, gathering information and contacting others isn’t the kind of thing you can ask just one person to do. Even if you request it from a Hunter, the Hunter who accepts it won’t be in town all the time, and there’s probably no one who would accept such a strange request that doesn’t even make sense… Even if we ask the guild itself, it would be pointless if we had to wait until they had accurate information, right? If it's at that stage, the information would have already spread to the hunters there and the guild branches in other cities, so there's no point in making a request; it's already way too late, right...? Well, I don't think using an orphanage is such a clever idea though..." (Mavis)
Mavis also said that and shrugged her shoulders.
"I know, there must have been other, easier ways, but Mile deliberately tried to use the orphanage..." (Reina)
That's right. Having lost her father and then everyone at the Crimson Lightning who had looked after her, Reina would have been an orphan if her magical talent had not blossomed.
If she was adopted by an orphanage, she was considered lucky. If she was unlucky, she might have ended up living in a slum or become a homeless child and never reach adulthood.
It was inevitable that a girl like Reina would have some feelings for the orphans.
So, Reina, who knew that Mile always brought gifts to the orphanages and the homeless children who lived on the riverbank, also supported the orphans from time to time.
Therefore, she realized from the beginning that Mile was trying to use this information gathering network as an excuse to provide the orphanage with a steady source of income.
However, even if she wanted to help, Reina was not capable of carrying an entire orc.
...And Reina had no talent for cooking. To a frightening extent...
Previously, Mile yelled something that Reina couldn't understand, "Where are you Chizuru-san? Do you run a well-established inn?!"[1]
That's why…….
"...Well, I'm sure Mile wants to have fun with the orphans, so let her do as she pleases. We can take on jobs that take us to other territories according to her schedule, and also travel to other countries on training journey." (Mavis)
"Yeah. Even if you do that much..." (Pauline)
"We still haven't repaid our debt, have we...?" (Mavis)
Pauline nodded at Mavis's words.
Yes, there's the intensive training in magic and swordsmanship, the family dispute, what happened to Mavis's left arm, and so on and so forth...
Everyone owed Mile too much.
"You idiot!" (Reina)
However, Reina denied Mavis and Pauline's words.
"The reason we are protecting her and helping her fulfill her wish is not because we 'owe her'!" (Reina)
"Ah……" (Mavis + Pauline)
Yes. It was just as Reina had said.
The reason why everyone was working together for Mile was...
"As long as red blood flows through this body..." (Reina)
"Our friendship is eternal!!" (All 3)
"Uuuh, everyone..." (Mile)
And then, Mile was teary-eyed.
Even though she was in a room on the second floor, if they shouted that loudly, it would be clearly heard by Mile's highly sensitive ears...
Author's Note
Currently, the first volume of the "Didn't I say to make my abilities average in the next life?" comic is free on Kindle, and the second volume is half price (until the 25th of this month).
Thank you very much. (^^)/
Translator's Note
[1] どこの千鶴さんですかっ！ 老舗旅館でも経営してるんですかっっ！！, I still don't get the reference