"...You want to sell that to me?"
"Yes. They were made by the children I look after. You can buy them, or you can put them in your store and I'll take the price minus a commission only if they sell." (Kaoru)
"Hmmmm..."
Today was sales activity. This was a folk craft item made by me, Reiko, and with the help of Mine and Aral. A wooden carved bear holding a salmon in its mouth, a talismanic lion statue, spinning tops, shuttlecocks, temari balls, and many other things... In addition to practical items for play, such as tops, shuttlecocks, and temari balls, beautiful decorative items were also available. Of course, it was Reiko who painted the tops and shuttlecocks. The children and I didn't have that kind of talent...
These items did not require advanced technology to manufacture, and similar items might have been made hundreds of years ago. After all, it seemed that balls stuffed with feathers or inflated with air were already in common use in ancient Rome, and humans have a strong desire for play.
However, not all types of play are widespread in all regions, and exotic items that were not just for playing but also for "being particular about the tools" and "displaying them as beautiful ornaments" were also considered. ...I think that's a good idea...
Kendama, ohajiki, beanbags, marbles, menko, stuffed animals, bisque dolls, karuta, yo-yos, hula hoops and other items would be available next time.
No, if a product becomes popular it would probably get copied quickly anyway, and we couldn't handle too many at once.
Also, some things were difficult to make quickly. Hula hoops are difficult to make unless you have bamboo or rattan, ohajiki and marbles require cheap glass, menko require paper (mud menko and lead menko are exceptions, though), stuffed animals require high-quality thread and needles, ...and bisque dolls, they're too difficult!!
Well, that would be fine if I were to use it as a portion container, but apart from using it for small luxuries for ourselves, we couldn't use it to sell to others, or as a main product to earn a living as our "public face".
"Hmmmm..."
The old man from the haberdashery shop was still troubled. And then…….
"Okay, well, even if that doesn't work, I'll still help out a little for the orphans!"
"Thank you very much!" (Kaoru)
Ok, we've succeeded in developing a sales channel! Hehe, another step closer to my ambition...
This way, we were gradually developing sales channels. Of course, we didn't just sell play equipment, we also got into processed foods. Catching seafood ourselves took time and it was hard to find the right supplies, so now we bought it at the market. ...Because even if we caught five or six fish of completely different sizes and types, there's no way to process them.
Those kinds of things could only be processed at the same time if they were the same type and size. If they were all different sizes, it would be impossible to standardize the drying and smoking times, so there was nothing we could do.
Yeah, that was a naive idea...
For this reason, we would buy fish of the same size at the market, process them — smoking, sun-drying, overnight drying, etc.— and wholesale them to our store.
Even though it was a store, the wholesaler wasn't a fishmonger. If you sold them to a place like that, even if they didn't knock you down, you wouldn't get a very good price. It's obvious. Besides, fishmongers also made dried fish. Although the quality was lower than what we made...
But selling to regular households would be too much work, both in terms of time and effort. Also, it would be a hassle for people to come all the way out of town to buy it, and we didn't have any plans to set up shop near the city center.
That's why we'd sell directly... to bars and restaurants.
If it became popular, we could sell more than 10 fish per store every day. And we could set a higher price than we would sell to an average household. Besides, with our current staff, we couldn't make that much dried or smoked fish every day. It would be enough if we could secure a few regular stores.
And instead of producing to order, we decided to sell only what we had made that day.
I didn't like being chased by a daily quota and work because I couldn't relax. I didn't want the children to live like a manga artist who is always chasing deadlines. That kind of life makes you feel depressed.
So, we just brought in and sold what we had made that day. Of course, such high-handed business practices were only permissible if the product was well-received. Well, there were plenty of reasons why there would be no dried fish in stock today, such as "the weather was bad," "we couldn't get any good fish," or "the kids had a fever and didn't have time for that," and no one would complain about that. …The truth was, I should just make lots of them when I had the time and store them in my item box.
Ah, the plan to use Reiko's magic to dry it out and instantly make dried fish failed. Yes, it seemed that it needs to go through a process of maturation or chemical change or some other "stage to enhance the flavor," so it's not as simple as just drying it. ...Yeah, I knew it.
Grilled fish also didn't go well with magic. It was burnt on the outside and raw inside. Stews were even worse. It was too much of a hassle to keep cooking them on low heat all the time. I didn't mind, but Reiko complained. ...Yeah, I knew it.
In the first place, if the manufacturing process requires the use of magic, it would deviate from the purpose of giving children a trade. Furthermore, if it was easier and tastier to simply dry it in the sun or cook it over firewood, there was no point in using magic. ...At best, it could be a way to save on firewood costs, or a way to punish Reiko....
The only time magic was useful for drying and smoking fish was when it came to salt production.
There's an infinite amount of salt water nearby, underneath the cliff. There are a number of ways to do this, such as using magic to separate and extract the salt water, or using heat to evaporate the water.
…Of course, it would be easier to use my own abilities than Reiko's magic, but in this world, it's not good to cut corners. Besides, if Reiko didn't have a place to shine...
If it were just salt, we could have said that we were "getting it cheaply from another country." Since we were outsiders and were considered to be from a wealthy family, people would assume that we had some kind of connections, so that would be an explanation, and when the children want to do it on their own in the future, they could just procure it somewhere. In the meantime, we could teach them how to make salt on a small scale.
Well, if we bought salt normally, it was pretty expensive. So, we decided to cheat and buy salt that we could get through normal channels (but it's expensive) without looking suspicious.
This was within the acceptable range, yeah.
That's why I sold seafood products that I made in a very ordinary way to a few bars and restaurants (I didn't have the audacity or shamelessness to call them restaurants or eateries). I'd like to add two or three more, but I was thinking about doing that after checking the reputation of the stores I sold to for now. There was a limit to the production capacity, after all.
"...It's not as easy and luxurious a life as I thought it would be..." (Reiko)
"Of course! We're not noble, and we're not the daughter of a wealthy merchant in this world. It would be strange for a commoner girl to live such an easy life..." (Kaoru)
Reiko suddenly started saying that, so I scolded her...
"But we’re just assuming that we’re the daughters of rich people doing something for fun, without regard for profitability… or rather, isn’t that what people think?" (Reiko)
Ugh...
"Well, well, it’s just that it’s convenient for the merchants and higher-ups to have that misconception, but in reality I don’t have that kind of backing, and I’ve decided to seal away the assets I’ve saved up in the past and not use them unless something extraordinary happens. From now on, we'll start off as normal commoners with zero assets, except for a house. Well, if I can save up a little money, I'll indulge in some 'small, ordinary luxuries'. Also, in the underground headquarters (secret base), there is no limit to the amount of luxury items you can eat, drink, and use using the potion-making ability..." (Kaoru)
Yes, at the underground, it was partly about preparing for the worst-case scenario, but I also wanted to live as a proper "resident of this world". Of course, now that we had Mine and Aral, that was the intention from the beginning. And that was what I had agreed with Reiko too. ...Otherwise, we wouldn't have decided to take in Mine and the kid so easily. Living just the two of us versus living with Mine and the kid, who were from this world and could not tell us our secrets, would be a completely different living situation, or the degree of difficulty, or the things we have to be careful about. …That's right, "there's a limit to restrictive play."
But, well, that's fine too. When it comes to another world, it's all about defeating the demon king or living a slow life. Of course, we choose the latter. Since we're here, we decided to choose the red slow life. Hmmm!