Chapter 266: Let’s Open a Stall with the Take It Easy Members!

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When the members of Take It Easy came back from shopping, we started the preparations!

As expected of a port town, it was overflowing with all sorts of fish. Given that deep-fried food can be prepared quickly with little effort, I decided that we’d go with those as the main dish.

In addition, we’d also offer Thai Curry. After all, they bought something similar to coconuts for me!

“Leemooon! You’ve really got a great eye for things!” I happily praised her after grabbing her hands.

“Are you going to marry me then?” She proposed to me.

But I rejected it, “Unfortunately I plan to stay single for life.”

This caused Leemon to hang her head in dejection. Sword (he was already drinking his liquor) looked our way and commented with a laugh, “As I thought, your quite popular among women because your so nice to ’em.”

Don’t phrase it like I’m only popular with women.

“Bah, I’m sure the guys are simply too shy to confess to a beauty like me. Just like you!”

“Don’t pull me into this. Besides, I don’t even know how to retort to this as it’s so full of arrogant bullshit,” Sword immediately responded.

Today’s menu was going to be:

– Fish fritter

– Spicy, coconut-seafood stew

– Marinaded Pinchos of fish and paprika (-like veggie)

Suddenly remembering it, I also made a big amount of forks. Or to be more precise, a hybrid! Combining fork and spoon!

＊

Once we opened the stall, the very first guest was the guildmaster. I wonder whether that’s going to become something like a custom now? Well, he might be proactive about it out of consideration for our situation.

Just as I hoped for, Leemon and her party dealt with things quickly and energetically. I’m definitely going to take them back with me to our base.

In reality, I’d love to take them with me on our trip as bar staff, but if I did something like that, those guys, who are kinda block-headed when it comes to looking for marriage partners, would never be able to find a spouse, I’m sure. And that would be way too miserable, I think.

＊

As I observed the customer flow, I noticed that the frequency was somewhat worse than Seay. The ones visiting our bar were mostly the fisherman-like folks we met at the harbor and people who appeared to be merchants from other countries.

And they kept asking for second servings of our food and drinks. The guildmaster, too.

Given that Leemon’s party had set the pricing this time around, the menu items cost a lot more than in Seay, but it looked like our customers didn’t care.

“Hmm, I see. So it sells even at this sort of price, huh?”

Leemon and the others became stunned when they heard my mutter.

“Look here, Sir Indra, even if you don’t set the price to be dirt cheap, food and drinks are going to sell as long as they are delicious! In the first place, you’re an S-Rank adventurer party, aren’t you? The only guests coming to this place would be people who have resolved themselves that it’d be for rich commoners. Leaving aside, if you were to raise your prices to ridiculous amounts as they’re paid by nobles, your things will sell even if they’re somewhat more expensive than usual!”

Afterwards, I was swarmed by the Taking It Easy members and got scolded. It looks like I’ve been too ignorant of the world.

But, look, as a noble I had no money, and when I left the mansion, I received a fair amount of money. And while I’ve been traveling with Sword, he’s been paying for everything without making a fuss out of it.

I experienced being a G-Rank, but I earned ten copper during the medical herb collection and camped out in the wild. Afterwards I formed a party with Sword and he took care of all requests, so I don’t really know how much you usually earn for certain work.

Moreover, you’re expecting far too much of me, who believes in cooking for herself, if you believe that I’d research the prices of commoner bars.

＊

When things at the bar calmed down a bit, I performed a song. It was a cheerful pop song, but the response by my audience was crazy low. It looks like it’d be better and easier to understand for them if I went with children’s songs using local lyrics.

After I brooded silently for a while, I sang a translated version of 『Tenohira wo taiyouni』, changing the lyrics towards the end in the style of 『Be it adults or children, you and me』.

I mean, the bugs over here are monsters. So even if I sang about all of us being friends, people would just look at me dumbfounded while judging me to be a mental case. (T/N: This is a reference to the lyrics of the song. They’re very simple (nursery song after all) and can be summarized as every living being is alive, and everyone is friends)

It’s a song I’d love the Ryokus to learn. Also, 『Donadona』 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R445V0OeHT4) and 『Akai Kutsu』 (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MMFkZSKlASM)

However, I kind of worry it might raise death flags if they’re sung badly.

…Anyway, once I finished singing, people had finally warmed up to it. As I thought, going with lyrics they understand is much better.

＊

{Sword}

Somehow…I knew that we aren’t quite welcome here, but compared to the other town, the amount of guests is really bad. Indra said that it can’t be helped since our prices are a lot higher than in the previous town, but that’s not the issue here.

Because of the reason bein’ what it is, people wouldn’t visit our stall even if everythin’ was for free.

But well, ain’t like that’s any problem for us. The people of this town simply miss out on eatin’ awesome food. That’s all.

The guildmaster has been stuffin’ his cheeks with food and drinks while lookin’ all doom and gloom…wait, now that I think ’bout it, he got several second servings by now.

In the end he started to whine, “…You see, even I, or rather, the town’s people wanted to welcome you! You came all the way out here for us, right? So we wanted to welcome you to an extent that wouldn’t fall short of Seay!”

The people around us severally agreed with his words.

“…But you have to understand, Shining Lightning Star simply can’t look the other way. And since that guy’s been working hard for us, trouble has died down in this town. You could even say that guy’s shouldering all the trouble around here, so no other quarrels crop up. You understand?”

He rambled while partially drunk. So I soothed him.

“I understand. I really do. It ain’t like we’re askin’ for some grand welcome either. If that smug guy’s needed for the safety and order of this town, we’ve got no problem with leaving things to him. However, let me tell you just one thing in advance. For me, my partner…Indra matters the most. So, if that arrogant prick does somethin’ to her, I’ll kill him in the worst case.”

Everyone who heard my words froze on the spot.

“Indra is…well I s’pose you’ve grasped it by now as well, but she’s a genius capable of ‘nythin’ who can’t be beaten when it comes to bein’ arrogant. But, it looks like she’s very bad with conceited folks. So, if that guy starts some shit with her, I’ll kill him in the unlikely event that somethin’ should happen to her. Just keep that in mind, ‘kay?” I finished my words on a casual note.

They still remained frozen, though.

“Don’t worry so much. We’ll depart once you give us our share of the fish we caught. …And even if he were to try some shit with me personally, I wouldn’t really care ‘nyway. I’m used to it after all. But, Indra is off-limits. Usually, she never becomes so emotionally unsettled that I’d need to pacify her. She’s someone who doesn’t give much of a damn ’bout others’ spite and nastiness.

But, it looks like she can’t stomach that smug dude. It was my first time to observe Indra reacting so cutely. Well, at the moment it’s at the level of her actin’ adorable, but I don’t wanna see her cry. Also, I’m scared of what she might do if she goes nuts. So make sure that he stays away from us, ‘kay?”

Everyone present nodded meekly.

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