We’re Causing An Incident! (4)

Silence settled over the reception room, and it was me who broke it.

“All right—how were what you just ate and drank?”

Rubins reacted with something close to a fuss, while Tein looked grave.

“You intend to sell this to the public, correct?”

“That’s the idea for now—though externally, it would be House Hameureun that has to handle the work.”

“Why won’t you step to the front yourself?”

“As you can see, we’re short-handed. Unlike House Hameureun, which has been nobility for a long time and established itself in one region, we don’t have enough retainers. The few we do have can barely keep up with internal work as it is. And the biggest issue is that I can’t easily leave the domain.”

If I wasn’t here, we couldn’t do the various “mana imbuement” tasks, including medicines.

That was one of our domain’s chronic problems. It was manageable if I only imbued one product per day with the warehouse unit, because there was a cap on how much we could consume—but if a large group like Princess Riana’s party or the Dust of Sands Trading Company showed up, our prepared stock would be gone in no time.

The absolute maximum I could be away was about two months. Beyond that, no matter what I did, there was no answer.

Well, there was a way—but it would be more accurate to say everyone would stop me.

“Because I’d collapse again…”

If I burned through massive amounts of mana, my stamina also took a major hit. Why did magic power and mana drain stamina so heavily?

I had questions, but I figured once the medicine I was focusing on was developed, it would be resolved to some extent. Before that, I still had work to put in order.

“Linda, can you explain?”

At my words, Linda cleared her throat to draw the siblings’ attention and began speaking.

“First, the stores we were considering have been reduced from two options to one. To be precise, you can think of it as combining the two into a single concept.”

“And what would that be?”

Tein showed interest. Rubins, on the other hand, seemed to love eating but didn’t care much for this kind of discussion—probably because he was still young.

In practice, his older sister handled the major decisions, while Rubins served as the public face outside.

So the right move was to win Tein over.

“We’ll sell what you just consumed in a single establishment. Calling it a restaurant would be close, but our ultimate goal is to invest more effort into creating a quiet, comfortable place—somewhere like a refined restaurant—where a person can sit alone in contemplation for a long time, or enjoy conversation with acquaintances.”

“Then the locations to open would be high-population hub cities, yes?”

“That is our initial target. We plan to open and manage one or two shops in a hub city, and we would like House Hameureun to stand at the forefront publicly.”

“Standing at the forefront won’t be difficult. But of course, we would gain something in return.”

“Correct.”

Linda calmly handed Tein the documents. Tein read them, passed them to Rubins, then fell into thought before speaking.

“It says you’ll give us 10% of revenue. I’m worried that’s too much.”

He was saying it while looking at me—he likely wanted a direct confirmation from my mouth. Even if retainers drafted the plan, the owner still needed to show he understood it.

“If you think 10% is a lot, I’m relieved—but in truth, once these shops exist, people will talk. Pressure will come down on House Hameureun. High nobles may demand you hand over the recipes, or the imperial family may try to intervene. Because we will require unconditional silence on matters like that, we intend to pay an appropriate price.”

Even though we were the ones providing most of the infrastructure, transport, production, and staffing, they wanted to confirm why they were being offered 10%.

I laid out the information as I knew it, and Tein nodded, then glanced toward Rubins.

But Rubins seemed utterly absorbed in the moist chocolate cookie. Tein sighed and said to me,

“The terms are excellent. But if certain people intervene—people we can’t handle—what should we do?”

“Tell them the truth. Tell them the one ‘using’ House Hameureun is me. Then they’ll likely try to obstruct your business or come to argue with me directly. Or they’ll try to win your house over—with money, titles, anything.”

Tein stared at me with a serious expression, then asked one more thing.

“What if we betray you?”

“That’s fine. At worst, it ends with some stock in that shop being used up.”

“Why?”

“Because everyone we dispatch will be trained beastkin.”

Only then did Tein understand the full picture. And as she grasped what I was drawing, Tein let out a small laugh and said,

“Then any pressure from humans who aren’t acknowledged by the beastkin… no matter what they do, they won’t be able to obtain information, will they…?”

“Exactly.”

Historically, the relationship between humans and beastkin had been complicated. Persecution, the prejudice that they were “dogs of the Demon Tribe,” and fear of the Demon God’s Moon had made many view beastkin as something to be avoided. But recently, beastkin who caused no trouble during the Demon God’s Moon had become a notable topic, and the fact that a human “employed” them seemed to be improving perceptions little by little.

On top of that, the Ingrad Apothecary had, unintentionally, contributed to improving the image as well.

Princess Riana had openly spread rumors that every medicine being sold came from the Ingrad Domain, and that Viscount Ingrad—working in cooperation with beastkin—was distributing it for the people at minimal profit.

It was all baseless nonsense, but the medicines sold by the Ingrad Apothecary were cheaper than those of the Pharmacists’ Guild and several times more effective, so their popularity was skyrocketing.

Just looking at how every new apothecary sold out within half a day was enough to feel that popularity firsthand.

Well, that aside. This matter was something we had to discuss after setting all of that down.

“If beastkin are carrying food and serving customers… people might feel uncomfortable.”

“Do you think so?”

I smiled and offered a few examples—beastkin maid outfits, modified slightly to give off a more alluring atmosphere, or emphasizing cuteness to draw attention and reduce resistance. When I proposed that direction, Tein started looking at me like, what kind of man is this?

Not quite the gaze reserved for a pervert, but definitely the gaze reserved for someone strange. Still, this was important marketing.

Instinct stimulation, you could say.

Anyway, after I made it clear I absolutely wouldn’t compromise on this point, Tein reluctantly nodded. Then, as Tein began a full discussion with Linda, I turned to Rubins.

“All right, Baron Rubins. Shall we go for a walk outside so the two of them can work?”

Only then did he notice the two women deep in heated debate, say he understood, and stand. After that, the place I headed with Rubins was the dining hall.

He seemed to love the chocolate cookies, so I intended to let him take some. But with brownies, various breads, and an array of cookies Riin had made through different experiments displayed on the table, Rubins’ eyes lit up as he looked at me.

“Are you planning to sell all these cookies?”

“First we need to see the reactions. At the start, we’ll produce a variety and send them out. But once time passes and we learn what people prefer, the lineup will be pared down considerably.”

“Even so… it’s amazing. How did you come up with all of this?”

“Well… it just sort of happened?”

Rubins’ eyes sparkled. By Earth’s age, he was still basically a middle schooler, so I could understand that reaction.

When I told him to fill a basket with whatever he wanted, he grabbed the tongs and started piling things in with single-minded focus. Watching him, a thought occurred to me.

“A foolish… bread-and-cookie buffet… that might not be bad either.”

In other words, set prices by basket size and let people pack as much as they could carry. There was a limit to how much anyone could fit, after all.

If someone was absurdly good at stacking and could build a cookie tower dozens of centimeters tall, it still wouldn’t break the model—just set the basket price at a reasonable level.

After thinking it through, I said,

“Pack as much as you can. As much as you can fit, understood?”

“Thank you!!”

Rubins was my test subject.

After that, he tried every method imaginable to cram in even one more piece. I had a maid bring two more baskets of different sizes, handed them to him, and said,

“If that’s not enough, fill these too. This works, and if you want, I’ll give you all three—so pack them carefully.”

With a determined expression, Rubins kept stacking cookies and bread. I stepped back and watched the quantity, and sure enough, the basket size made a noticeable difference—but overall, I confirmed that big or small, the general “feel” inevitably converged.

“Bigger baskets do hold more, but they don’t let you pack in something fundamentally different… hmm, I’ll need to adjust pricing…”

After thinking through a few angles, I said to Rubins, who had filled all three baskets to the brim with a triumphant expression,

“They’re all yours, Baron Rubins. Take them and enjoy.”

“Thank you!”

Later, when Linda and Tein finished aligning opinions and came from the reception room to the dining hall, Tein looked dumbfounded at Rubins leaning back in a chair, groaning that he was too full to move—but seeing Linda nod beyond him, I figured negotiations had ended in the direction we wanted.

“Sis… I’m too full, I can’t move!”

“Honestly… Rubins, you must consider your dignity. Haven’t I told you that you can’t keep behaving like a child forever?”

“Today… no, just today, please. Sis, look—how can anyone resist after seeing this?”

Tein looked shocked at the pile of cookies and bread that had somehow grown even larger, and Linda was equally surprised. I yielded my seat to the two women and said,

“Take as much as you’d like in these baskets and eat. It’s a gift. Linda, you take some too—understood?”

They both thanked me, then carefully picked up the baskets and tried different techniques as they packed cookies and bread. I had to watch them for quite a while.

And I reached one conclusion.

“This business will work.”