CH 59

Today was opening day for the tea and cake shop.

Everyone had an early breakfast before heading over on foot.

“It’s been three days. I’m looking forward to what the four of them have done.”

“It seems that Ken’s been working hard for both shops.”

“It’s good that they’ll be in walking distance for us.”

“Looking forward to it nya.”

The five girls had fun taking a walk while chatting amongst themselves.

And then they ran into people.

Both the cake shop and the tea shop already had customers lined up at the doors.

“Jewelry Box-minasama, have a good day.”

“Good morning Jewelry Box.”

The lines were made up of the regulars for Lily Garden.

Each one of them showed their respect for Ellis’s group by formally referring to them as their team name Jewelry Box.¹

Their city had begun to change recently, and the need for the citizens of Warren to worry about their future was disappearing.

As for the women of the city, the presence of Lily Garden had started to give them an inner feeling of pride due to its popularity with women in other cities.

While this fact did not really matter to a hikineet, it did mean that these older women were willing to drop more money.

“Oh Claire, you’ve arrived.”

Flint welcomed Ellis’s group on their arrival.

They met up with him atop the deck that connected the two stores.

There, the four usual guild masters had all gathered.

Ellis always had a bad feeling whenever these guys gathered together.

“Well, let’s sit down.”

At Baltis’s word, Ellis sat down at the prepared table.

And then the opening.

Inside the cake shop, it was 800 ril for a 5-color cake takeaway basket while individual cakes were sold at 100 ril.

They currently had ten takeaway baskets that you could buy individually for 300 ril if you wanted to. The baskets were durable enough that they could be used multiple times.

Upon your second visit to the store, you could use your pre-bought basket to carry away your cakes.

In addition to the five colored cakes, other baked confections were also available at 100 ril a piece as well.

The inside of the shop was unified with a bright interior with a central floral design. The flower patterns was cute  and very popular with the customers.

Meanwhile, at the tea shop, pots were sold at the planned price of 5,500 ril for the limited edition pots and 5,000 ril at the ordinary ones.

There was also a mechanism where they could sell just the contents to you for 3,000 ril if you brought back your own pot.

Today was everyone’s first time visiting, so they all had to buy a pot. The popularity this time was mostly centered on the limited edition one.

“Hold on, I’m writing these down. Explain them one at a time.”

Theseus had pulled out a pen and had furiously started scribbling down some notes.

“At the bathhouse, reservations for Marilyn and Margherita are for very good business only, so let’s move all that business to a different bathhouse that way the children and elderly can enjoy using the one already built.”

“What about the management?”

“Hmm, it might be better to just fully transfer the management of the new bathhouse to the Thieve’s Guild for this. If we were to just fully welcome Margherita and Marilyn into the guild, they could act as members of the intelligence unit. From there, it would be best to leave the management to the girls from there.”

Baltis nodded with a smug smirk on his face.

“What’s the nightclub for then?”

Theseus immediately advanced the explanation.

“In short, it’d be a place for information exchange between customers, something like a social gathering. You’ll want to serve things centered around sake. The purpose is for them to have a place where they can gather and talk about anything from how proud they are of their kids to what they do in bed. The important thing is that the men have a sense of solidarity inside the building. It will surely prosper. It might be a good idea to put a gambling table in the store as well.”

Ellis paused a moment as another thought hit her.

“Better yet, if Marilyn and Margherita acted as hostesses and there was a connecting hallway from the nightclub to the bathhouse, I’m sure the rich would gather and the sound of ril hitting the table would echo throughout the night.”

“Alright then. What about the live house?”

“When the Merchant Guild transfers the rights of the bathhouse to the Thieves’ Guild, this will obviously mean that the Merchant Guild will have a loss of income. This should supplement that. Although we held a live show at the guild hall the other day, if we open up a stage there shows like that can happen more often. We don’t need a large theater like the Marsfield Opera House, but it will become a popular spot for the girly gay men if Nicole handles it.”

For the management of the live house, she added that Ferdinand Lorenburg could provide some helpful advice at running the live house.

“I’m curious, it was Reeve’s grandfather who had taught you to sing right?”

“Right.”

The four masters almost choked on their tea.

Shoulder length blonde hair, bright emerald eyes, and cute lips of a cherry color. What type of implication was coming from such a small girl.

“Ominous girls.”

In the end, Flint was only able to choke out those words.

The redevelopment of Warren began like this.

1. The ladies all refer to them as Jewelry Box-minasama which is a formal way of saying everyone or -sama for a group.

2. I checked this out nearly 50 times because I don’t know how a dice shape is meant to be cute, but that is definitely what it says. Am I just out of the times? Have I become old? No wonder my mother always tells me I suck at giving gifts.

3. Just in case you don’t know what that is, think of it like a comedy club except with music.