Clearly distinguished men and women began pouring in one after the other through the entrance. The seats at the Carlest table in the back were packed, while the Kendall table was sparsely filled out. I see, there’s far less “play” here than there was with the festival shops. And that was for all the parents of the commoners — in other words, the merchants of the Kingdom — to see.
“I still need to clean up the rest of the Food Court, so I’d like to get going already...”
“Please wait just a little longer. Look, he’s here.”
The last one to come in was a stylish middle-aged man accompanied by a girl younger than the students of the Academy. I don’t know who he is, but I feel like I’ve seen the girl somewhere before...
“He’s the one you talked about.” Jean pointed his gaze at this man.
“I don’t know who that is, though...?”
“Haah... It looks like you really aren’t lying. That’s Duke Aleberg. The duke from the central region.”
Well, that’s quite the bigwig. The stylish man with a soft demeanor quickly had a gathering of nobles building up around him, to whom he responded with a gentle smile. The one to come forth with both arms spread in a grandiose manner was none other than Hilda, flanked by the two Carlests. The three of them began guiding the duke towards the seats in the back as if it were a matter of course.
However, the girl accompanying the duke pulled on his sleeve. And then, as if dragged along by her, he sat down at the less populated table. In other words, he sat on the Kendalls’ side. A small sense of agitation ran through the venue. The gazes of the merchants who were previously focused on the filled Carlest seats were now all gathered on the duke.
“We didn’t get anything close to a positive response, no matter how we tried to approach him. But it seems the rumors of the junos’s aroma, along with your recipe for the pain perdu, reached his ears. The young lady with him is the duke’s sister’s daughter, I think.”
Now that I think of it, that girl came by this morning and ordered pain perdu before anyone else could.
“Junos can be procured by Ruston, and we received an offer from Plura for the recipe. Of course, I plan on giving you a suitable reward as well.”
Plura mentioned that the Kendalls came to him about the recipe. How honest of them. Both Lilka and Ruston were there when it was being made. Personally, I planned on making it available to the public together with all the members who cooperated.
“Finally, we’ve got a real fight on our hands... Just how far ahead were you planning?”
“Like I’ve said from the beginning, I only thought as far as livening up the courtyard. That was also mostly thanks to the abilities of our members.”
He did mention that Aleberg was a man of hobbies. But I didn’t have the leisure to really think about it at the time. Jean simply shrugged his shoulders at my implication that it would actually be quite terrifying if I did plan for this. He then parted ways with me in order to go and greet the duke, and I left the building through the back door.
It was quite dark out earlier, but now the moon hung over the sky as I headed towards the courtyard. Guards were standing at the gate, wearing different uniforms from the ones who were around during the festival. I suppose they were from the noble district.
“Even the quality of the police differs with the land, huh? I guess it’s inevitable, considering the different scales of taxes... That just goes to show how the sponsors are still no match for them.”
I looked at the guards, as bitter memories came back to me. I was unable to foresee the close relationship between the guards of the upper-class district and the guild’s deputy representative. If the Carlests were to become the representative, I would have to be extra careful about that.
Well, I guess I should be alright if I make a public show of being Euphylia’s asset. But I was still a little worried about our members being marked as a clear enemy of the Carlests because of what happened. Their shops happened to be in the upper-class district.
I turned the corner around the school building and came upon the courtyard that was just waiting to be cleaned up.
“It sure is lively.”
Dargan and Plura were both boasting about their shops. Plura was bragging about being the top rank among all the members, while Dargan kept retorting that it was only because he got a recipe from his junior.
Next to him, Lilka, Shirley, and Mia were eating French toast. Seeing my dear secretary doing such a thing, she truly looked just like a normal schoolgirl.
They must have been having a closing party of their own. It was much more like a party for a school festival over here. I looked over the group in a somewhat nostalgic mood.
Mia spotted me, and came over carrying a cup. It seemed to be hot water with honey and junos. Not bad at all.
“Where’s Princess Alfina?”
“She came by to greet everyone earlier. I think she’s still in her tent.”
“I see.”
Right, time to offer up my final thanks as the manager of the Food Court, not to mention answer a certain question of hers as well.
I headed towards the still lit tent. It really was like her to so faithfully stay behind.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
I peeked into the open tent. Both Alfina and Alicia were inside. The maid covered her mouth, having just stuffed golden bread in her face, as she stood up and moved in front of Alfina. She had one cheek puffed out like a chipmunk, but I didn’t point it out. Both Louisa and Claudia were missing. She was likely being wary because of that.
“How was the auditorium, Ricardo?”
“It was quite lively, so I slipped away. Are you not participating, Princess Alfina?”
“It’s my duty to supervise the courtyard, so I thought to look over it to the very end.”
If Alfina were to sit down at the same table as Duke Aleberg, it would carry far too profound a meaning behind it. If that were seen as the intent of her guardian, Archduchess Euphylia, it would possibly even drive the duke from his seat.
Let’s drop the politics talk right there, I’ve had enough of that boorish closing festivity.
“Are you not bored, being cramped up in this tent for such a time?”
I asked her exactly what was on my mind. I had her fulfill her role of attracting customers during the entire festival. There was also the matter with the Empire the other day, and accompanying Hilda must have been quite tiring.
“The festival was just as lively, no, even more lively than I imagined. I also received this from everyone...”
A plate was on Alfina’s table with all of the shops’ prided cuisine crammed on top of it. It was like a deluxe one-plate lunch. Or, I guess at this scale, it was more like a dinner. I felt like they put too much of their gratitude into it. The serving size really was grandiose. It wasn’t as elegant as the full course banquet in the auditorium, but this was far more suitable for a student festival.
“I’m the one who must thank you. You were the one at the center of the entire Food Court. All I did was sit here in this tent.”
“That’s not true. You served a major role to us, Princess Alfina. If not for you, the Food Court would never have gotten so lively.”
I went on to explain the marketing plan this time around to Alfina. She listened to me intently, full of interest in learning new things, throwing in appropriate responses here and there.
“Above all else, what allowed the members of the Food Court to do their business with peace of mind was their trust in your presence here, Princess Alfina. Though it’s somewhat rude of me to say, you are something like this plate. The plate itself cannot be eaten, but it’s indispensable for the one-plate lunch. Just as this plate supports the food, you were here to support our Food Court and allow our members to do business.”
Just like the white plate, she was slender, didn’t waver, didn’t yield to showy claims, and gave off a modest white shine. It was an ideal analogy of her public characteristics. Small wonder nobody was worried.
“I feel quite proud of myself for you to say that, Ricardo.”
Alfina smiled in a truly happy manner. She was like a little sister being praised by her brother. However, her expression immediately clouded over.
“But... I feel like, just as before, you didn’t really get much recompense. You were even excluded from the rankings.”
“I did manage to get everything I wanted, more or less. Let’s see... As long as you’re capable of properly explaining the state of the courtyard to Her Grace the Archduchess, that will be more than sufficient.”
It would surely serve as a stimulus for selling our stocks at a high price. I could without a doubt claim that I was the one who profited the most from the Academy Festival. I might have even made too much of a profit.
“I do concur regarding the work Her Highness has put in, but is it not disrespectful to make it sound like you were simply using her?”
Alicia’s wary words stabbed me right in the heart.
“Shia,” Alfina rebuked her maid lightly.
She did have a point, though. If she could learn just a bit of Alicia’s wariness, Alfina would...
That can wait. First is something from me.
“Then, it’s a little strange to offer this in exchange, but allow me to answer the question you had during our lesson some time ago, about my goal in doing business. Let’s step outside for a moment.”
I invited Alfina out of the tent. The Food Court members, companies who dealt in all manner of different goods, were gathered together in the courtyard.
“I want to spread such a place throughout the entire Kingdom.”
To take many different companies, combine all their particular specialties, and give birth to new merchandise, just like we did to make our customers so happy in the afternoon. That would eventually give birth to a great expansion of economic scale. And as the world grew from that, it would give birth to even newer products.
A marketplace with just a little more freedom would become the catalyst to accelerate the evolution of the ecosystem known as economics. If I were to give that enterprise a name, it would be a general trading company.
“I think of money as a means to create and sustain such a system.”
Profit is not the purpose of business, but rather, the test of its validity. This was a claim argued by Peter Drucker.