“And here they come.”
After I came out of the tent, Dargan walked up to me. The school gates had just opened, and we could see luxurious carriages coming in one after the other. The curtain was finally raised— or perhaps it was more appropriate to say the battle had begun.
“Put in some spirit. We’re gonna scare the hell outta the Carlests.”
Dargan smacked my back. It was good to see him so motivated.
“Frankly speaking, the first day will be pretty tight. Please don’t lose heart over it.”
“Like hell I’m gonna.”
He slapped my back once more. A critical hit. Well, I guess it’s a good thing that we’re able to have this sort of exchange now.
The extravagantly dressed guests descended from their carriages and filed into the white school building. A few exceptions headed straight towards the gazebos, and not a single guest came by the Food Court. It was entirely possible that the group of parasols appeared to be nothing more than a luggage area to them.
Nobody dropped by because they had no idea what would happen here, and since nobody dropped by, it looked even less attractive as a shop.
✦ ✦ ✦
After a while, visitors began showing up in the courtyard. They weren’t here for the Food Court, but were waiting in line in front of Alfina’s tent.
“We’re doing things just as planned, but still no one, huh?”
“There’s still just ten of them. That’s the way things go.”
I forced a relaxed expression to hide my concern as I replied to Lilka. Our members were casually walking up to Alfina’s visitors with the one-plate lunch. From what I could see, they were drawing some interest, but we still hadn’t gotten any orders.
I had asked Alfina to make sure that she absolutely did not make recommendations for the Food Court. One reason was in fact because her nature wasn’t capable of such force of personality, but the more important reason was that it would have the opposite effect on our expected patrons for the day. In any case, all she had to do was gather people in the area.
The omens so far weren’t bad. Visitors who came to greet the princess showed up earlier than I thought they would, and there were more of them than expected. They were mostly nobles from the west connected to Archduchess Berthold, as well as nobles from the central Kingdom attracted by her newfound fame from the prophecy.
According to Alfina’s manager of public relations, Louisa, even a few nobles from the east had come. This was likely Hilda’s plan at work to make a show of the princess’s pitiful state here in the courtyard. In which case, they wouldn’t serve as potential patrons. Normally, that is.
However, the customers we were hoping for on the opening day of the Food Court weren’t bound by that manner of geographical or political standard. It was more a question of their personality, or perhaps their nature.
It was said in marketing that 2.5 percent of potential customers were innovators, the type who were extremely fond of curiosities. That was only one in 40 people. Taking into account that this was a festival, the chance of such an early adopter being in the pack could be increased to 5 percent at most.
Putting it another way, as long as we attracted the attention of as many people as we could, we would be able to entice someone who would be up for the challenge of trying something new. The data I had on this wasn’t from this world, but human nature didn’t change all that much no matter where you went. If it was different on such a level, my social senses would be even more off track than they already were. I did of course plan on taking data here too.
“In any case, I’m leaving it to you and Mia to get a grasp of customer trends here.”
“Got it. That said, though, no one has even... Oh!”
A middle-aged man with a short mustache came out of Alfina’s tent accompanied by a girl who looked about the age of a middle-schooler. It was likely the father and little sister of one of the noble students. Lilka’s gaze was aimed at the girl’s necklace. The mainstream decoration for high society used flowers for the design, but hers used a bird.
Just as before, one of our one-plate lunches was carried over to give them a look. The girl came to a stop. Plura, who was in charge of explaining the dish, was called over, and she asked him something or other.
And then...
“Looks like our commemorative first customer.”
The hesitant father was urged on by his daughter towards a seat.
“I just recalled something I was told, Father. Is a dish not as delicious as how beautifully it sits atop a plate?”
“You’re right... Mm, the sauce patterned around the edges has a splendid design.”
The girl’s eyes were sparkling as she looked at the plate. Her father shrugged his shoulders with a “good grief”-looking expression, then began to take interest, being led along by his daughter. This had Plura grinning.
“Furthermore, the aroma of the sauce is quite curious.”
“Indeed, I was somewhat opposed to it at first, but it’s quite interesting once you’re used to it. Mhm, it isn’t bad.”
Ruston remained silent, but his fist was tightly clenched, whereas Lilka and Shirley joined their hands in joy.
✦ ✦ ✦
The sun was approaching its zenith. The shadows cast by the parasols were close to perfect circles. And now, the Food Court was in a slightly better state.
Even our members looked somewhat more cheerful compared to this morning when the cuckoos were singing. Our chief of reception Lilka was going around the tables with energetic steps. All of our customers were basically nobles who came to greet Alfina. However, we also had visitors who were just passing between the school building and the gazebos come by every now and then.
Just as we planned, most of our customers were women, and the men felt like they were just brought along. After they took their seats though, everyone left satisfied.
“Mhm. Isn’t this better than what I had last time?”
On a completely unrelated note, Fulsig was smacking his lips behind me with his mock-up parabolic antenna in hand. The numerology professor who came with him also nodded with a serious expression. I guess he was somewhat related. Ignoring any distinction by gender, this geezer fell dead center in our anticipated customer base. Oh, Alfina did too, I suppose.
“How’s it going, Mia...?”
“Everything is going as you hypothesized so far, sir.” Mia replied as she looked at the numbers in her hand.
The characteristics of all our customers was that they all loved new things regardless of age or gender. Nobles certainly did have a tendency to respect tradition, and they couldn’t make unwise decisions out of risk of ruining the reputation of their house. But that’s also exactly why they had a hunger for new things. And to them, this was just a festival. Even if they made some sort of blunder here, they could just laugh it off and be done with it.
✦ ✦ ✦
“I doubted your sanity, seeing that you were trying to do business out of a courtyard and some storerooms, but you are most certainly hanging in there.”
“Teehee, oh my, you’re unexpectedly putting up quite a brave fight, aren’t you?”
“Well, if it isn’t the Carlests... Haha, it’s been quite educational.”
The Carlest siblings were in a great mood seeing only one group under the parasols. There was more than one just earlier, but they really did come to take a look with the best timing, so I was in a great mood myself.
“So, how about it? Would you like to try one?”
I stood in front of them to block them from seeing the food being carried to the table, praying silently that they would refuse, of course.
“Regrettably, we’ll have to refrain. We are terribly busy, you see.”
“Haha, the Kendalls will have to put in just a little more effort. It must be terrible to have the customers of our child companies judge them so.”
And unusually enough, my prayers were answered. With this, it would be too late for them to try and start anything with us. It would be fine for them to begin getting wary on the third day. However, the way the older brother had his eyes on the crest of Dargan’s shop and the little sister looked at Plura’s shop had me somewhat troubled. Those were our two independent companies.
It’s fine if your parents think they may be going to the Kendalls and asked you to prod. That sort of intelligence gathering is normal. However, this is the Academy, a place of education. At least try to keep up your official stance. I’d prefer if you didn’t get in the way of my work as the manager of this Food Court. At any rate...
“I see things are starting to get going, Mia.”
“Yes.”
I looked at the numbers on the memo Mia held out to me. We were expecting things to start getting very busy.