By the afternoon, the customers had multiplied even further. We were now filling over half our seats. Looking at it from the outside, it probably looked like we had finally gotten things in order. However, thinking about this rate of multiplication, it was a threat. According to Mia’s analysis, there was a possibility that the largest category of customers, the early majority, would be settling in imminently.
“Will the one-plate lunch be able to keep up?” I asked, taking a drink of water from the well.
“We’ve succeeded in guiding customers over to the main dishes served by each company, but...” Lilka said with an exhausted expression.
“...We’re running out of plates,” Shirley said, as she earnestly washed the dishes.
Originally, she was supposed to serve as Mia’s support, but now, we left all calculations to Mia, and had Shirley going around wherever we were short on hands.
“How do I put it...? I kind of feel bad for making the daughter of a silver do this...”
“...What else can we do? That girl doesn’t even really need my help.”
There are problems in leaving Mia on her own in terms of compliance, but I’ll just be thankful for their trust in her right now.
“...In any case, if everything goes as you anticipate, we’ll definitely run out tomorrow. Not out of food, but out of seats,” Ruston said.
Taking a look over at the seats, they were now 60 percent filled. By all rights, resolving physical limitations should have been difficult. However, that was the advantage of the courtyard: we had all the space we wanted. And no matter how much we used, the venue fee was free.
“We can’t do anything about getting more parasols, but let’s increase the amount of seats. Can you ask your boss about it, Lilka?”
“Yeah.”
“Thanks. Oh, Dargan, good timing. When business hours are over, we’re going to need some chairs and such carried over as far as the hallway. Can you help out?”
“Damn straight I can. I’ll tell the other buff guys in the shops to stick behind too.”
I guess all that’s left is to be careful of any interference from the Carlests. When Zeldia coincidentally passed by earlier, she simply said, “Well, good for you, it looks like you’ll be able to make a profit,” with a cramp in her smile. I suppose you could say she was surprised that we could conduct business normally here in the courtyard. If that’s all it was, then we still had some leisure time before they did anything.
However, will they remain equally careless by the end of the day? I’ll have to start preparing something for that now. Their choices for action should be limited, but...
“They could use hired goons to monopolize our seats... But it doesn’t seem like they have enough of a surplus in personnel to pull that off. Most of them are commoner students anyway. They surely don’t have the courage to remain seated while making noble guests wait. If they were to directly interfere, it would likely be difficult if they tried anything during the opening hours as well...”
I watched the guards patrolling the premise as I went over all possible forms of sabotage that could occur. Would their target be the manager, meaning me? In that case, I would have a fair bit of flexibility, seeing that the Weinders weren’t selling anything.
“Should we return the parasols to the lab after business hours are over? We’ve got decoys in our tent prepared already. What else...”
Maybe I’ll also have Louisa and Claudia increase the frequency of patrols in the area. And just as that thought passed my mind...
“Wh-Who are those guys?!”
I spotted an imposing group headed towards Alfina’s tent. They were a little older than the students here, all men around their early twenties. Wait, one of them was a woman. They were all wearing something that looked like a Catholic school uniform with a long coat atop it.
Claudia and Louisa came out of the tent, and they got into a heated dispute with the group in black.
“Sir.”
“Yeah, I’m going to take a look.”
Honestly, I didn’t really want to get involved. But this also fell under the responsibility of the manager of the Food Court.
As I got closer, it appeared that those black uniforms were military attire. They weren’t covered in medals or anything, but there was a crest on their chests. The clothing also appeared to be quite luxurious and had a velvet-like luster to it.
The crest was composed of three intersecting swords and was rather imposing. And that reminded me, this is what the imperial flag looked like — meaning these were our guests of honor from the Empire that Hilda was talking about.
Thinking about it normally, this would be something like a courtesy call to Alfina. But the atmosphere was far too strange for that. Louisa and Claudia were both showing clear determination in not budging an inch before these five visitors.
“To not even allow us to give our greetings... Are you not being rude to Prince Dagobahd?” The woman standing to the side of the one man who had a conspicuously large sword on his crest said.
She had black hair, blue eyes, and seemed to be strong-willed. Standing there in contrast with Claudia’s whitish school uniform, she somewhat gave off the feeling of a black knight.
Dagobahd is the name of the imperial prince, right? So that’s who the tall man in the middle of the group would be. It was clear that he had a well-balanced and tempered body, even to the untrained eye.
“I do believe her greetings to His Highness were completed during the welcoming party yesterday.”
“Though it’s a disappointment that she ran away, even though I invited her to a dance.” The prince replied to Louisa in an arrogant tone.
“Princess Alfina is a member of the clergy. It is the law that she must not become directly involved with political matters. Especially considering previous events...” Louisa stood her ground while maintaining decorum.
“Clau. Louisa.” Alfina came out of her tent, with Alicia standing in front of her with both arms held out and trembling.
“Princess Alfina, I’ve longed to see you.”
The prince’s gaze went straight through Alicia as if she didn’t exist. The glint in his eyes was that of a predator spotting its prey. It definitely wasn’t a proper way for a visiting dignitary to look at a princess. Even as Alfina’s body stiffened up, she endured his gaze.
“The Empire has long been troubled by the harm inflicted by monsters. From what I’ve heard, you have shown the ability to foresee a pack of monsters rampaging before it even occurred, yes? I’ve also heard of a wizard named Fulsig, but that matters not to me. I wish to hear more about this directly.”
“The prophecies of the Oracle Princess are a serious matter to the Kingdom. They are not something to be discussed in such a place as this. Should you not be exercising restraint precisely because of your position as a state guest?”
Alfina’s expression faltered upon hearing about harm inflicted by monsters, but Claudia still denied him.
“Furthermore, the princess has a full schedule with her work as an official of the Academy Festival,” Lousia said, stepping forth and following up after Claudia.
“How strange. According to the organizer Lady Hilda, we’ve been told that she was assigned a role with plenty of free time,” the black-haired girl said.
However, Louisa ostentatiously held her palm out towards the courtyard.
“And just as you can see, the courtyard is bustling with activity. This is, in fact, the first time that a shop has been put up in the courtyard. There is a mountain of cases which must be approved by the princess directly. Please do understand that this is necessary for everyone here to enjoy the festival. Including yourself, Your Highness.”
The black-haired girl faltered slightly at Louisa’s comment. I didn’t really want to step up, but now was the right chance to do so.
“P-P-P-Pardon me.”
Thus, I stepped forth as an overawed commoner. This was the “How did I end up here? I really drew the short straw. What should I do?” act that I’d developed over the last half-year.
But I guess there might not be much of a need for acting here. The imperial prince’s presence packs a punch all on its own. He was a full head taller than me, and looked like a gladiator right out of a movie. He really gave off the feeling that he would fight humans and beasts alike in the Coliseum.
I kept mentally reassuring myself, “This is just a festival,” and managed to squeeze the phrase I had prepared beforehand out through my throat.
“U-Um... Uhh, a quarrel has broken out between several of the students running the shops. I-I am quite terribly sorry to ask, but could you perhaps come along to be a mediator between them...?”
I looked at both the black prince and Claudia with fearful eyes, and the prince looked down at me as if looking at a rat.
“A dispute between mere commoners incapable of even using mana is nothing compared to the threat of monsters. It is not something for a silverblood gifted with the use of an ancient magitech tool to bother with...”
The prince stepped forth while spouting incomprehensible words. What’s an ancient magitech tool? And silverblood...?
And just then, a loud noise broke out from the Food Court’s tables. We then heard two men shouting at each other. It was Dargan and Plura. The surrounding crowd started to get noisy. However, the prince’s sharp gaze remained on Alfina, and he took one more step towards her.
“This cannot be ignored. Weinder, take Her Highness with you.”
Claudia stepped forth and stood in the prince’s way while saying something that made me doubt my ears. I could feel the seething anger of the black group as Louisa urged Alfina towards me, and I somewhat reflexively took her hand.
I just barely managed to send Jacob and Remy a signal as I spotted them in the corner of my eyes. With that, I left without taking a single glance behind me, leading Alfina by the hand.
As I got closer to the tables, Dargan and Plura stopped their staring contest and let us through between them. Lilka and the others pretended that we were mediating and blocked off any gazes from behind us.
This sudden flood of information is getting me all wound up. First, I have to find a place to calm down.