TWEM Vol. 4 Chapter 12
by nellstewartChapter 12 – Opening with a Bang!
——Early in the morning on the day of the opening.
I came to the store with Finne, Iris, Asha, Kusel, Ephyr and Suzuno to help with the preparations in the early hours of the morning when it was still dimly lit.
Tendo and the others had not come to help out at the store because they were returning to Glicente soon and wanted to spend time preparing and training for their return. Suzuno came along because she had decided to stick with me from now on.
I thought Kusel would be training with Tendo and the others, but instead she was like, “I’m not familiar with this kind of business, so I want to learn as much as I can”, and came along as well. Now I’m a little worried because she’s a musclehead, but then again, I’m glad that she’s willing to learn.
Today, the fate of the Ashtaroth Chamber of Commerce will be decided.
We’ve done a good job of advertising, and the morale of the employees is over the roof.
After all the preparations were complete, I gathered the employees together.
I looked around at all the employees, who were neatly lined up in a horizontal row.
“Now then. Today is the D-Day of our Ashtaroth Chamber of Commerce.”
Everyone nodded at my words.
“The flyers had a positive effect, and a lot of people are already anxious to buy. Today’s sales will be limited to two hundred for the nobles and three hundred for the low-priced version, with a limit of three units per person. The nobles will also come to participate in the sales, but there is no need for us to change our attitude——any questions?”
One employee raises her hand.
“Yes?”
“Thank you. If someone uses violence or force, how should we deal with them?”
To be honest, it won’t be surprising if some were to resort to extreme measures.
In such a case, there is only one thing to do.
“Fight back. Don’t kill them, but turn them over to the guards. But if you notice any intent to kill from them, make them pay for it later.”
“““Sir, yes sir!”””
At my words, the employees bowed their heads in unison.
It was a refined movement, like that of a well-organized army.
Finne and the others were muttering, “What was that flawless movement…”, but I pretended not to hear them!
“Good, now let’s begin the final preparations!”
“““Yes sir!”””
～
The preparations went smoothly a few minutes before the opening.
A line of people had formed in front of the store, waiting for the store to open.
There were not only commoners, but also people who looked like messengers of the nobles.
In fact, there were even horse-drawn carriages, probably belonging to the nobles who had come to participate personally.
I had a few employees maintain the line…still, a problem arose right away.
“Guide me up to the front! I’m a noble!”
I heard the voice from the back of the line.
I looked over and there he was, a fat piggy——I mean, a fat middle-aged man.
“Where is the one in charge of this business? Hey maid, I am a viscount!”
The employee who got yelled at calmly took care of the situation.
The others in line kept their distance, as if they wanted no part of it.
“I am sorry, sir. In our company, we consider all of our customers equal, regardless of whether they are nobles or commoners. So we cannot give special treatment to any one customer, sir.”
The maid bowed politely.
But if he was the type to simply nod and accept such courtesy, he would not have made a fuss in the first place.
“A commoner with such a high and mighty attitude! By flexing my power a bit, I could crush this business with nothing but a thought! Now take me to the front of the line!!”
The Viscount Piggy, who had been making a lot of noise, suddenly closed his mouth.
Apparently, he noticed the intimidation I had unleashed.
“Ugh…”
I walked up to the Viscount piggy, whose face had turned pale and trembling.
“Shut the fuck up.”
Hearing those words, the Viscount piggy’s complexion changed from blue to red.
It seems that his anger had overtaken his fear.
“You pleb, do you know who I am? You think you can get away with such behavior towards——”
“I just told you to shut your trap, are you deaf? You may be a viscount, but your status has nothing to do with my business…You claim to be a noble and you don’t even know who runs this store, much less who I am?”
I said and took out my adventurer’s card.
The adventurer’s card I took out was jet black in color. The letters on it read ‘EX’.
The Viscount piggy’s face not only turned blue, it went completely pale, when he saw it.
“N-No friggin’ way, the pleb——I mean, you are that EX rank adventurer, the Demon King Haruto…”
“Da fuck you calling Demon King?”
I involuntarily made a snappy retort.
The customers in line were also saying, “Oh, so that’s the infamous…”, and “So It’s true that it’s the Demon King’s store…”.
Nah, I gotta hold it in, hold it in.
I changed my mind and stared at the Viscount Piggy.
“So I heard you were going to crush my store huh? Enlighten me please? A trading company that got approved directly by His Majesty?”
“His Majesty’s direct approval…”
After saying that much, the Viscount piggy finally understood the situation completely.
He got down on his knees and bowed his head.
He seemed to be trying to prostrate himself, but his stomach was so tight that he could hardly assume the accurate posture.
“I-I beg your forgiveness!”
“Sure, as long as we’re on the same page, we good. Join the line like everyone else, or go home if you feel it beneath you——sorry for the inconvenience everyone. We will be opening momentarily. We appreciate your patience.”
While I was bowing to the other customers, I saw the Viscount piggy slinking away.
The customers called out to me, “Yo, Demon King!”, or “You are the greatest adventurer!”, I went back inside the store while protesting in my mind.
～
Soon, it was time to open the store.
“Thank you all for your patience. We are now open for business. For the next four days, we will be having an opening sale, offering discounts on a variety of items. Please stop by and see if there’s anything you fancy!”
As Benak signaled the opening of the store, the customers trooped in.
From there, the crowd went wild. Various items were selling like they were disappearing, probably because they were on sale.
Four hours after the store opened, and even after 13:00 in the afternoon, there was no end to the number of customers. All the toilet seat quotas for the day were sold out, and the number of other items was steadily decreasing.
After another four hours, the store closed for the day.
“Today’s sales have finally come to an end. Tomorrow we will start selling again at the same time. Please come back again!”
With Benak’s announcement, the customers were leaving the store as we closed for the day.
It was so hectic that it was hard to take a break.
I gathered everyone together.
“Good work, everyone. As expected, or rather more than expected, we had a great turnout. We had some pre-opening problems and a few other minor things, but I think we got off to a great start. It’s all thanks to every one of you. Let’s keep up the good work for the next three days!”
“““Yes sir!”””
After my speech, we began closing up.
Meanwhile, Finne, with a big smile on her face, spoke to me.
“Good work today, Haruto. The whole place was packed the entire time!”
“It sure was. But it’s only just begun.”
“Exactly, Finne. We’ve only just begun!”
Iris said to Finne, puffing out her chest.
I am thinking, why has she been acting all high and mighty? She’s been getting more and more carried away ever since Asha complimented her saying, “The princess also did a lot of work behind the scenes”.
Kusel on the other hand…whoa, she was so exhausted that she fell asleep on the chair.
It was so cute that it made me laugh, then Suzuno tapped me on the shoulder.
“Come on, I gotta say, that thing is nothing but a cheat in this world…the customers were all like. ‘The Demon King is a devilish genius!’, and were all grinning thinking that you came up with it all on your own.”
“As long as it brings in the dough. Besides, the only people who know the source of the idea for the product are my classmates, and no one else in this world can make it. Anyone would rejoice if they found out about this bad boy, much less complain.”
“Well yeah, but it just seems so petty…”
Suzuno looked at me dumbfounded.
I don’t think I said anything wrong though~.
While we were having this conversation, Finne spoke to me.
“Haruto.”
“What’s up, Finne?”
“That noble…I’m just wondering if it’s okay to leave things as is?”
I believe Finne is referring to the Viscount piggy from this morning.
“You think he’s going to try something?”
“Yes. Although nothing happened today…”
Well, Finne’s concern is well-founded.
“In that case, since I’m going to deliver the goods to Dillan tomorrow, I’ll inform him of the matter.”
“Please do.”
“I’ll take care of it.”
I patted Finne’s worried head.
Then Iris witnessed it and asked me to pat her as well…before I knew it, Suzuno, Ephyr, and even Asha joined the party of head patting.
～
After closing of business on the second day, I visited Dillan.
I reported to him about the Viscount piggy, whom Finne had been worried about, and he immediately seemed to know who I was talking about.
“That guy, huh?”
“I didn’t even mention his name, you mean you could make him out from just his description alone…has he done something similar in the past?”
“Yeah, his name is Bhuta Berkshire. The Berkshire house have always been very wealthy for a viscounty, and it seems they’ve been sneaking around behind the scenes, but I haven’t been able to find them out on what exactly…”
It’s quite a feat that even the royal family can’t get anything on them.
Speaking of which, so his actual name is piggy*. (TLN: Bhuta is pronounced same as pig)
“I see. I’ll keep an eye out for him.”
“Oh, and if he does try anything, report it to me. I’ll nail him right away.”
“Gotcha.”
And that was that.
I discussed this with everybody and they all agreed that he would likely try something nine times out of ten.
To be honest, it’s quite a hassle, but…I will manage as usual.
◇ ◇ ◇
“Hurry up and do something about that trading company!”
In the dimly lit room, seven hooded shadows surrounded a round table.
One of the men tapped on the table.
“You keep saying that~… but, destroying a trading company that has the backing of His Majesty is no walk in the park.”
“The products are of high quality, but the prices are also high and fair. The fact that they are not selling at a lower price than they need to is a sign of consideration for the businesses around them, isn’t it?”
“I thought I’d take a wait-and-see attitude for the past week, but their opening sale has cost me dearly in sales.”
“It’s only temporary, right? Besides, those toilet seats were very comfortable to use. If they market that product up front, I’m pretty sure they’ll become a large trading company in no time…if that happens, they’ll branch out into other businesses, which will surely get in our way.”
“I agree. That thing is way too groundbreaking.”
“Once you use it, you’ll never want to go back.”
“Did you lot buy as well? You know what, forget it. Would somebody please do something about that trading company!”
The man from earlier tapped on the table, and a dang sound echoed.
“Calm down, young man. The founder of that trading company is an EX rank adventurer. His Majesty aside, any bad move, and we will be the ones crushed.”
“Ughhhh.”
The man clenched his fist tightly and the room fell silent.
Then one of them opened his mouth.
“——Let’s use the assassination group, ‘Cobra’. They are good at what they do, and even though the target is an EX rank, he will not always be on guard, so they are likely to succeed.”
“Oh! That’s a good one!”
The hooded men started buzzing.
But they were ignorant of one fact.
That Cobra had previously sent several of its members to assassinate Princess Iris, but they were repelled by none other than Haruto.
At that time, despite the fact that the survivors were underlings, they did not give up Cobra’s name or the name of their employer, so Haruto and the others were unaware of Cobra’s existence.
On the other hand, Cobra is wary of Haruto and sees him as an enemy, and they are bent on revenge and will do everything in their power to crush him.
But the hooded men, who were blissfully unaware of such things, looked at each other.
“…Then who would submit the request?”
A long silence. But then a young man broke it.
“I’ll do it.”
“…You will. Then, you make sure they don’t find out about us. Got it?”
“Sure thing.”
If the information leaked out, they would likely end up dead. They knew that much.
“As soon as I’m done with the preparation, I will carry it out.”
“Okay. The enemy is the most powerful adventurer. Be very, very careful.”
“I know.”
All rose from their seats, raised the swords at their waists to the center, and spoke.
“““““““May the calamity of death befall those who stand against us!!”””””””