Wait a Second—
This time, it was the Adventurers’ Guild.
In the Adventurers’ Guild’s reception room, I introduced the same four new recruits.
“Guildmaster MacBerry, could you tell me how the exhibition applications are looking?” I asked, and Vice-Guildmaster Gavin gave me the breakdown:
—
① Souvenir Division
1. Food Department — 38 entries
2. Crafts Department — 65 entries
② Cooking Division
1. Diner Category — 4 entries
2. Food Stall Category — 47 entries
—
“Wait, hold on. Why are there more applications than at the Merchants' Guild?
If you’re applying from a town, shouldn’t you go through the Merchants' Guild?
There are even villages that don’t have an Adventurers’ Guild, right?”
“Well, sure, but even if a village doesn’t have a guild, they still send in all kinds of requests—usually through the Adventurers’ Guild. So they just apply together with that.
Also, since we stopped counting by village and switched to counting by individuals or groups, the total went up,” Gavin explained.
So—applications submitted through the Merchants' Guild were from the domain capital, Eminira, and town-related participants.
Applications through the Adventurers’ Guild came from the villages, right?
“Guess that confirms we’re having preliminaries,” I muttered.
The four new recruits standing behind me reacted right away.
“Ack!”
“No way…” they whispered faintly.
MacBerry and the others laughed.
When I asked why they were laughing even though this meant more work, they said they’d predicted this outcome from the very start.
“That’s why I’ve got a proposal,” MacBerry said. “On the day originally planned for the exhibition, how about we hold a preliminary round just for food stalls instead? Then, push the exhibition itself back by one month. If we use the plaza and the open market, we can manage the preliminaries just fine. Think of it as a rehearsal.”
That was a very welcome suggestion.
If the preliminaries were held in the domain capital, it would serve perfectly as a rehearsal for the main exhibition.
That way, the confusion on the actual day could be minimized.
“I understand. I’ll need to consult with Father first, but while the schedule’s undecided, I’d like to move forward with a preliminary round for the food stall division only.”
Just like at the Merchants' Guild, I collected the application forms, took notes on the number of entries per category, handed a copy to the Adventurers’ Guild, and returned to the mansion.
I immediately had the four new recruits start sorting the entries—organizing them by division, origin (village, town, domain capital, Eminira), number of participants, and product names.
I also told them to borrow a map of the domain from the Westland Company, while I went to report to Father in his study.
“So we really are going to have preliminaries, huh? Haah…” he sighed deeply.
I told him about MacBerry’s suggestion.
“True, the food stall division is the largest. It’ll probably exceed a hundred entries by the end of March.
‘Rehearsal,’ huh? That’s clever wording.
It’s more work, sure—but calling it a rehearsal makes the new staff feel better about it. They’ll think it’s better than jumping straight into the real thing.”
So, in short—it’s all about how you phrase it.
If they see it as extra work, they’ll drag their feet.
But if they think of it as a lucky chance to practice beforehand, their motivation will be totally different.
“The number of monsters you brought back from the World Tree hunt was high, and those colored Skeleton Flowers sold for a good price. Think of this as a way to give back to the people.
If we hold preliminaries, we’ll need to leave about a month between them and the main exhibition anyway—folks have their regular work to do.”
“Also, I heard more and more people from the domain want to attend the exhibition.
So how about this—let’s let those who want to participate choose between attending the preliminaries or the main exhibition, either in the Royal Capital or in Eminira.”
“We can’t cover all the costs,” Father warned.
“Of course. Travel expenses, meals, and lodging would be self-paid.
However, for the preliminaries, we could subsidize one-third of the lodging cost.
Round-trip travel from the villages to the domain capital or Eminira would be escorted for safety—what do you think?”
“Hmm… clever. That’ll make the preliminaries less popular, so offering lodging assistance makes sense.”
We immediately issued notices through handbills around the domain and contacted all participants about the preliminaries and the new exhibition schedule.
Since postponing the exhibition by a month would require rebooking inns, plazas, and market spaces, we’d also need to prevent opportunistic price hikes, secure necessary supplies, and prepare a new budget estimate as soon as possible, Father instructed.
… Looks like I’ll be busy helping out for a while.
When Fred returned from the Merchants' Guild, his face was pale.
“Eminira’s requesting that we hold a preliminary round there as well,” he reported.
If we hold the preliminaries on the same date as the original exhibition, the inns and venues in the domain capital will be used as planned—and since the actual exhibition will be on another day, that means extra profit.
But for Eminira, if we cancel the booking for the original date, it’ll feel unfair—and they’ll likely protest.
The Merchants' Guild’s point was valid.
So it’s either we pay the cancellation fee… or hold preliminaries in both locations.
Considering the new district’s situation, it looks like we’ll end up holding preliminaries in both the domain capital and Eminira.
What do you think about this chapter?
