Appreciation Gathering in the New Town
The next day, I went to the new town with the exhibition participants and the people who had helped with the food stalls.
I didn’t join the appreciation party myself.
I figured that if I were there, everyone might not be able to relax and enjoy themselves.
“I think I’m gonna take Young Master Reinhardt up on his offer. I’m the second son, and since my older brother’s getting married, I’ll have to go independent anyway.”
“I’m thinking of accepting too. My food sold like crazy at the exhibition, but in the new town, probably not. It’s not the kind of stuff tourists can eat while walking around.”
“I can’t do it. I’ve got a family, and I’ve already been away too long. They’ve had to put up with a lot because of me.”
Right now, the group who had been invited by Young Master Reinhardt to open a restaurant in the new town were gathered together over dinner, talking things over.
They hadn’t really been able to have a proper discussion back at the Adventurers’ Guild, so they were grateful for the chance to sit and talk like this.
“In that case, could you at least share your recipe with us? I’ll make sure to prepare the soup with care.”
“I’ll do my best to capture your flavor too, Martha. Our cooking uses a lot of local specialties from the village, right? Young Master Reinhardt mentioned the idea of a ‘local ingredients restaurant,’ after all.”
“Then we could even put ‘Martha’s Tomato Soup’ on the menu.”
“Eh—no way, that’s embarrassing.”
“If you’re giving us your recipe, that’s the least we can do. We could even add ‘Tomato from Village 〇〇’ under it.”
“That’s a great idea. They’re planning to serve set meals, right? Meat dish, soup, and bread together. We could write it like that on the menu board.”
“Agreed. Using local ingredients will also help give back to our village.”
“I’m all for naming things, too. My dad developed that new pumpkin variety. It’s bright orange, sweet, and delicious. But merchants only sell it as regular pumpkin. This’ll be a good way to show them how special it really is.”
“If you’re providing recipes, won’t you get paid for them?”
“Yeah, but they’ll also be buying ingredients from our village, so…”
“Then why not ask for something different instead? Like a free family trip to the new town as a thank-you?”
“That’s a great idea! You said you’ve been away from your family a long time, right? If your recipe gets recognized, taking your family on a reward trip to the new town sounds perfect.”
“If that works out, we could invite other villagers who want to visit too. That’d make it cheaper to hire adventurers for escort duty. I heard there’s a carriage service from the capital to the new town now.”
“That’s right! We learned this time that if everyone pitches in, we can afford escorts. I might just ask about that family trip idea.”
“Everyone, are you really willing to help me?”
“Of course! I had your omelet-style baked eggs packed with ingredients, and it was delicious. Young Master Reinhardt said the batter was unlike anything he’d had before. With that, you could make a fruit-filled cake that’d be a hit for sure. So yeah, we’ll help.”
“We can help make visitors to the new town happy using the fruit we grew ourselves. And we’ve tried your cooking too, Sarah. We believe you’ll turn our hard-grown fruit into the best desserts around.”
“Miss Sarah, you can’t run a shop by yourself, right? I think you’d get along with my third son—would you meet him? He’s always experimenting with jams and compotes made from our fruit to make them even better. He’d be useful.”
“Sarah, your cooking can bring out all kinds of flavors from ingredients across the domain. You should open a real shop instead of just a food stall.”
“But… I don’t have the money for that.”
“You got second place among the food stalls, didn’t you? That means you can use a stall rent-free for a year. You could put that toward your monthly rent for a shop.”
“Yeah! Plus, if your shop’s name is displayed in the new town square, customers will definitely come. You’ve got main dishes and desserts—just add bread and tea, and people will love eating there.”
“Um… you’re Hans, right? Congratulations on getting first place in the stall division.”
“Ah, thank you.”
“I tried your baked cocotte dish. The bite-size pieces were easy to eat and perfect for tourists. We only focused on flavor, not convenience, so that really impressed me.”
“Really? I’m glad to hear that.”
“Actually, we came with a proposal. Would you let us sell your baked cocotte too?”
“Huh?”
“It’ll definitely sell. The new town’s big—having only one cocotte shop is a waste. You’d keep running your main store, and we’d handle the food stalls. You’d make the cocottes, and we’d do the frying ourselves. We’ll practice until we earn your approval. We’ll give you one-third of the profits plus the ingredient costs.”
“Wait, hold on—that’s kind of sudden.”
“We know. We’re from the orphanage. Next year, we have to leave it. We’d planned to open a stall in the new town, but realized our own dishes wouldn’t sell. Then we thought, what does sell? Your cooking, Hans. We’ll sell a ton, we promise. Please, let us try.”
“I see… Honestly, I think stalls might make more than a store would.”
“We’ll only sell one type—the basic baked cocotte. You sold two new flavors this time, right? We won’t sell those. If anyone asks, we’ll direct them to your shop. Even so, we’re sure it’ll sell.”
“But you won’t be running stalls forever, will you?”
“When we save enough, if you allow it, we’d like to open cocotte shops in the capital and in Eminira. That’s our dream.”
“Uh… you’ve thought that far ahead? This is a lot to take in all at once.”
“We know it’ll take years. When we open those shops, we’d hand our stalls down to younger kids from the orphanage.”
“I can’t give you an answer right now… Let me think about it.”
While everyone was seriously discussing their dreams for the new town, I was quietly spending a lazy day at the manor there with Atre and Lucas, unaware of any of it.
Brother Gerald joined the appreciation party, though. Apparently, he got to enjoy all the dishes everyone made together in the inn’s kitchen.
He’s always been good at getting along with people. I can’t help but envy that.
The next day, everyone soaked in the hot springs and came back full of energy. They said their goodbyes—“Let’s meet again!”—and headed home to their respective towns and villages, reluctant to part.
What do you think about this chapter?
