Chapter 12 - 12 Harvest Festival
Upon returning from the Royal Capital, Brian and Steve informed Emmanuel that he would be presenting handmade Soba to His Majesty the King. Emmanuel was so shocked his legs gave out.
"I never imagined that would be presented to His Majesty."
"Thanks to that, we found a great buyer. Please do go to the Royal Capital to sell it. Though, His Majesty might command you to make Soba for him again at that time."
Steve directed a beaming smile at Emmanuel. Emmanuel shook his head vigorously.
"I shall dispatch someone else to the Royal Capital," he replied. Steve thought that while such an attitude might be questionable for a merchant, he could certainly understand the feeling.
Once Emmanuel had calmed down, Brian brought up the topic of the inn.
"Actually, technical officials are scheduled to be dispatched from the Royal Capital soon. Since it will be a long-term stay, I'm thinking of building an inn. Emmanuel, your caravan has been growing lately as well, so wouldn't it be better to have an inn?"
"There is certainly that. However, if you'll excuse my bluntness, in this territory, it's plain to see it would end up in the red."
"As I thought."
Brian had expected as much, but his shoulders slumped nonetheless when Emmanuel confirmed it. Steve immediately stepped in with a proposal to increase the inn's occupancy rate.
"Let's hold a festival in the Main Village. Then, we can have the residents of the New Village stay at the inn. Once they've been drinking, the distance is too great to walk back at night, so they'll end up staying. Fortunately, they've recently come into possession of currency, so payment is possible. Besides, Sophia-san's shop is only in the Main Village, so the people from the New Village have nowhere to spend their cash. Also, if we make it so they can stay over even outside of festivals when they come to the Main Village, they won't have to walk home in the middle of the night."
"Ah, that might be interesting."
Emmanuel began calculating on an abacus in his head regarding Steve's proposal.
"But Steve-sama, when it comes to constructing an inn, it cannot be done just like that."
"Let's start by making something like a simple lodging house with just a roof and a place to sleep, and see how much revenue it generates."
"Understood."
And so, it was hastily decided to hold a harvest festival in the Main Village. It was a first since the founding of Archibalt Territory. Since they now had financial leeway, the food would be provided for free by the Lord. However, alcohol was separate.
Sophia was put in charge of the makeshift inn. There were approximately 100 residents in the New Village. When they checked for those wishing to stay in advance, about 20 people requested lodging.
Actually, there were more who wanted to, but there were quite a few wives who wouldn't permit their husbands' plans to get drunk and be unable to return home.
Meanwhile, Steve was out hunting with Abel and Bella to secure ingredients for the food to be served at the festival.
While waiting for birds to fly by, Abel asked Steve.
"Hey, Steve. What's a festival like?"
"It's like eating delicious feasts, dancing, and making a lot of noise."
"I don't really get it. My old man is all excited about being able to drink. He was making such a fuss that my mom hid his money, and now he's panicking because he can't buy booze."
Bella joined the conversation.
"Alcohol is only for adults to enjoy. Isn't there anything for children?"
"I'm thinking of stalls."
"Stalls?"
"Temporary shops, I suppose. What I'm preparing now is a shooting gallery. It uses things with much weaker power than what's used for hunting; if you shoot a target and knock it over, you get a prize."
"What's that? Sounds fun."
In addition to weakening the power, Steve intended to prepare guns with misaligned sights. If the bullets flew straight, the game would be too easy. Like actual festival stalls, his petty plan was that if he provided guns that didn't shoot straight, the prizes wouldn't be depleted immediately.
In the end, they couldn't catch any prey that day, so Steve ended up procuring the ingredients from the Royal Capital.
Then came the day of the harvest festival. In this world where cooking was considered women's work, the men were also cooking. The Lord Brian, his retainer Cody, and Nick. Plus Emmanuel and the people from his guild. They placed wire mesh created by Steve's magic over the fire and grilled meat and vegetables on top. A so-called barbecue.
The harvest festival was scheduled to begin at noon when the residents of the New Village arrived, but if they started grilling then, they wouldn't make it in time, so they began before the start.
While grilling meat, Brian spoke to Cody.
"I never thought I'd be cooking anywhere other than a battlefield."
"Moreover, a Lord cooking and serving it to his people must be a first since the founding of the Kingdom of Cascade."
"These are the people who followed me to this land. I've done nothing but put them through hardships; this much should be fine."
"This is all thanks to Wakasama's magic too. It's because we have the money to buy crops that others grow even on lean land."
"Indeed. Ever since we realized Steve had a talent for magic, everything seems to have turned for the better."
"At this rate, won't you be able to reach the rank of Earl by Wakasama's generation?"
"That depends on the surrounding circumstances. Besides, even if one person possesses extraordinary strength, managing a territory is difficult. In the end, there's a limit to what one person can do."
"Oops, that part's getting overcooked. Move it to the edge. It seems watching the grilling while talking is a bit difficult."
"True."
With that, the conversation between Brian and Cody ended.
In contrast, the women's conversation showed no signs of ending. Abigail took command, and Christina, Sherry, and the housewives of the Main Village cooked while chatting animatedly.
"Chris-chan, you've gotten good at peeling potatoes," Abigail praised, and Chris smiled happily.
"At first I couldn't do it well, so I had Steve-sama make me a peeler, but I'm glad I didn't give up and practiced peeling with a knife."
As a Marquess's daughter, Christina had never used a kitchen knife. However, after coming to House Archibalt, she had to do her own cooking, and peeling was a first-time experience. Steve had made a peeler for his fiancée who couldn't peel well, but Christina wanted to be able to peel with a knife and practiced every day.
The peeler was eventually bought by Emmanuel, but it became yet another new product.
Next to them was Sherry, swinging a masher back and forth.
"Chris-chan is a hard worker, after all."
"Sherry, you should learn from her a bit. You're just playing around with that masher!"
Abigail rebuked the idling Sherry. Seeing this, the village women laughed.
"Madam, my daughter was so excited about the festival today that she went out with her friends to make flower ornaments without even helping prepare breakfast."
"Same here. Unlike Sherry-sama, she doesn't even have good looks, so if she can't do housework, it looks like no one will take her as a bride."
Hearing about flower ornaments, Sherry begged Abigail, saying she wanted to make some too.
"Mother, I want to make flower ornaments too!"
"No. The cooking isn't finished yet. Watch the heat for the simmered beans. If we serve poor food, the house will be mocked."
"Yeees."
Abigail sighed at Sherry's half-hearted reply. Steve, watching from a distance, gave a wry smile. Emmanuel was standing next to him.
"My older sister is quite a handful."
"She is at the age where her fiancé should be decided soon, after all. That aside, following the peeler, you will be supplying the grill mesh to us as well, right?"
"Of course."
A business negotiation had already begun here. The peeler was already being sold by Emmanuel and was hugely popular among commoners for whom sharp blades were hard to come by. Inquiries about when the next shipment would arrive were overwhelming. Though not in Archibalt Territory, ironware itself was expensive, and many commoners still used stone knives. Furthermore, even the iron knives being sold were the type that cut by crushing, and their sharpness was the worst. That was why the inexpensive peeler became a massive hit.
"Though, Nick is the only blacksmith, and other industries are done by the villagers in between farm work, so we can't increase the numbers."
"How about recruiting new residents?"
"The negotiations with other Lords are the problem. I'll have to have Father work hard on that."
Residents were the property of the Lord and were not something that could move in or out at will. If one were to recruit residents from another territory without permission, it wouldn't be strange for it to lead to war.
"How about consulting His Excellency Sowell? In the Western region, as long as you have His Excellency's permission, I don't think there would be any trouble with other houses."
"In exchange, there's the matter of the 'return favor'."
"That is certainly true."
If a noble moves, it naturally won't be for free. If there is a fish's heart, there is a water's heart (T/N: idiom meaning 'if you show me kindness, I will return it'); some kind of compensation would be necessary. However, that would end up coming from the other side, though Steve and the others didn't know that yet.
The residents from the New Village arrived, and the harvest festival finally opened. The opening speech was, of course, by Brian.
"Everyone, thank you truly. Our territory has finally achieved a surplus. This is all thanks to everyone's hard work. Please enjoy yourselves to the fullest today."
Once the speech ended, the villagers all ran toward the food at once.
"These beans are so sweet!"
While everyone headed for the meat, a young girl came to the simmered beans in front of Sherry. The child, eating the beans which used plenty of sugar, was moved by the sweetness.
"They're delicious, aren't they? I worked hard to make them, and there's still plenty more."
"Why are you taking the credit, Sherry? You only watched the heat; you didn't do the seasoning, did you?"
"Mother, the heat is important too!"
Laughter erupted from the surroundings at the mother-daughter exchange.
Once the food had been distributed, next came other forms of entertainment. The Reversi tournament with money on the line and the shooting gallery Steve made were lively.
The shooting gallery in particular had a good turnover. The prizes were vegetables, salt, and dolls, and the customers were mainly children. Therefore, everyone aimed for the dolls. Boys aimed for knight dolls and girls for princesses as they handed over their pocket money.
Steve's childhood friends, Abel and Bella, were also hooked on the shooting gallery.
"What the heck is this? It doesn't fly straight at all."
"I want to use my own."
"No, no, use the shop's. Besides, if it doesn't fly straight, you just have to aim accordingly."
The stall owner cautioned the two complainers. They were exactly like a street stall operator and the children being fleeced. Steve watched the scene with a laugh.
A sweat-drenched Emmanuel approached.
"I was helping with the grilling, but it's hot, isn't it?"
"We have water and alcohol cooled in the refrigerator; which would you like?"
"I'll take water. I have to count the money after this."
So saying, Emmanuel scooped cold water from the two-layered pot refrigerator and gulped it down.
"How are the sales?"
"The alcohol and stalls are doing well. If the inn gets alcohol sales on top of the lodging fees, we can expect a decent income."
"That's excellent. At this rate, we'll make a profit even if we build a full-scale inn. If the residents who come to deliver goods from the New Village stay over, it will be a steady monthly revenue."
"If only I had as much business talent as you, Steve-sama, I could have become one of the leading merchants in this country. To collect the wages paid to the residents so they return to your own pocket..."
"I'm not taking it away; it's a legitimate transaction. There's no penalty if they don't use it in our territory."
In Steve's mind were the large corporations of his previous life. Though they were in manufacturing, the employee cafeteria was run by a subsidiary. There were also insurance agency subsidiaries. It was a system where the paid salaries were returned to the company. However, because of the convenience of having meals and insurance handled within the company, it was popular with employees, and the clarity was such that dissatisfied employees simply didn't have to use them.
Others were free to enter the market, but the fact that there was no merit in doing so was the same for both large corporations and Archibalt Territory. Especially in Archibalt Territory, because the population was small, even if someone tried to cut into Emmanuel's guild's share, no profit could be expected.
"At this rate, the investment in the inn should be recovered quickly. Please consult me first if there are any more profitable stories in the future."
"The territory will get lodging taxes too, and I want to think about drawing people in from the outside..."
"That will be difficult without maintaining the highways."
"The highways, huh..."
Since highway maintenance required a large budget, it was a national project. Steve thought it might be too difficult, but Emmanuel had a premonition that the next Lord before him would probably make it happen.
When evening came, the dancing began. The musical performance was the role of House Archibalt. Abigail played the koto, and Christina played the flute. Steve was on the drums. It was a dance commonly performed among commoners in the Kingdom of Cascade.
Married couples danced with their respective partners, but the unmarried young men and women searched for partners as if this were the moment. It didn't end with dancing; it was a search for life partners.
In fact, three new couples were born at this harvest festival, and the residents requested that a place for encounters be created every month. Inspired by this, Steve brought up the idea of matchmaking parties to Emmanuel.
Unlike nobles, commoners whose parents didn't actively find marriage partners for them had a demand for places to meet. Unfortunately, there wasn't that much demand within Archibalt Territory alone, but in the cities, Emmanuel could tie up with restaurants that wanted to attract customers, using the restaurant as the venue for matchmaking parties and earning from participation fees. It didn't earn a fortune, but by holding events regularly, it became a decent income.
However, unlike the peeler and barbecue sets, it was imitated immediately. As a result, in terms of income, it lost to the barbecue sets which increased the demand for charcoal. When the sales of charcoal were added, the difference was stark. Note that regarding charcoal, the acquisition of materials had increased compared to last year due to the mass production of axes.
And so, the harvest festival ended and everyone headed home, but an after-party was being held at the inn.
Alcohol plus rental Reversi. The men, unaware of the future where they would be severely scolded by their wives upon returning home the next day, squandered their money as if they had thrown their purse strings into the trash.