Floria internally rejoiced at the sheer number of applicants, more than she had anticipated, though she made sure not to show it on her face.
During the interviews, Shurein had thought that perhaps they disliked being confined to the limited space of the Tower’s floors and wanted to move to a different one.
However, that was a mistake; the motivation was, if anything, more about experiencing new dishes.
After all, many of those who made it to the interview stage were experienced in customer service at tourist destinations or were in charge of cooking.
Conversely, they were talents that could be considered too good for just a food stall, but tourist spots have become popular workplaces for Vampires and Igirids.
Since these were jobs rarely obtained even when desired, those who had retired due to marriage or child-rearing gathered for this recruitment.
This was a fortunate miscalculation for Floria and her team.
Those who retired from tourist spots already understood the secrets they needed to keep, so there was no need to teach them from scratch.
Of course, the food stall that Floria’s group is currently operating has its own confidentiality obligations, different from those at tourist spots, so there are new things to teach, but much can be omitted.
Shurein, who decided on the hires with Floria, felt relieved internally.
The two selected for cooking duty, Igirid, wrinkled their brows at the smell lingering in the room.
“…What is this smell?”
“A considerable amount of spices has been used.”
Although Igirid originally had a strong dialect, their time working at tourist spots had corrected it.
Furthermore, quite some time had passed since they moved to the Tower, and even Igirids living in the village had lost their strong dialects.
It might be a natural progression, so to speak, that this tendency is particularly strong in the children born after moving to the Tower.
“This is the kitchen.”
Guided by Eri, the two headed to the kitchen and couldn’t help but widen their eyes at the room prepared within a house that looked like an ordinary dwelling.
“My word. It’s quite large.”
“It’s beyond what we expected, startling.”
Both were so surprised that their true natures slipped out.
They had seen the kitchens of inns, so they weren’t surprised by the size itself, but they were surprised that such facilities were prepared inside a house that looked ordinary from the outside.
Eri, who watched their reactions with a wry smile, urged them to go further inside.
On the stove-like magic tool that Kousuke had made, two large pots were placed.
Inside those pots was the curry they would be serving at the food stall tomorrow, filled to just under the regulated amount.
By the way, they were currently cooling it down with residual heat.
This also allowed Eri to guide them with plenty of time.
“Regarding the curry, we make it the day before and serve it the next day. Deep-fried items are fried and served starting that morning.”
One reason for letting the curry sit overnight is that it deepens the flavor, but she decided it was pointless to explain everything at once and left it for now.
Furthermore, some spices can actually spoil if left overnight, but Mitsuki omitted such troublesome ingredients when teaching the curry recipe, so there was no problem.
“Where are the ingredients… can you tell me?”
“Could you also tell us where the tools are…?”
Having finally regained their composure, the two changed their speech patterns, with a hint of suspicion, and began asking Eri questions one after another.
Eri answered each one, and the explanation for that day concluded.
The next day.
The two Igirids, who started preparations early in the morning, were skillfully cutting the ingredients needed for deep-frying under Eri’s direction.
This was where their experience handling meals in the inn’s kitchen truly showed.
“You two are amazing. You’re more skillful than I expected, and it looks like we’ll finish quickly.”
Eri’s words, considering the time they would open the food stall, made the two pause their work.
“Should we stop here?”
“It’s not good to finish making them too early, is it?”
The two looked to Eri for confirmation, and she shook her head.
“No. It’s alright. Let’s finish what you’re cutting now. By using only what we’ve prepared and explaining it over time, you two will likely learn faster.”
Eri’s words, considering their skill, were met with simultaneous nods from the two Igirids.
“Besides, we might increase the number of fried items after discussing it with Sarasa.”
“Is that so?”
“Yes. There are surprisingly many requests for just fried food, and we can prepare them if we have the ingredients.”
While they could only serve the pre-made curry from the day before, the number of fried items could be adjusted based on how things went that day.
After operating the food stall for a few days, there were indeed many voices asking for only fried items.
Previously, they would close the stall as soon as the curry sold out, but if the number of staff increased and they could take breaks, they could continue selling only fried items.
This could be handled by simply discussing it with Sarasa, who was in charge of sales.
As the cooking team fried a few croquettes and tempura on the spot for practice, the sales team, including Sarasa, arrived.
This house, originally Kousuke’s villa-like residence, had completely become lodging for the food stall members.
As it was a special occasion, they all had breakfast together with the fried items made for practice.
” ” ” “Delicious!” ” ” ”
Eri and Sarasa smiled at the four who exclaimed in unison.
“The first time I tried a croquette, I thought, ‘Can something this delicious really exist?'”
“Truly.”
Kousuke might have found their comments to be an exaggeration, but for those present, these were their genuine true feelings.
After breakfast, the six began their meeting.
“So, how much can we serve today?”
In response to Sarasa’s question, Eri answered without a moment’s hesitation.
“It’s the same as before for the curry. We don’t have enough equipment to make more.”
The curry being made in the large pot cannot be supplemented without preparing the pot itself.
According to Floria, it is scheduled to be ready this morning, so they can increase the amount served starting tomorrow.
“As for the fried items, we intend to make them until the ingredients we have here run out. For tomorrow onwards, we can send one person out to buy ingredients.”
This was also a benefit of having more people.
Until now, Eri had been solely responsible for grocery shopping.
“How much will it increase?”
“It won’t quite double, but I think we can increase it by about fifty percent.”
“I see. Understood.”
After Eri’s explanation, Sarasa nodded once and then looked at the two who were in charge of sales.
Based on the information from Eri, Sarasa simulated the day’s events in her mind and began discussing the plan for today.
“As I mentioned yesterday, I will teach you most things during the morning, when there’s a bit of leeway. After the lunch rush, I believe we’ll sell out in about two hours.”
Sarasa calculated the end time based on her past experience.
Of course, this could be off depending on customer traffic, but now that customers are coming in almost constantly, it’s almost impossible for it to be off.
“It will be tiring today without a significant break, but you can finish early, so please bear with it.”
Sarasa clasped her hands apologetically, but the two who were in the sales team and had already discussed the possibility nodded vigorously.
As you can tell from this conversation, it’s more from the seller’s perspective than the buyer’s.
Well, with the Tower being the main focus, it’s natural in a way.
If there is demand, I might write about the buyer’s perspective in an interlude.
By the way, the fact that the curry is left overnight is also for operational reasons, not an absolute rule lol (It’s large-scale production, not small-scale household production).
