“Well then, it’s almost time to open the shop, are you two ready?”
As the opening hour approached, Kent confirmed with Al and Fuuko if they were ready to open.
“I’m ready,” Al replied immediately to Kent’s question.
“Fuuko?”
“Hmph, I’m a being called a god, you know? Why should I have to bow down to anyone other than Master?”
Fuuko disliked bowing to customers. In the Duchy, she had always been revered and people bowed to her, so bowing herself was an act of humiliation. Therefore, even to Kent’s question, her ingrained pride prevented her from readily agreeing.
“So, the gods of the Duchy can’t even do that. Hanako didn’t mind bowing to customers at all. The gods of the Kingdom can do it, but the gods of the Duchy can’t. Hmm. I see.”
Al, hearing this, spoke to Fuuko in a provocative tone.
“Don’t you dare call me an idiot! There’s no way I can’t do what Hanako can. Fine! I’ll show you what divine customer service is, you mid-ranking fairy!”
As if to counter Al’s words, Fuuko declared with great confidence.
“Marie, we’re opening the shop now.”
“Yes, please do.”
After confirming with Al and Fuuko, Kent informed Marie, who was baking bread in the workshop in the back, that the shop was opening.
“Thank you for waiting. Marie’s Bakery is now open.”
Kent opened the shop door and announced the opening to the customers waiting outside.
“This was a disaster this time. All we can do is buy bread to support you, but please do your best.”
“Thank you.”
On the first day of business in several days, the elderly man at the front of the line spoke to Kent. Touched by his warm words, Kent bowed deeply in thanks. Afterward, customers entering the store offered words of encouragement to Kent for reopening the shop despite suffering devastating damage.
“Hey, why isn’t there any tuna bread? I was disappointed.”
“Huh? You only have this few types of bread?”
However, it was true that not all customers were friendly, and a certain number complained about their desired bread not being available.
“Hey, Marie’s place went through a lot. You should be grateful just to be able to buy their fluffy bread.”
“The reason there are fewer types of bread is because of the Duchy’s actions. I don’t think it’s right to resent the shop.”
Before Kent and his companions could respond to such customers, regular customers surrounded them and explained the situation, so Kent and his companions didn’t have to deal with the complaints.
“Thank you, everyone.”
“No, it’s the Duchy’s fault, so don’t worry about it.”
“That’s right. While the variety has decreased, the breads we currently offer are also attractive.”
Kent was deeply pleased by the presence of the regular customers who were warmly supporting them.
“Hmm, let’s see, three loaves of bread at 120G. I don’t have enough fingers. Shop-attached fairy, lend me a finger!”
“Eh? Eh? Don’t pull my wings!”
Fuuko, who was in charge of the register, couldn’t calculate the cost of the bread and grabbed and pulled the wings of Emily, who was flying nearby.
“Pfft pfft, you can’t even calculate, and you call yourself a god.”
“Grrr! If I had enough fingers, it would be easy. You see, I hold up one, two, three fingers. Then you do two, four, six. That makes three and six, so it’s 360G. See? Done.”
As Al provocatively said, Fuuko started using Emily’s fingers to calculate the total amount.
“We should probably restock the bread soon. I’ll go ask Marie for more bread.”
Al ignored Fuuko’s boastful speech and went towards the workshop.
“Hmph! You impudent fairy, I’ll put my hand in your mouth and make your back teeth chatter later!”
“I’ll do this too…”
“You stay here!”
“Hyaah!”
Taking advantage of the opportunity, Emily tried to escape from Fuuko, but her weakened abilities meant she couldn’t fly fast and was easily caught.
“I’ll give you a job too. Do the calculations for me.”
“I’m happy to help with the shop’s work, but it feels a bit off…”
Before, anyone could easily calculate amounts using the register. However, it had been broken when the shop was destroyed, so the convenient machine couldn’t be used, and they had to resort to manual calculation. But Fuuko was not suited for this task, so Emily did the calculations, while Fuuko handled other tasks like customer service and bagging.
(There’s a calculator on the counter, but Emily probably wants to work too, so I’ll keep quiet.)
Although the register was unusable, a calculator was placed on the counter for calculations. Fuuko, however, didn’t notice it and delegated the entire calculation to Emily. Kent saw this but thought that while Emily, as a shop-attached fairy, wanted to help, her weakened abilities prevented her from doing anything. He reasoned that if she could contribute her intelligence, it would be useful for the shop. Thus, Kent didn’t instruct Fuuko to use the calculator and instead watched their collaboration.
“Received 1000G. The change is, let me see. 160G. Please come again if you like!”
Fuuko, after hearing the change amount from Emily, the calculation attendant, handed the bag of bread and change to the customer.
“Master, you’re actually doing customer service.”
“Yes. Her way of speaking is a bit rough, but it’s not that formal of a shop, so it’s within acceptable limits.”
“Emily is also assisting, so I don’t think there will be any problems while you’re heading to the academy.”
Kent watched Fuuko’s customer service from a distance for a while. He thought that while her way of speaking was a bit poor, it was within acceptable limits. Al shared the same assessment.
“Excuse me, I’ve come to pick up the bread for sale at the academy.”
“Ah, thank you for your hard work. Please wait a moment.”
As Kent was talking with Al, the shop door opened and a delivery person entered. This was to collect the bread to be used at the academy’s cafeteria.
“Marie, the bread for the academy’s cafeteria has arrived. Is everything alright?”
“Yes, I managed to bake it all. It helped that they reduced the quantity for delivery, but if it had been the usual amount, it would have been impossible.”
Marie, having worked near the heat for a long time, had sweat dripping not only from her forehead but soaking her clothes. Despite her appearance, she had managed to bake the bread to be delivered to the academy.
“I’ll handle the bread delivery. You should change your clothes, Marie. Your uniform is sticking to you from the sweat, and you might catch a cold if you stay like this.”
“Oh, you’re right. Then, after the delivery, could you take over the bread baking for a while? I’ll go change in the meantime.”
After completing the bread delivery, Kent went into the workshop for a while. During this time, Marie returned home to change.
“Now then, I guess I’ll bake bread in place of Marie.”
Kent placed the trays with bread dough into the oven and skillfully used the iron rod to push them in.
“Almost ready. Alright.”
Kent monitored the time and took out the tray from the oven after a certain period had passed, judging that the bread was ready.
“Ugh, about 70%.”
When Marie baked, the success rate was over 90%, but when Kent baked, the success rate was about 70%. This was because experience was needed for things like temperature control and baking time. It was understandable to fail with this type of oven, which had unstable heat.
