Registration at the Central Church

After trying out spatial magic, I met up with Lucien, and we went straight back to the estate. Then, after school the next day.

Today, instead of going to the research club, I planned to get a food-stall sales permit at the Central Church, rent a stall, buy the ingredients, and make some test crepes.

I was currently in a carriage that had left the Royal Academy, but for some reason Lucien was with me too. Since I wasn't going to the research club, I had said I would walk home by myself instead of taking the carriage, but Lucien said he would go home with me and help me shop, so I couldn't refuse. I didn't think it would be much fun for him, but was that really okay?

"Lucien, are you sure it was all right for you to come home with me? We'll be going to the Central Church, the bank, and some shops, so it'll be busy, and I don't think it'll be very fun."

"It's fun when I'm with you, Leon! Everything you do is new and interesting."

"Well, in that case, I suppose it's fine..."

I don't think I do that many new things, though. Well, if he's enjoying himself, that's all that matters.

"So, what sort of things do we need?"

Hmm, first, to run a stall, we'll need cooking utensils. To make crepes, we have to cook the crepe skins on a griddle, so we'll need a griddle and a ladle. Ideally, we'd also have a tool for spreading the batter into a circle, but if we can't find one, we can use the ladle instead.

We'll also need a spatula for flipping them, a bowl for making the batter, and a cutting board and knife for preparing the ingredients.

It also depends on what we use for the filling. For now, I'm thinking of offering one savory crepe and one sweet crepe. I considered making more varieties, but food stalls generally only sell one type of thing, so it would probably be easier for people to accept if I didn't add too many.

If possible, I'd like to make mayonnaise, or something similar, so I'll need a bowl and a whisk for that, too. I wonder if they have whisks here. If not, I'll use a fork. We'll also need at least one frying pan. And a spoon would be useful for things like serving and plating.

I think that's about it for now... I'll buy whatever I can think of today, and if we find we're missing anything, Ronnie and I can buy it on the next Recovery Day.

"For cooking utensils, we'll need a griddle, a frying pan, a ladle, a spatula, several bowls, a cutting board, a knife, a whisk, and a spoon. If we need anything else, I'll buy it later."

"That's quite a lot. What about the ingredients?"

The savory crepe is simple. I plan to grill pork with salt and combine it with fresh seasonal vegetables and mayonnaise. The problem is whether I can actually make mayonnaise, but if I experiment, I should be able to make something close! Let's see... eggs, salt, oil, and vinegar, or was it sugar? You just mix those together thoroughly, right? It should work... probably.

The sweet crepe is the problem. If I don't think carefully about the ingredients, the cost will inevitably be high. The things I can think of that are sold in this world are sugar, fruit, honey, and maple syrup.

However, fruit doesn't seem to be cultivated in large quantities, so it's fairly expensive, and maple syrup is apparently imported, so you only see it occasionally.

That leaves honey and sugar... Those are expensive too, but not prohibitively so, and they're sold readily in the central district and the markets around it.

Oh, right, butter is available in the central district too. In that case, honey butter sounds delicious!

Let's go with that for now. I don't have to insist on having a sweet crepe—we could just sell savory crepes—but for some reason, I don't like the idea of a crepe shop without sweet crepes... Well, if they don't sell, I'll stop making them right away. Then maybe I'll increase the number of savory varieties.

All right, next is the crepe batter. Batter... flour, eggs, and sugar, I think? If I remember correctly, crepe batter is slightly sweet. At any rate, flour, eggs, and sugar should be enough to make something workable! I really want milk, but it's not easy to get... so I'll substitute water. The pancakes I made before turned out all right, so it should be fine.

"The ingredients will be flour, eggs, sugar, honey, butter, pork, vegetables, oil, salt, and vinegar. That should be enough."

"That's quite a lot of ingredients. You're going to try making them when we get home today, right?"

"Yeah, that's right."

"I want to try them too!"

"Of course. I'd like everyone else to try them too, if that's all right?"

"Of course! Grandmother was really looking forward to it."

"Then I have to do my best."

As we talked, we arrived at the Central Church. I'd never been this close before, but it was an incredibly large building.

"Then I'll go in. Are you coming too, Lucien?"

"Yeah. I'd be bored sitting in the carriage, so I'll come with you."

"Then let's go."

I entered the Central Church with Lucien. The entrance to the Central Church consisted of a huge door, which seemed to be left open all the time. I expected the inside to be a chapel, but there were lots of reception counters, like at a city hall in Japan. Is this really a church?

"It doesn't really look like a church."

When I said that in a whisper just loud enough for Lucien to hear, he looked puzzled.

"Really? This is what a church is to me..."

"Really? Are the churches in the territorial capital like this too?"

"Yeah, it's smaller than this one, but it's built the same way."

The church near my home was primarily a chapel, like the one I imagined when I thought of a church. Does that mean they remodel the more important churches to look like city halls? It would certainly be inconvenient to have a chapel handle administrative functions.

I looked around the inside. It was pretty spacious. It seemed to be arranged with separate counters for different purposes. At the very end, a sign said, 'Chapel This Way,' so apparently there was a chapel farther inside after all.

I went to the counter for business-related matters and spoke to an available clerk.

"Hello. I'd like to get a food-stall sales permit and rent a stall. Is this the right counter?"

"Yes. We can process that here. Please fill out these two forms."

"Yes."

The forms were simple; all I had to write was my name, age, and place of residence.

"Is this all right?"

"Yes. We'll process these here. The food-stall sales permit must be renewed every year, and each renewal costs one silver coin. Today, the initial registration fee is three silver coins. Stall rentals are renewed every six months, and the rental fee is five silver coins for six months."

That isn't all that expensive... Or is it? Actually, since many of the people running stalls are among the poorer commoners, it's quite expensive when you consider that. Maybe the price differs depending on the square. The square where I'll be setting up is at the entrance to the central district, so maybe it's expensive because of that.

"The total for today is eight silver coins."

"Yes. Here you are."

I handed over exactly eight silver coins. I was cutting it pretty close... I really need to go to the bank.

Besides, starting a food stall is difficult if you don't have capital to begin with. Come to think of it, in the squares where there were lots of food stalls, I saw people selling things with nothing but a cloth spread on the ground or a wooden table.

Maybe those were people who couldn't afford to rent a stall.

"I have received the payment. This is your food-stall sales permit, and this is your stall rental certificate. You may basically sell anything at your stall, but please be aware that anything illegal is prohibited. Also, if the stall is damaged, you will be liable for the damages, so please use it carefully. Do you have any other questions?"

"I see... Are there any wells we can use?"

"Yes. There are two wells in the square, so please use whichever one you prefer."

"Thank you. Anything else... I can't think of anything right now, but may I come back and ask if I think of any questions?"

"Yes. Please come by anytime."

After that, the registration went smoothly. I went to the bank first, where I withdrew the value of ten platinum coins in gold coins, silver coins, and other smaller denominations. Converted into Japanese yen, it was roughly ten million yen, so I felt like I'd suddenly become incredibly rich. It was kind of scary.

To make sure it wouldn't be stolen, I pretended to put it in my bag and stored it in my Item Box instead. That should keep me safe for a while.

All right! Now it's finally time to go shopping.