Opening the Crepe Stall

I flipped over the wooden sign hanging from the stall to indicate that we were open. Apparently, the stall was open when the side with a diamond-shaped mark was facing out, and closed when the blank side was facing out.

I don't think the other stalls in the plaza used signs like this, but the stalls in this plaza seemed to have adopted this system. Well, it was convenient and made it easy to tell at a glance without having to ask the vendor each time. I had to remember not to forget to flip it over.

"Then let's cook the crepes and wait for customers. It should be fine to warm the crepes back up on the griddle right before serving them."

"Got it. So we can prepare the crepes in advance."

"Yeah. I think that should be fine."

"Then I'll make them."

Ronnie began cooking the crepes. He had a serious look on his face, so I decided not to get in his way. He would get used to it and be able to cook them quickly before long.

I looked around the stall and thought about whether we were missing anything. Hmm, what did Japanese food stalls have that we didn't...?

The equipment was different from what we had in Japan, so there were many things I couldn't use as a reference, but my knowledge of Japan did come in handy fairly often.

Hmm, it had to be a cooler. It would be nice if I could make one, but that was impossible since I couldn't use an ice maker in the first place...

Right. We were making the crepe batter and mayonnaise in bowls, but if we put the bowls in water drawn from the well, that might keep them from warming up. It was still fine in this season, but we should definitely do that in summer.

I called out after Ronnie finished cooking one crepe.

"Ronnie, once it gets hotter, I think we should cool the bowls of batter and mayonnaise by submerging them in well water. So we should buy two buckets."

"You're right. We should keep the pork cool too, shouldn't we?"

"That's true. Then should we buy more bowls too?"

"Hmm, having about two more would be convenient."

"Got it. Then I'll buy them later."

"Please do."

I couldn't think of anything else we were missing at the moment. We would probably notice other things as we continued.

All right, maybe I should call out to customers. The more people bought from us, the more word would spread by word of mouth.

Is there anyone who looks like they might buy something...? Oh, that woman over there seems to be wondering what to buy.

"Hey, ma'am! Why don't you buy something from our stall?"

When I called out to her, the woman turned toward us and walked over.

"You're running a stall even though you're so young. That's amazing. What are you selling?"

"It's food called crepes. There are two kinds: pork salad crepes and honey-butter crepes. They're incredibly delicious!"

"Crepes? I've never heard of them."

"They're a new recipe I came up with. Everyone loves them!"

"Really? How much are they?"

"Four small copper coins each! They're a little expensive, but I guarantee they'll be delicious."

"They are a little expensive. But I'm curious about this new recipe, so I suppose I'll have one."

Yes! Our first customer.

"Really!? Thanks, ma'am. Which one would you like?"

"The pork one, please."

"Got it! Just a moment. Ronnie, one pork salad crepe."

"I'm already making it."

It seemed Ronnie had heard our conversation and started making it. Wow, he was already working more skillfully than before.

Ronnie finished making it right away and handed the crepe to the woman.

"Here you go, ma'am. Four small copper coins, please."

"Here you are. Thank you."

"Thank you, too. Come again."

"I'll come back if it's delicious."

The woman said that and walked away.

"Ronnie, we sold one."

"Leon, we sold one."

We looked at each other and broke into huge smiles. Having someone buy something we had made was even more gratifying than I'd expected!!

But I'd realized a fatal mistake. We hadn't prepared any change! Fortunately, I had quite a lot of small copper coins in my Item Box, so it should be fine for now, but I needed to prepare properly next time.

I made it look as though I was casually taking them out of the handcart and retrieved the small copper coins from my Item Box.

"Ronnie, use these for change."

"Right, we need change! I hadn't thought of that. You're amazing, Leon."

Ronnie praised me with an innocent look, but I had only just remembered it myself. I decided not to mention that.

"Thanks. From now on, I'll give them to you together with the other money."

"Yeah!"

I'd forgotten far too many things. I had to work harder to avoid making mistakes. Just as I was steeling myself to do that, the woman from earlier came running back.

Huh? Had something gone wrong?

"What happened, ma'am? Was something wrong...?"

"No, it's not that! What is this? It's so delicious that I'm shocked! I'd like to buy some for my family, so give me three more of the same. And there was another sweet one too, right? Give me two of those as well."

"O-okay. I'll make them right away, so just wait a moment."

It was a sudden huge order. I was so happy that she liked them enough to place another order!

Ronnie and I hurried to make them and handed them to the woman. She lined a basket with cloth and seemed to be putting them inside to take home.

The woman looked incredibly happy as she accepted the crepes.

"Everyone will be delighted with these. Thanks. I'll come buy more."

"Thanks, ma'am! Tell your friends about us too!"

"Leave it to me!"

Her network was probably impressive, so word might spread quite far. This was the best possible start!

After that, quite a few customers came while I called out to passersby, and we ran out of ingredients and closed amid rave reviews.

We were cleaning up now.

"Leon! This is incredible! We sold out on our very first day."

"It really is incredible... It might be difficult to figure out how much to stock. Since you probably won't know at first, feel free to buy a little extra. If there's anything left over, just eat it at home, Ronnie."

"Really?"

"Of course. Don't worry about the little details."

"If you're sure, then okay... But don't you trust me too much?"

"Huh? Why? It's only natural that I would trust you, Ronnie."

"But we haven't known each other that long, have we?"

When he put it that way, it was true... But I believed Ronnie would never do anything wrong. Things like this also came down to intuition, so it was hard to explain exactly why.

Besides, I had started this stall to help Ronnie, not to make a profit, so I couldn't help thinking that there was no need to worry about the little details.

"I don't really know why... Maybe it's intuition? Besides, I could tell right away after talking to you for just a little while. You're a good guy, Ronnie."

"Th-thanks..."

"Anyway, that's how it is, so I look forward to working with you!"

"Yeah. Leave it to me!"

And so we finished our highly successful first day and headed home. On the way, we stopped at the market and bought buckets along with the other things we had been missing.

That should be enough for now!

"So, starting tomorrow, can I leave it to you, Ronnie?"

"Yeah!"

"If anything comes up, tell me right away. If you run short on money, sales start to fall off, or anything else happens, don't hesitate to tell me."

"I will. Come to think of it, what should I do with the sales? I could hand them over right away today because you were there, but should I give them to you at school?"

"Hmm, having you give them to me at school would probably be best. Since we sit next to each other, you could put them in a cloth pouch and hand them to me without anyone else noticing. Let's do that."

"Got it. I'll bring them every day, then."

That settled the matter of the sales, but when should I give Ronnie his wages, the ingredient money, and change...?

The cost of ingredients would probably be highest on Recovery Day, so perhaps I should give them to him on Earth Day, the day before Recovery Day.

"I'll give you one week's worth of wages, ingredient money, and change on Earth Day."

"Got it. Thanks."

"Yeah. For now, I'll give you a week's worth of ingredient money and change."

I calculated a week's worth of ingredient money and change, added a little extra, and put it all in a cloth pouch before handing it to Ronnie.

"Here. Take care of this."

"Yeah! I'll keep making it grow!"

Ronnie seemed incredibly fired up. I had never seen him this motivated before. Usually, he acted so apologetic that he seemed reluctant to do anything.

Maybe earning money was what made him so motivated.

I couldn't help laughing at Ronnie's attitude.

"Ha-ha... At this rate, I think you'll make it grow quite a bit. I'm counting on you."

"H-hey, Leon, don't laugh! I'm trying to get fired up here!"

"Sorry, sorry... You're just so different from usual. If you acted like this all the time, you'd probably make more friends too."

"At the Royal Academy, they'd just call me insolent."

"Well, that's true... That school isn't very kind to commoners."

It couldn't be helped if Ronnie couldn't be himself at that school. Still, it's a shame.

"But there might be other commoners in similar circumstances in the other grades, and you might even find a noble you can get along with."

"Hmm, if there were other commoners in a similar situation, I'd like to be friends with them. But nobles are still too difficult for me..."

"I guess so. You don't have to force yourself to be friends with them, but school has only just started. You might still find someone you can get along with."

"That's true. I'll try not to give up hope. I'll also try my best not to be afraid right from the start."

"Yeah, that's a good idea."

After we'd talked that much, we arrived at Ronnie's house. I helped carry the luggage to his room, but it looked like he could manage on his own. I'm glad we bought the large cloth bag after all.

"Leon, what should I do with the ingredients that are left?"

"Hmm, you can use anything that will keep until tomorrow; anything that won't, you can eat, Ronnie."

"Really?"

"Yeah. If I took them back to the ducal estate, we'd probably just throw them away, so I'd be grateful if you ate them."

"Then I'll take them without hesitation. But what should I do with this?"

Ronnie pointed to the egg whites. We only used the yolks, so we ended up with a huge amount of egg whites.

I had no idea what to do with egg whites. I vaguely remembered that there were recipes for sweets that used only egg whites, but was it cake? I couldn't remember clearly, and I didn't know how to use them. Was I supposed to mix egg whites into flour? Or was I supposed to brush them onto a mold? Wait, was that oil you brushed on?

No matter how much I thought about it, there was no way I would figure it out!

After all, I had hardly ever done any baking. The most I had done was watch my mother make something occasionally.

My mother hadn't made cakes either.

"I don't know what to do with them either, but if you just fry them in a pan, wouldn't you end up with a dish consisting only of the white part of a fried egg?"

Huh? I had thought of that on the spur of the moment, but it actually sounded kind of interesting. Do you think it would sell if we called it a No-Yolk Fried Egg? I might be onto something!

"Ronnie! Do you think it would sell if we called it a No-Yolk Fried Egg!?"

I said that in great excitement, and Ronnie looked at me with a wry smile.

"Um... Is that a bad idea?"

"It's your stall, so if you want to try it, I think you should, but I don't think it would sell."

"Really? What makes you think it wouldn't?"

"First of all, the name is lame."

Oof... He was incredibly blunt. That hit me right in the heart.

"Also, most people like the yolk of a fried egg, so they wouldn't buy one with only the white."

Oof, oof...

"And then..."

"Ronnie."

"Hm? What?"

"My heart's already in pieces, so let's stop there. I won't sell fried egg whites by themselves."

"Yeah. I think that's for the best."

When Ronnie was being himself, he was pretty blunt. He was so withdrawn at the Royal Academy, so I was happy that he was willing to be himself around me.

"So what should we do with the egg whites? Do you want them, Ronnie?"

"Yeah, I could. They should be tasty if I fry them and add salt, so I'll take them. Can I share some with the landlady and the neighbors?"

"Of course!"

"Thanks. Then I'll take them."

At least that took care of the egg whites from the stall. But I did seem to remember that egg whites could be used in sweets...

I had never seen cake in this world, and I felt like egg whites were used in it, but... I wanted to eat cake, yet I couldn't remember the recipe at all!

There was no way I would remember it no matter how much I thought about it, so I would have to get a cook to figure it out through trial and error. But I didn't know any cooks I could ask to do that...

Well, I'd think about that later. For now, I really needed to get home.

"It's getting late, so I'd better head home."

"Yeah! Thanks for walking me this far. Be careful on your way home."

"I wanted to stop by the market anyway, so it's fine. See you."

And so I jogged home to the ducal estate. If I didn't hurry, it would be time for dinner...!

By the time I reached the ducal estate, I was panting from running so hard. The gatekeeper noticed me right away and opened the gate. I suppose he remembered my face now.

Once I entered the grounds and started walking toward the mansion, I saw Roger approaching from that direction. He was walking, but he was incredibly fast... Was that some kind of special ability servants had?

"Roger, you could've waited for me at the mansion."

"I am Leon-sama's attendant, so I will accompany you."

"Well, if you're fine with it, then I guess it's fine... By the way, did you get to eat any crepes too, Roger?"

"Yes. I was given some of what Leon-sama made."

"How was it?"

"They were so delicious that I was surprised. The sauce on the one with pork was especially exquisite."

Mayonnaise, huh? It really was delicious.

Roger had the makings of a mayo fanatic.

"We sold them at the stall today, and they were so popular that we sold out."

"Congratulations. Given how delicious they are, that was only to be expected. The stall will become even more successful from here on."

"You think so?"

If that happened, Ronnie would have an incredibly difficult time... Maybe I should go help him occasionally. Well, I'd ask Ronnie and decide.

For now, I just wanted to go to bed... My body as a child had reached its limit after everything I had done today.