Chapter 71
“We’re... woefully short on revenue.”
One week after the casino opened, on an afternoon, Kagami had suggested they coordinate their lunch breaks ahead of time. The original members—Kagami, Takako, Kururu, Rex, Tina, Menou, Alice, and David—had gathered at the bar Takako ran beside the residential district.
Everyone was seated at the tables, eating the food Takako had made. Kagami alone was staring at the weekly sales report, clutching his head as he muttered.
“We get around 800 visitors a day... After subtracting labor costs and supplies from our total revenue... our net profit is a measly 15 gold?”
At that rate, a year’s worth of sales would barely cover the cost of setting up the casino. There was no way they could reach their goal of 10,000 gold by the end of the year if sales stayed where they were.
Business had gotten off to a good start. David had arranged for flyers to be posted around town, and they’d also asked guilds that frequently traveled between towns to spread the word about the casino’s opening throughout the country.
Thanks to that, opening day had been busier than expected. They’d even had to recruit new staff on short notice, leaving them desperate for all the help they could get. Despite that, the results were nowhere near their expected sales.
“It’s a casino... so why aren’t we making more from gambling?”
“It can’t be helped... Most of our customers aren’t nobles or anything. They’re ordinary citizens and adventurers. The nobles only came on opening day.”
The visitor count was certainly high. But most of the customers were adventurers and townspeople who came to eat and drink at the taverns and bars, or play a few low-stakes games.
The upper-class people who should have been spending their money there had all said things like, ‘I can’t stand being in the same place as adventurers and commoners!’ and ‘It reeks... Is that the smell of pigs? There’s no reason for me to stay in a casino frequented by such lowly riffraff!’ before leaving almost as soon as they arrived.
“Besides, since it’s gambling, there’s bound to be fluctuations in our revenue. Of course, there are days when the customers win big.”
Just as Takako said, the stakes were low, and there were days when the goddess of fortune favored the customers. In fact, revenue from gambling was lower than the combined earnings from the bars, taverns, and merchandise sold at the chapel.
“What the hell is with that old guy? He hits the jackpot every time and then leaves! How lucky can he get? He probably hasn’t noticed, but people are already calling him Jackpot Uncle, you know? They think he’s in cahoots with the casino!”
“It can’t be helped. If they’re playing by the rules, we can’t choose our customers.”
Seeing Kagami visibly lose his composure over their sluggish sales, Takako remembered what she’d been like when she’d first started her own business and sighed.
“If we want to increase our sales any further, we’ll have to bring in nobles as customers. I expected this, but this is my first time running this sort of business. I never imagined nobles disliked commoners this much... I didn’t account for that.”
David bowed his head to Kagami with an air that suggested he was taking full responsibility.
Seeing that, Kagami felt as though he’d backed David into a corner, even though he hadn’t meant to blame anyone. “Ah... no, I mean, it’s my fault,” he said with an awkward expression.
“Still, though, who knew those nobles would treat us like filth... Maybe we’ll have to build something like a VIP room.”
“Those people... They’ve accomplished nothing through their own efforts, yet they’re still so full of themselves.”
At Kagami’s casual remark, Kururu’s face twisted in disgust, as if she were remembering the past.
“Even a princess like you, Kururu, thinks that way about nobles, huh?”
“O-of course! We exist thanks to our people, so calling them lowly riffraff... It’s unthinkable! Don’t lump us in with them—we always keep our people in mind!”
Kururu puffed out her cheeks as if challenging Kagami, then answered him. As she spoke, David smiled with what seemed to be some satisfaction.
“Ah, sorry. I didn’t mean it that way. I know that, but I was impressed you could say so plainly that you don’t think much of the nobles.”
“I-is that so? I-I’m sorry for getting carried away.”
Kagami apologized for phrasing it badly, and Kururu’s cheeks immediately flushed as she hurriedly bowed her head. Seeing her do that, David’s expression twisted with what seemed to be displeasure.
“David-san, your expressions have been hilarious this whole time... What’s going on?”
Tina had been staring at his face with narrowed eyes for a while, and now she pointed it out.
“No, no. My expression simply changed while I was considering the problems that might arise if we built a VIP room. It certainly had nothing to do with being jealous of Kagami-sama.”
David brushed it off as if nothing of the sort had happened.
“Still, even if we build a VIP room, there’s no way we’ll make 10,000 gold by the end of the year at this rate... What should I do? Assuming I keep taking quests and killing monsters... where exactly can I make money?”
The quest guild didn’t have an unlimited number of requests, and other adventurers took them too, so the number was limited.
Quests were mainly issued when there were too many monsters. But even if they took a Blue Devil’s horn or a demon like Menou along and caused monsters to spawn in large numbers, the guild wouldn’t issue a quest right away. Unless the danger was recognized—in other words, unless someone actually suffered harm—no quest would be issued.
They could use Menou or Alice’s power to continuously spawn monsters and force the guild to issue quests. But that might lead to a quest being issued to hunt down the demons responsible. More than anything, Kagami didn’t want to create a situation where someone could get hurt.
“Why don’t we ask Menou-chan to produce a whole bunch of Hell Crows? Aren’t those birds worth a ton of money when you defeat them?”
Takako remembered the Hell Crows Menou had brought with her when she attacked Valman. She moved closer to Kagami and whispered the suggestion so David wouldn’t hear.
But perhaps Kagami had already thought of that, because he shook his head with a grim expression.
“I thought of that too, but apparently it won’t work. We don’t know where the Hell Crow spawn block is.”
“What do you mean?”
“The mana demons release doesn’t disappear. It just drifts around, right? Apparently, it was absorbed by a Hell Crow spawn block somewhere, and they used the mana that had gathered at the Demon King’s Castle.”
Hearing that, Takako gave a slight shrug and said, “I see,” making sure David didn’t catch on.
“Then why not have her mass-produce them and take them down one after another?”
“We can do that, but... it’s pretty inefficient.”
“Oh? Why? Don’t they spawn infinitely?”
“You know how a spawn block crumbles after it’s done its job and then gets generated somewhere else in the dungeon? Apparently, it takes a day before it can generate again. And since a spawn block has to absorb a certain amount of mana to produce a monster, it takes time to make even one, even with Alice and Menou there.”
Even so, the most efficient way to make money right now was to take Menou and Alice into a dungeon. But even if they did that, it would be difficult to earn 10,000 gold by the end of the year.
“Kagami-san, Kagami-san.”
Alice tugged at Kagami’s sleeve as she called to him. He looked so troubled that he might as well have been saying they were at a dead end.
“What is it, Alice? Your special kids’ lunch from Takako-chan is getting cold.”
“It’s not a kids’ lunch, it’s omurice! That’s not what I mean...!”
Alice glared at Kagami for teasing her, then gestured for him to lean closer so no one else could hear. Kagami sighed, figuring it probably wasn’t anything she needed to hide, and reluctantly brought his ear toward her mouth. Then—
“Do you... know about the Dark Dragon?”
Alice spoke the name of a monster he knew about, but could never possibly encounter.