Fairy Tale Chronicles

「Operating hours?」

「We’ll try to balance it with the hours of the other shops and say just lunchtime. From 11 to 2. That’s also why we’re making the labor costs low despite all the color we’re adding. Also, the reason why we can go with this much rental payment is because hired chefs more often than not hold two or more positions concurrently, like daytime only or nighttime only.」

「Hm, I see. In other words, depending on how well the groundwork is laid, you would have anything problematic covered for the most part.」

「Yeah, probably. There might also be blatant hindrances, but we already plan to match each hindrance with its own solution each time such an event occurs.」

Regardless of whether it was a perfect plan or not, Haruna had answered that they were prepared for the majority of problems in the foreseeable future, and Tatsuya figured it was pointless to question anything further. While he did think that setting up this restaurant was too much in many ways, the operation had already begun and it was pointless to question it.

「Wow, I know this happens every time, but you two really put all your effort into racing tomorrow’s direction……」

「Nah, we’re always putting 100% effort in, mate.」

「No, I really don’t see how that’s the case……」

Hiroshi and Haruna were dissatisfied at Tatsuya’s statement, which could either be taken as a complaint or as an interjection. However, even Mio, who was more on Hiroshi and Haruna’s side had to agree with Tatsuya, and then even Teres and Nora who had come on an errand from Wulls Workshop agreed with him to where the two of them simply quieted down, unable to object.

「I see they’ve begun yet another intriguing escapade.」

「Indeed. I had heard about it before, but I was quite surprised to see how far their drive can take them.」

「Well, even if normal people had complaints against the school cafeteria, I doubt they would consider making a new dining hall for all that.」

Hearing from Professor Fluit about Hiroshi’s group’s activities, the headmaster nodded, eyes narrowing. Looking at the situation in its entirety, this was a fairly trivial problem, but this conflict with the cafeteria was now something that they couldn’t just ignore.

The cafeteria itself was an actual decent location when the head chef from two generations ago had ran the establishment. The predecessor was where things had began going awry, and with the current generation, the norm was fraud, completely overlooked.

The unnatural thing here was probably that ever since the predecessor began dropping the menu quality, the restaurants and cafes that would have been receptacles had slowly but steadily began relocating and closing up shop on an increasing scale. While questionable, there was no solid evidence, and unable to undergo any sort of deep delving into this without any proper jurisdiction or authority, before long all the potential receptacle shops had been wiped out. Now all that was left was a choice between the nasty, ripoff food that was still an okay amount, slightly cheaper than anything outside the academy, or tasty but minimum 70 tirol food with low serving sizes for their prices, difficult for regular students to access.

There weren’t any receptacles around to abolish the school cafeteria, and it was profiting, so even if there was a lot of dissatisfaction, it was difficult to replace employees. This particular environment had been continuing for the last three years, but now a new obstacle had appeared their way in the form of Azuma Workshop and their cafeteria. Judging from the backlash thus far, unless the cafeteria’s food really didn’t appeal to the palate of the Lorrenians, it was sure to be a roaring business.

「The reform of the school store has already begun, and at this rate, it would be amazing if they could clear up the rest of the internal problems.」

「We have only our ignorance to blame for the school store. The person responsible had the motivation, yet we did not heed their words or follow up, simply leaving them be because they did not have as many complaints as the cafeteria. Honestly, had we thought a bit more carefully, there were plenty of matters we could have found. This is truly shameful.」

One of the instructors let out words of confession from all the embarrassment and shame when the headmaster spoke. In just one day, thanks to Hiroshi’s guidance, the school store’s sales info had been enhanced, the teachers quickly receiving the benefits from this. Also, the varieties of bread they dealt in had increased, and drinks were newly added to the store as well, two big changes that ended up greatly benefiting the related parties even further.

It was made possible in one day, so the changes weren’t all that flashy. At most, you had unclassified potions on a shelf that stood out and then notices detailing the shop’s commencement with dealing in handy goods like rope. Other than that, there were just a few small new items lined up, not any particularly drastic appearance changes, but because the shop was now selling these “small” new items, the ratings had gone up, saying they were glad they didn’t have to run to the market any longer.

Other than the bread varieties, which were admittedly not the easiest part of this, the handled goods weren’t difficult to stock up on the first day, with hardly any need to fiddle with the shelf layout, and to top it all off, they thought it inconvenient for themselves, so it was the kind of thing that anyone would think to shore up on. Therefore, it was a bit self-explanatory as to why these teachers of the school of sages felt embarrassment at their stupidity for running straight to the market without first considering the school store.

「Well, scholars are after all those who tend to have narrow vision outside of their specialty. I think it would be fine as long as you learn from this to look at things from a broader perspective. What say you?」

「Yes. I have truly realized a number of things from this event.」

「I am still opposed to their meddling in this school’s affairs. However, I do also feel the utmost gratitude for them teaching us what viewpoints we lacked.」

Voices of endorsement rose up across the room from both the factions in agreement and those in opposition to what the headmaster was asking. Of course, this did not mean that the opposed faction would stop resisting. However, if they were willing to pay heed to their thought processes and make sure they were not stubbornly clinging to their cherished opinions or flattering themselves with their authority, that already meant that these people saw significance in taking a risk by accepting Azuma Workshop’s assistance.

「In the meantime, let’s watch over them to ensure we don’t get in their way over the school cafeteria issue.」

「Certainly.」

「While I could care less about the taste of the food, it’s also true that the current cafeteria food’s price is extremely high. I do not intend to get in their way if it means the prices will fall.」

Indeed, it appeared that the teachers simply could not stomach the current cafeteria. Regardless of agreement or disagreement, if the majority of people here could eat cheap and fair portions, then the teachers could confidently say there was no need to intervene.

「Now, I would also be grateful if you could tell us how the arrangement of restaurants in this area became so unbalanced.」

At that one request, the group that had been silent for a good while began to behave a bit strangely. The headmaster, aware of these mannerisms, chose to pretend like he hadn’t noticed.