Volume 5 Chapter 5.3
Editor: Weasalopes
「Haruna-cha～n」
「Reinforcements～」
「Have arrived～」
「Dispose of the body～」
And as everyone was cooking to the best of their ability, several octogals came barging in.
「Ah, welcome. Would you mind checking the cleanliness of the shop for me real quick?」
「Ka～y」
「We’ll be right back～」
Accepting Haruna’s instructions, the octogals flew about the inside of the shop all at once.
「All the tables are ＯＫ～」
「Chairs are clean～」
「No problems with the ceiling～」
「Floor’s clean～」
「Windows squeaky clean～」
「Shop perimeter is a-ok～」
「Body disposed of～」
Finishing the sister-in-law high speed check, the octogals quickly returned to report. There wasn’t anything in particular to throw or drop, so that one octagonal talking about disposing of bodies was probably just doing it for fun.
「Kay, thank you. Business starts in thirty minutes, so I’d appreciate it if you help again at that time.」
「Ro～ger、ro～ger」
「We’ll do our best～」
「Work is fun～」
「Dispose of the body～」
Returning a gleeful response to Haruna, the octogals killed time while doing their own little layout adjustments in the shop. While they wanted to question these strange creatures, the employees were far to busy with stocking up to say anything.
「So just vegetables today, I take it?」
Haruna let out her thoughts at there not being any particular harassment today. In fact, for both the shop’s defense system and the octogals’ detection system, there were no thugs around who got caught in either.
「I guess it’s about time to open up?」
「Haruna-chan, there’s a guest here～」
「Okay. Today is this shop’s first battle, so let’s go into it with everything we’ve got! Business begin!」
「Alright!!」
Hearing the octogals’ report, Haruna gave the order to open up shop. The moment she unlocked the entrance door, ten hasty customers who had been waiting outside poured into the shop. Nearly all of them were students, but three others mixed in were either lecturers or office workers.
「Customer number one～」
「Congratulations～」
「But there isn’t really a prize or anything～」
The octogals said this trivial thing to the first student who walked in as they led the student to the counter for payment and the trays.
「Welcome, welcome. Today’s menu is over here. Every individual item is 25 tirols, bread and salad sets are 30 tirols, and large servings are an additional 5 tirols, while if you decrease the amount it’s 5 tirols less.」
「The menu is over here?」
「No, please come over to the receipt counter. For both sets and quantity changes we will send you a ticket, so please hand it to the person in charge.」
Nodding at the accountant, the first customer ordered a set menu with an extra serving. That was only the beginning, as more and more customers finished their payment to grab set menu tickets.
「Wow, they all look great.」
「I’ve decided. I’ll go with pot-au-feu.」
「Alright, then it’s beef stew for me.」
「Bouillabaisse.」
Unable to resist the powerful aroma, each customer said their order and took their food. Impressed at the extra helping set that was double the normal one, they then began eating the ingredient that stood out the most. Momentarily their movement stopped, and then they began chowing down silently and ravenously.
Haruna, who had been watching this, let out a small sigh of relief and returned to the kitchen.
「……Yep, it’s been a while since I had some actually decent lunch at school……」
「……The flavor isn’t especially amazing, but it’s still great, y’know……」
「……Actually, I say there aren’t too many shops out there better than this one……」
Completely engulfing this food which had quite the volume to it, the students were calmly discussing this over the tea that was offered free of charge.
「If it’s this price with this amount and this taste, I really can’t complain.」
「Having it only open in the daytime is a shame.」
「But if we think of this as another thing to look forward to…」
「Wow, never thought the day’d come when I look forward to lunch.」
The students who had marched in as the advance party were now commenting happily as they returned their utensils, and the octogals watched them as they left. The other groups that had come at different times also mainly had satisfied expressions on their faces as they left, which gave their friends who had been waiting for a verdict the stamp of approval.
「Seems like all the customers were satisfied, so I imagine peak time’s going to be busy.」
Hearing the students’ conversations via the octogals, Haruna gave her expectation. Nodding at Haruna, the head chef went and ordered additional ingredients.
And so on the first day of Azuma Diner, peak time flourished to the point where it got lines and lines of customers.
「This sucks……」
「Yes, it really does……」
One week after the opening of Azuma Diner. The secretary-general and head chef were whispering to one another with dismal faces in a corner of the school cafeteria that everyone had stopped going to. The interferences they were attempting which were comparatively hard to trace all appeared to be backfiring.
The cooks in the kitchen with free time on their hands also had quite the dismal expressions on their faces as they moved about listlessly. Apparently no one was optimistic enough to see this as an opportunity to polish their hand at cooking or try new recipes.
「It sounds like those farmers aren’t selling ingredients to anyone……」
「Yes, they appear to have their own independent supply route……」
First was the interference in ingredient delivery. This was probably an utter failure. Azuma Diner appeared to be by all means procuring foodstuff, stocked up to the brim every day. Going near the end of business hours revealed there were some items on the menu out of stock, but it wasn’t like you couldn’t still eat something there. If this wasn’t failure, then what was it?
「And even when we tried disturbing them inside, for some reason these octopi keep finding us and chasing us away……」
「Yes. Despite their appearance, they do appear to be the retainers of a god, so they must have an acute perception to these sorts of things.」
「Not to mention the people the octopi chased out are all unmistakably beyond recovery……」
「Yes, as it seems that they were driven out of the shop in a pretty humiliating way…」
When the men attempted to bring in bugs from the outside and try the classic fault-finding technique with the food, the minute they arrived the bugs were repelled by the barrier, which made this impossible. When the small fries changed their tactics to bringing their own meals, no matter how many times they tried taking out their food, the octogals saw them do this and made them exit the shop while making humiliating poses, bullied brutally to the point where one after the other no longer had the heart to challenge the diner.
While their method was classical, and therefore expected to a certain degree, it was still miserable that the shop had taken all these measures.
「We also failed to spread any rumors, so at this point, I guess we just cause a ruckus outside the shop?」
「The risk is high, but yes, that’s probably the only option.」
The chef had at last gotten to the final method, and the secretary-general chimed in with a sigh. Halting food supply would only last a month at most. Anything past that would mean no longer ignoring the lawsuits that were probably coming daily from both the shop and the farm, and without a doubt, the officials and trade guilds would make a move.
Usually this would only take a week to come into effect, but even Lorren with all its fastidiousness toward corruption had to have some. They also used that method to skillfully bribe some individuals taking the initiative to make necessary preparations for extending this time period. The limit for the extension was now a month.
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