Ch.183Big Money Coming, Yeah!

The memoir of the Great Sage that we submitted turned the Moon Lake Pioneer Bureau upside down.

All departments suspended their regular operations and began authenticating the memoir, with additional personnel expected to arrive soon from the Seventh Western City.

The reason this matter had grown so large was due to the special nature of the artifact known as a memoir.

While the legacy of Great Sage Deidric Asmad had been discovered countless times throughout Grantis over the past century, the contents had never gone beyond completed spell formulas or systematically organized materials about the world of Grantis.

In other words, this was the first time an artifact had been discovered containing the personal life, feelings, and thoughts of the person known as Deidric Asmad.

As a result, our Frontier License examination was postponed until the rigorous authentication of the memoir was completed, and we were even requested not to leave Moon Lake until then.

“For that reason, let’s grill some meat by the lake tonight.”

“Yay~”

We were at the lakeside on the southwestern slope of Moon Lake.

Originally, this was a place where campfires were prohibited due to fire hazards and issues with leftover charcoal, but we received permission to cook on the condition that we wouldn’t light any fires.

“Well then~ Let’s set it up right away~”

“I’ll take out the meat and vegetables we brought.”

“Ah, thank you, Phyllis.”

I helped Mina set up a portable metal table at a suitable spot by the lake and attached a flat, can-shaped magical device to the bottom of the table.

Phyllis and Jessica prepared the ingredients and tableware, while Seti moved to the lakeside a short distance from the table with a fishing rod and bait box.

Today’s main menu consisted of pork, duck, various vegetables, and fresh fish caught from Moonlight Lake.

“Switch on!”

With that shout, Mina turned a dial attached to one side, and the black iron plate at the center of the table began to heat up.

In less than twenty seconds, it became sufficiently hot with rising heat waves. After confirming this, we sprinkled a small amount of cooking oil and placed meat and vegetables on it, producing a delicious sizzling sound that captured the attention of people nearby.

“What are those people doing?”

“Grilling meat?”

People began to show interest, whispering among themselves.

Amid various comments like “Isn’t cooking prohibited here?” and “Do different hotels have different rules?”, suddenly a whistle blew, followed by a thunderous shout that sounded like someone had swallowed a train boiler.

“Tweet-!”

“Hey, you people over there!”

“Oh, that was quick.”

A portly, mustached man came running breathlessly while blowing his whistle. He wore a brass star-shaped badge on his left chest.

He was a peace officer from the sheriff’s office, one rank below a deputy sheriff who would wear a silver badge.

“Fire is strictly prohibited at this lakeside! It could set the grass on fire!!”

“Now, now, calm down. We haven’t lit any fires.”

“What nonsense are you talking about? You’re clearly grilling meat right now!”

“I’m telling you the truth. Look carefully underneath. Where exactly do you see a fire?”

When I pointed to the underside of the portable table, the peace officer who had rushed over to enforce the rules examined underneath the table from various angles and his eyes widened in surprise.

“Wait… there really is no fire! Is it an artifact?”

“Not an artifact, but a magical device for everyday use. It allows you to grill barbecue or cook on an iron plate without lighting a fire. We explained its structure to the Swani Hotel where we’re staying and received permission to use it.”

“Hmm… if you’re not using fire and you got permission from the hotel, I suppose it’s fine. Sorry for the disturbance.”

“Don’t worry about it. That’s your job after all. More importantly, since you’re here, how about a plate?”

“No, I can’t snack while on duty…”

Despite saying this, the peace officer couldn’t ultimately refuse the meat that the slender blonde elven beauty offered him on a paper plate.

As this small incident drew even more attention from the surrounding people, Seti joined us carrying a bucket with two arm-length fish he had caught in that short time.

“Will, I caught some fish.”

“Oh, nice timing, Seti. I’ll grill them for you right away, so eat some meat first.”

“Okay.”

I quickly cleaned the scales and innards of the fish Seti handed over, then skewered them on metal skewers and inserted them into the circular tunnel under the iron plate.

Though the inside of the tunnel appeared empty at first glance, it was a mysterious space maintained at a uniform temperature of about 200 degrees by the pyroxite heating device.

Just put the fish in and wait a moment, and you’ll have perfectly grilled fish with the oil extracted and a crispy outside with a moist inside.

“Wow… that’s amazing.”

“Looks delicious…”

The sight of beautiful women of Human, Elf, Dwarf, and Cat-folk races sitting together, freely grilling meat and fish with a fascinating magical device, was more than enough to attract people’s attention.

‘Just as planned.’

In fact, tonight’s dinner doubled as a promotion for this magical device.

A tool that allows you to grill meat without lighting a fire at a lakeside where fires are prohibited—wouldn’t anyone enjoying tourism at Moon Lake be interested?

But setting up a stall and selling this magical device here would be an amateur move.

After all, the people passing by this lakeside right now are not our target customer base.

‘Everyone is watching with curiosity, but the fact that no one is asking where they can buy this table tells you everything.’

Citizens of Moon Lake could simply grill meat in their kitchens without such a device, and travelers would surely light campfires when camping, so the merit of not using fire wouldn’t appeal to them.

Then who exactly is the target customer base for this magical device?

People like that suit-wearing man who is lingering among the tourists and approaching us now that the crowd has thinned somewhat.

“Excuse me. Could I have a word with you?”

“And you are?”

“I’m Adamski, the manager of the ‘Lake Royal Resort’ over there. I’m interested in the magical device you’re using right now, so I’ve taken the liberty of coming over.”

‘Here we go-!’

Mina’s amber eyes gleamed sharply as she welcomed the first sucker—I mean, customer.

“Heheh, heheheh…”

“……”

“Hehehehehehehehehe~”

Mina lay face down on the hotel room bed, making an unpleasant laughing sound while kicking her legs.

Seti’s impression of her behavior was simple.

“Mina is broken.”

“That’s because she made a fortune selling those grill tables…”

“I was worried when she suddenly changed the plan, but this turned out to be an epic success.”

Originally, Mina’s plan was to convert the remaining 50 pyroxite heating devices into bombs and sell them for 100 gold each.

However, upon learning that Moon Lake’s ordinances included a clause stating “fires must not be lit at the lakeside,” Mina changed her plan without hesitation. She decided to create cooking equipment that could grill food without lighting fires and sell them to the “lodging facilities” of Moon Lake.

‘Think about it! Guests at neighboring hotels can rent cooking equipment to grill meat, but our hotel can’t provide that service. This creates a night-and-day difference in service competitiveness! Any accommodation business with profit in mind wouldn’t pass this up!’

Arguing this point, Mina went around the shopping district to purchase additional materials and quickly created a sample iron plate grill table equipped with pyroxite heating devices.

One table with a set of two heating devices cost just 398 gold.

If she sold 30 sets, the total sales would amount to 11,940 gold, and calculating material costs at 200 gold per set, she would generate a profit of about 6,000 gold.

That was the calculation, but…

‘398 gold per set! If you purchase all 30 sets, it’s 796 gold per set!’

‘Oh? You’re charging twice the price to someone who buys the entire stock? What’s your reasoning?’

‘Simple. If you accept this deal, I’ll hand over the design for the heating device, and I promise never to sell the same item in Moon Lake again!’

Pay double, and “the joy of legally grilling meat by the lakeside” will be exclusively available to your hotel guests.

This attractive proposal stirred the heart of Adamski, the manager of Lake Royal Resort, but even so, 30 sets at double the price seemed burdensome, so he left saying, “Please wait a moment.”

Until then, it seemed like Mina had overplayed her hand and missed a good opportunity, but Adamski returned about 20 minutes later accompanied by two dignified individuals, a man and a woman.

‘Grand Moonlight and Swani Hotel. These are the managers of two accommodations of the same class as our Lake Royal Resort. If it’s acceptable to split the purchase with 10 sets each, we’ll contract according to your proposed terms.’

Rather than insisting on exclusivity at an unreasonable cost, Adamski and the two managers were satisfied with sharing among equivalent high-class hotels to create a “differentiated service exclusive to luxury hotels.”

Mina gladly accepted their terms, and the total sales amounted to a whopping 23,880 gold.

Half of this was received as a down payment, with the remainder to be paid upon completion of delivery.

“Hehehehe~ Hey Jessica. Is it really okay for me to spend up to 10,000 gold at the auction as I please?”

“Of course. The initially expected sales profit was around 6,000 gold, and the rest is purely profit generated thanks to Mina’s improvisation. If there’s an artifact that would benefit the party but 10,000 isn’t enough, I’ll add a bit more.”

“Really!? Thank you! Jessica really is the best!!”

The delivery deadline for the grill tables was noon on May 11th, two days later, and the auction was scheduled for 3 PM the same day.

Barring any unforeseen circumstances, Mina would successfully complete the delivery and participate in the auction with a hefty purse.

“Aah~ I wish the day after tomorrow would come quickly~ Hehehehehe~”

Mina’s unpleasant laughter continued even after she returned to her room, apparently lasting until around midnight.