episode_0040

I could feel the corner of my mouth twitching for no reason when I saw the appearance of the Carbon Branch, the first franchise of my blacksmith shop.

This is because we now feel like we are expanding the market in earnest. I couldn’t help but laugh as I thought about increasing my influence and making more money through various franchises in the future.

“Warlock!”

However, as I was looking at the Carbon Branch from the outside, the franchise owner inside quickly ran out. While waiting inside, wondering when I would arrive, it seemed like they found me.

I don’t know if it was because I had to bring the goods to start the business, but he welcomed me very warmly. If I hadn’t been sitting on the skeleton horse, I might have hugged it.

“How have you been?”

“Yes! Rather, I had a good time.”

The franchise owner smiled happily, saying that he had a lot of fun decorating the interior of the store as he was thinking about opening a franchise.

I smiled at that sight and brought the carts that followed me a little closer. The skeletal horses rattled the cart and showed the items on the cart to the store owner.

“Oh! As expected, all of Warlock’s products are of good quality!”

“Right? And now, rather than my product, it is our Smith Skeleton product. Mr. Branagh, the owner of the first franchise, is now a member of Smith Skeleton, right?”

Rather than simply selling items separately, we sent out a prepared message to make people feel like they were part of Smith Skeleton. If you have a sense of belonging, you will pay more attention, and the brand’s image will naturally improve.

“Member of Smith Skeleton… … !”

The franchise owner must have been taken aback by my words and was nodding his head while muttering to himself that he was a member of Smith Skeleton.

I was satisfied with the fact that he was clearly going to do well as the first franchise, so I nodded slowly.

“Ah! Don’t stay like this, come inside!”

The store owner, who had been talking to himself for a moment, must have come to his senses and guided me, who had been standing blankly outside the store, inside the store. As I entered the store under his guidance, I was able to clearly see parts that were not clearly visible from the outside.

Display racks that are almost similar to the ones in our store, wooden decorations that resemble human figures like the skeletons I use as mannequins, etc. Overall, it felt like a copy of our store. The difference was that it was a little bigger and wider. In some ways, it felt like our store had been stretched and stretched to become bigger and wider.

However, because of that, I actually liked it because it felt like it was the same brand. If this pattern continues even as the number of franchises increases, it could become a characteristic of the brand, so I thought it would be a good idea to actively encourage this type of interior design.

“The interior is also well decorated. It would be nice to see things displayed here.”

“Thank you. So how about putting it on display right now?”

“Of course.”

When I was told to put them on display, I immediately tried to take the skeletons out of my arms. Most of the items were not that heavy as they were daily necessities, but since the quantity was large, it would have been nice to have more workers.

But there were some that moved faster than I could take out the skeleton. Five people came rushing out of the passage that would have led to the blacksmith shop in our store.

“Uh… … . Who are those people?”

“Ah, these are the employees of the top I ran. Most of them left to find other jobs, but they decided to run this store with me. They were employees who dealt with people and sold goods when traveling commercially, so they asked me to join them.”

When I heard that he was a sales representative, I nodded. It was no problem for Jienna to work alone at our store, but this was a city with a population that was dozens of times different. A few clerks were absolutely necessary. I was already planning to ask about that later, but there was no need to ask.

Anyway, the employees who showed up immediately approached the cart skeleton and started unloading the items there. All kinds of items, including sickles, knives, axes, pots, and bats, quickly went into the store’s warehouse.

And, some of the items that were packed from the cart to the warehouse came out again and filled the shelves. However, the order in which items are displayed was a little different from our store. It seemed like it was because the employees at the top were experts at selling products.

Perhaps to encourage people to look at more items, the most sought-after items were placed on the innermost shelves. In order to find that item, you have no choice but to look around the store.

It’s not that there aren’t people who just look at what they’re aiming for and go straight ahead, but a significant number of people tend to look around to find an item, and they often end up buying one or two more items at a time. In short, it was possible to increase sales just by placing it.

“Oh… … . When I go back, I’ll have to change the layout a bit.”

I didn’t even think about it when I was arranging the items on the shelves, but seeing the experts do it like this made me realize a lot of things. I thought it would be a good idea to hire an expert for this.

“Manager! All the items on the cart have been moved to the warehouse, and the display of items for sale has been completed!”

As I was thinking about hiring experts, I heard the franchise staff reporting to the franchise owner that they had finished displaying the items.

When I heard the sound and looked around again, I saw that it was displayed very neatly. The things that I and Jiena said were neat in our own way were so neat that they looked sloppy.

“It’s really at a level where we can start business right away. Should I call him an expert? … .”

“We have been doing commercial business for over ten years. This can be said to be thanks to the experience gained through various attempts to sell efficiently in narrow wagons. Moreover, it is possible because everyone is a veteran when it comes to sales.”

The franchise owner seemed to be praising and bragging about his employees, and the employees also seemed to be in a good mood.

“Then there will be no problem if we start business right away?”

“Yes. I don’t know what will happen to the maintenance skeleton that the warlock mentioned, but it is possible right now to simply sell the items.”

“Is there anything to wait for? Let’s do simple sales right away at the store. While our employees are selling, we will leave the maintenance skeleton behind and teach you how to use it.”

“Okay.”

After hearing my words, the franchise owner immediately gave some instructions to his employees. As if they had told me in advance before I came, the staff moved in perfect order.

One person took a seat at the counter, and the other waited for customers near the display stand. Then, the remaining two people went out of the store and began promoting the opening of the Smith Skeleton Carbon branch.

” Come take a look at our affordable and high-quality steel products!”

“Smith Skeleton sells high-quality kitchen knives for only six thousand med!”

The two employees who went outside immediately started shouting stories promoting the store. Because it was a commercial district, it was crowded with people, so people’s attention was quickly drawn to it. In particular, people showed interest when they heard that a high-quality kitchen knife was being sold for only 6,000 med. First of all, since the price is so cheap, some people came in thinking, “Let’s take a look.”

So people came inside and started looking at the goods, and the franchise owner, whose mouth was gradually turning upward, moved towards the warehouse. This is because a separate space was left out to operate the maintenance skeleton.

When I went in there, I took out a skeleton in the place where the items I had previously requested, including a large whetstone, had been placed. A skeleton was revealed solely for the purpose of managing iron products. In order to be used solely for that purpose, a different type of bone was attached in place of the hand instead of the hand.

The left hand was shaped like a vise so that it could hold something strongly, and although there was something that looked like a hand on the other side, the wrist part was very different. It was a structure that made the leather or cloth rotate at high speed for polishing the whetstone. Simply put, it was made so that the hand could spin around at an insane speed.

“Anyway, Mr. Branagh can’t use dark magic like me, so he can’t control the skeleton in detail, right? In the first place, it is not possible for someone else to control the skeleton I own.”

“That’s right. But isn’t there a way to say that?”

“Yes. There is a way. That’s a pretty easy method too. I made the skeleton perform a specified action in a specified situation in advance. So just remember that part well.”

Just as a product designation group was created to control product production even when I was not present, a similar process was followed for the maintenance skeleton.

“First, when sharpening the blade, apply strong red ocher to this side. To be precise, red clay is applied to the area where the blade will be sharpened. It is designated to sharpen the blade on the area where the red clay is applied.”

“Are you saying that I just need to apply red clay?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to see it in person rather than explaining it several times?”

Since it was easier to understand quickly if I showed it directly, I took out a small dagger that I always carried with me. It was used for various purposes, including black magic, but the blade happened to be a bit dull.

After lightly applying red clay to the blade, I placed it in front of the skeleton, and immediately the skeleton moved, grabbed the whetstone, and began sharpening the blade. Swish, swish – the skeleton moved at a high speed, with a certain force and angle, and the blade sharpened in an instant.

“Oh, if it’s done this way, I can do it even if it’s not me but my employees.”

“The advantage is that anyone can do it easily.”

Seeing the franchise owner’s admiration, he shrugged his shoulders and taught him other types of maintenance methods.

“To remove rust or create a shine, just apply the rust remover or polishing agent found here. Then, just like before, the skeleton will do the work on its own.”

This time, to see it in action again, I applied polish to the sharpened dagger and placed it in front of the skeleton. Then, the skeleton put down the whetstone, grabbed a polishing cloth, and began quickly wiping the dagger. Thanks to the rotating hands, the work could be completed several times faster than a human could do it by hand.

With just two light movements, the dagger’s edge became sharp and shiny.

“This is amazing!”

The franchise owner made a fuss about the fact that the blade became sharp and shiny in just a few minutes.

They said that it was innovative to be able to sharpen and polish a blade in such a short period of time, or that it would be possible to earn a certain level of profit just by maintaining it.

Seeing him making such a fuss, I just shrugged my shoulders. To me, it wasn’t a technology that was difficult enough to be considered amazing or innovative. Still, I had no intention of putting a second on the fact that there were many users who would pay 10,000 Med every month and use it.

“Warlock! Is it possible to rent additional skeletons?”

“Additional rental? There is nothing that cannot be done.”

Besides, they were thinking of giving me more money for additional rentals, so it was strange to hit the candle.

“Instead, it takes some time. You have to obtain the monster’s corpse, turn it into a skeleton, and then transform it. I can do it right away at my place, but here I need to get some materials and tools.”

“Just tell me the materials and tools you need, and I will get them all! I would like to rent two additional skeletons!”

I roughly nodded my head when the franchise owner said that he would step forward. Of course, I had no intention of obtaining all the ingredients through him. If all the materials were obtained from him, the cost would be revealed. It was not a good choice to disclose the cost of skeleton rental, which only generates net profit after renting for a few months.

Anyway, for that reason, I didn’t go back to the village right away and started making the skeleton.

From time to time, I looked around the city, looking for ingredients, and closely observed the employees who were sales experts at work at the Carbon branch.

However, at the moment when one maintenance skeleton was completed and placed, a group of people came to Carbon Branch.