episode_0143

“Welcome! It’s Smith Skeleton!”

At the same time as the employees responded energetically and shouted, several customers came pouring in.

As they had been waiting since the morning, most of them were quick to hear the news and had a lot to do with Smith Skeleton’s items. These were merchants from various upper circles, mercenaries and knights who wanted the weapons that made up most of this improvement, and butlers of royalist lords who wanted to arm their fiefdoms.

“Ooh, look at this shine! If you cut off an enemy’s head with this, wouldn’t they roll away without bleeding?”

“Driver Bouleydu. Please take a look at me too. It stands up very well. This is a sword made of that special steel plate, right? At this point, I need to buy one too.”

The guests, who came in as a combination of knights and mercenaries, expressed all kinds of admiration when they saw the long swords in front of them, and then, as if they had promised, they bought one sword at a time.

“Did you just see those people? Both the knight and the mercenary were impressed and bought it right away. Even in the case of the knight, he was wearing a sword that seemed to have already been purchased here. This means that it is worth willingly paying for duplicate purchases. Let’s secure some quantity and sell it.”

And, merchants also bought products because they thought they would sell well as they saw other people purchasing them. Rather than buying one or two items at a time, I tended to purchase dozens at a time.

Since sales were good from the start, Jiena seemed to have quickly eased her worries. It even made people who bought the improved product laugh.

But on the other hand, I felt a little disappointed. There was some reaction, but it wasn’t as dramatic as I thought.

In some ways, it could be said that there was no particular reaction. The items sold a little more than usual, but considering how vigorously they were promoted, it wasn’t that many.

A few days after starting to sell the improved product, the level was not much different from usual, so I, who had some confidence in the improved product, could not help but be very disappointed.

“Tsk, I thought mercenaries would buy quite a lot. Not really.”

“Andrew, did you think there would be a lot of mercenaries?”

After dinner, when I was receiving a report on sales from Gienna, I grumbled a little and Amy came over to me. He slowly came up to me and hugged my neck from behind while I was sitting on the sofa.

“Most of the improved products are cutlery, so mercenaries use them a lot. Aren’t you saying that you eat a lot of food for no reason?”

“Huh, you still don’t know about mercenaries?”

“What?”

“I hear that mercenaries eat hard, but I also hear that they live by earning a day’s work. Weapons are an essential item for mercenaries, but it means that those who already have weapons cannot afford to leave their intact weapons behind to buy new ones. It’s not an amount that can be solved without eating one or two meals, right?”

“… … Ah.”

From Amy’s words, I could understand why there was no particular reaction from the mercenaries. This is because the mercenaries who already have the weapons I sold cheaply did not purchase new weapons right away.

It could also be seen that the fact that the current sales volume is not much different from the previous one was because new mercenaries from outside were purchasing weapons. There were mercenaries who were said to be roaming the entire continent, and there was a steady influx of mercenaries at a similar level to the mercenaries leaving the city.

So, thanks to Amy’s words that reminded me of what I was missing, I was able to ease my worries considerably. And, like Amy, Gienna also approached me as if she wanted to ease my worries. I didn’t forget to subtly push Amy away.

“Boss. Do not worry too much. Anyway, the price went up a little more than before, so the net profit got bigger, right?”

“Hmm, that’s right.”

“Furthermore, in my opinion, the customer base that will purchase improved products right away is not mercenaries.”

“You’re not a mercenary? Then?”

Curiosity overtook my worries when I heard about the customer base that Giena was talking about.

“If you’re curious, come out tomorrow and you’ll find out.”

However, Jienna smiled playfully as if it was a secret.

“Siena, it’s a foul! You’re trying to stay with Andrew all day tomorrow!”

“Huh? It’s not like that. The boss has to see it with his own eyes to understand for sure, right?”

I wanted to ask something, but I missed the right time to ask because I was arguing with Amy, who had taken one of the empty seats next to me.

It feels good bouncing between me like before… … . No, it was fortunate that he didn’t do anything that drove him crazy. It may be because of the perception that they are people they will be spending time with for a long time, but the two women have become quite close.

Anyway, it wasn’t until the next day that I was able to figure out what Gienna said about the customer base. After going to work together, like when we started selling improved products.

Of course, there was no way to know right after the store opened. This is because sales of the improved product had been going on for several days, so there were not that many people doing open runs in the morning. At most, merchants who were planning to leave in the morning would come early and purchase goods.

“Ziena. The customer base you mentioned are not merchants, right?”

“No. I’ll be back in a little while.”

I heard that customers would be arriving soon, so I waited a little more patiently. Then, a group of people entered the store.

And, upon discovering the crowd of people coming in, Jiena poked me in the side, saying that these were the customer base she was talking about.

“… … Are you saying that housewives are the customer group that will purchase improved products?”

“Yes. In the past few days, I don’t know how the rumor about the improved product spread, but housewives came and looked for the improved product.”

When I heard that housewives were the customer group that would purchase improved products, I was unable to judge the situation properly.

However, I remembered that swords are not the only items being sold under the guise of improved products. It occurred to me later that not only a short dagger that was good for use as a sword, but also a kitchen knife were part of the improvement.

In fact, several housewives who had now flocked to the store didn’t even look anywhere else and went straight to the display case selling kitchen knives and other kitchen utensils.

“Oh my, look at this. Isn’t the sparkly thing really pretty?”

“Of course! oh! Sister, look at how sharp the blade is. Don’t you think potatoes and carrots will just be cut into chunks?”

“What do you mean by potatoes or carrots? I’ll just slice even frozen meat!”

From women who seem to have just gotten married to women who may have grown children. Housewives of various ages talked about various things in front of the kitchen utensils display stand. In particular, when he looked at the improved kitchen knife, he looked at it like he was looking at a treasure.

As I looked at the housewives who turned the store into a place for untimely lovemaking, I remembered what I had been wrong about mercenaries. I thought mercenaries were people who eat knives, but in reality, the people who use knives every day are housewives.

Mercenaries rested when they had no work to do or when they wanted to rest, but housewives in charge of each household tended not to let go of their swords even for a single day unless there was something very important to do. Housewives were the people who held up the knife every day to prepare meals to fill their stomachs for their loved ones.

Of course, for similar reasons, restaurant chefs who hold knives every day, and people working in butcher shops or leather processing places, were also showing great interest in the improved product.

And, looking at these people, I was able to understand why Gienna said housewives were the customer base for purchasing improved products.

Kitchen knives, like weapons, were not easily replaced by those who already had them. However, it was small compared to other weapons and the price was cheap, so it was not difficult to decide to replace it. Moreover, as some people use multiple kitchen knives for different purposes, there were many who purchased two or three or more.

‘… … The first thing I sold was a kitchen knife, right?’

As I watched housewives choosing one or two knives to purchase, I was reminded of the items I sold when I first opened Smith Skeleton. Amy’s father, a retired engineer who could now be called her father-in-law, was the first customer and bought two kitchen knives.

I thought maybe it was because I was making a lot of money selling weapons to royalist nobles, but I was ignoring trivial things like kitchen cutlery too much.

“Um… … ?”

However, as I watched housewives paying great attention to improvement products, something a little strange caught my eye. That is, items such as pots and griddles were also selling quite well.

It’s not surprising that kitchen knives sell well because their replacement cycle is short, but I didn’t understand why pots, which last longer than most knives once you have them, are selling well.

And, as if reading my thoughts, Jienna snuggled next to me.

“Most improved products are shiny and shiny, right? That’s why it’s so well-received by housewives. They say it looks like a jewel, so it’s nice just to look at it.”

The reason why sales of pots were so high was very simple. It was said that the fact that the exterior surface was polished to a sparkling shine using a rotating grindstone was a factor that increased sales.

“Are you saying it sells well with something like that?”

“That’s not really it. For housewives, even pretty tableware is a kind of accessory. It’s natural to look for something prettier. Moreover, when it shines so brightly, it somehow makes you feel clean, right?”

Jiena’s words sounded quite plausible, so I nodded my head. I didn’t have to go far, I just had to see my mom right away. Among tableware made of wood, there were a few that my mother particularly loved because they had prettier patterns.

In short, it was said that improved kitchen knives and other kitchen utensils were selling better due to their appearance, so I thought that they should pay a little more attention to the appearance of products to be produced in the future.

When I think about it, I think I paid a lot of attention to my appearance when I was a child, picking up tree branches and having sword fights with neighborhood kids. The branches that were straight but slightly curved were popular with all children, and even I, who had memories of my past life, wanted to swing the branches at least once.

“It looks like it could be worth money.”

It was clear that if you made a sword with a shape that anyone, whether a mercenary or a knight, would want to pull out and swing right away, and if you made kitchen utensils that housewives could think of as accessories, sales would be high.

At the same time, the memory of being paid more in a past life simply because it was more stylish and beautiful came to mind.

Realizing that appearance is not something to simply look at, I decided to pay great attention to the external aspect of the objects I will make in the future. Of course, you should not focus only on external aspects and compromise the most basic quality or utility.