It didn’t take long before a hot meal was in front of us, which we savored together. Her cooking was as great as last time, which reassured me that my idea wasn’t wrong. She resumed the conversation once we were done filling our bellies.
“Tell me, what strange idea came to you, Tila dear?”
“It was an idea from Kuini, actually. It’s related to this.”
I pointed at her empty plate, and she raised her eyebrows in interrogation.
“What do you mean?”
“It’s simple. Aren’t there a lot of widows in this village? You cook plenty of amazing food to spend the time, and we thought you could use that talent well. Why not cook more than you need and let me sell that extra outside the village?”
“I see. We don’t need to do that, though.”
“You’re right. But you could earn some extra income with it.”
“We’re doing fine as we are.”
“Yes, but you never know what could happen in life. Having some extra savings never hurts.”
She stayed silent, so I continued.
“Most importantly, that would keep you busy. You could even cook as a group and chat at the same time, sharing recipes and ideas. I’m sure the whole activity would be great mentally too.”
“Are you doing all of this because I cried when you came last time?”
“That’s right.”
She looked surprised that I admitted it so easily, but I had nothing to hide.
“Of course, that’s not the only reason. I truly believe the food you make in this village is delicious and would sell well. Plus, there wouldn’t be anything like a quota at all. If you make food, I’ll sell it. If not, I’ll just sell the crops. It’s all up to you and your mood of the day. Is there a better job than this in the world?”
She shook her head and smiled.
“Fine, fine, you’re too good with your words, dear. I’ll talk with the other idle women in the village.”
“Why wait? Let’s go talk to them now.”
“Right now?”
“Why not? Time is money.”
“Time is money? Haha, that’s truly something a merchant would say.”
“Indeed!”
She giggled again, her mood now much better. We exited her house and walked around the village to find our targets. There were more widows and idle women than I expected, especially in a farming village like this one. In total, seventeen of them were recruited by my smooth-talking, and, once assembled, the whole group started to chatter like there was no tomorrow, laughing and sharing ideas, completely ignoring my presence.
I let them enjoy their time a little longer until I clapped my hands to attract their attention.
“Ladies, a moment of your time, please. Let’s talk about something serious. Let’s talk about money.”
A few of them chuckled while the others smiled.
“As expected of you, Tila.”
“That’s right. I see you’re having a good time here, so let’s do this quickly. How much share of the profits do you want?”
That single question silenced them like nothing else could. They all seemed like they had no idea how to respond, looking at each other to try to find an answer in the faces of their fellow villagers. I waited a little longer, but it was clear it was a waste of time.
“I can see you don’t know. Here’s my proposal. Six to four. Six for you, four for me.”
There was another moment of loud quietness.
“…What does that mean?”
I grinned reassuringly.
“This means that if I sell a dish and make 10 coppers of profits from it, for example, you’ll receive 6 coppers and I’ll receive 4.”
“Aren’t 10 coppers too little?”
“It’s just an example. Do you understand now?”
They started to whisper between them, sending me looks from time to time. Eventually, it was Mrs. Fitak who announced the conclusion.
“We want to share profits equally with you.”
This startled me. Where in the world would people ask for a worse deal for themselves?
“Why? You’re going to earn less. You’re the ones doing most of the work.”
“We wouldn’t earn anything without you anyway. We’re fine with that.”
“…Well, sure. It’s very good to me, so I have no reason to refuse.”
I gave a cheeky smile, and they looked like they expected that reaction from me.
Since I planned to sell the dishes in the inner world, I would need to convert the actual profits from the two different currency systems, but that wasn’t a problem since it was just basic math.
“We have a deal. Looking forward to working with you, ladies. If you could prepare any dish you wish to sell when I come to get the crops in the morning, that’d be amazing. And don’t feel like you need to cook. It’s fine to skip anytime you want, or even stop altogether if you feel like this is too bothersome.”
They barely listened to my nice speech before returning to chat excitedly with one another, ignoring me once again. I stopped bothering them, said goodbye to the whole group, and teleported to 6.
I announced the news to Suuru, who agreed it was a good idea. It wasn’t common to sell already prepared food in the market due to high prices. The people coming here wanted the cheapest possible food, and expensive cooked meals were the last thing they would be interested in.
However, that was only for everyone else. We could sell those at an affordable price, and with how delicious they were, I was confident we would get customers rushing to buy them in no time. That would still allow us to earn a decent profit, which we would then share with the bunnies.
It was also beneficial to me if the bunnies’ village became wealthier. Who knows, maybe I could sell selnic products there one of these days.
There was no limit to the flow of money.