Bab 106: Haku's Evaluation For Rabbit's Capsule Restspot
Hey, Shun here!
I wanted to check on Haku and how Rokuko is doing, tending on our very first VIP customers, but I was shocked when I saw Chloe, the ever expressionless succubus, trying to test the bed.
She probably wanted to test out its quality before Haku could use it after taking a bath with Rokuko. While she successfully tested it out, she fell asleep in the middle of it.
The expression on her and Haku's face when they discovered her falling asleep on Haku's bed was quite the sight to behold.
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(Haku's POV)
I woke up in the morning with my mind refreshed. Last night, like a pair of happy sisters — I do think we truly are a pair of happy sisters, but in any case, like a pair of happy sisters — I and Rokuko nestled together and slept blissfully.
The comfortable bed was indeed nice, but that's not what's important to me. What I truly care about is the fact I had a good night's sleep together with Rokuko.
Dungeon Cores don't actually need to sleep. But even with that aside, up until now, Rokuko hasn't had the leeway necessary to do things such as sleep.
I myself had forced her to live in dangerous, rough conditions in order to hide from the Soldiers of God. My conversation with Shun really drove this point home.
Just cause or not, I cannot help but feel guilt and regret over what I've put her through. I feel grateful to Shun for making me realize this before everything was over. Just the thought of Rokuko getting angry at me after knowing the fact that I purposely stunted her growth as a dungeon left me utterly stumped, not knowing what I should do if that were to happen.
While I do feel grateful towards Shun, if there comes a time when he makes Rokuko unhappy for any reason, I will never forgive him. No mercy should be shown to the man who will make my dear Rokuko cry.
That aside… This experience is certainly worth one hundred gold coins. W-Well, I'll remain objective when determining the cost of the room, but I can express my gratitude with a special tip.
It might be nice for me to give Rokuko DP through another direct transfer, so she can have some spending money... Yes.
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(Shun's POV)
"Thirty gold pieces. No question." I just finished doing my daily training with Ikumei, Zenko, and Tsuka and this was what Haku told me first thing in the morning. She's carrying a small bag with her filled with gold coins before dropping it on top of the reception table with a *ka-ching* sound unique to metals.
I bet I'm showing a confused expression at the moment.
"That is how much a night's stay in your Grand Capsule Suite is worth. Thirty gold pieces per person, and thus sixty gold pieces for two people."
Let's set things straight here. A copper piece is, on Earth's Japan, equivalent to about one hundred yen.
So one hundred of those would be worth ten thousand yen, or one silver piece. Now taking it a step further, a hundred of those would be worth one million yen, or one gold piece.
The bag filled with gold coins is most likely around 60 gold pieces. This, in other words, translates to SIXTY MILLION YEN! Let that sink in.
While I definitely expected this person with severe sister complex to bump up the price because Rokuko enthusiastically presented herself as the person who will serve Haku and Chloe, I did not expect that I'd get this much.
And, on top of all that, Haku put another thirteen gold pieces on the counter.
"And as for the food, one gold piece is simply too little for a meal of that caliber. I know the special circumstances under which you are acquiring the food, but normal inns would charge around ten gold pieces for such a meal. You should raise the price to five gold pieces at the least. Here is my payment for our meals, splitting the difference, with Rokuko's included."
Now, I gotta be honest here, I totally did not expect that someone would actually pay 5 gold coins, or 5 million yen, for A [Child's Deluxe Lunch (10 DP)] and [Cream Soda (8 DP)]… This is totally inflation but on crack isn't it?
Economically speaking, I'm making over 99% net profit from this… I mean, I definitely want to earn as much as I can from this since I have my quest to complete but... Why do I feel like I'm ripping people off?
Is this what doctors felt when they're overly exaggerating their patient's disease so that they'll pay them higher? Well, I guess they wouldn't feel that way since they are intentionally raising the price in that scenario.
Like, sure, it's deluxe, but I literally fed a child's lunch to Haku and she's paying this much for it. Ichika also said that the meal would be worth five gold coins, but it just… feels bad to sell a lunch worth a thousand yen in Japan for friggin' five million yen.
But, oh well, Haku's the one who has a more vast experience compared to me when it comes to running a business in this world so, I don't think she'd nonchalantly quote these prices just because Rokuko was the one who did the room service.
"Honestly, I feel like this is a bit much…"
"Are you suggesting that you cannot trust my opinion?"
"That's absolutely not the case here, Haku. It's just that, my common sense could still not comprehend this. It isn't sinking in..." I have no plans of going against the price Haku quoted here as this will just be more advantageous for me. As we all know, Haku stood at the top of the entire Empire and, whatever value she personally assigned to the room would become the proper price for it, thirty gold coins or not.
Haku didn't just pay prices. She created them. And that wasn't a joke, either.
In a situation where the price of a good is unknown, whatever someone pays for it becomes its real price. Doubly so if that person was a higher up in the Empire or an A-Rank adventurer.
People would see what they paid and assume they must know what they were doing. This phenomenon could be observed especially on art.
Since I had asked Haku to determine the price, I had basically gotten her backing for whatever price I may charge. In other words, thirty gold pieces for one night's stay and five gold pieces for a meal were both prices Haku had determined to be correct. Requesting them to be cheaper would be, by extension, not trusting Haku… which would basically translate to me picking a fight with her.
"…It seems you do not fully agree with me, so I will explain my reasoning in more detail." She seems to have noticed the slight hesitation within me and she was kind enough to elaborate.
"This is more than welcome. Thank you in advance."
"First of all, I assume that you attempted to match the price to how much DP you spent on the food. However, the resulting price feels lacking and inconsiderate of such costs as transportation and labor."
For example, cherries were apparently fruits grown in a distant eastern country called Wakoku — which is by the way the name of ancient Japan, given by the ancient Chinese who referred to Japan as 'Land of Wa'. Anyway, back to the cherries, a single one of them would apparently cost fifty silvers in Tsia.
They rotted quickly, so fresh cherries had to be stored in [Storage]… and the only adventurers with [Storage] going back and forth between Tsia and Wakoku were generally A-Rank adventurers. Sending an A-Rank adventurer that far on a delivery quest would run you up five gold pieces at least.
To make up for that, you would buy in bulk, and subtracting the cost of the cherries you ended up with… fifty silvers per cherry. Makes sense. I never considered that until she brought it up.
Haku then went on and on, telling me the specific reasons as to why she priced the meal so high. During our talk, I realized that I made a huge oversight. I should do more research or ask Seiko, Ichika, Maichi, or Koharu about some common knowledge about this world.
The only reason I could buy stuff like vegetable stuffed bread rolls for cheap in Japan is thanks to factories, mass production, and a globalized economy with cheap shipping. Recreating Japanese recipes in this fantasy world that doesn't have factories or even the recipes for the food will naturally lead to a lot of invisible costs coming out of seemingly nowhere.
This world has magic and dungeons, but it hasn't developed any forms of mass production yet. This just meant that I shouldn't be equating 1 copper coin to 100 yen.
Thanks to making a shortcut between this world's money and Japan's money, I ended up calculating prices based on what they would be worth in Japan. I should've asked Ichika to further elaborate since the price she cited was basically the same price that Haku said.
"By the way, B-Rank adventurers and above are practically treated like nobility. Many of them are even given noble titles. Such is optional for B-Ranks, but it's mandatory once you reach A-Rank. And an A-Rank adventurer fundamentally pays with gold coins."
Apparently, it was a common saying that A-Rank adventurers would pay a gold coin for an apple and not ask for any change to save time. The saying reflected how A-Rank adventurers would get so rich their sense of money would go haywire…
"This is such a welcome surprise. And I hope you enjoyed spending some time with Rokuko?"
"Of course I did. I would really love to pay for her staying in my room as well, but as Rokuko is the owner of this inn, it is practically her own home. It would be odd for one to pay a fee for sleeping in their own home, so I restrained myself and settled for only paying for her meal in an act of selflessness. Understand?" What do I not understand? I understand it perfectly. You're a siscon, end of story.
"Of course. I totally understand."
"While I'm curious as to what is running through your mind right now, I would like to talk about our partnership." Oh, did she come to a decision now?
"Of course, of course. Did you come to a decision now?"
"Yes. I would like you to build about two of these 'capsule inns' in the capital for a test run. Of course, since this is your idea and you are Rokuko's Dungeon Master, we will split the profits that we'll gain thirty to seventy. Thirty on us, and seventy on you and Rokuko." Did she just say "You are Rokuko's Dungeon Master" because it's such an important prerequisite for me to get such a good deal that's on my favor?
"I'm absolutely fine with that but... How are we going to the capital? Are we going to travel on foot or..."
"I will connect my dungeon and Rokuko's dungeon through a spell so that you can go back and forth between the capital and your dungeon for a period of time."
When Rokuko heard the word 'capital', she finally couldn't restraint herself and she interjected between our conversation.
"Capital!? I want to go too!"
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※~To be continued~※
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Author's Remarks:
※ With this chapter out of the way, I could finally start accelerating the pace a bit. This arc has been going on for a pretty long time now and it's about time I end it. The details that will be left out will be added on the future side stories/intermissions.
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