- (Anna’s POV) -

It has been about 1 hour since I woke up.

Today, I want to do the last preparations needed to open my shop!~

After waking up, I trained with the knights for about half an hour like yesterday. I also ate breakfast with Alice and her parents.

What I’m doing right now? I’m currently in the kitchen and I’m experimenting! I’m trying to find out how to make soap… There are all kind of ingredients available so it’s fine if I fail a lot.

By the way, Roland and Eleonora gave me full access to every room in the house. Is it fine to trust me that much?

I’m trying to mix several ingredients, but I always put some oil. When the result of the experiment become some kind of viscous liquid, I keep it. If the result become something too liquid or too solid, I put it in the trash.

*********

Several hours passed, and I got 6 mix that look very similar to the soap that I know! Some of them got the same mix of ingredients, but the quantity of each ingredient is different. I didn’t forget to write on a paper which ingredient was used and the quantity.

Let’s try all of them!~

I’m going toward the bath with all my experiment!~

Once I’m in the bath, I try to rub each of them against my skin and put it in my hairs.

Here is the result!~

- 3 of them are quite bad, it’s very hard to rub them against the skin and it’s not comfortable…

- 2 of them are quite good, but the smell is quite bad…

- The last one is pretty much perfect, it’s comfortable to have it on the skin and in my hair. Furthermore, the smell is pretty good too!~ Let’s keep this one! It’s very close to the soap that I used on Earth!~

The one I have chosen is a mix of almond oil, vinegar, eggs, and water!

((A/N: I’m not a pro when it comes to soap, so I hope that the ingredients are not too wrong XD))

It took several hours, but at least I could reproduce soap! I think it’s worth it!~

I go out of the bath to get ready for lunch.

**********

A few dozen of minutes later, it’s lunch time! I move toward the table. When I arrive to the table, Roland, Eleonora, and Alice are already there.

“A-Anna-chan! What did you do to your hairs?! They are so shiny and beautiful!” (Eleonora)

Hehe, that’s the reaction that I wanted to see!~ I’m pretty sure that she will be useful to advertise my products! ~

“I used something that I want to sell in my shop. Do you want some?” (Anna)

I predicted that she would be interested, so I prepared a bottle full of soap for her!~

“Yes, give it to me!! How is it called?” (Eleonora)

“I call it soap.” (Anna)

“I see. I will advertise it for you! Can you give me more bottle? I will send it to some others lady in the capital!” (Eleonora)

“Hehe, of course! I will send you some once I start to mass-product them!” (Anna)

I’m still wondering how I can mass-product them… I don’t really plan to spend hours to make it everyday. Maybe I can ask the children from the orphanage to do it? They don’t need to be older than 10 to do that!~

Roland’s face suddenly become more serious, then he opens his mouth:

“By the way Anna-chan, the three of us are planning to leave for the capital in 2 weeks. Do you want to come with us? You can stay here with the servants if you want.” (Roland)

“Yes! Come with us, Anna-oneesama!” (Alice)

“W-Why so suddenly?” (Anna)

I planned to go to the capital to expand my business, but it’s maybe a bit too early… I still have a shop in this town!

“We are going there every year at this date. We will be celebrating the kingdom’s birthday and there is a huge festival. Most of the noble are also going there, and there are even some people coming from other kingdoms.” (Roland)

“What exactly is this festival?” (Anna)

“The ambiance is very nice in the street; all the commoners are also contributing. Some noble also use this occasion to organize some parties.” (Roland)

Oh! I might be interested to attend a few parties, it’s the perfect place to advertise my products toward the noble society! Hehe~

“Oh, I almost forgot! There is also a combat tournament! Last year, the winner was a S-rank adventurer from a neighboring kingdom. Many of the royal knight and royal mage were also participating!” (Roland)

OHHHH! It’s very interesting!! I might finally find someone that can rival me!!

“Mhh, I’m quite interested! I will speed up my business in this town so I can come with you!” (Anna)

“Alright! By the way, we have a residence in the capital, so you don’t have to worry about it.” (Roland)

“Yay! Anna-oneesama will come with us!!” (Alice)

I don’t want to leave the shop for too long when there are kids working… Whatever, I can just teleport back everyday to check the situation!

***********

1 hour passed since we had lunch and I’m currently in my room.

I went to the garden earlier and took a dozen of herbs. I want to experiment alchemy with the herbs of this world; I’m not sure if they have the same properties…

How did I make potion in the game? Well, it’s not that hard. I used an alchemy kit, it’s not mandatory but it’s easier to make a potion with it. What I call ‘alchemy kit’ is simply a magic item, it acts very similarly to a mixer from Earth.

There is a big tube inside where you can place all the material, then it turns very fast when you run it on to mix the ingredients. However, I have to slowly put some mana during the process to give some magical effect to the liquid. The ‘alchemy kit’ is very useful for that because it’s made in a material that don’t let the mana go out!

For example, in the tube, I can put water, some herbs, then mix everything while adding mana. The result will be a potion if I do it well. However, since some herbs have different properties, the effect of the potion will change depending on the herb! Some herbs are better to make a potion that close wounds, some other to treat a certain illness.

And that’s why I need to find out each herb’s properties of this world!

Needless to say, I doubt that anyone other than me can use the same method to make a potion. Maybe Alice will be able to do it in a few years… She still needs to have a way better control over her mana though.

By the way, some herbs are more powerful than the others, it’s most of the time the rarest and most expensive one though. However, in this shop, I plan to use ‘easy to find herbs’ because it will be easier and cheaper to mass product them. I think that the potion’s effect will still be way more powerful than the ‘potions’ of this world (can we even call them ‘potion’?).

I will still need to investigate the rarest herbs in the future though.

I try to do the process with the first herb and some water. Once the potion is made, its color is light red.

In the game, we could recognize the effect of the potion with its color.

- Red potions are used to close wounds,

- Blue potions are used to recover mana,

- Green potions are used to treat an illness.

However, the darker the potion is, the more powerful the potion is. It means that this light red potion can be used to close wounds, but the effect won’t be too powerful; it’s still enough to close most wounds but it won’t fix a bone or regrow a limb.

I’m not sure if the effects are exactly the same as in the game, but God told me that everything would be the same except the peoples and geography, right?~

After I did the process with 11 different herbs, the most basic herbs of this world that you can find anywhere, here is the result:

- 5 red potions,

- 2 blue potions,

- 3 green potions,

- 1 yellow potion.

Yellow potion?! What is that? It didn’t even exist in the game! Did you lie to me God?!

I’m really curious about its effect, but I don’t feel like testing it on myself… Whatever, I will just make a bandit or someone else drink it!~

About the others potion, some of them are darker than the first one so they are better. I guess I will sell the darkest from each category in my shop. However, I don’t feel like selling blue potion, because I don’t think that mana-recovery will be popular in this world.

I will need to find a way to avoid having to find the herbs myself though… I guess I can ask some children from the orphanage because there is a garden there and those herbs grow anywhere. I can also buy it on the market if needed… but I’m not sure if anyone is even selling it.

***********

About 1 hour passed since I started testing each herb and it’s the beginning of the afternoon. I guess I will prepare my shop now.~

I’m currently in front of the Merchant Guild. Once I enter the building, I ask the clerk:

“Is Sir Floyd here? I would like to make a contract with him.” (Anna)

I need to talk with Floyd, the one that bought my gold coins and magic item, to see if he could supply my shop.

“Yes, I’m going to call him! You can wait for him in this room.” (clerk)

I enter the room and sit down in front of a desk.

Approximately 5 minutes later, Floyd enter the room, sweeting.

“I-I heard that you were looking for me. Do you perhaps want to sell me something else?” (Floyd)

“No, I didn’t call you for that today. You told me last time that you are supplying several shops and merchants, right? I would like to ask if you could supply my shop as well.” (Anna)

“Ohh! You are opening a shop? What kind of shop it is?” (Floyd)

Aren’t you a bit too excited?! Is it because you are wondering what kind of thing I will sell?~

“I want to sell potions and soap.” (Anna)

“I know about potions, but what is soap?” (Floyd)

“Well… I guess you will see once it’s open!~” (Anna)

“I see… So, what do you want me to supply?” (Floyd)

“I need a lot of glass bottles to put my potion inside.” (Anna)

I can easily make potions, but I need something to transport the liquid if I want to sell it… So, when I thought about someone supplying it, I immediately thought about Floyd.

“Mhh, I can definitely send someone to deliver you some glass bottles. When do you want to open your shop?” (Floyd)

“I’m planning to open my shop tomorrow.” (Anna)

“T-Tomorrow??!” (Floyd)

“Yes, is it a problem?” (Anna)

“W-Well, normally you have to prepare for weeks at the very least before opening a shop… I guess it’s fine if it’s you though…” (Floyd)

What is this supposed to mean?! Should I take it as a compliment?!

“So, is it fine for you?” (Anna)

“Well… yes. I will have to push my subordinates, but it should be ok for tomorrow.” (Floyd)

Nice! Glass bottles, get!

“Alright! Is it possible to make a contract so you can supply my shop every month?” (Anna)

“Of course! How much glass bottles do you want each month?” (Floyd)

“I think I will start with 1000 of them and see the sales. I’m pretty confident that it will sell. What about the price of each glass bottle?” (Anna)

“I’m thinking of 1 silver coin for each. What do you think about it?” (Floyd)

“Mhh, sure. I’m ok with it.” (Anna)

“Alright, everything is good for me. Please fill this form for the contract.” (Floyd)

“Alright!” (Anna)

I fill the form and give it back to him. It asked the item, the number, the period, the price, and the location of the shop.

“It was pleasure to do business with you!” (Floyd)

“It was also my pleasure!” (Anna)

Alright, one thing is done! I leave the Merchant Guild to buy the next things that I need.

***********

About 2 hours passed since I left the Merchant Guild and I’m currently inside my shop. I placed the furniture and the decorations. I bought a lot of thing during those 2 hours: store shelves, a sign to put on the door, and several decorations.

Now that I’m done decorating and furnishing my shop, I have to prepare a lot of potion. Luckily, I still have a lot of herbs from the garden and it should be enough for tomorrow. The tube inside my alchemy kit is quite big so I can make a lot of potion at the same time.

I put the herbs and some water in the tube, then I mix everything with my mana.

It only takes about 10 minutes for everything to be done. I think there is enough liquid to fill 30 red potions and 30 green potions. However, I will need to fill the glass bottles tomorrow because I don’t have them yet.

Now that I have all the material for the opening, the only thing I’m missing are employee!!~

Let’s go back to the orphanage and see if some children are willing to work. I hope that there are at least 3 of them, otherwise I will have to recruit random peoples...

*********

I arrive at the orphanage a few dozens of minutes later. The kids are shouting happily once they see me. How cute!~

“Anna-oneesan is here!!” (boy 1)

I enter the orphanage and look for the headmistress. Ah! She is here. Let’s ask her if some children want to be hired.

“Hello! I came to see if there are some children motivated to be hired.” (Anna)

“Hello Anna-chan! I already asked them if they are motivated, and 5 of them want to work for you.” (headmistress)

“Oh! Perfect! I was afraid that there wouldn’t be enough people! There are only 9 children that are over 10 years old in this orphanage, after all.” (Anna)

“Is 5 alright for you? Or is it too much?” (headmistress)

“No, it’s fine! I think it’s a good number. If there was only 3 peoples, they would be too busy and have nearly no break.” (Anna)

“Alright! It’s those 5.” (headmistress)

The headmistress turns toward 5 children that are behind her and talk to them while smiling.

“Please do a small presentation of yourself for Anna-chan!” (headmistress)

After her words, the children start to introduce themselves one by one. There are 3 boys and 2 girls.

“My name is Leo and I’m 15!” (Leo)

“I’m Robin and I’m 13, pleased to work for you, Anna-oneesan!” (Robin)

“I’m Julia and I’m 14!” (Julia)

“I’m 10 and my name is Lina! I want to work for you, Anna-oneesan!” (Lina)

“My name is Noah and I’m 11!” (Noah)

How cute!~ Well, I say that but some of them are only 1 or 2 years younger than my character’s age… I’m supposed to be 16 here, I often forget about it.~

“Pleased to meet you! I hope that we will do well together! Please be ready at 8AM tomorrow, I will pick you here!” (Anna)

“””Yess!!!””” (5 children)

Employees for my shop: get!

I turn toward the headmistress.

“By the way, if some children under 10 years old are interested to work for me, I might have a few tasks for them.” (Anna)

“Ohh! There was many interested, what’s the job?” (headmistress)

I explain to her everything that I need. There are 3 tasks:

- Find the 2 herbs for the 2 types of potions,

- Create the almond oil,

- Create the soap by mixing the almond oil, the eggs, the vinegar and the water.

I prefer if we create our own oil because it’s quite expensive…

I give her the materials and the indications needed for the tasks and tell her that it would be nice if they could start tonight or tomorrow morning. I plan to open the shop during the afternoon.

“Mhh, it’s interesting, it sounds easy to do and the children might even have fun while doing it.” (headmistress)

“And I think that it’s better if I give you directly the money because small children can’t really handle money. I’m thinking of 10 gold coins per month for the 3 tasks, what do you think about it? Of course, I will ask one of my employees to buy and deliver all the material everyday.” (Anna)

“Ohh! 10 gold coins would be enough for all the children to live in luxury! They could finally eat tasty food, have good clothes, and play with new toys! I will do my best to convince them to do the work!” (headmistress)

She sure looks motivated! It’s fine for me though.~

After that, I leave the orphanage, and go back to the house. It’s soon the time for dinner!~

I wonder if Eleonora already tested the soap that I gave her?~