Gourmet Gaming

Chapter 281: A Strange Date Between Him and Her

“No. I didn’t say anything strange. I definitely can raise it by 700%.”

Haze was confident with her words. She could see that Ben seemed slightly partial to it, but Rookie could not help but jump up in anger. He shouted, “How dare you! Where do you think you are…!”

“Rookie. Sit down. Let’s listen to her words.”

“…!”

Rookie sat down huffing, trying to calm down after hearing Deputy Lord Ben’s words. In the end, he decided to listen to her words first, and scold her for her strange nonsense after.

“Speak,” Ben said graciously.

There was only one reason why Ben was smiling kindly to Haze. It was because she spoke up when she had an opinion. She did not even hide it and put it forward. Having something like that could become her biggest weapon.

“Instead of having limited sales, I think we should introduce it more. Your hair will grow once you enter Valhalla Territory. That’s what we should tell them.”

“How so?”

“If we do that, then people will naturally come here.”

Right now, if Ben decided to follow Rookie’s proposal and leak the information that the hair growth was limited, most of their clients would only be nobles.

Rookie also protested against Haze’s words. He said, “You don’t even know the B in business. Don’t you know that it’s better to sell a small number of toys worth 10 platinum, than sell a large number of toys worth 500 gold? In addition, hair loss and baldness is something that anyone with money will be willing to buy. If you apply them to the nobles, then it will definitely lead to a dramatic effect.”

Haze nodded silently as she calmly accepted Rookie's words. In response, she also said, “You’re correct. However, what I’m thinking is a little different. First of all, the people’s hair were growing thanks to Sir Corr’s ‘Athenae’s Prayer’ and recorder. The scope of this prayer and recorder can be very wide. It is a power that can be delivered to a wide area with the help of a microphone. Of course, if they heard it through the microphone, the effect would be weak. But still, people will be able to grow their hair once they enter Valhalla Territory. Then, through word of mouth, even those without money, will flock to this place.”

“…Continue.”

“Whether we gain money or not, we will still be able to attract a lot of people. And these people who come here, where will they sleep, eat and buy souvenirs? Of course, it’s here in Valhalla Territory.”

“Ho? In other words, more money will transact once people come in and out of the territory?”

“That’s correct.”

Both Rookie and Ben nodded at Haze’s words. When Rookie thought about it, he could not help but smile widely.

“You’re a more discerning child than I thought.”

Rookie, too was welcoming of a budding child that could grow well. However, he still thought that his suggestion was better than this.

“However, this will increase labor costs. In my proposal, labor cost will become minimal, while we can create the maximum efficiency. This is a way to make money with no effort at all. As for your suggestion, it is making money using a lot of effort. Making 300% increase in profit effortlessly and making a 300% increase in profit with extreme hard work are two different things.”

This was business. They should also value the labor costs and human rights.

However, Haze just asked him with a soft smile on her face, “So Mister Rookie is saying this because you think your method is better overall, right?”

“Of course.”

Ben also looked like he agreed with Rookie. Haze then decided to give them a critical blow.

“What do you think of this, I say that we introduce a territory specialty, and put an incredibly high price on it?”

“Specialty?”

“With my method, we can still see a lot of benefits from the commoners, and if we tell them that if they eat this specialty, the effect of treating their hair loss will increase by several times. Just like I said earlier, Sir Corr’s prayer and recorder will only have a minimal effect through the microphone. Even so, this minimal effect will make both the commoners and nobles come here and increase the number of people visiting our territory. Once they come here, that’s when we will announce it. ‘There’s a food that will help you increase the effect of treating hair loss’. A prime example will be the Voltonis Merchants.”

The Voltonis Merchants was one of the famous department stores. They sell extremely expensive and valuable items. However…

“The Voltonis Merchants only sell expensive things, but their items are also accessible to commoners. They have a lot of platinum-worthy and rare items that commoners dare not look at. But, does that mean that they’re not able to sell it?”

Rookie could not answer her.

‘They can sell it. No, to be exact, they can’t sell it because they don’t have enough stock.’

It was because of ‘scarcity’.

“Nobles want to have ‘rare and scarce’ items. Of course, Mister Rookie’s words meant that we should limit the sales and make them rare. But, if we use my method, then we can still attract tourists.”

Haze grinned at them brightly and continued to say, “We can still do limited sales. That’s why I am confident that we can generate more than 700% increase as an effect.”

Both Ben and Rookie were speechless. She was right. They did not need to emphasize the rareness and scarcity of their items just to appeal to the nobles. All they had to do was make them come here and let them buy their specialty product that were only made by hand and stay for a long period of time in their territory. Since the number of tourists would increase and Rookie’s proposal could also be done, they would really be able to make more than a 700% increase in profits.

Haze once again smiled softly when she saw the two of them pondering over her words. Ben just tilted his teacup and smiled pleasantly.

This was the birth of ‘Wealthy Billionaire Haze’, a person who would grab the entire continent’s riches by her hands in the future.

***

Just as mentioned before, the Demon World’s Tower was like a miniature Demon World. The Demon World’s Tower was divided into plenty of sections on the ‘normal’ floors, while this was not the case for the ‘Trial’ floors. On the ‘normal’ floors, there were also territories, cities, kingdoms and even empires.

For example, one could go straight to Vaidenue Territory on the 32nd floor from Aelcrei Territory on the 14th floor if they knew the way. This meant that one could move between the general floors.

Ankheseramun, the owner of the Aelcrei Territory, was a demoness, albeit a firm and resolute master. However, these days, she was in big trouble.

‘Queen Baphomet doesn’t listen to me…’

Queen Baphomet was a well-known demonic beast in the Demon World. She was also the reigning queen of the Baphomets. It just so happened that Queen Baphomet was not following the control of the demonic beast tamer, Ankheseramun. This contributed to Ankheseramun’s current biggest problem, the drought.

“My Lady, if things continue on like this, the whole territory will dry up.”

“…”

The only way that they could deal with this terrible drought was through Queen Baphomet. Baphomets were basically demonic beasts that were well-versed in magic. Among them, Queen Baphomet was the one with unimaginable power. In addition, among all of the magic that she used, she mainly controlled water. She could easily make rain from a clear sky.

‘But in the first place, she’s the one that turned this place into a horrible place without any rain?’

Ankheseramun summoned Queen Baphomet. The summoned woman was sulking. Ankheseramun asked, “What the hell is wrong with you?!!!”

Queen Baphomet just ignored her words.

“Do you want me to give you something delicious?”

“Meeeeeeeeh―” Queen Baphomet just bleated at her.

“Then, do you want me to promise not to take you out to hunt for one year?”

“Meeeeeeeeh―” She just bleated again.

“How about 3 years?”

“Meeeeeeeeeeeeeeeh―”

“Just what the hell is wrong with you?!”

Compared to the short lives that humans lived, demons could live up to 300 years. And Ankheseramun, who had lived with Queen Baphomet for about 200 years, was wondering why she was suddenly behaving like this. It was as if they were back to day one when she was still sharp and disobedient.

Ankheseramun’s head could not help but ache. She had built her territory under the ‘Peaceful Race’ so it would be ridiculous if she went ahead and attacked other places to deprive them of water.

Just as she was knee-deep in her troubles, a man knocked on her door and knelt on one knee in front of her. The man greeted her, “Lady Ankheseramun.”

“What’s your business?”

Ankheseramun could not help but feel unhappy when she glanced at Queen Baphomet. She crossed her arms and replied briskly at the man who entered.

“A human has come to find you.”

“Human…?”

Ankheseramun’s face could not help but wrinkle at the word ‘human’.

‘A human came to find me?’

Of course, her territory was a land of peace, filled with demons that loved peace, so they would not attack humans just because they came into their territory. In fact, she was rather curious as to the reason why a human came to find her.

Ankheseramun was a proud noble demon, someone that a mere human could not easily meet.

“Tell him to get lost if he doesn’t want to die.”

“We said that to him at first. But right now, the human…”

“Now…?”

Ankheseramun felt that something strange must have happened.

“...says that he can make a lot of water.”

“Is that so?”

Ankheseramun pondered over his words. In the end, all she could do was shake her head.

“I’ll listen then.”

She believed that she could just wring his neck if he did something ridiculous in front of her. She was willing to kill, even if she belonged to the peaceful race.

***

After listening to the words of the Predatory Snake, Minhyuk quickly climbed up to the 14th floor. However, a terrible sight appeared in front of him when he stepped foot on Aelcrei Territory.

Everything had been dried up and twisted. It seemed like the 40-degree heat that he felt over the asphalt road had been burning for quite a long time. When Minhyuk asked around, he heard that it was because of ‘Queen Baphomet’.

He had also asked the guards how he could meet with Lady Ankheseramun. However, from what he had heard, it seemed like she was nigh impossible to meet.

“Crazy bastard!”

“How dare a human like you meet with our lord!”

“If we weren’t from the peace tribe, then you would have been long dead by now!”

‘Maybe this is a natural reaction? After all, someone from another race is asking to meet their lord?’

In fact, it was already hard enough to meet another lord, even if they were of the same race, so it seemed like it was harder if they were of different races.

Minhyuk thought hard before talking to one of the demons who looked like he had a high position. He said, “I’ve got a lot of water~”

“W…water?”

“H…how much do you have?”

“About 8 meters in height.”

“Really?”

“Of course. Would I even lie if I’m in a place where there are a lot of demons like you?”

The demons shook their heads before disappearing in front of him. They told him that they would go and make a report first. Then, after a while, they came back and led Minhyuk inside the Lord’s castle. In the end, he successfully entered the place. The lord of this territory, Ankheseramun, had one of the fragments of the golden crown so he definitely needed to meet her.

The door to the lord’s audience room opened. He could see a woman sitting on a chair by the end of a long red carpet. She even had her legs crossed as she looked at them imposingly.

“You asked to see me?”

“That’s right, my lady,” Minhyuk greeted her politely.

“What’s your business with me?”

“I need the fragment of the golden crown.”

“…!”

Ankheseramun’s eyes widened when she heard his words. She looked flustered for a while but still spoke calmly, “It’s not an item that I can give to just anyone.”

“I’m not trying to get it out of you without something in return either.”

“…Do you mean the water?”

Ankheseramun knew that he was trying to make a deal with her. However, the golden crown fragment was an item that she could not trade even if water had become precious to them.

‘If he can appease Queen Baphomet, then I will give him the fragment.’

Getting water was different from getting her back to the way she used to be. The former was only a stopgap measure, but the latter would help them become drought free for a long time.

“The golden crown cannot be exchanged with water. Instead, if you give me water, I’ll grant you another thing that you want.”

“Then, the most delicious thing here. That’s what I want.”

Ankheseramun tilted her head in confusion.

‘Just something delicious?’

However, before she could even ask him that, something unexpected suddenly happened.

Shwaaaaaaaaaaaaaa―

Queen Baphomet came out of the summoning room all by herself.

“You, you!!!” Ankheseramun shouted in agitation. Queen Baphomet could not be controlled at all. Just then…

Something really strange happened. Queen Baphomet was staring at Minhyuk, and her cheeks glowed red.

“…?”

“…?”

Both Minhyuk and Ankheseramun could not understand the situation. However, what Queen Baphomet did next was something that was more shocking. She suddenly pulled her hair, no… her black fleece, behind her ears as she shyly glanced at him. It seemed like she was trying to show off her beauty.

“…”

That was when Ankheseramun realized something. She thought, ‘Are you being like this because you wanted to mate…?!!!’

Was this weird? No, come to think of it, Queen Baphomet had slightly lower intelligence than the average demon. Such a being had not met a male in her 200 years of life. Perhaps this phenomenon was not that unusual. After all, it was obvious that most living beings would want to pair with a mate.

‘So the question is… why would you even look at a human-like that?’

Then, right at that moment…

Flaaaaaash―

Minhyuk’s summoning room also opened by itself, as another Baphomet appeared. Then, Queen Baphomet’s eyes began to glow. The Baphomet that appeared in front of her had an elegant figure. He had glossy black fur, finely raised horns, round eyes, and solid, firm thighs that resembled the thighs of a beautiful horse.

A fine note of music floated over Queen Baphomet’s head.

Destiny~~~

‘This is fate. That’s what this is!!!’

And…

Gulp―

Queen Baphomet suddenly gulped. Ankheseramun supported her forehead in helplessness. She thought, ‘Why are you gulping?!!!’