Volume 9 Chapter 19 The Store's Battle Strategy
Ice was having a dream that night.
She was spending peaceful days with her family and friends. But suddenly, that peace was shattered.
It happened in the dead of night.
Someone had invaded her family's home while they were fast asleep. A large group of powerful beings.
It took her a little while to realize that they were gods.
The main gods from Norse mythology, starting with Odin, were staring at them with eyes filled with hatred, disgust, and fear.
First, her mother was bound. A monkey-like gag was placed on her, and she couldn't move or cry out.
Next, the 3 siblings, including herself, Fenrir the wolf, Jormungand the snake, and herself, were kidnapped. She screamed for her father to help her over and over again.
She screamed until her throat was dry, but her father didn't appear.
He didn't appear at all.
* * *
A few days later, after some repairs, we were guided to Clay's store.
"That department store has really become Clay's..."
"Yeah, it's going well. But from here on out, it's the real deal."
Clay said with a cheerful tone. Then he told the store employee Demon, "Ah, you. That's in the back." The store employee Demon nodded and headed to the back as instructed by Clay.
"How did you prepare that store employee? The previous owner was like a sl*ve, right?"
"Ah. He's a villager I brought from Bael's territory. It's better not to have to pay labor costs, you know?"
In other words, he was a sl*ve. Clay had really become tainted by hell, I thought. He was quite naive when he first came.
Well, he was someone who had a bit of a dark side to begin with. He must have had the qualities for it.
As we chatted, we moved to the conference room. It was a room that only our core members could enter. For now, only the store owner Clay, I, Ice, and Rollo could enter.
...I feel like Rollo has somehow become a core member, and I sense her high interpersonal ability. I realized that I had been drawn into her circle without noticing.
As I thought about the demon kid with a sense of wonder, Ice and Rollo approached me. It was just a few minutes before the meeting time.
"Both of you are here. So, let's all listen to what the great merchant, Clay-dono, has to say about our future prospects."
"Wade-kun, stop it."
"No way, I'm serious. I really think you're a great merchant."
I said to Clay, who was making a sour face, and he scratched his head with a embarrassed look. Then, he let out a sigh and said, "You're really something..."
Just then, Rollo chimed in.
"By the way, what's the deal with Clay-sama being my master's...?"
"Huh?"
Rollo tilted her head, and the 3 of us tilted our heads as well.
Then, Rollo continued in a silly tone.
"Ice-sama is master's wife, right? And there's Toxy-sama and Sandra-sama too, right? So, I thought Clay-sama was master's friend..."
Rollo started giggling like an idiot.
"Master's wives are all working hard to earn money for him, but it doesn't make sense to me~♡ I mean, all the girls are taken by master, and I'm the only one left~!"
"Rollo, that's crossing the line."
I gave Rollo a light chop on the head for saying something so rude.
"I, I'm sorry... I thought I could at least tease the girls, but not master...!"
"That's not how it works."
I let out a sigh at Rollo's silly comment and said,
"Listen, it's not about earning money for master, but about working hard for family. That's what it means to have a job, and it's a noble thing to do. In that sense, Clay is more than just a close friend to me――he's like family."
I put my arm around Clay's shoulders and gave Rollo a sly grin. Rollo looked shocked, and Clay said, "Wade-kun, you're saying some pretty embarrassing things without any shame."
"What's wrong with being honest? Clay, you're my partner, my close friend, and my family. You're just like the other 3 wives."
I said, and then I tilted my head.
"...In that sense, am I like Clay's wife or something, since I'm working hard and doing whatever I want...?"
"Wade-kun, stop it. Ice-san has been scary for a while now. Let's stop this already. I don't want to die either."
"Huh?"
I'm looking at Ice. Ice has a gentle smile on her face, just like always.
"Clay, isn't it bad to use Ice because she's so shy?"
"No way! No way! Look! Look at Ice-san right now!"
"H-hey, Ice-sama's smile is so intimidating..."
I'm looking at Ice. She's smiling warmly, just like always.
"Don't you 2 gang up on Ice!"
"No way! Ah, forget it! Let's get started! We're going to discuss our strategy for the Bazaar!"
For some reason, Clay is half-angrily shaking off my shoulder, clearing his throat with a "Ahem" and tightening his expression.
"First, as Wade-kun suggested the other day, we're going to get the powerful demon 'Empress Yor' on our side and aim to take control of the tower in the end."
"That's right. That's our intermediate goal."
"And to achieve that intermediate goal, we need to get close to Empress Yor. I think we should set specific commercial activities as our small goals in the Bazaar."
"Alright, let's do that."
Ice and Rollo nod in agreement, saying "I think that's a good idea, yeah..." and "Yeah, that's right..."
"Good. Now, let's get into the specifics of achieving those small goals."
Clay takes a deep breath and gets to the point.
"For now, we want to make this store work and take over the merchant guild as the hub of our small goal for the time being. To do that, we need to consider 2 guidelines."
"Two guidelines?"
"Yeah. In other words, it's about 'offense' and 'defense'."
Suddenly, we're talking about war. I thought we were discussing business.
"'Offense' means attacking other stores. We need to lower our prices, spread bad rumors, or disrupt their supply chains."
"Indirect attacks sound pretty cruel, don't they?"
"Clay-kun, you know..."
Ice, the merchant's daughter, nods with a serious face, saying "That's a fundamental principle, isn't it?" I guess that's what businesspeople do. Businesspeople are scary.
"Defense is, literally, about how well you can dodge attacks from other stores. It's like lowering prices to compete, saving up assets, manipulating reputation, or using image strategies to protect your suppliers, you know?"
"Master~, I feel like I've heard Clay-sama's conversation somewhere, like in a war or something... Am I just being paranoid?"
"That's a strange coincidence, Rollo. I was thinking the same thing, that it's similar to war."
It feels like we're having an intense discussion about using image strategies to control the morale of our own troops and the enemy's, or attacking and defending supply lines.
If we're going to do it, I think we should just launch a direct attack, but I guess that's not an option since it would make us stand out and delay our Demon King subjugation.
"The Merchant Guild is, literally, a gathering of merchants. The one who earns the most is the greatest, that's the basic principle. The person who earns the most becomes the Guild Leader."
"So, does that mean we can just take down anyone who gets in our way?"
"Yeah, that's right, Wade-kun. We need to become the store that earns the most in this bazaar, no matter what methods we use."
"No matter what methods, huh?"
When I repeat what he says, Clay gives me a really bad smile. It's annoying, but it's also kind of fun.
"What's the specific strategy?"
"We can either take down small fry one by one and absorb them, or go for Giant Killing. Which one do you think is better, Wade-kun?"
"I want to learn the basics of merchant wars first. Let's start with the small fry."
"Got it. Let's do that."
Ice is nodding enthusiastically to our conversation. "It's better to absorb many small stores than to take down one big store, and it's more profitable too...!" with sparkling eyes.
"...Ice, you really like talking about business, don't you?"
"Uh, yeah, I like talking about it, but... for some reason, I'm way more skilled at war..."
...Yeah. It's true that Ice is really good at war.
"Kyaa~! Ice-sama is scary~!"
Rollo is pretending to be scared and clinging to me. Ice quickly grabs Rollo's head, freezes it for a bit, and then lets go.
"Rollo, chan...?"
"Whoa~ It's freezing! Amazing! I'm getting that feeling like when I only had snow to eat and I was starving!"
Rollo, don't bring up that pitiful past of yours in a funny, entertaining way.
"Anyway, our plan is set. Clay, if we think about taking out the small shops one by one, what's an effective strategy?"
When I asked him to explain, Clay thought for a bit and started talking.
"Price competition is a basic tactic for big stores to take out small ones, but it can lead to a long, drawn-out battle. Image strategy is powerful if we target each one individually, but it's not suitable for taking them all out."
"Then, should we aim for their supply chain?"
"That's right. In the Bazaar, there are several distributors who supply goods to various places. If we monopolize them, many stores will go under."
He's talking so casually, but it's a ruthless plan. If we were having this conversation on the surface, we'd be called devils.
But since our opponent is a demon, we can't help it.
"I'll just run my shop normally, so can you guys handle that part? Yeah, got it."
Saying that, Clay handed me a folded paper and a ring on top of it.
I opened the paper handed to me. It looked like a map of the Bazaar, and upon closer inspection, I saw the locations and notes of the distributors.
"I've gathered the locations and information of the distributors on this paper. And this ring is an artifact, by the way. We can communicate even when we're apart. Please use it well."
"Thanks. Then, shall we go?"
"Yeah... Let's go, Wade-kun..."
"Let's crush those small shops♡."
The 3 of us - me, Ice, and Rollo - left the room. I remember Rollo being all energetic, while Ice was giving her a cold stare.
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