Chapter 76: The Bear Remodels the Shop

Chapter 76:
The Bear Remodels the Shop

 

THE DAY AFTER I bought the shop, I headed to the orphanage in order to meet the headmistress to catch up and tell her about the shop. I saw a group of little kids playing outside of the orphanage. Wait, did I even know those kids? Surely I did, right?

I gathered the kids who approached me and passed out fruit I bought at the capital as souvenirs. When I tried the fruit out, it was sweet and tart. I told them to share. After they gave me a polite reply, they headed into the orphanage. I followed them inside to see the headmistress.

“Oh, what have you all got there?” I heard the headmistress’s voice.

“We got it from the bear girl!”

“Oh! Yuna’s here?”

“Yuna’s here,” I said, stepping into view. “I’m back.”

“So you are. You must be exhausted from the trip.”

Riiiiight. I technically went to the capital to work an escort quest, but the whole thing felt more like a vacation. “Headmistress, how’ve the kids been?”

“They are doing well, thanks to you. They eat well, sleep well, and do their best to keep the orphanage afloat.”

Good news all around, then. I told her that I was starting a bakery and asked if she could spare some orphans.

“A bakery?”

“Yep. I’d kind of like to get the kids to give me a hand.”

“We do have children who don’t work well with the birds, and there are also some who simply love cooking. If there are children who want to volunteer, please allow them to.”

If there were kids who liked to cook, they’d definitely be an asset. Making bread was still manual labor, after all, so they’d do a lot better if they volunteered. No forced orphan labor, thank you very much.

“How many kids would you need?”

“I need people to do food prep and to serve the customers, so I’d like three kids for each of those tasks for six total. Of course, I’d have them work on rotation, so they’d learn about all the work to a certain extent.” That sounded like a decent quantity of orphans.

“I see. Then, let’s gather the children to ask them directly.”

The headmistress told the kids near her to gather everyone, and the kids split up to search for the others. They should have mainly been in the henhouse, but there were probably some in the orphanage. While I was waiting, the kids started gathering in the dining hall.

“What is it, headmistress?”

“I’ll tell you once everyone is here. Please have a seat and wait.”

The kids obediently followed the headmistress’s instructions. A few of the kids noticed me and wandered over, but the headmistress warned them off and they took their seats. By the time all of the orphans finished gathering, I was sure there were more of them.

“Everyone, please listen closely to what I am about to say. This may decide your futures.”

Decide your futures? That sure seemed exaggerated. I guess it wasn’t like that didn’t make sense in a fantasy world. If they could learn to bake, they could make a living with that. For orphans, it was like showing them a new future.

“It seems Yuna is starting a bakery, so she wants six or so of you to help her. There will be physical labor involved as well as customer service. It will likely be difficult in many ways. Any takers?”

“Are you only makin’ bread?”

“Mainly, but you’ll also make pudding.”

“Me! I’ll do it.”

“Oh! Oh, me too.”

“Count me in!”

The moment I said we’d make pudding, a bunch of kids raised their hands. “We’re going to be selling the pudding. You don’t get to eat it.”

“Awww.”

“C’mon, doesn’t that go without saying? Also, since you’d have to handle money, I’m going to prioritize kids who can read, write, and do math.”

“Awwwwwwwww.”

Since they’d be doing business, I needed them to be able to memorize the merchandise, and it’d be a problem if they couldn’t count the money.

“I can read, write, and do math. I got this!”

“Yeah, me too!”

“I’m not so good at math, but I wanna try.”

“I wanna bake!”

They raised their hands one after another. The headmistress used her judgment to pick out a few of them for me. We ended up with four girls and two boys. We had Miru, the oldest at twelve years, act as the leader and asked her to manage everyone.

“Once I get the shop ready, I’ll come calling.”

 

After I wrapped things up at the orphanage, I headed over to the mansion to get the necessary preparations in order. The place really was huge—I couldn’t help but feel a little intimidated when I stood in front, even though I was envisioning something more like a fast food place. I already bought the thing, though, so there was no use in thinking myself into knots.

The location was still great. The spacious plot of land was close to the orphanage and a little off the main town’s road, but not so far that we wouldn’t have customers. I used the key from Milaine to open the door and headed inside.

Step one: head to the kitchen and set up the stone oven we’d need to make bread and pizza. I temporarily put anything that’d get in my way into the bear storage, then looked over the now-empty kitchen to find a place for the oven.

I set up three ovens at the edge of the kitchen. I checked out the cold storage the other day, so I didn’t need to do anything about that. What else would we need? I brainstormed, but nothing came to mind. I’d check in with Morin about that stuff when she came in.

That was it for the kitchen, so I climbed up the stairs to the second floor. It was small compared to the first story, but it did have an open floor. I could probably find a use for it.

Beyond the open floor, there were halls to the right and left that led to rooms like parlors or bedrooms with their own beds and furniture. A couple would definitely go to Morin and Karin. After one last run through the second floor, I headed to the garden.

Pretty spacious! Maybe I could make it into an open-air café when the weather was good, even if it was more than a little overgrown at the moment. I’d need to ask Milaine about that.

 

The preparations went smoothly as the days rolled by. Thanks to Milaine, I got the interior and garden cleaned up. I also got Milaine and Tiermina’s opinions on what to do about the interior design—things like the number of chairs and tables, the best use for the vacant rooms and the garden, all that good stuff—but mostly I just told them what vibe I was shooting for and left them to sort it out.

 

While we were still prepping the shop, Morin and her daughter arrived from the capital, coming straight to the orphanage.

“Yuna, you’re already here?”

“Yeah, uh, I went ahead a bit.” I didn’t want to mention the bear gate, after all.

I could tell they were tired; it was a long trip all the way from the capital. I decided to leave a detailed discussion for tomorrow and give them some time to rest. After a quick introduction to the headmistress, the three of us started right off to the shop and their rooms.

“Yuna, is the inn far away?” Karin inquired from behind me.

“You’re not going to an inn. We’re headed for the shop you’ll work in.”

“The shop?”

“There are some pretty nice empty rooms there, so I thought it could be a good place to crash. Make work more convenient and all.”

I led the two along to the shop…and when they saw it, they froze.

“Yuna, you said this was a shop. This is a mansion.” It loomed before them.

I shrugged. “Former mansion, future shop. What even are words, right?”

“This is going to be a shop? You mean we’re going to sell bread out of a mansion?”

“Former! I mean, I’ve only finished remodeling the interior so far.”

I still didn’t have a sign or name for it; I was hoping to brainstorm with everyone. Maybe it was a snack bar, or perhaps a coffee lounge. Or no, a bakery, a pizzeria, a pudding place, perhaps one of those overpriced combined board-game-player-snack-bar-café-breweries?

“You want to bake bread in a place like this…”

“We’ll get down to brass tacks tomorrow. Just get some rest for today.”

I led the two into the mansion.

“This is amazing.”

“Mom, are we really going to sell bread here?”

The two surveyed the now-spotless open floor.

“The first floor’s a shop, so…yep. You can use the rooms on the second floor.” I showed them to their rooms momentarily.

“Wow, we really get to live here?”

“The short commute’s a real bonus, right?”

I took them to the inner rooms of the second floor. The décor wasn’t exactly stunning, but it was still dang nice. Sporting a window, the sophisticated floorplan really did seem like a noble’s home.

“Aaaaand that’s that. I’m going to take out the luggage I brought over from the capital for you, so let me know if anything doesn’t sit right with you.” Their furniture and such from the capital were in my bear storage. I started pulling the stuff out. “You can use the furniture that’s already here however you want.”

“Can we really sleep on a bed like this?” Karin touched it, marveling.

“Why not? The bedding’s new, too, so it’s pretty comfy.”

“Thank you so much for everything.” Morin bowed her head.

“Cleaned up the bath, too, so use it whenever.”

“A bath…” Morin practically gasped.

“Just the thought sends shivers down my spine,” Karin stammered.

“Neat,” I said. “If you need anything else, lemme know.”

“Nothing in particular. This is just too much.”

“Yeah…”

Eh. After living here for a while, I suppose they’d figure out what else they needed. “All right, I’ll come by tomorrow, so take it easy for today.” With that, I left them and headed out of the mansion-turned-shop.

 

The next day, I brought the six volunteer orphans to the shop. They already came by a few times. The first time they were shocked, but they still seemed pretty excited to work there.

The delicious aroma of bread wafted over us; Morin and Karin were baking bread in the kitchen. Man, if I knew they were going to bake, I wouldn’t have eaten breakfast already.

“Good morning, guys!”

“Good morning, Yuna,” said Karin.

“Did you get a good night’s sleep?”

“Yep, I zonked right out the moment I got under the covers.”

“That’s good.”

“Morning, Yuna,” Morin piped in.

“You’re already baking?”

“I wanted to get a feel for the ovens. Since I found ingredients for the bread, I prepped things in the evening.”

I guess they explored the kitchen after I went home. “How are the ovens and such? Everything working okay?”

“So far, so good. It’ll take a while to figure out any of the ovens’ quirks, but that’s to be expected.”

“Ovens have quirks?”

“Oh, certainly. There are spots that will be hotter than others, and I need to know how long it takes for the temperature to rise. Those things vary from oven to oven and affect how the bread bakes.”

She really was a pro. When I made pizza, I just winged it. No wonder Morin’s bread ended up so great.

“Yuri, who are those children?”

“Didn’t I mention ’em yesterday? These guys will help you out at the shop.”

The kids gave Morin a spirited greeting.

“Could you teach them how to bake? You don’t have to tell them your husband’s prized recipe or anything, but that’d be nice too.” If that were out of the question, I’d just keep them on pudding and pizza.

“It’s okay. Knowing that my husband’s bread will be shared with people makes me happy.”

“All right, everyone, after she teaches you, make sure to take the bread home with you to the orphanage.”

The orphans let out a spirited cheer. Aww!