Ascendance of a Bookworm (LN) - Volume 2.2 - Chapter 5

How to Run a Restaurant 

When I explained the idea behind an “introductions-only” system, Benno shrugged his shoulders, unimpressed. Apparently it was more than commonplace to deny people entry into stores and restaurants without an introduction, or based on their clothes. 

“Customers paying and acting well are too different things. Just ’cause a customer pays well doesn’t mean they’re gonna be a good customer. In fact, a lot of them get smug and arrogant since they know they’re paying well. You think I want that?” Benno sighed and scratched his head, probably imagining a ton of annoying customers he’d had like that. I went ahead and explained the difference between my idea and the introductions generally given in this city. 

“An introductions-only system doesn’t stop at the introduction. If a customer introduces someone who steals, doesn’t pay, or causes any other problems, then said customer will be responsible for paying and cleaning up the mess.” 

“You want the customer to be responsible?!” Benno slammed a fist on the table and shot up, his eyes wide as he looked down at me in shock. He must not have expected my explanation at all. 

“Yes. Customers will be much less likely to cause problems, since they’ll be involving those who introduced them in the mess. Those introducing others will be very careful about who they choose. Naturally, since problems resulting from their introduction will come back to them. They’ll only introduce people that can be trusted.” 

“...But won’t that be expecting too much from customers?” Benno sat back down and rubbed his temples. My suggestion had been much more of a shock for him than I had anticipated. It was normal to require introductions, but clearly those who gave introductions were never held responsible for anything. 

“Ultimately you’re prioritizing the atmosphere of the store and preventing problems, so the end result will be your regulars feeling like they matter while they enjoy pleasant, uninterrupted meals. But well, I’ll leave this decision up to you, Benno.” 

My job was to give advice, Benno’s job was to make decisions based on that advice. He asked me a question about a problem and I gave him a potential solution. Nothing more, nothing less. My life as a merchant ended before I even became an apprentice. I had no idea if my ideas would hold water in this city. 

“I will say, though, that I don’t think you’ll have any problems with implementing new systems as long as you’re consistent with them from the start. This is a restaurant where commoners will be able to eat food fit for nobles. It’s trailblazing, and everyone will know it. You’ll have problems if you try introducing something new after the restaurant’s already opened, though.” 

Benno furrowed his eyebrows harder and glared at empty space. “I’m gonna need to iron out a lot of details if I do that.” 

“Mmm... Can’t you just lay out a few rules that definitely should never be broken, then make tiny changes depending on how things play out? This is going to be a totally new system, so being loose and flexible should be more effective than trying to get it perfect right from the start. Probably.” 

“Hmmm...” Benno fell into thought, so I looked back down at my diptych. 

“Okay, that’s enough about the introductions-only system. Let’s think about what we need to get ready before the restaurant opens.” 

“What’re you talking about? We just finished talking about that.” Benno gave me a puzzled look. I double checked my list of things I wasn’t sure about, then glared at Benno while pouting. 

“What are you talking about? The only thing we finished talking about was the interior decoration. You’ll need menus and bells for each table, won’t you? Both need to be very high quality to match the restaurant’s atmosphere.” 

“Menus? What for? The servers can tell them what we have.” 

Restaurants in this world had the servers inform customers of the menu. That was fine for commoner eateries where the most complex thing to ask was whether you wanted your sausage cooked or boiled, and for noble homes since servers needed merely state what the chefs had already made. But in a restaurant like ours where different people would be picking different food from a long list of things they hadn’t heard of before, menus were necessary to keep everything in order. The server wouldn’t last without them. 

“If you write all the food and spirits available in a restaurant on menus and put them at each table, customers will be able to know what you’re serving without asking the waiter about every little thing. They’ll be able to pick what they want at their own pace, too. I don’t know how many servers you intend to hire, but the less time they have to spend at each table the better.” 

“What about people who don’t know how to read?” Benno’s grimace reminded me just how low the literacy rate was here, but it wouldn’t be a problem here. 

“The restaurant’s first customers will be the owners of large stores, right? Lutz had to learn to read just to become an apprentice merchant, so I can’t imagine that large store owners will be illiterate.” 

Not to mention that said large store owners would be discussing business while eating, which meant they would have servants with pens and boards standing by. It should be safe to assume that someone involved in this equation would know how to read. They wouldn’t be able to do their job if they couldn’t read or write contracts. 

“Oh, and about the menus. Do you want me to make somewhat thicker paper and put plants inside like I did before? I could make paper menus for the regular dishes and for the seasonal dishes. I think that would make good advertising for our plant paper.” I’d like for the menus to be pretty fashionable. Not cute, but pretty and fitting for a noble environment. I wonder what plant would be good for this season? Maybe I should go all the way and try making colored paper. 

“Paper, really? You think menus are that important?” 

“Menus are essential for restaurants! Oh, should I go inform the Myne Workshop? My attendant has such lovely handwriting it’s like art unto itself. Impressive, don’t you think? Eheheh.” 

“...I don’t get what you’re talking about or why it’s so important, but alright. I’ll leave it to you.” Benno cradled his head in exhaustion. With a new job secured, I grinned and began thinking of menu designs in my head. 

“You can count on me! By the way, what are you going to do about waiters? Commoners you find on the street won’t have the elegance that nobles demand from their servers.” 

There was a big difference between the waiters at commoner eateries and servers at noble mansions. I knew that especially well thanks to Fran and my other attendants serving me food. I wouldn’t want Benno thinking Fran was on the same level as some lower city rando that didn’t even care about spilling drinks or dropping a little food. And it seemed he did not, given that he looked at me with a somewhat pitiful expression. 

“...Can’t you handle that somehow?” 

“You want me to train waiters in my chambers too? Mmm... The chefs are one thing, but I don’t think I’ll get permission to bring waiters into my room.” 

“What about letting priests work outside the temple?” 

“I have lunch with the High Priest tomorrow, so I’ll ask him then. Don’t get your hopes up, though.” 

The High Priest had previously said that only those who had nobody to look after them or introduce them to work became priests and shrine maidens. At the time I interpreted that as “They can go outside if someone starts looking after them,” but now that I knew more about the dark underside of the temple and the orphanage, I couldn’t take his words at face value. He might allow them to work outside since the temple had an overabundance of gray priests and needed money, or he might not for fear of it breaking down the temple’s internal structure. We were in some awkward middle ground. 

“By the way. I was thinking of inviting the High Priest to the first round of visitors. What do you think, Benno?” 

“Hold up. The High Priest? You think a real noble would bother to come?” It seemed that a noble visiting a commoner’s store was beyond ridiculous. If they wanted to see a merchant, they generally summoned them to their home in the Noble’s Quarter. The temple was located in between the Noble’s Quarter and the commoner part of the city, and thus had gates connecting the two. But blue priests never entered the lower city unless a ceremony required it. 

“The High Priest seems to be interested in the food I’ve thought up. It depends on how I approach it, but I don’t think he’ll refuse if I ask,” I said, while the fascinated Benno stroked his chin and fell into thought. “Which is why I think you should invite only people you can really trust to the first round of visitors. Don’t you think they’ll feel super special for getting to eat with a noble?” 

“...They sure will.” 

“The Italian restaurant will develop an amazing reputation right off the bat if an actual noble has eaten there.” My words made Benno’s dark red eyes flash with the carnivorous light of a merchant who had found profit. “Don’t treat it like the pound cake taste-testing event where we invited a bunch of people. Invite a small group of people, those you can trust. With the number of chefs we have now, you won’t be able to make all that much food. The food is expensive enough that the potential customer base for it isn’t too large. Why not make it an exclusive, high-class restaurant where only the chosen can enter? The chosen few with lots of cash to dump right into our hands?” 

“That’ll work if we can get the High Priest’s help. Don’t mess this up, Myne.” 

Benno gave me a firm handshake and we grinned at each other, at which point Rosina tilted her head elegantly. 

“Excuse me, Sister Myne. What about music? When nobles eat, multiple musicians are summoned so that they might take turns playing while the meal proceeds. Will no music be played in the restaurant?” 

Well... I hadn’t thought about music at all. I looked back at Benno, only to see him raise his hands in surrender. 

“Sorry, but I don’t know any musicians good enough to play for nobles.” 

“...How would you feel about playing music in the restaurant, Rosina?” 

“I am willing to do anything if it means spending more of my time playing music.” Rosina replied so quickly and confidently that I realized she had probably brought up music specifically because she wanted to be the one playing it. 

“This will be a mostly lunchtime restaurant, right? If people ask for music when making reservations and pay a fee for the service, well... I can lend you Rosina.” I wouldn’t mind lending him Rosina if there were customers who wanted music enough to pay a fee for it. She could make it in time if she went to the restaurant after third bell rang and our practice ended. But she needed to learn to do paperwork too, and the High Priest would get involved if it came to her going outside every day. 

“...Hey, what about nighttime?” 

“Wha? That’s gonna be a hard no from me, obviously. Nighttime means alcohol and I’m not going to throw a cutie like Rosina into a den of drunk wolves. If you want music at night, find a musician of your own.” Waitresses working at nighttime bars here tended to be prostitutes on the side, and despite the nature of the Italian restaurant, there would probably be some customers who wouldn’t take no for an answer. I had no intention whatsoever of putting Rosina in an environment like that. 

Sixth bell rang as we ironed out the details, signaling the end of the workday. Benno eyed me while writing a summary of what we had discussed. 

“You better learn a lot from the High Priest tomorrow.” 

“You can count on me!” 

“...Ngh, why do I feel so nervous?” said Benno, holding his stomach in faux pain. I blew up my cheeks in a big pout. 

“You know who’s nervous? Me, about whether this restaurant’s ever going to get finished. Slowpoke.”

The next day came, and it was the date of my lunch with the High Priest. The time until third bell was my last cramming opportunity, and I practiced my heart out as Rosina watched over me with steely determination. I could play the harspiel itself without much issue, but I always lost my place among the strings when I started to sing. I would be fine if I was just careful about that. 

After practice, it was time to help the High Priest with his paperwork. Fran was busy preparing for the lunch and thus entrusted Gil with taking me there. Personally, I wasn’t extremely worried since the High Priest was reasonable and would be forgiving of some mistakes, but Fran and Rosina were both on edge. They always end up on the same page when nobles are involved. 

After fourth bell, I returned to my room with Gil. Delia cleaned me up a bit, then I left the room with Rosina carrying the large harspiel and Fran holding the utensils and the box containing the small harspiel. Rosina had been asked to play music during lunch, and in contrast to how my hands were already shaking with nervousness at the prospect of playing the song I had finished learning days ago, she looked calm and composed. 

“...Aren’t you nervous, Rosina?” 

“I am nervous. There is an unsettling feeling stirring in my chest.” She spoke with such a bright smile that I had a hard time believing her. But Rosina’s smile was a weapon she wielded, just like noble women. It was a tool to protect oneself and show no weakness to others. 

“It’s next to impossible for me to tell, but I suppose you’re forcing that smile to hide your nervousness?” 

“Yes. A smile tells others that you are in control of the situation.” 

We arrived at the High Priest’s room just as a number of gray priests were moving furniture around in preparation for lunch. With their trained movements in the corner of my eyes, I greeted the High Priest just like a noble would. I said the exact words Fran had beaten into my head and curtsied the exact way Rosina had trained me to. 

Fran and Rosina had thought up the greeting together. It began with the names of gods and used poetic metaphors to express how honored I was to receive his invitation, so it was pretty long. I had to say it while kneeling on one knee and crossing my arms in front of my chest. Behaving gracefully was pure suffering for someone lacking in muscles like me. 

Lutz was told to memorize the greetings with me and even he couldn’t believe it. He actually started complaining, saying that a simple “thank you for the invitation” should suffice. He was memorizing the greetings with me since he would be dealing with nobles as a leherl, but the number of difficult expressions and hard-to-pronounce deity names were beating him down. I was used to polytheism myself as a Japanese person, but whenever noble greetings got involved I found myself wishing the religion here was monotheistic. 

But still, our practice bore fruit. I managed to give a greeting twice as graceful as my normal greetings without ever stumbling or forgetting what to say. I stepped on my robe at the end and struggled to stand up, but I didn’t fall over. I sure have grown. 

“Good enough. Not great, but not bad either. You two have trained her well. Now, let us see if her harspiel practice has gone just as well.” After the High Priest praised my attendants for their efforts, his lips curved into a slight grin at the sight of the harspiel in Fran’s hands. 

I looked at Rosina with a smile. “If I have gotten better, it is thanks to my splendid teacher.” 

“Oh, perish the thought. You have a talent for music, Sister Myne. You learned the musical scale in the blink of an eye, and reading music comes more naturally to you than anyone I have seen. The movements of your fingers are still awkward, but practice will take care of that.” 

S-Stop! I don’t have any talent! It’s all leftovers from my past life’s piano practice and music lessons! I wanted to grovel on the floor and swear that I didn’t deserve her praise, but now wasn’t the time for that. I tried smiling to hide my anxiety, as I had been taught moments prior, but I could feel my mouth twitching. 

“Fascinating. You will show me the fruits of that practice while lunch is being prepared.” At the High Priest’s orders, a gray priest prepared a chair for me and helped me sit. Fran handed me my harspiel, whispering encouragement as he did so. 

All I needed to do was repeat what I had practiced. The song wasn’t that hard, since it was the first one. I would be fine if I stayed calm. 

After taking some deep breaths, I looked up and saw that Rosina was tensed up, as if nervous. She resembled a mother seeing her child play at their first school recital. 

I strummed the harspiel’s strings. The short practice song I had learned was called “The Autumn Harvest.” The lyrics simply consisted of listing food names then calling them tasty, and it wasn’t too hard if I could just keep my fingers moving. 

“Blessings of the forest, what an autumn harvest~” 

After finishing the song without making any mistakes, I let out a sigh of relief. 

“...Not bad at all.” 

“Indeed. Sister Myne is quite the fast learner. Actually, Sister Myne, why not use this opportunity to play the song you composed the other day?” 

“Wha? The song I composed...?” Mmm...? I don’t remember anything like that. 

“I believe it went like this.” 

I wasn’t sure if it was because I was a kid or because this body was just built for it, but these ears were better at picking up sound than my Urano ears had been. I didn’t have perfect pitch or anything, but I was pretty good. It was easier to convert my thoughts into the musical scale than it had been in my Urano days. At one point I tried playing a random song I remembered, and apparently Rosina remembered that in full. 

“I-I haven’t thought of any lyrics for it yet. Maybe next time...?” Naturally, translating the English lyrics to a movie theme song into this world’s language was a bit too much to ask for me to do on the spot. But after I shook my head, the High Priest gave a slight smile with his eyes shining with curiosity. 

“Yes, have it ready by next time. Here is the next song for you to learn.” 

Noooo... I’ve made things harder on myself again. I wept on the inside while taking the new sheet music from him. Now I had to learn a new song and think up lyrics for my own song. 

“Now then, let us eat.” Gleaming silver tableware was set on the table in front of the High Priest. Fran had lined up my own tableware in front of me. It was common practice for only servants to touch their master’s tableware, for fear of it being stolen or destroyed. 

The tableware I was using had been left by the prior orphanage director, which meant it was pretty good. Fran had suggested that I buy a new set, but I turned him down. A set that matched the room would be too expensive. I told him “I don’t know what kind of person the former orphanage director was, but their sins are not the sins of their belongings” and took the tableware for myself. 

As I had eaten the equivalent of what nobles ate at the guildmaster’s house, the food was delivered in courses similar to what I expected. First drinks were poured, then appetizers, then soup, then the main dishes, then fruits and a dessert, and then the meal finished with tea. 

However, the quantity and quality of the food was on another level. I knew it was because the leftovers were given to servants, but the appetizer course alone had eight plates with different kinds of food. An attendant would bring food to their master’s plate bit by bit, and if I didn’t hold back I would get beyond full just on the appetizers. Fran knew well how much I could eat and selected portions from the three kinds of foods I would be most likely to enjoy. I chomped down on them while thinking about how Benno and I could improve our own food. 

...Our food tasted just as good, but it seemed we needed to work on our presentation—how we cut the food, put it on the plates, and so on. Noble cooking had some pretty high-level presentation. But soup was just as bland here as it was at the guildmaster’s. If there was one battle my food won, it was with the soup. The main dishes came in several plates. There was a lot of meat, but I couldn’t see any fish. It seemed that even nobles didn’t eat fish much at all. 

As we ate we talked about my harspiel practice, questions I had about the paperwork, the state of the orphanage, and the status of the Myne Workshop. The High Priest mainly just gave non-committal comments to things I said. He sometimes said things laden with euphemisms, but I could never figure out what he was actually trying to say. The conversation was basically a loop of me tilting my head until the High Priest sighed in defeat and gave up. 

...Looks like Fran and the other gray priests would be solid waiters. Maybe I should work harder to get music for the restaurant. I couldn’t help but think that way while listening to Rosina play the harspiel as we ate. Back in my Urano days, every store I ever walked into would have music playing in the background, but listening to music wasn’t so easy in this world. At this point, I ended up sentimental every time I got the opportunity to hear music at all. 

“...You seem to have fallen into thought. Was this lunch a good reference for you?” asked the High Priest while sipping his after-meal tea. 

“Yes, very. And by the way, before I go... could I talk to you about something?” 

“Wait. Discussions with you are best left elsewhere.” The High Priest interrupted me, so I slowly finished the rest of my strong-smelling tea. He opened the secret room and I followed him inside. By now I was used to clearing space on the bench to sit while the High Priest brought his chair. 

“Now. What is it this time?”