Majo no Tabitabi - Volume 15 - Chapter 1.28

CHAPTER 1 STORY 28

The Tale of the Sweets Shop and the Witch

“Our sweets aren’t selling at all…”

On a certain city street corner, a woman who had just established her store was already at her wit’s end. Her shop wasn’t thriving at all. Why on earth not, she wondered. Once again, the cakes and cookies she had put so much effort into making sat desolately arrayed in the storefront all day. Though her shop was the only sweets shop in the area, though she felt her prices were reasonable, though the shopkeeper was such a beauty, still, nothing sold.

And recently, there was more. She was worried about her rough skin, and the sharp rise in prices, and how her mother had started stressing about her future as an only daughter, saying things like “I sure would like to see my grandbaby’s face before too long,” and “When are you going to bring a boyfriend home?” and “I heard the girl next door is getting married soon. If I remember correctly, she’s the same age as you, right?” and “I heard the son of someone your father knows from work is looking for a bride. What do you think of him? Apparently, he earns quite a bit,” with the end result that one way or another, she had endless worries to contend with. The shopkeeper was at her wit’s end.

“Sniff… What on earth am I going to do…?”

As she munched on a piece of cake, tears dripped from the shopkeeper’s eyes. But nothing sold.

“Waah…no…I don’t want to get married…”

She was feeling so depressed that her personality had even changed.

Then someone extended a helping hand toward the spectacularly sorrowful woman.

“I see. I understand your situation.”

Her hair was ash gray, and her eyes were lapis blue. She was a traveler dressed in a pointed hat and a black robe, and she was a witch.

The witch who had rushed over without delay to confront the emergency of unsold sweets ate a piece of the store’s cake with relish as she said, “I see. The fact that these aren’t selling sure is a problem. A big problem. We have to work out a strategy immediately.”

Who on earth could that witch be, who was so quick to offer advice?

That’s right, it’s me.

“As long as you turn a profit, that’s what counts, right? In which case, how about changing up your prices?”

“Changing…my prices?”

“Yeah. Your current prices are too low, so for the time being, let’s set them about four times higher.”

“Four times?!” The shopkeeper raised her voice. “There’s no way they’ll sell for such ridiculous prices!”

“Wait, wait. First of all, the sweets at this shop are super delicious, and after all, your current prices are too cheap. As things stand, even the things that should be selling aren’t.”

“But I want lots of people to eat my baking…”

“I understand it’s a hangup of yours, but the thing you have to realize is that people don’t show any interest in stuff that is too cheap. It’s precisely when something has a high price that people get their hopes up and expect something delicious. And the sweets at your shop have a flavor that can surpass those hopes. So it’s only reasonable to multiply the prices.”

“Multiply the prices…? But they’ll sell at four times the price?”

“Yeah. Make them cost four times as much, and to make up for it, throw in a freebie.”

“A freebie?”

“A handshake ticket.”

“Handshake ticket?”

“When they present the handshake ticket that’s included with their purchase of any sweet at a later date, you’ll give a handshake to the customer. However, you only give handshakes when they come to the register. And then the new sweet they purchase also has a handshake ticket with it. It’s a perpetual cycle.”

“That’s a crooked way of doing business…”

“At first, you do that to increase the number of repeat customers. Then once you’ve secured a regular customer base, we can think about expanding the shop. If we can get as many cute girls as possible lined up working the counter, we can expect even more new customers.”

“I wonder if it will really go that well…”

“Well, how about just trying things out? At the very least, I think the handshake tickets will have about the same value as the prices your shop is selling sweets for now.”

“The same value, huh…? By the way, I think that by those calculations, making things three times as expensive would be more appropriate, so why did you say four times?”

“It has to be that way, doesn’t it? Since one quarter of those new prices is my take?”

“That’s a crooked way of doing business…”

Though she seemed incredibly reluctant, the shopkeeper embarked on a new business undertaking.

So how did it all turn out?

“We’re really flourishing.”

“Piece of cake, huh?”

A prosperous shop. People say there are two shady women there, who keep making money through shady means.

[Publication Information] Volume 9

Animate Buyer’s Bonus

[Author Comments]

I’ll delve into my comments on this story as part of the next story, so I’m changing the subject to ask everyone, what kind of sweets do you like? I’m not sure whether I can call it a sweet or not, but recently, whenever I have a free moment, I’ve been eating the Korean seaweed snacks that Seven-Eleven sells. They’re low in calories; I recommend them. Though they don’t fill your stomach, so they’re an empty snack.