A Merchant With Zero Combat Power Who Was A Baggage Handler In A Hero Party (Me), Was Finally Banished And Wants To Be A Steady Merchant. - Chapter 104 – Measures to attract customers (1)

‘Thank you. Sorry we didn’t get many people.” (Albus)

I handed Amaranthia, who had finished her performance, 100 mana, 1/5 of the promised amount, from the admission fee for 10 people, “50 mana x 10 people = 500 mana”.

“This one’s from me.”

And there, add 100 manas.

200 manna in total.

This is probably less than what Amaranthia normally sings once on the roadside.

“Please don’t worry too much. I enjoyed singing too…” (Amaranthia)

“No, I can’t…” (Albus)

“Now that I’m on board, I’ll stick with you to the end. I’m looking forward to seeing you tomorrow.”

Saying this, Amaranthia really gave me back 100 mana.

As a matter of fact…

I had to rethink the theatre idea itself because the first day of the show attracted such a crowd.

I’ve been thinking a lot about whether we should still be thinking about a completely different kind of business…

Amaranthia’s words made me feel a little more positive.

“Alright, let’s do our best.”

→→→→→

And I was just so distressed.

I’m pacing around in the dining room after everyone else has gone to bed, pouting and groaning by myself.

The theatre was originally intended to be part of a gimmick to sell elaborate Mitra wooden dolls.

Therefore, the audience to be brought in was intended to be adults only.

So we went around talking to all the guests who were gathering in the wagon square…

In the end, that didn’t attract any theatre-goers.

“Where did it go wrong?”

After sorting through a lot of thoughts, it only seems like everything was wrong.

The place and the people we advertised it to, and the place and time it was held, were wrong.

…so almost everything.

“So… what should I do?”

It was clear that I was making mistakes, but it was hard to come up with ways in which I could improve.

Then.

“Are you still awake?”

I was called from behind.

“Mitra?”

“Yes, it’s me.”

Without a sign, Mitra was standing there.

“What’s wrong?”

“Today, the theatre didn’t get any customers and we didn’t sell any puppets. I want to do something about that.”

“I knew it, it won’t sell well.”

Mitra said, with a slightly throwaway feeling.

“What?”

“After all, it’s just a little girl’s toy. How could such a thing possibly be of any value? Clarice tried to sell that wooden doll once before, but the results was terrible.”

“I’ve heard Clarice’s story. … that’s not true.”

“Not true?”

“Yeah. I think the workmanship of those dolls is excellent. Some of them are even decorated on the handles of the weapons they hold and on the backs of their shields. It’s tremendously detailed.”

It is so elaborate that one wonders how such places are chiselled out.

“But it still didn’t sell, did it?”

But Mitra is right.

My struggle to sell has been disastrous so far, too.

“I will sell it.”

“……”

“I decided to stock that doll because I thought it would ‘sell’. I wouldn’t give up so easily, whether it cost me the original money or not!”

Mitra said nothing more.

She twisted her mouth in a slightly troubled manner and left.

No matter what anyone says, I decided as a merchant to ‘buy and sell’.

Even if I try it for a few days and don’t get any results, I’m not ready to back out.

Clearly, I’m failing at something.

I still don’t know if it’s best for me to continue with the theatre, as Amaranthia has been trying to fire me up to do.

But there has to be some way.

→→→→→

Next day.

I kept my wits about it all night and continue to frantically sort out the situation.

Little by little, I began to get my thoughts straight.

And I’ve decided, from today onwards, I’m going to change the target audience I’m trying to attract.

Even though I hardly slept the day before yesterday.

After talking to Mitra yesterday, I stayed up until even midnight, frantically gathering my thoughts.

What could have gone wrong was.

The place and the person we advertised it to, and where it was held, and the time it was held.

But it seems to me that it was not so much each of these, but the combination of them, that was the problem.

We were mainly advertising in the wagon square to recruit customers.

And the merchants and customers who congregate in the wagon square are usually not residents of Kilket.

The merchants and customers who congregate at the wagon square usually leave for the inn area near the outer gate when the square’s opening hours are over.

The inn quarter near the outer gate is located directly opposite the plaza to the section near the inner gate, where Mitra’s mansion and the residences of the Kilket residents are located.

In other words, the theatre is far from the inn quarter.

And what’s more, the time of the event is in the evening and at night.

Going to a place far away from one’s bed after dark is naturally troublesome and may even be dangerous.

In other words, this failure to attract customers is due to…

It is thought that it was an unmatch between the people they advertised to and the place and time of the event.

If so. Change any one of them and you will see a different world.

The place and time of the event cannot be changed.

So, from today onwards, we have decided to change the places where we advertise to attract customers and change the people we advertise to.

After deciding to do so, I devised a couple of tricks to go with it and immediately started preparing.

→→→→→

“Today we pull out of the wagon square about two hours earlier than usual. We will then go round to the houses in the vicinity of the mansion to advertise the theatre.”

The target audience is still adults, but…

Today we have decided to shift the target of our advertising from the customers and merchants of the wagon square to the residents of the western district of Kilket.

That would clear up the accessibility problem, as the distance from the Mistria Theatre to my home is not too great.

In the first place, that mansion itself is in a residential block.

Furthermore, I had prepared certain tricks to attract a certain number of visitors.

“When we advertise, give them this wooden ticket and always add, “If two or more people come with this wooden ticket, the admission fee per person will be reduced from 50 mana to 25 mana.””

So.

The first trick I did was the ‘multi-party discount’.

Many Kilket residents live with their spouses and families. The discount will be effective if multiple people come together.

We went around to the houses in the neighbourhood of the Mistria Theatre and handed out wooden tickets.

Incidentally, all these wooden tags were scraped out by Mitra during the daytime.

I’ve taken the liberty of using a mark that looks like a broken down Warren family crest, but that’s okay.

I didn’t remember asking for one with the crest.

How could they have prepared all this in such a short time?

At home, though, no one turned up or responded with impunity. Anyway, for the next hour and a half, we frantically handed out wooden cards.

We’ll see how this measure goes…

It is half an hour later. We will know when the theatre opens.