Isekai Nonbiri Nouka - Chapter 842: Holding Swan Race

The swan race was held at a pond at the foot of the Shrine near Village Five.

According to my expectations, it would at least be enough to attract the same number of guests as when Odette and Odile were running it themselves.

As it turned out, I was betrayed by my own expectations.

A considerable number of people gathered.

Specifically, around 10000.

In conclusion, it was a great success.

But why!

「Well, isn’t it because village chief yourself took the lead in the preparations? From the point of view of the residents of Village Five, you should be starting something new.」

Loo said calmly.

However, the swan race has been around for quite some time so it can’t be considered as something new.

It’s true that we made things more convenient and easier for everyone to come but that won’t be enough to attract a crowd as big as that, right?

「That’s exactly it. In addition, there are many food stalls and there are even wild ducks and ducks’ interruption show between races. I don’t see why it wouldn’t bring a big crowd.」

I-is that so?

There aren’t enough wild ducks and ducks for a race.

That said, they didn’t want to be thought of as useless so they put on a show in between the swan race.

In response to that, the swans also sang in chorus to honor the winner of the final race when all the races were over.

These were more popular with the guests than I expected.

Umu.

Were they that hungry for entertainment?

Don’t Village Five already have coliseums and other entertainment facilities?

「But this one’s the first official gambling place for the village.」

Is that so?

「There are small gambling places but something this big is rare.」

Right, like those martial arts tournaments, horse races, and others.

「In addition, those are more of a festival. Betting on them is like a seasoning to cheer then their enthusiasm.」

Ah.

Are you saying that it’s easier to cheer if you’re betting on something?

「Right right. Besides, when it comes to horses, it is mainly bets made among participating horse owners rather than those made by people who came to watch.」

Is that so?

「The normal procedure of horse races is for the owners to gather money from fellow participants and the winner will take it all. That’s how it works.」

Heh.

「So, husband」

Hnn?

What is it?

「When’s the next race?」

……

By the way, Loo betted on several races, but she lost them all.

If you had fun even though you lost, all is well.

-0-

Now, reflection meeting time.

Before the heat of the first round of revision requests cool off, we need to discuss them all.

It might be tedious but it has to be done.

Those attending the reflection meeting are me, Odette, Odile, silver fox Kon, the five angels, Village Five’s acting village chief Youko, and the representative of the swans who raced.

This swan is also the winner of the final race.

「Village chief, what’s this? Even if the swan participates in the reflection meeting, it can’t talk……」

One of the angels just said something weird.

It’s true that swans can’t talk.

However, if you look into his eyes, you will know what he is trying to say!

「I-I don’t get why you’re so fired up but……sorry.」

Do I sound unreasonable to you?

It can’t be helped.

I’ll have Odile translate for the swan.

With that, everything’s fine.

「U-understood. I’m sorry for spoiling the start of the reflection meeting.」

No no, don’t mind it.

The five angels here are those who came when the whole angel race moved to Big Tree Village.

They are probably not used to it yet.

Tier, Gran Maria, and the others wouldn’t have minded the presence of the swan.

-0-

After regaining our composure, we started the meeting.

One of the angels reported back to me with a handout in hand.

「Sales of bird lottery plates were excellent. This time, we tried selling one plate for one medium copper coin and the total sales for all ten races was one million three hundred and fifty thousand medium copper coins. The prices we paid out is one million fifty thousand medium copper coins.」

In other words, we made a profit of 300000 medium copper coins.

That’s 30000 big copper coins.

That’s 300 silver coins.

That’s 3 gold coins.

Not a lot of money compared to how many spectators came.

「No no no」

The angel didn’t seem to agree with my opinion.

Even if they’re not used to it yet, they are still angels.

As expected of them.

「That’s three gold coins per event. We plan to hold it thirty times a year so the profit is 90 gold coins per year! That’s a lot!」

Is that big?

Also, it’s not like we’ll have the same profit every time.

It is highly likely that the ticket sales are high because this was the first time.

Should we discuss now how to target as much as sales in the future?

「No no no. I can’t help but feel that our sales will get bigger and bigger in the future.」

I’d be happy if that were to happen.

Each party’s share will be determined in advance.

「Umu. About that……」

Youko raised her hand.

What is it?

The five angel’s share will be taken from the swan and environmental maintenance cost which is 50% of the profit.

We have already discussed that.

And I don’t see any problem with that.

「What about village chief’s share?」

Hnn?

Mine?

「Yes. The familiars of the Swan god will be paid from the share of the silver foxes. No one has a problem with that. That left one thing, village chief’s share.」

Given how Village Five developed, I received a lot of dividends already but……I guess it’s not a good idea to say that.

Because Youko even goes out of her way to address it.

Ah, I guess it’s not a good idea for the one who led the plan to not get paid, right?

I guess so.

However, I’m also bothered by the fact that I decided my own share.

Hmmm.

From the security fee requested by Village Five then……no, I would sound like a middle man.

What do the stalls pay for when they were set up around this race area?

………

That’s stall opening fee, right?

That should be a good amount of money.

Stalls here are so profitable that they can easily get it back.

Then, my share, or rather, my reward is the right to freely open a stall around this pond.

No stall fees.

Plus, I want to secure the best location.

How about that?

「……understood. However, I think it would be good if you would be a little greedy.」

Greedy?

I already got the best spot.

Just by having someone rent it would make me money, right?

「That’s true but you’re not the one to do that kind of thing, right?」

Of course not.

Since it’s the best place, let’s sell some swan merchandise.

「Sell merchandise?」

It’s one way of showing support to the swans.

Well, if it doesn’t sell well and we lose money, I’ll just change it to a food stall.

「Understood」

My share has been decided so we moved on.

-0-

「About the bird lottery plates, I think putting the image of god on it is a good idea.」

On one side of the wooden plate will be the number and name of the swans marked by stamping hot iron and on the other side, the image of this year’s main god, not this year’s zodiac sign, will be burn stamped.

This was done as part to make this year’s main god. Surprisingly, some people started using their unwinning plates as lucky charms.

However, what has come to their minds to treat the plates that “didn’t win” as lucky charms?

It seems like those from the security forces, who are often on the front lines, want them.

In addition, those who have families want them too to avoid bad luck.

「Well, since they lost, they can always make an excuse to themselves by saying they bought lucky charms.」

「But if they continue gambling, won’t their houses be filled with those lucky charms?」

「How about we collect them after a certain period of time and burn them altogether for a worship?」

The angels and Kon talked about what to do.

By the way, there were those who did not exchange their winning plates and kept them as lucky charms.

The adventurers want to keep them because they are “winning” charms.

-0-

「This is a comment from customers. There isn’t enough toilet.」

I’m sorry about that.

That’s all our fault.

We had prepared a certain number of toilets but we did not expect that many people to come.

We even opened the restrooms at the shrine for the guests.

Ah, it’s alright.

I’ve already asked the high elves to install more toilets.

From the next event, there will be no more complaints about the toilets.

「Here’s another comment from the customers. The waiting area for lost children and the infirmary are a bit too small.」

They are.

We never expected that crowd.

I regret that my foresight was not good enough.

I’ll ask the carpenters of Village Five for help later.

「They also would like more places where they could eat and drink near and relax near the racetrack.」

Ah, that’s, alright.

There were a good number of tables and chairs but we had to move some of them out of the way because there were so many people.

Was that a lapse in judgment?

No, safety first.

Also, there were some unscheduled things.

Yeah, unscheduled.

Irre’s film crew decided to do a live broadcast of the race and they occupied a lot of space.

That cut the space for the guests.

The footage of the race taken by the film crew was shown in various places in Village Five so it was a great publicity stunt.

I heard that the race was very popular.

However, this should not cause inconvenience to those who came to watch the race.

「It is necessary to remodel the audience seats and secure space for the film crew.」

「I second the audience seats to be expanded.」

Umu.

It is good that you have a lot of opinions but please say one at a time.

It is impossible to fulfill them all.

However, if we can’t drop them, we’ll just have to prioritize what must be done first.

「Ah! Right! I forgot something important!」

One of the angels shouted as if she had really just remembered.

What is it?

「We are the ones to decide the date of the race, right?」

That’s right.

I think we should do it every ten days so the next one will be in ten days.

「What are we going to do if it’s raining on the day of the event?」

…….fuh, just that?

Don’t panic.

「Ohh, great」

I’ll think of what to do now.

「………」

Yeah, there’s no need to panic.

We still have time to think.

-0-

Angel: Reflection meeting desu!

Odette: ……

Odile: ……

Kon: Are those two sleeping?

Swan: Quack(T-they’ll talk next chapter)