Atelier Tanaka Volume 4 Chapter 1 part6

Territory Pioneering 1

"I don't know why I expected anything less of a wizard like you."

Gonzalez said this as we walked through the streets of my newly created city.

"What do you think, Gonzalez? Will fifty gold coins be possible with this?"

"…I wonder."

We were relaxing in one of the smaller baths inside. Now that the pump materials and real engineers have arrived all of the baths were filled with steaming water.

Now all that's left is to take completely casual not sexually motivated in any way baths with women.

Clothing was among the supplies that Gonzalez brought with him. Thanks to that, all of the Twilight Company and myself were able to relax in the baths without worrying about what to change in to.

With there being over two hundred members here, they've had to spread out to all of the baths I built, leaving Gonzalez and me here with a few random macho men. The new baths that I created all had their virgin status robbed by dozens of strange men. It's the story of my life.

"I know we've only just arrived here, but what exactly do you want me and my clan to be doing?"

"There are three things I'd like you to do for the time being. First, is seeing how much it will cost to maintain all of the buildings I've built. I put a lot of time into this place and would like to see it properly cared for. I'll need your engineers to install the remaining pumps and maintain them and also fit doors and windows onto all of the buildings."

"All of the buildings look like they're made entirely of stone. You've done fine work here."

Gonzalez spoke while looking around the steam filled bathroom.

His words filled me with a warm fuzzy feeling.

"The next task I'd like you all to do is transporting good from Tricklis to here. Just like today, I'd like you to bring in furniture and supplies that we'll need and once here I'll need you and your men to bring the supplies to where they're needed in the city."

The supplies he brought with this time won't be enough.

I plan on expanding my city even further.

This will cost more money but the supplies bought with one hundred gold should last longer than a month.

"…do you plan on turning this place into a real city?"

"I plan on turning this into more of an entertainment complex rather than a town. The type of place you can stop off for a day or two to rest and recuperate. For example, those that frequently travel between the Pussy Republic and the Penny Empire. I'm sure they get tired and staying in a place like this would be preferable to camping out in the woods. It will function as an inn town."

"I understand, but will that really be okay? We were just fighting against the Pussy Republic not long ago. Do you think they'll allow you to just peacefully exist right alongside their border? I wouldn't be surprised if they regularly harassed you."

"I actually have an idea concerning that point."

"Really? Well, if you say so, then I'll believe you, Tanaksan."

I really appreciate his unconditional trust in me.

Gaining the trust of the rest of the Twilight Company will be the main issue.

"Thank you for believing in me."

"I know you've given me a rough description of what you want us to do, but could you be a little more specific? I can get a general idea of what this place might need based on what I've seen so far but I'd like to know exactly what you want to do here."

"Honestly, I haven't been in this country for very long so I think it's best if I leave the specifics up to you. I'm sure you know better than me what we'll need to survive here. Oh, of course, I'll cover any of your expenses."

"Are you sure you want to leave that responsibility to me?"

"I trust you, but I feel I should also apologize for pushing off all of the big decisions on you."

"All right, you can leave the final touches up to us. Let's turn this into the best inn town in the country."

"Yes, thanks for your cooperation."

"The morale of the men is high thanks to this town you've built. Being greeted by such an impressive sight when first arriving has really motivated everyone to work their hardest. Not to mention that we can actually bathe out here."

"It's only the first month, but let's enjoy our time together."

"Sounds good."

He may look like a meat-headed macho man, but Gonzalez is actually quite capable when it comes to using something besides his muscles. I'm sure he's already doing calculations in his head to figure out what we'll need and how much it will all cost.

A man that can work well in many different fields is cool.

"There's one other thing but this one is more specific. I'll need people who have a certain level of skill for this job. This can wait until tomorrow but if you can gather a dozen or so skilled workers, I'd like to have a talk with them."

"Skilled workers?"

"Yes."

"I don't know why, but I understand. I'll gather them by tomorrow."

"Thank you."

The last thing I need to do is refine the pessari grass.

During the alchemy test, I managed to convert the pessari grass into a powder after following one of Edita Sensei's recipes. I plan on mass-producing this powder then adding it into the bath water. This should add a nice rejuvenating effect to the baths.

I remember when I added that pill to a phial of water it started violently bubbling. I'll need to be careful how much I add to the water. And also add only a small amount of my mana.

I just need to find the right amount of both to create a soothing, healing bath. Nobody should be drinking the water so the taste won't matter. It may create a strange smell but some Japanese hot springs smell like sulfur and that doesn't stop people from visiting them.

"Taking a hot bath is incredible after a long day of travelling."

"Please, take as long as you need to rest today."

"With everything we'll need to be doing, this may be the last break we'll get for a while."

"I'm thankful that you want to work so hard, but there's no need to kill yourselves just to help me."

"Do you think I brought a bunch of weaklings? These are only the elite members of my clan."

"I see."

The rest of the macho men of the Twilight Company were relaxing in the other baths. Even with all of them here, I'd say we're only at fifty percent occupancy. Even though there's still plenty of room, these smaller baths are a little cramped. I can't fully stretch out my arms or legs with Gonzalez and the other macho men in here.

We originally agreed on around one hundred members or so coming here to act as my knights but over two hundred have arrived. It's only natural that the bath would be cramped when all of them went straight to the baths. Macho to the left of me, macho to the right of me. Macho, macho.

This isn't my dream.

It's like an all-male business trip.

On a more serious note, I do see a real problem here. I need to earn fifty gold coins per month and I know that a certain famous amusement park in Japan stated that sixty percent of their revenue went into maintenance and buying various supplies. This would mean I'd need to bring in around one hundred and fifty gold coins every month to cover the taxes and running everything.

I can set an admission fee that's equivalent to the price needed to enter Kalis. I'll need to earn one hundred and fifty gold coins per month which is 15,000 silver coins or 1.5 million copper. That means 150,000 visitors paying ten copper.

150,000 people per month. 7,500 per day with only twenty days left in the month. That's already more than this place can handle. Now that the two countries are at peace I can expect double the traffic. Maybe even triple. If I assume it's doubled, that means I'll need to be able to serve 15,000 people every day.

As things stand right now, I'll only be able to handle five hundred a day. Moreover, with the Twilight Company here, nearly half of that number is already occupied by macho men. If things follow that pattern, before long, my baths will be filled with muscular men washing other muscular men. My public bath paradise will be turned into the gay mecca of this world.

I also don't know what exactly constitutes a business day in this world.

Let's assume I have less than a week left. Five days. I'll need to bring in thirty thousand people a day. We can fit five hundred people in the baths plus each of their respective bathing areas. If we cycle the groups of five hundred out ten times a day we'd be able to service five thousand people. I'd need to increase that amount by six times in order to meet that goal.

"…."

"Something wrong?"

"No, I'm just thinking about everything that still needs to be done."

I've still got a lot of work to do.

I'll need to develop almost all of my remaining territory. The baths won't be enough to cover costs on their own. I'll need to create facilities for people to stay in and most likely some other facilities that can earn me additional revenue.

"O-Oi…."

I stood up out of the water.

I covered my son which is larger than Allen's and bowed to Gon-chan.

"I'm sorry, I'll be back later."

"Are you going out already?"

"I'm going outside the walls to do some more developing. If you need me for anything just give me a shout."

"Okay, let me help."

"No, no, no, please, just relax for today."

Splash

I leapt out of the bath before Gonzalez could get up. I made an unreasonable request of Gonzalez and he accepted, gathered all of my requested supplies and his men, and travelled all the way here over the course of a few days. I'd like it if he took at least a day off. And I also don't want to change in a humid room with a naked, sweaty, macho man.

Someday, I hope to change with a beautiful woman as her clothes cling to her sweaty body.

Chapter end