"Alright, it's the third day of operations! Let's stay sharp and make it a good one!"

"…Yeah, you're right. Fia, let's do our best too!"

"Yes!"

It seems that whatever had been bothering Lilia yesterday is completely gone. In fact, she looks more motivated than ever. It feels like my words actually helped her.

"Lilia-neechan seems really energetic today."

"Yeah. I tried cheering her up on the way back from your house yesterday, and it looks like it worked."

As we prepared for opening, I chatted a bit with Fia.

"What did you say to her?"

"Uh, well, I told her not to worry about the words of someone who doesn’t know anything about her, and… that she's a beautiful woman, so there’s nothing to be concerned about."

"…Hmm."

Looking back, that was pretty embarrassing to say. It's true that I think Lilia is beautiful, but saying it to her face felt very awkward.

"Hey, Tetsuya, do you think I’m beautiful?"

"Huh? Why?"

"Just tell me!"

"Uh, well… I think you’re more cute than beautiful, Fia. But you’re still growing, and since your mom Rea is very beautiful, I’m sure you’ll grow into a beautiful woman too."

"R-Really?! Tetsuya, you’re cool too!"

"Ah, um… Thanks, Fia."

I guess Fia, even as a child, also wants to be complimented as cute or beautiful. And honestly, being called cool isn’t a bad feeling either. Alright, time to give today my best shot!

"Thank you very much!"

Together, the three of us saw off the final customer of the day. Though today was still quite busy, Lilia and Fia were particularly energetic, which made getting through the day easier.

"Whew, good job today. Compared to the first two days, things seem to have calmed down a bit."

"Indeed. Unlike instant soup, most other products don’t need to be bought repeatedly. Once word spreads, I believe the rush of customers will settle. That said, with new adventurers and merchants constantly arriving in this town, I doubt we’ll ever be completely idle."

That’s true. Items like compasses or water purifiers don’t need to be purchased often. With the customer traffic we’ve seen these past three days, it feels like things should stabilize soon.

"Alright, I’ll go wash these wooden tubes."

"I’ll clean the shop."

"I’ll tally up today’s sales."

Since today we started receiving back some of the wooden tubes used for the instant soup, washing them has become an added task. Splitting up the work, we all got started on the post-closing tasks.

"Alright, let’s call it a day. Fia, good job today."

"Thank you!"

After finishing the closing tasks, Lilia and I walked Fia home as usual. Afterward, we went shopping and returned to the store, made dinner, and prepared for the next day.

...Yeah, it's pretty hectic. We could really use more staff. Running a shop for the first time has made me realize just how naive my initial expectations were. Just a bit more effort, and then we’ll have a two-day break. Tomorrow, we’ll also be holding interviews for the job openings posted at the commercial guild. If all goes well, we’ll have new employees soon!

"Thank you very much!"

The fifth day of business ended smoothly, marking the successful conclusion of our shop’s first week.

Apart from the incident on the second day with the aggressive customer who tried to start a fight, there weren’t any major troubles. Just small things, like Lilia settling disputes between customers or Fia accidentally dropping a wooden tube and covering the shop in soup powder.

We also received multiple requests from merchants to buy the instant soup in bulk, but I’ve turned them all down. Even though it’s *instant*, the taste is good enough to charge restaurant-level prices in this world. Thankfully, everyone we refused took it well so far.

"Whew, good work this week, you two. Thanks to both of you, we made it through the first week."

"Indeed. Serving customers in a store is busier than I anticipated. Without a doubt, it’s more mentally exhausting than being an adventurer."

"Fia is tired too…"

"Thanks to both of you. Tomorrow we’ll hold interviews for the job openings, and hopefully, we can hire some help. Things should get easier next week."

That depends on how lucky we are, though. It’s possible that no one will even show up for the interviews. Ideally, we’ll find two new hires.

Still, based on this week’s sales, we’ve already turned a much larger profit than expected. Even if sales slow down next week, we should be able to handle hiring two new employees without issues. While it’ll take some time before the shop’s leveling system upgrades, that’s just something to work on gradually.

"Alright, let’s go eat something delicious tonight!"

It’s only been a week since we opened, but surviving this critical first week is worth celebrating. Forget the closing tasks for now; tonight is for enjoying good food together!