NABC Chapter 692 Cafe Funded
Chapter 692 Cafe Funded
chapter 692 cafe funded
"princess, what sort of business is this?" one of the girls whispered to dana.
at first, she was startled, not used to being called princess so reverently, and karl made a mental note to do it more often.
"it's a cat café. nature priestesses and beast masters seem immediately drawn to it." she whispered back.
"like, a café with cats just running around to pet? that is great. are they hiring, i would apply for that."
lotus came over and hugged the girl from behind. "yes, she will be hiring as soon as the talks are done. they have openings for ten servers and four bakery staff."
one of the boys who had come over mostly to just get a better look at the elites turned to look at her in shock.
"they're going to bake everything in house? most places order in their pastries." he commented.
"they will specialize in desserts and snacks, not full meals, so the acolyte wants to hire staff to help her do all the baking." lotus informed him happily.
"i will go get my friends. their parents are bakers."
then he ran off, leaving lotus extremely pleased with herself.
it wouldn't take them long to get the acolyte's goals filled this way. but even better, it looked like she wouldn't even have to plead to get someone to cover the funding. as a high priestess, her earnings were for the good of the church, and she lived off a stipend. well, in theory. mostly, she lived off hawk's meat pile and rae's design talents. even the royal priestess robes she was wearing were made by rae and not the church. these ones were much more comfortable, and they smelled like rae's silk, the same as lotus' favourite hammock.
finding applicants to become servers was far too easy, and tessa had a list of over thirty within the next five minutes, before the boy came back with his friends. "are we too late?" he asked lotus after seeing the line gathered around tessa.
"not at all. there will be some interviews, but skilled bakers were expected to come later, so i don't know if there are any on the list yet."
that caught the attention of one of the bankers, who had scoffed at karl's interest earlier.
it really looked like this business was going to get started, and he happened to know a master patissier who was out of work after her employer had shut down to sell the business to a real estate investor.
as crazy as the idea was, if they had a real master baker working with a nature cleric, there was no reason that they couldn't succeed, and his friend might be able to take over when the acolyte inevitably flaked out in a few months.
the two students nodded. "you will do. if you're not up to standard, i will take it up with your mother."
that made them pale. they might be the youngest in the family, but they didn't get enough favouritism to save them from their mother's wrath if they embarrassed her culinary skills.
a few more applicants came forward with their credentials as bakers, and four more were chosen, bringing the total kitchen staff to seven, nearly double what neko had planned on. but that was her deal with the chef, and they had way more front staff than they needed as well. in the worst-case scenario, some of the hosts and hostesses could be part-time employees.
then ophelia and rae returned with triumphant looks on their faces.
[we got the unit. did you know that you can trade shiny rocks for a whole building?] rae asked.
karl rolled her eyes at her. [did you buy the building that neko wanted to rent a unit in?]
[nope, ophelia did. she reminded me that hawk and i loot all the battlefields, so i really should share some wealth. then she bought the building. it's pretty, and there are two other shops with apartments over them, plus this one and the empty unit above it.
ophelia says that the price was good, and the landlord didn't argue at all with her offer. does that mean i'm neko's boss now?]
karl laughed quietly, and resisted the urge to shake his head as he replied. [no, ophelia is her landlord. you don't get to boss her around. but she is a nature priestess, so you can probably bring her to play with you and lotus in the park later.]
karl tapped the table to catch neko's attention, as well as genevieve's. "the building has been purchased by my associate, so the rental contract can be guaranteed, and the residential unit over the bakery is included."
genevieve smiled, and neko got up to hug the much taller woman around the waist.
"so, when do we start shopping for kitchen equipment? i'll take care of the front, and we will have all the funds we need for the renovation as soon as i process this funding document." neko explained, holding up the papers karl signed.
the banker next to them cleared his throat. "i have a mobile access terminal here. would you like to open a corporate account with our capital branch?"
the faster everything was settled, the more secure his friend's new baking job was.
neko's smile lit up her face. "yes, thank you. that would be wonderful. can you link it to my identification badge from here?"
karl patted her on the head, then nodded to genevieve. "it's been a pleasure meeting you all, and i look forward to seeing how your business does."
it might take years to get a full return on investment, but it was a big milestone for karl. his first real investment as an elite.