Character Introduction
Ire: A Mercury race from Village Four. She leads the filming team.
The swan races were held at the pond at the base of the mountain near the Village Five shrine.
In my estimation, I thought that if we drew a crowd similar to what Odette and Odile used to attract, it would be plenty.
As it turned out, my expectations were completely subverted.
A massive number of people gathered.
Specifically, around ten thousand.
By the time it was over, it had been a resounding success.
But why?
"Well, wasn't it because the Village Head personally took command of the preparations? From the perspective of the Village Five residents, they were probably expecting something grand if you were the one starting it," Lu remarked with her usual calm.
However, even if she called it something new, the swan races had existed for some time. I made the venue more accessible for guests, but surely that wouldn't lead to such an overwhelming turnout?
"Being accessible is a huge factor. Besides, there were numerous restaurants lined up, and you had the duck and domestic duck shows between the races. I think a massive success was only natural."
I-I see.
We didn't have enough ducks and domestic ducks to hold actual races yet. Not wanting to be seen as merely freeloading, they volunteered to provide entertainment for the swan races. Perhaps to compete with them, the white swans also sang in chorus after the final race to honor the winner.
Those touches were better received by the crowd than I had anticipated.
Hmm.
Were they really that starved for entertainment? Village Five has a stadium and other venues, so I thought there was a decent amount of recreation available.
"Maybe it's because it's the first village-sanctioned gambling venue?"
Is that the draw?
"There are probably small gambling dens around, but a large-scale operation like this is rare."
Don't they do martial arts tournaments or horse races?
"Those have a strong image of being festivals. Betting there is just a bit of seasoning to help people get fired up while they cheer."
Ah, I see. So betting makes it easier to get invested in the cheer.
"Exactly. Besides, with the horses, the main action is the betting between the owners rather than the spectators on the sidelines."
Is that so?
"The basic style of horse racing is for the owners to pool their money together, and the owner of the winning horse takes the whole pot. That’s how it works."
Heh, learn something new every day.
"So, husband."
Hmm? What is it?
"When is the next race day?"
...
By the way, Lu bet on several races, but she lost every single one. If she enjoyed herself despite the losses, then that was the important part.
Now then, time for the review meeting. While the excitement of the first official races was still fresh, we needed to identify points for improvement. Even if it was tedious, it had to be done.
Participating in the review meeting were myself, Odette, Odile, Kon of the Silver Fox race, the five Angels, Yoko—acting in her capacity as the Village Five Acting Village Head—and the Swan Representative who had competed. This particular swan was the winner of the final race.
"Um, Village Head. Even if a swan is participating in the review meeting, we can't exactly hold a conversation..." one of the Angels pointed out.
It was true that the swan couldn't speak. However, if you looked into those eyes, you could tell exactly what she wanted to say!
"I-I can see she's motivated... My apologies."
Perhaps I was being a bit unreasonable. It couldn't be helped. Odile would serve as the translator for the swan's opinions. That should suffice.
"I-I understand. I'm sorry for spoiling the start of the meeting."
No, no, don't worry about it. These five Angels were among those who had moved to the Village of the Great Tree during the formal migration. They probably weren't used to our ways yet. If it were Tia or Granmaria, they wouldn't have batted an eye at a swan attending a meeting.
Pulling ourselves together, we began the session. One of the Angels gave a report while referencing her documents.
"Sales for the winning bird betting tickets were excellent. We set the price at one Medium Copper Coin per share this time, and the total sales for all ten races reached 1.35 million Medium Copper Coins. The total payout for dividends was 1.05 million Medium Copper Coins."
In other words, a profit of 300,000 Medium Copper Coins. In terms of Large Copper Coins, that was 30,000. Converting to Silver Coins, it was 300. In Gold Coins, it came to three. For the number of people who attended, the profit didn't seem like much to me.
"Now, wait just a minute."
The Angel interjected at my assessment. Even if they weren't used to the village yet, they were still Angels. Sharp as ever.
"That's three Gold Coins for a single day of racing. Since we're planning about thirty race days a year, that's a projected annual profit of ninety Gold Coins! That is a significantly large sum!"
When put that way, it did sound impressive. Though I doubted we’d see the exact same profit every time. Since this was the debut, there was a high likelihood people bought "support tickets" just for the novelty. For our future projections, should we aim for this level of sales?
"No, no, no. I have a feeling that sales are only going to grow from here on out."
It would be nice if that happened. As for the distribution, we proceeded with the shares decided beforehand.
"Umu. Regarding that..." Yoko raised her hand. Was there an issue?
The shares for the five Angels were to be paid out of the fifty percent of the profit allocated for swan rearing expenses and pond maintenance. We had already discussed this. I didn't think there were any problems, but...
"What about the Village Head's share?"
Hmm? Mine?
"Yes. The Apostles of the Swan God and the others are to be paid from the rewards given to the Silver Fox race. There are no complaints there. But what kind of share is reserved for the Village Head?"
If Village Five prospered, things would eventually find their way back to me anyway, so I didn't think I needed a direct cut... but apparently, that wasn't a good answer. Yoko had gone out of her way to bring it up. Ah, I see—it would be a bad precedent if the person leading the project didn't take a reward.
However, deciding my own compensation felt awkward. Hmm. Taking a cut from the security fees charged to Village Five felt like skimming. What about the fees for the stalls set up around the pond?
...
Wait, these were the stall fees for just one day? They charged quite a bit. And the shops were profitable enough to make that back easily.
In that case, for my share—or rather, my reward—I’ll take the right to freely set up a shop in the pond area. Without a fee. Furthermore, I’d like the best location secured for me. How about that?
"...Understood. However, I think you could afford to be a bit more greedy."
Oh, I’m being plenty greedy. I’ve secured the prime real estate. Just leasing that spot out would probably bring in a fair amount of money, wouldn't it?
"That is true, but you won't actually do such a thing, will you?"
Of course not. Since it's the best location, I’ll use it to sell white swan merchandise.
"Merchandise?"
It’s just another way to support the swans. Well, if it doesn't sell and ends up in the red, I’ll just run a restaurant there instead.
"I see."
With my share decided, the conversation moved to the next point.
"Regarding the winning bird betting tickets, I think the idea to put illustrations of the gods on them was a stroke of genius."
On one side of the wooden tags, the numbers and names of the swans were branded, but on the other side, we had branded the image of the "Assigned God" for the year. This was done as a PR move for the gods, but unexpectedly, people started treating the losing tickets as protective amulets. Apparently, they were "not hitting" charms.
The members of the security team, who are frequently in the line of fire, wanted them so they "wouldn't be hit." Likewise, people with families wanted them so they wouldn't be "hit" by misfortune.
"Well, even if you lose the bet, you can excuse it by saying you bought an amulet."
"If we keep holding races, won't people's houses be overflowing with those tags?"
"How about we set up a system to collect them after a certain period to either burn them or offer them at the shrine?"
The Angels and Kon began to synthesize the feedback. As an aside, some people who won the bets also kept their tickets as amulets instead of claiming their winnings. Since those were "hitting" charms, the adventurers were apparently eager to have them.
"Another piece of feedback from the guests: the number of outhouses was insufficient."
I am truly sorry about that. It was an oversight on our part. We had prepared a fair number, but we hadn't anticipated such a massive crowd. I even had to open the shrine’s private outhouses to the public in a hurry. Ah, but it’s fine now. I’ve already asked the High Elves to build more. By the next race day, those complaints should vanish.
"Also from the guests: the lost-child waiting area and the infirmary were a bit too cramped."
That's true. The turnout was beyond our expectations. I reflect on my poor foresight. I’ll make sure to commission the Village Five carpenters to expand them later.
"It seems they also want more relaxing dining areas near the racecourse."
Ah, that... hmm. We had a decent number of tables and chairs, but with so many people, I moved some of them away because I thought they were dangerous. Was that a mistake in judgment? No, safety first. Besides, there were some unplanned developments too.
Yes, unplanned. Ire’s filming team decided to broadcast the races live, and they took up quite a large, prime space. That cut into the spectator area. However, the footage taken by the filming team was broadcast all over Village Five, which was massive for publicity. I heard it was incredibly popular. Still, we shouldn't cause inconvenience to the people who actually came to the venue.
"We need to renovate the spectator stands and secure a dedicated space for the filming team."
"I would also like the stands themselves to be expanded."
Hmm. It’s good that we’re getting so many opinions, but please prioritize the requests. It’s impossible to grant every single one. If we can't discard any, at least rank them in order of importance.
"Ah! That's right! I forgot something vital!" one of the Angels cried out, sounding like she had truly just realized it.
What is it?
"We're setting the race dates in advance, right?"
That's right. I was thinking once every ten days, so the next one is ten days from now.
"What do we do if it rains on the scheduled day?"
...Hmph, is that all? Don't panic.
"Oh! Then—"
Yes, I’ll start thinking of a plan now.
"..."
Indeed, there was no need to panic. We still have time to think.
Angel: "This is a review meeting!"
Odette: "..."
Odile: "..."
Kon: "Are those two sleeping?"
Swan: "Honk! (I’ll talk next time!)"