"Fresh is better," Marron confird. "Though the pre-packaged ones are excellent too. These just have that imdiate crunch."
She sold twelve bags of fresh-made crisps in thirty minutes, plus another eight pre-packaged bags to people who didn’t want to wait for frying. Millie handled money and change while Marron focused purely on cooking—an efficient division of labor.
By two bells, when the lunch rush finally slowed, Marron had sold almost all her stock. She had maybe six bags left, plus enough raw rootknots for one more fresh batch if anyone wanted it.
"That was intense," Millie said, counting coins. "You made... let see... one hundred and fifty copper this afternoon? Just from crisps?"
"It’s a low ingredient cost with a high margin for profit," Marron said, feeling quite proud of herself. "Crisps are simple to make and...a lot of people are loving them so far. And, uh..." She looked a little more sheepish with her next words. "it’s a new product. That always draws curious custors."
"You’re the Guild-certified crisp vendor," Millie corrected. "That’s your edge. People know your food will be quality."
"Hopefully quality enough to beco regulars." Marron started cleaning her equipnt. The afternoon would be slower—most serious shopping happened in the morning or evening. She might sell her remaining six bags, might not. Either way, the day was already successful.
She’d made about 240 copper total, minus sixty copper in costs (ingredients, oil, packaging materials).
That was 180 copper profit in one day of work.
If she could maintain even half that pace consistently, she’d be fine financially. Three days a week at this rate would cover rent and living expenses comfortably, with money left over for savings and ingredient experintation.
"I’m coming back tomorrow," Marron announced. "Different location maybe, different ti of day to see how it affects sales. I want to test whether morning or afternoon is more profitable."
"That’s very scientific," Millie observed.
"That’s very broke-chef-who-needs-data," Marron corrected. "But also I’m genuinely curious about custor patterns. Plus I have about four dozen more bags of crisps packaged at ho. Might as well sell them while they’re fresh."
The afternoon passed quietly. She sold three more bags to late shoppers, gave one to Arrow as thanks for earlier encouragent, and kept two for herself—one to eat now, one to study later for quality consistency.
As she was packing up her cart around four bells, Marcus stopped by again.
"My daughter loved the crisps," he reported. "Ate the whole bag in one sitting. When are you selling again?"
"Tomorrow morning, probably different spot to test traffic patterns," Marron said. "Tell your daughter to watch for my cart—the yellow one with copper accents."
"Will do. And Marron?" Marcus’s expression was serious. "It’s good to see you back. Not just for the crisps, though those are excellent. But because you belong here. In the market, with the rest of us vendors. Don’t forget that while you’re off doing Guild chef things and collecting magical tools."
Marron felt sothing warm settle in her chest. "I won’t forget. This is ho base. Everything else is just... side quests."
Marcus laughed. "Side quests. I like that. See you tomorrow, soup lady."
Marron wheeled her cart back toward her apartnt as the market began its evening transition—vendors closing down day operations, others setting up for evening trade. The rhythm of it was soothing. Familiar. Real.
She’d made 180 copper today. That was nearly two full gold pieces. A few more days like this and she’d be financially stable again.
And more importantly—she’d rembered what it felt like to just be a chef. To cook and sell and serve without the weight of Legendary Tools or collector concerns or crisis managent pressing down on her.
She could do both. Be the chef collecting tools AND the chef running a successful cart business. They weren’t mutually exclusive.
She just had to rember to balance them.
That evening, Marron sat at her small table doing calculations.
Current funds: 380 gold 2.4 gold from today = 382.4 gold
Monthly expenses:
Rent: 50 gold
Food/living: ~20 gold
Ingredients: ~30 gold (if doing cart work regularly)
Misc: ~10 gold
Total: ~110 gold/month needed to maintain current lifestyle.
Cart inco potential (based on today):
Good day: 180 copper (1.8 gold) profit Average day estimate: 100-120 copper profit 3 days/week: ~3.5-5 gold/week = 14-20 gold/month
That wasn’t enough by itself. She’d need to either work the cart more often or supplent with other inco.
"And this is the profit from just the crisps," Marron said softly. "I wish I kept tabs on the als I sold since I left adowbrook Commons."
She took a sip of coffee before thinking about her options, and wrote them down.
Options:
Work the cart 5 days a week instead of 3. (Tiring but hopefully doable? Depends on... not visiting Petra yet)
Accept special bulk orders (higher chance to profit, but less consistent)
Develop a franchise with Jenny? (Unknown inco)
Marron chewed her pen, thinking.
"You’re overthinking this," Mokko observed from his corner.
"I’m planning," Marron corrected. "There’s a difference."
"You made good money today. You have a successful product. Several successful products, in fact. You raised more than 1,000 gold when we were in Whetvale. You’re fine."
"I’m fine now," Marron said. "But I also just spent a month not working because I was dealing with decree crises and tool hunting. I can’t assu that won’t happen again. I need sustainable inco that doesn’t require being present every single day."
"So franchise the crisps," Mokko suggested. "Like Jenny’s doing with her soda. Teach other vendors your technique, take a cut of their sales."
Marron paused. That was... actually smart. She could teach her crisp technique to interested vendors, provide them with her seasoning recipes (or sell them seasoning blends), take a small percentage of their crisp sales. Passive inco, minimal ongoing work required.
"That’s a really good idea," she said.
"I have them occasionally," Mokko said dryly.
"I could talk to Jenny about it," Marron continued, her mind racing now. "She’s already figuring out franchise structures for the soda. Maybe we could coordinate—vendors who want both products, joint training, shared distribution of supplies. Create a whole Earth-food-inspired snack network."
"Now you’re thinking like a business person instead of just a chef."
"I’m thinking like a broke chef who needs reliable inco," Marron corrected, but she was smiling.
"I think the franchise idea has real potential."
She made notes for a conversation with Jenny, calculated rough numbers for what she could reasonably charge for recipe licensing, considered which vendors might be interested in adding crisps to their offerings.
By the ti she finished planning, it was late evening. Her calculations suggested that if she could get even five vendors franchising her crisp recipes at one copper per bag sold, and they each sold twenty bags a day, that would be 100 copper passive inco daily. Three gold a week. Twelve gold a month. Combined with her own cart work, that would easily cover expenses plus savings.
Viable. Definitely viable.
"Tomorrow I talk to Jenny," Marron announced to Lucy, who’d been watching her calculations with what seed like interest. "About franchising, partnership structures, shared Earth-food knowledge. We’re going to build sothing sustainable."
Lucy burbled approval and ford a little coin shape in her jar.
Marron cleaned up her planning papers, got ready for bed. Tomorrow would be another cart day—different location, testing afternoon traffic patterns, gathering more data. Then evening, she’d et with Jenny about the franchise idea.
The knife situation with Petra was still pending. Edmund Erwell was still out there sowhere, probably cataloging objects and worrying about preservation. The remaining Legendary Tools were still scattered across Savoria.
But tonight, Marron was just a chef who’d had a successful sales day and was planning her next business move.
I focused on my business today and that felt good.
I wish I had more experiences like this.
She fell asleep with her coin purse slightly heavier and her mind full of expansion plans, dreaming of rootknot crisps and franchise agreents and the satisfying clink of copper coins being counted.
[Financial Update:]
Current funds: 382.4 gold
Today’s profit: 1.8 gold (180 copper)
Crisp business: SUCCESSFUL
New plan: Franchise model (inspired by Jenny’s soda expansion)
[Business Developnt:]
Rootknot crisps proven popular
Three flavors established (salt & vinegar, smokesalt herb, spicy pepper)
Production technique refined
Price point confird (3 copper small, 5 copper large)
[Next Steps:]
Continue cart work (data gathering)
Discuss franchise model with Jenny
Develop sustainable passive inco stream
Maintain balance between chef work and tool hunting
[Note: Sotis the best thing you can do is return to basics. Rebuild foundations. Rember who you are beyond the legendary drama.]
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