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Chapter 8
Only a few days had passed before Buchanan’s coffee beans began piling up in the warehouse of the soon-to-open Gold Coffee House.
At the same time, a strange tension lingered in the Evan household.
Daisy looked completely miserable, and Henry’s expression was grim.
“Are we… doomed…?”
Daisy muttered tearfully.
“…Don’t jump to conclusions yet.”
There was only one reason why the atmosphere felt like a funeral.
Killian had estimated the expected profit at around 2,000 gold in net profit for the first quarter.
Roughly converting that into money from my past life… it would be about 200 million.
‘And that’s net profit, not revenue.’
Setting expectations based on net profit instead of gross revenue made the difficulty level incredibly high.
“2,000 gold in one quarter… That’s about 1,000 gold in two months.”
The annual salary of an imperial knight was 500 gold.
That meant I had to earn the equivalent of a knight’s yearly salary within a single month.
Just thinking about it made it hard to breathe—but I couldn’t afford to miss this opportunity.
“The only saving grace is that Grand Duke Orfeo isn’t charging us a purchasing fee and is handing over the rights directly.”
At least that prevented all of our net profit from being eaten up by fees.
Since Killian held exclusive purchasing rights to Buchanan coffee, even exorbitant fees would have been unavoidable.
“1,000 gold in two months… That’s about the same as the monthly net profit of a famous coffee house in the capital.”
Henry spoke carefully, but everyone knew he was referring to ‘Rohart,’ run by Adelheid.
Opening a coffee house and achieving that level of revenue within a month was realistically impossible.
‘For an ordinary shop, sure.’
But I had Buchanan coffee—and recipes that only I knew in this empire.
I never imagined the knowledge I picked up while investing in businesses in my past life would come in handy like this.
“Under no circumstances can it be known that I’m behind this Gold Coffee House.”
The main customers who enjoyed luxury goods were nobles and wealthy commoners.
If they found out I was behind it, they’d immediately stop coming.
And nothing is more difficult than winning back lost customers.
Understanding the seriousness of this, Daisy nodded firmly.
“Yes.”
A week had already passed since opening.
The mornings at the Evan residence were as busy as ever.
“How much did we make this week?”
Henry answered:
“Exactly 50 gold.”
“Then monthly revenue should be around 200 gold…”
The sales trend was steadily rising—a good start.
But 200 gold per month was still far from enough.
‘Killian’s condition is net profit, not revenue.’
That meant we had to at least double—no, quadruple—this.
“We’ll have to attract a different customer base.”
“Huh? Oh! Then… will you sell desserts too?”
Daisy’s eyes sparkled at the idea.
It wasn’t bad—but I shook my head.
“No. Desserts require hiring professional pâtissiers, and that wouldn’t be cost-effective for short-term profit.”
Rohart Coffee House, run by Adelheid, had dessert chefs from the imperial palace.
To compete, we’d need similarly skilled pâtissiers—which would increase revenue but reduce net profit.
‘This isn’t a long-term game.’
To boost net profit quickly, spending on high-end staff would be a luxury.
Killian must have considered this when setting the three-month condition.
‘He’s testing me.’
Whether I had what it takes to run a business—and whether I was worthy of his investment.
As rumored, he was a meticulous and demanding businessman, despite his polished manners.
“He’s ranked number one among people businessmen don’t want to meet.”
And at the same time, number one among those they do want to meet.
After some thought, I spoke:
“Contact the Roxy Trading Company.”
“Where is that?” Daisy asked, confused.
Henry, however, immediately understood.
“Isn’t Roxy a trading company that mainly deals in alcohol?”
“That’s right.”
Daisy widened her eyes.
“Why alcohol? If you want a drink, I’ll buy it for you.”
“It’s not for me.”
I smiled at her innocence.
“It’s for my customers.”
Through the new menu I was about to introduce.
The new menu item, ‘Black Cocktail’—a mix of coffee and wine—was quite a bold experiment.
At first, customers were hesitant, but one by one they began trying it.
To everyone’s surprise, the flavors blended harmoniously—and it quickly became a sensation.
Two weeks passed after introducing the new item.
I peeked inside the coffee house.
Every table was full.
“How does mixing coffee and wine create this taste?”
“I never imagined this combination.”
“But it works so well.”
Seeing the positive reactions made my heart race.
I quickly returned to the Evan residence.
Inside the office, Henry and Daisy were staring at a sheet of paper with their mouths agape.
“What’s going on?”
“The… the sales…”
It was the sales report.
“You should take a look too, miss.”
Daisy handed it to me.
With a feeling like opening Pandora’s box, I checked the results one week after launching the new menu.
[… (omitted) Total sales for the week as of yesterday: 124 gold, 366 shillings]
‘At this rate, we can definitely reach the quarterly goal.’
The revenue was even higher than expected.
“How did sales increase this much?”
Daisy still looked stunned.
The reason wasn’t hard to figure out.
‘A menu that appeals to both wine and coffee enthusiasts.’
‘A premium indulgence drink priced higher than regular coffee or alcohol.’
Even in my past life, coffee-alcohol combinations were quite popular.
But in this empire, Duke Adelheid—who dominated the café industry—had conservative tastes.
Such a menu had never existed before.
And people simply accepted that as normal.
‘But it wasn’t.’
In my past life, there was a clear niche market for coffee-alcohol mixes.
And luxury consumers always craved something special.
This revenue proved it.
“Mixing coffee and alcohol doesn’t require exceptional skill.”
Of course, a professional bartender would help—but here, the concept itself was new.
‘Now that I think about it… they’ve been quiet.’
As our sales rose, Rohart’s must have declined.
After all, the luxury market was limited.
‘I thought they’d try to interfere by now.’
Considering Duke Adelheid’s pride, it wouldn’t be strange if he tried to crush my business immediately.
‘I can already guess the method.’
From my past life in business, I’d seen it all.
The fastest way to deal a blow was to spread rumors that the competitor’s product was defective.
If running a business was like a sport, the key was avoiding dirty plays—and countering them quickly.
And I was confident.
No matter how Adelheid attacked, I was ready.
“What? Sales dropped again?!”
Duke Adelheid shouted, his face flushed with anger.
Lately, the sales trends had been unusual, so he had been summoning Rohart’s manager every morning.
“A mere nobody gets the rights to Buchanan coffee… and dares to open a shop in the capital?!”
His blazing blue eyes turned to his aide.
“So who owns this Gold House?”
“Just an ordinary businessman, it seems.”
“Even so, he must at least have a title!”
“Well… he appears to be a wealthy merchant.”
“What? No title?!”
It was absurd.
“And this nobody dares challenge Rohart?”
Adelheid’s face turned red with fury, then twisted into a sneer.
“They need to learn how frightening we are.”
The manager cautiously asked:
“Then… what should we do?”
“Do I really need to spell it out?”
The duke smiled viciously.
“Find any fault you can with Gold House and drag them down. Use whatever means necessary!”
