The four side-shaking heads told me everything that I wanted to know.
Or rather, the four of them shaking their heads merely proved what I more than expected — what I already knew.
They never heard about coffee before.
And how could they?
Unless those four just so happened to be within the part of the tavern that could see into the innkeeper's kitchen when I first prepared it, then how else would they know?
Some high-noble that interacted with otherworlders on the daily? He could have heard about it. There was a chance one of the folks from the earth would mention missing it.
A big-time merchant? Retired high-rank adventurer? Maybe even some well-known musician?
Only people that could encounter people from earth could've ever heard about coffee… That is, unless someone already found a way to bring it over to this world.
Still, for now, it didn't matter whether there would be a market for coffee or not. Worst case scenario, my whole plan could switch gears and focus on something else. But right now?
Right now, I shook my head.
"Yeah, of course you guys don't know what coffee is. And I'm not telling you this to shame you for it!" I raised my hands up, both to create movement that would get their attention and to then pose in a way that I hoped would paint me as innocent. "It's not something that originally even existed anywhere around to begin with. And the trouble we have to go to get it is well…"
My eyes darted away, towards a seemingly random point on the shed's wall.
Out of the four adventurers, only one appeared to catch a clue judging by how he followed where I looked with his own eyes, froze confused for a second only for his eyebrows to then shoot up his forehead… before returning to their usual spot post-haste.
'A smart guy.'
I smiled on the inside.
'Good. That's exactly the kind of guys I need.'
The direction I looked towards, while almost impossible to accurately judge it from within the shed, was exactly the same direction one would have to follow to get to the forest of death.
And while figuring that out just from where I looked for a few seconds would be nigh impossible… I didn't exactly shy away from bringing that place up back in my speech.
"But that's not what you guys want to know, is it?" I smiled.
The four of them sat silently, patiently waiting for me to finish whatever it was that I had to say, hoping they would get to hear something they would actually be interested in.
Like, what they would be paid and what they would have to do to get paid.
"I plan to pay everyone five silver coins a week," I announced, knowing better than to make them wait too long.
Judging by the feeling I've got through our bond, there were already more people gathering on the other side of the shed's doors. As such, holding the first batch of candidates for long would be pretty damn counterproductive.
"I believe this is a perfect middle ground between what would be a lot for middling adventurers and way too little for high-level ones," I admitted with and shook my head. "But we need to start with something, don't we?"
In the end, this wasn't just my attempt to create another business.
It was an attempt to revive this town's economy and enrich everyone to a level where the military recruiters wouldn't be able to offer the locals anything they would be willing to accept!
And for that, I needed three things.
A thriving industry, people to operate it and then… someone to turn the produce of that industry into money that could be reinvested thus reinforcing the virtuous circle.
First, however, I needed people.
After our last journey to the jungle of death and all that I've learned from it, I wasn't going to ask Selia to both fight with the jungle's guardian, then deal with uprooting the trees, preparing the ground for the seeds, planting the seeds and then fighting with the guardian again… Only to repeat the process on the morrow with the added effort of gathering all the beans that grew overnight.
No.
If I wanted to really take the coffee seeds that I had and turn them into a business, I needed people to take care of the mundane task, giving Selia all the time in the world to rest and prepare for the next fight. Then, once the whole thing would grow, I would gather enough high-level adventurers to free Selia from her task of dealing with the guardian and with time, if possible, we would find a way to stop the guardian from respawning in the first place.
But once again, for all of this to happen…
"As for your task, it's going to be quite simple," I continued, fully aware even those four have yet to agree to my terms.
"Once we gather enough people and supplies, we will journey out to the edge of the jungle of death. There, we will have Saintess defeat the jungle's guardian, allowing everyone to go in and then, right at the edge of the jungle, start removing all the existing vegetation."
I slid off the edge of the table and started to slowly pace around the shed, paying no mind whether the four adventurers would follow me with their eyes or not.
"We are not going to try to destroy the jungle. Not at all. Instead, in place of the removed trees, bushes and whatever else we shall encounter, we will plant coffee seeds. Then, once that's taken care of, we shall return to the safety outside of the jungle, rest well over the night and on the very next day, repeat the whole process all over again."
The idea was simple.
Growing coffee required some pretty dang specific circumstances and prerequisites. From the high quality of the soil, through the right amount of moisture in the air, enough but not too much water within the soil, all the way to the correct amount of light and a very specific temperature.
I knew all the pains of trying to get coffee to grow back from when I did it myself, utilizing every benefit of modern technology to do so in the part of the world where growing it naturally, by simply tossing the seeds into the ground outside, would never be possible.
No.
The amount of effort it would take to grow the coffee the natural way was so overwhelming, so massive, I could very well just consider it to be impossible.
That's why, if I wanted to grow coffee, then the easiest way to go about it was to do what already proved to work — make use of the "jungle of death" and its vegetation-restoring ability to do it instead!
Additionally, if we only were to remain at the jungle's edge for a week, we could return with several carts worth of coffee! And, given how I never planned for it to become a commodity anywhere else but in this very specific town, would be more than enough to earn all the money this town would ever need to regain its prosperity!
"So you say you want us to… fight the monsters in the jungle… sir?"
One of the adventurers, obviously not the one who appeared to figure out what place I had in mind even before I brought it up, asked.
"I have no idea where you got that from, but no. I want you guys to be strong enough to ward off an attack or two if any monsters stumble upon us. Beyond that?"
Just by leaving my voice to hang in the air, I gave Selia a signal. And without fail, she stood up and moved to the desk, stopping just an inch away from its edge while crossing her hands over her chest.
"Then, defeating that monster will be my job," she stated in a clear, determined voice. "That is, until the day we earn so much, we will be able to pick adventurers capable of doing that for me."
That too was a well-rehearsed speech, even for how short it was.
The payment disparity between middle and high-rank adventurers was massive. Overwhelming, even.
And yet, here we were, already happily projecting to earn so much money, we could pick those extremely expensive guys however we wanted?!
"I'm in."
The very same guy that I noticed before now was the first to stand up and then immediately fall down to his knee and lower his head.
Quite noticeably, this time he wasn't bothered with the rest of his party, as opposed to where only the three of them were supposed to enter.
In his eyes, I saw the very same fire I saw in the eyes of my friend before he vanished from my life for three years only to then re-emerge as a CEO of a massive, new startup.
It wasn't greed. It wasn't jealousy…
It was a flame of ambition!
And as the corners of my lips curved up, I could be certain of one thing.
This flame, I was only ever going to add more fuel to it!