Central Street of Peace Square, Queen's Street on the southern side of the Royal Capital, the famous Triumph Avenue…
Lyle had clearly done thorough preparation, conducting detailed investigations on many well-known streets throughout the Royal Capital.
The characteristics of each street, along with their respective advantages and disadvantages for a hotpot and barbecue restaurant, were clearly outlined.
Mia read everything aloud to Ron André. Wanting his opinion was mostly just for reassurance.
Ron didn't rush to make a decision.
He trusted the appeal of hotpot and barbecue—anyone who had eaten them had already been conquered by the flavors.
But this was the Royal Capital, after all. What if the food didn't suit local tastes?
Since that was the case, if things could be done better, Ron didn't mind putting in more thought.
"Where do the nobles in the Royal Capital mainly live?"
"In the Royal Capital, what are the proportions of nobles, officials, merchants, and commoners?"
"Among the locations you mentioned, what's the usual foot traffic like? What kinds of people frequent those areas?"
"What's the spending power of these groups?"
"…"
Ron fired off a series of questions.
At first, Mia could answer a little, but soon she became more and more confused.
"W-wait!"
Mia pulled back the hands that had been fiddling with the puppet's dress. Sitting up straight like a clueless student who couldn't answer the question, she said helplessly,
"Brother Ron, it's just choosing a shop location. Is it really that complicated?"
Ron paused, then smiled slightly.
"If you're just doing this for fun, then pretend I didn't say anything. All these locations are good—pick any one."
"But," Ron continued, changing his tone, "if you truly want to build something of your own, to show Father that you're not just a bargaining chip for marriage alliances, then you need to figure out all those questions I asked."
"..."
Mia pressed her lips together and fell silent. The playful expression she had earlier was gone. After a minute, she nodded seriously.
"I understand, Brother Ron. I'll work hard!"
Ron didn't say anything more. He simply repeated the questions and explained to Mia what benefits she would gain by understanding them.
Mia had been a little confused at first.
But under Ron's detailed explanation, her eyes gradually lit up, and she slowly grasped his intentions.
After carefully writing down Ron's questions, Mia put down her pen and shifted the topic to Element Cards.
When Ron heard that noble ladies really liked Element Cards, he felt quite pleased.
But he immediately frowned and asked,
"The two decks of Element Cards I gave you—don't they lack magic patterns?"
"Huh? Magic patterns?" Mia froze, then shook her head. "No, the centers are blank."
"Then you didn't give them away casually, right?" Ron pressed.
Without magic patterns, Mia's Element Cards were the commoner version.
If she gave one to a noble, and later the noble version appeared on the market, wouldn't that look like deliberate mockery?
Fortunately, Mia shook her head again.
"I didn't give any away. There are only two decks—keeping one for myself and giving the other to anyone would feel unfair, so I just didn't give either."
"That's good…" Ron finally relaxed a little and explained the situation to her.
"What? There's a noble version, too?" Mia was surprised. "Then why wasn't there one before?"
"At that time, Element Card battles were still mainly played in the Chaos City Magic Academy, and the gameplay hadn't been fully systematized yet," Ron explained.
"By the time you returned to the Royal Capital, everything had finally been settled."
"The decision to split Element Cards into noble and commoner versions was also finalized then."
"I see…"
Mia nodded thoughtfully, then said with some concern,
"This afternoon, Lady Haiman invited me to afternoon tea and asked me to bring Element Cards."
"But since these are the commoner versions, would it be inappropriate to let them play?"
"Brother Ron, when will your caravan arrive?"
"The caravan should arrive in a day or two…" Ron answered first, then considered carefully before saying,
"Let's do it this way—"
"Today, you can still play cards with them as usual."
"If someone asks whether you can give them a deck, tell them that these are the commoner versions and that you can't give them away."
"Then promise them that once the noble version arrives, you'll give each of them a deck."
"If anyone asks where the Element Cards came from, you don't need to hide anything—just tell them directly."
"Mhm."
Mia nodded repeatedly like a pecking chick, showing she understood.
"Then we'll stop here for today—" Ron was about to say goodbye when he suddenly remembered something.
"Oh, right, one more thing."
"Hm?" Mia tilted her head in confusion.
"I actually had this idea before, but never mentioned it to you," Ron chuckled.
"About promoting the hotpot restaurant and Element Cards—I have a really good idea, but only you can pull it off."
"Oh? What idea?" Mia asked curiously, her bright eyes blinking.
"Father… seems to dote on you quite a bit?"
"I guess so?"
"Then, if you invited him to eat at your place, would that work?"
"Hmm… that might be difficult. I usually accompany Father for meals in the palace."
"I see…" Ron thought for a moment, then asked,
"If you're eating in the palace, could you get the kitchen to switch to hotpot?"
"Huh?" Mia froze, then quickly understood.
"Brother Ron, you want Father to eat hotpot and help promote the hotpot and barbecue restaurant?"
"What, can't do it?"
"Well… Father wouldn't be that easy, would he? Just eating hotpot once and then promoting it… he doesn't have that kind of free time."
"I'm not asking him to actively promote it," Ron said with a light laugh.
"You just need to get him to eat hotpot once, and guide him into praising it once or twice at the table."
"After that, he doesn't need to be involved at all."
"Once you've treated him to hotpot, invite a few noble ladies over to eat hotpot at your place a few times."
"Just tell them that your father also praised this way of eating, and the news will naturally spread."
"When your hotpot and barbecue restaurant opens, nobles who've never tried hotpot will naturally want to taste the legendary hotpot that even Emperor André III praised."
"At that point, are you still worried about business?"
Mia imagined the scene and immediately started grinning foolishly, then grew a little worried.
"But… will Father get angry?"
"That depends on the charm of our Princess Mia," Ron teased.
"Mia is so cute and well-behaved—how could Father bear to be angry with you?"
"Hehe."
Mia shyly twisted her body, then asked,
"What about Element Cards? Same approach?"
"Of course."
"Alright! Leave it to me~."