Chapter 119: Pokémon Bread? No, Spirit Bread!

Ras recalled a memory from when he had been an elementary school student on Earth.

Back then, there had been a shop called a school store inside the school, where students could buy things to eat. It was a time when he was always hungry, not just at lunch, so he went in and out constantly.

What he often ate was naturally ramen or bread. And at the time, Pokémon Bread had been at the height of its popularity, so he remembered that it had been sold inside the school store too.

It was when he finished a bowl of ramen and threw the empty container into the trash can, still feeling somewhat unsatisfied.

Ras saw bread inside a plastic bag, its packaging merely torn open, thrown neatly into the trash without even being touched. Honestly, even to him as a child, it had been shocking. It was not only because his family taught him not to waste food. He simply could not understand throwing away something edible when he never had enough to eat.

And when he later learned that it was done to get ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠Pokémon seals, he was shocked all over again.

Ras did not want that incident to be repeated here.

Moreover, that concern grew stronger after Moon Bread brought the sample bread last time.

“Hmm. What do you think of this?”

Ras took a bite of the bread, and his expression immediately soured. But in case that was only his own reaction, he held back and turned to Ella to ask her opinion.

“Hm? It’s edible enough.”

Her reaction was still better than Ras’s. However, considering that she had once lived on the streets, she probably would not say something was inedible unless it was truly awful.

“Compared to the bakery we usually go to?”

“It tastes bad.”

“As expected…”

Since this was a sample sent to a partner company, they must have sent something at least somewhat better, yet it was still only this good. Of course, it was not to the point that he could not eat it, but he would not want to spend money on it.

That naturally made him worry even more that the bread might end up in the trash.

And this was still a world where many people went hungry and food was considered precious. Because of that, the tendency to treat throwing away edible food as sinful was much stronger here than on Earth.

That tendency might prevent people from throwing it away, but on the other hand, if such incidents did happen, they were likely to draw even greater attention and criticism.

Compared to Korea, this world had a stronger individualistic tendency, so perhaps people might view it only as the fault of the individual. But there was still a possibility that Ras’s company, which created the product, would be criticized.

Once Ras began worrying about that, the thought briefly crossed his mind that maybe he should not have done the Pokémon Bread plan at all.

But that lasted only a moment.

No matter what he did, it was impossible for there to be no risks. Even if he had done another kind of marketing, problems would likely have arisen from that as well.

In that sense, perhaps it was better to be able to anticipate what problems might occur.

In any case, he needed a solution.

“Is there any way to handle this?”

“That could indeed happen.”

Georg’s expression turned serious when he heard that people might throw away the bread just to get the seals. Though still young, perhaps a position truly did shape a person, because he thought deeply and immediately realized that this could become a major problem.

After thinking for a while, he first suggested the simplest method.

“We should ask them not to do it.”

In the end, this was a relationship between a company and consumers, so there was no way to force them. Georg suggested printing such wording on the bread packaging.

“We could directly ask them not to take out only the seal and throw away the bread. Or we could use wording that triggers guilt, like saying throwing away food is wrong, or that there are people on other continents who starve because they have no food.”

“…That sounds fine.”

The wording itself would have some effect, but what Ras liked was that the company would first state clearly that people should not do it and emphasize the importance of food.

Even if some people still threw the bread away despite that, the fact that they had printed such wording would provide a certain degree of protection.

It might be an excessive comparison, but tobacco companies also knew perfectly well that smoking caused lung cancer, yet they avoided some responsibility by printing warnings about lung cancer on the package.

“But rather than simply telling people not to do it, I think it would be better to present an alternative.”

Ras decided to add another method.

First was telling people to save it and eat it later.

Ras suggested double packaging. One reason people threw away bread was that once they tore open the packaging to get the sticker, there was no way to store the bread inside.

But if there was another layer of packaging, the bread could still be stored after the sticker was taken out.

“Of course, this will increase costs, so we’ll need to discuss it with Moon Bread. But if an incident happens where bread is thrown away, they’ll also take damage, so persuading them shouldn’t be impossible.”

“Yes. Understood.”

And if they did not want to save it and eat it later, telling them to share it with someone else was also fine.

They would print several suggestions on the bread packaging.

“Or it may be good to accept bread donations outright. Place a box where the bread is sold and let people put the bread there instead of throwing it away.”

Since it would be double packaged, it would not get dirty, so there should be no problem giving it to orphanages or the poor.

Afterward, the IP Management Team consulted with Moon Bread and applied the methods Ras and Georg had devised.

And sometime later, Spirit Stone Bread was officially released.

An elementary school in Kames City.

Donbori was a young Beastman boy who was ten years old this year. He was a Wolf Beastman whose abundant gray tail was his pride, though it had not fully grown yet. His face would become intimidating once he reached adulthood, but for now, he still looked like a puppy and was quite cute.

Ah, I’m hungry.

He was a Wolf Beastman, the kind one might expect to tear into meat, but his eating habits were no different from a human’s. Unable to wait until lunch, the boy ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠headed to the school store during recess.

The place was already packed with hungry children.

Donbori was heading toward the counter when he ran into a familiar face.

It was a little Gnome kid named Chaps, and for some reason, he and Donbori got along well. Perhaps it was because they both liked games.

“Hey. Why are you eating something like that?”

Donbori approached Chaps, then slightly wrinkled his nose when he saw him tearing into factory bread wrapped in wax paper.

“Huh? Donbori? I told you not to make that face. It’s too scary.”

Chaps flinched in surprise when he saw Donbori’s face, but once he recognized him, he grumbled in a relaxed voice. Beastmen with animal faces tended to have strong expressions.

“You little…”

Donbori raised a fist thickly covered in gray fur and pretended to hit him. This was the usual joke between the two of them.

“But why are you eating factory bread? That stuff tastes bad.”

Children who were hungry would eat almost anything, but naturally, they preferred to choose something tasty if possible. Factory bread was something one ate only when truly short on money.

“This one is edible enough…”

Chaps argued in a small voice. Of course, that did not mean it was delicious. Even he could not bring himself to say that.

“Come on.”

Donbori shook his head as he recalled the taste of factory bread, which had been dry and had a slightly strange smell.

Chaps was about to argue further, but it was not as though he had made the bread himself, and it really did not taste good. So instead, he shoved the remaining bread into his mouth, rummaged through his pocket, and pulled something out.

“What is that?”

When Chaps showed him something that looked like a scrap of paper, Donbori stretched his neck curiously.

It was a stamp.

But the picture drawn on it was very familiar.

“Huh? Isn’t this Fire Lizard?”

A red lizard with a flame on its tail.

It was one of the spirits from Spirit Stone. Donbori had never been interested in things like stamps, but suddenly, he wanted it badly.

However, when he reached out, Chaps quickly pulled it back and put it into his pocket.

“What is that?”

When Donbori smacked his lips with a regretful expression, Chaps shrank his shoulders for a moment as though frightened. Of course, since they were close, it was more a joke than actual fear.

“A spirit seal. I bought it because of this.”

“Ah! So it’s Spirit Bread. Our school store has it too?”

Only then did Donbori understand the situation and speak in an admiring voice. Then he immediately went to the counter and shouted.

“Ma’am, one Spirit Bread, please.”

“Sure. Which one do you want?”

“Uh… that chocolate roll bread.”

Remembering factory bread that had at least been edible before, Donbori received a chocolate roll bread. Then he tore off the outer wax paper wrapping.

What the hell? There’s another wrapper.

He had originally planned to bite into it immediately while checking the seal, so he became slightly annoyed. But he soon found the small wax paper packet containing the seal and felt better.

He put the bread into his ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠pocket and carefully tore open the seal packet.

Oh!

Inside was an illustration of a gray stone monkey clenching a large fist. It was “Sun Wukong,” who had appeared in Tomorrow’s Grand Spirit Master before.

Because he had enjoyed that manga quite a bit, Donbori’s mood brightened sharply when a spirit that had played an active role there came out.

“That’s Sun Wukong? Lucky.”

Chaps had come close before he knew it and spoke while looking at the seal in Donbori’s hand.

Donbori’s mood improved even more, and he grinned. If he were an adult, it might have looked a little scary, but right now, he looked like a smiling puppy and was extremely cute.

“Do you know? They say all two hundred spirits are in these.”

“Huh? Really?”

At Chaps’s words, Donbori imagined seals with countless spirits drawn on them.

He wanted them.

“Ah. I’m only eating this from now on.”

Then he took the bread out of his pocket and ‍‍‌‌⁠​​⁠‌​​‍​​‍​‌​⁠‍‌‍⁠⁠‌⁠‌‍‌‍‌‌‌‍⁠​‌​‌​‌‍‌‌‌⁠‍​​‌‍⁠‌‌⁠⁠bit into it. Honestly, it was not as good as neighborhood bakery bread, but it was decent enough. Moreover, since eating this gave him a seal, he suddenly felt like he liked this factory bread.

Donbori felt like he understood what Chaps had said earlier.

In this way, children at school stores and shops began buying bread one after another to obtain seals. Factory bread, which had originally been treated almost like leftovers, began selling out instantly.

“President! Another order came in!”

Moon Bread fell into chaos.

Because orders suddenly exploded, they entered an emergency state to handle them.

They could not suddenly expand the factory, so they pushed the employees hard and urgently hired more people, turning the already cramped factory into something like a chicken coop.

But that did not mean they carelessly churned out bread.

Lake had entered this path with ambition of his own. Now that an opportunity had come, he could not let it slip away meaninglessly. With the large amount of money coming in, he did his best to improve the quality of the bread.

It could be called a virtuous cycle of sorts.

Of course, it would have a slightly negative effect on neighborhood bakeries.

Back when they interfered by telling him to put certain phrases on the packaging and use double packaging, Lake had wondered whether he had made a mistake agreeing to this project.

But now, he felt only immense relief that he had not missed what felt like a god-given opportunity.

It made him understand why people advertised.

In any case, Spirit Bread became a tremendous craze.

And unlike games and manga, it was food, so it advertised Spirit Stone to areas that had previously been difficult to reach.

Ras had thought spirit seals would appeal only to people already interested in the content.

But that was not the case.

They turned out to stimulate the desire for ownership more than expected.

First, the carefully made character illustrations stimulated children.

They were cute and looked fascinating, so children wanted them even if they did not know what Spirit Stone was.

That made sense.

This world was much older-fashioned than Earth. Toys and illustrations for young children lacked a lot of refinement, so pictures of spirits like these naturally attracted interest.

Moreover, the method of obtaining them was effective as well.

If they had been completely free, people might not have become interested.

And if they had cost a lot of money, they would have been hard to approach.

But the fact that they could be obtained by buying bread was perfectly appropriate.