By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 29

Chapter 2 Episode 29: Hiring

“To the two of you that are still here, you don’t mind slimes? Everyone else left, so I assume so,” I asked. They quietly nodded. “Then can you tell me your names? And if there’s anything in particular you want before I hire you, by all means tell me. Let’s start with the man.”

I called out to the middle-aged man on the right first. Both he and the woman had my curiosity. Their clothes were far from what you tended to see around town, like something Chinese people in a kung fu film would wear, so I noticed them the moment they entered the room. The man’s staff and the woman’s hair ornament were especially peculiar.

“I am Fay,” the man said while I was watching them. “This is my daughter, Lilyn. We would appreciate it if you can hire us both.” He even sounded like someone from a kung fu movie.

“You’re father and daughter?” I asked.

“My daughter looks more like her mother, not so much me. There is also one thing I must tell you,” Fay said and showed me his right leg. It had a wooden brace on it.

“I am a merchant from a country called Gilmar. It has become dangerous due to war, so I fled. But by the time I got to this country, most of my money had been stolen. All I have left are my belongings and my daughter. At first I had no money, so I worked as a miner to make what little I could, but a cave-in broke my right leg. I don’t have the money to ask a healer to cure it, so it will take some time to recover. Can I still work for you, even with a bad leg?”

A broken bone could be cured with a few casts of High Heal, a mid-tier healing spell. A high tier version called Mega Heal could also do the job with a single cast. I couldn’t use either, but a healing slime likely could. Either way, Fay could work solely as a receptionist until he recovered.

“If you don’t mind working at a desk until you get better, your leg isn’t a big issue.”

“Really?”

“Yes, and receptionist work is a perfectly fine job. If you can serve the customers well, then we don’t have a problem. What do you want for a salary?”

“As long as I make enough to live on, that’s plenty.”

“I see. Then let me talk to your daughter next. Lilyn, right? How much do you need?”

“The same as him. I want to make enough to survive, and I want to be hired alongside my father. If you could either let us live at the store or introduce us to cheap inns or housing, that would also be nice. We currently live in temporary lodging courtesy of the guild, which we’ll have to leave when we find work.”

“Many say they can’t hire me because of my leg. My daughter is doing odd jobs for the guild, which has earned us just barely enough to take care of ourselves. We actually don’t have much money left. As long as you have somewhere we can stay for cheap, we can’t complain.”

If they wanted to stay at the store, the lodging I set up for employees was empty, so that was fine. They also said that they could work for low pay, so the amount I had planned should have been enough. They may have been foreigners, but we were able to come to an understanding.

They also seemed to be hiding some considerable strength. They were as guarded against attacks as Jeff and the like, and they would at least be better fighters than the thieves and adventurers I had taken on before. If I hired them, they might be effective bodyguards for the store too.

“We do have rooms for employees to live in, so you’re free to use them if you like.”

“Really?! I’m glad I asked!”

Everyone else had left anyway, and they seemed capable enough. That left only one thing.

“I have one last question, but before that, I need to ask the guildmaster something.”

“What do you need?”

“Sorry, but can you leave the room for a bit? I’ll be revealing a bit about my store,” I said casually, but seriously wanted her to leave. These people probably didn’t work any ordinary jobs. The smell of death was upon them, I guess you could say. There were plenty of people in this world who killed in self-defense. Even I had killed thirty thieves myself. But these people had likely murdered far more. I had never encountered someone who came across this way, in either my old world or this one. Maybe I could protect myself if worse came to worst, but not if I had to defend the guildmaster at the same time.

“Why drive me out? If something’s on your mind, tell me,” she asked sincerely in return.

“Like I said, it’s about my store’s secrets,” I continued to insist, ever wary of the other two.

“Guildmaster, that’s enough,” Fay interjected. “He figured us out.” Now I felt like my anxiety was all wrong. What was the meaning of this? “Manager, who are you? We’re ex-assassins, but we mean you and the guildmaster no harm.” It was true that I sensed no hostility.

“Guildmaster, did you know about this?” I asked. The guildmaster sighed.

“Of course. I don’t know how other places do it, but anyone who gets work through my guild, especially foreigners, must be checked by me personally. If they turned out to be spies, I certainly couldn’t give them any work. These two really did flee their country. How did you figure out the rest, though?”

“I was trying so hard to act like a normal citizen, too.”

“You and the guildmaster are the only ones to find out so far. If you picked up on our secret, you can’t be any ordinary person. Very interesting,” Lilyn said calmly, while Fay looked shocked and faintly smiled.

“I don’t have the eyes the guildmaster does, but I’ve studied combat for a long time, so I can get a sense for how strong someone is. Also...”

“What?”

“I noticed that you’re both hiding weapons.”

“Fay! Lilyn! Is that true?!”

“Ack, so you found that out too?”

“I was once taught more about concealed weapons than I ever cared to know, you see. The world’s most frightening creatures are humans because they can use their heads, deceive others, and strike while their guard is down. The best weapons for such a purpose are those that can be concealed. To learn how to protect yourself from attacks with these weapons is to learn the weapons yourself,” I said. That was what my father told me, but thinking about it now brought back memories. “I was attacked a lot in my everyday life.”

“Just what kind of life did you live?”

“Are you the same type of person we are? Doesn’t seem like it.”

“You’re like us, and yet not. Like you only learned the techniques, strangely.” If they could tell that much from looking at me, these people were amazing.

“I learned them from a teacher, yes. I didn’t begin to use them until three years ago, and only a few times, against thieves.”

“It’s a difference of experience, then. Our job back in our country was to execute lawbreakers like traitors and thieves. Our country has much fighting and chaos. If you didn’t have people like us to hunt down and kill criminals, nobody would be safe. What I said about being a merchant wasn’t a lie, though, I do normally work as a peddler.”

“The master we served lost a war, so we lost our country, our jobs, and our purpose. That’s why we came to this nation. There were no jobs we could take pride in. Will you still hire us knowing this?”

“If the guildmaster approves of you, I don’t see why I shouldn’t. As long as you can work, I have no complaints,” I said. Assuming they were harmless now, there was no reason to get on their case about their past. Everyone has some secrets to hide.

“Really? I thought nobody’d hire us if they knew that.”

“We were prepared to run away, even.”

“Oh, no, don’t do that. I’m short of employees at the moment, and everyone else left. What’s important is the present, not the past. Please do work for me. Also, if I ever need you for an additional job, can you serve as bodyguards?” I asked. If the guildmaster knew their circumstances and still kept them around, it couldn’t have been much of a problem. The guildmaster had a better eye for people than I did. Sometimes I felt like she could tell I was actually over 40, but I hoped I was imagining it.

“We can do that perfectly well.”

“We’ve worked as bodyguards as well.”

“Then you’re officially hired. It’s a pleasure to work with you,” I said. We bowed to each other, then the guildmaster spoke up.

“Are you finished? Then get going. There should be a carriage waiting outside.”

“Thank you, Guildmaster.”

“Don’t worry about it. Fay, Lilyn, work hard. This kid’s store has potential. Also, quit hiding weapons!”

“But not carrying weapons feels wrong,” Fay and Lilyn said in unison.

“How long are you gonna keep acting like assassins! You’re merchants now! Sorry, but they’re not bad people, and they haven’t technically committed any crimes. Take care of them.”

“Understood.”

“Also, take this. These documents show their work history. Says they have previous experience with military service. Show it to the two folks Serge sent you.”

“Got it. Wait, shouldn’t you have shown me these at the start?” I asked. The guildmaster cackled.

“Just wanted to see how good your eyes are. I was wondering if you could pick out some good employees with no prior information. I was surprised when most of them left right away, but you hit the jackpot with these two. They can get the job done. And you seem to have pretty decent eyes yourself, though I don’t know how well they’d work for you as a merchant. Anyway, good luck out there.”

“Thank you.”

Fay, Lilyn, and I got on the carriage the guildmaster prepared for me and returned to my store.

■ ■ ■

There weren’t as many customers when I got back as there were that noon, but there were still tons. The twins looked busy.

“Welcome back, boss!” they said.

“Quite a lot of people,” Fay remarked.

“Is this your store, Boss? It’s doing good business,” Lilyn noted.

“Give me a moment. Carme, Carla, I’ll help. First we need to serve the customers.”

“Boss, I’ll help. I can carry stuff.”

“Me too, laundry’s not more than I can carry.”

“Thanks! Don’t push yourself too hard, just do what you can.”

They offered to help on their own, so I happily let them. Fay was only supposed to be a receptionist, but he seemed able to move around to some extent. We were able to make it through the rush of customers that night and arrive at closing time in one piece. I put up the sign saying we were closed and shut the door.

“Thanks for a hard day’s work, everyone!” I said. They all thanked me back.

“Master Ryoma, are they the ones you hired today?”

“Yes, the man is Fay, and the woman is Lilyn.”

“My name is Fay. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Lilyn. Nice to meet you.”

“I’m Carme Norad.”

“I’m Carla Norad. It’s nice to meet you too.”

“The plan was to have them start work tomorrow, but they ended up beginning today, I guess.”

“We’re living here while we work, so of course.”

“Helping when it’s busy is only natural. Also, may I ask something?”

“What is it, Fay?”

“We carried the laundry today, but when is the laundry actually done? All we did with it was put it in a wall for a slime to take.”

“Oh right, I didn’t explain how we do laundry, did I?”

I used the cleaner slime and a goblin’s loincloth to demonstrate to the two of them. They seemed to understand. When they saw how busy we were, they also seemed to recognize the potential that the guildmaster mentioned. They were especially surprised when I told them this was our opening day.

Getting this many customers on opening day was even rare in my old world, unless you were a pachinko parlor. For this world, it was apparently extremely rare to have this much business right away. From what the customers told me, news of my store was spread by adventurers.

The adventurers that I slayed goblins with told their fellow adventurers, their families, and average civilians. When I introduced the place to Pauline, that also seemed to deliver the news among the local housewives, so people had heard about the laundromat from various sources.

“Our services are cheap, so a lot of customers came to try it this morning.”

“A lot of the customers in the afternoon said they heard about it from people who tried it. I imagine we’ll see similar results for the next few days.”

This world had no cell phones or social media, so I underestimated the power of word of mouth. Maybe my haphazard advertising was to blame, though it was certainly to my store’s benefit. It was over for now, at any rate, so I decided to take the time to cure Fay’s leg.

“Carla, Carme, can you clean up the shop for the night?”

“Understood,” they said.

“Thank you. Fay, Lilyn, come with me.”

I had them wait in the break room, then fetched two healing slimes. They were surprised when I said these creatures could cast High Heal, but they appreciated and accepted the help. Thanks to the healing slimes’ efforts, Fay’s leg fully recovered. Broken bones vary in severity, but this injury took them three casts of High Heal each for a total of six casts.

“Thanks for that, I’m glad to have this leg taken care of.”

“Healers charge a lot for their services. You don’t mind doing this for free?”

“Making it easier for my employees to work is my job. If my slimes or I can do something for you, I won’t charge for it.”

There were healers in town, but you had to pay them an amount based on their skill and magical energy for each individual spell they cast. To fully heal a broken bone required multiple casts that would demand a high price, so rather than seek healing, Fay planned to do assorted jobs within the guild as he waited for the fracture to recover.

“If I had just brought more money from my country, I could have had it healed with magic right away. I used everything I had for bribes when I was fleeing across the border.”

“And that’s why you’re broke?”

“The border guards from our country are awfully greedy. They’ll let any crime slide if you pay up, but if you don’t have money, they’ll turn you over to the government and be rewarded for it. I couldn’t be stingy about what I paid, unfortunately. If they could’ve made more for turning us in, we either would’ve been captured or found it harder to escape.” Fay whispered.

“Because of the type of work we did for our country, the reward on our heads would be higher than normal. Some of the guards get suspicious enough to capture ordinary people as it is, so anyone who tries fleeing our country gives up most of their assets. You don’t think much about saving money when your life’s on the line,” Lilyn murmured equally quietly. Gilmar sounded like a nasty country with all that war and chaos they mentioned. After we talked for a bit longer, I gave them their rooms, where they set up all their belongings. Then I returned to the store and asked Carla about our earnings that day. The answer surprised me.

“Today we made 791 medium bronze coins and eight small bronze coins for a total of 7918 sute,” she reported. I asked the twins exactly how good that was, since they were the pros. They said that for a business that doesn’t have nobles as customers, a mid-sized company makes around 4000 sute a day. Even if we subtracted our expenses, the fact that we made more than that on our opening day was shocking.

“This is amazing!”

“We can already start to compete with the big companies that don’t sell to nobles!”

“How much do they make in a day?”

“Around 20000 sute, generally speaking. If you have any nobles as customers, that can cause your earnings to skyrocket. The expenses are high, but if you sell high-quality goods, they can turn a big profit.”

“A lot of people will pay a premium for luxuries.”

“I see. Well, nobles aren’t relevant to our case, but if we can make 2.5 times what we did today, we really could rank among the big companies.”

“Considering what we managed today, I expect we’ll reach that goal within the month. We’ve yet to receive our share from the Adventurer’s Guild, so when you consider them, we’ll have even more customers.”

“There may come a time when our daily earnings add up to a whole medium gold coin.”

“I don’t know about that,” I said with a chuckle. A medium gold coin was 50000 sute, well beyond the realm of what was reasonable.

“It’s possible,” the twins said, much to my disbelief.

“This is a mining town. There are a lot of miners and metalworkers. I hear there aren’t as many people as when the big mine was abandoned a few years ago, but there’s still a population of ten-thousand.”

“And the customers won’t necessarily pay for only one bag each. I think it would be hard to make more than a medium gold coin’s worth of profit all the time, but in the event that we get a big request from the Adventurer’s Guild, for example, we could earn as much that way.”

“I see,” I said. Maybe it could happen once or twice.

“Also, if you open branches in other towns, you could easily earn more than a medium gold coin’s worth of profit per day.”

“Talking about opening branch stores already? It’s a bit early for that.”

“Maybe so, but it’s worth thinking about.”

“As long as you have employees you can trust, opening more stores is well worth considering.”

It was true that we turned quite a profit for our first day. I decided to consider it for the future, but I wanted to see how this played out for now.

“Oh, I forgot to give you something. Here’s the work history for the two new employees.”

“We’ll take a look,” the twins said and began to read the papers.

“They say they’re willing to work for the bare minimum they need to live on, but I also decided to ask them to be bodyguards, so pay them 150 sute a day, please.”

“They both served in the military? That’s reassuring.”

“Understood.”

After that, I said goodbye to my four employees and returned to the inn. When I got there, I reported to Reinhart and the others about my earnings that day. They were stunned.