By the Grace of the Gods (LN) - Volume 3 - Chapter 33

Chapter 2 Episode 33: After Hours

I was giving water to the cleaner slimes that cleaned up the store when Carla came to me with a sales report. Compared to previous reports, her attitude was somehow different.

“Boss, about today’s sales...”

“What’s wrong? Are we in the red?”

“No, we’re in the black.”

“Then did we make a decent profit again?”

“We made quite a different amount than we have so far, Master Ryoma. Today alone, we earned 26036 sute.”

“Now hold on a second. For the last couple days, we made just over 16000, right? Why are we suddenly earning 10000 more than that?”

“Just after you left the store this morning, we happened to receive some great contracts. The rumors about our store reached the ears of the blacksmiths, carpenters, and metal workers. They came to buy large bags and used them immediately. Not only that, but we’re getting more customers, both individuals and groups. A fair number of customers are asking to have multiple bags of laundry done at once, too. The bags are still continuing to sell.”

“Can you give me more details about our sales? Not that I doubt the numbers, but I’d like to see the facts for myself.”

“Of course. Wait in the office, please. I’ll bring the summary to you right away.”

I did as told and went to the office, where I sat in my chair and waited. This was my first time using the place. I was always either carrying laundry, taking orders, or resting in the break room. While I was pondering this, Carla came to me with a sheet of paper.

“Here are today’s sales numbers,” she said.

“Thank you.”

Carla had written down the individual sales for everything we offered. I took a look.

Laundry for 1: 998 x 10 sute = 9980 sute

Laundry for 14: 152 x 18 sute = 2736 sute

Laundry for 35: 55 x 40 sute = 2200 sute

Bag for 1: 159 x 20 sute = 3180 sute

Bag for 14: 68 x 25 sute = 1700 sute

Bag for 35: 50 x 30 sute = 1500 sute

Equipment cleaning service: 316 x 15 sute = 4740 sute

That added up to 26036 sute, for certain.

“Looks accurate. I’m surprised we made so much. Seriously,” I said. Even if the bags weren’t selling still, we would have made close to 20000 sute. It was all thanks to the cleaner slimes and my employees. “That reminds me, where’s everyone else?”

“They’re confirming our sales in the break room.”

“What do you mean by confirming our sales?”

“We receive a mix of small and medium bronze coins, so we sort them out to see if they match our projected earnings.”

“I see, then I’ll help.”

“No, this is a job for your employees.”

“That doesn’t mean I’m not allowed to join in, does it? I may be the boss, but I’m also your coworker. I’ll help.”

When it came to this sort of office work, though, the twins were beyond incredible. I wouldn’t say I had no work to do, but I had very little. Their support was also excellent, so it tended to end before I knew it. I always had to rely on energy drinks to get through work like this, so I couldn’t keep up.

“Understood. But Master Ryoma, you’re the boss of this store, and not just because you hold that title,” Carla said, then attended me to the break room. Which wasn’t especially necessary, because it was only a few steps away.

“Good work today, everyone.”

“Thank you, Boss,” my employees responded. They were counting the large pile of bronze coins on the break room’s big table. They did it by hand, counting one by one.

“No, thank you for running the shop without me every day. It helps a lot.”

“It’s nothing!” Maria said. “The working conditions here are great!”

“What she said, Master Ryoma,” Carme agreed. “That’s the whole point of hiring employees. It’s only natural.” The other employees nodded, including Carla as she stood behind me.

“I see, I’m glad you feel that way. Let’s get back to work, then. We just need to count the total value of these bronze coins, right?”

“Yes, but we could do this by ourselves.”

“The more, the merrier. Besides, that’s a ton of coins,” I pointed out. Today’s sales added up to 26036 sute, all of which was made up of small or medium bronze coins, which is to say 1 sute or 10 sute. That meant loads of bronze coins. They were to be stored in the underground vault once the total was confirmed, after which it would periodically be added to a bank account the Merchant’s Guild set up, but that sounded rough too.

“Then come over here, please.”

“There’s an open seat next to me.”

“Thanks.”

I sat next to Fay and counted the bronze coins. This seemed like it would take a while by hand, but at least there were eight of us to make it faster.

After about a minute of work, I had an idea. Rather, I remembered an idea. I took the bag of lime out of my item box, drawing everyone’s attention toward me, but I ignored them and appraised a small bronze coin to see its thickness and diameter.

Small Bronze Coin: 1 Sute

The coin with the lowest value. Made of bronze. Diameter: 0.9cm, Thickness: 2mm

I had to amend what I said about Appraisal that afternoon. Maybe it was surprisingly useful.

“Boss? What are you doing?” Fay asked. “Appraising a coin? It’s not fake, is it?”

“No, I was thinking I’d make a little tool.”

“What kind of tool?”

“Watch. ‘Create Block.’”

I turned some lime into a long stone that was hollow on the inside, like a box. Then I cast Break Rock to take part of it off so that if I tilted the box, anything inside it would fall out. Next, I used earth magic on the hollow area to create lines marking a 5 x 10 grid of 1cm square panels. The lines were 2mm tall, so each panel could contain one bronze coin. Lastly, I used a sticky slime’s hardening solution to lightly coat the box so that it could be safely touched with bare hands. It also served to prevent scratches. I appraised the box.

Coin Counter: L 14cm, W 7cm, H 1cm

Used in the Edo period to count coins. Created by consolidating lime with earth magic.

It was done.

“Boss, what’s that?”

“You use it like this,” I said and tossed a couple handfuls of small bronze coins inside the box, then held it from each end and shook it around for a few seconds. I heard the coins clatter. When I let go, some of the coins fell out, but there was a coin left in each of the panels.

“Fay, can you count how many coins are left inside?”

“Sure, I will,” Fay said and looked closely. “Fifty exactly. Boss, that’s another useful tool you’ve made for yourself.”

Carme, Carla, and Lilyn seemed to realize the purpose of the box as well. The three village girls, however, did not, so I had them count the coins next. I put more small bronze coins in the box, shook it, and handed out the remaining coins to the three girls to help them understand.

Jane was cheerful and passionate about work, but not always the best thinker, so she took a bit longer than the rest. Once everyone got it, though, I began to produce more coin counters. I made eight boxes for a set of fifty small bronze coins and another eight boxes for a set of a hundred medium bronze coins, enough for everyone. Normal coin counters were supposed to work for any type of coin, but I could figure out how to design them that way later.

Thanks to the coin counters, we finished the job in less than ten minutes. It turned out that we mostly had small bronze coins. I thought there were more medium bronze coins, but the majority of customers seemed to pay in the small variety. After that, I asked everyone if there were any issues running the store.

“Issues?”

“Not really!”

“This is a great place to work. I can’t complain.”

“If anyone can complain about the conditions here, they must be pretty spoiled.”

“Really? It doesn’t pay great!”

Suddenly, I realized I didn’t give my employees a break. How could I say I offer work benefits if I didn’t even do that?

“What’s wrong, Boss? You look sick all of a sudden.”

“I forgot you were supposed to get a day off,” I said, but nobody could believe their ears.

“Boss!” Jane shouted. “We even get specific days off?!” I thought that went without saying, but I also only just remembered that, so I was in no place to talk. The others were looking at me with similar surprise.

“You should get at least one day off per week. We can either be closed one day a week, or you can all take turns having days off,” I said. The three village girls were overjoyed. I was confused by their reaction, so Carla explained for me.

“Boss, people who work away from their hometown seldom get to take days off. If they don’t have any particular skills, they tend to be given menial labor and worked to the bone. Their salaries are also relatively low. But the conditions here are good, and you pay them well. Considering all the other benefits, I think it’s typical to expect no days off as a trade-off.”

“Employees at smaller businesses don’t get days off in general, unless there’s a holiday or other celebration. Days off are bad for business, so it’s common for employees to have to work every day. Especially for new businesses, it’s typical to have no time off until they get on track.” Those businesses didn’t sound very well set up if they couldn’t even have days off without endangering themselves. But there were always businesses like that.

“Before we left our village, our families felt so sorry for us! They thought they were giving us a brutal job to do.”

“If we were unlucky enough to end up with a cruel employer, we might’ve been worked to death for bad pay. Even worse, I’ve heard some bad sexual abuse stories.”

“You were worried about that?” I asked. Apparently the workers in this world were treated terribly. I looked to Carla for an answer.

“Employers taking advantage of their employees for sex is against the law, but unfortunately, some employers do it regardless. It’s one of the things that prospective employees have to watch out for,” she said. There was sexual harassment and such in my old world too. For as different as this world was, I guess some things always stayed the same.

“I want to create a healthy environment where we value our employees, so don’t worry about that,” I said. Everyone smiled and thanked me. As far as vacation days, they said it would be a waste to close the store on any day when there was such a deluge of customers, so we decided that employees should take turns taking days off. We discussed this as we ate the dinner Chelma cooked up. Around 9PM, I noticed how late it was, said goodbye, and left the store. It was so late that I feared they may get mad at me.

■ ■ ■

By the time I got to the inn, Eliaria and the others were already back. As we spoke over tea, I learned that they received a warm reception from the government office today. The newly appointed manager had arrived, and the remaining people of the office that had caused the scandals tried to get on the family’s good side, but their flattery was ineffective. I could imagine a luxurious welcoming party taking place right next to a trial. That may in fact have been close to what happened.

Reinbach and Sebas were the ones who told me this, but everyone else seemed ready for bed. It looked like it would bother them if I stayed too long, so I decided to leave for the day.