Volume 2 - Chapter 12
The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 2 Chapter 12
TL Note: Here's your extra chapter. A special thanks to the anons, as well as to Tundy for donating and making this chapter possible.
Name change:
Lenny -> Reni; apparently Lenny was too manly. Well it did remind of me that shark form sharktale so… I guess, yeah.
Volume 2 Chapter 12
The Next Day
~Side Ryouma~
I went to the store early in the morning today. Today will be the store’s first day so I thought I’d get a head start. But more than that, it’s also because Karma-san and Karla-san will also be coming.
After the gathering yesterday, Karma and Karla went, “We can even open the store for business tomorrow!” Or so the two twins vigorously pushed on to me. And so, I’m opening the store today… I wonder if it was too fast. I could have done things a bit more… nah, vigor is also important, right? I’m the kind who tends to drag things after all…
While I was thinking that, the twins came to the store.
“Good morning, boss!” [Karma & Karla]
“Good morning, Karma-san, Karla-san. Please take care of me from today on.” [Ryouma]
After the twins came, we ran some checks and prepared the store for opening… or so I’d like to say, but really, all we did was allow the cleaner slimes to enter the room and prepare some small change.
Speaking of which, the twins purchased and brought over a lot bags from Serge this morning. Apparently, before going home yesterday, they ordered some from Serge-san. They really helped me out there.
“Well then… I’ll be going.” [Ryouma]
“Take care.” [Karma & Kyle]
I’m going to the adventurer’s guild to do some jobs.
Since the first day, I’ve had a problem with leaving things to other people. But because I wasn’t able to make an announcement because of the leaflets and the advertisements, I made the decision to make an announcement while taking a job from the guild. Serge-san really prepared some people who I can leave everything to… putting it bluntly, I wonder if that means I’m not needed anymore. Then again though, that’s the reason why I hired them in the first place. .
While I was thinking that, I went over to my neighbors before going to the guild. I need to let Poline-san know about the store’s opening after all.
“Excuse me, is anyone here?” [Ryouma]
The store seems to be open, but there doesn’t seem to be anyone inside. So I raised my voice, and Poline-san went out from one of the rooms inside.
“I’m coming, I’m coming. Oh! If it isn’t Ryouma-kun. Did you drop by to buy some seeds again?” [Poline]
“Actually, I came today to let you know that my store, Laundry Agency Bamboo Forest, is open for business.” [Ryouma]
“Oh my! It’s already open? That’s really quick.” [Poline]
“Yes, thanks to everyone. Also I gave the bags for free some time ago, so by all means, please do try out my store’s services. And also please let Mary-san and Chiara-san know as well. I’ve already informed the two clerks.” [Ryouma]
“You hired some people?” [Poline]
“They were introduced to me by a merchant I knew. So I decided to leave things to them while I worked as an adventurer. Also, I need to pay their salaries with my income as an adventurer until the store gets going.” [Ryouma]
Even if you tell me that you don’t need to be paid as long as you’re able to work, it’s only natural that I’d feel guilty if I actually took that offer… But really, I honestly do not understand why they want to work for me that much.
In fact, rather than working at my place, I think working over at Serge-san’s would be far more beneficial… and the salary should also be bigger…. But, it does help me out a lot, so I guess I don’t really have any problems with it.
“Considering your store’s size, I guess it was needed, huh? In any case, do, do your best. After all, I’m supporting you. In fact, I’ll go there today myself to try out your store.” [Poline]
“Thank you very much. Then, I’ll be heading off to work.” [Ryouma]
As Ryouma said goodbye, he left the store and went to the guild. When he got there, someone immediately called out to him.
“Ryouma, will your laundromat be opening soon?” [Adventurer]
“When will it be opening?” [Adventurer]
“It would be nice if it opened up soon~” [Adventurer]
These are people that Ryouma got to know in the carriage from the abandoned mine monster subjugation request. Ever since then, the people Ryouma talked to outside of Jeff’s group had increased. It would appear that these guys are also waiting for Ryouma’s laundromat to open.
“Actually, Laundry Agency Bamboo Forest is already open starting today.” [Ryouma]
“Really!?” [Adventurer]
“Yes. There’s also a service targeted towards adventurers that will clean armor and weapons, so please, do try it out.” [Ryouma]
“Alright! When I go home today, I’m definitely going!” [Adventurer]
In order to announce it, I purposely spoke about the store being opened as well as its location in a loud voice. After this I’ll be going to the abandoned mine to make some rounds. So with that in mind, I also accepted an herb collection request. Like this, I’ll be able to collect the herbs while I go around the abandoned mine.
Honestly, even if you tell me to leave the store in your hands, it is the store’s first day, so I’d like to get my rounds over with quickly and go back.
When I got back to the store, what waited for me there was a huge crowd. Even though it’s the store’s first day, there’re already likee 20 people waiting outside!?
I hurriedly went inside the store.
“Welcom– … ah, boss!” [Karla]
“Karla-san, how’re things?” [Ryouma]
“I’m so happy I could scream!” [Karla]
“Boss! Even the neighboring aunties came over to have their clothes washed!” [Karma]
Said Karma-san who came out while he was carrying laundries. At any rate, we have to somehow get rid of this crowd!
“I’ll also help out. You two deal with the reception, I’ll take care of carrying the laundry!” [Ryouma]
After I said that, I did nothing else but carry the laundry and serve the customers.
But even though I kept doing that, people still kept coming. What’s going on!?
In the end, the endless human wave only ended after 3 o’clock in the afternoon. While you can’t call this ‘many’ anymore, I still needed to explain to them how things work ed one by one, and so it still took time.
Anyway, it would seem that this store’s pricing is really too cheap. Because of that I was asked things like, “Will you really wash our clothes at this price?” or “You aren’t going to suddenly demand more money from us after, right?” It was quite troublesome, because there were people that just couldn’t understand. At some point, because of all the people gathered, even the town’s guards who were on patrol stopped by.
However, the guards stopping by was unexpectedly a godsend. When they stopped by the store, the guard’s leader heard about it. Because of that he actually went, to get the group option for 35 people and even bought 2 bags with him.
It seems that they were hiring someone to wash their laundry for them, but because of the public office’s cost cutting, they became unable to do that anymore.
Then, while he said that it would have been fine if only the salary wasn’t cut, he let out a little more of his complaints towards the public office and then said that he’ll come again. Am I already landing big contracts on the store’s first day?
But the store opens from 8 o’clock in the morning, so we spent around 3 minutes per person, right? Also, I don’t know at what point in time people started to come, but the twins probably worked without having lunch until 7 o’clock.
… Isn’t this really bad? I may be fine, but these 2 are… If I leave it like this, I’ll be exploiting my employees! I need to avoid that no matter what!! I swear to my previous life!
“Good work today, Karma-san, Karla-san.” [Ryouma]
“Thanks for today, boss.” [Karla]
“There were so many people today.” [Karma]
“Right, though I do wonder if it’s ok for there to be a sudden influx of customers.” [Karla]
“I believe it’ll be better for the customers to increase quickly. But in order to be able to alternately take rest, we need four to six people. Even though we also had to explain to the customers how the store worked today, by looking at the reactions of the customers, it can be said that even if we were to focus solely on the work without the explanations, the number of people would be still be insufficient.” [Ryouma]
“The customers seemed like they were satisfied with the speed and the result, so the customers will probably increase again tomorrow. By taking applications at the guild, it should be possible to get some help quickly.”[Karla]
“I see… when employing, how much should I put the salary at?’ [Ryouma]
“120~150 suits in a day should be enough. With that much it’ll be enough for one to live on normally, moreover it should also be possible to save up. And because this is exceptional for a starting salary, we should also be able to gather people quickly.” [Karla]
“Then in that case, I’ll be going to the guild now. The faster the better.” [Ryouma]
“Please take care!” [Karma & Karla]
I quickly went out the store. When I got out, there were four people nearby who had plenty of luggage with them. They’re from the neighboring house and everyone seems to be hugging a huge bag.
“Oh, Ryouma-kun” [Poline]
“Poline-san, Reni, Rick, and even Zeke. What is that you’re carrying?” [Ryouma]
“We thought of having these washed. You see, our house is a butcher, so we have quite a number of clothes that have been stained with blood.” [Zeke]
The one who said that was Zeke, Poline-san’s husband. Zeke has a butcher just right next to Poline-san’s flower shop. The meat I bought for the celebration of the store also came from Zeke’s store.
When you think of a butcher for a husband, in anime, you’d normally imagine a big muscular man. But this guy is the exact opposite. His height isn’t bad, but his body is thin. Extremely thin. He looks like an unhealthy guy who’d topple down if the wind were to blow against him.
“I heard from the adventurers that if I bring these clothes to your store we’d be able to get rid of the blood.” [Zeke]
“So we decided to bring out the clothes that we were planning to just buy replacements for.” [Poline]
“Thank you very much. I’m sorry for this abrupt question, but do you have employees hired by any chance?” [Ryouma]
“If you include me, there’s 10 of us.” [Zeke]
“In that case, there’s a special option for 7 people above, so I highly recommend you take advantage of it. A bag for 14 people’s worth of clothes will cost you only 1 medium copper coin and 8 small copper coins, much cheaper than the individual bags.”
“Really!? That’s a pretty good deal.” [Poline]
“Then in that case we’ll take that.” [Zeke]
While I was doing some sales talk, Rick talked to me.
“Hey, Ryouma. What are you doing? Skipping on work?” [Rick]
“Ha ha ha, I guess it can’t be helped if it looks like that. But, I’m not. I’m heading to the merchant guild.” [Ryouma]
“Really?” [Reni]
The one who asked that was Reni.
“The store became a lot more popular than I’d expected, and so if we were to continue like this, we wouldn’t have enough people.” [Ryouma]
“No way!? It’s the first day, you know!?” [Reni]
“Well I did do some advertising, but I honestly still didn’t expect this much to come. So I’m going to the guild now to get some extra helping hands quick.” [Ryouma]
“I’m shocked. That many people actually came?” [Poline]
“Yes, in fact the two people I’ve hired have been working the entire day for 7 hours without rest.” [Ryouma]
After I talked with those four, I left them and went to visit the merchant guild. When I got there, I was brought to the reception room again, and the guild master came to meet me.
“Today’s the store’s opening, but… is there some sort of problem?” [Grisela]
“Yes, it was a lot more popular than expected. Thanks to that I need to hire some more people.” [Ryouma]
“On the first day? Well I’m beat, even I couldn’t have anticipated this… So you came here to get some helping hands, huh? In that case, I’ll go gather some guys who can immediately work starting tomorrow. Once I do, you choose who you want.” [Grisela]
After that, until the people have been gathered in the guild’s meeting room, I was told to wait at the reception room. When the people have finally been gathered, they contacted me, and I went to the meeting room. When I got there, there were 30 people. Some were old, some female, and some male, there were all sorts.
They looked at me and appraised me as an employer. Then after a while, they made a face as if they had seemingly lost interest, and turned their gaze away from me.
Well it can’t be helped because I’m in an 11 year old kid’s body after all… There are definitely people who wouldn’t want to work under me, right? Well, there’s nothing that I don’t understand here.
“Everyone here can do basic calculation. Any one of these guys are able to work at your store immediately.” [Grisela]
“Got it. It’s a pleasure to meet you all, I am the manager of the store, Laundry Agency Bamboo Forest, Ryouma Takebayashi. Thank you for gathering here today, despite your tight schedules.” [Ryouma]
When I said that, the people around made a commotion. After listening to their whispering voices, it would appear that they didn’t think I would be their employer and had just assumed I was a lapdog or something.
Turns out, they actually weren’t evaluating me a while ago.
After my greeting, the tension in the room had clearly gone down. I ignored that and asked a question.
“Umm… Then I’d like to ask a question first. Amongst the people in this room, is there anyone who has something against working at my store?” [Ryouma]
At that question, several objections were raised. They were mainly the younger ones, though.
Even though I’m shorthanded, I have no interest in picking up people who don’t want an 11 year old kid as their boss, or people who will work unwillingly. Because of this, it’s better for me to talk about the salary, last. I’d be troubled if people just crowded over me just because the salary was high. There’s also a lot of them, so I guess I might as well reduce them.
The people who weren’t satisfied left. I told those kind of people that I won’t pressure them if they don’t want to work, and then had them leave the room.
24 out of the 30 people here, ended up leaving the room. The remaining ones were just 6. Well it’s not like I don’t understand why those guys left… in any case I first give my thanks to the people who’ve decided to stay here.
“Then, to the six remaining here, I’ll have you talk as someone who is interested in working at my store. But before that, for telling me that you don’t mind working even for a child like me, I give you all my sincerest thanks.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, I bowed my head once. Then I began to talk.
“Going to the main point. My store, Bamboo Forest, is currently hiring people who can serve customers and carry some things. But even though I say ‘carry’, it really only involves just clothes, so even girls can do it. However, there is one point that you need to take note of. I am not only a shopkeeper, but also a slave magic user. Because of that, there are slimes in my shop, which I am using as helping hands.” [Ryouma]
At those words, the remaining 6 were surprised. Hearing about being a slave magic user seemed to be normal to them, but it would appear that hadn’t thought of slimes being used to help out.
“As such, people who are afraid of slimes, or people who do not like slimes will find it difficult to work in my store. Hence, I would like to know if there is any among you who would find this to be a problem.” [Ryouma]
When I said that, one girl raised her hand up.
“What is it?” [Ryouma]
“Are you using that slime because you lack people? Or will you be using that slime even after you have enough people?” [Girl]
“I will still use it, even with sufficient hands. If I say something like this, there are probably some of you who wouldn’t like it, but I’d like you all to treat the slimes as your coworkers.” [Ryouma]
When I said that, the girl along with 3 others, refused to work with the slimes and left the room. With this, the only ones left in the room, are the middle aged man and the young woman.
Eh? I’m only going to be interviewing these two?
They just simply gathered people who could immediately work, so it’s not like they gathered people who would want to work at my store… but still, this is quite shocking! … Well whatever, I wonder how these 2 remaining ones will go.