By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 3

by Roy

  “Oh, perfect timing, Fina. You too, Carme,” I said when they came to get laundry. I summed up the situation for them and suggested that they go help take orders from customers. I had previously told everyone taking orders from customers to also take and return their laundry, but with the additional manpower we now had, I also suggested we divide up the work between us.

  “I’ll carry the laundry around, you two return it to the customers.”

  “To increase efficiency, I assume? Let’s try it.”

  With that, the two of them went out front. I gathered up the finished laundry and brought it out as well.

  “Next customer!”

  “This way, please!”

  “Customer #18.”

  “How does it look?”

  “Oh my, it’s so clean. And it was all affordable too. Very nice.”

  “Thank you! Please come again! Next, Customer #8!”

  A few minutes after we divided up our work, the flow of customers had become noticeably faster. Maybe the slimes were hungry after they had just split up. It felt like they were working more vigorously than before. There were times that we almost ran out of numbered signs for the customers, and we had more people waiting for their laundry to be returned too, but a temporary return to the way we took orders from customers before solved that. The increased number of cleaner slimes and service windows raised the speed at which we could process orders and serve the customers. Eventually we got through peak business hours and reached closing time in one piece.

  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 ar
ound 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.

  Chapter 2 Episode 34: Nice Find

  The next day...

  “Ugh, I have a headache.”

  I didn’t spend time with Eliaria and the others yesterday, so I went to check on them in their room and found that Reinhart had a hangover.

  “Oh, Ryoma, good morning.”

  “Good morning, everyone.”

  “Ryoma...”

  “Looks like you’re having a rough time. Should I make you some medicine or something?”

  “As long as you’re offering, could you do that?”

  I used Warp to travel to different stores around town and pick up ingredients for medicine that would help with hangovers, as well as fruit that could be eaten along with it. I bought what I needed and returned to the inn.

  “Here, drink this. You should also make sure to stay hydrated,” I said. If only there had been persimmons for sale. That or some miso soup with clams. Plenty of people traveled from my world to this one, so they had to be available somewhere. Maybe it would be worth searching for them at some point.

  “Thank you, don’t mind if I do,” Reinhart replied.

  “I suggest not taking too much medicine, though.”

  “Sorry I’m in such a sorry state. Yesterday I― Agh, my head...”

  Reinhart sounded like he was in agony and desperate for relief. At yesterday’s banquet at the government office, they tried to get on Reinbach, Reinhart, and even Elise and Eliaria’s good side by offering loads of food and alcohol. Elise was fine, but Eliaria wasn’t used to such events. While she was dealing with their approaches, Reinhart went off and drank too much, according to him.

  Hearing about the banquet made me a bit uneasy. I didn’t know if Eliaria could handle these occasions. She would presumably have to go to more when she grew up, too. Thanks to Tekun’s blessing, I didn’t get too drunk or get hangovers, at least. I still didn’t know exactly how much I could drink now, but I also had experience from my past life. Maybe it would be best to test just how much I could drink at least once. I thought about this as I watched Reinhart drink the medicine and juice, then left the inn.

  ■　■　■

  I got to my store a little late, briefly checked in with everyone, then left. There didn’t seem to be any problems. After that, I shifted gears and headed to the abandoned mine. There was something I wanted to test out, so I hoped to catch some slimes on the way there. Maybe we could pick herbs together too.

  “Hello, Maylene.”

  “Oh, Ryoma, working for the guild today?”

  “Yes, I’ve left my store in the hands of my employees at this point.”

  “Owning a store and hiring people to run it for you at your age is a big step up in life.”

  “I just got lucky.”

  “I’m sure there’s more to it than that. Oh, this isn’t a job or anything, but I have some information that might interest you. A party of five adventurers traveled here from another town, and they brought a high-ranking
slime with them.”

  “Can you tell me more?”

  “If you capture a rare monster or obtain elusive information, selling it to the Tamer’s Guild earns you a tidy profit. This party happened across this slime, and they tried to sell it. There aren’t many high-ranking slimes, you see. But the guild didn’t want it. Slimes that can use magic, like your healing slime for example, are both rare and useful, so they go for a high price. The slime these people caught was different, presumably. They’re still young, and it sounds like they made a mistake when they were gathering info in advance. They thought they’d get good money for a high-ranking slime, but they were disappointed when that didn’t happen, from what it seems like.”

  “So for enough money, I can buy this rare slime off them?”

  “That’s right. Do you want it?”

  “I do, very much so. Do you know where that party is?”

  “They should be staying at a cheap inn called the Badger Inn on the east side of town. Their party’s called Sikum’s Pier. Just tell the innkeeper the name and you’ll probably get to talk to them.”

  “Thank you, I’ll go there right away.”

  I rushed out of the guild and hurried toward the Badger Inn. I had a change of plans.

  ■　■　■

  “Is this it?” I asked myself. The Badger Inn was easy enough to find, but it looked utterly decrepit from the outside. I would’ve thought it was abandoned. I entered the building anyway and found a clearly middle-aged man at the counter.

  “Welcome. You a customer?”

  “I have business with Sikum’s Pier, an adventuring party staying at this inn. Are they here right now?”

  “Sure are,” he said and pointed to a door on the right. “There’s a dining hall/bar in there where they should be eating. One of them’s been drinking since noon and complaining the whole time, so watch out for that one.”