The next day.
I woke up refreshed and went to the store before opening time.
“Good morning, everyone.” [Ryouma]
“Good morning, Boss.” [Carla and Carm]
“Good morning.” [Fina, Leelin, Fei, Maria, Jane]
“Thank you for yesterday. I was able to get a good rest as a result.” [Ryouma]
“That’s good to hear.” [Jane]
“It’s bad to work too much. Please take care of yourself.” [Carla]
“Boss, you work too hard. We were all shocked to hear how much you work.” [Leelin]
“Building this store in 10 days… That’s crazy talk. Leelin and I can’t do it. If you work that hard at your age, you’ll have an early grave.” [Fei]
“I’ll be careful.” [Ryouma]
“Please do that.” [Fina]
“Boss, you might act like an adult, but you’re still a child~” [Maria]
“Even an adult shouldn’t work excessively, you know?” [Jane]
It seems everyone in the store was also worried for me. I wasn’t really pushing myself all that much, though, since they’re around, but in any case, I’m happy that they’re concerned for me. I thanked them honestly and went to the kitchen.
“Sherma-san, are you here?” [Ryouma]
“Yes, yes. Boss, what do you want?” [Sherma]
Sherma-san was completely responsible for the store kitchen. She seemed to be making some kind of soup, as she was mixing something on a pot before I came in.
Shelma-san approached me before we continued talking.
“We went out of town yesterday to take a breather. I took the opportunity to hunt some monsters. I’d like to share them with everyone. The blood was drained from these as soon as I killed them, and then the meat immediately frozen, so they should be in good condition.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, I took the spoils out of my Item Box.
“Well, thank you. This is horn rabbit meat, yes? I’ll put them in the refrigerator for now and serve them to you and everyone later lunch.” [Shelma]
“Thank you.” [Ryouma]
As she said that, she stored the meet into the refrigerator.
“Oh, my. That’s a lot of meat…” [Shelma]
“I found a herd of horn rabbits, so I gathered them and then finished them off.” [Ryouma]
“It’s great we have this refrigerator. It’s really convenient.” [Shelma]
“Really? I mean, sure. I guess it’s convenient.” [Ryouma]
I have to cast cooling barrier once a day, though, so it’s actually kind of a pain. If I were a little better at barrier magic, I could make my barriers last longer, but alas…
Still, this is already a lot better than when I first started using barriers, and the longest one could last was about an hour.
“It is convenient. Normally, any ingredient you don’t use just spoils and gets thrown away. Vegetables maybe you can still keep them, but meat? There’s no saving that. If the weather is hot like in summer or just a particularly hot day, then the meat will spoil super fast. And some ingredients just spoil a lot faster than others. But with this refrigerator, we can just store the meat we haven’t used and serve them the next day. Thanks to that, we also get to save money.
I’ve heard there are magic tools out there that to do something similar, but they’re expensive, so getting one isn’t really feasible.” [Shelma]
“Ah, now that you mention it… When I was living in the forest, I just ate whatever I got for the day, and gave the leftovers to the slimes. so it was never really an issue for me, but I guess that’s also why people make preserved food.” [Ryouma]
“Slimes are also convenient. Animal bones and other food wastes usually need a lot of cleanup, but with the slimes around, they can just take care of it. They’re really a huge help.” [Shelma]
We talked like that for a while, then I recast the cooling barrier of the refrigerator and left the kitchen.
Carm-san and Carla seemed to have something they wanted to talk about, so they called out to me.
“You want to increase the number of employees?” [Ryouma]
“If it were just a normal store, then the current number of employees would be fine, but once we start putting up branch stores, we’ll need to fill them up with new employees. If we wait until then to start training the employees, we will be wasting a lot of time, so I would like to recommend that we start as early as now. At the very least, we should start training the branch store manager.” [Carm]
“Right… Well, if theres a capable person, then I don’t mind increasing our personnel. I also understand your concern regarding the training of the new employees. In the end, it seems I’ll have to leave everything to you and the others, but you’ll be needing another monster tamer, won’t you?” [Ryouma]
“Slime specialists are rare even in the tamer guild… Well, I hear that it’s because anyone can use slimes, but… Yes. As expected…” [Carm]
“In other words, The issue is whether we can trust the person or not…” [Carla]
“Speaking of which, you haven’t ran into those ruffians again, have you?” [Ryouma]
“Other than one time, no one has showed up again.” [Carla]
“…Well, let’s just keep an eye out for now. As for the monster tamer, I’ll ask the tamer guild or figure something out myself.” [Ryouma]
“We’ll leave it to you then.” [Carla]
After that I left the store.
“Fuu! Hmm… Hey, it’s Ryouma!” [Jeff]
I was thinking of going to the store again when I happened into Jeff-san along the way.
It’s rare to see Jeff-san without his armor. He didn’t have his spear with him either. Instead, he had his cheeks filled with some skewered meat as he walked toward me.
“Good morning, Jeff-san. Are you resting today?” [Ryouma]
“It’s exhausting fighting everyday. Are you working today too?” [Jeff]
“I’m about to do my rounds around the mine.” [Ryouma]
“The abandoned mine? You mean that place we hunted at?” [Jeff]
“Yes. I’ve been left in charge of that place, so I need to patrol it regularly and see if some monsters have made a nest there.” [Ryouma]
“You do that too? So, you’re an adventurer, a laundry man, a manager… Isn’t that too much?” [Jeff]
“The laundromat is being taken care of by other people, so I don’t have to do any work personally. As for being an adventurer, I’m free to work when I want. And as for the manager job, it’s not like I have to patrol every day. I’m planning to expand my store, so it might become a little busy, but it’s nothing I would could too much.” [Ryouma]
“Well, that’s good then… Oh, yeah. Want some? It’s my treat.” [Jeff]
As jeff-san said that, he handed me a bag of skewered meat.
“I’ll have one then… Mmm!” [Ryouma]
When I took a bite, a meat with tingling seasoning that wasn’t from herb or salt filled my mouth.
Sugar and spices are expensive, so street food have a tendency to be salty, but this one is different… It’s delicious!!
“It’s delicious!” [Ryouma]
“Right? It’s sold by that cart over there. They use a little seasoning on it, so it’s a bit expensive, but it’s really good. There’s a plaza up ahead. Why don’t we take a seat there and enjoy these skewered meat?” [Jeff]
I followed Jeff-san and entered into a byway. After a while, we got to the plaza and sat ourselves in one of the benches that surrounded the well. The area seemed to resemble a park.
“Speaking of which, you just opened your store and you already feel like opening another one?” [Jeff]
“The guild master of the merchant guild and my employees told me to think about it, but it’s not like we’re putting one up immediately. There’s a lot of problems we need to solve first…” [Ryouma]
“What? You have something you’re troubled with?” [Jeff]
“The branch store we’re putting up will be situated in another town, so we’ll either have to hire more monster tamers or I’ll have to regularly travel between the two towns. My store needs someone who can manage the slimes, you see.” [Ryouma]
“How’s that a problem? Just get some from the tamer guild.” [Jeff]
“That’s one option, but apparently, slime specialists aren’t a thing. Slimes are considered beginner monsters and most people drop them for another as soon as they can. We also had an issue with some ruffians just a few days ago… Our store’s bouncers dealt with them, but because of that we really need to pick out our employees carefully.” [Ryouma]
As I said that, I bit into my skewered meat. The way the tingling hot taste brought out the taste of the meat made for a really delicious meal.
After hearing my problem, Jeff-san offered me a solution.
“I have an idea.” [Jeff]
“Really?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah! I can’t help with business stuff, but if it’s people you’re looking for, then I’m your man. If you can’t rely on the tamers guild, then just get someone from the slums. What do you think?” [Jeff]
“The slums?” [Ryouma]
“That’s right. The slum people may be poor, but that doesn’t mean they’re useless. Just look at me. I used to be from the slums, but I’m working as an adventurer, right now, ain’t I?
I know a couple of monster tamers that you might find useful.
Also, there are plenty of jobs available in this town, so while there are poor people, there are very few who’ve been driven so far that that they had to commit a crime. There are a lot of decent people in the slums. But more than anything else, their sense of camaraderie is strong.
Unless you do something like drive down their salary like those government guys did for the latrine pits, the slum people won’t betray you. After all, they also want a reliable source of income that isn’t too hard. So, if you’re looking, you can hire anytime. As for trust, well, that’s something you build.” [Jeff]
Is this what they mean by ‘the scales fell off from your eyes’? [1]
Apparently, the guild was more of an agency, so as long as you have a contact, then it doesn’t really matter. I can just look for my people on my own and then hire them through the tamer guild or the merchants guild.
Doesn’t seem like a bad idea. Reinbach-sama also hired the slum people to clean the latrine pits, so it’s not like they can’t be hired at all. There’s also a chance I might be able to find someone I can trust…
“Anyway, that’s one option to consider. If you feel like hiring someone, then I’ll help you look. My face still works around the slums, you know?” [Jeff]
“Thank you. I’ll consider it.” [Ryouma]
After that Jeff-san stood up and left.
I thanked him for the skewered meat, then I went to the abandoned mines.
[1] – Means to see the light or to see the truth.
I’ve already gotten used to using dimension magic, so I was there in the blink of an eye.
I was able to make 50 waterproof cloths last time, so this time, I’ll try and go for 70.
Once that’s done, I’ll go train.
The sticky, poison, acid, and scavenger slimes can fight, but it seems, the bloody slime doesn’t have any talent in fighting.
It’s body is a lot more liquid than normal, so its attacks have barely any effect. It doesn’t have any other ways to attack either. On the other hand, it is quite mobile, so it’s the fastest among the slimes, but I’m still not sure whether it would be good at fleeing or not. In any case, I’ll just have to observe it for now.
The metal and iron slimes are hard, but it hasn’t been long since I formed contracts with them, so they can’t move their bodies that well just yet. It’s still impossible for them to turn their bodies into tentacles. If they could do that, then I would have liked to experiment with combining their hardness, but it seems I’ll just have to wait until they’re able to control their body better.
The earth slime adn the dark slime have shown that they can indeed use magic.
The earth slime can use Rock and Break Rock. They can also use a weak spell that resembles earth needle.
The dark slime can use Darkness, a spell that makes the surrounding area darker. It can also use the Dark Ball spell, a spell that releases a ball of darkness.
I rarely use Dark Ball, but it’s supposedly a spell that steals one’s life force. It moves like any other slime, but if I train its magic, I might be able to turn it into a moving gun.
Live combat practice might be needed for it to use attack spells, so it’ll take some time.
I’ve already confirmed that the two earth slimes can use Break Rock, so I’ll go ahead and teach them Create Block.
I did just that, and the two earth slimes were able to learn the spell after just a few tries. I was surprised by how fast they were able to learn, but being fast just means less trouble for me, so that’s good. I’ll have the earth slimes make building stones as part of their training, then I’ll have the stones carried into one of the tunnels. I can probably use them for something later.
I let the dark slime practice on its own. It seemed to be practicing… Dark Ball?
…I don’t know much about dark magic either, so I guess we’ll both have to take our time learning it.
Like that I watched over the slimes and trained myself. It was quite fun.
On top of that, my condition was a lot better today than usual, so my training continued longer than it took for the cloths to dry.
When night came, I went back to the inn and dropped by the Jamil family’s room.
“Welcome, Ryouma-san.” [Elia]
“It’s good to see you.” [Reinbach]
“Did something happen?” [Reinhart]
“I wanted to consult you for something.” [Ryouma]
“Oh? For what?” [Reinhart[
I told them my conversation with Jeff-san, and they also thought it wasn’t a bad idea.
“I don’t mind if you hire the slum people if you think you can trust them. But, you have a trustworthy contact, so there shouldn’t be any problems there.” [Reinbach]
“The more jobs for them the better, so I have no complaints either. Just that it would be best if you hire them through the guild to minimize anything that might be used against you later.” [Reinhart]
“Alright, but I was thinking of having them register at whichever guild they preferred. So, either the merchants guild or the tamers guild. That’s okay, right?” [Ryouma]
“Of course. You may be a monster tamer, but you’re also registered at the merchants guild, so it’s up to you which to pick. No one will hold that against you.” [Elize]
“It might be best if you let both guild masters know beforehand. That should leave less room for issues.” [Sebasu]
Oh, yeah. Alright!
“I’ll drop by the guild tomorrow then.” [Ryouma]
After arriving at a conclusion, I drank black tea and chatted with the family for a while, then I went back to my room.
