Jigglypuff's Diary

The two responded by slightly nodding their heads.

“First, I’d like you both to introduce yourselves. Also, if there are any kind of conditions you wish to have in your contract, then please, do mention it. Let’s start with the man, first.” [Ryouma]

I first called out to the guy on the right. I’ll also have the girl talk later… but honestly there’s something quite concerning about these two. First, their attire. The clothes they’re wearing are quite different from what people generally wear. Those are the kind you’d see in a Chinese movie. And on top of that, that cane the guy is holding, and that girl’s hair ornament…

While I was observing the two, the man spoke.

“My name is Fei. And this is my daughter, Li Ling. We’d be glad if you could hire the both of us.” [Fei]

Wow! They even talk like the Chinese flicks! And to think that they’re actually father and daughter…

“You guys are relatives?” [Ryouma]
“She doesn’t look like me, right? It’s because she takes after her mother. Also, there’s something I need to tell you.” [Fei]

As he said that, he showed me his right leg. On that right leg, there was a brace affixed to it.

“I’m a merchant from a country called Gilmar. We ran away from the country because of the war. And ever since we got here, we’ve had nothing but bad luck as we had our money stolen time and time again.

Since we didn’t have any money at the start, I thought of making even a little by mining. But then the cave collapsed, and now my right leg’s broken. Unfortunately, I don’t have any money to get it healed with magic, so it’s going to take time to heal. Can I still be hired even with this injury?” [Fei]

A broken bone, huh? If I remember right, you can heal that with several casts of ‘High Heal’, or alternatively, one cast of a ‘Mega Heal’. I can’t use either, but my slime can. Though then again, even if I don’t heal him and have him work as a receptionist for the meantime, there won’t be any problem.

“You can work as a receptionist for the mean time, so there won’t be any problem in regards to your leg.” [Ryouma]
“Really?” [Fei]
“Working as a receptionist is also something admirable. As long as you are able to interact well with the customers, there won’t be any problems. As for the salary, is there anything you have in mind?” [Ryouma]
“None. As long as I can be compensated enough to live, then it’s fine.” [Fei]

“I see. Then, next, is the young miss… Li Ling-san, right? Is there anything you’re hoping for?” [Ryouma]
“I’m the same with my dad. The only thing I’m hoping for is to be able to work alongside my dad, and make enough to live on. Also, if you could introduce us somewhere cheap to stay, then we’d be grateful. The place we’re staying at right now is the guild’s temporary lodging. Once we find a job, we won’t be able to stay there anymore.” [Li Ling]

“Since I can’t get any job because of my leg, my daughter is doing some odd jobs to get us by. But with only that, we’re only able to barely hang on. Actually, we barely have anything left. So as long as it’s a place we can live at cheaply, then we won’t have any complaints.” [Fei]

Live-in, huh? Well the employee lodging house I made is free anyway. As for the salary, they did say it’s fine even if it’s cheap, so I guess the salary range I had already decided before will do just fine.

Besides, everyone else aside from these two had already left. And also, I do need some extra helping hands immediately, and the job at my store isn’t difficult either. I don’t think they’ll have any problems with the job.

Moreover, although these two seem to be hiding it, they’re actually quite strong. With that much strength, I can even have them work as guards for the store.

“In that case, there’re rooms for employees to stay at, at the second floor of the store. Would you be fine staying over there?” [Ryouma]
“Really!?” [Fei]

There’s still one more thing left though. Something I need to know no matter what.

Because I believe these two aren’t the type to make an honest living.

In this world there’s nothing unusual about being hired as a guard and killing a few. In fact, I myself have killed 30 bandits. But in these people’s case, the number isn’t something like that. It’s my first time feeling something like this. Is this what they mean when they say something reeks of blood? Forget Japan, ever since coming into this world, I’ve never felt anything like this.

… In the unlikely case where we end up fighting. If it’s just me, I might still be fine. But if I have to protect the guild master while fighting, then things might get a bit rough.

“There’s one last thing I want to know, but…. Before that, guild master.” [Ryouma]
“What?” [Grisela]
“My deepest apologies, but may I ask the guild master to leave the room for a moment? There’s something I need to discuss regarding the store.” [Ryouma]

I said it lightly, but honestly speaking, I want her to leave. I think I was able to get the message across, but…

“Why are you chasing me out? If there’s something up, then just say it.” [Grisela]

Looks like she ended up doing the opposite, and asked me about my motive instead.

“It concerns the store’s secret.” [Ryouma]

While not arousing suspicion from Fei and Li Ling, I try to get the guild master out.

But when I tried to do that, I noticed Fei-san move. I guess he noticed… I’m bad at talking secretly, so it would have been great if it worked. But, it’s not like I expected anything anyway… I guess it can’t be helped.

The tension in the room got worse.

“Guild master. It’s fine. It would appear the shopkeeper’s already noticed.” [Fei]

When he said that, I felt that something was off. What’s going on?

“Shopkeeper, exactly who are you? We may be former killers, but we have no ill will against you or the guild master.” [Fei]

It’s true that I didn’t feel any intent to fight… but did the guild master know about them?

“Guild master, you knew?” [Ryouma]

When I said that, the guild master breathed out a sigh, then said this.

“Of course I knew. I don’t know about others, but before I introduce someone to a job, especially those from other countries, I make sure to properly check them. After all, it’d be bad if I introduced a spy, right?

Don’t worry, these two really did desperately run away from their country. Still though, you did pretty well figuring them out.” [Grisela]

“We even went so far as to disguise ourselves as normal people…” [Li Ling]
“The only ones who’ve managed to figure us out until now are you two. Since you were able to figure us out, you’re definitely not normal. It’s quite curious.” [Fei]
“I don’t have the same insight the guild master possesses, but I’ve been studying martial arts for a long time. Because of that I can tell whether someone is strong or weak. Also…” [Ryouma]
“Also?” [Fei]

“I was quite concerned about the hidden weapons you have with you.” [Ryouma]
“Fei! Li Ling! You two actually brought something like that!?” [Grisela]
“Aiya… you noticed even that?” [Li Ling]
“It’s because a long time ago, things regarding hidden weapons were driven into me, plenty. In this world the scariest living things are humans. They use their heads, trick people, and make others let their guard down. And the instrument used to follow that through are hidden weapons. So in order to protect myself, I studied them.” [Ryouma]

This is something related to my father. But now that I think about it, it is something nostalgic.

“I was hit by those plenty. During a disagreement in the house for one, or during my day-to-day life for another.” [Ryouma]
“Exactly how have you been living until now?” [Grisela]
“You don’t seem to be someone like us though. You’re aura is different.” [Li Ling]
“You’re close, but you’re not. Your aura is like that of someone who only learned the techniques without using them.” [Fei]

They can actually understand my aura to that extent? They’re amazing… these guys.

“True, I did learn a lot of techniques meant for actual combat from my master. However, I was only taught how to use it, and was forbidden from actually using it. I’ve only started using my abilities 3 years ago. And my opponents were nothing but bandits.” [Ryouma]

“It’s the difference in age. We killed bandits who disobeyed the law and traitors back in our country. There was plenty of fighting back in our country and the public order was bad. If we didn’t kill, we wouldn’t have been able to protect ourselves. What we told you a while ago wasn’t a lie. We’re your usual hardworking merchants.” [Fei]

“The master we were serving lost in the war, and our country as well as our work lost its meaning. And then, we came to this country. We haven’t done any job worth boasting. But even then, will you still employ us?” [Li Ling]
“The guild master acknowledges you guys, so it’s fine as long as you guys work normally.” [Ryouma]

I won’t lose out on anything as long as they work. And besides, I don’t have any intention of pursing matters of the past.

“Really? I didn’t think you’d actually hire us even after finding out.” [Fei]
“We even prepared to run away.” [Li Ling]
“Please don’t, if you do, it’ll be troublesome. I’m in need of hands right now… and besides, what’s important is the ‘now’, so I don’t have any problem with your past. Please do come and work for me at my store. Also, would it be alright if I also ask you to work as bodyguards when needed?” [Ryouma]

I doubt there’d be any problem when even the guild master left them alone, despite knowing their situation. After all, the guild master’s insight is greater than mine.

In fact, I feel like she can actually see through the fact that I’m actually a 40 year old uncle… I do hope it’s just my imagination.

“Don’t worry, I’ll work properly” [Fei]
“Just leave the bodyguard duty to me.” [Li Ling]
“Then, I’ll officially hire you two. It’ll be a pleasure working with you two from now on.” [Ryouma]

We all bowed our heads. Afterwards, the guild master spoke.

“You done? If so, then go. I’ve already had a carriage prepared.” [Grisela]
“Thank you very much, guild master.” [Ryouma]
“It’s fine, don’t’ mind something like this. Fei, Li Ling, do a good job, ok? After all, this kid’s store has a bright future ahead of it. And next time, don’t bring hidden weapons with you!” [Grisela]
“If I don’t bring them with me, I won’t be able to calm down.” [Fei & Li Ling]
“How long are you planning to act like assassins!? Aren’t you guys, merchants right now!? … Although they’re like this, they’re not bad people. They won’t commit any crimes. Please take care of them.” [Grisela]
“Understood.” [Ryouma]

“Take this with you too. It’s their resume. Show it to those two from Serge’s, ok?” [Grisela]
“Right… wait a moment, shouldn’t you have given this to me right from the start?” [Ryouma]
“Hee hee hee, I wanted to see how good your eyes were. Everyone else pretty much left, but these two are the prized catch. They can get the job done. Also your insight isn’t bad. It’s not a merchant’s insight though. Well, do your best, ok?” [Grisela]
‘Thank you very much.” [Ryouma]

I left the guild with Fei-san and Li Ling-san, and rode back to the store, on the carriage the guild master had prepared.

When we got back to the store, we were greeted by a huge crowd of customers and two busy twins.

“Welcome home, boss!” [Karma & Karla]
“There’s so many…” [Li Ling]
“This is your store? It’s quite popular, huh?” [Fei]
“I’m going. Karma-san, Karla-san, please receive the customers.” [Ryouma]
“Boss, I’ll work too. If it’s carrying stuff, I can do it.” [Li Ling]
“Me too, if it’s laundry then I can also carry some.” [Fei]

They offered to help, themselves, so I didn’t hold back and took their offer. Fei-san appears to specialize at reception, but it seems he can also work to some extent.

At any rate, like this, we’ll be able to get through the evening rush.

… After a long struggle, we finally managed to reach the store’s closing hour. We put up a note saying we’re closed, and then closed the door.

“Fuu… Good job today, everyone!” [Ryouma]
“Thank you for your efforts!” [Everyone else]
“Ryouma-sama, these two are the new hires, right?” [Karla]
“Yes, the man is Fei-san, and the woman is Li Ling.” [Ryouma]
“I’m Fei. My pleasure to work with you.” [Fei]
“Li Ling, nice to meet you.” [Li Ling]
“I am Karma Norad.” [Karma]
“I am Karla Norad. It’s our pleasure as well.” [Karla]
“I actually planned to have them start tomorrow, but they somehow ended up working today.” [Ryouma]
“But of course. After all, you’re allowing us to work here as live-ins.” [Fei]
“It’s only a given for us to help out when it’s busy, right? But that aside, there’s something I wanted to ask.” [Li Ling]
“What is it?” [Ryouma]

“We’ve been carrying laundry, but when does it get washed? We just take the laundry, then toss it into the next room. Afterwards, we just get it back from the slimes.” [Li Ling]
“Now that you mention it, I haven’t explained to you how the store works, have I?” [Ryouma]

I took out a cleaner slime and a goblin’s loin cloth, and presented my usual explanation. When I did so, the two understood the reason why the guild master mentioned that my store had a good future. And after I finally told them, that today was the store’s first day, they were shocked.

For so many people to come on the first day… in my previous life, this much would be on the level of a pachinko parlor, huh? Anyway, it seems that in this world, a store being this popular on the first day is extremely rare. Is it because they don’t advertise?

Well whatever, I’ve finally completed the first stage of the store. I guess, I‘ll go heal Fei-san’s leg now.

I called Fei-san and Li Ling-san over to the employee lounge. I had them sit there, and told them to wait, while I went out to get the heal slimes. When I came back I had two heal slimes with me.

When I told them that the heal slimes were going to use ‘High Heal’ to heal Fei-san, they were shocked. But nevertheless they gave their thanks for being able to receive treatment.

After the heal slimes healed Fei-san, his leg was fully healed. It took 6 times all in all, with each slime healing 3 times because it was a bone fracture, but the slimes still managed to heal him with ‘High Heal’.

“You saved me. I am truly grateful.” [Fei]
“It costs a lot of money to be healed by magic, you know? Is it really ok to receive it for free?” [Li Ling]
“It’s fine. After all, it’s the boss’ responsibility to make sure that his employees are able to work comfortably. Also, the slimes did it, so it didn’t cost me anything. Like this, I think it’s fine to give it for free.” [Ryouma]

Looks like there’s someone in the town who can heal with healing magic, but because of the skill and magic power required, the cost is quite high.

So since it would have been expensive to receive healing magic, Fei-san decided to work at the guild, doing odd jobs, while waiting for his body to heal without relying on magic.

“It would have been great if we were able to bring more money with us, but when we were running away, we ended up using our money as bribe to cross the border.” [Fei]
“Is that why you have no money?” [Ryouma]

“The guards of our country are greedy. It doesn’t matter whether its crime or running away. As long as you bring out money, they’ll look the other way like it’s perfectly normal. But if you don’t have any, they’ll catch you and bring you back to get some reward.

That’s why we couldn’t afford to be stingy. If we did, and the reward for us was higher. Then they’ll just arrest us instead.” [Fei]

“The jobs we did were for the country… so if our identities were leaked out, the reward for us would end up higher than normal people. But there are also doubtful people who catch normal people and interrogate them. The people running away from our country usually use up their money there. After all, there’s no point in being stingy when it comes to your life.” [Li Ling]

That ‘Gilmar’ country sounds dangerous… And she also mentioned that there’s plenty of fighting. Is the country crumbling?

After we talked a bit, I assigned Fei-san and Li Ling-san their own rooms. Then, I had them put their belongings in order.

After that I went to check today’s profit from Karm-san. Today we got a total of 791 copper coin and 8 small copper coins, totaling to 7918 suits. The 18 suits came from Poline-san, who went for the option targeted at groups with more than 7 people. But as for the others, they came here to try out the store and had only bought the individual bags. They looked happy after trying out the store, so I guess they’ll end up becoming regular customers.

As for Karma-san and Karla-san, they too were surprised by the store’s popularity and were shocked to see the profit for the day. After I asked them about it, it turns out that amongst stores without nobles for its customers, a medium sized store would make 4000 suits in a day.

Even if you deduct the expenses from the profit, the earning for today’s opening day still trumps it. Seeing that, they couldn’t help but be shocked.

“This is amazing!” [Karma]
“If it’s like this, then very soon, the store will be able to make profits comparable to a large store without noble customers!” [Karla]
“How much does that kind of store make?” [Ryouma]
“20,000 suits. As a rule, anything more than that won’t be mentioned. If one has nobles as a customer, then one’s profit will greatly increase. Although it’s quite expensive, if one is able to sell luxurious goods, then it’s possible to make a lot.” [Karla]
“Well in my case, I’ve got nothing to do with nobles, but if I’m able to make 2.5 times today’s income, then it should be possible to be on the same level as a large store.” [Ryouma]

“We made this much today, so it should be possible to reach that goal within a month. We also still haven’t received the portion from the guild. If we include them, our customers will greatly increase.” [Karla]
“Perhaps, there might even be a day where our profit for a day will reach 1 medium gold coin.” [Karma]
“Ha ha ha, no way.” [Ryouma]

When you say 1 medium gold coin, that’s 50,000 suits. There’s no way that could possibly happen.

“It’s possible.” [Karma & Karla]

Eh, really?

“This town is a mining town. Because of that, there are plenty of miners and people who deal with iron. Although, the number has decreased substantially because of a big mine being abandoned, there’re still at least 10,000 people, you know?” [Karma]
“Moreover, people won’t come and buy just one bag. While I think it may be difficult to continuously go over a medium gold coin, it should be possible in cases where the adventurer’s guild has just finished a big request.” [Karla]
“I see…” [Ryouma]

It might be possible once.

“Also, if Ryouma-sama were to create another branch in a different town, it wouldn’t be hard to go beyond a medium gold coin every day.” [Karma]
“We’re already talking about branch stores? That’s quick.” [Ryouma]
“That may be so, but it’s not wrong to think ahead.” [Karma]
“As long as you have some able and trustworthy hands, then you should consider it.” [Karla]

Certainly, even though today’s the first day, we made quite a profit. I’ll take note of it. But for now I think I should look at the present.

“Ah, I forgot about it, but here. It’s the resume of the two I’d just hired.” [Ryouma]
“We’ll examine it.” [Karma & Karla]

The twins began to read the resume I handed to them.

“Although they said that they’re ok with a low salary, please pay them 150 suits daily.” [Ryouma]

I did also ask them to double as bodyguards. So it should be fine to give them the highest pay of my anticipated price range.

“Understood.” [Karma & Karla]

After that, I bid goodbye to the four, and then went back to the lodging.

When I got back, I reported the earnings for the first day to Rheinhart-san and the others. When I did so, they were shocked.

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. 

Wereanna – Dog Tribe
Miya – Cat Tribe
Syria – Rabbit Tribe
Mizelia – Tiger Tribe
Asagi – Dragon Newt

Jija = Ginger (in their world)

Also name change. Sorry about this, but when I looked at it again, I realized just how horrible it looked like in English.

Aro-ne to Araune. (For those wondering a long dash in between words in Japanese, means a longer sound.)

Volume 2 Chapter 11

Ryouma brought everyone deep into the store.

“This area is specifically for employee use and customers are prohibited from entering. You can find the reception office, the office, the locker room, the employee lounge, and the toilet, here. There’s also the office kitchenette which will allow the workers to be able to prepare things like tea.” [Ryouma]
“Mind if we take a look?” [Wereanna]
“Please go ahead.” [Ryouma]

When Ryouma saw everyone looking around, he was reminded of the tourist bus tours in his previous life.

After a while, Ryouma brought everyone to the employee lounge. Then he went off to the kitchen to prepare the food while everyone else waited in the employee lounge.

Having been made to wait by Ryouma. The people chatted idly to pass time while feeling a little nervous. However, after around 10 minutes had passed, all of the sudden Wereanna became fidgety.

“Hey, Wereanna. What’s the matter?” [Jeff]
“Sorry, I’m just a bit bothered by something. Something from somewhere… smells really delicious. I think it’s probably Ryouma’s cooking.” [Wereanna]

When the people in the room heard that, they all tried to smell it. But the only ones who were able to smell it aside from Wereanna, were the 3 other beastmen and the dragon newt, Asagi.

“Nya!? Now that you mention it, it really does smell delicious, nya!” [Miya]
“It’s true…” [Syria]
“Really? I can’t tell though.” [Pioro]
“It’s probably too thin for human noses to smell. So unless you’re of a beastmen tribe, you probably won’t be able to smell it.” [Mizelia]
“No, I can also smell it, de gozaru. Is this meat? Or perhaps a fragrant bread? Well, whatever it is, it certainly smells delicious, de gozaru.” [Asagi]
“Speaking of which, Ryouma-kun’s cooking was really delicious.” [Rheinhart]
“Is that true, Rheinhart-sama?” [Serge]
“Yes, even though he only used a few ingredients, it was something to be remembered. That rabbit meat sauté with the root of jija was so delicious.” [Rheinhart]
“Despite being at that age, Ryouma-sama is already in possession of level 10 domestic chores. Thanks to that, I believe we can expect something good.” [Sebasu]
“By that age, you mean 10 years old, right? He’s really something. Regardless of how easy it is to level up that skill, there really aren’t many who can before the age of 40.” [Wereanna]

After that, five more minutes passed, then Ryouma came back.

“Sorry for waiting. The meal has been prepared.” [Ryouma]
“I’ve been waiting for this, nya!” [Miya]
“You’re slow! You made it smell good and then even made us wait, don’t you know how hard that is for us?” [Wereanna]
“Eh, you smelled it? But I put up an anti-odor barrier… did it get cancelled half way through?” [Ryouma]
“Who cares about that stuff? Hurry, give us some food.” [Wereanna]
“Understood.” [Ryouma]
“We’ll help out.” [Sebasu, Lilian, Araune]

Ryouma gave his thanks, and then took Sebasu, Lilian, and Araune to the kitchenette to carry the meals. As for the drinks, Ryouma ordered the slimes to carry them.

Seeing the slimes act like this, the five members of the merchant guild who didn’t know about Ryouma’s peculiar slimes were shocked. The others, then explained to them to calm them down.

All the while, the food and the drinks were brought in one after another. And when the food had finally been distributed to everyone, Ryouma lead everyone to make a toast.

“Today I’ve called everyone here to celebrate the store’s completion. Thank you for being with me here today. It’s nothing special, but I’ve prepared for you all a hearty meal. Please, enjoy it to your heart’s content. Cheers!” [Ryouma]
“Cheers!” [Everyone]

As everyone said ‘cheers’ out loud, they drank the wine inside their respective glasses. When they did so, Gordon suddenly cheered out loud.

“This wine… isn’t this some high class stuff!?” [Gordon]
“It’s for a celebration after all, so I decided to splurge a bit.” [Ryouma]
“What kind of wine is this?” [Gordon]
“According to the shopkeeper of the wine store, it’s called the Spring of Jamis.” [Ryouma]

When Gordon heard that, he laughed as he looked at the glass in his hands.

“The Spring of Jamis!? I heard it was good, but I’ve never had the opportunity to drink it!” [Gordon]
“Really?” [Ryouma]
“You bought it without knowing? The spring of Jamis is well known amongst wine lovers.” [Gordon]
“Oh, I didn’t know that at all. I just bought it because the shopkeeper recommended it.” [Ryouma]
“You’re luck’s really good. The Spring of Jamis may be cheap price-wise, but because a lot of aficionados want to get their hands on it, it gets sold out pretty quickly, making it hard to get one.” [Gordon]
“I see, my luck, huh? …Ah!” [Ryouma]
“What’s the matter?” [Gordon]
“No, I just realized the reason why I was able to get that wine.” [Ryouma]
“The reason?” [Gordon]
“Yes. Most likely it’s because I have the divine protection of the God of Wine, Tekun, that I was able to buy this wine.” [Ryouma]
“What did you say!? Is that true!?” [Gordon]
“Boy, is that true!?” [Pioro]

When the people there heard that, Pioro and Gordon responded quite strongly.

“Y-yeah. It’s true, is there something…?” [Ryouma]
“I’m envious…” [Gordon]
“I’m envious~, I’m so, so, sooooo envious~” [Pioro]
“Tekun-sama’s divine protection is an enviable thing amongst dwarves. Especially the God of Wine’s protection.” [Gordon]
“Is it better to receive the God of Wine’s divine protection, rather than the God of Craft’s?” [Ryouma]
“Well that’s because I’m an adventurer. Being an adventurer it’s only natural for one’s smithing to improve. Moreover, a guy who relies on a divine protection to make things is a failure as a blacksmith. One should train their own abilities with their own strength.

But contrary to that, any dwarf would want to drink delicious wine. That’s why every dwarf wants Tekun-sama’s God of Wine protection. Having the opportunity to drink delicious wine isn’t something you can help with your own efforts, but Tekun-sama’s God of Wine divine protection can.” [Gordon]

Hearing that, Ryouma understood. Afterwards, he asked Pioro.

“Alright, I think I can understand Gordon-san, but Pioro-san? Do you also like wine?” [Ryouma]
“While I don’t hate wine, I’m more jealous as a merchant. I wasn’t able to tell this to you before, but as a merchant I deal mostly with food commodities. Because of that, I’m envious that you can get good wine easily.” [Pioro]
“So that’s how it is.” [Ryouma]

While we talked like that, Wereanna called out to me.

“Ryouma.” [Wereanna]
“What is it?” [Ryouma]
“Seconds.” [Wereanna]
“That’s fast! You ate it all, already!?” [Ryouma]
“Ryouma, me too.” [Jeff]   
“Me too.” [Hyuzu]
“Me too.” [Wogan]
“Even Jeff-san, Hyuzu-san, and guild mas… Wogan-san? You all eat fast, huh?” [Ryouma]

“It’s because Ryouma’s cooking is so delicious. It’s my first time eating something like this.” [Wereanna]
“Really? Being told that make me somewhat happy for making it, but…” [Ryouma]
“I’m also of the same opinion as that child’s. Ryouma, what do you call this pasta?” [Grisela]
“It’s called Meat Sauce Spaghetti.” [Ryouma]
“Meat Sauce Spaghetti, huh? It’s delicious. Because of my age, my jaws have gotten weaker and I’m no longer able to bite meat well. So I’ve ended up unable to eat delicious food. But this spaghetti’s meat is easy to eat as the meat of this steak is so soft. To be able to eat meat in a long while again, I’m really happy to have come here.” [Grisela]
“I’m happy that you like it. Please eat as much as you want.” [Ryouma]

As Ryouma said that, he prepared the second helping for three people. But just as he had come back with the three’s second helping, Mizelia, Miya, Rheinhart, and Asagi all finished up theirs and asked for seconds.

“I’ve also prepared some desert, so please do leave some room for that.” [Ryouma]

But even after saying that, they didn’t stop at all and everyone asked for more than one refill. Wereanna and Jeff has even asked for seconds 4 times, causing Ryouma to tilt his head as he wondered where they put all that.

After the main meal, Ryouma brought out sliced apple pie, with some black tea to complement it. When they saw that, the people were speechless.

It’s because this was something delicious made with the luxurious honey. This fact shocked everyone. And when they ate it, they were touched. Especially the women, who found themselves on cloud nine.

When the meal ended, Ryouma brought out another serving of black tea. As they all took a short rest from the splendorous meal they’d just eaten, Miya said this.

“Fuha… I ate to my fill, nya. I’m so happy I came, nya.” [Miya]
“I’m happy to see that you’ve enjoyed yourselves. Still you all ate quite a lot, huh? Especially, Jeff-san. Exactly where do you put all that?” [Ryouma]
“Huh? As long as I want to eat, I can eat. Because I have the ‘Eat All You Can’ skill.” [Jeff]
“‘Eat All You Can’?” [Ryouma]

“You don’t know about it? Well it is an unusual skill. With the ‘Eat All You Can’ skill, the amount you can eat will increase greatly once. Because of that you’ll be fine even if you don’t eat anything for a few days after that. I have it because I used to be from the slums and when I became an adventurer and began to make some money, I mostly spent my money on food. Because of that I ended up acquiring the skill.” [Jeff]
“Jeff used that ability along with the resistance skills he got from living in the slums, to take requests that would have been harsh to a normal adventurer, one after another. Because of that he ended famous, nya.” [Miya]
“Jeff-san, you’re amazing.” [Ryouma]

“I just chose a bunch of profitable jobs. There’s nothing amazing in particular about it. Besides, if you try, you can also do the things that I do, right? After all, you even have resistance skills that I don’t have. If you want we can try taking on a request together. Although it’s not really possible unless you raise your rank a little bit first.” [Jeff]
“Then when that time comes, please take care of me.” [Ryouma]

“I’d be grateful too, on behalf of the guild, if you were to take a job with Jeff. Jeff has resist skills, so while that’s a good thing, it also means that he works at a different pace compared to others.

Which is why he always works solo. But amongst the requests, there are also requests that you can’t take alone. He hasn’t been able to take those requests at all.” [Wogan]
“Like what kind of request?” [Ryouma]
“For example, this may be a rank C mission, but in this request you have to dig out some flame crystals from a volcano. Unless you have the foul odor resistance skill, this mission is quite tough. You have to endure the long time it takes to go to and fro the mine, and the long hours of work. And then on top of all that, you still have to be exposed to the rotting egg like smell of the volcano. Moreover, there’s also the light poison that’s present in the entire volcano. Depending on the place, there are people who have died.” [Wogan]

“By light poison… do you mean the kind which causes your eyes to swell and tear up, while in places where the exposure is strong, it causes one to have a harder time breathing?” [Ryouma]
“Yes, that, that. Seriously, you’re really well informed, huh?” [Wogan]
“I’ve heard a little about it.” [Ryouma]
“Well there’s no harm in knowing, in fact, having that knowledge is quite advantageous to an adventurer. Do you know of a way to cope with it? Like an antidote for it or something?” [Wogan]

Even if he tells Ryouma that, because this world doesn’t have any knowledge of such a medicine, and because it’s not possible to create the medicine from Earth here, Ryouma wasn’t able to give him anything.

“Unfortunately, I don’t know of any medicine to deal with the poison in the volcano. What I do know is that the poison is from the volcano’s smoke and from the air jetted out from underground. It may be possible to defend oneself from the poison as long as one covers his surrounding with wind magic.” [Ryouma]
“Just knowing that is more than enough. Still, your grandma who taught you medicine and poison must have been an expert, huh? Even though I’ve been a guild master for a long time, you’ve been surprising me one after another when it comes to poison and diseases.” [Wogan]

When Wogan said that, Ryouma was a little surprised. But he just laughed and agreed, as he let it pass.

After that, Ryouma remembered something and went to talk to Karma and Karla.

“Right, Karma-san, Karla-san.” [Ryouma]
“What is it?” [Karma & Karla]
“I’m grateful that you’ve worked for me so much, but is it really ok? I’ve mentioned it before, but you won’t be able to show your abilities in a work place like this.” [Ryouma]
“Please allow us to work for you.” [Karma]
“It’s true that we won’t be able to put to use our haggling skills, and the accounting is also taken care of easily by the tool Ryouma-sama made. But even then we would still like to work here and learn from Ryouma-sama’s innovative business practices.” [Karla]

When they said that, Ryouma thought that they were really similar to Serge-san.

“I understand. It’s reassuring to have someone with plenty of experience work for me, so I have no problems with it. It’ll be a pleasure to work with you from now on.” [Ryouma]
“Please take care of us!” [Karla & Karma]

Replied the two with a smile that covered their entire face. And paying attention to that, was Serge who seemed to be fully satisfied. While all that was taking place though, Wogan secretly asked Grisela something.

“Hey, shitty old hag.” [Wogan]
“What? Scatterbrain.” [Grisela]
“Is Ryouma’s store that profitable? I know it’s a strange store, but…” [Wogan]
“It is. Only, I don’t know to what extent.” [Grisela]

When Wogan heard that, he knit his eyebrows.

“Did the shitty old hag, give him advice?” [Wogan]
“I didn’t give him anything. That kid thought it all up by himself. Besides it’s not something a normal merchant could come up with, and it’s also not something realistic.

That kid is smart, but he doesn’t have that certain inclination to money that every merchant should have. It’s probably because he’s a kid like that, that he was able to think this up. There’s no way a normal merchant would think up a method where he’d give a discount every day and go through all the trouble to reduce his own income himself.

But even if someone were to think of it. Because of the expenses in hiring employees and the results required of a shop like that, it wouldn’t go well. But that kid has those cleaner slimes of his. With that, there’s no reason for his store not to flourish. Really, that kid is quite something.

But that aside, you too need to be careful. While I can provide protection for that kid as a merchant, I can’t protect him from greedy merchants who are indiscriminate in their ways and choose to use violence.” [Grisela]
“I know. Though I do think that if it’s him, it won’t be needed.” [Wogan]
“What?” [Grisela]

“That guy, just a while ago, had a dispute with the members of the Fang of Orbtem.” [Wogan]
“If I’m not mistaken, that’s the adventurer group with 40 hoodlums.” [Grisela]
“Yeah, and during a request, they had a little dispute. What do you think happened?” [Wogan]
“It would have been great if he was able to beat them, but his opponents weren’t limited to just 2 or 3 people, you know? You wouldn’t actually say he beat up all 40 of them, would you?” [Grisela]
“Bingo.” [Wogan]
“… Are you serious?” [Grisela]
“Yeah, Ryouma took on 6 members plus the head, Sacchi, all by himself. While his slimes took on 34 of the members. It was completely one sided. There’s no problem with Ryouma’s abilities. But on top of that, his slimes are numerous. And speaking of which, that guy’s slimes are quite dangerous, you know?” [Wogan]
“… But even then, be careful.” [Grisela]
“… I know that.” [Wogan]

Those two talked like that in a corner of the room without Ryouma noticing. During that time Ryouma fully enjoyed himself with the friends he didn’t have in his previous life.

When everyone was about to leave as the celebration came to a close, Ryouma was told not to push himself too hard.

After that, Ryouma cleaned up after the banquet, left the store, and then took one good look at the store he had just made. Then as he tasted an unspeakable sense of fulfillment that he didn’t have in his previous life, he went back to his lodging. 

As their face met, Wogan couldn’t help but flinch. After he was able to get himself together, he talked to Ryouma.

“Ah, whatever. Ryouma, how does this laundry agency of yours work?” [Wogan]
“Right, currently… Ah, since Karma-san and Karla-san are here as well, I guess I might as well take this opportunity to explain how things work. Then, please come with me. Serge-san and the others, as well.” [Ryouma]

As Ryouma opened a part of the counter, he urged the other five to enter. The five people agreed, and entered with Ryouma.

“First, the customers need to buy one of the bags specially tailored to them. Bags tailored for individuals go for 20 suits a bag. This bag will be used whenever the customer comes to the store, so after purchasing one of these bags once, there won’t be any need to buy again when that customer comes the second time.” [Ryouma]
“Then in that case I’ll take one. I should stuff this bag with my laundry, right?” [Wogan]
“Yes, also, since today is simply a rehearsal for the real thing, today’s request will be free of charge. The bag, as well. So please take it and come again.” [Ryouma]

“Thanks.” [Wogan]
“Next is Karma-san and Karla-san. When a customer comes and pays, please insert the plank corresponding to the price paid into this pole by the counter’s right side.”

Ryouma took out a variety of thin and assorted colored plates from the counter and showed it to them. At the same time he also showed them the pole near the counter where the plates fit and the plate holder.

“What is that?”  [Karma]
“It’s a tool for calculating income. The price in this store has already been decided by the size of the bags, as opposed to the pricing of other stores which is always changing. Moreover there are no prices other than 1 medium copper coin, 1 medium copper coin and 8 small copper coins, and 4 medium copper coins.

For every piece of medium coper coin you receive, please place one black plate into the plate holder for the black plate. This plate holder has a gradation and can take up to a hundred. Whenever it reaches 100 plates, please write a 1 on the paper underneath the plate holder, and then please put all the plates back into the shelf below the counter. Once a day after starting work, you can calculate the income of the store with this.

For example, when you fill up the black plate holder 3 times, and then after having removed the plates inside 3 times. If inside the plate holder 42 still remained, then in that case the earnings for the individual option becomes 342 medium copper coins or 3420 suits.

Seven types have been prepared all in all including the 3 options with the differing bag sizes, the 3 differing laundry prices, and the full body wash service aimed at adventurer’s armors and weapons. So if you check the plates respectively after starting work and adding them, you can calculate the profits.” [Ryouma]

After Ryouma said that he went back to talking to Wogan, but Karla, Karma, Serge, Pioro, and Grisela were all rooted on the spot as they stared at that tool after hearing Ryouma’s explanation.

Ryouma made this tool after remembering how easy it was to calculate the profits at the conveyor belt sushi (Kaiten-zushi) he worked at in his previous life. In that sushi shop, they divided the prices with different colored plates. Then they calculated the prices based on how many plates of a color were there.

Although it was something Ryouma made on a whim, to this world it wasn’t a trifling matter.

The so called arithmetic of this world, despite only really involving the four basic operations, is something that many people are incapable of. People are able to deal with small numbers they use in their day-to-day lives, but when it comes to big numbers such as the tally of the day’s profits, then even merchants find themselves struggling with the calculation.

One reason behind this are the lack of cash registers and calculators. Because of that, there’s no other way to calculate other than to look at the accounting book, check the number of times something was sold, and then add them one by one. Naturally, this takes a lot of time.

However with the tool that Ryouma had just made, even without the discount, it’s possible to easily calculate the earnings for the day. You could say that to this world it’s an exceptional tool to save time.

The price Ryouma is asking for is already so cheap to the people of this world that no one would dare to ask for a discount. With a price like that, no one would complain. But even if there was, they would simply be turned down. Ryouma has no intents of entertaining any further discounts than what he’s already set.

But not only is Ryouma’s store cheap, but its speed at calculating compared to other stores is also overwhelmingly fast, allowing the transactions to end easily. When the five people noticed that, their eyes became sharp. But Ryouma didn’t notice that as he continued to indifferently talk.

“After receiving the payment, please take the bag with the laundry and attach this label, which has been prepared ahead of time and can be taken from the shelf below the counter, to the bag’s lace. When giving the bag to the customer, please confirm the labels to make sure that the label of the customer and the label of the laundry matches.” [Ryouma]

The two plates that Ryouma brought out to attach to the lace is what you’d call an identifier. By attaching this, the store can prevent people from mistakenly taking the wrong bag.

After Ryouma explained that to them, he took the baggage and tossed it into a disposable chute like hole installed on the wall behind the counter.

“The cleaner slimes I’d talked about before are in the next room. I’ve already ordered the cleaner slimes to immediately clean and carry to the next room whatever is thrown into the chute. Like this anything thrown into the chute will automatically be cleaned and then brought to the place designated for the laundries.

Afterwards, all that’s left is picking it up, cross-checking the labels, and then giving it back to the customer. This is how the store will operate from now on. How is it? Are there any questions?” [Ryouma]
“No questions.” [Karma & Karla]
“Then please divide the labor among yourselves, then try to serve the customers.” [Ryouma]

As Ryouma said that, he also urged Karma and Karla to come to the counter. After which, they then took 10 people’s laundries, tossed it into the cleaner slime room, retrieved it, then gave it back to the customers.

If it this was one of the laundromats in Earth, they’d also iron the clothes after washing, but the laundry agency that Ryouma built was made specifically only for cleaning.

All the cleaning were left up to the cleaner slimes. And the cleaner slimes would either go inside the bag or put everything including the bag inside their body, then wash it. Because of this, they were also able to prevent losing laundry. After all, without even taking out a single piece of clothing and finishing the laundry in just one room, it’s only natural that nothing would go missing.

As for providing services other than cleaning, at most there’s only folding the clothes in this world. If that kind of service is desired, then Ryouma could just have someone do it, or do it himself. Or alternatively, hire the people who do their laundries themselves and wouldn’t use Ryouma’s store

“Looks like it’s going fine. Do you have any questions?” [Ryouma]
“Has this really become clean?” [Karma]
“We’re not really seeing the kind of results we’d heard from Serge-sama.” [Karla]

Because the twins said that, Ryouma had them open the laundry they got from Jeff and had them use ‘Identify’ on it. Having understood that the clothes were clean, they felt admiration for the cleaner slime’s ability. They had heard that the clothes from Jeff were covered in monster blood, so they were quite surprised when they found out there wasn’t even a trace of it on the laundry.

After that, Ryouma distributed the bags targeted to individuals to the 11 for free as a service. And because Wogan announced that he will be taking the group laundry option with the staff, Ryouma passed them a giant bag that could take 35 people’s worth of laundry along with 35 individual bags for free.

When they saw that, they couldn’t help but wonder why the individual bags were also given. At that question Ryouma replied,

“It’s a hassle to have your clothes mix up with others’, right? Moreover, I think that the female clients wouldn’t want their clothes and underwear to be seen by others, especially by other men. So as a subdivision, I’ve also included the individual bags. Like this, the laundry won’t be seen by the male staff.” [Ryouma]

At those words, everyone agreed, especially the women. Hearing this, Meilin promised to recommend the store to the other female staff in the guild.

Actually, Wogan did mention about Ryouma’s laundromat to the other female staff, but precisely because of the reason Ryouma had mentioned just now, they declined.

While they were talking like that, the household of the duke arrived. For even the duke’s family, themselves, to come. Naturally, the people were in a slight uproar. And so, all 23 of them were brought into one of the rooms of the store.

Though this may be off topic, because Ryouma had no surviving relatives in his past life, he had no experience in these kind of gatherings. Because of that, it was only when they came here that Ryouma noticed that he had just called the duke’s family whose social position has no relation to his, for a private matter. Thereby perpetuating an unthinkable act showing an obvious lack of common sense.

Normally, it shouldn’t be possible to call the guild masters of the adventurer’s guild and the merchant’s guild. Ryouma planned this event with gratitude to his benefactors in mind, as well as his aspiration to have some sort of social disposition. But when he saw what was happening, he realized how hasty he was and decided that he will secretly reflect after this. 

Also no chapter tomorrow just as I mentioned yesterday, I have some errands to run.

Volume 2 Chapter 10 Part 1

Day 12

Since morning, Ryouma had been strenuously working to prepare for the store and the party.

At a time right before noon, a carriage was heading towards Ryouma’s store. Inside this carriage were five people.

They were the members of the merchant guild, Grisela, Pioro, and Serge. And along with this three members, Serge also brought his subordinates, Karma Norad and Karla Norad.

These two, Karma and Karla, are twins. Today, Serge brought them for the purpose of introducing them to Ryouma as his future assistants. But what Serge doesn’t know is that these two are actually stressed out and anxious over what’s to come.

Although these two twins are young, they’ve been picked up by Serge and have been serving him as his right-hand men for a long time.

This kind of people, who could be said to be experts, have been ordered to go to Ryouma’s store to help him out as his assistants. But while it may be true that these two are happy that they are being trusted with work, at the same time they can’t help but feel worried when the store that they have been told to go to is a laundromat whose future prospects for profit normally aren’t bright. On top of that, they aren’t being told to handle the store. They are being told to support the manager who happens to be an 11 year old kid.

When you think about it, it’s only natural for an 11 year old kid to need assistance in managing a store. There’s no way that an 11 year old could possibly handle a store by himself. The life of a merchant isn’t that easy.

Actually, in order for Serge to get the trust of these two, he informed them of Ryouma’s close relationship with the duke. But it was because of that, that these two misunderstood and has assumed that Ryouma opened the store as a noble child’s toy.

Amongst the children of the nobles who received educations as nobles, there are some amongst them who consider the lives of the commoners to be easy and wish to imitate it. And then amongst those, there are those who are spoiled by their parents and are able to use money as if it were water and are able to use that money to play commoner.

Naturally the businesses of those pretend commoners see little success. Even if one were to provide them with an exceptional assistant the business will most likely fail. To begin with the gap between the sense of values of a noble and a commoner is simply too big a gap to bridge.

In such cases the one at the most disadvantage is the person in charge. If one listens to the advice of the children too much and the store gets shut down, the one to take responsibility is the person in charge. And in these cases there are those who have been made to pay reparations.

Although there are also cases where the parents of that child won’t pursue the matter and ask for payment. The thing is even if you say that it was just a child’s toy, the fact that a store handled by one was closed, will cause that person’s reputation within the guild to plummet.

Alternatively, if one were to just ignore the children’s opinion and go with whatever the person in charge wants. Even if the store were to flourish, there are cases where the parents would come and take the store away because the children’s wishes weren’t fulfilled. So with all this in mind, this kind of job is very difficult.

“We should almost be there, right?” [Pioro]
“Yeah. Just two more corners.” [Serge]

Hearing the words of their superior, the two children couldn’t help but think about how close they are to what might become their graveyards as merchants. Because of that their hearts sank and their countenance visibly darkened. They hung their heads down, and like that they continued to wait until the carriage stopped. But when Serge spoke up another time, they steeled their hearts and looked out the window. What they saw shocked them.

“I can see it! Over there!” [Serge]
“Ho Ho, not bad at all kid..” [Grisela]
“Wow! What a splendid store! He was actually able to make this in one week? Amazing~” [Pioro]
“Sister, this…” [One of the twins]
“Yeah…” [One of the twins]

What spread before their eyes may have simply been a white square building with some windows here and there, but the surroundings were covered by a bright green lush along with some flower beds here and there, giving off a strong sense of cleanliness. As the splendor of that scenery unwrapped itself before the eyes of the guild members, they couldn’t help but leave their mouths agape. While Karma and Karla suddenly felt as if a ray of hope had just thrust itself into their dark and dreary future.

When they entered the store, the first thing that caught their eyes were the four statues of the gods on the shelf near the ceiling.

The warm atmosphere the wooden interior exudes along with the simple but lovely reverse L shaped counter, complemented by other furniture, struck the five with admiration. But as Karma and Karla felt their future getting brighter, the next instant crushed their hopes.

“Welcome to the Bamboo Forest Laundry Agency!”

As soon as they had entered, Ryouma quickly came out from inside.

Karma and Karla’s first impression of Ryouma was that of a normal kid with an honest and a decent face. Unfortunately, though this might be poorly put, Ryouma also looked like he had no ambition, and his docile impression wasn’t the kind that suited merchants. If it was just one of the neighboring kids they wouldn’t care, but as they thought that this kid was going to be their boss, they couldn’t help but grimace in fear of their future troubles.

“Thank you for inviting me today, Ryouma. I’m really happy to have been invited.” [Pioro]
“This store gives off such a good feeling, I guess we can expect much from you in the future.” [Grisela]
“You’ve finally completed your store, congratulations.” [Serge]
“Thank you very much. Speaking of which, these are…?” [Ryouma]

“Oh, right. I almost forgot, these are the two assistants I was planning to give to Ryouma-sama.” [Serge]
“Karma Norad.” [Karma]
“Karla Norad. It’s a pleasure to meet you, please take care of me and my younger brother.” [Karla]
“Thank you for your courtesy. My name is Ryouma Takebayashi. Please take care of me as well.” [Ryouma]

The two breathe a sigh of relief in their hearts as they noticed that Ryouma didn’t act haughtily. Unfortunately though, while it did not show on their faces, anxiety continued to stir within their hearts.

But in the next instant they couldn’t help but let some of their anxiety show when Ryouma acted rather vaguely in response to Serge’s introduction.

“Even amongst my subordinates these two are quite exceptional. You could consider them my right hand men. I believe they will be able to serve Ryouma-sama well.” [Serge]
“Oh? They are Serge-san’s right hand men? That’s …” [Ryouma]
At that the two let it slip.
“Is there a problem?” [Karma & Karla]

At those twin’s words, Ryouma hurriedly rationalized.

“No, there are no problems. I was just quite surprised as I hadn’t expected Serge-san’s right hand men to be the ones coming as my assistant.” [Ryouma]

Having been convinced by Ryouma’s answer, at their last murmuring the twins asked another question.

“Is there anything inconvenient about us?” [Karma]
“If there’s anything, then please let us know. After all Ryouma-sama will be our superior from now on.” [Karla]
“While there are no problems in regards to the job. I believe you two are overqualified. Work in the shop isn’t difficult and because of that you two won’t have plenty of opportunities to use your abilities. If I may as to be so blunt, your abilities are wasted here, and so I believe it would be better for you two to work at a more suitable environment.” [Ryouma]

Actually all Ryouma was looking for was someone who would serve as a receptionist and another to carry the clothes. So when he saw Serge bring some exceptional merchants with him, he couldn’t help but think it to be a waste. But at the same time, because of what Ryouma said, the two couldn’t help but to feel down.

Although Ryouma said what he had said out of concern, if someone were to tell you that your abilities weren’t needed, it’s only natural for you to feel down, right?

Seeing the downtrodden look of the two, Grisela and Pioro asked Serge.

“Serge, did you properly explain to these two?” [Grisela]
“Aren’t these two misunderstanding something?” [Pioro]

Serge, having just realized, quickly went to the twins to explain. He then explained that Ryouma’s store isn’t a noble’s toy, and is in fact a business endeavor expected to make a huge profit. So much so that even the head of the merchant guild, Grisela, and the president of another large store, Pioro, were interested. As the twins came to understand the situation, they couldn’t help but shiver at the honor of working here and the amelioration it will bring to their future. As Serge-san finished explaining to them, they turned towards Ryouma, and with great vigor, apologized.

“Please excuse our previous behavior!” [Karma & Karla]
“Because of our inexperience we were unable to fully comprehend Ryouma-sama’s true motive.” [Karla]
“I’m truly sorry for my behavior until now.” [Karma]

“There’s no need to be like that, it’s not like you’ve done anything rude in particular. Besides I understand just how unusual it is for a child my age to hold a store. Also, I too know just how absurd the nobles’ children can be.” [Ryouma]
“You two can stop now. If you guys apologize it will just trouble Ryouma instead. Ryouma really looks like he doesn’t mind so if you really feel sorry just work to the best of your abilities as an apology.” [Grisela]
“Understood!” [Karma & Karla]

When he saw that enthusiasm, Ryouma chuckled.

“But no matter how enthusiastic you are… just like I said a while ago it’s really not that big of a job, you know?” [Ryouma]
“A job to this extent will definitely make a lot!” [Karla]
“We can also take care of the account book and manage the expenses.” [Karma]

But even if they say that, to someone like Ryouma who knows a little of Japan’s ridiculous earning calls and accounting, such things didn’t seem complicated at all.

Moreover, though Ryouma’s store may have plenty of income, the only expenditures his store really has are the bags and daily necessities bought from Serge’s store. Compared to other stores, the accounting here is far simpler.

While he was thinking that, the surrounding were suddenly filled with chattering as 11 people entered the store from two different entrances. They were the members of the adventurer’s guild. 

Today I went to buy a lot of ingredients. I bought vegetables and fruits from the grocery, beef from the butcher, and from a slightly high class store I bought pepper. Lastly, I went to the liquor store to buy alcohol.

Since it’s a rare occasion, I thought I’d splurge a bit on the wine. I told the clerk that I had 3 small gold coins and would like to purchase enough wine for 30 people. Hearing that she recommend to me the wine called, Jamis Spring. 3 small gold coins of that would get me a barrel of it, enough for 1 or 2 drinks per person, so I decided to buy it just as she had recommended me to.

After that I went to the store and did the preparations that I could do for the meal tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s menu includes salad, meat sauce spaghetti, and steak. And for dessert I’ll be serving apple pie.

I was troubled over what to serve but since there was pasta and steak in this world, I went with that. It’s better to choose something safe so as to not unnecessarily cause trouble for myself. Unfortunately though this kind of food doesn’t really feel that suited to parties.

When I think of a party, what generally comes to my mind is pizza. But that food doesn’t exist in this world. 

As for drinks, there is water and wine, along with 2 types of fruit juices that I prepared. 

Alchemy was quite convenient for this. I pounded the noodles of the spaghetti, and used alchemy to remove its water, turning it into dried noodles quickly. With this I can store it and all I’ll need to do tomorrow is to boil it. As for the juice I crushed the fruits, and then separated the juice from the dregs, making a 100% genuine fruit juice.

This is really convenient, but if I’m not careful, it might end badly for me. It’s good that I can extract the water and quickly dehydrate things, but since the magic formation doesn’t discriminate what’s on top of it, if I were to accidentally put my hand on top, my hand will be mummified. During the time I lived in the forest, I would often turn the rabbit meat I caught into dried meat to preserve it. If I’m not careful I’ll end up like that.

Going back to the topic.

I’m going to make a meat sauce, but I don’t have any consommé. So instead of the consommé, I decided to use chicken and vegetable soup. Tomorrow I’ll cut the meat I bought from the butcher today, then mix it and the tomato with this. Afterwards, I’ll add the soup and splash some water.

Next, I made a refrigerator with a box, by coating it in the hardening liquid, and using anti-cold barrier along with ice magic on it. Then I place the food I prepared inside that.

The anti-cold barrier when used, will normally keep me from being attacked by the cold weather in my surroundings. However, when applied in a small space, it instead prevents the cold inside from going outside. Also, since I can use ‘Identify’ to check whether or not the food inside is spoiled or not, I can use this convenient refrigerator with a peace of mind.

I was quite surprised before when I used ‘Identify’ for the first time on this refrigerator. When I used ‘Identify’ it actually included a list of the things inside, the freshness of the objects, and even what was decaying. Perhaps it’s not far off to say that this refrigerator is even more convenient than the ones back at earth.

When I finished preparing, it was already evening. If I were to go to the guild now it would be quite late, but then again it’s still too early to go home…

Walking aimlessly around the town, I ended up passing by the church.

Good timing. I haven’t been able to pray recently, so I might as well take this opportunity to pray.

Thinking that, I went to the church. This time what greeted me wasn’t the woman from before, but instead it was a young girl perhaps around the age of 10.

“Welcome. How may I help you?” [Girl]
“I’ve managed to make some time, so I thought I’d go offer my prayers.” [Ryouma]
“Then in that case, this way please.” [Girl]

The girl brought me over to a wide room with many chairs in front of the altar.

“Please take your time.” [Girl]

Said the girl as she left the room. It seems I can use this room to pray as I wish.

When she left the room, I took a nearby chair and sat on it. Then I put my hands together and closed my eyes. For some reason it suddenly felt like something was coming loose. The next moment, I opened my eyes. But when I did so, what greeted me was that white room I’d seen twice before.

“Oh, you came again…” [Kufo]
“Yeah, looks like I ended up coming again.” [Ryouma]

When I turned to face the voice that came at me from behind, I saw Kufo.

“Kufo, we meet again.” [Ryouma]
“Well it hasn’t really been that long though. It hasn’t even been a month since we last met.” [Kufo]
“Are Gayn and Rurutia out today?’ [Ryouma]
“Yeah, they went out for a bit.” [Kufo]
“So gods also go out?” [Ryouma]
“Yeah, although it’s really rare,” [Kufo]
“Where did they go off to?” [Ryouma]

The moment I said that, Kufo made a face that looked like he just made a blunder.

“Ah… umm…. Actually, they went to your previous world.” [Kufo]
“To Earth!? Why? Are they going to call another person?” [Ryouma]
“Oh, no, no! They didn’t go for that. This time they’re…” [Kufo]

As Kufo was about to explain, he hesitated.

“This time what? You know if it’s difficult to say, I won’t insist.” [Ryouma]
“Nah… if it’s Ryouma, then I think it’s fine. They went sightseeing.” [Kufo]
“Huh?”[Ryouma]

Sightseeing?

“Rurutia went around in your world to treat herself to some desserts. And Gayn seems to have taken quite a liking to your idol groups in Japan.” [Kufo]
“What’s with that reason? Well, no… Actually it doesn’t really matter, but can you really go to another world with that kind of reason?” [Ryouma]
“We gods generally don’t interfere with each other’s worlds. But in our case we’ve been bringing people over from Earth for a long time now… and besides, this world doesn’t really have a lot of options for entertainment. Even the sweets Rurutia wants to eat are few here. Also in terms of taste, you can’t even compare the sweets in this world to yours, right?” [Kufo]
“Well, that’s true but…” [Ryouma]

“I also went around Earth before too, you know? As the god of life, I’m very much interested in organisms that are able to survive in harsh environments. So with that in mind I went to see the secluded regions of Earth. Like the Amazon, the Sahara Desert, the Atlantis, or even the deep sea…” [Kufo]
“Wait a moment, isn’t one of those kind of out of place!?” [Ryouma]
“Keep this a secret from other humans, ok? Otherwise our dignity as gods will be tarnished.” [Kufo]
“I won’t do something like that. Besides, even if I did spread it around, no one will believe me anyway.” [Ryouma]
“Well I guess that’s true.” [Kufo]

“Gayn’s hobby aside, wouldn’t it be better if you guys made the desserts Rurutia like popular? There’s plenty of otherworlders in this world, right?” [Ryouma]
“Well that’s true, only, it’s difficult to spread the recipe. It’s hard to get a hold of sugar and spices. Not to mention it’s also expensive. Also, you’re aware that any food with plenty of spices is considered a luxury, right?” [Kufo]
“Well, yeah…” [Ryouma]

“The only exception to that is the royal family or the nobles who have several luxurious goods. To the masses though, those kind of ingredients are impossible. That’s why even if otherworlders try to make the dishes from earth, the people who are able to make it are limited. And in the end they won’t be able to pass it on. Even if they do though, it will gradually be forgotten. For example, you’ve recently met a person that goes by the name of Pioro Saionji, right?” [Kufo]
“I thought of it when I first heard his last name, but as expected, he’s the descendant of an otherworlders, right?” [Ryouma]
“That’s right. That guy’s lineage comes from a guy who was born to a family with an okonomiyaki shop. And he even went to a culinary school in his student days.

When that guy came to this world he tried to make okonomiyaki, but unfortunately he couldn’t make the sauce and couldn’t get the seafood to make the dish. So he decided to go all over the world to gather the ingredients. Only, in order to travel and buy those ingredients he needed money. So he became a peddler and worked a cart along the way. Through that he was able to make a killing and in the end, he was able to make his okonomiyaki. However, it didn’t spread.

After that, he used the connections and knowledge of food he gained in order to make his okonomiyaki, and started a firm that grew to play a leading role in handling food ingredients. That’s where the current Saionji Firm came from.

Though in the end he was able to make his okonomiyaki, you could also say that the ingredients were so hard to get during the era he was born in that unless someone did what he did, it wouldn’t have been possible to make it. Nowadays there’s the Saionji Firm and other similar companies who imitated them, so it has become slightly easier to get the ingredients. Only slightly though…” [Kufo]

Something like that actually happened?

“That kind of thing isn’t limited only to food. Like craft or technology for example.

Well to begin with, the otherworlders aren’t all as passionate as he is. And even when they are, there’s still the question of knowledge and luck. Many have failed because they lacked one or the other. There were also things that was lost because of war or because of other adventurers.” [Kufo]
“When you put it that way, I think I can understand. But what do you mean when you say that some of the other adventurers a better technique or something?” [Ryouma]

“Although I don’t have any way to say it other than bad luck, in the past there was a med student who came to this world who spread his knowledge in the field of medicine. But right now, there aren’t any traces of such knowledge, right?” [Kufo]
“Ah, now that you mention it, yeah. And the guild master didn’t seem to have any knowledge regarding epidemics either.” [Ryouma]
“Actually, in the past there was a girl who came into this world. That girl said that she wanted to become a saint.” [Kufo]
“Saint? You mean like that thing that seems to be a really high position in the church or something?” [Ryouma]

“Yes, that. A person who holds a mysterious skill and heals people, something like that. Anyway, when that girl came here, she made a fuss saying that she wanted to live like that. Oh, but she wasn’t a bad girl or anything. Though she did give off that feeling that said, “I want to be spoiled!” her desire to save people was the real thing.

That’s why Rurutia, I, and Gayn, gave her our divine protection. She may not be able to resurrect the dead but with the ability we gave her, she was able to heal anyone no matter how injured they were and no matter what diseases they had. And as for her, herself, she was immune to poison, medicine, diseases and was immune from being physically hurt. She had a power to protect that couldn’t’ be bound by anyone. And because of that she lived her entire life as a saint, a holy woman. Only…” [Kufo]
“Only?” [Ryouma]

Did something happen?

“That girl was able to heal anything, but other people were only capable of normal healing magic, so they weren’t able to heal diseases. The people who were infected with a disease that couldn’t be healed by this world’s medical knowledge died when they weren’t able to be healed by her.

Seeing that, she thought, “Wouldn’t the number of people who die from such things increase after I die?” and so until the very end, she spent her whole life healing people with the power of god while she wished that she would be able to eradicate all sickness from this world.” [Kufo]
“Eradicate all sickness? Is that possible?” [Ryouma]

“Normally you can’t. But she is an otherworlder who had directly received our blessings. Moreover, because of all her achievements, she was able to gather the faith of many people. That faith acted as a boost and amplified her power.

And on top of all of that, she herself literally exhausted everything she had for the sake of that wish. So much so that after she used her power, she lost her life. But it didn’t end there. She gave up everything for the sake of that wish and in the process she even erased her own soul. Normally she should have entered the circle of transmigration right after she had died, but after exhausting her power so much, she vanished.” [Kufo]
“Somehow, I feel like she’s an amazing person…” [Ryouma]
“When that child first started, a lot of people came to be healed and she was actually quite troubled. But, having a sense of duty, and after several things happened, in the end she became a true saint.

It was because of her actions that for nearly 400 years almost no one caught any diseases. And it’s because of that, that the knowledge regarding medicine, diseases, and prevention of it had all disappeared. As for healing magic, it was passed on since people still get wounded.

Nowadays though, because the effect of her power has disappeared, there are now people who are becoming sick. Unfortunately, the knowledge that was lost won’t be coming back.” [Kufo]
“I see…” [Ryouma]

Was a single human actually capable of something like that? She may have had a cheat ability… but still…

“Ah, speaking of which, as long as you’re prepared to have your own soul extinguished, you can do the same thing.” [Kufo]
“Eh, seriously!?” [Ryouma]
“The combination of god’s power and the soul of man is quite powerful. It’s also because of that, that it’s possible to use the soul of people like you to take magic power from your world to our world.

And although I said that you could do the same thing. The most you’d be able to do is extinguish diseases for a few years at most. The reason she was able to remove disease for 400 years was because of the faith the people had in her, and because she specialized at healing. In your case though, on top of not having a specialization in healing, you also don’t have any believers.

Ryouma-kun, you’re individual abilities are weak compared to someone who specializes in one ability. To begin with, the path you chose wasn’t to start off as a cheat but to grow by working hard and being creative. Because of that your growth has nearly no limits. Since your growing really quickly, then given time you might grow to become even stronger than someone who possess a special ability. And more than anything, watching you is interesting, so it’s all good for us.” [Kufo]
“In the end it’s about that, huh?’ [Ryouma]
“Well it can’t be helped since here in the divine realm we don’t have anything to do, so we’re always bored.” [Kufo]

After Kufo said that, all of the sudden everything started to glow. Ah, it’s ‘that’.

“We’re out of time it seems.” [Ryouma]
“Eh, already? Oh right! Since Gayn and Rurutia aren’t here, only my power is being used to stop the time, so it’s way shorter! Ryouma-kun!” [Kufo]
“What are you panicking for all of the sudden?” [Ryouma]

“Actually I called you here because I need to tell you something! And yet I wasted time chatting about pointless things! Anyway I’ll just tell you the important stuff! When your body became younger it also influenced your mind! Because of that you’ve regressed a little bit to a child!

This is the same for the other otherworlders! You not being able to control yourself or keep up your poker face is because of that! It’s fine that you want to retrain yourself, but don’t push yourself!” [Kufo]

As soon as Kufo said that, my field of vision was completely wrapped in light and when it faded, I was back there in the room the girl had brought me to.

What does he mean by my mind being influenced by my young body? I don’t understand well… but isn’t that something really important?

I think I can somewhat understand the regressing part though… my poker face was so good in my previous life that I would often get asked what I was thinking about. However, nowadays, what I’m thinking easily shows on my face. Just like how it was when I was a kid before… Still, I won’t change my plans. Kufo went through all the trouble of letting me know, so I might as well make sure I set myself straight.

After thinking for a bit, I give my thanks to Kufo inside my mind, and after donating a little, I left the church.

When I left the church it was already dark, so I decided to go back to my lodging.

Tomorrow, everyone will be coming to the store. 

So I’ll sleep early today, then tomorrow, I’ll do my best!