The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 2 Chapter 51: Store Opening (2/2)

“You two look after the customers. I’ll do all the carrying!” [Ryouma]

After giving that order, I started earnestly carrying the laundry and looking after the customers.

But even as we kept up that pace, the number of people still increased. What’s going on!?

In the end, it wasn’t until past 3 that the wave of customers ended. There’s still some customers left, but they’re not that many anymore. Unfortunately, it still takes a lot of times since we have to explain to every customer how the store works.

Apparently, the price I was charging really was low. The customers even had to ask stuff like ‘Are you really going to do my laundry for just that much?’ ‘You’re not going to charge me a separate fee after washing my clothes, are you?’… There were some people who refused to believe too, so it was quite troubling. At one point, so many people gathered that the guards had to drop by to check what was going on.

But that turned out to be a blessing, as the guard went to his boss afterwards and told him of my laundry agency. That boss dropped by and bought two bags and asked to enlist the 35 person course, so the guards could get their laundry washed.

Apparently, until last year the guards have been hiring someone to do their laundry, but the government office told them to cut down on expenses, so they had to stop. The captain of the guards said they were already fortunate that their salaries weren’t cut, but from the sound of things, he seemed a little unhappy about the government office too. Regardless, after that I was told that he’d enlist my service again if he things go well. Did I just get a big contract this early on?

But still… Since opening 8:00 this morning… I think I’ve spent about roughly 3 minutes per person. I don’t know when the customers are going to start coming again, but Carm-san and Carla-sanwork straight without drinking or eating?

…That’s pretty bad, right? I’m fine, but their body won’t hold… At this rate, this store is going to end up as some sort of slave business! I have to avoid that!! I stake it on my prevoius life!

“Good job, Carm-san, Carla-san.” [Ryouma]
“You too, Boss.” [Carm]
“There sure were a lot of people.” [Carla]
“Indeed… It’s a bit sudden, but more people is good, right?” [Ryouma]
“Yes, increasing our customers sooner should be good, but with the current workload, we we’ll need 4 or 6 employees just so they can take turns working and resting. We had to spend more time today because of all the explanations, but judging from the customers’ reaction, it shouldn’t be long before we’ll be as busy as today even without the explanations.” [Carla]

Carlas-san quickly told me how many people we would be needing.

“The customers were elated at the speed and quality of our store’s service, so it should be safe to assume that there’ll be more customers tomorrow. The guild should be able to introduce workers immediately, so long as you post a recruitment notice there, Boss.” [Carm]
“How much would it cost me if I went ahead and hired some new hands?” [Ryouma]
“120 to 150 suits per day should be enough. That much can allow a person to live normally and even have some left over to save. An initial salary at this level is a very attractive proposal, so people should gather quickly.” [Carla]
“It should be possible to hire some hands for cheaper, but we’re currently in an emergency, so we need to hire new employees ASAP.” [Carm]
“Alright. I’ll go the guild now. The sooner we get those new hadns, the better, after all.” [Ryouma]
“Take care, Boss!” [Carm and Carla]

I decided to trust in the twins’ unfaltering opinion and hurriedly left the store. Solving problems as quickly as possible is best, atfer all.

But just when I was about to leave the store, I happened upon a neighbor of mine, carrying a huge bag, as three others accompanied her.

“Oh, Ryouma-kun.” [Pauline]
“Pauline-san, Leni, Rick, Zeke-san. I see you’ve all gathered today. What are you carrying?” [Ryouma]
“Why we were thinking of getting our laundry washed at your place, of course. We have a butcher, so we have no shortage of clothes stained in blood.” [Zeke]

It was Zeke-san who answered. He was Pauline-san’s husband and worked right next to her flower shop. I used Zeke’s meat for the all the dishes I served during my party.

Normally, when it comes to butchers, anime love to depict them as this muscular giant of a man, but Zeke-san is the exact opposite. He’s not too bad vertically speaking, but he’s thin. Actually, he’s straight up lanky. In fact, he’s so thin, he looks like he’d topple over were a breeze of wind blow him. He’s an unhealthy looking guy.

“I heard your laundry agency could make these bloodstained scraps good again.” [Pauline]
“We were planning to buy some new threads, so we figured we might as well try and getting these washed.” [Zeke]
“Thank you. If I may ask something unrelated, do you have servants at your place?” [Ryouma]
“If you include me, we have 10 all in all.” [Zeke] [1]
“In that case, we have a course catered for groups of more than 7. Please consider taking advantage of it, as it’s a lot cheaper, costing only 1 medium copper coin and 8 small copper coins for one bag meant for 14 persons’ worth of clothes.” [Ryouma]
“Really? That’s great.” [Pauline]
“We’ll go with that then.” [Zeke]

While I was doing some sales talk, Rick interjected.

“Ryouma-kun what are you doing? You playing hooky?” [Rick]
“Ha ha ha, it probably looks like that to you, but I’m actually on my way to the merchant guild.” [Ryouma]
“Really?” [Leni]

It was Leni who asked that last question.

“The store’s a lot more popular than expected, so now I have to go out and get ourselves more hands.” [Ryouma]
“You’re kidding! On the store’s first day!?” [Leni]
“Honestly, I did promote the store a little, but I never expected it would be received this well.” [Ryouma]
“I’m shocked. That many people came?” [Pauline]
“Yes, our two employees have been working since morning without rest. They went 7 hours straight just like that.” [Ryouma]

After that I left the four and went to the merchants guild. There, I was immediately brought to the reception room, and the guild master came.

“Welcome. Isn’t your store opening today? Did something bad happen?” [Grisiera]
“Well, the store’s a bigger hit than expected. ThanKs to that I need some new helpers.” [Ryouma]
“On the first day? Well, I’m stumped. Even I didn’t expect that… So, I guess you’re here to get more people. Alright. I’ll get a group of candidates that can work as early as tomorrow. You can pick from those.” [Grisiera]

No sooner than the guild master said that, she was out of the room, and I was made to wait in the reception room.

After being informed that the candidates have been gathered, I was led to the meeting room.

Inside was a group of all sorts of people from young to old, from male to female, from human to something else…

Hmm?

“…” [??? and ???]

There’s a strange pair… They glanced at me, but they quickly changed their gaze’s direction forward.

Am I also being appraised? There were also others who glanced at me, but as if they lost interest, they turned their gaze away…

“Everyone here has been taught the basics of arithmetic. You can use anyone here for your store.” [Grisiera]

“Alright. Good day, everyone. My name is Ryouma Takebayashi, and I own Bamboo Forest Laundry Agency. Thank you for taking the time to show up despite your busy schedule.” [Ryouma]

The crowd stirred a little when I said that. From the subdued voices, it seems they thought I was the servant of the their would be employer.

So they weren’t appraisin me. Well, I do look like an 11 year-old kid…

Some of the people in the room quickly relaxed after my greeting. I ignored those and asked them.

“Umm, before we start, I’d like to ask everyone a question. Is there anyone here with a problem working at my store?” [Ryouma]

Bit by bit, more and more voices of dissension raised up. It was mostly the younger ones.

Although we’re in dire need of workers, that doesn’t mean I’m about to take in people who don’t want to work for me because of my age or uncooperative people. Because of this it’s best to leave the talk of wages last. It would be troublesome if people just gathered because the salary is high. There’s a lot of candidates too, so reducing their numbers shouldn’t hurt.

The people who didn’t want to work for me left. I wasn’t about to force them to work for me, so I had them leave.

One, two, three… Huh?

The wave of people leaving won’t stop. Are they in such a hurry to leave? Normally, wouldn’t you at least go through the interview? Although, I was the one who told them they could go…

In the end about 83% of the candidates left, and now, just 5 are left. I can somewhat understand why those left, but…

Anyway, I thanked the people that stayed behind.

“I take it the remaining 5 are willing to work at my store. For that I thank everyone here that you’re willing to work at my store despite my youth.” [Ryouma]

After bowing, I started talking.

“Let’s get to business then. My store, Bamboo Forest, is currently looking for people to carry luggage. You’ll only be carrying clothes, so even a woman won’t have any problems doing the job. If there’s anything to take note of, it’s that I’m a monster tamer. I consider my slimes a part of my workforce, so there will be slimes inside the store.” [Ryouma]

Upon saying that, the remaining five were shocked. Being a monster tamer isn’t anything special, but appparently, they didn’t expect that someone would actually use slimes as a part of his workforce.

“Which is why, if there are people here scared of or hate slimes, it’ll probably be difficult for you to work with me.” [Ryouma]

When I said that, a woman raised her hand.

“Yes?” [Ryouma]
“Are you using those slimes because you don’t have enough hands? Or are you going to be using them even after hiring more workers?” [Woman Candidate]
“I will still be using them even after hiring workers. This might offend some people, but at my store, the slimes are your coworkers.” [Ryouma]

At that, the woman who raised her hand and another woman and man left. Although it was a slime, apparently, they didn’t want to work with a monster, so they left. With this all that’s left is a middle-aged man and a young woman.

Is this all I have left to interview? Did I handle this wrongly?

Although these people were only gathered with the criteria that they could work as soon as tomorrow, it’s still shocking that I was left with only two in the end… I mean sure giving them a bunch of yes or no questions made everything go quick, but… Now, there’s just two left.


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29 responses to “The Man Picked up by the Gods – Volume 2 Chapter 51: Store Opening (2/2)”

  1. dozymoe Avatar

    There is always bandits and bandits slavery.

    1. barbaricbob Avatar
      barbaricbob

      Ah yes, a big burly criminal saying:
      Oi, missy gimme those clothes!
      So that we can wash them at the laundromat!
      Will be a great sales pitch

  2. Matti Avatar
    Matti

    His slimes can wield spears, right? Shouldn’t carrying bags of laundry be easy for them?

    1. Matti Avatar
      Matti

      Then again, I suppose he can’t use the slimes when he’s out doing adventure work, unless he can remote manage them somehow.

    2. lazygeko Avatar

      In fact, his slimes already carried bricks and other things so laundry bags should be no problem. Since he got people with calculation abilities, it seems they are meant to do an all around job, even though he said they would just carry stuff. It is a plot hole none-the-less.

      1. udin-san Avatar
        udin-san

        it’s not really a plot hole tho? His slime DID carry the laundry stuff already. What Ryouma meant should be taking the laundry from and to the customers. Slime is convenient, but it can’t interact with the customers.

        1. Jerwel Adrian Avatar

          This is true though. The slimed can’t talk in the first place, and even though tamed, they ARE still considered as monsters.

    3. DRAGO Avatar
      DRAGO

      The “slime coworkers” are only the cleaner slimes (i.e. The ones cleaning the clothes). The others are with him for his adventurer work. Having them do all the work would be cruel to the slimes, and also eliminate the need for employees altogether, which would arouse suspicion.

      1. Paula Voong Avatar

        How will the customers react to slimes handing their laundry over? It’s all about appearances. Plus, slimes are slow.

    4. ironyisnotdead Avatar

      Even if the slimes could interact with customers, they lack the one skill that is required of human employees. Math. Slimes not only can’t speak to customers, they can’t make change.
      Counter staff, not. Lol
      Thanks for the chapter

  3. Prothvar781 Avatar
    Prothvar781

    Hope it’s his security team from the last run. They were low key but nice.

    1. DRAGO Avatar
      DRAGO

      That’s almost certain. Unless they aren’t needed to have that secondary job in the rewrite (since the tamer guild doesn’t seem actively hostile towards him).

    2. Jerwel Adrian Avatar

      I think they are the ones left, in the first run, they have a back story that will more or less involve Ryouma so I think they will still be included in this time.

  4. kariageweb Avatar

    Thanks for the chapter! 🙂

  5. Ethereal Rainbow Canvas Avatar

    Thanks for the chapter!

  6. Slime waifu when Avatar
    Slime waifu when

    This novel is surprisingly political. Slavery, racism, working conditions, automatization… Wasn’t expecting all that in a story about cleaning.

    1. udin-san Avatar
      udin-san

      I’d say it’s nothing political, just plot convenience. The author is just re-using the tried-and-tested tropes of Japanese isekai fantasy. It’s already a cliche to have in that kind of story by this point..

    2. Dancer Avatar
      Dancer

      You mean reality crept into a feel good fantasy? Unthinkable!
      🐶

  7. sfcipher Avatar

    Thanks for the treat.

  8. ThePlaneskeeper Avatar

    Thanks for the chapter!!!

  9. Creative Boundaries Avatar
    Creative Boundaries

    Oops, didn’t get the info on this one so sorry for being late
    That hurts that helpful hands left because of adorable slimes
    Thanks for the chapter

  10. datvincent Avatar

    Yes, yes you did ryouma. You should have explain what the work was about and what the slimes were for, and not just say misleading sheet ya dumb ass

  11. Katsurandom Avatar

    next chapter is invisible!

  12. darkLoki Avatar
    darkLoki

    Thanks for the chapter here we have some bunch who thinks logically but not really deep

  13. Paps Avatar

    Thanks for the chapter, a great way of culling!!!!!! LoL

  14. Michimiko Avatar
    Michimiko

    The slimes can’t communicate, and having them attending and addressing the costumers will scare their patrons away, or create suspicions. Also, he can’t really use slimes for his store (except doing laundry) because if something were to happen, the slimes can’t communicate and deal with problems on their own should any arise. This would cause a bad rep to the store. So having human/demi-human employees will be a much more safer and convenient approach in handling with costumers. Plus, the only useful slimes are the cleaner slimes. The rest aren’t suited.

  15. komgam Avatar
    komgam

    “Alright. I’ll go the guild now. The sooner we get those new hadns, the better, after all.”
    should be hands?

  16. Dancer Avatar
    Dancer

    He does use them when doing adventure work. He uses tactics that work with slimes & favors jobs that require slimes.

    You may want to read the chapters before this one to learn a bit more about Ryouma.

  17. Mikan Avatar

    Never go through an interview that doesn’t post the salary upfront.
    ppl work because they need money to subsist, and going through an interview process, to end wasting at the end isn’t a good thing for both parties.

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