by Funa
I hadn’t really thought about discounting things until now. It cost money to get inventory for the store, and you had to find a way to make reasonable profits off it all despite that. You also had to consider the faith between the maker, vendor, and buyer as well. You couldn’t sell your products at too high or low a price, you had to find an appropriate cost for it. Any merchant should want to avoid doing anything to disrupt the flow of the marketplace. But what this girl told me about pricing and discounts had really captured my interest. There were things that reaffirmed my convictions for the trade business, and she also offered some very appealing ideas as well. She kept saying she’d only heard these stories from someone else, but it was obvious there was some other reason behind why she knew all this. This was a girl I could look forward to seeing what the future had in store for her.
If she’s looking for a job, then she should have no qualms about coming to work for me. I’m sure she’d happily accept as soon as she hears the name of my company. All right, that’s what I’ll do!
The wagon arrived at the gates to the capital. It would only be a few minutes until the two reached the end of the line to get inside.
“If you want, how about coming to work for me, Kaoru? The job comes with a place to stay as well, so you don’t have to worry about finding living arrangements.”
The girl thought it over for a second, before smiling and giving her answer.
“Thank you, but it’s all right. I’ll look for work on my own.”
“Huh? Oh, right, I haven’t said the name of my company yet! I may have been out on a trip for my own fun, but I’m actually the owner of the Abili Trade Company. That’s right: I’m the Johann Abili, head of Abili Trade!” he declared confidently, a big grin on his face. “Well? Surprised?”
“...I see. Oh, I have to register as a newcomer, so I guess this is where we part ways. Thank you very much for letting me ride with you. I enjoyed talking with you as well. Until we meet again!”
The girl hopped down from the wagon before walking away. Johann Abili, the head of the Abili Trade Company, could only watch in blank amazement as she did so.
“Um... The Abili Trade Company is said to be one of the most prominent enterprises in the capital, and is even famous in other countries, with tons of people who would love to work there... It’s the one place anyone from the countryside would love to get in with... You know, that...Abili...Trade Company...”
Johann’s voice gradually became weaker and weaker, before petering off entirely.
That merchant seemed like a pretty nice guy with a large shop, but working at a place like that means I’d have to start from the bottom. I’d probably just be loaded with a whole bunch of busy work as a newbie there. Pretty sure I’d have tons of coworkers and people working above me, so there’s a good chance I wouldn’t even get any time to myself. Seems doubtful I’d have any days off either. I don’t want to keep doing menial labor my whole life here. I need to be out there gathering information and getting things in order so I can open my own shop someday, so I want to find a job that lets me be a little more flexible with my free time. Once I’ve done enough prep work, I need to start making a name for myself, and all sorts of other stuff to get my shop ready too.
No matter how big and famous the shop may have been, if it didn’t match up with Kaoru’s goals, then there was nothing else to be said on the matter.
I’d made my way to the job-hunting agency in Grua.
Hmm, I wonder if there are any good ones here... I pondered to myself as I browsed through the available jobs.
A good while had passed since I began looking at the postings. I’d already gone to the receptionist to apply for two of them that would’ve been perfect, but she turned me down because she thought I was a minor. They weren’t even anything fishy either...
There was a man doing office work here who saw me get rejected, and called out to the receptionist.
“Hey, Aria, how about recommending her that one job at Bardot’s place?”
“Oh, that one? Let’s see...”
The receptionist looks me over for a few seconds before calling out to me.
“How are you with housework, miss? Cooking, cleaning, those sorts of things.”
Mom and Dad both had full-time jobs, so I’d been doing chores and taking care of the house since I was in middle school. Just leave it to me!
“My mother was always working, so I’m great at housework and taking care of kids!”
“Great, then this might work out after all. I have a housekeeping job that comes with a place to stay as well. What do you say?”
According to the receptionist, there was a small workshop that had put out a help wanted ad for someone to basically come and work as a maid for them. Including the owner, there were five of them working there total, and it was supposed to be a bit of a...“quirky” workshop. They weren’t bad people by any means, but none of the help they took on seemed to stick around for long. They would often come back to repost their ad, and the amount they paid in fees to the agency was nothing to sneeze at.
For the job itself, they needed someone who could cook, clean, do laundry, and other odd jobs for the workshop. Everyone besides the owner himself commuted there, but they would all eat at the workshop together, probably because it was too much trouble for them to go all the way home to make food themselves.
It wasn’t supposed to be a job that kept you busy around the clock, and it sounded like I was free to do whatever I wanted so long as I finished the work they asked me to do. I could go out and about during the day if I was done cooking, for example. They even gave days off too. It seemed like the workers would go out to eat on those days, or make do with what they had on hand. It sounded like they’d gone through a few periods of not having anyone to help out, so I guess they learned to do at least that much.
But wait, seriously? This is, like, the perfect job for me!
“A pleasure to meet you. My name is Kaoru; I was referred here from the job-hunting agency.”
“Nice to meetcha. There’s no need to be so stiff at our place, so feel free to relax and be yourself,” the man said with a smile. He was Bardot, the current head of the Maillart Workshop, and I was incredibly happy to hear how lax he was with the formalities.
“Let’s call these next few days a ‘trial period,’ if you don’t mind. All those fees to the agency keep building up since our new hires always quit right away, and they’ve even started letting us get extensions for paying them now,” Bardot said with a bitter grin. “Now, let’s get you introduced to everyone. If I’m being honest, just let me know anytime you think it’s not gonna work out. I’m already used to it by now, so it won’t bother me at all...”
“All right, I understand.”
Man, just how low is his self-esteem now...
With that, he led me to the main workshop, which looked more like some sort of laboratory if you asked me. Then, the moment he opened the door...
“...Eugh...”
It reeks in here...
It smelled like sweat, B.O., chemicals...and like something was rotting. Seriously, did something die in here?
Next I saw four men, two of them currently sprawled out on the floor. One of them was middle-aged, two were young men, and one was just a boy. Well, I say “boy,” but I guess he’d be considered an adult here.
“Carlos, Alban, wake up. We’ve got a new potential helper who I need to introduce!”
The two of them jumped up at Bardot’s words.
““Thank the Goddess!””
“Hold it, this is just a trial run, got that? A trial run!” Bardot fired back, emphasizing the last part.
Beginning with the oldest, there was Carlos at thirty-two years old, Achille at twenty-one, Alban at nineteen, and Brian at sixteen. Everyone here was doing their best to become a first-rate engineer apparently.
According to what Bardot had told me, this wasn’t just a workshop that made things to sell to cover living expenses. It wa
s something more akin to a research and development lab for new gadgets and products. They weren’t getting any financial support for their work though, so they’d also make goods they could sell to cover their research costs and make enough money for their everyday lives. They were all skilled at what they did, so the quality of their products was actually pretty good. The only problem was that they were a group of inventors who only cared about research, not profits, and weren’t suited to be merchants. As such, they basically had no money. And since they were a group of inventors, the concept of “working hours” didn’t exist to them. They could get so wrapped up in their research they wouldn’t bathe or change clothes for days, would forgot to eat and eventually collapse from hunger, and would even spend days on end in the lab. They never ran out of things to say when it came to their research, but were clueless on what was going on in the world.
Ah, I get it. I’m basically here to babysit the five of them.
I finally had an idea what my job really entailed.
After the introductions were finished, we moved right into Q and A time. A flurry of questions came from the guys, one after the other.
“Can you cook and clean and stuff?”
“I’m probably as good at cleaning as the next person, but I’m pretty confident in my cooking skills. I always cooked for my family, and the restaurant I worked at before this even decided to serve some of the dishes I’d made.”
The expectations in their eyes were at all time highs.
“So when you’re cleaning, there are a few things we want you to be aware of...”
“Oh, like how like everything looks messy, but you actually have it like that on purpose and know where everything is? Or that even things that look like scraps of paper actually have something really important written on them, so you don’t want me to throw them away? Or like how there’s plenty of dangerous chemicals here, so I shouldn’t try to smell, touch, mix, or toss them?”
“““Whoa...”””
“Um... Have you ever worked in a place like this before?”
“No, not really.”
“““...”””
“Erm, well... We lose track of time a lot when we get into our work, and sometimes we just forget to eat...”
“Aren’t all boys like that?”
The four of them turned to look at Bardot, their eyes brimming with hope. Even Bardot looked somewhat cheerful about the whole thing. It was like they were all thinking I might be the one to actually stay.
Yup, I already know plenty about how to handle boys thanks to living with my dad and big brother.
Several days later, I was officially hired for the job, and the workshop had paid the job-hunting agency the fee for my referral.
I was knocking the cooking thing out of the park, if I did say so myself. I got better at recognizing the right time when everyone was about to reach a good stopping point in their work, or finding ways to get them fed even if they all come at different times. Eventually, I innovated (cough cut corners cough) and began making simple dishes like sandwiches and onigiri they could eat while working on things in the lab, which made my job so much easier. I put my newfound free time to good use, doing things like walking around town and going to the library (going to the library was expensive in this country as well, so I didn’t really go that often though). And thanks to the “Kaoru’s Special Deodorizer” I’d told them I made from fruit juice and tea and a bunch of other stuff, the horrible death-stench in the workspace became something actually tolerable.
Because of all that, I’d secured myself a place as an invaluable asset here in the workshop.
“Oh? Are you making something, Achille?”
One day, I’d spotted Achille working on something to sell to make profits instead of his usual research, so I called out to him.
“Yeah, it’s a flask. Kinda like a canteen or something you can put alcohol or other strong spirits in. I’m supposed to make it lightweight and sturdy, and with something that won’t affect the taste of what you put in it. We should be able to sell the extra high quality ones to aristocrats for a good price. That said, it’s a whole other story trying to make ones from metal with fancy decorations and stuff on them. What I’m working on here should be fine for normal, everyday use.”
Surprisingly enough, Achille was the was the only member of the workshop who was actually a noble. That said, he was only the third son of a viscount. He still had another older brother should something happen to the oldest one, so there was an extremely low chance he’d succeed his father and take over the household. Because of that, and due to Achille’s decidedly un-aristocratic love of research and experimentation, his father allowed him to do whatever he pleased. That wasn’t to say he was being abandoned or ignored though, but his father was allowing Achille the free will to do whatever he wanted with his future. He got along well with his brothers, and loved his family as well.
A container, huh... Maybe it’s about time for me to make a move.
“Oh, that’s right. I happen to know someone who does glasswork. They’ve never tried selling it because they do it for fun, but they’ve always said they wanted to try selling something at least once. You think we could try leaving one of the containers they made on the workshop store shelf?”
The store shelf was where we’d leave our products for customers to see for themselves, or to display our workshop’s prowess for creating new goods. All the products on display had a price tag to go with them, so everything was indeed for sale as well. Since the workshop usually only made things to order, there was still plenty of space on the shelf.
“Hmm... I think it’d be all right, but you should probably ask Bardot if it’s okay.”
“All right, got it. I’ll go try asking him then.”
And just like that, I got permission to go ahead with my plan. This was a request from the girl who always worked hard, made delicious food, and, above all else, actually stayed. Anyone at the workshop seemed happy to grant almost any request I had for them.
“It’s...”
Bardot and the others were at a loss for words when they saw the glass container I’d made.
“It’s so beautiful...”
“The design and the craftsmanship goes without saying, but just look at how clear that glass is... Look at how it sparkles! Just what is this?!”
The workshop members were in shock over the glass container that my “friend” had made. It was a perfume bottle made of sparkling crystal glass that boasted an asymmetrical design and ended with an extravagantly large stopper at the top. The stopper itself was made to look like a winged goddess sitting on the lip of the bottle, and it was hard to tell if the bottle or the lid should be the main focus... No, scratch that—the stopper was definitely the main attraction here.
Crystal glass is created by adding lead oxide to the raw materials, making it much more translucent and sparkly than your average glass. It’s a bit of a misnomer to call glass “crystal” when it lacks a crystalline structure, but we’ll let that slide since it’s just the commercial name for the glass itself. Anyway, it sells for a much higher price than your average glass back on Earth, and it hasn’t actually been used in this world yet. Normally it’s better to cut crystal glass instead of stretch it, since that’s the best way to bring out the natural sparkle it contains. It’s a fairly common practice not to do too much extra work to it to preserve that sparkle—but this container was different. There was a plethora of finer details worked into the glass, with almost every inch of it having been cut in some way.
“Kaoru... D-Do you think we could meet the person who made this?”
“Oh, the family of the girl who made this is pretty strict actually. It seems like she made this in secret in-between doing work around the house. That’s not to mention she doesn’t do too well around guys...”
“Sh-She did it...in her spare time...”
Ah... They’re more bummed out about that instead of not being able to meet my fake friend...
“Um, I can ask her to make more for us.”
Oh, they recovered fast!
In the end, we called off putting the bottle on the store shelf. We’d already seen the reaction it caused here in the workshop, and it’d be a problem if people thought all our products were made with this much detail and quality. That was why I’d decided to find a noble who may be interested in purchasing it, and had them buy it directly from me instead.
The results: I’d sold it for a whopping three gold coins. I paid six small gold coins to the workshop as a handling fee, which was about the price of a month’s worth of groceries to cook for everyone here (not including the price of the firewood I needed as well).
Not only did I have the power to create any medicine with the exact effect I wanted it to have, I could create any container I wanted it to be in too.
Even if I can’t sell potions or use my modern-day knowledge, I can still make money!
And so, my peaceful days helping out at the workshop continued. I had plenty of money thanks to the crystal glass I’d sell every once in a while, and I could go to the library anytime I wanted now. My Item Box was packed full of supplies so I could tackle any unforeseen circumstances that came my way. I had plenty of food, spare clothes, a knife, some flint, and even a warm blanket, to name a few. I was hoping nothing would happen, since I wasn’t planning on running away from anything right now. This was all just in case though.
I’d finally gotten to the point I could say I knew as much as the average person living here, so all that was left now was to find someone who had my back and to carve out a place for myself in the world. It wasn’t like I hated how I was living right now, but I wasn’t planning on being a housekeeper my entire life here you know? I’d been reincarnated in a whole different world with cheat powers, so I wanted to have a bit more freedom with how I lived my life. The one and only Goddess of this place had even told me it was all right to influence the world if I wanted to. First, I would play it safe and make a plan for myself, then it probably wouldn’t be a bad idea to be proactive and get me some self-protection. It’d be nice if I could help people out with my potions somehow as well.