By the Grace of the Gods: Volume 2

by Roy

  “Thank you for your consideration.”

  Our conversation ended there, and I returned to town to finish demolishing the building.

  Because the job at the mines ended before lunch, I still had time leftover after finishing all the weeding and demolition. The land foundations were still good, so now I had to decide on a building...

  It was at this point that my gaze wandered to the front of the land, where I noticed several children were watching me.

  “Do you need something?”

  I called out to them gently, and a particularly young boy among the group answered.

  “Never seen you before! Who are you, anyway?!”

  “Hey, Rick! Don’t be rude!”

  The hostile words made a girl standing next to the young boy scold him, and the oldest-looking boy bowed his head instead.

  “Sorry for that. Rick is a bit of a brat. And sorry for disturbing your work.”

  “Oh no, I was so focused that I didn’t notice at all. I’m almost done anyway, so it’s not a problem.”

  Rather than that, I was more curious about these children’s ages.

  Were they children? Could they be like that adventurer group, where the smallest was actually the oldest?

  “Really? Thanks. You seem cool. You don’t look that much different in age to me, yet you can use magic so well.”

  “Are you a magician, mister?”

  “An adventurer?”

  The group of kids fired one question after another. Their carefree and outspoken questions were a little overwhelming, but I would do my best to answer — when a woman’s voice called over them first.

  “Calm down! The poor boy can’t answer if you all ask at once!”

  I looked in the direction of the voice to see a woman of good physique standing there.

  “Sorry if the children were bothering you.”

  “They weren’t a bother at all, but thank you.”

  “Hmm, you seem rather polite for your age. I wish my son would be the same. Are you an adventurer?”

  “Yes, I registered just the other day.”

  “I see. Well, do your best. Are you here on some job today? This empty lot’s looking clean for the first time in ages.”

  “No, I’m preparing to open a laundry service here. ...Ah, sorry. My name is Ryoma Takebayashi.”

  “I’m Pauline. This cheeky one is my son Rick, and that tomboy is my daughter Renny.”

  “I’m Rick, currently accepting henchmen!”

  “What kind of rubbish are you on about?! Sorry about him, I’m Renny. Nice to meet you.”

  “I’m Thor, hello.”

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, I’m Ryoma Takebayashi. Are you all locals of this neighborhood?”

  “Yeah, both these kids and my kids live in the residential area over there. And I own the florist next door.”

  “Oh, then that makes us next door neighbors. I’ll pay you a proper visit at a later date, so I hope we can get along in the future.”

  “It’s fine, don’t worry about that. Anyways, did you mention a laundry service? Will you wash clothes for money?”

  “Yes.”

  I took out one of the individual sized bags from my Item Box and gave a simple explanation.

  “This is the bag for single households. It’ll cost 1 medium bronze for a bag of this size to be washed.”

  When I said that, Pauline expressed her interest.

  “1 medium bronze for this? That’s cheaper than I expected.”

  “If you’d like, I can give you a free trial once the store is open. Since we’re next door neighbors.”

  “Really? Then I’ll take you up on that offer.”

  After that, I asked her about the local area before thanking her and going home.

  Chapter 2 Episode 23: Store Setup 2

  Store Construction, Day 3.

  As a result of thinking all night at the inn, I determined that a two-story building with a basement was the limit of my architecture skill. Thus, I would experimentally use my architecture skill to its limit and construct a two-story building with a basement.

  However, there was too much land to dedicate entirely to the storefront, so I decided half would be for the store, a quarter would be for employee dorms, and the remaining quarter would be a backyard.

  I planned the land for the storefront with Create Block, simultaneously digging the basement and creating stone material. The completed bricks were transported by the slimes to be stored.

  With the whole that was created from that work, I used my architecture skill to create the earth magic Pavement, reinforcing the ground into a solid foundation. It was like compressing the ground and hardening it, removing any cracks until it became a single flat layer of stone. This way, it was like completing the foundation works on Earth of macadam, leveling concrete, and base concrete at once.

  In Japan, there was a step in-between leveling concrete and base concrete to place bar reinforcement, but there was no construction knowledge of that in this world. Was that okay? It made me worry about earthquakes... Was it unnecessary in places without earthquakes?

  My knowledge of Earth architecture ended at my part-time job experience, and there was no knowledge of it in this world. For now, all the foundation work used in this world was done... It should be good enough for now, and I didn’t want to ruin anything with my vague knowledge.

  I stacked the stone blocks from earlier up, using the sticky slime’s hardening solution in place of concrete, which hardened for more reinforcement. This work didn’t require magic, so I asked the slimes to help too and steadily progressed until I could put up stone pillars with magic. The basement and its walls, the first floor base and outer walls of the store were done.

  Magic was truly convenient. I hadn’t used any wood or a single sute up until here. It was a simple build consisting of a stone box with stone pillars and reinforced walls, but it should be more than sturdy enough.

  Everything was going so smoothly that, for a second, I played around with the idea of creating ancient temple pillars like those I had seen in my school textbooks, but I stopped. There was no need to make the basement that extravagant.

  I’ve used a fair bit of magic already, so I should wrap it up for today...

  ■　■　■

  Store Construction, Day 4.

  On the base of the first floor, I divided sections for rooms with hardening solution and stone bricks. Then, I made the second floor, which took up the whole day.

  ■　■　■

  Store Construction, Day 5.

  I created the ceiling and furnished the interior. Then, after cutting down some of the trees near the mines, I used my woodworking skill knowledge to process wood with magic.

  With alchemy, I could slowly draw the moisture out of the wood. Then, I applied the wind magic Windcutter to imitate lumber processing on Earth by developing a new magic called Circle Saw. I then mixed wind magic and earth magic to create Polish Wheel to further refine the planks that were created.

  The spell worked by using Break Rock to create sand and spin it around Circle Saw like a tire. Instead of slicing things, the magic would use the rapidly rotating sand within the wind to polish the surface of an object.

  Many of the wood that was dried by alchemy had bends in it from where the moisture was removed. But, well, since it wasn’t being used for pillars, it should be fine.

  Processing the wood and planks took a whole day in itself...

  ■　■　■

  Store Construction, Day 6.

  Using the wooden materials prepared yesterday, I created shelves and counters. Afterward, I used sticky solution as a replacement for varnish, coating them before letting them dry. I covered the walls and floor with planks too. A stone building gave a rather gloomy feeling for a shop.

  I used earth magic to adjust things until the interior had a more wooden feel to it, at which point I noticed the cleaner slimes were acting weird.

  Were they eating the sawdu
st from my work? They ate filth, but they never usually ate rubbish on their own... If they were scavenger slimes, maybe... Hmm? They weren’t eating it, but gathering it together and spitting it all out in one spot? ...They were cleaning?!

  I hurriedly used Monster Appraisal on the cleaner slimes to find they had a new level 1 skill called Cleanup. I had no idea such a skill existed — was it even a skill a slime could learn? ...Well, it was a bit late to question that. Some had already learned pole mastery.

  When I checked the other slimes out of curiosity, an acid slime had level 1 in woodworking.

  All I did was give it some simple tasks in helping with the demolished building’s wooden rubble, holding a tool to chip away at the wood, and using its acid to melt wooden materials for simple processing... Was this all it took to learn skills in this world?

  ...Well, who cared as long as I made progress? Yeah, let’s leave it at that.

  After that, I chopped some planks and left the adjustment of size and shapes to the acid slime, increasing my work efficiency even more. Seeing the resulting wood, it seemed like the acid slime could do a surprisingly good job.

  ■　■　■

  Store Construction, Day 7.

  The interior of the customer-facing section was done. All that was left was the exterior. It wouldn’t impact business to have blocks the color of hardened dirt, but I wanted to apply some treatment to it. A laundry service was a kind of cleaning shop... The first color that came to mind was white. If possible, I wanted the outer walls to be white, or at least a cleaner color than dirt.

  This was something even I couldn’t fix through magic, so I decided to visit Serge and ask about it.

  “So you want to make the walls white...”

  “Is that doable?”

  “It is, but it’s uncommon to do that for a business. It’s mostly used for mansions belonging to the nobility, as white stone is expensive and any dirt on the surface would stand out.”

  “That’s true... but I don’t think the current color of the outer walls is ideal for a laundry service. Wouldn’t a white wall feel more sanitary than the color of dirt?”

  “Indeed it would. I definitely agree with you there. But we don’t have much stock of it, either.”

  It was a bit late for it now, but I should have gone to a carpenter or engineering firm if I wanted assistance with construction. Actually, why did he have any stock at all?

  “Our Morgan Trading Company prides itself on its product lineup. Even if there’s no stock, we are able to obtain most items if given enough time.”

  Which meant I could order things too, huh? But I spent a lot of money buying the land already... Come to think of it, wasn’t this town a mining town with iron mines?

  “Mr. Serge, this town has an ironworks, right?”

  “That it does, but how will that help?”

  “If there’s an ironworks, then does that mean they use lime in their iron manufacturing?”

  “You are well informed. Indeed, lime is used.”

  “Is it possible to obtain that lime? For a cheap price, if possible.”

  “It is. My stores also carry it in stock, and it isn’t a very expensive product to begin with.”

  “Great. Then perhaps I could harden the lime into white stone material.”

  Lime was a building material used in Japan for plaster too. There was no issue with the color, either. While I didn’t know how to make plaster, I could just turn it into blocks with magic. If I coated it in sticky slime solution, it’d be protected from rain and dirt as well.

  That idea hadn’t occurred to Serge, who immediately went to prepare the lime. It could be transformed into slaked lime with alchemy and water, and could be refined into blocks from a single lump.

  Serge seemed interested in the aspect of a cheap white stone material, but I made myself scarce after buying a large sack of lime. He was a good person, but I wanted to focus on my store first.

  I returned to the store and silently worked at producing stone bricks to paste on the walls. I had finished covering the house as the sun was starting to set, and after I hardened the gaps with magic and lime I called upon all my sticky slimes. Then the sticky solution coating on the white exterior was complete.

  There was still a fair bit of lime left, which I stored in my Dimension Home for now.

  “It’s coming together well.”

  My rushed construction was generally done. But this time, with how white the store was, its appearance started to look a little lonely.

  I would have liked to plant some lawn so that the exposed dirt could be hidden, but...

  ...Come to think of it, the next door neighbors were florists. They might sell seeds.

  With haste, I headed over. As I stood outside the store, a voice could be heard.

  “Welcome! Ah, it’s Ryoma!”

  “Hello... Renny.”

  I couldn’t remember her name for a second.

  “There’s no need for any of that. I’m younger than you, just talk to me however. So, what’s up?”

  “Okay, Renny. I want to buy flowers or grass seeds.”

  “Seeds? We have several types. One sec. Mom!”

  Renny yelled into the store loudly, where Pauline was talking to two women at the counter.

  “Don’t yell, it’s terribly impolite.”

  “I’m only yelling ’cause you won’t stop talking, Mom! And you have a customer!”

  “Oh, if it isn’t Ryoma. Did you come to buy something?”

  “My, is this Ryoma?”

  “He’s so tiny; how impressive.”

  The two women who were chatting with Pauline came along too.

  “Hello, I’m Ryoma Takebayashi.”

  “Oh my, how polite indeed. I’d love for my child to learn a thing or two like that. I’m Kiara, nice to meet you.”

  “I’m Mary, it’s a pleasure to see you. I’ve heard the rumors.”

  “Rumors?”

  “You’ve been building your store next door for a few days in a row now, yes? It’s come together so well, everyone’s been talking about how you’re a master magician.”

  “I only use lifestyle-related magic, really, so I just happened to be good at this kind of work.”

  “That’s more than remarkable already, if you can build such a sturdy looking building. The rumors also say you keep a large number of slimes.”

  “That would be the truth.”

  “We know; we’ve seen it with our own eyes.”

  “There were an amazing number of slimes carrying the blocks you made.”

  “You saw that?”

  “It was my first time seeing slimes move like that. I couldn’t help but stare.”

  “Tamers aren’t rare to see in Gimul Town, but their monsters are all terrifying. Oops, you were here to shop. What did you need?”

  “Do you have any flower or grass seeds?”

  “I do. The flower seeds will vary in cost based on their type, but grass seeds are 130 sutes a bag. How much do you need?”

  “I’d like to plant a lawn around the store I just built...”

  I tried calculating how much I would need, which Pauline saw and offered to help with.

  “Could you show me around your store? I can give you some advice.”

  “Thank you so much.”

  I led Pauline over, trailed by Renny, Kiara, and Mary. Guess everyone was coming along for the ride.

  The four of them stopped when they saw my store and examined it carefully.

  “Is something the matter?”

  “I’m surprised. Was the store this color this morning?”

  “I repainted it just now. I thought a dirt-colored store didn’t seem clean enough for a store offering a laundry service, so I bought lime and worked on it with some magic and slimes.”

  “Huh... you really work fast.”

  “This does look much cleaner.”

  “A laundry service, you say? Perhaps I’ll try it out as well. If I could save on laundry, I’d
have more time for other housework.”

  “Please come and try it. Since we’ve just become new acquaintances, I’ll give you a free trial.”

  I took out two bags from my Item Box and gave them one each. I had to secure customers where I could!

  After that, I had Pauline make a selection for me and purchased 15 bags of grass seeds and two bags each of four types of flowers. I’d start planting them tomorrow.

  Speaking of which, who was it that told me I could put an advertisement up on the guild bulletin board again...?

  I should visit the guild tomorrow, for the sake of my scavenger slimes making fertilizer as well.

  With that decided, it was time to go home and think about the ad details!

  Chapter 2 Episode 24: Store Setup 3

  “Hmm...”

  After returning to the inn, I began thinking about the advertisement. But there was one thing I couldn’t quite settle on. The name of the shop. I couldn’t come up with anything clever...

  As I was painstakingly pondering over it, Sebas dropped by.

  “Have you returned, Master Ryoma?”

  “Yes, I’m here.”

  “Master Ryoma, my lady would like to invite you to have tea together.”

  “That sounds nice. I just hit a dead end with my work anyway. I shall gratefully accept.”

  It would be a good change of pace.

  “I’ve been waiting, Ryoma.”

  “Please have a seat.”

  “Thank you very much.”

  I took a sip of the tea that was served, which was when Reinhart asked, “Seems like you’ve been working hard lately. You haven’t been pushing yourself, have you?”

  “No, I’m fine.”

  “How’s your work coming along?”

  “The store’s almost done. All that’s left to do tomorrow is to plant some grass and flowers around the store, grow them with wood magic, then make some billboards and signs.”

  “Huh?! You’ve already completed that much?!”

  “Ryoma, have you actually been pushing yourself?”

  “No, not in particular.”

  “Master Ryoma, I heard that you were building with earth magic. How much magic energy do you think you’re using every day?”

  “Let me think... I use it until just before the symptoms of magic fatigue show up. The rest I do by hand, if I can.”