I addressed the two remaining applicants.
"I assume you two are comfortable with slimes? The others have all left."
The pair nodded silently in response to my question.
"In that case, could I have your names? Also, please let me know if you have any specific requests regarding your terms of employment. We’ll start with the gentleman on the right."
I spoke to the middle-aged man first. Both he and the woman had piqued my interest. Their clothing was quite different from what I usually saw in town; they wore outfits reminiscent of a kung fu movie, which had caught my eye the moment they walked in. Furthermore, the man’s staff and the woman’s hair ornament were...
As I observed them, the man spoke.
"I am called Fei. This is my daughter, Liilin. It would please us if you could hire us together as a pair."
He really did sound the part! And they were father and daughter.
"So, the two of you are parent and child."
"My daughter takes after her mother; she does not look like me. Also, there is one thing I must tell you."
With that, Fei showed me his right leg. It was fixed in place with a splint.
"I was a merchant from the country of Jilmar. We fled because of the war. But I was robbed of almost all my money on the way here. All I have left are our belongings and my daughter. At first, we were desperate, so I worked in the mines. But a cave-in broke my leg. I have no money to hire a practitioner of Healing Magic, so the recovery is taking a long time. Would you still hire me with a leg like this?"
A fracture... I recalled that a few casts of High Heal or a single Mega Heal could fix that. I couldn't use either myself, but the Heal Slimes should be able to manage. Even if they couldn't, it wouldn't be an issue if Fei specialized in reception work until he recovered.
"As long as you’re willing to handle reception duties until you're healed, your leg isn't a problem."
"Truly?"
"Yes. Reception is an important job. As long as you can handle customers properly, there's no issue. Do you have any salary requirements?"
"None. As long as it is enough to live on, it is sufficient."
"I see. And you, Liilin? Do you have any requests?"
"The same as my father. Enough to live on, and to be hired with him. Also, if possible, I would appreciate it if you could provide live-in quarters or help us find a cheap inn. We’re currently in a guild shelter, but we have to leave once we find work."
"Many people refuse to hire me because of my leg," Fei added. "Currently, my daughter supports us by doing odd jobs for the guild. To be honest, we have very little money left. We won't complain if the accommodations are cheap."
I had already built an employee dormitory on a whim, so housing wasn't an issue. They were willing to work for low wages, so my planned pay would be more than enough. Despite being foreign, their communication was clear.
More importantly, these two were strong—very strong. They were as poised as Jeff and his party. They looked far more capable than the bandits I’d fought or the adventurers I’d met recently. If I hired them, I could probably entrust them with security as well.
"I have rooms for employees, so you’re more than welcome to live there."
"Really? It was worth asking!"
Since the others had left, I didn't see any issue with their abilities. However, there was one concern...
"I have one last question for you... but before that, Guild Master."
"What is it?" Wogan asked.
"My apologies, but could I ask you to step out for a moment? It’s a confidential matter regarding the shop."
I kept my tone light, but I was serious. These two weren't "normal" workers.
In this world, killing in self-defense wasn't rare; I’d already killed thirty bandits myself. But with these two, it wasn't just a handful. It was the first time I’d felt this sensation. Was it the "scent of death"? I’d never encountered anything like it, not in Japan and not since coming here.
If something happened, I could handle myself, but it would be hard to fight while protecting the Guild Master.
Wogan seemed to sense my gravity, but he pushed back.
"Why are you kicking me out? If you’ve got something to say, say it in front of me."
"It concerns the shop's secrets," I insisted. I kept my attention on the pair as I spoke.
Suddenly, Fei shifted.
"Guild Master, it is fine. The shopkeeper has already seen through us."
The tension in the room snapped into a different shape. What did he mean?
"Shopkeeper, just who are you? We are former assassins, but we have no intention of becoming your enemy. Nor the Guild Master’s."
I didn't sense any bloodlust, but...
"Guild Master, did you know about this?"
Wogan sighed. "Of course I did. I don't know about other guilds, but I make it a point to vet everyone I introduce—especially foreigners. I can't have spies slipping through. These two really did flee their country. But boy, how did you notice?"
"And here we thought we were passing for ordinary civilians..." Liilin murmured.
"Only the Guild Master and you have ever seen through us," Fei said with a faint, impressed smile. "For a shopkeeper to notice our secret, you are no ordinary person. I find myself very curious about you."
"I don't have eyes like the Guild Master," I explained, "but I've studied martial arts for a long time, so I can tell if an opponent is strong. And..."
"And?"
"I noticed you were both carrying concealed weapons."
"Fei! Liilin! You brought those in here?!" Wogan barked.
"Good grief... he found that out, too."
"I had the study of hidden weapons beaten into me until I was sick of it," I said. "I was taught that the most terrifying creatures in this world are humans—they use their intellect to deceive, lure people into a false sense of security, and then strike. Hidden weapons are the culmination of that for the sake of murder. I was told that the only way to protect oneself is to study and understand them..."
It was a memory of my biological father. Looking back, it felt nostalgic.
"He used to target me all the time in our daily lives, even just passing in the hallway..."
"What kind of life were you living...?" Wogan muttered.
"You are not the same kind of person as us," Fei noted. "Your presence is different."
"You are close to us, yet not," Liilin added. "It's a strange feeling, as if you have only mastered the techniques."
To tell that much from my aura... they really were impressive.
"I did learn the techniques from my master. But I only started using them against bandits a few years ago."
"That is the difference in experience. We were tasked with eliminating traitors and criminals in our country. Jilmar is a place of war and poor order; safety cannot be maintained unless people like us do the killing. But what I said about being a merchant wasn't a lie—I was usually a proper peddler."
"Our master was defeated in the war," Liilin continued. "Our country, our jobs, and our purpose were lost. That’s why we came here. We haven't done work to be proud of. Knowing that, will you still hire us?"
"If the Guild Master approves of you, then that's enough for me. As long as you work properly, I don't care about your past."
Everyone has secrets. As long as they didn't mean me harm, I had no reason to pry.
"Truly? We thought we’d be rejected if we were found out," Liilin said.
"We were even prepared to run," Fei admitted.
"Please don't. I'm short-handed as it is, especially after everyone else left. The past doesn't matter; what matters is the work you do for me now. Also, would you be willing to act as bodyguards in an emergency?"
If Wogan knew their background and let them stay, it was fine. His judgment was better than mine anyway. Sometimes, I suspected he could see through the fact that I was actually over forty... I hoped I was wrong.
"We will work hard."
"The bodyguard duty is accepted."
"Then it's official. I look forward to working with you."
We bowed to each other.
"Is that settled, then?" Wogan called out. "Then get going. I’ve got a carriage waiting outside."
"Thank you, Guild Master."
"Don't mention it. Fei, Liilin, see that you work hard. This kid's shop has a bright future. And stop carrying those hidden weapons around!"
""I don't feel right without them,"" they said in unison.
"How long are you going to act like assassins? You're merchants now! ...Good grief. They’re odd, but they aren’t bad people, and they haven't broken any laws here. Look after them."
"I will."
"And take these. Their resumes. I listed them as military veterans. Show them to the pair from Serge’s company."
"Understood... wait, aren't you supposed to give these to me at the start?"
"Hahaha! I wanted to see what kind of eyes you had. I wanted to see who you’d pick without any information. I was surprised the others bolted so fast, but these two are a jackpot. They’re capable. And your eyes aren't half bad, either—though maybe not the eyes of a merchant. Well, good luck."
"Thank you."
I left the guild with Fei and Liilin, boarded Wogan’s carriage, and headed back to the shop.
We were met with a crowd—not as massive as the noon rush, but still significant. My two managers were clearly overwhelmed.
""Welcome back, Boss!""
"So many people..." Liilin whispered.
"Is this the shop? It is thriving," Fei noted.
"I'm jumping in to help. Calm, Carla, I'm here! Let’s focus on the customers."
"Boss, I will work too. I can carry things," Fei offered.
"I can help with the laundry," Liilin added.
"That would be a huge help! Please, just do what you can; don't overexert yourselves."
I took them up on their offer. Fei was supposed to be at the counter, but he seemed mobile enough to help.
We pushed through the evening rush and finally reached closing time. I flipped the sign and locked the door.
"Phew... Good work, everyone!"
"Good work!" the group chorused.
"Ryoma-sama, are these the new hires?" Calm asked.
"Yes. This is Fei, and his daughter, Liilin."
"I am Fei. It is a pleasure."
"I am Liilin. Nice to meet you."
"I am Calm Norad."
"And I am Carla Norad. The pleasure is ours."
"I originally planned for them to start tomorrow, but they ended up helping out today."
"We are staying here, so it is only right," Liilin said.
"Helping when it is busy is common sense," Fei added. "But may I ask one thing?"
"What is it?"
"We moved the laundry today, but when was it actually washed? We put the dirty clothes behind the wall and took the clean ones from the slimes."
I realized I hadn't explained the process. I gave them the usual rundown on the Cleaner Slimes and the goblin loincloths. They were convinced, and after seeing today's chaos, they understood what Wogan meant about the shop's potential. When I mentioned it was only our first day, they were floored.
To have this many people on day one... back on Earth, maybe only a new pachinko parlor could pull that off. In this world, a successful opening day like this was incredibly rare. Based on what I’d heard from customers, rumors had spread among the adventurers first.
It went from the goblin subjugation participants to their friends, families, and then to the general public. My greetings to Pauline and the other neighbors had also sparked interest among the local housewives.
"Many people came in the morning just to try it out because the prices were so low," Carla explained.
"In the afternoon, we saw a surge of people who had heard positive reviews from the morning crowd," Calm added. "I expect this to continue for at least a few days."
I’d underestimated the power of word-of-mouth. Or maybe my aggressive advertising had worked too well... either way, it was a good problem for the shop to have.
With the day's work done, it was time to fix Fei’s leg.
"Carla, Calm, could you handle the closing duties?"
"Certainly."
"Thanks. You two, follow me."
I led Fei and Liilin to the breakroom. I had them sit down and brought over two Heal Slimes.
They were shocked again when I told them the slimes could use High Heal, but they gratefully accepted the treatment.
Thanks to the slimes' efforts, Fei’s leg was completely restored. It took a total of six casts—three from each slime—to fully mend the fracture.
"It is fixed... I am truly grateful," Fei said, moved.
"Healing Magic is very expensive," Liilin said. "Are you sure you don't want payment?"
"It’s my job as the owner to make sure my employees can work comfortably. It doesn't cost me or the slimes anything to do this, so don't worry about it."
Intermediate healing in town cost a fortune because of the mana and skill required. A full recovery from a broken bone usually required multiple sessions, which was why Fei had been resigned to letting it heal naturally while doing odd jobs.
"If only I’d been able to bring more money from my country, I could have paid for magic sooner," Fei sighed. "But it all went to the border guards."
"Bribes?"
"The guards in Jilmar are greedy. They’ll let criminals escape if the price is right, but if you're broke, they'll turn you in for the bounty. We couldn't risk being stingy. If the bounty was higher than our bribe, we would have been caught."
"Because of our profession, the bounties on us are higher than for normal people," Liilin added quietly. "A lot of people fleeing Jilmar give up their entire life savings at the border. You can't put a price on your life."
Jilmar sounded like a nightmare. A war-torn land with no order.
After our talk, I showed them to their rooms in the dormitory so they could unpack.
I headed back to the shop, where Carla gave me the final tally for the day. I nearly choked.
"Today’s total revenue was 791 Medium Copper Coins and 8 Small Copper Coins. That's 7,918 Suut."
I asked the Norad twins—the professionals—how that compared to other businesses. They told me that a mid-sized merchant guild without noble clients usually cleared about 4,000 Suut in profit a day. We had surpassed that on our first day, even before accounting for expenses.
"This profit is staggering!" Carla said.
"At this rate, we’ll soon match the daily earnings of a major merchant guild’s branch store," Calm added.
"How much would that be?"
"Around 20,000 Suut. It’s hard to say exactly, as having noble clients usually causes the numbers to skyrocket. Luxury goods bring in massive margins."
"People will pay anything for status," Carla noted.
"I see. Well, we don't need to rely on nobles for that. If we can reach 2.5 times today’s earnings, we’ll be on par with the big players."
"I suspect we’ll reach that within the month. We haven't even processed the bulk orders from the Adventurer Guild yet."
"Maybe one day we’ll hit a Medium Gold Coin in daily sales," Calm mused.
"Haha, let’s not get ahead of ourselves," I laughed. A Medium Gold Coin was 50,000 Suut. That seemed impossible.
""It’s a real possibility,"" they said in unison.
Wait, really?
"This is a mining town," Carla reminded me. "There are thousands of miners and factory workers. Even with the closures, there are still ten thousand people here."
"And customers often bring more than one bag," Calm said. "While staying above 50,000 Suut consistently might be hard, we’ll definitely see peaks like that after major guild operations."
"I see..." So it could actually happen.
"And if you ever open branch stores in other cities, Ryoma-sama, reaching that daily income would be easy."
"Branch stores? We just opened!"
"True, but it doesn't hurt to plan. If we can find trustworthy staff, expansion is the logical next step."
I’d keep that in the back of my mind. For now, I needed to focus on the present.
"Oh, I almost forgot. Here are the resumes for the two I hired today."
They took the papers.
"They were willing to work for very little, but since I’ve asked them to serve as security as well, let's set their pay at 150 Suut a day."
"Military experience? That is reassuring," Calm said, scanning the paper.
"Understood."
I said my final goodnights to the four of them and headed back to the inn.
Once I arrived, I reported our first-day earnings to Reinhardt and the others. As expected, they were absolutely stunned.