Konbini Ossan Volume 3 Chapter 1 — The Hiring
Some days later, Shuri-kun returned to my shop with an official document.
We concluded a formal agreement, and he would now regularly procure magic Light Stones from me.
Additionally, my store, The Cave Dwarf’s Magic Tool Shop, was officially designated as a supplier affiliated with the court magician.
In short, this means that whenever the court magician needs to acquire something for research purposes, my shop will be the named source.
Thanks to this, funds can be allocated under the pretext of “research purposes” and funneled to me.
Of course, every time, we’ll need to come up with a plausible research justification to make the budget request look legitimate.
Still, this isn't debt — it's money that I can use freely. Compared to a simple business loan, this is a far better arrangement.
With that, the financial situation is starting to look more stable.
But the remaining issue is manpower — in other words, the employees who will work at my store.
The plan is to educate orphans and raise them into valuable personnel.
However, they won’t be a viable workforce right away.
In fact, it’s more accurate to call the orphans future candidates for management positions.
As for general staff, I intend to recruit from the public.
And so, I decided to post job listings to hire new employees for the magic tool shop.
The reason being, as the product lineup expands, we can expect business to get busier.
Especially since I also plan to handle many responsibilities beyond customer service.
Arisa can’t possibly handle more work alone. Thus, I decided to hire two or three new employees.
My target? Widows who have lost their adventurer husbands.
(E/N: 😏 Milf Supremacy!!!)
Why? Because word-of-mouth among adventurers and their social circles helps job info spread quickly.
More importantly, I figured these women would likely be available to work stable hours.
Of course, I didn’t go around saying things like, Please introduce me to any widows you know.
Instead, I casually brought up the job opening in small talk with adventurers, as if I were recruiting ordinary staff.
Then I explained how the job allowed for steady hours, how it wasn’t physically demanding, and how the tasks were simple.
And lo and behold, the information spread naturally among adventurers, and eventually reached the widows.
Due to the nature of adventuring, most social ties are with fellow adventurers or their families.
People already employed aren’t going to jump at a job listing. And because adventurers can’t maintain stable working hours, they won’t apply either.
Naturally, the information filters down to the families — and among them, the ones most urgently in need of work are widows who’ve lost their husbands, and thus their main source of income.
If their husbands were still alive, these women would remain homemakers — or, if the income wasn’t enough, they’d already be working.
For all those reasons, I expected widows to apply. Of course, I was open to hiring anyone who met the conditions, not just widows.
(E/N: LIE! 🤥)
As a result of the recruitment, I received two applications.
The first was, just as I expected, from a widow. She had just lost her husband, a C-rank adventurer, and was eager to start working.
She passed the interview with no personality concerns. She could also do basic arithmetic. Naturally, I hired her on the spot.
Then came the second application — a bit of an unusual case.
The applicants were a well-dressed woman and a boy and girl who looked just like her.
“Nice to meet you, Otsugi-sama. My name is Maria.”, said the well-dressed woman, Maria, as she bowed politely.
I returned the bow and got straight to the point.
“Now then, Maria-san, what brings you to apply for this position?”
“Yes. Actually—”
And so, Maria-san began to share her story.
Four years ago, she lost her husband — who, as it turns out, was an A-rank adventurer.
He left her with more than enough money, so she hadn’t needed to work these past four years.
However, as she raised her children while staying at home, her social ties began to fade, and she occasionally felt lonely.
That’s when she began considering employment. Preferably somewhere she could work with her children.
She didn’t want to leave them alone at home. But there aren’t many jobs that allow children to work — let alone one willing to hire all three at once.
That’s when she heard about my job posting and became interested. She thought, If it’s simple work, even children could handle it.
“However, having all three of you working together all the time might be difficult.”, I admitted honestly, unable to fully meet her request.
But Maria-san shook her head.
“I understand. Depending on the situation, I don’t mind. If Otsugi-sama is willing to watch over them properly, I’m even open to just my children working.
…
And I’m not asking for a full childcare service — just having a space in your store where they can be while I work would also be enough.”
“I see… That makes it more manageable.”
If that’s the case, we can make the shifts work. Fortunately, we still have room on the second floor of the store.
We could temporarily repurpose one of the rooms as a daycare space.
“Still, is there a particular reason you’re so reluctant to be separated from your children?”
“Yes, actually—”
Maria-san then gently brushed aside the hair covering the ears of the boy and girl — Tio-kun and Tiana-chan.
Their ears were clearly visible — and pointed in a way that no human’s could ever be.
“My children… are half-elves.”
——————
E/N:
Call me twisted but a man being with/taking care of a widow and her children sounds absolutely lovely. Taking it a bit further, if the man is younger, it's even spicier and scandalous.
First chapter of Volume 3 and we off to a good start… or so I would like to believe! Stay tuned!
——————
Comments
Post a Comment