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Unexpectedly, the very next day after job offer was posted up, an Adventurer came around the evening.
“Um, is this the interview site [Haru-chan]?”
It was a female Adventurer dressed in a Monk’s outfit. The religious head covering actually made her look like a cute kokeshi doll[1]. Monks are not allowed to keep their hair long. They also can’t use bladed weapons. Instead, they carry long staffs that were, unexpectedly not for magical purposes, but were instead for hitting their enemies.
“I’m interested in working here. I’m a level 22 Monk, Kokon- ah!”
Haruna had just grabbed Kokon the Adventurer’s hands.
“Indeed. I’m so happy~! Many thanks, na! I’m at the point where I’m incredibly happy if a cat lends a paw, [2]”
“Um, the reason for my application is to level up my Monk skills through service industry work.”
“How much salary would you like? Do you have anything you wish to buy? By the way, that’s a really cool reason, but I don’t understand most of it, so please explain in simple terms!”
Was Haruna’s incredibly simple and frank reply.
“Eh! The interview has already started…? Well, higher level equipment sets are rather expensive, so I’d like to earn some money for it… However, I find it troublesome to join party groups, so..”
“Yes! We can write up a detailed contract later, na!”
Thus, the first staff was hired.
After that, the number of workers increased. Haruna now has a total of eight staffs with her. With this, [Haru-chan] officially switches over to a 24-hour business. The night shift will be manned by two people. One person must be at the counter at all times, while the other could take nap breaks in the sleeping room.
In short, this was in fact the birth of a boarding house facility in the dungeon.
This kind of service was very welcomed by the Adventurers who set out to capture the dungeon and was given a very high rating.
=====
Ever since [Haru-chan] switched over to its current 24-hour business, three weeks had passed.
On this day, Haruna was on a break, and having a very pleasant sleep on a proper bed at the inn.
“Fua~a. I slept until 10 in da morning, wa.”
The recently hired staffs were getting accustomed to the job, getting used to moving to and from the shop. Especially Kokon who was quite brisk and efficient at her job. As a kanban musume[3], her rank was only one step below that of Haruna.
Compared to Haruna’s character, Kokon was a thoroughly business-like type. It was scrucial for Monks to do things in a fair and aboveboard way, therefore all interactions with customers must be kept strictly equal.
“The rusk and healing potions, correct? That will be eight bronze coins, please. A discount? Apologies, that is not allowed. Please pay the actual price. That aside, please keep in mind that handsome ikemen[4] customers who visit this shop are charged the same rate as well! It is useless to use flattery. God does not love those who pays empty praises.”
At first, Haruna was a little worried about having such a brusque person manning the shop. However, it turned out that there were Adventurers who actually enjoyed having this sort of strict character serving them. Since she had the night shift yesterday, Haruna only had to meet the staff who were about to set out to take over the next shift in the dungeons, and then had the rest of the day to herself.
Because of the excellent weather, Haruna spent the day strolling around the Old Saxon town.
“Maa, while it’s nothing like Kuromon Ichiba Market, it has its own style, na.”
Kuromon Ichiba Market is considered one of Osaka’s typical markets, nowadays it’s considered one of the must visit popular sites with tourists.
Just by strolling through, large variety of goods could be seen for sale in the Old Saxon town.
First, there were processed goods such as salami, sausages and ham.
All kinds of cheeses were put on display.
They also have shops that sold spices, oils as well as plant based sauce blends.
One of the meat shops has all kinds of exotic meats hung up for display. The prices here were pretty steep, clearly meant for rich people’s consumption.
This is pretty similar to Japan where the rich gets to sample all kinds of exotic meats. However, the carb choices in this world was pretty lame. Basically it’s a wheat based, pasta like thing that was cut into small pieces, kind of like macaroni. They don’t even have spaghetti or any other type of noodle things. Noodles don’t seemed to be a popular thing here.
On the other hand, the poor would eat shellfish or birds, mixing the minced meat into their grain based gruel. The gruel was the cheapest and easiest way to fill the stomach, and so mostly eaten by the poor.
Common folk who have a little more spending money would sometimes eat pasta and meat, when they could afford it. Poorer people would have no choice but to eat bread since that’s the cheapest option available in the market.
Haruna passed by a lot of obviously thin people.
The common people liked to seek out Haruna whenever they can and some even called out greetings to her.
There wasn’t a single person in town who did not know about the beauty who had conquered the dungeons and opened up a shop there.
As for Haruna herself, “Old man, somehow you look handsomer today than yesterday~!”
“Little girl, how old are you? Three~? Well then, here’s three pieces of candy for you, wa~”
Was basically how she spoke to absolute strangers.
The rich often tried to get Haruna to eat dinner with them, seeing it as a chance to raise their social status with her presence.
At any rate, it’s worth it to have her eat with them even without the extra incentives. Though she’s really a middle aged auntie, her appearance was that of a beautiful young girl, a complete opposite of the dirt covered male Adventurers everywhere.
Additionally, most people just assumed that Haruna’s exoticism was due to her being a foreigner from a different country. Though she looked like a human from their world, her Osaka-ness still remained strong. This was actually a large part of her unique power and charm.
Because Haruna loved to eat, the proactive rich people proceeded to ply her with all kinds of delicious food, allowing her to enjoy all kinds of delicacies.
“This wine is really delicious, wa~ But I really want to drink mixed juice[4], na. Ah, talking about mixed juice, you never know what you’ll get since all kinds of juice gets squeezed in, na…”
“This meat is a bit gamey, but that’s not a bad thing, na. It’s just like eating ‘horumon’[5], ya na.”
“There are definitely more kinds of herbs here than in Japan. Although there are all kinds of herb this, herb that, one can’t help but feel that Japanese herbal things are kind of artificial, nothing like the natural herbs here.”
Such talk always amused the rich host and friends. Haruna was just saying things that popped into her mind as usual. Incidentally, the influence of mixed juice in Osaka is pretty strong.
During the dinner parties, Haruna would often complain. “I just feel that, it would be great if more people could eat good things like dis.” Inevitably, her influential host would give her a bitter smile and said with an impressed tone, “Haruna-san, you have a truly compassionate heart.”
Clearly, good ingredients were available. But, the range of circulation was limited. Somehow, the ingredients did not reach the hands of the common people. A big difference with Japan.
“Can’t I let more people eat healthily here?”
Haruna pondered over this matter as she walked around wearing a shirt that has a leopard’s face etched on it. She had upgraded her tools, armour and equipments quite a few times with money, but some of the original animal elements still remained.
Haruna passed by a stall selling vegetables.
While this world do have all kinds of vegetables, they haven’t gone through vigorous selective breeding and were overal quite small in size.
“Ah, these are cabbages, ya na. Though they are a little small—- eh?”
At that moment, Haruna felt as though she had been zapped by lightning.
“That’s right, I can build a second Osaka here. More importantly, all those cheap and delicious things, all of it can be prepared right here, wa!”
Translator’s note: Don’t forget to make sure you’re reading from prosperousfood.com!
[1]Kokeshi doll
[2]A cat’s assistance – Japanese proverb. Cats are notoriously lazy and apathetic, so to be desperate enough to want a cat’s help is kind of like really, really, really desperate.
[3]Kanban musume – the pretty face (often a young girl) that attracts customers. Literal translation is ‘billboard daughter’.
[4]Mixed juice – This one has quite a history. While it’s true that ‘mixed juice’ can be interpreted as ‘fruit juice’. If you look at a list of menu, you might see orange juice, apple juice, tomato juice etc, and finally mixed juice.
Apparently if you order mixed juice, it would contain all the random fruits that are about to go bad, or bits of leftover vegetables might get thrown in, add milk and tada! Mixed juice. Apparently the logic behind mixed juice is to economise the leftover bits of fruit and process it into a single drink that changes flavour every day.
http://www.sennariya-coffee.jp/index_en.html
Here’s the site that claims to be the origin of that Osaka’s thing called mixed juice.
[5]Horumon – Refers to the insides of animals. Liver, guts, tongue, stomach, heart, lungs, spleen etc. I guess it’s because that’s there where hormone comes from?