POTION MAKER CHAPTER 09: EMPLOYMENT IN THE CAPITAL
ED: Lowe
Kaoru finally arrived at the Capital city of Brancott Kingdom.
Fortunately, thereâs a merchant who passed by in the morning and Kaoru took a ride on the carriage.
The merchant is on the way home after he sold all goods, the amount he re-purchased at that town is less the number he carried. There are plenty of room on the loading platform, so he gave Kaoru a ride.
It isnât much fast compared to walking, as the wagon isnât in a hurry. Its travel speed is at most about 20% faster.
However, itâs only 20% faster ăIf compared with an adult man in this worldă.
Compared to Kaoruâs travel speed, itâs 50% is faster.
Even though travel by wagon is faster and she can reach the goal without getting tired ⊠ ăBut ⊠my butt hurtsă
And the wagon arrived at the kingdom earlier than Kaoru thought.
The merchant seems thought that Kaoru was a small child.
He worries about letting such small child walking by herself. Besides, his son seems to be bored at the loading platform.
So he decided to help Kaoru and give his son a partner to talk with during travel.
At the age of 10 and a trainee, the boy isnât very useful for information gathering.
He is just a boy who wants to become a merchant by following the trace of his father like the way of handling tricks and customers, business, âŠ
Well, Kaoru tries asking but the boy really doesnât know anything useful.
So Kaoru is asking the merchant himself.
She brings out 3 examples of ăitems from the baronâs houseă.
Of course, she pretend that she pull it out of the bag she prepared.
The merchant told her that it would be a bit cheaper than selling it properly, but she was willing to sell it.
(With this money, I will be okay for a few days staying at the inn) (Kaoru)
Kaoru got down just before the wagon reaching the gate of the city. She thanked him properly and said goodbye.
Unlike the merchant who having a resident pass and a merchant registration pass. Kaoru doesnât have anything, from what she heard thereâs a procedure.
As expected, the Capital city is surrounded by walls and she has to go through the gate where a lot of guards are checking everyone go in and out.
As Kaoru is a new face and donât have any pass, she is guided to line up in another line.
And from there, she will recieve further questions inăWould you like to talk a little bităcorner?
(Did the guard suspect me?) (Kaoru)
ăSo, why are you traveling alone, whereâs your family?ă(Guard)
The Guard attacks. (T.N: the raw is really âattackâ , this is the refer either from Pokemon or Dragon Quest)
ăWell, everyone already died âŠ
And because my uncle took away the house that my father left behind, he even planned to sold me, so I ran away by myself âŠ
I thought if I could work in the city, I can live even by myself âŠă(Kaoru)
Kaoru counters. The guard received a critical hit!
Kaoru was able to proceed immediately. The guard was sorry, But Kaoru still has to pay 3 silver coins, because itâs a rule.
Kaoru received a temporary pass, but it seems that she has to find work early (T.N: maybe they donât want to have beggar and slum)
Of course, Kaoru originally intended to do so. Her purpose right now is working and gathering information during free time.
She canât sell Cure potions and Recovery potions anymore. At best, she can use it for herself.
Then she considers something that isnât valuable medicine but possible to sell it for a while.
(Yes, for example sodium chloride ⊠No no, itâs no good, salt is no good. Itâs dangerous to sell something without knowing the distribution of salt, price, monopoly or the like. I donât even know whether itâs sea salt or rock salt being circulated. Yeah, I will not repeat the same mistake)
(TL joke: Unlike Mile) Kaoru is a girl can who learn from her mistakes.
When she passed through the gate, Kaoru went to the Working Center that the merchant told her about.
She need to go there and find if thereâs any live-in job. If she canât find it, she has to stay at the inn tonight and the money she has will decrease.
Working Center, Unlike hunter guild that deal with rough matters such as escorts, mercenaries, subjugation and dangerous harvesting.
It is the Work Placement Center that introduces work such as ordinary employees, clerks, workers, easy and safe collections.
The employer issues a recruitment request, and at that time pays for some request registration fee.
In the event that the job is decided, The Working Center will receive the completed commission fee. This is also from the employer side. Job seekers usually have little money on their hands after all.
Of course, even if the hired person quits immediately after getting hired, that fee will not be refunded. It was the employer who decided to hire after seeing the employee after all.
After Kaoru arrived at the Work Placement Center, she quickly confirmed the recruitment content on the board.
There are various jobs but the place, industry type, recruitment conditions etc. arenât compatible with her.
Like working in the mountains nearby, heavy labour work, men only, experienced person etc âŠ
Itâs also no good if Kaoru doesnât have enough free time. Because it will hinder her information gathering.
She can save money if she has a live-in job. Of course not a job with no free time like living as maid on a noblemanâs mansion ⊠and so on.
She tried to apply for as a salary girl once, but as a minor, she was refused because she canât be a receptionist.
Even of Kaoru says she is 15 years old. Others will just think that she lied to work, and when they already thinks she is lying, of course they canât choose her.
In the end, she choose to become a live-in waitress of a certain dining hall.
Outside of office hours, she is free to do anything like information gathering.
She is also thankful that meals will be served as well.
ââŠââŠââŠââŠââŠââŠâ
(T.N: I donât know how long but it must be at least weeks or months later)
ăOh, Itâs already this late. Letâs take a break for todayă(Fabio)
With Fabioâs word, Fernand Brancott, the first prince of Brancott Kingdom stops his paper work with a big sigh.
Fabio is the son of the prime minister of this country.
Alan, son of another minister.
The two of them are Fernandâs childhood friends.
Of course, they didnât happen to become friends by chance.
It is the so-called ăschool friendsăwhat were decided between parents.
Three people became friends with the speculation of their parents, but their personality matched well, and they had become real friends.
As for Fabio, he behaves like the presidentâs son.
And Alan is like a hunter who lives in a downtown, a man who lives with sword.
When choosing him as a school friend, his parents would have never thought that Alan would become like this.
However, Fernand and Fabio liked that part of Alan, too.
Everyone is already 18 years old, theyâre already at the age for marriage.
Especially Fernand, the prince of this Kingdom. However, the three of them still wanted to fool around with each other.
ăFinally ⊠Itâs time for lunch, shall we have it here?ă(Fabio)
ăNo, we should go eat outside with Alan todayă(Fernand)
Because the meal of the castle sometimes doesnât suit his taste. He should bring Fabio to eat outside, as Alan always goes eating out of the castle. Fernand thought so.
ăOkay then, let me treat you today!ă(Alan)
ăWell, thatâs kinda âŠă(Fabio)
Alan pushing the embarrassed Fabio out while Fernand immediately preparing clothing for going out.
âŠââŠ
ăHere, Itâs just a small shop, but itâs a fun placeă(Alan)
This is the shop that Alan started eating in recently.
And as friend, he wanted to bring Fabio by all means. He never thought that Fernand would follow them though.
Fernand and Fabio hesitates for a moment in front of the dining hall that everyone is commoner. They feel out-of-place, especially Fernand. But Alan invited them today, they decided to get in.
When entering the dining hall, thereâre only a few customers because they are far passed the lunch time.
Alan picked up the item put on the table, take a seat appropriately and showed it to them.
ăHere, thereâre the name of the cuisine over there, Itâs really interestingă(Alan)
Fernand and Fabio turned their line of sight, and saw that there were some cooking names written there.
ăLetâs see,ăSoft soup pastaă, ăSoup rice plum or salmonă, ăegg wrapper tomato chicken riceăâŠ, what is this?ă(Fabio)
Those are dishes that he has never heard before, Fabio has a dumb face as he says that.
ăWell, leave it to me. Hey, ăegg wrapper tomato chicken riceăfor three!ă(Alan)
ăHey, you selfishly decided for us tooâŠă(Fabio + Fernand)
With Alan deciding everything by himself and orders three portion. The other two are quite unsatisfied with that.
Alan asked the waitress when she carries the dishes to their table.
ăEme-chan, is the shop okay with the consultation today?ă(Alan)
ăWell, for now, only some parents and children left. I think itâs okay, so which course?ă(Eme)
As Alan said that, the Waitress Eme left the table happily.
ăWhat is this all about ⊠Alan, what are you plotting âŠă(Fabio)
ăWell, it will be fun time afterwards! By the way, if you do not eat it sooner, it will cool down and lose the taste!ă(Alan)
Alan told them so, they also thought it was strange but they began to eat the dishes.
ăHuh?ă(Fabio + Fernand)
They looked surprised and stopped holding the spoon for a moment, but immediately moved the hand and resumed the meal. Theyâre eating quite fast.
ăHow come it taste so good, I shouldnât make a fool out of the common peopleă(Fabio)
ăYes, certainly. It was something worth going out to eată(Fernand)
Alan have a smug face when hearing and Fabio didnât refute this time. And soon after Alan had a mischievous face and said.
ăWhat are you saying? Although cooking is also good, I wonât bother to take the busy Fabio out of the castle just for thisă(Alan)
Fernand is wondering whatâs so interesting, so he quietly listens to Alan.
ăLooks like itâs time they stop Orderă(Alan)
After Alan said that, a girl appeared from the kitchen, heading towards a table next to Alan. Thereâs someone looking like a merchant.
Her age was about 10-12 years old, she has a rare black hair with black eyes, a somewhat exotic style of facial features
Itâs cute ⊠she is definitely cute, but how did we say about her, her gaze is slightly harsh ⊠or, to be clear, her appearance is cute but her eyes is bad.
ăThat girl is Kaoru, I wanted to show her to Fabio todayă(Alan)
ăThat girl?ă(Fabio)
Alan giggles to the surprised Fabio.
ăThatâs right, as soon as we get an order stop and wait a little. She will open a consultation shop with permission from the master. She will also share the profit with other waitresses. Everyone willingly accept to do the remaining workă(Alan)
As Alan said so, the girl arrived at the next table.
Three people try to listen.
ăThank you very much, Boman-san, what kind of consultation are you having today?ă(Kaoru)
ăOh, todayâs client is my son, Charles. It seems that there is something he want to hear from youă(Boman)
ăI see, it will be 5 small silver coins. Well then, Charles-kun, please asks me anythingă
The cute girl smiled at him, and the boy about 10 years old asked her while blushing.
ăUhm, I heard about you before, what I want to ask is: There are ăcustomers that keep complainingă⊠It is just a few in many customers. So I want to cut down such troublesome customers. It would be better for me to take care of a large number of customers. I donât want to bother with such customers ⊠even if I please them, we can only get a small profit after all. Is it good to do that?ă(Charles)
With the question from the young boy, Kaoru gently smiles and answers.
When the boy see her smiling face, the boy feels un-rest.
ăNo, in fact, many people donât complain but it doesnât mean that thereâs nothing to complain about. They just donât bother to do such troublesome thing. They only need to go to another store after all.
Itâs not like those people donât complain at all because theyâre satisfied. And even if they donât say it to the shop, they will complain to other people.
Then, the number of customers will gradually decrease before you notice it. But if there are some people who bother to complain and tell you the bad place of the shop. Doesnât Charles-kun think that you can improve your shop and satisfy more people when you already know where to fix? Donât you think you should say thanks to that customer instead? ă(Kaoru)
ăYesă(Charles)
ăAnd sometimes, there are people that demands money by threatening your shop. (ă§ăăæă ăăăăăăȘăăăšăèšăŁăŠăéăăăłăăăšăăäșșăăăŸă) For this kind of person, You absolutely shouldnât give out any money. You may thinkăSuch trouble can be avoided just by losing a little profită. But if the news that âyour shop will give out money when get threatened spreads out. The rogues throughout the country will target your shop. For that reason, such person must be crushed. Even if we lost some profit for thată(Kaoru)
ăYesă(Charles)
ăAlso, if the shop will change when the customers give advise, donât you think the customers will be glad and keep returning?ă(Kaoru)
ăYes, indeed âŠă(Charles)
ăCharles-kun, customers are not a duck for merchant to suck up money. They are equal trading partners, friend, and a teacher who will teach a lot of thingsă(Kaoru)
ăI seeâŠă(Charles)
The girlâs explanation continued, and the parents were also impressed.
[Hey, whatâs with that girl! Who is she!] (Fabio)
[Thatâs funny, is not it?] (Alan)
[It would be too funny!] (Fernand)
[Wasnât she saying that the fee was 5 small silver coins? But Alan, you said you put out 5 silver coins?] (Fabio)
[Fabio, I will hand over your question right to you, think about it now] (Alan)