Satou here. Expanding and reorganizing are a lot of work in any business venture. It’s not just a matter of capital and facilities; the hardest part is finding the right people for the job and training them properly.
“The usual, Roro.”
“I’ll take thirty of the preserved Big Hog and ten of the odorless insect repellent.”
Once more, business was booming at the Hero’s Rest, a shop that sold primarily to adventurers in the fortress city of Arcatia.
“Satou, Bozehose will have the usual, while Daz wants number three gourmet: thirty, IR: ten,” Roro called over her shoulder. She was manning the counter.
She had long, straight blond hair and the kind of beauty they say sinks ships.
She usually wore tribal clothes that bared a lot of skin, but today she was wearing a summer version of a maid outfit that Arisa had designed. To visualize this, imagine a maid café uniform fused with a swimsuit. It was pretty racy, but since there weren’t many humans in the fortress city, she didn’t get a lot of skeevy looks.
“Master, three stamina recovery potions and five Candles of Direction.”
This next order was delivered by a black-haired girl who possessed an identical beauty to Roro’s own—Lulu.
Hair and eye color aside, the two could pass for twins, but they weren’t even sisters—their grandfather was the hero before the last, Watari. That technically made them second cousins, I think? Until they ran into each other here, neither had known the other existed.
Having two peerless beauties side by side didn’t just make the beauty meter skyrocket; it started blasting through the stars and the space-time continuum.
“Mrrr, drooling.”
If this had been a cartoon, there’d have been steam coming out her ears. The elf child Mia was tugging at my earlobes. Perhaps because she had to reach up, those pointy elf ears were peeking out from beneath her light aqua twintails.
“I’m not drooling,” I insisted, placing the wares Roro and Lulu had requested on the counter. “We might need to fetch more of the food soon.”
There was some stock left, but two or three more customers would burn through that.
“Master, resupplying product, I report.”
Nana came in, lugging a big crate from the back.
She might look like a beautiful buxom blond human, but she was actually a one-year-old homunculus.
“Nana, keep moving.”
“Where to, Master?”
“Master, praise us!”
Carrying more boxes behind her were the hamster children who worked at the Hero’s Rest.
I thanked all four of them, took the boxes, and stacked them where they wouldn’t get underfoot. I’d organize those once the flood of customers died down a bit.
“Is the larva doing well, I inquire?” Nana asked, speaking not to the hamster kids but to the wolf, Fen, who was curled up on a shelf.
Fen glanced at her, then closed his eyes like he didn’t care.
This standoffish wolf pup was actually the Divine Beast Fenrir and was the size of a mountain in his true form. He’d worn himself out fighting a greater demon and was in puppy mode while he recuperated. He could still go full wolf for a brief time if the need arose.
“Get the rest you need, I suggest,” Nana said, clearly not taking offense.
She gently stroked Fen’s head, then took the hamsters out back again.
“I’m done checking the interview paperwork, so I can help with the shop,” Arisa said, coming in. Another child, she wore the same maid uniform as the others.
She wore a blond wig to disguise her purple hair—proof she’d been reincarnated but widely seen as an ill omen.
“Mm? Where’d Liza get to?”
“The lady from the candle store came to deliver a shipment but threw out her back. They’re taking her home.”
Pochi and Tama were carrying her things.
As we discussed that and handled orders, the beastfolk girls came in the back.
They’d likely seen the crowd and avoided the front entrance.
“Byack hyooom!” cried the cat-eared kid, Tama, throwing her arms around my legs.
She’d slipped through the piles of merch without a sound—Team Pendragon’s scout, a cat ninja who’d developed her own ninjutsu.
“Homecoming, sir!” cried the dog-eared, dog-tailed kid, Pochi, glomping onto my back.
She could be a bit clumsy, so rather than weave through the stacks of crates, she’d used her “Skywalking” skill to skirt the rafters.
“Master, we escorted the lady safely home,” Liza said, coming up behind them. An orange-haired scalefolk girl.
She could be surprisingly shy and had chosen to remain in her usual military garb, eschewing the maid outfits.
“Welcome back. Hate to throw you right back into the fray, but we could use some extra hands.”
That said, the rush would die down within the hour.
“Yoo-hoo, young master!”
As the crowds died down, one of our regulars—Ms. Nona—came in.
One of the few human female adventurers in this mostly beastfolk town, she’d long been keeping an eye on Roro.
A spot of trouble led to her leaving her party and running solo, but today she had a new companion.
“The smooth-skin shop?”
There was a ratfolk girl with Ms. Nona; “smooth-skin” was a derogatory term for humanfolk, and all the regulars here instantly bristled.
But before any of them could pick a fight, Ms. Nona slapped her companion upside the head.
“Ow, what was that for?!”
“I told you not to use that word here!”
“What’s wrong with calling a smooth-skin a smooth—?”
Before she could finish, she caught the looks she was getting.
“Oh, right. My bad.”
She flinched under the weight of those glares but kept her bluff going, making a show of her apology.
“I don’t mind, personally, but we do ask that customers refrain from making racial comments on the premises.”
“Yeah, fair enough. I’ll watch what I say,” she said.
At last, the tensions eased.
“Sorry about my partner.”
“Partner…? You’re forming a new party?”
“I am. We fought on a defensive line together and ended up hitting it off.”
Ms. Nona was all smiles, and the ratfolk lady just snorted, turning her head away.
“Well, congratulations, Ms. Nona.”
“Thanks, Roro.”
Roro had come back from her break.
“What brings you here today?”
“The usual for me. And she’ll—”
“I’m after magic recovery potions. Two should sort me out.”
I let Roro handle them, turning to fill the order.
When Ms. Nona mentioned a defensive line, she meant the time the necromancer Zanzasansa led an undead army to attack the fortress city. Near the end, a greater demon had joined the fray; it had been a tough fight. It wasn’t just my party, the Great Sorceress Arcatia, and the Divine Beast Fenrir; all the city adventurers had fought well.
What was Zanzasansa’s goal? Why had the greater demon appeared? There was so much we didn’t know.
I didn’t care for that—it felt like the trouble was far from over.
“Here’s your order. Go ahead and inspect it.”
“You want me to open it up?” the ratfolk lady asked.
“Please.” I nodded.
It was a new product for her; I figured she’d be curious.
“…That’s good stuff.”
“You can tell?”
“I ain’t like you.”
Clearly, it had met with her approval.
“Would you like me do maintenance on your weapons?”
“Can you?”
“The rush has died down, so I have time.”
I took the metal sword from Nano and lightly ran a whetting stone along the blade, then applied some light oils and checked the edge.
“You should have him do the same.”
“My rod ain’t the sort of thing any ol’ store can tend to.”
The ratfolk lady was carrying a military-grade Fire Rod, so she was right about that.
“I feel like he could handle it…”
“I said no.”
I could actually do maintenance and make them myself, but I wasn’t about to force the point.
“I’d be happy to look at it if you want me to,” I said, just for the record.
And with that, the party of two turned to leave, bickering like they were on the verge of throwing down.
“Are we sure they get along?” Roro asked nervously.
“Pretty sure, yeah.”
To my eyes, they were clearly on the same page.
“I made some tea.”
“Thanks, Roro.”
Roro brought some snacks with the tea.
The rush was over, so we left Liza at the counter and took a break in the back.
“We’ll have to bring Liza some later.”
“Lulu already took care of it.”
That’s my girl. Always looking out for others.
“Roro, take a seat, and I’ll fill you in on the potential staff we’ll be interviewing,” Arisa said, rolling out a list of candidates.
“Not as many as I’d expected.”
“I already eliminated the obviously flawed.”
I’d sensed her using Space Magic, so she must have made full use of Clairvoyance and Clairaudience to run background checks on the applicants.
“But it’s still a lot to interview, so let’s narrow it down a little more.”
Perhaps since Hero’s Rest was run by humanfolk, there were a lot of those applicants.
“I’d call these our most promising. We want a few who can double as bouncers, so I’ve included several former adventurers.”
“Satou, who do you think we should choose?”
“Stop! Roro, you’re the owner here!” Arisa snapped. “You can’t put this all on my master! Pick your own employees!”
“……Right, sorry.”
Struggling valiantly, Roro picked a list to interview.
“Now for the factories and workshops.”
We were outsourcing the preserved foods and items I’d created.
Roro looked the list over with evident consternation.