The population was increasing, and there were more adventurers in Ceat Village. Given such an environment, many inns and restaurants had opened. While the Bell-Rango Trading Company mainly dealt with shops, the Mary Trading Company seemed to also manage restaurants. Perhaps due to having enough personnel, the Mary Trading Company had been increasing their staff every week.
By contrast, the Bell-Rango Trading Company didn’t have the luxury of such excess. They were handling transactions with the Adventurer’s Guild and the Mary Trading Company, buying and selling the magical beast materials and resources adventurers brought in every day, and even regularly conducting trade with the fortress cities of Murcia and Cayyenne. Although they seemed to have hired quite a number of new employees, it appeared they weren’t keeping up with training them.
However, in this world, the mere fact of having a stable job seemed to be enough of an attraction, as no one left the super-hardship Bell-Rango Trading Company. Whenever work became too overwhelming, everyone would laugh with bloodshot eyes and run around. Ah, the lively Bell-Rango Trading Company. When these merchant apprentices became full-fledged, the company would surely grow even bigger.
Well, at that time, it was likely the workload would accelerate even more.
As Van casually observed Ceat Village, without thinking about work, he saw people split into two groups: the busy and the not-so-busy. The adventurers and the Adventurer’s Guild were able to work at their own pace. After all, with Van-sama's custom-made gear and the weapons and armor crafted by skilled dwarves, they could adventure safely if they had those. Agriculture and livestock industries were also fairly relaxed.
On the other hand, the groups working hardest were the trading companies, inns, restaurants... and the people managing the territory like Van, Espada, and Murcia, along with their subordinates. These people were completely exhausted from the grueling working hours.
As for the schools and hospitals, which Van was in charge of, things were going relatively well. Hiring experienced personnel was a major factor in this success. The hospital, although newly built, didn’t have any issues thanks to the large number of adventurers who gathered medicinal herbs and other resources. So there seemed to be no problems.
Ah, then there were the most peaceful people: the Apkallu. While their numbers hadn’t increased much, they had few jobs assigned to them. They managed the sewage, cleaned up the garbage from the river to the moat, removed rocks, and cleaned the lake. They also dealt with small aquatic magical beasts and did some fishing. However, they were overstaffed for their duties, so they were quite relaxed.
Van hoped that one day, just like the Apkallu, everyone would be able to work at a relaxed pace. And of course, this included him, Van-sama!
“...Van-sama, is something wrong?”
As he was lost in thought, holding the glass of drink, he was called out by Arte.
“Ah, oh, sorry. I was just thinking about work again.”
Van quickly took a sip from the drink placed before him. The taste of the fruit, slightly tangy, spread in his mouth, and the refreshing sweetness helped to ease the fatigue that had been building up.
“This is delicious.”
As Van said that, Arte and Til made serious faces.
“...I still think Van-sama is working too much.”
“That’s right. Even though you’re the lord, Van-sama is still only ten years old. You’ve been working nonstop, and your height hasn’t...”
“Height has nothing to do with it!?”
Van responded strongly to Til’s lament. He was concerned about his height and didn’t want to be reminded of it.
As he puffed his cheeks in annoyance, Kamshin, smiling gently, spoke up.
“Don’t worry, Van-sama. You’ll grow soon enough.”
“Well, Kamshin, you’re already tall, so you’re fine. Wait, didn’t you grow again? You’re not trying to reach two meters, are you? I kind of want to take some of that and share it.”
This was a case of the haves and the have-nots. Van couldn’t help but feel a bit envious of Kamshin’s relaxed attitude. Kamshin laughed and shook his head in response.
“No, I still haven’t caught up to Dee-sama yet.”
Kamshin said this with a bright smile. It was likely that Kamushin would continue to grow, surpass Dee, and eventually surpass even Targa. Van would forever be looking up at Kamushin, and it made him feel rather sad.
Having been reminded of his height, which had been a concern lately, Van couldn’t help but feel a little negative. That wouldn’t do. Although Til and the others were laughing, Van needed to make sure he didn’t get too caught up in it.
As he reminded himself, he looked up.
Then, he noticed Espada, sitting in front of him, elegantly sipping a glass of red wine. Though they had decided it was a holiday, Van never expected Espada to go for alcohol right from the first glass.
“…Hmm. Good wine has started coming into the territory. This one is from the northern part of the Yellenetta Kingdom.”
“...Oh, there’s a sommelier.”
Van was astonished by Espada’s expert comment when the meal he had ordered finally arrived.
“Van-sama, welcome!”
At that moment, Rosalie from the Mary Trading Company appeared with a cup in hand. For some reason, she looked unusually cheerful. What was going on?
No comments:
Post a Comment