After persuading Hedwig, I returned to the shop and explained the situation to the owner. While he was surprised at first about how I persuaded him, understanding the cause of Hedwig’s anger, he seemed convinced about why Hedwig had been upset, though still discouraged.
“For now, I don’t know if he’ll make them for you again, but he said he wants to apologize to you, so he’ll probably come by before long.”
“I see, thank you very much.”
Exchanging just those words, our talk shifted to negotiating for the stall, but here the owner insisted he didn’t need payment.
Naturally, selling merchandise requires selling above the wholesale price to avoid losses. He wouldn’t just hand over the purchased goods for free except under special circumstances.
“Please just consider this as thanks for today’s matter. And it seems we’ll be able to obtain the same goods in the future too.”
“Alright, I’ll take it without reservation then.”
And so I was able to obtain the stall for free in essence without paying anything.
After storing the stall in my storage, and exchanging a word with the owner, Machad and I left the shop. We returned to the clothes store where the slave girls were, but the place had turned into a bit of a battlefield.
“I saw this first!”
“Well, I did too!”
“This fabric looks nice. I’ll take it.”
“Umm, hmm, so hard to choose…”
“Who cares about clothes? Just hide the parts you don’t wanna show and that’s good enough, right?”
“No, Carifa. You have to choose these things properly or you’ll regret it later.”
I’d heard women take a long time shopping, but around thirty to forty minutes had passed since we left them, yet the slave girls still hadn’t settled on clothes.
Some slaves who didn’t fuss over clothes seemed to have decided, but then got told by the other slaves to look again, restarting their shopping.
Seeing this, Machad and I could only stand there dumbfounded. Witnessing this scene made me freshly aware of just how vastly different women’s values regarding shopping are from men’s.
Anyway, since it was a waste of time, I decided to just buy up all the clothes piled in the cart they’d picked out, and have around thirty of each underwear size picked out for them, distributing them as needed later. Truly a splurge.
The slave girls were stunned by this extravagant shopping, but I intend to pay the slaves wages below market rate but appropriate for the work once cookie sales start. So they’ll be able to buy personal belongings with their wages later, but this much should be fitting as a welcome gift.
While in my original world, this kind of welcome gift of underwear could potentially constitute sexual harassment, lacking any laws restricting such things in this world’s legislation, and the fact that they don’t feel uncomfortable themselves, I’d like to think it just barely stays safe.
For now, I decided this resolves the issue of the slaves’ clothes, and took them along to an uninhabited vacant lot with no one around.
Due to lack of funds to maintain them, within the royal capital, there are many lots where mansions of declined nobles and merchants were demolished, leaving empty land that’s just being managed. Lacking anything but weeds, not even orphan slum residents or vagrants approach these places.
But for me right now, they’re extremely convenient as places where no one can see us. The land is managed by the country, and I’m close with the king at its peak, so I’m counting on it being fine if used without permission as long as I report afterward.
Arriving at the vacant lot, I take out the stall obtained earlier and look over the slaves as I explain.
“Listen, I ‘hired’ you all for manufacturing and selling this.”
“Whatcha talkin’ ’bout? Oof―”
“Eat it… Got it coming to ya.”
Carifa immediately reacted to my explanation, so I flicked a cookie from my storage at her. As expected, she deftly catches it without dropping the thrown cookie and starts eating.
“Whaf if fis!! Sho good!!”
“You’ll be making these from scratch and selling them from this stall. Those with cooking skills will manufacture them, those with serving experience will handle customers, and those confident in strength will deal with unreasonable demands and foolish muscleheads.”
“Excuse me, Master―”
“I’m not your master. The one who contracted you as slaves is Machad here. Don’t get that wrong. Anyway, questions? Go ahead.”
I firmly emphasize to the slaves that I’m not their master and say I’ll answer if they have any questions. Some look a little unconvinced, but it seems they’ll set that matter aside for now based on my own words.
Amidst this atmosphere, the cooking team representative, Meranda, speaks up on their behalf.
“Earlier you said you ‘hired’ us, but what does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
“In other words, employees hired to sell those cookies, is that right?”
“That’s right. So if you work properly, I’ll pay wages below market rate but appropriate, and if you work enough to cover the slave purchase price, I’ll even consider freeing you from slavery.”
“R-really!?”
My words make the slaves’ faces flush. It’s extremely commonplace for slaves to serve their masters without pay, often not even getting proper meals day to day, let alone wages.
Yet they seem doubtful of my words, talking of paying wages for labor and even freeing them once they’ve worked enough to cover the slave purchase price, like some fairy tale.
“Machad. What’s the situation with the slaves hired at your place?”
“Yes. Most have already earned their purchase amount, but with nowhere else to go and difficulty surviving as free people again, most have refused to be freed from slavery.”
“I see. For now, have twenty of you work in three shifts. Payment will be commission-based on cookie sales, so it will fluctuate. Any other questions?”
“Yes.”
“You there… who was it again?”
“It’s Shifan. What will we do about lodging? Just sleep rough wherever?”
Hiding my revulsion internally at how she nonchalantly speaks of how slaves are treated, I maintain a poker face and answer her question so she doesn’t realize.
“Remember the bathing area from earlier? I’ll build new lodging there for you all to live in.”
“So we’ll be sleeping rough until then?”
“What are you saying? I can prepare a place to endure the elements today.”
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
“Rolando-sama, normally you would hire builders and artisans to construct a house, taking many days…”
“Oh, right.”
Since I can throw something together with a bit of magic, there was a disconnect from her common sense. But relying on artisans would take too much time, so I tell them I’ll build it directly myself, leaving the slaves wide-eyed in surprise.
“Anyway, that’s enough questions for now. I’ll start teaching you all how to make cookies, so the cooking team remember it. Serving and guard teams, uh… Since you’ve got free time for now, Machad will teach the serving team basics of customer service, and guard team, train with mock battles far enough away to not disturb us.”
“W-wait a minute, Rolando-sama! Are you listening!?”
Saying that, I take some wooden swords for mock battles out of storage and hand them to the guard team. Looking delighted, they eagerly accept them, saying things like “Haven’t exercised in ages!” and start warming up a short distance away.
Meanwhile, Machad seems shocked at suddenly being given an important task, but when I glare at him saying “You’re a merchant’s son, you must’ve had customer service drilled into you right? Do it,” he reluctantly takes the serving team away in the opposite direction of the guard team.
Seeing them off, I mutter “Geez” with a shake of my head, then face the cooking team.
“Alright, now I’ll teach you how to make cookies.”
After persuading Hedwig, I returned to the shop and explained the situation to the owner. While he was surprised at first about how I persuaded him, understanding the cause of Hedwig’s anger, he seemed convinced about why Hedwig had been upset, though still discouraged.
“For now, I don’t know if he’ll make them for you again, but he said he wants to apologize to you, so he’ll probably come by before long.”
“I see, thank you very much.”
Exchanging just those words, our talk shifted to negotiating for the stall, but here the owner insisted he didn’t need payment.
Naturally, selling merchandise requires selling above the wholesale price to avoid losses. He wouldn’t just hand over the purchased goods for free except under special circumstances.
“Please just consider this as thanks for today’s matter. And it seems we’ll be able to obtain the same goods in the future too.”
“Alright, I’ll take it without reservation then.”
And so I was able to obtain the stall for free in essence without paying anything.
After storing the stall in my storage, and exchanging a word with the owner, Machad and I left the shop. We returned to the clothes store where the slave girls were, but the place had turned into a bit of a battlefield.
“I saw this first!”
“Well, I did too!”
“This fabric looks nice. I’ll take it.”
“Umm, hmm, so hard to choose…”
“Who cares about clothes? Just hide the parts you don’t wanna show and that’s good enough, right?”
“No, Carifa. You have to choose these things properly or you’ll regret it later.”
I’d heard women take a long time shopping, but around thirty to forty minutes had passed since we left them, yet the slave girls still hadn’t settled on clothes.
Some slaves who didn’t fuss over clothes seemed to have decided, but then got told by the other slaves to look again, restarting their shopping.
Seeing this, Machad and I could only stand there dumbfounded. Witnessing this scene made me freshly aware of just how vastly different women’s values regarding shopping are from men’s.
Anyway, since it was a waste of time, I decided to just buy up all the clothes piled in the cart they’d picked out, and have around thirty of each underwear size picked out for them, distributing them as needed later. Truly a splurge.
The slave girls were stunned by this extravagant shopping, but I intend to pay the slaves wages below market rate but appropriate for the work once cookie sales start. So they’ll be able to buy personal belongings with their wages later, but this much should be fitting as a welcome gift.
While in my original world, this kind of welcome gift of underwear could potentially constitute sexual harassment, lacking any laws restricting such things in this world’s legislation, and the fact that they don’t feel uncomfortable themselves, I’d like to think it just barely stays safe.
For now, I decided this resolves the issue of the slaves’ clothes, and took them along to an uninhabited vacant lot with no one around.
Due to lack of funds to maintain them, within the royal capital, there are many lots where mansions of declined nobles and merchants were demolished, leaving empty land that’s just being managed. Lacking anything but weeds, not even orphan slum residents or vagrants approach these places.
But for me right now, they’re extremely convenient as places where no one can see us. The land is managed by the country, and I’m close with the king at its peak, so I’m counting on it being fine if used without permission as long as I report afterward.
Arriving at the vacant lot, I take out the stall obtained earlier and look over the slaves as I explain.
“Listen, I ‘hired’ you all for manufacturing and selling this.”
“Whatcha talkin’ ’bout? Oof―”
“Eat it… Got it coming to ya.”
Carifa immediately reacted to my explanation, so I flicked a cookie from my storage at her. As expected, she deftly catches it without dropping the thrown cookie and starts eating.
“Whaf if fis!! Sho good!!”
“You’ll be making these from scratch and selling them from this stall. Those with cooking skills will manufacture them, those with serving experience will handle customers, and those confident in strength will deal with unreasonable demands and foolish muscleheads.”
“Excuse me, Master―”
“I’m not your master. The one who contracted you as slaves is Machad here. Don’t get that wrong. Anyway, questions? Go ahead.”
I firmly emphasize to the slaves that I’m not their master and say I’ll answer if they have any questions. Some look a little unconvinced, but it seems they’ll set that matter aside for now based on my own words.
Amidst this atmosphere, the cooking team representative, Meranda, speaks up on their behalf.
“Earlier you said you ‘hired’ us, but what does that mean?”
“It means exactly what it sounds like.”
“In other words, employees hired to sell those cookies, is that right?”
“That’s right. So if you work properly, I’ll pay wages below market rate but appropriate, and if you work enough to cover the slave purchase price, I’ll even consider freeing you from slavery.”
“R-really!?”
My words make the slaves’ faces flush. It’s extremely commonplace for slaves to serve their masters without pay, often not even getting proper meals day to day, let alone wages.
Yet they seem doubtful of my words, talking of paying wages for labor and even freeing them once they’ve worked enough to cover the slave purchase price, like some fairy tale.
“Machad. What’s the situation with the slaves hired at your place?”
“Yes. Most have already earned their purchase amount, but with nowhere else to go and difficulty surviving as free people again, most have refused to be freed from slavery.”
“I see. For now, have twenty of you work in three shifts. Payment will be commission-based on cookie sales, so it will fluctuate. Any other questions?”
“Yes.”
“You there… who was it again?”
“It’s Shifan. What will we do about lodging? Just sleep rough wherever?”
Hiding my revulsion internally at how she nonchalantly speaks of how slaves are treated, I maintain a poker face and answer her question so she doesn’t realize.
“Remember the bathing area from earlier? I’ll build new lodging there for you all to live in.”
“So we’ll be sleeping rough until then?”
“What are you saying? I can prepare a place to endure the elements today.”
“Huh?”
“Hm?”
“Rolando-sama, normally you would hire builders and artisans to construct a house, taking many days…”
“Oh, right.”
Since I can throw something together with a bit of magic, there was a disconnect from her common sense. But relying on artisans would take too much time, so I tell them I’ll build it directly myself, leaving the slaves wide-eyed in surprise.
“Anyway, that’s enough questions for now. I’ll start teaching you all how to make cookies, so the cooking team remember it. Serving and guard teams, uh… Since you’ve got free time for now, Machad will teach the serving team basics of customer service, and guard team, train with mock battles far enough away to not disturb us.”
“W-wait a minute, Rolando-sama! Are you listening!?”
Saying that, I take some wooden swords for mock battles out of storage and hand them to the guard team. Looking delighted, they eagerly accept them, saying things like “Haven’t exercised in ages!” and start warming up a short distance away.
Meanwhile, Machad seems shocked at suddenly being given an important task, but when I glare at him saying “You’re a merchant’s son, you must’ve had customer service drilled into you right? Do it,” he reluctantly takes the serving team away in the opposite direction of the guard team.
Seeing them off, I mutter “Geez” with a shake of my head, then face the cooking team.
“Alright, now I’ll teach you how to make cookies.”
