CH 170

"Greg Trading Company and the Mansion in the Royal Capital"

Translated by Dawn

“Greg Trading Company and the Mansion in the Royal Capital”

“Oh, kid. So you finally came back.”

The person who suddenly called out was a man named Ganzas. He was a carpenter who showed up at Greg Company when I started selling stuffed animals and wooden dolls. He had been a well-known craftsman in that area.

In the midst of it all, Ganzas saw my wooden dolls and was impressed by their craftsmanship and lifelike movements. He became curious about the production process and wasted no time in taking action.

Thinking that he could find answers at Greg Trading Company, Ganzas came here, but I, the creator of the wooden dolls, wasn’t present, so he couldn’t learn the details.

He visited several times afterward, but most of them ended in disappointment. His desire to learn the technique behind my wooden dolls remained unfulfilled.

And finally, when Ganzas met me, his first words were, “Let me work as a craftsman in this company.”

After experiencing repeated disappointments with me, his curiosity as a craftsman took precedence, and he blurted out such a statement.

From our perspective, it wouldn’t hurt to have someone other than me capable of producing wooden dolls. So, we gratefully accepted Ganzas’ offer.

“I made something new by imitating your wooden dolls. I want you to take a look.”

“Sure.”

In response to Ganzas’ request, we headed to the workshop where he was making wooden dolls. I had built a new workshop since then, which now served as the production site for wooden dolls.

As we entered the workshop, stacks of wood were arranged for manufacturing. There were just as many completed wooden dolls, but among them were types that I hadn’t made.

“Are these the new wooden dolls?”

“Yes.”

There, placed among them, was a different kind of monster from the ones I had made. Its craftsmanship was equally impressive, on par with mine, and it was incredibly lifelike.

“This is great. We can release this as a new product without any issues.”

“It’s encouraging to hear you say that.”

“Leaving that aside, Ganzas. Have you been sleeping lately?”

Upon closer inspection, dark circles could be seen under Ganzas’ eyes, indicating that he hadn’t been sleeping properly for several days.

“Ganzas, I’m sure I told you not to pull all-nighters.”

“I know, but you see… I find it enjoyable to challenge myself with new creations as a craftsman, and I forget to sleep.”

In my previous life, the company I worked for imposed dozens of overtime hours each month. While it wasn’t a black company, compared to white-collar companies, it undoubtedly fell into the black category.

As for myself, although I worked fewer hours than the average employee, I still put in overtime and worked on holidays for a dozen hours a month. Consequently, I had some degree of dissatisfaction with that situation.

Therefore, at Greg Trading Company, I made sure to firmly convey to Greg that such practices shouldn’t be allowed and that employees shouldn’t work beyond business hours.

For now, I instructed Ganzas to take a few days of mandatory leave. Ganzas hesitated, but when I provocatively said, “Being a top-notch craftsman means completing your work within set hours. I can do it, but can you, Ganzas?” he fell right into it. After showing me the wooden dolls, he immediately returned to the villa.

By the way, since the number of employees had increased, I had been expanding both the workshop and the villa where employees live. Even with these additions, there was still room on Greg Trading Company’s premises, so I might further expand the workshop and villa in the future.

“Alright, it seems that Greg Trading Company is doing fine… Hey, how long are you going to stick to me!”

“Woof?”

After a long time, Uluru, who had been clinging to me without letting go, was there, whether I was at Ganzas’ workshop or inspecting other places.

I wondered if it was because of the backlash from not seeing each other for a while, but I assumed that Greg or Molly had arranged it and decided not to delve too deeply into the matter.

Speaking of which, Greg Trading Company had been steadily expanding its scale since then and had established an unshakable position within Orargrand. It had become one of the leading companies in Orargrand.

As a result, there had been endless visitors who wish to work at the company, but I instructed Greg to only hire individuals who were introduced by someone trustworthy. The reason for this was simple: to avoid infiltrating spies from rival companies. Currently, only Greg, the representative of the company, and Molly, who assisted him, know the information about the procurement routes, and the other employees were kept in the dark.

If it were to be revealed that I was the source of the procurement routes to other companies, it wouldn’t be difficult to imagine them approaching me directly for business. I didn’t have a hobby of willingly getting involved in troublesome matters, so it was best to avoid such risks as much as possible. Therefore, careful selection of employees was necessary to ensure that information about the procurement routes was not leaked.

I constantly emphasized these points to Greg and left Greg Trading Company.

“Now, next is the Royal Capital.”

After leaving Greg Trading Company, I headed to the Royal Capital, Titanzania, where my mansion was located. First, I went to see Sobas, the butler, to inquire if anything had changed.

“Welcome back, Rolando-sama.”

“Ah, I’m back. But let me ask, Sobas. Has anything changed?”

“Well…”

It seems that while I was away, the princesses came to visit, but upon learning that I wasn’t there, they immediately left. Since then, he’d received reports that they regularly inquire about whether I have returned or not. I inwardly sighed, wondering if they still hadn’t given up.

“Is there anything else in particular?”

“No, there are no issues.”

“Good, I’ll be going out frequently again, so I’ll leave the mansion in your hands.”

“Understood.”

Afterward, I planned to send a message to Stella and Manya, the king’s spies, asking them to inform the king that I would visit soon. However, I was informed that they had already been relieved of their duties as a spy by the king and that they were currently working as a servant in the mansion.

“Still, as former members of the Shadow Division, there should have some means of contacting the king. Well, even if you don’t inform him, I’ll just visit without prior notice.”

They responded, “Understood. We’ll try to convey it somehow.” I trusted that they would handle it.

Finally, I visited Ruzzo, the chef, and handed him the takoyaki and sweet potatoes I made along the way as souvenirs for the mansion staff. Then, I left the mansion.

Continuing on, I arrived at the orphanage. I asked if anything unusual had happened, but it seemed that there had been attempts by thieves to break in a few times, but they were thwarted thanks to the security golems I had installed. Sister Lelianne and busty Sister Isha expressed their gratitude.

“Hmm, let’s enhance the number and quality of the golems for security purposes in the future.”

As soon as I said that, I immediately upgraded the golems that had been assigned to security duties with higher-level skills and decided to add thirty more security golems.

As I made appearances in various places where I hadn’t shown up for a while, the day grew late, so I decided to return to my home in Orargrand and rest. As a side note, I told Sobas that I would be staying outside the house in the name of avoiding contact with the princesses, so there shouldn’t be any issues.