CH 20

Manpower Agency 20

Chapter 20 – The Schenker’s Slaves Support the City

AN: Spoiler alert, this story will not develop to the point where the main character is cornered like in real pinch.

Happy ending is confirmed.

「Chicken-san, I’ll open the front door for you.」

「Ah, please do.」

My morning comes early.

In the base of MSG(Magical Schenker Group), I’m the second earliest. I come here just after the one in charge of cooking.

This is because I have to deal with people who come to borrow slaves. However, to be honest, this is hard.

I’m entrusted with an important job so I get a big allowance but it’s really depressing to be surrounded by sweaty old men every morning.

「The house right next to the apothecary on North Street! Two light workers.」

「I’ll have them come around the 4th bell.」

「Please! Here’s the money!」

「Here’s the ticket.」

「Yeah!」

Everyone was in high spirits and smelled of sweat early in the morning.

I’m getting used to it but at first, I was a bit confused.

「I’m Damgard from the flower shop. If the girl who came before is available, I’ll take her.」

「You mean Raz? She’s available. I’ll send her to you around the 4th bell.」

「Thank you. One silver and two coppers, right?」

「Yes, here’s your ticket.」

「Thank you very much.」

Recently, in addition to construction sites and simple work, we are being asked to help out ordinary stores.

Everyone is happy and that’s good but not every time. Sometimes, there were complaints which made me feel a bit uncomfortable.

Well, I’m happy because I think our company is being accepted by the city but the number of middle managers is still small….

I wonder if master could buy one or two more knowledge slaves that we could educate.

Or maybe he should beg that lascivious older brother of his again.

Next to the reception area, there’s also a purchasing area.

This is usually used by slaves to shop a little but in the morning, it’s open for trade.

「Bento please.」

「I’ll have two boxes.」

「I’ll have five!」

The most popular are bentos prepared by the cooking team led by Seele and Hunt.

Instead of dishes, the bentos are wrapped with sorghum leaves.

Some days, they sell bread and katsu and they even make pasta with sweet potato.

The food is made with ingredients that were cheap the day before so to be honest, it’s a bit of hit or miss.

However, because they are inexpensive and made by beautiful women, there is a steady stream of customers every day.

The other popular one is…..

「Don’t get in the way, you stupid big horse woman!」

「Ahh!? What did you just say to Pickles-san?」

Ah, a fight.

Apparently, there was a dispute between the adventurers and a man from the construction business before leaving.

At the entrance of our crowded base, the snakekin and our boarkin, Puten, started arguing.

「Then, what about you? Do you want to mess with me you wild boar woman?」

「It’s okay, Puten-chan.」

「Shut yer mouth, Pickles-san! If you, the leader, get bullied, everyone will think the whole group can be bullied.」

When roughnecks get together in the morning, of course there will be a fight.

I can’t say anything about fighting but when it comes to adventures and ordinary civilians, there are a lot of problems.

Like the power difference being too great and it’s not a joke.

「Clench your teeth!」

The heavy boarkin, Puten, struck the snakekin on the cheek with her hard hand and the man fell on the ground.

「Argh……….teeth…..my……ouch…..」

「Next time you see Pickles-san, stand down! Got it!」

Well.this.much.is.still.okay.

The problem is…..

「Puten-chan, I said no!」

The next moment, the stout Puten flew past the counter and into the road in front of the base after rolling several times before finally stopping.

She didn’t get up but she probably wasn’t dead.

A single hit from Pickles can put an adventurer like that in such a mess.

The man who had just argued with them looked at Pickles with a pale face.

The physical strength of an adventurer who has been through all the rough and shambles of life is unbelievable, right?

Even the digging we've been doing under the base lately, it’s the adventurers who are the mainstay of the operation.

Their efficiency is so different from that of ordinary slaves that it makes me laugh.

After all, people who usually wear armor and swing heavy spears are different.

The morning crowd is finally over and after sending everyone off to work, we finally take a short break.

I buy an expensive cup of coffee at the coffee shop next door and spend my time reading books.

The coffee at this coffee shop is so expensive that even with the company discount, it can still be called a luxury. Even so, I can’t stop myself.

Actually, I know that the profit margin is low when it comes to coffee so I feel like I’m getting a good deal and drink more than I should…..

I can’t help it. It’s the coffee’s fault for being delicious.

After lunch, everyone else will start digging.

There’s a couple of girls who are on day off but want to work for a buck and go down into the hole, dig, get the dirt out, repeat.

When the adventurers came back, the guys who wanted to make some extra cash would still continue.

And I don’t know why, Pickles the centaur can dig holes so fast. What’s with that?

I watch the digging progress as I use the money that came in this morning to train the middle management candidates.

Digging through the city’s underground to the dungeon would be a disaster if the government found out about it so we had to be careful…..

「The first song of the day is “Take Your Clothes Off” from the opera “The Naked Woman”.」

「Here we go. Blam thud blag ting tong」

The voice of the band of musicians is heard and the sound of light rhythms, low singing voices, chord strings, and bright trumpets spread from the coffee shop into the base.

The sound of the digging is barely audible inside the building but there are pulleys and other things pulling up the dirt so the volunteers play music at the coffee shop to cover it up.

I was a bit amused when master suddenly bought a musical instrument and said, “we need a little bit of beejiem” but I guess it’s all right since it indeed covers up the sound.

We were taught how to play with experienced musicians and the songs are simplified versions of the songs that can be heard from taverns or from the back alleys of the theater.

The customers are happy when we have new songs and even our companions are also happy, so these days, everyone is competing with each other with new songs.

But to my surprise, the person who knows the most about music in our family is not the pet slave Seele but master himself.

As expected of the famous play maniac.

When he is with his school friends, it is said that he can recite passages from a play non-stop so it’s not surprising that he has memorized opera songs.

In the evening, slaves come home from work or play.

Almost everyone from the workers would receive tickets without any problems but sometimes, there are girls who are entrusted with a job that is not suitable for them and come back with their heads down.

In those cases, the prospective manager or I would go and return the money.

Most people will forgive you if you apologize properly.

Or maybe, everyone in this city are nice people.

Or perhaps is it because we are taking fully equipped adventurers as escorts?

Well, either way, it doesn’t matter.

Once roll call is over, we eat dinner and have some free time.

The coffee shop is open until the sun goes down so some of the kids practice instruments in the coffee shop while others who can read read books.

I wake up early so I go to bed early.

Good night, see you tomorrow….