CH 29

Manpower Agency 29

Chapter 29 – Slaves Enjoying the Underground Empire

AN: Fluffy underground empire.

Our master is kind of troublesome.

A few months ago, he suddenly started buying properties in the city and some of his skilled slaves were put in charge of business.

「Anything is fine as long as it makes money.」

However, if we can really make that much money, we won’t fall into slavery.

Fortunately, the first knowledge slave, Chicken-san, was a good businesswoman. She came up with the idea of combining our strengths to create new types of businesses.

It would have been horrifying to think of being in charge of a business alone and failing.

I don’t want to be sold again.

There’s no place I’d rather be than the Schenkers.

My specialty is woodworking.

I make brooches, accessories, and all kinds of things.

I am especially good at carving and can work for hours on a box while making detailed patterns on the surface.

My partner, Nava, is good at painting.

Her family used to be quite wealthy and she had taken an apprenticeship in painting.

Her drawings may or may not be good but she’s good at coloring.

I carve something, Nava colors them.

That’s the small shop we are running.

「I love this hair clip.」

「Yes, it’s perfect for your hair. It looks like it caught sun rays.」

「Ihhhh, Pierre, you’re really…」

「It’s true, Jenny. I’ll buy you anything here. Choose anything you want.」

I tried not to look at the faces of dumb people so much….smile? I have to while serving customers.

Master has instructed us to serve every customer with a smile.

I’m standing on the sales floor today because there were a lot of girls who were dispatched out to other places so no one came to this store but usually, a seller comes here.

To be honest, I’m not very good at working on the sales floor.

「Clerk-san, I think I’ll take this brooch for the love of my life.」

「Thank you very much.」

I thought to myself, “You were with another woman the other day” but I responded with a smile because it was business.

Business is hard.

If I had been doing it by myself, the store would have gone out of business earlier.

After serving customers, I put on my apron and started carving wood again.

The one I’m working on now is an incense holder that looks like a cat.

They are selling quite well and I have already made ten of them this month.

The quality improves with each piece I make so the ones that sell well become even better sellers.

That’s the fun part of business.

I definitely prefer this than carrying debris at a construction site.

「I’m back, Mamoy. I brought your food〜」

「Welcome back.」

Nava came back from the Schenker’s headquarters.

If you go to the headquarters, you’ll get food for lunch and dinner.

I heard that if you were dispatched to a place far away from the headquarters, they’ll give you money for food for you to buy yourself. However, I prefer the headquarters’ food because it’s delicious.

Today, we had fried gehageha and a big loaf of bread.

Gehageha are often found in the river but I heard that they managed to breed them in great numbers by building a pond somewhere.

I heard master saying, “River fish are too muddy” but I don’t know since commoners don’t eat fish that much.

However, when they managed to breed the fish, there were so many that they started to appear in our meals.

If they are sold, what is the market price…..well, that's what the people above should think of.

「I wish they’d let me use the underground when it’s time to eat.」

「It’s a secret so we can’t go there during daytime. We are even casted with magic so that we won’t be able to tell anyone.」

「That’s very convenient, isn’t it?」

「It is.」

The work below is ongoing and the building we are in has a hidden passage to it.

Workers sometimes come up to take a break but they are told to not use anything from the store to move stuff or something.

Well, even though they can’t use it for moving around something, they can use it some other way.

At night, the city becomes completely dark.

There are magic tools that eat magic crystals to produce light but there’s no way commoners can afford such a high-end product.

Because of that, oil lamps or candles are being used as light sources but they are not so bright and they cost a lot of money if you use them all the time too.

There are magic lamps on the street but if you do something under them in the middle of the night, you’ll be arrested for being suspicious.

On the other hand, the underground is the best.

It’s always bright and shiny and it is neither hot nor cold there.

Air is steadily flowing and friends pass by.

It’s no wonder I go down there every day.

「I heard that Roast-anego took on a rampage bird dragon by herself today.」

「Heh〜」

「They seem to have come across a pair and Roast-anego said that she’ll take care of one while the others take the other. She stabbed its red eyes with a spear.」

「Amazing!」

「Even in the city, our adventurers group are well respected.」

「They’re being taken as escorts when collecting debts too, right?」

「Maybe I should have become an adventurer too.」

「You’ll die.」

While I was having a silly conversation with my friend Storo in the underground tunnel, I heard footsteps coming from the headquarters.

「Break ended already?」

「Good luck.」

More and more people with shovels were passing by.

「Hey, Mamoy. Working late again?」

「It’s for the store.」

「Storo, break is over.」

「Okay, I’m off then.」

More and more people were sucked into the end of the tunnel and before I knew it, I was alone in the tunnel.

Given how many they are, even if you keep your voice down, it will be noisy. It’s a good thing that soundproofing materials are used on the ceiling and walls.

Great people are so smart, aren’t they?

Well, I guess I’ll go ahead with my hobby of carving dolls.

「Ah, Mamoy! How was the store today? I brought you some tea and sweets〜」

This time, it’s someone from the base next door.

「Oh, you two were here. I was just walking around looking for someone. Mamoy, you’re here every night.」

Now, it’s the person from the western base.

Every day, someone comes in to the underground tunnel from various locations but they were not here to work.

Well, it’s fun here so no one will blame them.

It’s going to be another long night.