Volume 5 - CH 8

Chapter 8 – Night of The Typhoon

The big typhoon arrived at night after the sandbags were piled up to protect the warehouse. A strong wind began to blow in the evening, and a warning rang throughout the royal capital after midnight.

The stores of Tulle Slave Firm are using wood throughout the stores to board the doors and windows against typhoon. Furthermore, in case of unforeseen situations, Tulle also assigned some servants who could stay overnight to stay in both the stores and the warehouse. Of course, Eto will be one of the people who will stay in the warehouse as usual.

Heavy rain and wind blowing outside, causing the roof of the warehouse to creak. The servants couldn’t sleep, and gathered in the office. And since they’re technically still on duty, they also couldn’t distract themselves by drinking alcohol. Thus, they could only wait for the typhoon to pass while playing card games and chatting.

When Eto, who went to check the conditions of the slaves, returned to the office, he heard a terrible noise from the ceiling. As he and his colleagues looked up at the ceiling with a curious expression, with a roaring sound, a part of the ceiling was blown away, and a large amount of rubble fell into the room.

“Uwa—!”

Then, a scream could be heard from inside the room. Fortunately, those who were close to the exit were able to escape the room, but as for the rest, their escape route and sight were blocked by the rubble caused and the heavy rain and wind blowing through the holes in the ceiling. Not only that, the rubble also pushed down the shelves lined up in the office, pinning some people below it.

And Eto, who was just about to enter the room, could see the situation in detail. When he counted the number of people who were able to escape and were still in the room, he found that there were four people left behind in the room.

After confirming the number of people who couldn’t escape, Eto immediately entered the room and cast buffs that strengthened his physical ability from Battle Spell, Haste, Strength, and Protect after confirming that there was no one around him.

Because of the rubble, the visibility of the room was quite bad. Nevertheless, Eto began rescue work by pushing aside the scattered rubble and office supplies while recalling who were in the room. He then brought the unconscious people out of the room and left the treatment to his colleague who was able to escape. Then, after circling inside and outside the room, Eto finished rescuing three of the four people who were left behind. While the remaining one, Dent, is still left behind.

As he searched for Dent, Eto saw that a part of the roof was about to fall from the ceiling with a big hole. And when Eto began to feel impatient as he does not have much time before the roof falls, he felt like he heard a voice from the corner of the room.

When Eto headed toward the source of the voice while blocking the rain and wind with one hand to ensure his field of vision, Eto found Dent fallen by the wall. Apparently, one of his legs is caught between the shelves and rubble, which made him unable to move. After confirming the situation, Eto puts his hand on the shelf and pulls it up by force.

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“Mouthless, you can’t do it alone! Call someone–”

While screaming in his head saying, ‘shut up a little, I’ll help you now’, Eto puts more strength into his arms. With a creaking sound, the shelves and the rubble lifted little by little. Eto then looked at Dent, as if asking whether this is enough for him to pull his leg out.

“A little more. My leg is still stuck, and I can’t get it off!!”

Eto nodded and crouched a bit and once again put more power into his arms. The shelves then lifted further, opening a gap between them and Dent’s feet.

“A little more, a little more.”

“…”

Finally, Dent’s leg was pulled out.

“Yes, I managed to pull out my leg! Good job, Mouthless! You are my lifesaver!”

Dent shouted happily.

‘Finally, huh.’

Eto, who saved Dent by the flow, then laughed powerlessly while thinking, ‘why did I have to risk my life to save someone like you.’

☆☆☆

Apparently, the typhoon passed through the royal capital in the morning, and the windy rain gradually weakened.

Around noon, Tulle appeared in the warehouse when the servants were exhausted due to preparing countermeasures against the typhoon and the cleanup after the typhoon passed. Those who were stationed in the store also followed him, bringing something that smells good in the tray in their hands.

“Thanks for your hard work, everyone. Let’s have a meal first. Those who are injured can stay where they are, we will bring the meal to you.”

As soon as Pure said that, the people from the store began to prepare tables and chairs.

Only for this once, even Eto really wanted to have a hefty meal, especially a warm soup that seemed to soak into his exhausted body.

When Eto and his colleagues ate until they’re full, Tulle and Dent headed to the office. By the way, Dent’s injury has been completely healed by the potion brought by Tulle.

Although those who work next to danger like Adventurers recover their health using potions, normal people often only improve their healing process with medicinal herbs. In other words, potions are expensive things.

Even this time, only Dent was given a potion, while others were given ointments made with medicinal herbs. Still, it can be said that Tulle made a reasonable decision as the owner of a firm.

“What a horrible spectacle. Even the ceiling is broken…. I wonder if there was a defect when it was built?”

Most of the rubble in the office has indeed been removed, but it doesn’t change the fact that the windy rain destroyed it. A good thing is that the piece of roof that was about to fall from the hole in the ceiling has been fixed temporarily by being tied to a rope from the outside.

“When the ceiling fell, it seemed the surface was also peeled off by the wind, making a terrible ripping noise at that time.”

Dent explained the situation at that time.

“I see. That just means the wind was just that terrible. Then I guess I should be grateful that no products were damaged and none of you were seriously injured.”

“Yes. But, there is something that might be troublesome. Today is the day we have to deliver food.”

“Ah, that’s right. Do we have enough manpower?”

“To be able to finish restoring the stores and warehouses, preparing for tomorrow’s business and delivering food, I think we need at least 15 more people.”

The servants who stayed in the warehouse since last night had been working on the restoration without sleeping. And the firm has to restore the warehouse as soon as possible while letting the servants rest in turn. Although Dent and Tulle wanted the staff that stayed in the stores to help to clean up the warehouse, that would hinder the preparations for resuming the business. In that case, they don’t have enough personnel to bring in the food delivered today.

“We also can’t bring the handmaid to deliver the food, after all. I think we could also hire people temporarily only for today and manage them strictly so as not to show unnecessary things.”

Dent said with a worried look.

“Speaking of which, Mouthless-san seems to be doing good here. I heard that he did a good job last night.”

“…Ee. He seems to be stronger than he looks.”

“How about letting him deliver the food? We could also get help from the people in the old castle. I’ll have Dent-san bring my letter to them. Since this is an emergency, I’m sure they will cooperate.”

“Isn’t it too early for Mouthless?”

“However, there are no other people we could order. And it would be difficult to hire someone new. I’m sure Dent-san also understands that, right?”

“Yes.”

The old castle where they will deliver food to is the place that Dent wanted the involvement of Tulle Slave Firm to be kept as secret. Hence, Dent hesitated to give the information to Mouthless, who is a newcomer.

“When I met Tamara-san the other day, he seemed to know what we were using that place for.”

“What?!”

“Well it is near the highway, after all. Besides, there may be witnesses, and if a big merchant like him is interested in it, there is no way he doesn’t have a way to know who owns that castle. But, isn’t this a good opportunity? It seems Tamara-san also wants to start a joint business including such business with us.”

“Haa, if that’s the master’s judgement, there is nothing I can say.”

“Then it will be four people including Mouthless-san. I know Dent-san is tired, but please go with them and give instructions.”

“Yes, understood.”