That makes sense. But there’s one thing bothering me.

“Fei-san, if you need it for your work, the store can cover the costs.” Ryouma

There’s no reason for the employees to pay for it themselves. When I told him that…

“It’s not something I need for my job. We make our potions to prevent our skills from getting rusty…” Fei

Apparently, Fei-san didn’t see it as work, but something akin to private training or a hobby.

“…If you need it to maintain your abilities – a guard of the store – then that’s more than enough reason to pass it off as something you need for your job. I think it would be best if I assisted you too. Unless you or Leelin-san want to keep your knowledge on medicine a secret. I’ll talk to Carm-san when we get back.” Ryouma

“That would be a big help to us. As for our abilities and knowledge, you can just say that we learned it from medic training. My country has always been at war, so medicines are really expensive. Normal people can’t use them. There’s a lot of fakes too. But medics know a lot. It’s also the kind of work that people aren’t wary against.” Fei

“Alright.” Ryouma

As expected, he doesn’t want others to know about his past as an assassin. …But I guess that’s to be expected. ‘Ninjas that don’t sneak around’ may be common in Japanese fiction, but being an assassin isn’t exactly a profession you walk around showing off.

I wonder if he has any lingering feelings left for his old job.

“Personally, I’d be happy if you worked at my store forever.” Ryouma

“Well… I can’t say that I don’t have any lingering feelings for my old job. After all, I worked as an assassin for a long time. I trained a lot. I killed a lot. I can’t just forget all that. But I have no plans of going back to my country and working again. We were given one last order, after all.”

“…Are you sure it’s okay to talk about that?” Ryouma

“It’s fine. The last order we were given was ‘help the humans in our territory to flee somewhere safe’. But orders given to us are coded, so we can’t just take their meaning literally. That was true even for our last order. The real order was ‘Don’t die in vain. Escape at your own discretion’… The battle was mostly decided then, and there was no point in getting ourselves killed . We weren’t treated badly by our organization, and in the end, we were even ordered to live. The master of the Win House was a good person.”

That’s why he and Leelin-san did their best to save as many people as possible while they fled their country.

“And then you arrived at this country, Riforu Kingdom.” Ryouma

“We somehow managed to get in and get to Gimuru to find a place we can work at. But the guild master figured out our identity with just one look…” Fei

“Ahh, Grisiera-san…” Ryouma

“When she found out that we weren’t spies, she helped us get work. I was really surprised then. We had prepared ourselves to live our lives on the run.” Fei

That person really is exceptional, isn’t she?

“So, at the very least, I can take it that you don’t have any plans of stopping any time soon, right?” Ryouma

“Yes. For now, I plan to keep working for you, Boss.” Fei

“That’s great to hear, Fei-san.” Ryouma

I also thanked him for literally allowing me to ask him as much as I wanted here in the forest.

“It’s almost time for supper, so… If it doesn’t bother you. ‘Item Box’… Will you share a drink with me?” Ryouma

“Of course, Boss.” Fei

Carried by the flow of the conversation, I tried inviting him for a drink, and Fei-san was all for it.

For one reason or another, it’s my first time drinking with one of my employees at the store.

If everyone’s schedule is clear, I should try holding a year-end party.