Five days after returning to Gimuru, not even a week after my return, I found myself visiting the Saionji Company at the City of Renauph.

A few days ago, it was decided at the manor of the duke that I would be dispatching the bloody slimes over to the Saionji Company for them to make use of. The reason behind this is because we want to separate the bloody slimes to prevent the one-in-a-million chance that they might all get wiped out in one go. In other words, we just want to make sure that the eggs aren’t all in the same basket. That brings me to today, with three bloody slimes at the City of Renauph, ready to entrust these little boys away.

The reception greeted me, and I was brought to the reception office, where I was asked to wait. 30 seconds later…

“Ryouma! Sorry to keep you waiting!” Pioro

The president, Pioro-san, came in full of life.

As usual, he’s not one to make people wait much, is he? This was the case too when I came here for the first time.

In fact, he’s so fast it’s almost enough to make me suspect that he had merely been lying in wait somewhere nearby.

“You came at just the right time. But while I’m glad and all that you’re coming so early, is this really convenient for you? Didn’t you just get back to your store?” Pioro

“That’s true, but unfortunately, the person Serge-san gave me is simply too good at his job. Exceedingly good at his job.” Ryouma

“? Did something happen?” Pioro

“Sure, I could talk about it. It’s a long story, though…” Ryouma

It was on the very next day after I got back.

Just as I spoke about with Carm-san, Ox-san and I sparred with each other in the empty lot beside the store.

But because of the exchange I had with Carm-san the previous day, I decided to work a little harder than usual.

It was also an opportunity for Ox-san to show off his abilities in his new workplace.

Because of that the both of us were rather heated up, and things ended up escalating to a point we hadn’t planned for.

As a result, the clouds of dust from our fighting spilled over onto the spectating customers and employees, while our overly enthusiastic fighting spirit left the children in tears and the elderly on their buttocks. Afterwards, Carm-san gave me an earful about how we overdid it.

“Fortunately, most of the customers were regulars, and they easily forgave us after we gave them a full body cleansing service for free. And we had contacted the guards prior to conducting the sparring match, so it didn’t turn into a big deal, but…” Ryouma

After everything was said and done and Carm-san was telling me how I’d overdone it, he told me that while we did overdo the sparring match, we were able to successfully display Ox-san’s abilities to our customers as well as the townspeople of Gimuru. He also went on to explain that his remark of ‘you’ve finally gotten serious’ was not to mean that I had been slacking off, but rather that I had finally been proactive at expanding the store. He apologized to me about how his unspecific wording had caused the misunderstanding.

In response, I apologized for taking his words the wrong way.

But the more we talked, the more I realized that he was really happy about me finally being proactive at expanding the store.

I thought to myself, ‘what could I do to make the store bigger’?

And the answer I arrived to was ‘to increase the number of branch stores’.

But then the question begged itself, ‘but what is needed to increase the number of branch stores?’

And the answer I came to was that while various things were needed, such as personnel and the stores themselves, the first thing I need is a ‘capital’.

To which, the next question was ‘how could I efficiently save up money?’

And in response, I thought of two possibilities: ‘By increasing the income of the laundromat’ and ’By looking for another source of incoming’

…That was how my thoughts developed, but when I got to the point where I started to talk about a delivery and collection service aimed at the elderly and people that live far away from any of our branches, as well as a new private garbage disposal company, Carm-san immediately ended the topic.

‘I know you’re always thinking about serious matters, Boss, but please don’t try to increase my work when there’s an opening. Seriously. You work too much.’

“Is what he said…” Ryouma

Moreover, until just yesterday, Carm-san had been working on the revision of the security system and the paperwork that would be needed from hereon out.

“After he finished everything, the next thing I heard from him was ‘there aren’t any jobs left until you come back from your next trip, so please rest’. Even if I ask him if there’s any work left to be done, all he’ll say is that there’s none, so because of that there’s absolutely no work or problems to be dealt with.” Ryouma

“I see…” Pioro

Pioro-san wryly smiled as if he didn’t know how he should feel.

“Well, you should rest when you can. And even if you need a capital, it’s not as if you’re desperately in need, right?” Pioro