Episode 10
“The bathroom is behind the building. It’s a new facility, so it’s very nice.
“And, most importantly, it has separate bathrooms for men and women.
“That’s the best benefit our guild has.”
“Ah, that bathroom…”
Hehe.
A company with separate men’s and women’s bathrooms was something we could actually be proud of.
I had worked hard to get it through the Crown Prince’s request.
“Your main duties will be helping Assistant Manager Susanna with her affair-investigation requests, greeting customers when they visit, and deciding what we’re going to eat for lunch.”
“What? Deciding the lunch menu?”
“That’s the most important duty, so you need to take it seriously.
“Pay close attention to what the Guild Master likes.”
“……”
Cedric was silent for a moment before asking in a half-dazed voice,
“Um, what about annual leave…?”
“Huh? What’s that?
“This is a business with fewer than five employees, remember?”
“Then what about weekly holiday pay or overtime pay?”
“Haha. Of course we don’t have anything like that!”
“…The labor conditions at businesses with fewer than five employees are an evil of the Empire.”
An evil of the Empire?
He had been talking about “justice” for a while now.
It seemed he viewed the world from a very grand perspective.
“Anything else you’re curious about?”
“…What kind of work do you do, Assistant Manager Audret?”
“Oh, me?”
My actual job was getting summoned to the Temple whenever I made a mistake and getting yelled at.
But I couldn’t mention that.
So I decided to brag about my only real achievement.
“When we receive a major request, I handle it.
“I recently completed two major requests successfully and brought in a huge amount of money.”
“Do you get an incentive when you bring in a lot of money?”
“Are you joking with me?”
“…That was an inappropriate question.”
Cedric watched my expression before asking another question.
“Then how do you get assigned such important jobs?
“It doesn’t seem like this guild has a very well-developed information network…”
“Obviously, it’s because of my highly developed skills.
“A true information guild member knows how to find information even when working with limited resources.”
“I see…”
“Then can I ask you a question too?”
“Yes?”
“Why did you apply to this information guild?”
“Ah, that…”
He hesitated before answering.
“I’ve always been interested in information guilds.
“But I didn’t have any proper work experience, so I decided to apply somewhere small…”
“I see.
“Starting your career at our guild isn’t exactly the best beginning…”
Ah.
No.
I shouldn’t say things like that to a new employee.
“But let’s work well together from now on!
“This guild is going to grow bigger and bigger!”
“Yes. Thank you.”
“Oh, there’s one more thing I’m curious about.
“You said you worked at a family-run company before.
“What kind of place was it?”
“A-a family-run company…”
He suddenly looked noticeably flustered.
“That family-run company…
“There were a lot of employees, but the hierarchy was extremely strict.”
“I see.”
“A-and there was a lot of internal office politics too…
“When the CEO arrived at work, everyone would stand up from their desks and greet him respectfully…”
So it was basically an ordinary company with excessive formalities.
Cedric must have had a pretty hard time there too.
Feeling sorry about his past, I simply patted him on the shoulder.
“Oh, it’s almost time.
“Cedric, it’s time to start your most important duty!”
“By that, you mean…”
“We have to decide what we’re eating for lunch!”
“……!”
He looked nervous.
A moment later, he whispered to me,
“Could you look over an idea I came up with first?”
“Sure. I’ll help you for a while.”
We couldn’t let the new employee run away, after all.
“How about a simple tenderloin steak?”
“Are you joking?
“Who eats something that expensive for lunch?”
“…Then how about truffle potato gnocchi?”
“Truffle?
“At that point, wouldn’t it be better to just boil some potatoes?”
“Or how about salmon ceviche?”
“Sigh… Cedric.”
I let out a deep sigh.
This was a problem.
The new employee seemed willing to listen to me, but his judgment was a little questionable.
Then again, anyone who voluntarily walked into an X-company and even negotiated his salary downward couldn’t possibly be normal.
After finishing lunch with the menu we had chosen with my help, we had just returned to the office.
After brushing our teeth and taking care of our personal hygiene, I spoke to Cedric.
“Cedric, I’ll give you some money.
“Could you go outside and buy some coffee?”
“Coffee?
“But when you were training me, you said the Guild Master doesn’t like coffee…”
“He’ll like it if you buy one for him with your own money.”
“…I see.”
“Here. Take this and go buy some.”
I handed him my wallet.
My precious money…
But I had to endure it for the sake of the bigger picture.
A little while later, Cedric returned carrying four cups of coffee.
I carefully examined the coffee he had brought back.
Wait a minute!
I had originally only intended to find something to criticize him about.
But this was actually wrong!
“Cedric! What is this?”
“Huh?
“Is there something wrong?”
He anxiously checked the coffee he had bought.
“I got an Americano for Assistant Manager Audret, a signature latte for Assistant Manager Susanna, a chocolate latte for the Guild Master, and the cheapest drink for myself…”
There was nothing wrong with the selection itself.
The problem was somewhere else.
“You should have gotten the stamp coupon!
“That place gives you a coupon!”
“A coupon…?”
“You get one free Americano after collecting ten stamps!”
“Is that really so important?”
“Of course it is!”
Frustrated, I gave him a long lecture.
“We have to save even the cost of one Americano!
“Do you know how expensive coffee is these days?”
“Ah, understood.
“I’ll remember that next time.”
“Sigh.
“There really are so many things I have to teach you.
“Anyway, enough of that.
“Let’s get to the real work.”
I shook my head and gestured for him to sit down.
“All right.
“The Guild Master told us to organize this quarter’s requests and prepare a report.
“It needs to be twenty pages long.”
“Understood.
“When is the deadline?”
“Obviously, before we leave work today.”
“What?
“But we only have five hours left…”
“Exactly.”
“……”
This was originally Susanna’s assignment.
But I decided to dump it on Cedric instead.
No matter how handsome he was, I had to prioritize my own survival.
Susanna wasn’t stupid enough to work overtime just to impress a handsome man, either.
“But are there really enough requests to make a twenty-page report?”
“No.
“We only had five requests this quarter.
“I handled four of them.”
“…Were two of those requests from the same person?”
“Yes, that’s right.
“Looks like you studied a little earlier.”
Making him handwrite a twenty-page report in five hours was obviously too cruel.
This was the time to give him some motivation.
“Don’t worry.
“I’ll teach you my secret technique.”
“You have a secret technique?”
“Make the font really large.
“And put illustrations in the middle.
“You can just roughly color the illustrations in black and white.”
“……?!”
Cedric looked completely shocked.
Then he firmly nodded.
“I understand.”
Hmm.
I was still worried.
Even while doing my own work, I secretly watched what he was doing.
“No, Cedric!”
“Yes?
“Is the font too large?
“I used 16-point text based on the Imperial standard font…”
“Sixteen points is way too small.
“Use 32-point text!”
“Wouldn’t that…
“Wouldn’t that make it less like a report and more like a children’s picture book?”
“The Guild Master has poor eyesight.
“You need letters that big.”
“…Understood.”
With a strange expression, as if he were questioning every decision that had brought him to this point in life, Cedric began writing in huge letters.
Ah.
Now that looked much better.
At that rate, he could finish everything on time…
Wait!
“Cedric!
“What are those illustrations?”
“I’m sorry.
“Is my drawing really that bad…?”
“No.
“You need to draw them even more roughly!
“When you’re drawing a person, just use a stick figure!”
“Yes…?
“I think even when I was a child, I drew better than that…”
“This is the level of our guild.”
Cedric firmly closed his mouth.
Now wearing an expression of someone who was refusing to accept reality, he began drawing stick figures.
Oh.
That guy actually draws straight lines pretty well.
“Let me know if you need anything else.
“I’ll help you a lot!”
“Yes.
“Thank you, Assistant Manager Audret…”
