SOLIRF~10

Chapter 10

The Rising Newcomer

Gemina, who was sitting beside me, looked completely flustered.

If you panic that easily, you’re still a rookie.

I pretended not to notice anything and smiled.
“Nice to meet you. I look forward to working with you, senior.”

At my unexpected response, his eyes wavered.
“Where should I start?”

“I-I’ll show you!”

Gemina hurriedly pulled up a chair next to mine.
“F-first, you’ll attend the management department meetings and take notes to compile the minutes afterward. Here—these are the previous meeting records. It’ll be g-good for you to reference them.”

He stammered slightly, as if intimidated by something.

Is it because of that guy?

I had a feeling that this man called Bator might be more of a troublemaker than I thought.

“Thank you, senior.”

“S-senior…?”

Every time I called him senior, his face flushed bright red.

“There’s a meeting at two this afternoon, so just come along then.”

“Got it.”

It seemed they didn’t intend to assign me much work on my first day.
When I skimmed through the previous minutes, I noticed a clear difference compared to the ones my incompetent predecessor, Opel, had compiled.

Clean and well-organized.

Still, I thought it would be even better if there was a consistent format. As it was now, the pages were just filled with text—making it hard to grasp the contents at a glance.

But I shouldn’t change things on my own.

That would be disrespectful to the existing staff.

This world’s technology might lag behind modern standards, but the people here were certainly not slow-witted. Only geniuses could enter the Magic Tower, after all.

I’ll suggest it later, once I get more comfortable with everyone.

The company, befitting its size, even provided employee meals.

Gemina had invited Bator to eat together, but he declined—so it ended up being just the two of us.

I wasn’t too eager to create an awkward situation on my first day.

“Senior, I’m fine eating alone. I’ve got friends who came up to the capital with me. You can have lunch with Bator.”

Gemina’s eyes went wide and he frantically shook his head.
“N-no! It’s a senior’s duty to look after their junior! I-it’s only right!”

His speech might be nervous, but he’s a decent person.

Sharing a meal early on was actually a good way to build rapport and adjust to the workplace.

“Y-your friends are probably having lunch with their departments too.”

“That’s true. Thank you for taking care of me, senior.”

“N-no, it’s fine! Let’s eat! The cafeteria food’s really good!”

He wasn’t lying. It was delicious.
After surviving on dry bread for so long, I found it even more satisfying.

A good lunch could make all the difference in an office worker’s life, so this company earned some bonus points.

No wonder they say people come to work just for lunch.

And since it was free, my satisfaction rose even higher.
At least they weren’t stingy when it came to feeding their employees.

Aside from one sexist coworker, the overall balance here didn’t seem too bad.

After lunch, the scheduled meeting began. It was a management department meeting attended even by the department head himself.

For reference, issues in a workplace context were the kind of term you’d hear constantly once you started working—though they didn’t actually use that word here.

“What are today’s agenda items?”

The assistant, Soledad, answered tiredly,
“There are two. First, the recent decline in sales at Daijo. Despite procuring higher-quality goods at nearly the same price, we’re losing customers to competitors.”

The atmosphere instantly turned serious.
To put it bluntly, it meant our income was shrinking.

Head of Management, Samora, spoke up.
“What do you think is the cause?”

Soledad lowered her head, looking ashamed.
“We’re still investigating, but haven’t identified the reason yet. Once we confirm it, we’ll propose countermeasures.”

“Understood. It might help to analyze our competitors closely. Please conduct a detailed market review. What’s the next issue?”

“Yes, sir. The second is store management. Across the empire, the number of customer complaints has been increasing. Due to limited staff, it’s been difficult to verify the authenticity of each claim.”

As I diligently took notes, it occurred to me that these two problems might actually be connected.

Poor store management could be driving customers away.

Unless a store had a truly exceptional product, no one would bother enduring bad service when there were plenty of other options.

“Hm…”
“Not an easy problem.”
“It’s possible the first and second issues are related,” Samora said—echoing my own thought.

“It won’t be easy to find a quick fix,” he continued. “But we don’t have much time.”

“What about increasing management personnel?”

“With sales dropping, we can’t afford to expand the budget.”

“Then perhaps adjust the product lineup?”

“In that case…”

Several suggestions were made, but none hit the mark.

I decided to focus on how best to organize the increasingly long meeting notes instead.

After all, I was just a new employee. No matter what I thought, it wouldn’t be wise to speak out of turn here.

Maybe I’ll divide the notes by issue and list proposed solutions under each subheading. That seems clearest.

“Sometimes it’s good to hear from someone with field experience. Cornelia, what do you think?”

“…Huh?”

I was so absorbed in writing that I froze when my name was suddenly called.

“You’ve heard the discussion so far, right? You were once selected for our annual ‘We Appreciate You’ program, weren’t you? Feel free to speak up. It must be boring to just write all the time.”

My chest tightened.

“Ah… I… I’m fine, really.”

But every gaze in the room—secretary, assistant, senior, and department head—was fixed on me.

In a situation like this, staying completely silent would be worse.

How should I even start this…?

With a slightly awkward and embarrassed look, I lowered my head.

“My thoughts are…”

***

Rustle, rustle.

The sound of papers flipping filled the quiet office.

A man’s sharp eyes gleamed as he scanned through the pages.

“Sales have increased?”

It was the senior executive, Petra.
Across from him, the vice executive, Kei, nodded.

“Indeed. The declining sales have begun to recover. What could be the reason? Were there any new policies?”

Kei’s assistant stepped forward.
“It seems to be the result of a new regulation from the management department.”

“A regulation?”

“Yes, it’s called the ‘Mystery Customer’ system.”

“Mystery… customer?”

Intrigued, Petra leaned forward.

“It’s a rule where the headquarters randomly selects several branches, sends their own staff disguised as customers, and evaluates the service.”

“Oh? And then?”

“If a branch receives poor evaluations and fails to improve, the manager can be demoted or have their pay cut. Conversely, high-rated branches may receive raises or additional support from headquarters. The top-rated branches will even be announced internally.”

“A clever idea.”

The vice executive stroked his beard, deep in thought.

Since only a few stores were chosen at random, there was no need for extra manpower.
And because headquarters employees personally experienced the service, the results were far more credible.

It was directly tied to the management department’s performance—there’d be no way to cover up bad service.

“Since they never know when or how the inspectors will appear, each branch will have no choice but to stay diligent.”

“Good management naturally boosts sales. Two problems solved with one idea.”

Petra found the management department’s plan bold yet efficient.

The branch managers might feel pressured—but that was inevitable.
Falling sales could mean store closures, after all.

And with incentives, well-managed departments would be even more motivated.

“It seems replacing the head of management with Samora was the right move.”

This personnel change had been a perfect decision. He should have stopped him back when he’d wanted to become a branch manager.

“It appears so. The new head seems to handle his subordinates very well.”

But Kei, who had known Samora for years, doubted he could’ve devised such an idea alone.

The thinking pattern was simply too different.

“He’s done great work—make sure he’s rewarded properly. Give the management department a generous budget for their team dinner. And if they need furniture or supplies, provide full support. Put the costs on my account.”

“Yes, understood.”

For the first time in a while, the tense meeting ended on a pleasant note.

After sending his assistant away, Kei went straight to the management department’s office.

And there, he found an astonishing answer.

“Who did you say came up with this idea?”