Chapter 288: Let’s Have a Closing Party!

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“…In addition, there’s the golems who handle the store’s security and maintenance. Horbs, release you optical camouflage.”

They materialized in such numbers that it startled everyone.

“I’ve set them to usually stay hidden. These are golems built by me as well. They’re called horbs. Since they’ve got a complete grasp of everything pertaining to the store, they’ll tell you if you don’t know something and ask them secretly. If you’re nice to them, they’ll also tell you even without you asking secretly. Maybe.”

“””””Hello, I’m Horb!”””””

They busily greeted us.

＊

――With the introductions out of the way, the party was next up on the time table.

We cleaned away all the things that shouldn’t get dirty and spread out tablecloths. The Taking It Easy members and I handled the cooking. Damsel Pumilla also showed up to help.

“Oh, so you’ve helped out with the store, huh? It was behind the scenes, but were you alright with that?”

I think it’d have been okay for her to come out in front and greet the customers, seeing how she’s the little sister of the store’s owner.

“For now I will devote my efforts to working behind the scenes. …Thank you for your advice. My brother told me to take a rest for a while, but it was better that I worked here. Today I ran around so much that I didn’t even have time to brood over unnecessary things, so it allowed my mood to cheer up a bit,” she told me with a bright smile.

“I see. I don’t know what sort of person your former fiancée is, but no matter who they might be, it doesn’t matter. Rather than endlessly fretting over the words and actions of other people, it’s obviously much better to spend your time in a lively way while discovering fun things to do and experiencing all sorts of things for yourself. Being able to consider yourself as the most important is for your own sake after all!”

Once I declared so, she laughed with all her heart.

“What an amazing declaration! It has a lot of persuasiveness, I must admit.”

“It’s my way of life! Since my blood-related family consisted of nothing but useless bums, I quickly gave up on them. Nowadays I’m living for myself. I consider Sword to be the second-most important person in my life, but the most important person is me. Even if others don’t consider me as precious, I’ll be fine since I cherish myself the most. Moreover, I don’t give a flying damn about other people, so I can freely use them as a source of enjoyment!”

Damsel Pumilla’s eyes flew wide open, “…That’s an incredible mindset. I haven’t made such a clear cut, but…still, I’ll stop pitying myself and assist my brother. No matter how many people help out, this is such a wonderful shop that I doubt we will ever have enough helpers.”

Ooh, what a kind girl she is. She’s going to work hard for her brother’s sake, and for herself. That’s a beautiful display of sibling love right there.

＊

Now then, time for a celebration and great feast!

We steadily cooked up dishes and loaded them on plates. A big serving of gratin made with short pasta, grilled meat and veggies, small open sandwiches with sliced fillings, all sorts of fritter and fried potatoes, and many more.

At this point, the Taking It Easy members are already stall professionals, or maybe you can rather call them professionals at food catering. Either way, they were working quickly and without any issues.

They’ve been capable from the very start, but over the course of time, their techniques and skills have visibly improved!

Admiring their newfound levels, I called out to them, “You guys look like you’d be able to go independent on the stall business. How about you use that momentum as impetus to grab yourself a spouse? If you focus on calling out to members of the other sex who are of marriageable age, you might be able to catch at least one, you know?”

“”””Impossible!””””

They answered in a chorus.

＊

After distributing the drinks, I entrusted the service to the Taking It Easy members and did the toast speech together with Bennyboy.

“I can totally understand that you want to party after being released from your earlier nervousness, but tomorrow will be yet another busy day, so watch out to not drink too much. That’s all from me. Well then, Bennyboy, take it from here.”

“Everyone, great work! I had wondered how things would turn out with the ducal family being our very first customers, but we managed to somehow pull through, and what’s more, obtained a good chunk of confidence! At this point, we’ll be able to cope with any customers! That’s the feeling I got right now! I think various challenges are waiting for us down the road, but let’s all work hard and overcome them together! So, in celebration to our successful first day…CHEERS!”

“””””Cheeeeeers!”””””

Everyone drank their beverage with smiles all over their faces. And then they immediately rushed to the food.

But, despite being swarmed by a group of people, the Taking It Easy member handled all of them skilfully.

You guys are truly capable. And yet, why are you so avert to independence? Also, if you want to ever marry, show some more willpower and drive, will you?

＊

I kept making food while snacking on it whenever I found some time. Because the employees were like hungry wolves, they exceeded our initial assumptions in regards to the necessary amount, requiring me to cook up some additional dishes.

Sword helped out with the physical labor while staying cooped up in the kitchen and eating over there.

It’d be a real hassle to cue up for the food. I feel you, man.

“Really, thank you so much for hiring me! I will work here for life!” The noble employee said to Bennyboy with tears of joy and a voice full of admiration.

…He’s kind of the perfect example of a poor noble. Very pitiable. I mean, even poor nobles have to watch their reputation, so they seem to be forced to spend money on pointless stuff. All of their children except for the eldest son are basically worthless and get treated as burdensome mouths to feed.

Watching him makes me think so even more.

“As I thought, it was correct to abandon my nobility.”

“I think so too, when lookin’ at that.”

Sword agreed to my mutter while watching him next to me.

＊

Just for caution’s sake, I asked the Taking It Easy members, “If you want to work here, I’ll put in a good word for you with Bennyboy, you know? What do you think?”

All of them quickly shook their heads, causing me to be slightly surprised.

“That’s unusual for you guys who completely lack any independence.”

They felt like people who would do anything if only I gave them the order.

“Running a stall is fun!”

“We can sell stuff at a relaxed pace and the customers will tell us that our food is delicious. It’s worth doing this!”

“This place is out of the question! It’s a place where people like us mustn’t work!”

“The threshold is way too high! The distance to the customers is just right when running a stall! The customers and us are all commoners, so it’s very easygoing!”

They argued fervently.

“…Well, I knew that you guys had no ambition whatsoever. If you dislike working here so much, I don’t mind you staying stall employees. I’ll keep renting that ChaNon to you. But, hurry up and find yourself a spouse, okay? Once you do, you’ll live at the base and help out with the work over there or run new stalls while taking root over there, got it?”

“”””Okaaay.””””

Oh my, what a nice reply.

Meanwhile Bennyboy looked disappointed.

“How regrettable! Your cooking skills are the real deal, and I thought you’d be also able to serve light meals on the third floor, if you can cook for commoners. But even without that, I’d love to have personnel that can accompany me on my trips to stock up.”

You could actually hear the wind buzzing because of how quickly the Taking It Easy members shook their heads once more.

Well, you may say this or that, but they’ve probably worked at food-selling places while traveling all over the place up until now because they like that sort of lifestyle. I’ve told them to try taking root at some point, but it looks like they don’t have any intention to do so yet.

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