Monster Company Tycoon Chapter 18

Chapter 18

 

“You said a preliminary inspection was possible, right?”

“Yes, yes! Of course. Since you’re entrusting us with your precious students, you should come and inspect the place yourself.”

It felt like my dungeon was suddenly turning into a taekwondo academy. But this was hardly the time to be picky.

“Then I’ll visit the dungeon myself. I’ll make my decision afterward. It’s not that I don’t trust you… I’m simply a naturally suspicious person.”

I could sense from her words that she was being considerate, not wanting to offend me as one of Ragner’s acquaintances.

“That’s perfectly reasonable! Just let me know your schedule in advance, and I’ll personally escort you!”

Just as our conversation was drawing to a close, Ragner approached the table.

“It seems things went well.”

“You really are something. Dumping such an absurd task on me.”

“You know better than anyone, Master, that the more practical experience novice adventurers get, the better, don’t you?”

Master?

I was startled and looked back and forth between the two of them.

“Ah, she’s my adventuring master. I forgot to mention that.”

Why were you only telling me something so important now…?

Still, if they were master and disciple, it made sense that they trusted each other so deeply.

“Don’t tell me you’re still holding on to what happened back then?”

Ruadis’s voice sank heavily.

“…Master, out of every ten adventurers who leave the training ground and embark on their first journey, five lose their lives.”

I flinched.

The outside world… was it really that dangerous?

It seemed I’d made the right choice by not rashly fleeing the dungeon.

“Training and actual combat are different. They become so frightened or flustered that they die without even managing to swing their swords properly once. If they’d been given more experience beforehand, wouldn’t more of them have survived?”

It seemed Ragner had already known how I would try to persuade Ruadis. Or perhaps he’d brought it up to lend weight to my proposal.

“Do you believe humans and dungeons can coexist?”

“I still believe dungeons should be eliminated. They’re nests that harbor dangerous monsters.”

“Ugh…”

“But the person I trust is Miss Choi. I believe a dungeon that has made a contract with Miss Choi can coexist with humans.”

Ragner looked down at me with his usual languid eyes.

For someone who’d supposedly been nice to me simply because I resembled his pet dog, Chacha… wasn’t he trusting me a little too much? I was grateful, of course, but…

No. He clearly trusted his own abilities.

He was strong enough to bring our dungeon crashing down in an instant if things went south.

And so, our partnership with a potential business client took its first step.

Before returning to the dungeon, I visited the restaurant with the job advertisement one more time.

“Um… excuse me.”

“Oh, welcome! Did you leave something behind?”

I’d noticed it during lunch, too, but the restaurant had such a warm and cozy atmosphere.

The man had trouble with his legs, so he mostly stayed at the counter, while his wife seemed rather overwhelmed trying to handle both the kitchen and serving customers.

“I saw the advertisement posted on your door. You were looking for an employee…”

“Oh, are you here to apply?”

“Yes, yes.”

They’d said they closed the restaurant once it got dark, so it seemed they were only busy around lunchtime and had relatively little to do afterward.

The owners were kind, too, so it seemed like a decent place to work.

“We’d be happy to have a young person helping us, but we can’t pay very much. Would that be all right?”

Just as the monsters had wanted, this world had an unusual preference for weekly wages rather than monthly salaries. It was nice to get paid quickly, at least.

The job involved three hours of work a day, with no days off.

The weekly wage for working at the restaurant was 30,000 eon.

That comes to about 1,500 eon an hour…

By the currency standards of my original world, that would make the owners downright exploitative employers. But considering that the monsters had wanted a weekly wage of only 500 eon, this was actually a lot.

Ragner hadn’t said anything about the pay either, so perhaps this was a reasonable rate for the village.

“I’m just grateful you’re willing to hire me.”

The money aside, working here meant I’d at least get lunch! They’d be feeding me, too, so the job was absolutely worth it.

“All right, then. Do you have any experience working in a restaurant?”

“Hmm… I’ve done plenty of similar things.”

Whenever guests visited, serving them tea and refreshments had basically been my responsibility. There was even a time when the company president introduced some ridiculous welfare policy that required employees to prepare breakfast for the entire staff every morning.

I did that. And whenever the company held one of its occasional drinking parties, I was also the one who cleaned up the next morning…

I’d done serving, preparing food, and cleaning up. Didn’t that make me an experienced worker?

For some reason, though, the woman interviewing me began looking at me with a sympathetic expression.

“You must really need money, don’t you?”

“Ah… yes. Well, the more, the better.”

“Then take a look at the noticeboard in the village square whenever you have some free time. Residents sometimes leave notes there when they need someone to run little errands for them. You should be able to earn a bit of money that way.”

“Oh, thank you for letting me know!”

The round trip between the village and the dungeon took two hours, and with the part-time job included, that meant five hours in total.

Since I couldn’t leave the dungeon unattended for too long, I had no intention of increasing my working hours beyond that. Still, there was no harm in checking the noticeboard occasionally.

Two days later, just as promised, Ruadis visited the dungeon.

Alone, without any companions.

“Oh, she’s here!”

Wanting to make a good impression, I’d made sure to give the monsters a thorough lesson in manners as well.

“A VIP from an important business partner is coming! If this deal falls through, you’re all getting disciplined! Do you want your wages cut!?”

“No, ma’am!”

I’d used so much corporate jargon that it seemed even Brownie had been influenced by it.

While the enthusiastic Brownie was whipping the monsters into shape, I hurried outside the dungeon to greet Ruadis.

“Have you been living inside the dungeon?”

“Haha… yes. I’ve been imposing on them a little. This is the lobby. It’s… spacious, isn’t it?”

“There’s really nothing here.”

That made her the second person to hurt me with a painfully accurate observation, after Ragner.

“We’ll improve it. For now… well, we’re a little short on funds.”

“It’s still fascinating to hear that a dungeon is operated using human money.”

“I suppose… it is, isn’t it? I was pretty surprised myself at first.”

I led her toward the gate, where the monsters were waiting.

“Everyone’s standing by to greet you…”

“No, there’s no need.”

Shing.

Suddenly, Ruadis drew her sword.

“W-why are you suddenly drawing that!?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to assess their abilities by facing them directly? Tell them to treat me like an ordinary challenger.”

“W-wait a moment!”

She was Ragner’s master! That meant she had to be incredibly strong, didn’t it!?

No! My employees would all die!

“My employees–no, my monsters… are as fragile as glass! If you fight them, Lady Ruadis, they won’t even have any bones left to pick up!”

“I won’t kill them.”

“Even if you leave after killing them, if another challenger shows up afterward, our dungeon will be in serious trouble! This is interference with our business!”

Ruadis looked at me with an expression that suggested she found me a little pathetic.

“Guh…”

“You really do treat the dungeon like a business establishment… Haah, never mind. I’ll hold back appropriately, so there’s no need to worry.”

“You have to promise! Hold back a lot! A whole lot!”

And so, Ruadis opened the gate…

In less than ten minutes, she’d defeated every single monster.

The strategies we’d painstakingly devised and the training we’d worked so hard to complete… none of it had been of any use against her overwhelming skill.

“……”

“I heard they were weak, but this is even more pathetic than I expected.”

Along the path she’d taken, the monsters lay groaning on the ground, each one having been thoroughly beaten up.

Even our secret weapon, Small Slime’s Digestive Fluid Spray, had been completely useless. Ruadis had spotted it coming and dodged it long before it could hit her.

What was I supposed to do about my employees’ shattered morale now…?

I felt like collapsing right alongside the fallen monsters.

“With abilities like these, you’d do nothing to give my students practical combat experience. You’d only inflate their egos for no good reason.”

“Urgh…”

It was chilling. Ruadis’s merciless assessment pierced my heart like a dagger.

“Um… then… what about the proposal…?”

Was it really going to end just like this…?

“Unless you can train them to become useful, that is.”

“Huh?”

“From now on, after you finish your work at the restaurant, come home with me.”

“What do you mean…?”

“I’ll train these creatures myself until they become more useful than wooden training dolls.”

“Gasp…!”

I was momentarily speechless at Ruadis’s proposal.

She was offering to help improve the monsters’ abilities herself!? And she was an excellent instructor who trained adventurers for a living!

“I’ve given Ragner’s words a great deal of thought. I try to give my students as many opportunities as possible to face monsters before they graduate, but it’s not enough. It’s terribly sad when my students pass away without ever leaving their names behind in the world.”

Ah, I let out a quiet sigh. She’d said that five out of every ten adventurers who took their first steps on a journey lost their lives before reaching the next one…

“Training them to become stronger is all I can do for them. So I’ll cooperate with you.”

“…!”

“However, there’s one more thing that needs improvement.”

So even securing a deal wasn’t easy.