Chapter 9, Episode 6: Growth of the Employees
After my debriefing with Carme, I peeked into the breakroom to find Maria, Fina, and Lilyn with their backs to the door.
“Hello, ladies,” I called.
They turned and greeted me all at once.
“Hello, Chief—I mean, Owner?” Maria started.
“Welcome back. Carme told us you made it back,” Fina said.
“It’s great to see you well,” said Lilyn.
“If I ever worried you, I’m sorry. As you can see, I’m back in one piece.” Even though Carme reassured me that there were no issues at work—beyond the document that shall not be named—I was still anxious to hear about how they’d been this past month, or just talk to them again.
“None of us have gotten hurt or sick since we last saw you. We did read that handbook, though,” Maria said.
“That was about the only time I felt depressed. I assume it’s the same for the others,” Fina chimed in.
“My father and I were fine,” Lilyn said matter-of-factly.
“Oh, good.” The fact that I had, albeit inadvertently, left behind the equivalent of an emotional letter bomb had been weighing on me. Finally, I noticed the writing utensils on the table in front of them. “I hope I’m not interrupting a study session.”
“Not at all,” Maria reassured.
“We weren’t so much studying as double-checking,” Fina said before adding, “Oh, Mister Stoia finished the book you ordered. He wants you to come pick it up.”
“Also, Mister Sanchez said he finished the manuscript for adventuring, but the one for daily living will take some more time,” Maria said.
“Thank you for letting me know. He’s made quick work of it, actually.”
“Their grandchildren were grumbling about how demanding their grandfathers are,” Fina said.
“‘What’s the point of retiring if you’re going to keep working?’ they said,” Maria chimed in.
Those two were very active grandpas, for sure. Mueller Stoia, a former tax collector, and Garcia Sanchez, a former judicial officer, were both introduced to me through the duke. Now, they both served as my advisors for the more technical side of my business ventures. They had their own interests, though, so I’d also asked them to take on some side projects, which included tutoring Fina and Maria, as well as writing books. These were meant to be guides that plainly outlined tips for their trade, like those commonly found back in Japanese bookstores.
Books on law and taxes already existed in this world, but most books of that nature were written for professionals, or for students studying to become a professional in that field. A high level of literacy and extensive background knowledge was required for the reader to really understand them, which gave me the impression that they were not beginner-friendly in any way.
At first, I’d doubted that they’d even had enough time to advise me on my business, let alone the other gigs. As it turns out, they both had grandchildren apprenticing under them to go into the family business, so my jobs were great practice for them. For the price of hiring Stoia and Sanchez, I had their whole firm at my disposal in an incredible stroke of luck. While I sympathized with the grandchildren over their busy schedules, I had no knowledge of what kind of training their jobs demanded. And I had heard that working at the duke’s residence was even more grueling.
“They’ve been helping us a lot,” Maria said.
“They taught us all from scratch... Before I came out to work in the city, I never thought I’d have the opportunity to study anything like this,” Fina added.
“Those are particularly extensive subjects. Knowledge in either field will only help you if you ever need it,” I offered.
“That time is now!” Fina reached for a paper on the table with uncharacteristic enthusiasm.
Before the Saionji Company began trading with them, Fina’s village was in dire financial straits because they had no one to sell their crops to. That was why Fina had come out to the city to job hunt in the first place. Her experience there must have given her a powerful motivation to study these subjects. As proof of her dedication, every line on the paper she held up was covered in meticulous notes.
“Yesterday, they were teaching us about taxes levied on farming communities,” Fina began, “and we learned that Duke Jamil offers partial or total reimbursement of costs incurred to protect lives and property in case of monster or bandit attacks.”
“I didn’t know that,” I answered, understanding the policy to be a form of disaster aid.
“My father is the village elder, and I had no idea either,” Fina added bitterly. “There were a few times when we hired adventurers to deal with monsters around the village, scraping together what little money everyone in the village could spare.”
“I can’t imagine that they knew about the reimbursement offer but didn’t choose to use it. Did your father or any other adult in the village know about it?” I asked.
“Even if they did apply for reimbursement, we would have still had to pay the adventurers out of pocket first. So it’s possible that I don’t remember when the reimbursement came or my father didn’t feel it necessary to tell me about it because I was still young... But most likely, no one knew about the policy at all.” Fina also mentioned that, according to Stoia, this was commonplace in many smaller villages, where few village leaders had professional knowledge about taxes or laws. It seemed rather precarious for someone who had to lead a village, but they could apparently get by as long as they knew what activities were illegal. On the other hand, programs like this reimbursement offer put the responsibility on the villagers to take advantage of it and not on their local tax collector, who had no obligation to inform the villagers that such a thing existed. As a result, policies like this that weren’t either mandatory or that outlined illicit activities often went undiscovered.
“Even when a leader knows about the policy, their request could be rejected if they don’t properly follow the procedure... I wonder if some villages have tried and lost hope of ever receiving the benefits because it was too complicated a process,” Fina said.
“Unfortunate. If they had known about the policy and its procedure, their lives would have improved.”
“Lilyn’s right,” Maria chimed in. “Mister Sanchez always says that laws are constantly changing, and that too many people are ignorant of new laws and end up violating them, or lose out on benefits because they don’t even try to learn about new policies.”
“Not learning about those changes could cause a lot of legal trouble for their village,” I said. “Laws are so complicated that not much can be done without first studying them extensively...which, of course, must be the hard part.”
“Right,” Maria agreed. “That’s why we need to work hard to study them, and relay that information to our parents in letters.”
“Of course, we’re going to use that knowledge to help the store too! It’s the least we can do after everyone helped adjust the schedule to accommodate us studying,” Fina said.
“I’m looking forward to it.” I could have never guessed that these girls would end up like this when I hired them, and I was glad to see it as the business’s owner. Self-betterment should be commended in any situation. “Speaking of betterment, your accent has become less noticeable, Lilyn.”
“Yes. I am getting used to the language. I speak a lot with the employees, especially Jane, who always talks to me. And I greet customers. Father is having more difficulties than I am.”
That could have been due to his age. Not that I discounted the sentiment that it was never too late to start something new, but our memory undeniably weakened with age. That, I knew from experience.
“Dolce has grown too,” Lilyn continued. “We spar during security training. He’s much stronger than before, to the surprise of father and Ox. He talks with Hudom a lot. Having another man close to him in age is good for him.”
“Dolce does work very hard,” Fina said. “He occasionally asks me a writing question and seems to be writing more complex sentences. I’ve often seen him reading during his break too.”
“He said he doesn’t know what else to spend his money on other than books,” Maria chimed in.
“That’s incredible,” I agreed. Dolce had come from the slums, and was barely literate when I first hired him. I’d known that he was learning to read and write in his spare time, but not how much progress he’d made. Seeing how even Fay and Ox were impressed with his fighting, he was quickly becoming a master of pen and sword.
“Did you call me?” Dolce walked in, as if he had been summoned by our discussion.
“We were just talking about you,” I said, and explained how much we were impressed by his growth.
Blushing a little, he shook his head. “I’m far from a master. I can’t read as well as them, and I’m still the weakest security guard. Fay and Ox still need to go easy on me to make it a fair spar.”
“Bad example. Father and Ox are not on the same level as normal security guards. Actually, the whole security team here is way too strong,” said Lilyn.
“I’ve been thinking about that. I’ve only ever lived in my village and this city, so I thought they were normal at first...until I realized that security in other establishments are not even close to their level,” Fina said.
“Only high-end stores and shops in dangerous neighborhoods hire full-time security. At most places, the regular employees handle troublesome customers. Anyone with a decent frame or some experience in fights can handle the bare minimum duties of a security guard. At any other store, you could be the chief security guard, Dolce. You’re strong enough, at least,” Lilyn offered.
“R-Really? I don’t know how things are at other shops... But I hope you’re right,” Dolce finally admitted.
I’d hired him through Jeff when the laundry shop was being harassed and the business was still green. He was already qualified for the job back then, and if he’d improved his craft as much as everyone said, he deserved a lot more credit than he was giving himself.
With all the work they’ve been putting in, weren’t they interested in a raise or promotion? I wondered, even though I’d discussed their pay and benefits with Carme to ensure they were adequate.
I asked them about it, but they all said that they wouldn’t know what to do with a pay raise, which I kind of sympathized with. I was in a similar situation, although the numbers were a few digits off.
That’s when it hit me. Is this how the people at the duke’s residence feel?
“Are there any other requests for benefits I could provide?” I asked the room.
“If I had to choose... A vacation?” Dolce suggested. “I’m interested in traveling...for fun.”
“Wonderful! Did you have anywhere in mind?” I asked.
“Well, I’ve never set foot outside the city. Most of us from the slums haven’t. You never get a chance or choice to, unless you snag a job that takes you beyond the city bounds, like adventuring or transporting goods. After listening to everyone here describe their hometowns and the journeys they took to get here, and after reading more books, I became more interested in the idea. That being said, I don’t have a plan. I’m not sure where I’d go or what I’d do if I went... I wouldn’t know what to do if you gave me a vacation now,” Dolce explained.
“I understand. Let’s put a pin in that, then. Separate from any official raise or benefit, would you like to go somewhere together, Dolce?” I offered.
After returning from the Sea of Trees—and once I had enough employees to do so—I planned to add more branches to our chain. I’d have to scope out potential locations for the branch. As long as Dolce’s days off aligned, I could take him there with Space magic. That’d be only a day trip or an overnighter, so he wouldn’t have much time for sightseeing or taking a relaxing carriage ride... Or he could transfer to any new location as a security guard. If it was the norm to not travel outside of work, I could offer him the chance to travel for work.
“Are you sure you can...you’re allowed to do that?” Dolce asked.
“I’ll have to talk it over with Carme, but there shouldn’t be a problem. You’ll still have a work schedule, of course, and I do need to send people to the new branch. It shouldn’t be difficult to include you in the roster of the new branches. Besides, you’ve been working here since we opened, so you know how I run things and the atmosphere I expect in my shop. You have my trust both as a security guard and a friend, so it would make me feel better to have someone like that on the team for the new branch, not to mention how much it would help the new hires. We’ll train them before the grand opening, but minor questions are bound to come up. Having just one person on the team who can answer those questions makes a world of difference,” I said.
“That’s so true,” Maria agreed.
“We had a lot of questions at first,” Fina added.
Both the employees and I went through a lot of trial and error to solve problems I hadn’t expected. What Dolce experienced through that process ought to be valuable for the new hires.
“We could even make it a temporary transfer, like for the first month or six months after opening. Only if that’s what you want, it will be an option. At this time, I believe our next branch will be in Gaunago. The duke has requested we build one there, so that location will be prioritized,” I said.
“All right. I’ll think about it,” said Dolce.
I made a mental note to bring this up with Carme, and recognized how much I enjoyed seeing how far my employees had come. Even though I was no longer their manager, I would try to keep in touch with them from time to time.
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