A Job for Ronnie

After eating lunch with Lucien and finishing my third-period class, I had the joint swordsmanship class next.

Since we had to change in the changing room at the training grounds, we had to hurry or we'd be late. I was already standing out badly as a commoner; being late would make me stand out even more. I absolutely couldn't be late.

"Ronnie, let's get to the training grounds early. If we're late, we'd definitely get an earful, and we'd stand out even more."

"You're right. Let's go."

Ronnie and I were the first to leave the classroom, and we hurried toward the training grounds.

"I've never done swordsmanship before. We probably won't use real swords since it's practice, but it'd hurt if one hit us, right?"

"It would probably hurt if one hit us, but at first we'll probably just learn how to hold a sword and practice our swings. I doubt they'll have us doing anything that could result in being hit right away."

"You think so? That would be a relief... Have you done swordsmanship before, Leon?"

"I've done a little with Lucien-sama. But I've only done a tiny bit, so I'm no different from a beginner."

I had only started seriously learning swordsmanship about a week ago myself. I practiced my swings every day, but I was probably still no different from a beginner.

I wanted to learn as much as possible in swordsmanship class and become even a little stronger. I was good at magic, but having more options was always better. Swordsmanship was more useful in close combat, and a sword could even serve in place of a shield.

We arrived at the training grounds while walking quickly and talking about it. We immediately entered the boys' changing room, where a partition stood a little past the entrance, with lockers beyond it.

If I remembered correctly, the lockers were grouped by class. Ours were probably closest to the entrance. I started looking from there and found them right away.

Just as I thought. Class E was where the most people passed through, so Class A must have been in the back.

"Ronnie, I found them."

"Really? Thanks."

"Then let's get changed right away."

"Yeah. We should get out quickly so we don't get in anyone else's way."

We changed quickly and left the changing room. Ronnie was shrinking into himself more than usual, probably because of his training clothes.

Ronnie's training clothes were several grades lower in quality than his everyday clothes. They probably hadn't been able to scrape together enough money to buy training clothes of the same quality...

In clothes like these, even people in my neighborhood would say, "Did someone buy you new clothes? How nice."

He must really stand out at this school...

"Leon, are these clothes really not good enough?"

"Hmm... They might make you stand out a little."

"I thought so... We didn't have enough money to buy high-quality training clothes."

Ronnie would probably stand out quite a bit and be mocked in those clothes. He was a good person, so if possible, I wanted to remove anything that might give people a reason to bully him.

But would lending him money be a good idea? Ronnie would probably be too reluctant to accept it, and...

Maybe I could recommend a part-time job? But since there were hardly any schools in this world, finding work that only required a short shift after school seemed difficult.

I wondered whether Ronnie had a part-time job.

"Do you have a job right now, Ronnie? Like on days when there's no school, or after school?"

"Not yet. You can't find a job that convenient right away. If they're hiring, they'll hire someone who can work all day. I want to work too, but..."

I figured as much... But Ronnie could read, write, and do arithmetic, and he was smart. Wasn't there a job where he could put those abilities to use?

"Wasn't there a job where you could put your reading, writing, and arithmetic skills—or your intelligence—to use?"

"I hadn't thought of that, but even then, I don't think anyone would hire someone who could only work a little. Still... I'll look around, at least."

The first job that came to mind was working for a merchant, but if a merchant were hiring someone who could only work short hours, wouldn't they hire someone who could work all day and train them instead? Well, that's what I'd do.

Hmm, this was pretty difficult.

What if I opened a shop and hired Ronnie? I had the capital now, so that might work quite well.

What about a stall that operated after school and on our days off? Anyone could run a stall if they applied for permission, right?

In that case, I could buy everything we needed, hire Ronnie, and split the proceeds between us. Even if we didn't make a profit, I could give him a fixed wage.

That actually sounded like a pretty good idea! The next question was what to sell. It was also important whether Ronnie could make time on his days off.

"Ronnie, would you have time to work on your days off? Or do you need to study?"

"Hmm, I think it should be okay, but... I would like to set aside the mornings on my days off for studying."

"Then would you like to run a stall with me after school and on the afternoons of our days off?"

"A stall?"

"Yeah. How about I start a stall and hire you? You'd get half the profits as your wages, and even if we didn't make a profit, I'd pay you a fixed wage."

"Um... I'd really appreciate that, but I think it would cost a lot of money to start a stall. And I don't think we'd make a profit that easily..."

That's true, but I had more than enough money to cover it. Besides, I could think of all kinds of things that might sell. I could start by selling them while checking whether people in this world would accept them.

"I have enough money, so don't worry! If we decide to run a stall, would you work for me? I'm planning to join the After-School Research Club, so I probably won't be able to spend much time at the stall..."

"Of course! That's what I'd like to say, but... how much would I be paid?"

Hmm, how much would be appropriate? It would be about three hours after school, and around six hours in the afternoon on our days off.

At 1,000 yen an hour, that would be one copper coin per hour. Eighteen hours a week would make one silver coin and eight copper coins. How about rounding that up a little to around two silver coins a week?

"How about a fixed wage of two silver coins a week, with half the profits added to your wages if we make a profit?"

"Wh... What!? That's way too much for me!"

Was it? I didn't know what the standard was in this world.

"Even half of that would already be high pay! And if I were getting that much, I couldn't possibly take half the profits too."

Hmm, if he was that opposed, perhaps I should lower it a little? But I thought the fixed wage was fine as it was. I'd reduce the share of the profits a little.

"Then how about two silver coins as the fixed wage, plus twenty percent of the profits?"

"Th-that would still be far too much! In the first place, employees don't get a share of the profits!"

"That's true, but this stall would be run by just the two of us... Two silver coins and twenty percent of the profits is fine."

"Hmm... Well, if you're going to pay me that much, I'll gratefully accept it."

"Then it's settled! I'll get everything ready, and I'll talk to you again once I've worked out the details."

"Okay. You're doing this for my sake, aren't you? Thank you so much."

"It's nothing. I also wanted to try running a stall, and there were all sorts of things I wanted to sell."

Once we'd discussed it that far, many other students began entering the training grounds, so we stopped talking.

"For now, let's do our best in class."

"Yeah. I'm not looking forward to it, but I'll do my best."