BXBX NOVEL Chapter 65: Part-Time Work
Chapter 65: Part-Time Work
Translator: ShiroiKaze/Soyokaze Translations
Happy Christmas Eve!
Over the course of the week I [Enchanted] accessories, and Yig’s claws.
[Transmitter], [Acceleration], [Strength], and even [Body Reinforcement] were things I included in them.
With all of this, even a proper phantom thief shouldn’t be able to carelessly lay hands on him.
“Kukuku… Just you watch, Livyatan… I’ll make sure you really screw the pooch on this one!”
“Yuuri, that’s a really old figure of speech. And actually…”
“What’s wrong Haster? Do you have some problem with all the work I’m putting in to protect Yig?”
“The material costs. We’ve practically exhausted our traveling funds.”
“… … …This is to protect Yig, you know?”
“Ugyuu~”
I may have gone a little too far. My eyes swam a bit as I gazed towards the day after tomorrow.
His tail, neck and both horns are decorated with silver-set jewels, and three of the claws on his left and right have various magic circles placed on them using expensive magic paint.
I also had him wear some very fine clothes over his whole body, but the clothes also have [Magic Maintaining] sewn into the lining to store extra magic power, and deal with magic exhaustion.
With the high maneuverability and firepower on display, Yig’s battle power probably far surpasses some average wyvern’s now.
Yig himself seems to feel it’s kind of heavy, but…
“W-well we should get some kind of reward once we capture Livyatan. And Forest Bear should be paying us for our help too, so…”
“In other words, if we let her get away, we go bankrupt.”
“A-all we have to do is win, and everything will be fine!”
I clench my fists and get fired up.
I’m not sweating, okay? Really.
“And besides, if Yig gets kidnapped, I’m going to go insane, you know? I would probably burn this entire city down looking for him, you know?”
“I’m going to have to ask you to keep yourself under control.”
“Hmph, then let’s just earn some quick cash. Haster, can you think of something that might work for that?”
“I’m not really certain… Actually, Jack and the others would know more about that, wouldn’t they?”
“Would they?”
“He is the party leader, despite appearances.”
It really doesn’t seem that way, but mister Jack is the one who bares responsibility for them.
With that decided, we should hurry. We’ll get mister Jack to immediately find a job for us.
~*~
We went to the inn’s dining hall, and sure enough mister Jack and mister Kale were washing dishes.
It would seem they were earning their living expenses while they left the Livyatan investigation to miss Bella and mister Bhav.
In a sense, it’s the right person in the right place.
Mister Oreas? He got dragged into being a waiter. He has a kind of refined look to him, so he’s good for taking in female customers.
“Oh, a job? Well that’s a little out of the blue… Ah, come to think of it, I think they needed some help handling the food over at the knight school?”
“What do you expect us to do with that kind of chump change?”
“Yuuri, has your monetary sense gone a little wacky as well?”
“Uh… I guess I do feel like I’ve been wasting a lot of money lately…”
“Well, considering the hard work involved, it pays 120 silver a day I hear?”
Converting to gold coins, that’s 1 gold and 20 silver coins. About 12,000 in Japanese yen.
That’s actually pretty nice for a part-time job.
“Actually, if there was a better job, we would have taken it.”
“No kidding. I mean, we’re sitting here washing dishes to pay for our living expenses.”
Mister Jack and mister Kale gaze into the distance. If you’ve learned anything from this experience, could you please stop drowning your cares in alcohol?
“Not like we can cook or anything, else we wouldn’t have to do a job like this.”
“We’re really good at slicing and tearing things though.”
The two sigh together. Their specialty as warrior types is destroying things after all.
Moreover, the two of them are all thumbs.
But helping with food, huh… There’s no danger, and if it’s done with some magical assistance, then even I should be able to manage it without problems.
If we have 120 silver coins, we can stay another four days at the inn. Just as we need for Livyatan’s day of notice.
“Well, it’s perfect for our deadline, so how about I take it?”
“Then I’ll go too. If we both go, we’ll get twice the compensation.”
“Can you cook, Haster?”
“I’m excellent at battlefield cooking.”
Oh, come to think of it he once had me eat bug eggs and stuff.
Army food like this is actually probably more on his turf. I can only do household cooking.
Maybe we can sneak Yig in to add to our strength too?
“Then we’re off to earn some immediate funds.”
“Righto. Earn some for us too, if you can.”
“Rather not, thanks.”
And so we headed toward the knight school on the outskirts of the city.
Alec’s alma mater, huh…? I actually wanted to visit it as if I was a customer.
~*~
On the outskirts of the city, we headed toward the stupidly huge multi-purpose dorm and school building which stood before us.
Since they were told we came by mister Jack’s recommendation, we were guided to the cafeteria without any decent checks.
Will they be okay with that kind of security?
In the cafeteria, there were older women in their fourties diligently peeling potatoes.
“Hello, we came as temporary helpers for the day. I’m Haster, and I look forward to working with you.”
“… I’m Yuuri.”
With his brilliant pretty boy smile and greeting, the attention of the cafeteria focused on him all at once.
All those eyes make me feel like cowering though…
“My my, we have some cute helpers today. I’m acting as the chef here. We appreciate the help.”
“Of course. Getting right down to it, this is our first time in this type of job. Could you tell us what we can do to help?”
“That’ll be fine, but… Around that young lady’s neck…”
Yeah, of course it would bother them. This collar that is.
“This is what he’s in to.”
“R-really now…? Well, keep it in moderation, ‘kay?”
“It looks good on her; what’s the big deal?”
That’s not the problem! More importantly, this is supposed to look good on me?!
… Then I guess there is no problem.
“Uhh, okay then. Naturally, we consume a whole load of our staple food, potatoes, so could I have you peel those? Make sure to wash your hands, ‘kay?”
“Got it. Yuuri, let’s do this.”
“Right.”
In this world the main staple food is bread, with rice in much smaller distribution.
But in a school like this, rather than spending all that effort on bread, smashing some potatoes and making mashed potatoes and such tends to be the preferred main dish.
The same carbohydrates with the salt content is probably good for the constantly exercising students, too.
I put something like a smock over my head, gathered my hair under a hat, and washed my hands for good measure.
While I’m at it, may as well thoroughly wash Yig too.
“Ugyagyagya?!”
He loved the hot spring, but he seems to be the type who hates being washed.
And then I took a cooking knife in hand and began peeling the potatoes one by one.
I guess they don’t have vegetable peelers in this world yet? Peeling potatoes by knife takes a lot of effort.
At a quick glance around me, everyone was endeavoring frantically in potato peeling.
If I were to suddenly start constructing something in this situation, it would likely earn their ire.
“No helping it, I will just have to do this by my own strength!”
“Agya!”
Yig is cheering me on.
I wanted to try creating a device I saw a long time ago on television. It involved filling a tub with water, tossing potatoes with the eyes taken off into the tub, and then by churning the water around the potatoes could be peeled. But I’ll just have to put up with this.
I have five years of experience as a housewife. A few potatoes are of no concern!
~*~
In the time it took Haster to peel two tubs of potatoes, I hadn’t even peeled three fourths of one tub. Goddammit!
“Why are you so good at this?”
“Something as simple as peeling potatoes is the basics. The basics.”
Hmhm, Haster smugly hummed as he puffed out his chest. This is irking me a bit!
As a wife, I can’t afford to lose in a battle of household tasks. It’s time to show him how obstinate I can be.
“You two are better at this than I expected. Do you help out around the house?”
“There’s only the two of us in the house, so we’ve learned to handle everything on our own.”
“Oh, I see… I asked something I shouldn’t have.”
Something you shouldn’t have? Ooh, I guess she thinks we’re siblings who lost our parents and are living together?
Sorry to break it to you, but what we ‘lost’ wasn’t our parents, it was Haster’s conscience. And his self control along with it.
“Well then, I know you must be tired, but next I’m gonna need the young lady here to peel the onions for us. Once you’ve peeled them, go ahead and cut them in thin slices.”
“Got it, boss.”
“Oh, and could I have you, young man, go to the warehouse and get a bag of wheat?”
“Understood… Yig, you come too. You seem like you’re free, so help me out.”
“Ugyu!”
Continuing on in this way, we spent the morning doing prep work, and when noon came around, the war began.
~*~
Changing from a smock to an apron, I desperately try to shake a frying pan.
It’s large enough for several people, thick, heavy, and rough. It was truly a mass of iron.
“Hnggghh!”
I exerted all my strength, taking the pan in both hands to shake it, to finish up enough fried vegetables for about five people.
Haster’s job is frying some fritters covered in bread crumbs.
… We seem to be in the reverse roles we should be, strength-wise.
“Yig, fire.”
“Shaa!”
Making certain nobody around us is looking this way, I have Yig help out.
He bathes the vegetables in flames, heating them through all at once until just before the moisture seeps out of them, and I finish it off with salt and pepper.
The vegetables are stacked on a plate along with soup from a large pot, bread, and half an apple. Once they’re all placed on trays, they’re ready.
“Three orders of fried vegetables—up!”
Normally it would be enough for five people, and for people with my appetite it would be enough for eight people. But these fried vegetables are actually only for three people.
How truly frightening growing boys and girls are,
Could it be that I wasn’t giving Alec enough food at meal times…?
Naw, he always had Marle with him. I’m sure she supplied extra provisions to stave off his hunger.
“Whoa, this girl made the meal for us today?”
“Seriously? A little girl’s hand-cooked meal?!”
“Fried vegetables for me too!”
Calm the hell down, boys. Er, please.
Thus I continued awkwardly wielding a frying pan until the sun went down that day.
Furthermore, the fritters that Haster made were very popular with the female knights.
… Stay away; that is mine.
~*~
“You sure were a big help. To think those vegetable hating boys would eat so much! Would you come back again tomorrow?”
“No uhh… We have some other things to do. I am very sorry.”
“That so? Too bad. The girls who would usually complain about the oil and getting fat, the boys who hate vegetables, and all the other picky eaters just took their food without a word. I was truly grateful for that.”
“They get plenty of exercise, so the kids were all in very good health.”
“… Hrmm.”
I’m the thin skin and bones type, so maybe the women with a reasonable amount of meat on them were a fresh sight for him?
Or just maybe he was feeling nostalgic about Alec in his early training days.
“Yig, let’s start exercising tomorrow.”
“Ukyu?”
“Hm? Well so be it. If you’ve ever got time on your hands again, come on by to help.”
“Haha… Take it easy on us please.”
I guess he really did endure through today’s work too.
The subtle sweat running down his back is something I didn’t miss.
The compensation for the two of us was supposed to be 240 silver coins, but we were paid 250.
And we also received permission to tour inside the school until the evening.
That’s only about two hour from now, but… It’s a tour of the school!
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Author’s Note: However, the tour scene will be cut. I’d like to write a school arc when I have the opportunity at some point.