Chapter 51: Starting an Enterprise

The next morning, I left Reiko to take care of the kids while I went to visit the realtor. I couldn’t bring the kids with me without first getting a handle on the situation, and I couldn’t just leave them without supervision either. Reiko was better at handling them than I was, and I tended to scare them, so it was better to use my intimidation abilities on the realtor than the kids. We were each fit for our own roles, damn it!

And so, first thing in the morning, I stopped by to see the realtor who handled our property.

“Excuse me!”

Yeah, I wasn’t going to pick a fight without confirming the details first. But if he had knowingly sold me a property with issues, I’d show him no mercy.

Now, let’s see how this turns out...

“I see. So in other words, it would be pointless to meet with the previous owner now...”

“Yes, I’m afraid so...”

The person who had handled my property wasn’t an employee, but the realtor himself. He must have figured that it would be dangerous to let one of his workers deal with a strange girl trying to buy a property in cash, especially one that he had been trying to get rid of.

When I asked the branch manager for details, he explained that the orphanage had been run by a deeply religious individual who had kept the building in good shape through renovation and repairs. With support from their liege lord and local donations, along with their simple chores and kitchen garden being handled by the orphans, they had been getting by without any major issues despite being far from wealthy.

When the owner retired due to old age, the man who took over ended up screwing up big time. Well, actually, it was more accurate to say he had volunteered to take over in order to get what he wanted: the meager monetary support from the lord and the donations, along with the orphans’ labor. Together, they hardly amounted to what you would call a massive fortune.

So why had this scoundrel decided to get involved in running an orphanage? It was for the high-priced, easy-to-replace product that could be obtained there. That “product” was the children themselves.

Of course, the clients had taken them in as their foster children on paper. In truth, though, they were practically slaves and were forced to work without compensation. This would have caused issues if it had taken place within this domain, but things were kept quiet when dealing with merchants from foreign lands.

All of this aligned with what Minette, or Mine, had said last night. The dirty truth must have leaked out somehow, and the orphanage ended up being closed. They had been exposed without me having to bring the Goddess’s justice down upon them, and the local lord had already punished the scoundrel.

However, the orphanage’s budget had completely dried up, and its terrible reputation meant that no one wanted to associate with it. The local lord might have been a good person, but he couldn’t provide endless monetary support, and hopes of keeping the orphanage running had looked dire...

Shocked and saddened by those events, the original owner had searched desperately for homes for the remaining orphans. Out of the last four orphans, the two oldest boys had been taken in by the local lord as soldiers-in-training, and the others had been sent to another local orphanage. Once that was done, this place had been closed down.

A portion of the sale’s proceeds had gone to the owner’s retirement fund, and the rest had been distributed between those individuals who ended up taking the orphans and the other local orphanage as a means of expressing gratitude.

Ah...

No one was at fault here other than the evil man who had taken over the orphanage. And it wasn’t as if I could just dump those kids on the previous owner...

Besides, that Aral boy wasn’t from here in the first place. He had just been purchased somewhere by that merchant who had bought Mine.

“I apologize, but we do not have the heart to bring this issue to the previous owner in his retirement, so if you could kindly...”

I already know that, dammit!

“Very well. The previous owner of the orphanage had nothing to do with this, and your realty is not at fault either. I’ll handle the rest, then.”

“I’m terribly sorry... If possible, perhaps you could hire them as servants...”

You just assume we’re swimming in money, huh...

We had pretended to spend our entire savings on the orphanage itself, but maybe it was obvious that we still had plenty of money... That said, I suppose people didn’t usually spend everything they had to buy a house. Of course people would assume that we had some money left over for living expenses. Well, that much was indeed true, and this realtor was probably a good person, considering they had taken the risk of upsetting a customer by going out of their way to make such a suggestion.

Oh, fine!

“So, what do you two want to do?” I asked Mine and Aral after explaining the details of where their teacher and their friends from the orphanage had gone.

They were old enough to choose their own paths. At the very least, strangers like us, who they had just met last night, shouldn’t decide for them. I flat-out refused to shoulder the burden of choosing someone else’s fate.

Flat like my chest... wait, shaddap!

Then...

“Please, let me stay here!”

“Me too!”

Their answer came immediately, though I figured Aral had just followed Mine’s example. That wasn’t too surprising. The world wasn’t so kind that a nine-year-old girl and six-year-old boy could just coast by on their own, living normal lives.

The lord of this city was a benevolent person as far as aristocrats went, and many of the residents here were relatively good people... Even so, this civilization was far less developed than Earth, and the weak were preyed upon by the strong. Of course, there were many kinds of “strong,” like those who possessed strength, intelligence, wealth, military might, political power, or something else...

“Do you intend to turn this place into another orphanage or something?” Reiko asked, and I shook my head.

“No... I have no desire to run a business for taking care of orphans. But...”

“But?”

“I’m just going to hire some live-in orphans.”

“That’s pretty much the same thing,” Reiko replied, but she was wrong. We wouldn’t be taking care of orphans here; they would be taking care of us. Yes, just like how the Eyes of the Goddess had handled the cooking, laundry, and everything else around the house. I would leave all the bothersome work to the orphans and live in leisure.

I’d be providing their rent, food, and a salary on top, so they would be well taken care of. This would be a legitimate employer-employee relationship, after all. Plus, men would see me as a kindhearted woman who runs a business that helps orphans, which would help me in my search for a husband!

Ha ha.

Ha ha ha ha ha!

“Ah...” Reiko let out an exasperated sigh, as if she knew what I was thinking. Yes, she understood me too well. “I hate to say it, but I know exactly what you’re plotting, Kaoru...”

Shaddap!

“And so, we will all be working to earn a living,” I explained to the others.

Reiko and I didn’t actually need to be taken care of and didn’t intend to make a nine- and six-year-old do our laundry...yet, anyway. After all, I couldn’t just let them handle laundry using my special liquid detergent (potion)...

I decided to teach them how to cook, then have them handle that afterward. I was just thinking of their futures, of course. This would all help them become independent, and not because...well, I did have ulterior motives, though I would actually be using their youthful labor in a different way.

Yes, it was time to begin working on starting a business that made it look like we were just barely getting by.

“First, we’re bringing back a kitchen garden, like they had in the previous orphanage. Whatever is left over after we eat, we’ll sell. Second, we’re going to catch some fish. We’ll sell whatever is left of those, too. And we won’t sell them raw; rather, we’ll process them to increase their value.”

There was no way we could earn much from whatever meager amount of fish two kids could gather. With that in mind, we would make them more valuable by drying them, smoking them, simmering them, grilling them, and using various other preparation methods besides. Considering that our methods came from Japan, a country that was quite particular about food, we should be able to sell them for a good price at taverns and fancy inns. Eating roe and milt might be part of the culture here, but they weren’t familiar with refined Japanese cooking methods.

Of course, Reiko had made sure to fill that brain of hers with all the necessary knowledge to prepare such dishes. She was so much more prepared than I was, having known that she would be reincarnated in another world with seventy years to get ready and all... Damn it!

Besides, given all the kindhearted people in this city, the sight of those kids working hard would tug at their heartstrings and loosen their wallets. Sob stories involving children and animals were guaranteed to sell, just like in those movies back on Earth... Plus, the products wouldn’t go bad while stored in the Item Box, so there wouldn’t be any losses from leftovers and discards. We could make huge batches all at once and store them in the Item Box for maximum efficiency.

Drying and smoking fish didn’t need constant supervision, and I could let my workers keep an eye on the fire for the other methods. It looked like Reiko and I could earn a decent amount of money while investing little of our time. We owned the house and didn’t have to pay for water. We would grow our own vegetables and catch our own fish.

Of course, we’d be applying some minor cheats here and there, like making the vegetables grow faster with potions and using replicas of Japan’s finest fishing tools. That said, the fishing was intended in part to be a means of entertainment and relaxation for my workers, so I wasn’t going to get too serious about it.

“We’re also gonna make and sell something that’s used a lot back where we’re from, but that isn’t really popular around here.”

I was thinking of gradually manufacturing things that wouldn’t be hindered by the difference in technological advancement, like flat marbles, round marbles, menko cards, stuffed dolls, bisque dolls, kendama, karuta cards, and yo-yos.

The ideas were obviously going to be stolen right away once they started to take off, but I could sell the items for as cheap as I wanted, and as long as I made it clear that we were the original creators, no one would try to interfere with the business of hard-working orphans—I mean, former orphans. I was expecting this city to be better than that. And, well, I could always move on to the next idea if that didn’t work out.

“Little Silver is ready for business!”

“Yeaaah!!!” Reiko, Mine, and Aral responded energetically.

Yes, the battle was about to begin. Business is war!

If you wanted to manufacture and sell something in this city, you had to go through their commerce and industry guild... Well, it was more like a local town committee, since it was so embarrassingly small, but you had to join and pay taxes through it to the lord of the territory. Well, that was to be expected. I would’ve been surprised if the lord hadn’t collected taxes from craftsmen and merchants...

But! When this place was still an orphanage, it had been exempt from taxes on income that the orphans and teachers earned through their work because the staff were trying so hard to keep it running, and the income was to keep orphans from going hungry rather than for actually making a profit. Of course, it wasn’t much money in the first place, and collecting taxes from an orphanage wasn’t a very good look. In fact, tax money should have gone into supporting the orphanage, rather than being taken from them.

Anyway, on to my point...

I wanted to know if my business could be tax-exempt too. Fortunately... Well, maybe that wasn’t the right way to put it, but we were taking care of two orphans already. Even if they had lost their parents, if they were employed and working at my business, they were a legitimate part of the workforce that had just so happened to lose their parents at an early age. And since I was their guardian and caretaker, they were no longer isolated and alone.

Whatever the technicalities might have been, and even though I had just claimed that these kids were no longer orphans yesterday, I had already changed my mind. My plan was to tell the local lord that I wanted to start a new enterprise to support orphans on their road to independence. I would use my linguistic abilities to the fullest, so whoever read my request would assume I was going to start an orphanage...

That wasn’t fraud. Nothing I wrote would be a lie. And the liege lord seemed to be a good person—well, for an aristocrat, anyway—so I figured he would grant us tax-exempt status. I had specifically asked him to, after all, so I didn’t have to worry about him forgetting to touch on that point.

I mean, that’s how it had been before, so it wouldn’t have been strange if he was to approve it because he (mistakenly) assumed that I was opening an orphanage here and paying for it out of my own pocket. It wasn’t that I was greedy for money or anything...but paying taxes would mean I would have to deal with all that accounting and paperwork, the local lord’s staff would get to see my entire cash flow, and I would be in a ton of trouble if I accidentally forgot to report something.

And if they found out I was making money without setting enough aside for taxes, they might demand a cut later down the line... Even if the local lord didn’t care, his subordinates, the merchants connected to him, and any thugs that wanted some extra change could have tried to start something. There were some people out there who assumed that they could easily take money from an orphanage if they found out it was profitable, even though we weren’t actually an orphanage.

Anyway, it was better to keep potential leaks and weak points to a minimum.

Little Silver was obviously the name of my organization. It wasn’t the name of the shop, branch, company, or business operator. Publicly, it was a for-profit organization that hired orphans for live-in employment. Yes, a “for-profit” organization. It was by no means a charity or non-profit organization.

If anyone asked how I got the name, I would tell them this: All children are small silver nuggets. They might not be gold, but they are each valuable silver, and should never be treated poorly. They could become a silver ingot with big dreams, mature like oxidized silver, or discard their silver coating and reveal the gold bullion or precious metal hidden underneath. It was called “Little Silver” because we would protect and nurture those little pieces of precious metal.

That’s what I would tell people, but the real reason was that most of the products we would sell could be bought for a few hundred yen, or a few little silver coins. I wasn’t trying to make a fortune here. Well, I was eventually going to make the big bucks, but in private, so it wouldn’t draw much attention. The public would assume that it was an honest business that didn’t care much about profits. Meanwhile, the orphan-supporting Little Silver was just one of my organization’s soon-to-be-many faces.

I planned to have a development and manufacturing department for new products. Its purpose would be to invent and produce new products to see if there would be any issues if we made and sold them publicly. I wanted to avoid relying on potions for manufacturing. Not only would it be far too unfair, but it would also distort the legitimate flow of economic activity in this world. Of course, I also wanted the children to learn crafts by doing them manually.

Besides, I had no intention of making a boatload of misplaced industrial products. I wasn’t trying to make things difficult for archaeologists in the future. As such, I would only make small novelty items that could be made with the technology available in this world today. However, I made an exception for some stuff that was for personal use. I had no choice, really!

Then there would be the business division. This would be separate from the small sales the children handled, and would mainly be for developing trade routes for large-scale transactions. I wouldn’t do anything illegal. I would just be doing some wholesaling on top of the small-scale retail and consignment sales centered around the children. The lord of the territory might claim that this wouldn’t apply for tax exemption, but I would worry about that when it happened! They may also find it odd that such a young girl has so much purchasing power, but he would probably assume that I have some sort of outside backing. To be more specific, support from something like rich parents that let their daughter spend freely, or from someone so influential that they thought of this kind of money as chump change.

So, I could just tell him that I was running my business to repay the money I had borrowed from my parents to buy this place. He would surely understand if I explained it that way, with the understanding that I was actually in debt. After all, that was the truth. Who could treat two little girls like the bad guys when they had bought an orphanage with their own money and started a business to help orphans? No one was dumb enough to do something like that if they were trying to make money through unscrupulous means anyway.

One might ask why I was risking so much exposure when I didn’t need the money. Well, this was actually intended to be one of my safety nets. If the time came when I had to obtain something that was so expensive that it couldn’t be purchased with our meager earnings...or when someone showed up trying to swindle us out of our little bit of cash, take our land and building away from us, or snatch up Mine and Aral as if they were products for sale... Anyway, I figured we would need some sort of support behind us, just in case.

If I made a few big trades, I’m sure those merchants would be willing to back me up. Once I start selling new products, people should realize I can make them money and lend us a hand. The smell of money can attract enemies, but it can attract allies too. As such, that side of things wouldn’t be public, but more a behind-the-scenes type of deal.

In any case, my point is that a business run by (seemingly) underage kids without anyone to back them, no matter how small, could attract all sorts of scumbags. They could be your run-of-the-mill thug if it’s a small amount of money, or gangs, crooked merchants, or crooked aristocrats when more money is involved.

An effective way to protect yourself from their kind is to secure connections with other organizations or merchants. That’s why I wanted to align myself with someone who was relatively decent. I wanted them to assume I could make them a decent profit, but nothing too big. Plus, being involved with what looked like an orphanage could improve their image as an upstanding member of the community, so it would be beneficial for both sides.

“Kaoru, you mentioned Mine and Aral being targeted, but you could be seen as one yourself, you know? Not to mention, Hang and Scary are pretty valuable horses, aren’t they? They could probably sell for even more money than us... And if people think we have rich parents, we could catch the attention of kidnappers and the like.”

“Ah...”

And so, I decided to add some security measures. I needed to give Mine and Aral something to defend themselves with too. The best defense is a good offense, after all...

“So you want us to sell that thing here?”

“Yes. It was made by the children under our care. You can purchase it or stock it at your shop for a commission when it’s sold.”

“Hmm...”

I was out taking care of some business today. I had some handicraft goods that we had all worked on, including wooden carvings of a bear with a salmon in its mouth, lion dog statues for warding against evil, spinning tops, battledores, temari balls, and more... The spinning tops, battledores, and temari balls were not only for entertainment, but they served as pretty ornaments too.

Of course, Reiko was the one who drew the pictures on the tops and battledores. The kids and I didn’t have that sort of talent...

These sorts of items didn’t require advanced technology to manufacture. In fact, similar items had already been made hundreds of years ago. After all, people had been using balls stuffed with feathers or filled with air since ancient Rome. Humans have always been relentless in their pursuit of entertainment.

But it wasn’t as if all forms of entertainment were popular in all regions, and these items weren’t just for play, but were exotic products catering to those who were particular about their tools or cared about aesthetics.

I thought it should work... I would leave the kendama, flat marbles, beanbags, round marbles, menko cards, stuffed dolls, bisque dolls, karuta cards, yo-yos, and the rest for later. I mean, popular products would get ripped off right away, and I couldn’t manage that many of them at once anyway.

Besides, there were some items that would be difficult to make right away. Some things were hard to make without bamboo or wisteria, and things like flat and round marbles required a way to get glass for cheap. I needed paper for menko cards, though clay menko and lead menko were a different story... Stuffed dolls required high-quality string and needles, and bisque dolls were too damn difficult to make! Sure, I could have just made them as potion containers, but these were for selling to strangers instead of for personal use, so I couldn’t use them as our main items that would cover our living expenses.

“Hmm...”

The man running the fancy-goods store was still deep in consideration.

Then...

“Okay, why not. I’ll do my small part to help out those orphans!”

“Thank you!”

All right, sales route secured! Heh heh heh, another step closer to fulfilling my ambition...

I would continue to develop outlets for sales like this, one by one. Of course, I wasn’t just making playthings; I had begun dabbling in processed foods too. Catching our own fish would not only take time, but their number and species also wouldn’t be consistent, so we were just buying them at the market for now.

I mean, we wouldn’t be able to process much if we just caught five or six fish of completely different sizes and types. We couldn’t prepare them all at the same time unless the species and sizes were consistent, because they all took a different amount of time to dry or smoke. Yeah, I hadn’t thought this through enough...

Anyway, that was why we bought fish of similar sizes from the market to smoke or sun-dry, and then sold them at our shop. We weren’t selling them to fish shops, though. I wouldn’t have made much selling to a place like that anyway, even if they weren’t going to drive a hard bargain. That was to be expected, since fish shops made their own dried goods anyway. That said, their quality wouldn’t have been as good as ours.

And yet, it would have taken too much work and time to sell directly to individual households. Plus, our shop was a bit far from the city, so it would have been a pain for customers to make the trip, and I had no intention of setting up a store in the middle of the city. That’s why I was gonna sell directly to taverns and eateries.

If I gained some traction, I could sell over ten fish to each store every day. It wouldn’t be an issue if I sold it for a bit of a premium compared to what I’d charge the average household, either. Besides, we couldn’t make too many dried or smoked goods with our current roster in the first place. If I could secure a few shops as regulars, that would be enough for me.

And instead of making them when ordered, I would sell whatever I had made for that day. I didn’t want to feel pressured to meet daily quotas, nor did I want the kids to live like a manga artist stressing out about deadlines. Living like that couldn’t be healthy for the mind. Nope.

And so, I would just bring over whatever stock I made for that day and sell that. Obviously, such a dilettantish way of running a business would only work once my products became popular. There were all sorts of excuses I could use if I didn’t have stock for the day, like bad weather, a lack of high-quality fish, or the orphans getting sick, so I doubted anyone would complain about it. But honestly, I could have just made a big batch when I had time and stored them in the Item Box.

Oh, and my plan to dry fish instantly with Reiko’s magic ended up in failure. Apparently, there was something about the aging process or the chemical change that added to the umami, and just drying it wasn’t enough to get a good result.

Yeah, I knew that. Grilled fish didn’t work too well with magic either. The outside ended up burned while the inside was still raw.

Simmered fish was even worse. Continuously heating it with weak fire magic was just a huge pain in the butt. I didn’t mind, but Reiko complained a lot. Yeah, I knew that too.

Besides, if we were gonna rely on magic to make our goods, the objective of teaching the children a craft went right out the window. Moreover, if drying the fish out in the sun or cooking them over burning firewood was easier and yielded tastier products, there was no point in using magic. The only thing it would be good for was conserving wood, or to serve as some sort of punishment for Reiko...

When it came to drying and smoking, magic was useful for one thing: making salt. There was an infinite amount of salt water right below the cliff. Clean seawater, still untainted by pollution. There were all sorts of ways we could extract salt, like using magic to separate and extract it, or boiling the water with fire. It was obviously easier to just use my ability, but sometimes it was better not to take the easiest way out. Besides, I needed to give Reiko some time to shine...

If it was just salt we were talking about, I could claim I was getting it at a low rate from a foreign country. That shouldn’t draw suspicion, considering we were foreigners ourselves, and thought to be from a wealthy household besides. I could always secure a supply route by the time the orphans were eventually able to run the business by themselves. I could even teach them how to make salt on a small scale too.

The thing is, if you just bought salt at a store, it would cost a lot of money. Since salt was one thing that wouldn’t draw a lot of scrutiny, and it could be purchased through normal means if we wanted (although it would be pricey), I decided to cheat on that end. This was all still within the range of what’s acceptable. Yup.

And so, the processed seafood products were specifically for selling to taverns and eateries (I wasn’t shameless enough to call these places restaurants). I wanted to get two or three more locations, but that would come after I confirmed how popular my items were at the places I had secured already. There was a limit to how much product we could produce at any given time, after all.

“This lifestyle isn’t as easy and elegant as I was picturing...”

“Of course it’s not! It would be suspicious if we were living the easy life when we’re not noble ladies or some rich merchant’s daughters,” I said in response to Reiko’s sudden complaint. Then...

“But people think we’re two daughters of a rich family spending money for fun, right?”

Urgh...

“W-Well, it may be convenient to have people assume that, but we don’t actually have anyone backing us. Plus, I sealed away the fortune I saved up in the past, and we promised not to use it unless something drastic happened. We said that we would be normal civilians from now on, other than owning a house, and that we would start over without any money. Though, we could indulge in some of the humble luxuries of the commoners once we do save up some money. And while we’re in our base, we can eat and use luxury items using my potion-making powers as much as we want...”

This was, in part, to help prepare for whatever may happen in the future, but I did plan on living a normal life outside of the base as a resident of this world. This went without saying now that Mine and Aral were here, but that had also been my intention from the beginning. Reiko and I had agreed on it beforehand. Otherwise, we wouldn’t have decided to take the kids in so easily in the first place.

There was a big difference between living with just Reiko and with also living with Mine and Aral in terms of how careful I’d have to be, considering the kids were from this world and I couldn’t tell them about my secret. Not to mention, our lifestyles were going to change drastically when moving between the two situations. It would pretty much mean cranking up the difficulty level way higher.

Though, that was fine too. Life in another world usually meant going to fight a demon lord or living the slow life. We obviously preferred the latter. But why not add a little spice to it? Yeah!

“...So, I brought Hang and Scary!”

“What do you mean, ‘so’? That was pretty abrupt...” Mine and Aral said, looking rather bewildered as Hang and Scary stood before them.

There hadn’t been any opportunities to ride them while they were being taken care of at the stables out in the suburbs. If I was just going somewhere local, it was far faster to just walk or take a cab rather than having Hang and Scary walk here or going to the stable myself. In other words, Hang and Scary had no chance to do anything unless we were going somewhere far away...and we had no plan to do that any time soon.

No wonder they were so sad...

That was why I figured they could live with us, considering they always did just as I asked and I didn’t have to worry about them trying to run away. There were no other houses around here and there was grass growing everywhere up to the forest, so I could just let them loose. That way, they could also serve as lookouts.

Luckily, there was a storage shed that we could use as a stable. I would do my best to take care of them, of course, but I couldn’t do as good of a job as a specialist could. Fortunately, Reiko and I had the ability to communicate with them, and I could give them potions for any injuries and illnesses they might get. I figured it wouldn’t be a problem, but I wanted to consider what the horses wanted too.

And so, I asked them if they preferred living with us or the ranch, and they chose to live with us, as expected. Both of them, by their own decision. Mhm.

Then...

“And so, your internship comes to an end. I think you have a good idea of what kind of work we do and what we’re aiming for. So, I’ll ask again. Do you want to keep working here, or do you want to get paid for the work you’ve done so far and leave? If you choose to stay, you must agree to never speak of whatever abnormal things you might see or hear here. When you become independent someday and start your own business, you are free to use all the knowledge you’ve gained here. Give it some thought. I’ll give you three days to...”

“I’ll stay here and work!” the two orphans said in unison.

“That was fast!”

And so, Mine and Aral became official employees of our business.

So...

“This is the entrance for going underground. It’s for getting supplies out of the stock room, storing products we made...and for hiding out until help arrives if we get attacked by thieves or bad guys who are after us. The entrance is difficult to find as long as it’s closed, and it’s very hard to open if we lock the deadbolt from the inside, since there’s no way to get a good grip on it. The handle used for opening and closing it is designed to fall off if you try to pry it open while it’s locked. Finally, once we go down the stairs, we’d undo the latch for the staircase, so anyone who tries to descend will fall onto a bed of poison-tipped bamboo. We’ll use a separate entrance, so no need to worry about that.”

Mine stayed silent. Why was she looking at me with that strained expression...?

“Whaaa...” The six-year-old Aral stared, wide-eyed.

I would only let them on the first basement level for now. I had no plans on letting them into any of the lower levels.

Then, a few seconds later, Mine said, “Hiding and waiting is fine, but can we not strike back and kill the attackers?”

What are you, a soldier?!

“I will be your shield and protect you at all costs, Lady Kaoru. I will gladly sacrifice myself to take an enemy down with me. Please, take care of Aral once I die in the course of my duty...”

The image of two other orphans flashed in my mind. They were just as I remembered them so long ago...

“I don’t want that!”

The two kids were frightened by my sudden outburst.

Wait, they’re a little too scared... No, I know why! Damn it...

I let myself relax, then smiled with a gentle look in my eyes...

Why are they even more scared now?!

Anyway, I decided to say what I needed to say.

“We’re capable of protecting ourselves, thank you very much! I don’t need or want children to sacrifice themselves to save me! I’m an adult. You kids just do as the adults say and let us protect you. Don’t get ahead of yourselves!”

Some may think I was being harsh, but if anything, I wasn’t being harsh enough. This was something I had learned in the “first season” of living in this world. I didn’t want any fanatics. Kids needed to grow up being kids.

“Huh...? Adult? Are there other people here besides us?”

...Shaddap!

“What? You’re both fifteen? Lady Reiko, maybe, but...”

I said, shut up! There’s hardly any difference between me and her! In terms of height, anyway! Damn it!!! Haah... Haah...

I glared at them.

“Y-Y-Yes, my lady! I-I understand! Fifteen! You’re fifteen!”

Damn right...

“Also, hold on to this,” I said, then handed them matching pendants. “Wear it around your neck or keep it in an inner pocket. Someone may think it could be sold and try to take it from you. This is for your protection, so there’s no need to show anyone.”

“Is it a good-luck charm?” Mine asked.

Well, it was natural that she’d assume that.

“No, this isn’t just to put your mind at ease. It’s for practical use. Watch closely, I’ll show you how to use it...”

With that, I pulled one out of my pocket that I had prepared for educational purposes. It looked exactly the same as theirs, but it was specifically for teaching them how to use it. And so...

“First, if you ever get attacked, point this part at your opponent and press this. Then...”

Fsh!

“As you can see, a small amount of mist sprays out. You only need to press it for a second. If there are many opponents, you can hold it down while spraying all around you. This one’s a sample, so it only sprays out water, but the ones I gave you two are filled with a poison mist that will inflict excruciating pain when it gets in the eyes, nose, or mouth, so make sure you only use it when you’re in actual danger. That said, it won’t cause any permanent damage, so don’t be afraid to use it if a bad guy does show up!”

“R-Right...”

“And when you hold this part and pull...”

It started letting out a cute beeping noise.

“The real version will make a loud noise and a voice will scream, ‘It’s a kidnapper! Help!’ so don’t hesitate to use it if someone tries to swipe you or you need to call for help! Mine, be sure to go over this again with Aral in detail later.”

“Y-Yes, my lady!”

Yes, that should do it.

If I gave them a projectile weapon that shot a lead bullet or something, it could end up hurting someone innocent by accident. That was why I armed them with tools that wouldn’t inflict any permanent damage. Besides, I didn’t want these kids to kill anyone, if at all possible. I understood how harsh this world could be, but I still wanted to put that off until they were a bit older and there was no other choice.

If these kids were to be targeted, it would be to get ransom money, so I doubted someone would try to take them out with a headshot or something. So as long as I could prevent them from getting kidnapped, it was enough. Reiko and I would handle wiping out the enemy scum. And so...

“Only use these tools when you truly feel like you’re in danger. You will not use them just for fun or to play a prank. But do not hesitate if you do need to use them! Do you think a rich person who starves to death because they didn’t want to waste any money is smart?”

They vigorously shook their heads. Yes, that was good, but it looked like their heads were about to fall off of their shoulders, so they should probably tone it down a bit.

Anyway, I think I got the point across. All we had to do now was get our brand-new business on track. Expanding our operations and starting other ventures would come after. First and foremost, I have to show everyone around that my business was profitable and wasn’t going anywhere. Profitable businesses are trustworthy, and nothing is more important in business than trust.