A few days had passed, and it was now the morning that Marco's people were supposed to arrive. I had gotten up early and went to the Cat's Paw around the same time my dad had gone to work. When I arrived, I was surprised to see that Marco himself had shown up with his two employees, there was also a line of mostly adventurers waiting for the shop to open. This was my first time coming here this early, so I was surprised by seeing a line this early in the morning, but I was also glad that word about this place had spread.

In the days leading up to now, I had spoken to some of the adventurers I knew and told them that there would be some trainees from another company coming to learn from Maya starting today. I was hoping that they would keep an eye on the place and make sure that the trainees didn't treat Maya poorly. However, it seems that may not have been necessary, as the trainees were looking at the long line of fully armed adventurers with their eyes wide. With this display, I doubt they would do anything stupid out of fear that they may disappear without anyone seeing anything. I also saw a few guards in the line, so I was sure the trainees would tread carefully.

Seeing me walking up, Marco waved me over. "Mornin', is it always this busy? How are we supposed to get in for these two to train?" He asked as soon as I was close enough.

"I'm not sure, this is my first time coming this early in the morning, so seeing this line is a bit of a surprise to me as well," I responded. "Let me go around and ask what Maya wants to do."

I quickly headed towards the side path, waving and saying hello to the adventurers and guards I knew. Getting to the side door, I knocked before opening the door with my key and walking in. "That's quite the line you have outside, are you not too busy? Marco and his two employees are out front as well. Should I invite them to come around?"

"Oh, Cero! Good timing, you can invite them back, and they can help me carry these out front. Miya! It's almost time to open, are you almost ready?!" She responded and then called out to Miya. I guess Miya was now helping out with how busy they had gotten.

I went back out front and had Marco follow me with his employees, explaining along the way that Maya needed help getting things ready for opening. As soon as we entered through the door, Maya noticed and started directing the two on what to put where while pulling some ham and cheese mini loaves out of the oven.

I was helping out getting things set up as well since I more or less knew where everything went. Marco ended up being dragged along by our momentum and started moving the goods to the front as well. Once things were mostly moved out front, I had Marco hand me the dirty pans and such while I rinsed them in the sink and stacked them in the dishwasher. I then had him help me put the cleaned items away, making sure everything went where it was supposed to.

Miya soon came down and helped her mom to open the store and help the customers after saying good morning to me. Marco watched the sales having noticed the system I set up to keep track of sales with keen interest. It wasn't anything complicated really, I just set up hooks that held 50 tags each, and had a piece of paper at the back for tallying when the hook was filled up. The places for hooks were color coordinated, and the tags had matching colors, and those corresponded to different shelves in different display cases, so it was a rather simple system.

I charged the refrigerator magic tool and cleaned the kitchen while they were busy with sales. After I finished cleaning the kitchen, I took a look out front to see how many customers were still in line. There were maybe a dozen left, so I went back in and prepared some breakfast for everyone. Then when the last of the morning rush left, we ate the simple breakfast I had made while Maya thanked me for the help.

Maya then explained to the two trainees what was expected of them while they were there training. They were surprised to learn there would be a similar lunch and late afternoon rush when the adventurers returned from their quests. Frankly, I was surprised too, it seems her bakery had gotten quite popular without me noticing.

After that, I explained some of the magic tools I had set up around the kitchen and store. Then I asked Maya if she wanted to hire someone who could stay out front making sales during the day while she was in the kitchen. After thinking about it, she accepted my suggestion, and we figured out what a good daily wage would be with Marco's help. I went to the merchant's guild after that with Marco, to let them know about Maya looking for a clerk to help with sales, giving them the requirements beforehand and letting them know about the pay.

While there, I saw a familiar face walking in. "Tristan? What are you doing here? I wasn't told you were going to be in town."

"Oh, yer here, I was jus' goin' ta look for ya." It seemed that he was here to look for me.

"I guess that means you want to see the other magic tools I mentioned before, yes?" I asked him

"Tha's right, ya got the time now?" he replied

I turned and asked the receptionist how long it would be before they had potential workers ready for an interview. I was told it would take about two hours, considering the time of day it is, so I said I would be back around that time before responding to Tristan. "Sure, I apparently have enough time to show you." Then turning back to Marco, "I'm sure I'll see you around before you leave town again. If you want to order any of those magic tools, you should go see Jay at the Montgomery trading company."

I then took Tristan to my place to show him the magic tools I used in the bathroom before taking him to the Cat's Paw to see the magic tools in there, which were new. Enticed by the smell, he ended up buying some of the bread there and apparently loved it, ordering more before we went back to the guild to sign the sales for the water jet and other magic tools I showed him.

It was then about time to meet with the potential new employees of the Cat's Paw, so I was asked to wait there for a bit. Next, I was led larger room where they had gathered some people who met the requirements. I was only slightly surprised to see Livia in the room when I arrived as she gestured for me to speak.

"Good morning. As I am sure you have been told, this interview is to fill a clerk position at the Cat's Paw Bakery, now famed for its fluffy bread. I am here as an intermediary due to the owner not being able to leave the store with how busy it is. I have been given full authority on who to hire for the position, so please bear that in mind. First, this is a family bakery run by a single mother who is a cat beastkin and is regularly patronized by adventurers and guards, if any of these things would bother you, then I thank you for your time, but you can feel free to exit now." I started before giving them a moment to decide if they were going to leave, which only a few did.

"Next, this business has an early morning rush, lunch rush, and late afternoon rush, so you would be busy with many customers most of the day and would be expected to use the remaining time for other tasks related to the sales of baked goods. For those who aren't confident in your stamina, I'm afraid this position is not for you." This caused a few more people to leave, apparently not expecting a bakery to be so busy throughout the day.

"This is the last part before we move on to the Q and A portion. There is no onsite living, and the Cat's Paw does not have any affiliation with cheap housing at this time, so if you do not already have a place in which you can continue living or don't know of a place you would be able to move into upon getting the job, we will not be able to hire you at this time, but, we thank you for taking your time to come here." This caused a good portion of the remaining applicants to leave the room seeming down, leaving six people remaining in the room, aside from me and the Guildmaster.

I then thanked the remaining six applicants for coming today and asked them to introduce themselves and say why they came to apply for this position. Through this manner, I was able to exclude two more from the final cut, because they were likely to quit before winter. Of the remaining four, I asked if they would have any days or hours they would likely not be able to work. Then I asked if they had any experience or training in dealing with customers. Lastly, I asked if they had any qualms regarding the offered pay.

From the answers given, I was able to narrow down the selection to two individuals. One was an older gentleman around 50 years old who used to work as a butler and was well-educated. The other was a young half-dwarf girl that was 15 years old and used to help out with her parents' shop. I decided it would probably be best to hire both of them but first had to ask why the butler was so well-trained in martial arts.

Both he and Livia seemed surprised by my question, and the half-dwarf girl, Ginny, seemed surprised that the older man standing next to her was well-trained in martial arts. The former butler, Charles was his name, asked me how I figured it out when he was trying his best to not stand out.

"I don't know why you seem so surprised when you're standing there while showing no openings. I would guess you are around a B-rank adventurer in strength." I answered him honestly.

"Hohoho, you have a good eye, and it seems I was a bit careless. I used to work for a nobleman, so I, of course, was trained to be able to deal with any enemies that made it into the mansion." He replied in good humor.

"I see, it may be helpful having someone of your ability working in the store," I replied before turning to Livia. "I assume that since he is here, you have already thoroughly investigated his past and are willing to vouch for his character, yes?"

"I'm surprised you noticed his ability, but yes, I, of course, check the backgrounds of all those who wish to find employment through my guild." She told me.

"That settles it then, I know we only discussed hiring one, but I'll hire both of them and take responsibility for convincing Maya," I told her so that she could prepare their paperwork. "Are you two available to go to the bakery now?"

They both told me they were available, so I got their résumés from Livia before leading them to the bakery. Upon arriving at the bakery, it seemed that the lunch rush was beginning, so I led the two of them around through the side entrance, and into the employee lounge, before going to inform Maya about the situation when she had a free moment. I guess it was still slow enough that Miya could handle the customers with the help of the two trainees, so I led Maya to where they were waiting.

I explained to her about the two of them and my reasoning for hiring them both, saying that it wasn't practical to hire and train only one person, ending up in a bad situation if they couldn't work because they got sick or something. Plus, Charles could only work four days a week anyway because he helps care for his grandson on the other three. Once I led Maya over and introduced everyone to each other, Maya ended up taking them to start their training during this lunch rush.

A few days passed and things settled back down. I was back to doing my usual routine while Maya now had some free time thanks to the extra employees she had to help her. Miya was learning more about baking and running the store, then spending the rest of her time playing or studying with me. The Golden Vine Snails had reproduced, and there was now a bunch of baby snails in the pond, so I had to add more things they could eat.

Without any problems, a couple of weeks passed, and the second batch of trainees had started at the Cat's Paw. My mom had apparently not forgotten the reasons I had given her to let me go to Reginston, so I ended up having to make something new to appease her. What I ended up making was a foot bath, it was something relatively simple, but after trying it, she ended up loving it.

Thanks to building the foot bath I was reminded of Tristan, so I wrote him a letter telling him I had come up with something new and asked if the would be willing to buy it if I sent him the schematics. A few days later I got his reply telling me to send any ideas I came up with, he would buy them all if he didn't already have something similar. So I ended up sending him the schematics for the foot bath, a rescue/warning flare type magic tool, and a sparkler magic tool that uses light magic for entertainment purposes. I ended up sending an actual prototype for the flare and sparkler along with the schematics.

I ended up making quite a bit of money from those three magic tools, particularly the flare-type magic tool. I had even already earned back more than I had spent on building the Cat's Paw bakery. Of course, I continued my alchemy practice and could now consistently make high-quality elixirs, with the occasional top-quality one. I also ended up selling a few of them to the guild, as well as some other kinds of potions that Livia had requested I make.

While I was visiting Jay one time to sell some potions and find out how business was doing, I found out that Tristan had bought out another workshop to try and keep up with orders for the items I had sold him. Both Tristan and Jay were happy to be making so many sales, though I suspect for different reasons. Jay likes making money, while Tristan only cares about studying magic tools and building them.

My days had gone by mostly uneventfully, and it was now autumn and soon it would be the time for the training of Marco's employees to come to an end. I had gone to see if Maya was going to need to hire another baker to help her now that the trainees weren't going to be there anymore, but it turns out that a cat beastkin from the second batch of trainees had decided to move to Gale to continue working for the Cat's Paw.

I wasn't sure if that was exactly the case since he was a single man, around Maya's age according to Ginny. I had a gut feeling he was staying more for Maya than because he liked the bakery, but it was a good result either way, so I supported the decision. Since things were going well, I reminded Maya to not hesitate to hire more people if necessary. It wouldn't be good to overwork anybody, including herself, and it would be good if everyone could take at least one day off every week.

Before the weather got too cold, I made a magic tool to keep the pond from getting too cold for the Golden Vine Snails. I also made sure to chop plenty of firewood for the water heater and made a few other preparations for the winter. Without much else to do, I tried making pumpkin pie and was able to make a successful version after a few tries, which I then took to Maya with the hopes that she could improve upon it, and she did.

The winter soon came and went, the biggest event that happened over the winter was an enormous snowball fight that I unintentionally started. So many people got involved that the town looked like a war zone, which in a way, is a bit hilarious. I bet a lot of people gained the throwing skill this winter, though I doubt that many people needed it.

Once the spring came around I found that Maya had taken my advice and promoted Nick, the cat beastkin who used to work for Marco, to assistant manager and was planning to hire some more employees. The bakery was doing quite well, being able to grow so much in under a year, even with my help, is quite the achievement. Miya had turned eight over the winter, and soon I was going to turn nine, it seemed like time was both flying by and crawling at a snail's pace at the same time.

For Miya's 8th birthday, I managed to make a cake with vanilla frosting, before having Maya perfect the recipe. It wasn't something she could sell much of in her shop due to the cost of sugar, but there was definitely a market for it, so she made a small cake and sold small cake squares while offering whole cakes on special order. Miya, of course, loved the cake, and my mom and Maya loved it as well, but it wasn't well received by men.

Shortly after spring arrive, Marco came wanting to buy the cake recipe and pumpkin pie recipe, which we sold him, and Maya split the profits with me. Marco is insanely quick at catching rumors, there aren't a lot of people that travel in the winter, so he probably only heard about those items within the past month, after the snow melted.

I had also now grown enough to be able to swing a short sword properly, so I swapped out my training dagger for a training short sword. It took a while to get used to the change in length and grip, but I was soon able to use it properly. Other than that, two of the Celestial Cats found mates, so I ended up building a small home for them in the backyard so they would have a safe place for themselves. I didn't want to find out they were under the house having kittens or something.

Checking with the merchants guild, I found out Tristan had deposited a lot of money into my account for my commissions and he had also paid off the three small mithril for the other magic tools I sold him. My current balance was around one large mithril coin, in other words, around 100 million Lorn. I honestly didn't know what I was going to do with all that money, but for now, I would just keep it in my merchant's guild account and only spend what I needed to spend without thinking of how much money I had.

ShadowWolfGuild

A special thanks to Yeuromain for the support.