Welcome, Newcomer

The next day, Kaimol brought his sister over during the lunch break.

She had short red hair and gave off an energetic impression.

I showed her to the reception room and had her come inside.

Kaimol looked worried about his sister, but I waved him away.

I followed her in and gestured for her to take a seat.

Once I confirmed she'd sat down, I took my own seat.

To keep things moving smoothly, I'd had her fill out some information in advance, so I took the sheet.

"Your name is Mina. Seventeen years old, with experience in customer service."

"Y-yes!"

Her voice was a little shaky from nerves, but the reply itself was loud and clear.

"Good voice. A merchant can never go wrong being loud."

"Really? Ehehe, thank you."

Caught off guard by the unexpected compliment, Mina scratched her head bashfully.

"It says you used to work at a diner, but the place closed down."

"Yes, for about two years. The owner treated me really well, but he hurt his back. He ended up selling the shop and moving in with his children…"

"I see."

Common enough story. Not something Mina could have helped.

"My shop isn't a restaurant, but in terms of providing a service to customers, it's not that different."

"Yes. My brother's told me about it. I'm used to staying busy, so I think I'll be fine."

"That's reassuring."

Her answers were solid. As we kept talking, the tension seemed to melt away.

"As things stand, we have enough hands, but just barely. I'm also thinking about expanding the shop eventually, so I want to bring people on ahead of time."

"I-I see."

The hire was more or less decided. I just wanted to set a probationary period to be safe.

"I'm sure you'll be fine, but just as a formality, I'd like you to solve some arithmetic."

I wrote out a few simple equations on a piece of parchment and handed it over along with a pen.

"Let's say… ten minutes starting now."

"Yes, understood."

Mina took the pen, checked the clock, and looked down at the parchment.

The sheet had addition, subtraction, and single-digit multiplication and division problems.

I'd heard Kaimol's family wasn't particularly poor, so she should have had some education.

She ought to be able to handle this much.

She breezed through the first half, paused briefly on a few of the later problems, but finished the whole thing in about five minutes.

When I saw her start checking her work, I stopped her there.

"That was faster than expected. Since you seem to be done, I'll take it back."

"Please, go ahead."

I took the parchment and looked it over.

Good. No issues with basic arithmetic.

"All right, you're hired. Though for the first three months, you'll be treated as a trainee. Your pay will be a little lower during that time. Is that all right?"

"Of course. I'll work hard!"

Loud reply again.

When I explained the pay, she looked a little surprised.

Apparently even the trainee wage was more than what she'd been making before.

"Want Kaimol to train you until you're used to things?"

"Um, if possible, could it be someone else?"

"That so? I suppose having your brother train you might blur the line between work and home. Let's do that, then."

"Thank you. I don't dislike my brother or anything, but if he teased me while teaching me the ropes, I'd probably end up fighting him."

Sounded like they got along just fine.

"Want to start today?"

"Is that okay?"

"Sure. You'll be paid for it, of course."

"Absolutely!"

I stood up, and Mina scrambled to her feet. We shook hands.

I had her put on a brand-new apron, and we headed out of the reception room toward the shop floor.

Customer traffic was moderate. Perfect pace for getting her feet wet.

I waved over a female employee named Sara, who'd been hired at the same time as Kaimol.

"What is it, Owner?"

"We're bringing on a new employee. This is Kaimol's sister, Mina."

"I'm Mina, pleased to meet you!"

Mina bowed deeply with a booming voice.

"Energetic, aren't you. Though you might want to keep it down a little inside the shop."

"S-sorry."

"Being energetic is a good thing. I'm Sara. Nice to meet you, Mina-chan."

"Yes!"

"I'd like to have Sara show you the ropes."

"Ooh, guess I'm getting some help then."

With that, Sara led Mina off to start working.

Mina followed Sara's instructions without complaint. Seemed like there wouldn't be any problems for now.

Kaimol kept watching Mina from a distance with a worried look, so I waved him back to work.

Good brother, that one.

I observed for a while longer, then headed to the back of the shop.

Azu and the others had just returned from their shopping trip.

Azu's hands were full, carrying paper bags stuffed to the brim.

I opened the door and let them in.

"We're back."

"Welcome back. You really loaded up."

"Potatoes had a good harvest, so they were cheap and I got carried away."

"It's getting cold. Maybe I'll make stew tonight."

"I'm looking forward to it."

I took the bags from Azu and stowed the ingredients in the kitchen pantry.

It was getting chilly even during the day now.

Azu's cheeks were flushed red, so I cupped them in both hands.

"Fwah?"

"Cold out there?"

Azu nodded.

Then Elza, who was standing beside us, placed her own hands over mine on Azu's cheeks.

"That's cold!"

"Warm me up too."

"All right, all right. I'll get the fireplace going."

I let go of Azu and tossed some firewood into the hearth.

"Alexia, light it up for me."

"Very well."

Alexia flicked a small fireball into the kindling. With a crackling pop, the logs slowly began to burn.

"Oh, is that ginger?"

As I put away the rest of the bags, a small piece of ginger rolled out.

"We bought so much that the vendor threw it in for free. But what even is it?"

Alexia picked up the ginger and eyed it curiously. Apparently she'd never had any.

"What, you've never had it? Then I'll make something good. Perfect for weather like this."