Chapter 8

The next day, Ji immediately set out.

His eyes were slightly swollen and a bit painful, but there was nothing he could do about it.

He had tried cooling them with a bit of ice, but it didn’t seem to help much.

He tried to navigate by memory, but since these were memories from the early part of his long life, they were vague, and he couldn’t fully recall the places or names.

So he wandered around aimlessly, searching for his destination.

To put it bluntly, he was lost.

Fortunately, his destination was in the commoner’s district.

If it had been in the noble district, he would have been kicked out by now.

Still, the looks he received were not very friendly.

The gazes directed at a child from the slums carrying a slime were not kind.

If only he had a decent set of clothes, but he didn’t have any.

He had been living in poverty for a long time, so it was inevitable, but being looked at like that after so long was a bit of a shock.

He had expected to arrive by mid-morning, but it ended up being well past noon when he finally reached his destination.

The building with the sign "Helfand Cleaning Company" was a small house.

It was a company, but not the kind of place people would visit without a specific purpose.

After all, it wasn’t a store that sold goods.

"Is there something I can help you with...?"

After knocking twice, the door opened, and a man peered out.

Ji was surprised to see that he looked younger than he remembered.

He had brown hair that was slicked back, and his face was square and rugged.

His expression seemed stern, but it wasn’t because he was in a bad mood; he just didn’t look friendly by default.

"What’s a kid like you doing here?"

He didn’t even invite Ji in.

Clearly, a child from the slums didn’t look like a potential customer.

Still, the fact that he didn’t immediately close the door made Ji feel a hint of kindness in his expression.

He had expected to be turned away without a word.

"I’ve come to ask for a job."

"...I’m not in such dire straits that I need to hire a kid from the slums.

Go home."

"Please, wait.

At least hear me out."

"What can you do?

How old are you, ten or younger?

You don’t look strong.

Do you even know what kind of work I do?"

"I may not be strong, but I know what the job entails.

What can I do? I know about the complaints from the nobles, right?"

The man reacted, his eyes narrowing as he scrutinized Ji from head to toe.

For a child, Ji’s confident attitude was unusual.

Most children would be intimidated by the man’s stern expression, but the boy in front of him met his gaze steadily.

The man was confused, as his current problem was something he had only confided to a few trusted individuals, and not even at a drinking party.

The content was not something that would cause problems if it leaked, and it wasn’t something that could be used for any purpose.

While he had no competitors at the moment, it wasn’t impossible that someone had sent a child to gather information.

However, he couldn’t think of anyone who would want to start a new business.

The purpose and background were unclear.

Moreover, the boy in front of him looked like a child from the slums.

If he started using children from the slums without a clear purpose or charity, he would be seen as a poor businessman.

He didn’t know what kind of rumors might spread.

He wanted to focus on building his business and didn’t want to attract negative attention.

However, his business instincts told him to hear the boy out.

If it didn’t work out, he could easily turn him away.

After a moment’s hesitation, the man decided to let the boy in.

Inside, it looked more like a living room than an office.

The building had originally been a vacant house that he had purchased and converted into an office.

He seated Ji in the reception area and soon returned with a warm cup of tea.

Even though the boy was from the slums, he treated him as a guest and provided appropriate hospitality.

Ji took a sip of the tea to moisten his dry mouth.

After walking around so much, the tea tasted especially good.

"Let’s get down to business.

First, let me introduce myself. I’m Ji.

As you can see, I’m from the slums, and I’m not sure how old I am.

This is my monster, Fios."

He glanced at Fios, who was sitting on the table.

He remembered hearing that the country had started allowing slum dwellers and poor commoners to contract with monsters.

That’s why a child from the slums could have a monster.

"I’m Oranje Helfand.

My age and background are irrelevant.

What I want to know is how you know about the nobles’ complaints and what you plan to do with that information."

"Is that all you want to know?"

"What do you mean?"

"The important thing isn’t how you know, but whether I can really solve the problem."

The boy’s attitude was unusually mature, as if he were dealing with an experienced elder.

He was confident and composed, and Fios was secretly drinking the tea that Ji had placed on the table.

"Let’s start with a part of it.

Assign the area with the most complaints to me.

I’ll handle it all by myself."

"You alone?

The noisiest area currently has five people assigned to it, and even with them working early in the morning, we still get complaints."

Helfand Cleaning Company was, as the name suggested, a cleaning company.

They specialized in collecting and incinerating household waste.

Typically, individuals had to contract for waste collection or take their garbage to designated collection points in the city.

Oranje had seen an opportunity in this and started a garbage collection business.

The large waste disposal sites were located in the outskirts, far from the city and often smelly.

Oranje had set up smaller waste disposal sites within the city, collected the garbage, and used magic to incinerate it.

Initially, he had started small in the commoner’s district, gradually expanding until he reached the noble district.

The business was generally well-received, and he planned to expand it to the entire city.

However, the current obstacle was the nobles in the noble district.

While many appreciated the service, some were picky about the collection points and other details.

They often complained about slow service or unpleasant odors, but he couldn’t afford to be rude to them.

Even with more staff, they still found things to complain about.

Upon investigation, it seemed that the complaints were not about the service or the collection points but rather an attempt to pressure him into lowering the prices.

"Since they’re going to complain anyway, why not let me handle it?"

Despite his confident demeanor, Oranje was unsure about Ji.

He had no information to go on, and no matter what he did, complaints would still come in.

Perhaps it was worth giving Ji a chance.

"However..."

"However?"

"If it works out, I want the salary of three people."

"What nonsense."

Oranje snorted.

The work was simple, and the employees were all commoners with modest salaries.

Asking for the salary of three people was an outrageous request.

"Currently, it takes five people to handle that area, and there are no complaints.

If I can do it alone and without complaints, there will be a significant profit.

The five people can be reassigned to expand the business."

"..."

Oranje pressed the center of his palm with his thumb, a habit he had when thinking.

The proposal made sense.

If Ji could handle the job alone and without complaints, he would be more efficient than five people.

Asking for the salary of three people wasn’t entirely unreasonable.

However, Oranje still had no idea how Ji planned to do it.

"How do you plan to do it?"

"That’s a secret."

It was the question Oranje had expected.

He had also anticipated that Ji wouldn’t reveal his plan.

If he had intended to explain, he would have done so from the beginning.

There was no need to come to such a small place without a plan.

Even if Ji lied, it would be obvious once he was given the task, and there wasn’t much Oranje could lose.

The only reason to enter the noble district was to pass through, and there was no real benefit to it.

After some thought, Oranje concluded that there was no significant benefit to be gained by deceiving him.

There were nobles who wanted to lower the prices, but he didn’t believe they would go so far as to hire a child from the slums to cause problems.

If that were the case, there would be no need to ask for the salary of three people.

"Tomorrow is collection day.

Can you do it, starting immediately?"

"Of course."

"Normally, I pay monthly, but this time, I’ll hire you for one day and decide based on the results."

Oranje stood up and brought a crumpled piece of paper.

When he spread it out on the table, it revealed a map of the city.

The map centered on the commoner’s district where the company was located, with about 30% of the western commoner’s district and a part of the noble district adjacent to it marked in red.

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