Published: August 15, 2025
Today, four episodes are updated simultaneously.
This story is the first episode.
Currently, in the Bamboo Forest laundry service's break room, there are 15 people, including Mr. Darson from the weapon shop and Ms. Pauline from next door, who had left the previous meeting early. Additionally, Mr. Jill and Mr. Fuse have come to provide explanations on behalf of the security company.
The purpose was to discuss the current situation in Gimul and methods of self-defense, but... to be honest, progress has been slow.
The reason is simple: those who already know me seem fine, but the other participants are clearly intimidated.
And the cause is none other than me.
At the last meeting, I had been tense and said a lot of things. That seems to have left a lingering effect.
It’s not that they don’t recognize me or look down on me like before, but the atmosphere is still bad, and more importantly, no proactive questions or opinions are coming out.
So, I first proposed the establishment of a “security company” by myself and suggested using it as one of the options. Since it’s still fresh in everyone’s memory, I explained that there was no worry about the suspicious intervention by the nobility that caused the confusion at the previous meeting, aiming to ease everyone’s minds a little.
“—That’s all.”
I asked Mr. Jill to handle the explanation, but the participants were surprised to learn that two people were sent directly from the Duke's household, which seemed to confuse them and made their reactions slow.
I hope they fully understood the explanation — I wonder if it’s okay?
Just then,
“Ah, sorry. You probably know me, I’m Darson, the owner of the weapon shop. May I ask Ryoma some questions?”
“Of course.”
“First, regarding the establishment of the security company. From the explanation, I understand there is no interference from the nobility now, which was a concern before. I get it, but are you serious?
The conditions for establishing the security company are four: besides making those two sent from the Duke's household the managers, “all funds for hiring personnel and maintenance must be fully invested by Ryoma,” “operation is limited until the town calms down,” and “after that period, the assembled forces must be handed over to the Duke’s household.”
Hiring people, training them, equipping them, and feeding them until they become competent costs a lot. I don’t know how many you plan to hire, but it’s a lot multiplied by that number. Even if you spend that much money, those two will manage the people and the work, so you don’t have freedom, right? And when the deadline comes, the forces must be given to the Duke's household. Frankly, there’s no benefit for you at all.”
That’s definitely true. But,
“I’m serious. Moreover, except for the condition to appoint those two sent here as managers, all other conditions were proposed by us to make the approval easier.”
When I said that, the business owners looked like they couldn’t understand me.
Surely, to these business owners, it looks like I am intentionally taking a big loss.
“Let me clarify something fundamental: I’m not planning to make a profit from this security company.
There are various reasons, but one is competition. Although they can’t fully handle the current situation, this town already has a reliable security force, an adventurers’ guild, and there are professionals like mercenaries specializing in rough tasks. A security company would be close to “competitors” of these “business rivals.” Also, the trust difference between a newly established individual business and a guild with a long history is huge. I believe business people here can understand how disadvantageous this is.”
Many nodded in agreement.
“Also, if I just wanted to gather forces for security, it wouldn’t be efficient to train soldiers from scratch. There are adventurers’ guilds and mercenaries already, so inviting those people would be cheaper and, above all, quicker.”