Souen no Historia Vol 2 Chapter 26

Although Souji was surprised when the first interviewee was hired, after interviewing a few more, the rest did not have talents that were judged to be suitable by Yoyo and they were all rejected. When an Ikemen appeared, Kaina said, “Ara, an ikemen!” and her cheeks loosened.    Yoyo however didn’t judge from the face and performed the same question-answer session which resulted with the ikemen immediate rejection. It was a secret that Souji felt good when he saw the ikemen’s depressed face.       “How many are left?” “Hmm, according to this information…… only one left.” “Well, hiring is not restricted to today only ~, so isn’t it an okay even if we only found one person?”   Souji shrugged his shoulders when Kaina said that.   “Mother, please say that after we are done interviewing the final person.” “Ah, sor~ry. I slipped that out because current flow made it seem like it’s decided already~.” “Good grief…… next person, please.”   When the last person entered the room, all three of them were taken aback. Anyone would have had the same reaction. The one who walked in was barefooted, pechi pechi, had a strange appearance, ―――――――――――― and was a little girl.   “...... e-excuse me…… that is…… I should give up after all!”   The girl said that and tried to leave only to be called back by Souji. Thus the girl halted and turned towards Souji. She blushed and said, “Uh~.”   “F-For the time being, please sit in that chair. Okay?”   He was perplexed about whether to be formal, but in the last statement he displayed his radiant smile to make the girl feel at ease.    The girl’s eyes wandered around suspiciously. She nodded and sat in the chair.   Even though they had interviewed many “unique” people, this girl was the most extreme. She wore clothes with sh.e.l.ls attached to it and wore transparent raiment over her head. Moreover her expression that just like how a lost puppy was accentuated by her bare feet.     (I certainly told them to let in any applicant, but there should be a limit….)   Regardless, Yoyo said she wanted to see all of the interviewees, so Souji told the maids to let in anyone that had come, but he wondered about such a girl.   “Umm, for the time being, may I hear your name?”   Though there was awkwardness, it was necessary to continue the interview. When Souji said that, the girl twitched and had a frightened expression, with her mouth trembling.   “I-I am here…… that is…… because I hear can live here….” “Eh? Living here? Ah~ well, if you are accepted you can work as a live-in employee because there are excess rooms in this mansion.” “I-Is it really okay for Eu to live here?”   The girl’s eyes were filled with a tiny hope for the first time.   “Eu? Is that your name? Umm, there should be no problem for you to stay here if you are hired.”   He said so with as gentle tone as he could muster to the girl with a radiant smile, but then a shadow immediately formed in her expression.   “Uu…… but, but, what can Eu do?” “Huh?”   He received a shock because he was the one being questioned, and he looked at Kaina for help, but her eyes glittered in excitement.   Ah, that symptom is the one where she wants to hug the girl due to how cute she is.   Therefore Kaina was useless, so he looked at Yoyo. Yoyo was gazing at the girl called Eu with seriousness. Then Yoyo began to speak.   “Hey, you, are you from the Aquatic race?” “Eh, ah, it is so.”   Aquatic race? Though the transparent feeling coming from Eu is certainly a trait of the Aquatic race, why did she leave the sea and come on to the land? Moreover, I can’t guess the reason she wants to live in this mansion.   “Basically, the Aquatic race lives in the sea, and I heard they can easily obtain food and dwellings there. So why did you come on to land?”   As expected, Yoyo was also intrigued by this question and asked the same thing Souji was thinking of. Eu shoulders drooped and a tearful expression can be seen on her face.   “Eu is…… Eu is…… even Eu didn’t want that…… but…… sniff.” “It’s okay. You don’t need to say it if you don’t want to.” “Eh? Is that okay, Ojou-sama?” “Souji, how can you easily stick your head into a woman’s problem?” “...... haa.”   He could not say that rather than a woman she was just a little girl. Yoyo ignored the puzzled Souji and continued.   “Well then, let me change the question. Are you alone?” “Uh…… that is right.” “Then, can I interpret that you came here because you are looking for a place to live in?”   From what Eu said, when she wandered around in town, she saw one of the leaflets that were pasted on the wall, and she was charmed by what was written and about the possibility to live in the mansion.   Apparently, after she came on land several days ago, she wandered around because she didn’t know what to do, and she was hungry. Although she asked for food in the town, she was refused as she didn’t have any money. She asked how could she earned money and naturally was answered that she needed to work. And the girl, who thought she could not live on land without doing that, wondered how she could work, and she saw the leaflet when she walked in the town.   “I see. I understand your situation now. But we are not offering a charity here. And even if we thought of doing that right now, you will surely come upon the same wall later and return to the sea. You don’t want that, right?” “To return to the sea…… I don’t want to.”   She said those words strongly and clenched her fists. Yoyo could guess that something might have happened in the sea, but just as Yoyo said before, she should not easily meddle in it.   “However it was just like I had said before, we are not offering a charity. We won’t look after someone without any capabilities in this mansion.”   What Yoyo said was obvious, but probably because she witnessed the severity her words, Eu once again had a tearful expression. Souji, who’s weak towards such an expression, was driven by the impulse of wanting to do something, but he knew in his current position he must not doing anything that selfish. All decisions rested on Yoyo’s shoulders.   “...... I see, then I wonder what can you do?” “...... eh?” “Tell me about yourself. I will decide whether to hire you or not after that.” “Uh, that’s…… I am not being driven out?” “Ara? I don’t see any reason to drive you out because I still haven’t heard anything about yourself.” “But, I was immediately told to get out when I asked for a job before.”   That was natural. No one would want to hire an obviously suspicious-looking little girl.   “Is that so? However I won’t do such a foolish thing. After all appearances are a trivial thing.”   That’s right, Yoyo was such a person.   “What important is whether that person can serve under me or not.”   What she meant was everything depended on the person’s ability.   “And of course the personality is also important.”   Eu became dumbfounded when she heard Yoyo’s words.   “That’s why tell me about yourself. The things that you are capable of.” “The thing Eu…… can do….”   Her figure as she groaned, U~n, and inclined her head to think was so adorable. Souji felt Kaina panting “Haa Haa,” beside him as an annoyance.   I wonder since when…… did mother become this dangerous….   He felt tears acc.u.mulating in his eyes while he waited for Eu to open her mouth. Then, a wind from the window blew several doc.u.ments from the desk towards Eu’s feet. Eu got off the seat with an, “okay,” picked up the papers, and brought it to Souji.   “Thank you very much, Eu-san.” “Ah, th-that is…… j-just Eu is fine.”   When she received his grat.i.tude, Eu looked down due to her face becoming completely red due to embarra.s.sment. Seeing such a fresh reaction, he could hear a voice that was just like the breath of a dog in heat.   “Eh? Ah, wh-what are you doing, Souji!”   Kaina was lifted and carried like a cat, and thrown outside with the door closing behind her. Of course he locked it too.   “Aah geez! What is with thiss~! Please open itt!”   That could not be done. It was for the sake of his master’s virtue as a girl.    Souji returned to his seat as if nothing had happened, though the shouts from outside could still be heard.   “Aa, please don’t mind it. It is best to ignore that.” “Eh, ah, is…… that so?”   Though Eu restlessly looked at the door, she slowly sat again on the chair. Eu not very sneakily glanced at the doc.u.ments on the desk.   “What’s wrong? Aah, these? These are the doc.u.ments used for the interview….” “I think that is wrong?” “...... heh?”   He could not understood what she suddenly said and,   “Umm, what do you mean?” “Those, some are wrong.” “Those… these doc.u.ments?”   What Eu pointed at was unmistakably the doc.u.ments that previously fell at her feet. And now Yoyo sharply narrowed her eyes.   “Can you tell us what is wrong?” “That’s…… umm, not all of them…… there are three that are wrong.”   Realizing something, Yoyo said, “Let me see the doc.u.ments, Souji,” and Souji responded by handing over the doc.u.ments on the table to her. Following that, Yoyo seriously looked over them, and then returned her eyes to Eu.   “...... nee, did you say your name was Eu?” “Y-Yes.”   Because Yoyo was staring at her, Eu was puzzled.   “I will make a question and you will answer it.” “O-Okay.” “Ojou-sama?”
“Be silent, Souji.” “C-Certainly.”   Souji kept silent as he felt that she was serious. Yoyo took out her pen, began to write something on the paper, and then proceeded to read it out when she finished the writing.   “This is the question. Currently, there are five employees in the mansion. The salary is paid every month, one person is 148,000 Dras, another one is 122,000 Dras, next is 237,000 Dras, then 86,590 Dras, and the last one is 245,700 Dras.”   Dras was the currency in Orb. Basically it was at the same value as j.a.panese yen.     “The first three people have a 20% increase due to hazard pay. Moreover, 15,000 Dras was given to all five of them as a bonus. Now, how much total salaries have these five received?”   Apparently, she was writing the question on the paper, and by no means was it a difficult question. A similar problem was also written on the doc.u.ments from before and given to the applicants that wanted to be accountants to solve within a time limit. However no one gave a satisfying result. Almost everyone took too much time to calculate it, and within them were people that got the answer wrong.   It would be reasonable to hand over the paper and let her slowly think about it, however to have her answer it with only a listen was indeed too cruel but,   “It is 1,024,690.”   ………… come again?   Souji stared at Eu who promptly answered without any hesitation. However, Yoyo giggled and,   “Fufufu, Souji, this is good. We found the best accountant.” “Eh? O-Ojou-sama, don’t tell me that answer...?” “Yes, this girl is the real deal.” I wonder what it implies when someone’s cheeks become loose. Is it awe? ↩ Souji is such an a.s.shole. He feels happy for the misfortune of others. ↩ The author must really have something against popular guys since he always chooses to give the ikemen the worst possible image.↩ And how is Souji not an ikemen. Wait it all makes sense now. He hated the other ikemen because he didn’t want any compet.i.tion! ↩ ????? ↩ How does Kaina l.u.s.ting after Eu affect Yoyo’s “virtue as a girl?” ↩ All these j.a.panese novels I read recently about going to a different world, they always tell you the exchange rate. That makes no sense. I don’t expect one person to be able to easily calculate the exchange rate. But when it is not even a connected economy, all costs would be completely different and the exchange rate is meaningless. How did he determine such a thing? Why is a Yen equal to a Dra? Did he compare how much coffee a Yen would buy versus a Dra? But then maybe coffee is unusually expensive because you would have to transport it slowly with horse drawn carriages instead of fast ships or planes. However, a sword might be cheaper since they would make so many of them. If coffee is priced at 1000 Dras and 1000 yen, and swords cost 5000 Dras but 20000 Yen, then what is the exchange rate? With no basis of comparison, these exchange rates are always dubious. Besides, this is only how one would infer the exchange rate. The actual exchange rate is calculated from differentials in inflation, interest rates, public debts, terms of trade, and other factors, none of which Souji is likely to know and isn’t even worth the effort to calculate since he has no plans to return or trade with j.a.pan. It always annoys me so much when an author says something like this because it means he either doesn’t know how exchange rates work or think the readers are stupid. An easy method to avoid this would have been to write something like “these salaries are ten times what a normal person makes” or “buying this would take a month’s salary.” ↩