Part 2 – Osaka’s Auntie Spreads Okonomiyaki

Chapter 07 – Looking for Staff

 

 

Unexpectedly, the very next day after the job offer was posted up, an Adventurer came around the evening.

“Um, is this the interview site [Haru-chan]?”

 

It was a female Adventurer dressed in a Monk’s outfit. The religious head covering actually made her look like a cute kokeshi doll [1]. Monks were not allowed to keep their hair long, nor use bladed weapons. Instead, they carried long staves, unexpectedly not for magical purposes, but were instead for hitting their enemies.

 

“I’m interested in working here. I’m a Level 22 Monk, Kokon- ah!”

Haruna had just grabbed Kokon the Monk’s hands.

“Indeed. I’m so happy, wa~! Many thanks, na! I’m at the point where I’m incredibly happy if a cat lends a paw, wa. [2]”

“Um, the reason for my application is to level up my Monk skills through service industry work.”

“How much salary would you like? Do you have anything you wish to buy? By the way, that’s a really cool reason, but I don’t understand most of it, so please explain in simple terms!”

Those were Haruna’s incredibly simple and frank replies.

“Eh! The interview has already started…? Well, higher level equipment sets are rather expensive, so I’d like to earn some money for it… However, I find it troublesome to join party groups, so….”

“Yes! We can write up a detailed contract later, na!”

Thus, the first employee of [Haru-chan] was hired.

 

After that, the number of workers increased. Haruna now has a total of eight staff with her. With this, [Haru-chan] could officially switch over to a 24-hour business. The night shift would be manned by two people. One person must be at the counter at all times, while the other could take nap breaks in the sleeping room.

In short, that was in fact the birth of a boarding house facility within the dungeon.

That kind of service was very welcomed by Adventurers who set out to capture the dungeon and was given very high ratings.

 

Ever since [Haru-chan] switched over to its current 24-hour business, three weeks had passed.

On that day, Haruna was on a break, and was enjoying a very pleasant lie-in on a proper bed at the inn.

“Fua~. I slept until 10 in the morning, wa.”

The recently hired staff were getting accustomed to the job, getting used to moving to and from the shop. Especially Kokon, who was quite brisk and efficient at her job. As a kanban musume [3], her ranking was only one step below that of Haruna’s.

Compared to Haruna’s character, Kokon was definitely the business-like type. It was crucial for Monks to do things in a fair and honest manner, therefore all interactions with customers must be kept strictly equal.

“The rusk and healing potions, correct? That will be eight bronze coins, please. A discount? Apologies, but that is not possible. Please pay the actual price. That aside, please keep in mind that ikemen [4] customers who visit this shop are charged the same rate as well. It is useless to use flattery. God does not love those who pay empty praises.”

At first, Haruna was a little worried about having such a brusque person manning the shop. However, it turned out that there were Adventurers who actually enjoyed having that sort of strict character mistreating serving them. Since she had the night shift yesterday, Haruna only had to meet the staff who were about to set out to take over the next shift in the dungeon and then had the rest of the day to herself.

 

Because of the excellent weather, Haruna spent the day strolling around the Old Saxon town.

“Maa, while it’s nothing like Kuromon Ichiba Market, it has its own style, na.”

 

Kuromon Ichiba Market is considered one of Osaka’s typical markets, nowadays it’s one of the must-visit popular sites for tourists.

 

Just by strolling through, one could see the large variety of goods on sale at the Old Saxon town.

First, there were processed goods such as salami, sausages and ham.

All kinds of cheese were also on display.

They also had shops that sold spices, oils as well as plant-based sauce blends.

One of the meat shops had all kinds of exotic meats hung up for display. The prices there were pretty steep, clearly meant for rich people’s consumption.

 

This is pretty similar to Japan where the rich get to sample all kinds of exotic meats. On the other hand, the carb choice in this world was pretty lame. It was basically a wheat based, pasta-like thing that was cut into small pieces, similar to macaroni. They didn’t even have spaghetti or any other type of noodle variations. Noodles didn’t seem to be popular here.

Meanwhile, the poor would eat shellfish or birds, mixing the minced meat into their grain-based gruel. The gruel was the cheapest and easiest way to fill the stomach, and so it was mostly eaten by the poor.

Common folk who had a little more spending money would sometimes eat pasta and meat, when they could afford it. Poorer people would have no choice but to eat bread since that’s the cheapest option available in the market.

 

Haruna passed by a lot of obviously thin people.

The common people liked to seek out Haruna whenever they could, and some even called out to greet her.

There wasn’t a single person in town who did not know about the beauty who had conquered the dungeon and now operated a shop there.

As for Haruna herself,

“Old man, somehow you look more handsome today than yesterday~!”

“Little girl, how old are you? Three~? Well then, here are three pieces of candy for you, wa~”

That was how she basically spoke to absolute strangers.

 

The rich often tried to get Haruna to eat dinner with them, seeing it as a chance to raise their social status with her presence.

At any rate, it was worth it to have her eat with them even without the extra incentives. Though she’s really a middle-aged auntie, her appearance was that of a young, beautiful girl; a complete opposite of the crude, dirt-covered male Adventurers everywhere.

Additionally, most people just assumed that Haruna’s exoticism was due to her being a foreigner from a different country. Though she looked like a human from their world, her Osaka traits still remained strong. That was actually a large part of her unique power and charm.

Because Haruna loved to eat, the proactive rich people proceeded to ply her with all kinds of delicious food, allowing her to enjoy all kinds of delicacies.

 

“This wine is really delicious, wa~ But I really want to drink mixed juice [5], na. Ah, talking about mixed juice, you never know what you’ll get since all kinds of juice get squeezed in, na…”

“This meat is a bit gamey, but that’s not a bad thing, na. It’s just like eating ‘horumon’ [6], ya na.”

“There are definitely more kinds of herbs here than in Japan. Although there are all kinds of herb this, herb that, one can’t help but feel that Japanese herbal things are kind of artificial, nothing like the natural herbs here.”

 

Such conversations always amused the rich hosts and their friends. Haruna was just saying things that popped into her mind as usual. Incidentally, the influence of mixed juice in Osaka is pretty strong.

 

During the dinner parties, Haruna would often complain. “I just feel that, it would be great if more people could eat good things like this.” Inevitably, her influential host would give her a bitter smile and, with an impressed tone, replied, “Haruna-san, you truly have a compassionate heart.”

 

Clearly, good ingredients were available. However, the range of circulation was limited. Somehow, the ingredients did not reach the hands of the common people. A big difference in comparison with Japan.

 

“Can’t I let more people eat healthily here?”

 

Haruna pondered over this matter as she walked around wearing a shirt with a leopard’s face printed on it. She had upgraded her tools, armour and equipment quite a few times with money, but some of the original animal elements still remained.

Haruna passed by a stall selling vegetables.

While this world did have all kinds of vegetables, they haven’t gone through vigorous selective breeding and were overall quite small in size.

 

“Ah, these are cabbages, ya na. Though they are a little small—- eh?”

 

At that moment, Haruna felt as though she had been zapped by lightning.

 

“That’s right, I can build a second Osaka here. More importantly, all those cheap and delicious things, all of it can be prepared right here, wa!”

 

[Gumihou: Haruna-san, have you completely forgotten about your divine mission?]

 

[1] Kokeshi doll – simple wooden dolls with no arms or legs

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Kokeshi

 

 

[2] A cat’s assistance – Japanese proverb. Cats are notoriously lazy and apathetic, so to be desperate enough to want a cat’s help is kind of like really, really, really desperate.

 

[3] Kanban musume – the pretty face (often a young girl) that attracts customers. The literal translation is ‘billboard daughter’.

 

[4] Ikemen – Handsome guy

 

[5] Mixed juice – This one has quite a history. While it’s true that ‘mixed juice’ can be interpreted as ‘fruit juice’. If you look at the list of menus, you might see orange juice, apple juice, tomato juice etc, and finally mixed juice.

 

Apparently, if you order mixed juice, it would contain all the random fruits that are about to go bad, or bits of leftover vegetables might get thrown in, add milk and tada! Mixed juice. The logic behind mixed juice is to economise the leftover bits of fruit and process it into a single juice flavour that changes every day.

http://www.sennariya-coffee.jp/index_en.html

Here’s the site that claims to be the origin of that Osaka thing called mixed juice.

 

[6] Horumon – Refers to the insides of animals. Liver, guts, tongue, stomach, heart, lungs, spleen etc.

https://gurunavi.com/en/japanfoodie/2017/11/horumon-a-tourists-guide-to-japans-mottainai-cuisine.html?__ngt__=TT0e6a3117a000ac1e4ae075ceRwid0iz7K5hAY_ABzlCn

Here’s a guide to Japanese style of ‘motainai’ cuisine of eating horumon. Literally, eating with no waste.