Clothing Procurement

Today’s wages were as much as 1500G. Up until now, my pay for working on a day off had been 500G, but thanks to the shop’s sales increasing, my wages went up too. My total money became 2060G. For now, I bought a two-pack of underwear pants for 500G, a two-pack of undershirts for 1000G, and laundry detergent for 300G. That left me with 260G.

(Finally, I could buy spare underwear. If things keep increasing smoothly like this, I should be able to change my living conditions too.)

School was off again the next day, so it was a full day working at the bakery. The reputation of the new products we’d started selling yesterday was good, and it was busy from the morning.

“At this rate, we’ll have to hire a new part-timer soon, or the shop won’t be able to keep running.”

Marie said that.

“I’m sorry. It seems like I increased the workload…”

“It’s fine, don’t worry about it. Having lots of customers come is something we’re grateful for as a shop. They might not show up, but for now, I’ll put up a recruitment notice in front of the shop.”

With that, Marie quickly made a help-wanted notice and posted it out front.

Before noon, a line of customers formed, so I left the bread-making to Marie and went to help Catherine. With me stepping in, the line shrank until it was manageable even with just Catherine. Then I immediately went back to making bread.

The day ended in a blink, and Marie was calculating sales. Catherine and I were cleaning up.

“Good work today. You can clock out now. Here are today’s wages and some bread.”

“Thank you very much. Then I’ll see you again tomorrow.”

“See you later, big brother.”

I went home. My wages were 1500G again, the same as yesterday. With that, I bought a tracksuit set for 1500G. My remaining money was the same 260G as yesterday.

“As expected of cheap stuff… the fabric’s thin… but it’s better than nothing.”

I changed into the tracksuit and washed the school uniform I’d been wearing until just now. Since I’d also bought detergent yesterday, the grime came out really cleanly.

The next day, just as I finished my morning shift and was about to head to school, Catherine spoke to me.

“Big brother. I messed up stuffing today’s bread… so if you want, eat these for lunch.”

She handed me two custard cream breads, one margarine bread, and one strawberry jam bread.

“Thanks. I’ll eat them later.”

I took the bread and headed to school.

When it became lunch break and I was on my way behind the school building to eat, I found a girl student collapsed on the ground.

I rushed over and called out to her.

“Hello? Are you okay?”

“I’m sorry… I haven’t eaten anything but water for about two days…”

“I have bread with me—if you’d like, do you want to eat it?”

“I can’t accept charity from someone like that as a noble…”

“Then think of it as an offering.”

I remembered my earlier exchange with Josette and tried suggesting it.

“Well, if that’s what it is, then I suppose it can’t be helped. Thank you.”

Saying that, she tried to gather her strength and stand up. Without thinking, I supported her body and helped her up. When I saw her face, she was someone I recognized.

(She’s short with a childlike build, twin-tail pink hair. I don’t know her name, but she’s the smaller one among Josette’s attendants.)

“Then let’s sit on that bench over there.”

I guided her to the bench I always used during lunch break and sat her down.

“Here, have this.”

The bread I randomly pulled from the bag was a custard cream bread.

“Th-thank you…”

She took it and started eating.

“I-it’s very delicious.”

Tears were shimmering in her eyes.

“Why haven’t you eaten for two days?”

I didn’t know her name or detailed settings, so I wasn’t sure how to handle her. Since she herself said it, I figured she really was a noble.

“It’s embarrassing to admit, but… two days ago, my father was found to have committed fraud and was taken into custody. Then our assets were seized, the servants scattered, and there was no one left in my family besides my father… I had no one to rely on… I wandered the city aimlessly for about two days, but… I still have to go to school, don’t I?”

By this country’s rules, students attending school could not skip without a reason. It seemed she was diligently obeying that.

“Can’t you ask Josette-san to help you?”

“Probably not… Lady Josette has a difficult position at home, so I can’t burden her.”

“You needn’t worry about that at all, you know?”

Josette-dono said that while sitting beside me before I even noticed, eating a strawberry jam bread.

“Josette-san—when did you get here?”

“I saw the two of you and became curious, so I came to check. munch munch Still, this bread is sweet and delicious, isn’t it?”

“Could you stop pulling things out of the bag and eating them without asking?”

“What’s wrong with that? It’s you and me, isn’t it? munch munch”

She said that and moved on to eating the margarine bread.

“Oh, this one is delicious too. It has a bit of fat, but that soaks into the bread in such a pleasant way…”

“So stop eating them without asking—”

“You two get along so well.”

““We don’t (do we).””

“giggle”

The attendant girl laughed, as if she found it funny.

Then the three of us ate bread (more than half of it was eaten by Josette) and took a breather.

“Caro-san. So what do you plan to do from here?”

So the attendant girl’s name was Caro.

“If possible, I’d like to find somewhere I can work with room and board…”

“I see. As it happens, I know just the right place—someone who lives alone in a house.”

“If it’s an introduction from Lady Josette, I feel I can trust it. If it wouldn’t be an inconvenience, could you introduce me?”

“And that’s why—please take care of it, Kent.”

“Huh?”

She suddenly threw it to me, and I blurted out a weird response.

“I’m unworthy, but I humbly ask for your favor, Kent-san.”

“Um… my place doesn’t have anything, though…”

“You’re always taking care of Kent, and if it’s just moving-in money, I’ll cover it with my pocket money.”

With that, she pulled out a bell and rang it, and a maid appeared from nowhere.

“Did you call for me, milady?”

“From now on, Caro will be living together with Kent at his house. I intend to provide moving-in money, so could you prepare it?”

“Yes. I will have it ready by after school.”

With that, the maid withdrew.

“Now then, both of you—the afternoon classes will begin.”

The afternoon classes began, and then classes ended, and it was after school.

“Kent-san, may I have a moment?”

“Yes.”

Josette stopped me.

“Then this is the moving-in money. You may use it freely, but please prioritize Caro when you spend it.”

“I understand.”

She handed me a pouch with the moving-in money, and I accepted it without checking inside.

Then Caro came to my classroom.

“Then please take care of Caro.”

“I understand.”

“Please take care of me, Kent-san.”

Caro and I went home. But inside the house, there truly was nothing. For now, I still had my shift time, so I had to prioritize that.

“Caro-san, sorry. I have a shift after this, so I need to go. It’s an empty place, but can you wait here?”

“Yes, please go ahead.”

Seeing me off, Caro stayed behind, and I headed to the bakery.

But there was a “Preparing” sign up. When I went inside, Catherine was cleaning.

“Ah, welcome home, big brother.”

“I’m home. Catherine—why are we preparing?”

“Um, there’s suddenly a meeting for the bakers’ guild, I think. Probably every bakery is closed.”

“I see. Then it looks like there’s no work today… and tomorrow’s our regular day off, so the day after tomorrow.”

“Sorry. Please come again the day after tomorrow.”

Since there was no work, I returned home where Caro was waiting.

“I’m home. They said the bakery is temporarily closed.”

“I see. Then we can rest quietly today.”

Caro said that with a smile, and my heart skipped a little.

“But before that, I need to make it so you can live here… There really isn’t anything in this house.”

“I’m sorry for causing you trouble.”

Caro said apologetically.

“For now, we’ll have to manage with the money we were given… right.”

I opened the pouch she’d given me. Inside were ten large gold coins (equivalent to ten million).

“Um… is it really okay to use this?”

“If you don’t use it, she’ll get angry instead. When Lady Josette gets angry, it’s scary.”

“I see. Then I won’t hold back… Caro-san.”

“Yes?”

“Please keep what you’re about to see absolutely secret.”

“Y-yes.”

Suddenly told to keep quiet, Caro looked anxious about what I was going to do.

“Then I’m going to pull out a full set of living supplies for you.”

Saying that, I took out the ordering terminal.

“What is that?”

“Some kind of magic, I guess. But if you use it, your money goes down…”

“I see…”

Caro replied with a face that said she didn’t really understand.

“First, we probably need electricity…”

Saying that, I bought a solar power system plus a storage battery (installation included) for four million through the terminal. It seemed that if something was handled in the catalog, you could buy it even if it wasn’t in stock at a store. I was curious how “installation cost” would work, but I carelessly figured that even if it failed, I’d still have six million left, so I’d be fine. When I pressed the execute button, there was a thud from the roof and the house shook a little.

“Eek!”

Startled, Caro clung to me, and a soft sensation pressed against me.

“It’s okay.”

I calmed Caro, and the two of us went outside. On the roof, shining solar panels had been installed. They were placed at an angle that you could only see from the yard, so they couldn’t be seen from outside—an extremely convenient setup.

“What is that?”

“That’s called a solar panel. It’s a device that produces electricity. Though ‘electricity’ probably doesn’t mean anything to you.”

“I don’t understand… I’m sorry.”

“No, that’s not something you need to apologize for.”

“I see…”

With power secured for now, we went back inside and I led her to an empty room I planned to give her.

“Now I’m going to set up Caro-san’s room, so pick from here.”

I showed her the terminal. It had product descriptions with photos. I bought one thing after another as she chose them, and we built the room up. We put in a floor covering, a bed, and a dresser, then bedding, indoor clothes, and underwear (since the source was a home improvement store, the design had no charm at all—purely practical). Finally, we installed lighting and an air conditioner for climate control, spending a total of 550,000. After that, for the kitchen we bought a counter, kitchen tools, dishes, a refrigerator, and an induction cooker, spending 450,000. The remaining money entrusted to me was five million.

“Does that mean we’ve set up an environment where Caro-san can live?”

“It feels wrong that only I get things. Please use it for your room too, Kent-san.”

Since Caro said that, I gratefully decided to use it.

For now, I bought a floor covering, a bed, and a full bedding set, plus a rug, sofa, and table for the living room, and installed an air conditioner there too. I spent a total of 300,000, leaving 4.7 million.

That should be enough.

And with our living environment prepared, the two-person life began.