After I gave Professor Golmind the documents detailing The Rats' illegal activities, we returned to the restaurant to rest and let him handle everything.
And, for some reason, we brought ten more children. When I asked Tizmilly who they were, she answered that they were children like Carole and Timmy. Some were children of people who'd been trapped by The Rats' ridiculously high-interest debt, while others had been straightforwardly abducted by them.
We took care of them at the restaurant until The Rats' trial was over. They were punished for their crimes and reduced to slaves. An ironic end for a criminal organization that used to scam people into slavery.
The Dungeon City bulletin highlighted the news on the first page of this week's newspaper, so we could follow the trial even while relaxing at home.
Three days later, Professor Golmind visited our home to report what happened during the trial. We already knew most of it from the newspaper, but Tizmilly and I listened to his report politely. After all, he had truly helped us this time.
By the way, Professor Golmind wasn't just a random professor at the Academy. He was a well-known named character from the game. Fangirls called him _The Unwinged Angel_ because of his angel-like heart. From start to finish, he would always stand by the protagonist, Ahlia's, side. And he was powerful too, with his Magic, Fiery Heart.
"The City Lord has agreed to give each of the victims' children 2 Gold coins as compensation. The children can claim it at the City Hall."
His words brought us joy.
We'd been thinking of a way to help these poor children, but as expected, I didn't have enough money to help everyone. Not to mention that I also needed money for the restaurant's opening and for hiring two more maids later.
With this, the children could live on their own without worry. Maybe we would visit them from time to time, but that was it.
Without wasting any more time, we immediately accompanied Carole and the children to claim their compensation with Professor Golmind.
"The City Lord and the Academy have been having a hard time dealing with the population decrease happening around the outer areas of the City. Your intervention came at the right time, Theo, Tizmilly."
On the way back after claiming the compensation, Professor Golmind suddenly praised us. I could only scratch my cheek to hide my embarrassment.
"I'm not sure how that ended so spectacularly, but it was just a coincidence," I replied with a shrug.
Tizmilly nodded after me, clearly agreeing with my words.
Professor Golmind had been our homeroom teacher when we were second-year students. Tizmilly knew Professor Golmind well, and how rarely he praised someone, so she must have been surprised to receive his praise. To be honest, I was surprised too.
Only after I recalled that The Rats was an organization connected to The Abyssal New Gate did I think his praise wasn't out of nowhere. It truly was a big deal.
Once we returned to the restaurant, Professor Golmind immediately wanted to head back to the Academy. We invited him to visit after we opened and gave him a box of cookies baked by my mother before seeing him off.
After that, we spent the day helping Carole and the children find a place to stay, since they obviously couldn't stay in our restaurant forever.
Then, after everything was settled, what remained was the main problem.
Where could we find the other two maids?
Getting Carole alone had required us to destroy a criminal organization, so if I could, I'd prefer a more relaxed recruitment.
Even now, the sight of Tratbone's sliced flesh still haunted me. I needed a few days off from battle.
...
"Hm..."
"Hm..."
""Hmmm...""
When Tizmilly and I were clutching our heads, trying to think of a way to recruit two more employees, the restaurant door opened as Carole entered.
She saw Tizmilly and me sitting around a round table right beside the window and tilted her head.
"What's the matter?" she asked us. She noticed our stressed faces.
We exchanged glances before I opened my mouth to explain.
"You couldn't find girls who wanted to work at our place?" Carole repeated my words.
"Yup," I replied with a nod.
Tizmilly sighed before joining the conversation.
"We've circled the city and asked every girl Mister Roost found suitable for our place, but no one accepted our offer."
What's troublesome about this world is how underdeveloped some aspects of its civilization are compared to others. They can create floating cities, flying ships, and guns, but still haven't come up with the idea of centralizing workers who are looking for jobs, even though they've already centralized people's requests at the Dungeon Posts.
We'd already decorated the restaurant and stocked the freezer room full of supplies, but we lacked employees to start the business. What a situation!
While we were troubled over the problem, Carole suddenly made a shocking statement.
"I have friends who want to work here, though?"
...
Carole told Tizmilly and me that she'd just met her friends the day before while cleaning her new house with Timmy, who was finally able to walk after consuming a Healing Potion. They were girls from Carole's mother's hometown.
While her father was apparently a native of the Dungeon City, her mother had come to this city from a village further west of the Dungeon City. If I'm not mistaken, the village should be inside the Fazarr Empire, the Empire from which the Crown Prince who dumped Tizmilly came.
They were hanging out around the Dungeon City to catch up. One of the girls had strongly declared she wanted to become independent and successful in this city full of opportunities, and invited the other girls to help each other in the process. At that time, Carole told them she was now an employee at our yet-to-be-opened restaurant.
They were shocked by what she said and complained that she should have introduced them to us if the place was still hiring.
And since we were indeed in need of maids, Tizmilly and I immediately instructed Carole to bring her friends to our place. We would interview them, and if they qualified to become our maids, we would officially hire them.
"Then I'll get them to the restaurant. Wait for me here at noon."
With a resigned face because we immediately pushed her out of the restaurant right after she'd entered, Carole left to start looking for her friends.
After her figure was no longer visible from the front of the restaurant, I high-fived Tizmilly.
"Finally, we get the girls!"
"It's so fortunate that we hired Miss Carole!"
Then, just before lunchtime, we brought my mother to the restaurant.
On the wide first floor, we arranged the tables and chairs to suit our needs. Four chairs were arranged behind the tables for us interviewers, while ten chairs were lined up five meters away from the tables in a single row to accommodate our potential maids.
By the time Carole entered the building with her friends, we were already seated in our respective chairs. By the way, the fourth chair was for Timmy.
"Eh... What are you guys doing?"
Ignoring Carole's surprised gasp, I looked at the eight girls following her. I stood up to welcome them.
"Welcome to our place, young ladies. As our maid, also your friend, Carole may have said, we are currently seeking fresh talent to become maids at our restaurant. There are only two spots left, so only two of you will become our maids. But don't worry, and just let your identities shine, because we need unique characters for our place."
My words put an invisible pressure on the girls. They looked at each other uneasily. They realized that they weren't comrades here; they were rivals competing for two ultimate spots!
_Hehehe, nice, that's right, girls. Let the sparks fly!_
""...""
I felt flat gazes coming from Tizmilly and Timmy, but I dismissed them as my imagination.
"Please, sit in the chairs we've prepared for you. And Carole, bring the girls some drinks so they can relax while we explain the restaurant to them."
With nervous steps, they obeyed my words and sat down.
"O-okay..."
Not knowing what else to do, Carole fled the room and entered the kitchen to get the drinks.
I smiled at the girls and sat back down. After a slow sip of tea to moisten my throat, I looked at them again.
"How are you feeling? Good?" I asked them.
Their answers varied.
"Y-yes." Some looked hesitant.
"I'm feeling amazing, sir!" Some were full of energy.
"I'm okay." While some looked cold.
_They're interesting. If only I could hire all of them..._
While lamenting reality a little, I started the interview with an introduction.
"Good to hear that. My name is Theo Roost. I'm the founder of this restaurant."
I signaled Tizmilly and the others to introduce themselves after me.
"I'm Theo's mother, Calary Roost. For now, I'm the main chef of the restaurant. I can see that you all have the potential to become cute maids, but as expected, little Tiz here is still the best!"
"Wh-what are you talking about, Mistress Roost!? _Ahem._ It's a pleasure to meet you all. My name is Tizmilly... Just Tizmilly. I'm the secondary chef and also a collaborator at the restaurant."
"Uh... N-nice to meet you. I'm... Sis's little brother."
The interviewers were a mismatched group of people, but we would still start the interview.
Here, we would find the maids for our restaurant!
...
"Here, the juice."
"Ah, t-thank you, Carole."
We let Carole give the girls their share of lemon juice and sip it to ease their minds before we continued.
Like a proper maid, Carole was now wearing her custom-made maid uniform.
The skirt was long, featuring laced long sleeves and an embroidered apron. Whenever I saw her, I always pictured a graceful, slightly arrogant lady, like a typical villainess, with her curly, long blonde hair and all. Her actual personality wasn't suitable for that role, but if she used her experience from when she used to run around scamming people, she could show everyone what an arrogant but charming noble lady looked like. And after my mother polished her later, her skill would surely take a new step toward perfection.
It would be better if Tizmilly could fill that role, but she wouldn't be able to fully take that position after the holiday ended. The third year of our Academy life was waiting, so Tizmilly's era was still far from our reach.
We waited until the girls finished drinking their juice.
Tizmilly was the one who would explain the restaurant to them. After making sure the girls' attention was on her, she started.
She went from the reason we started this restaurant to the main theme we were aiming for.
"... We may look ridiculous with maids that are clearly different from barmaids or waiters, but it serves our goal to create a place where people can eat and enjoy their time without the shadow of the caste system looming over them. The maids play a huge role here. You may serve the customers, but not with the loyalty and obedience usually shown by others. You will meet them with raw ego, blindly, no matter who they are!"
The girls' reactions were as expected. They were shocked, and even Carole was surprised. Now that I think of it, we hadn't really explained everything to Carole, huh? Well, she'd hear everything here, so that's okay.
Seeing that Tizmilly had finished her explanation, I took back the lead.
"Alright. We'll end the briefing here. Now that you have some understanding of what kind of place our restaurant will become, let's start the actual interview."
I raised my hand, then pointed to a girl who looked the most well-mannered, with her short, bobbed black hair.
"You there, introduce yourself."
She flinched after I pointed at her. She took a deep breath before she spoke.
"Good day, Mr. Roost, Mrs. Roost, Ms. Tizmilly, and Mr... Timmy. My name is Yona, 17 years old. I came to Dungeon City with the hope of making a name for myself and... g-gaining enough wealth to retire early!"
_Hmm... Mature personality with little motivation for fame. She wants to raise her name, but clearly not in the way an average teenager usually aims for. And she's polite._
I noted that down on the mini whiteboard beside me before looking back at the girl.
"I heard you're interested in becoming our maid after hearing Carole's story. However, I want to know, what is your actual motivation?"
She fidgeted with her fingers a little before Yona answered.
"It's because if I work at a restaurant where I know someone, I'll face less risk compared to aimlessly trying to get a job in the wider city, where I don't know how things work. And indeed, after seeing the place myself, the restaurant looked calm, well-decorated, and cozy, like a family. I thought it would be fun to work here."
_Well said. She has a silver tongue. She has potential._
Since Yona had mentioned everything I wanted to hear before I could ask for it, I immediately shifted to the next girl.
I pointed to a girl who had _nervous_ written boldly all over her. Compared to the others, her appearance couldn't be called beautiful, with a thin figure, double-braided brown hair, and a freckled face.
"How about you?"
She trembled under my gaze. She looked like she was about to pass out when she opened her mouth to answer.
"G-good day! I-I-I am... Sirry! 16 years old! I came to Dungeon City to make money... Uh, wealth... I mean!"
I waved my hands to calm her.
"Okay, okay, don't push yourself too hard, Sirry."
Although she still looked pale, Sirry responded with a nod.
_Immature. Lacks education and confidence._
I noted the information I got.
Needless to say, Tizmilly and the other interviewers also had their own whiteboards. Just like me, they also wrote down what they understood about our applicants.
"Is there a specific reason why you're interested in our restaurant?" I asked her again.
She widened her eyes and started trembling even more violently. She must not have expected a different question here. Hehe, but you should adapt swiftly, girl!
"A-ah... I am, I-I always liked seeing the maids working at Mister Habajj's, a rich merchant in our village, back then. They're beautiful, and cool, and amazing, like a group of super girls!"
_Not too bright, but... She understands the point. And her nerves ease when she's talking about what she likes. That's raw material for a must-protect type of maid!_
I glanced to my side, and like me, my mother's eyes were shining as she looked at Sirry.
We continued the interview like that.
"A beautiful day for us fated people! My name is T-R-E-V-I-N-A! Currently in my 18s! I came to this city to grab one or two husbands to take back to my village! Maids work around people, so I'll get to know a lot of handsome guys while working! A perfect job for me, don't you think?"
_Confidence level through the roof. Interesting, but... Hmm..._
"My name's Gerena. 15 years old. I love books. I've read all the books in the village, so I ran away to find more books. Work gives me money, money buys new books, so I'll work."
_Skewed motivation, but her cold expression is interesting._
"I am Wendy. 18 years old. People in the village always wanted me to marry their sons. They've been getting forceful lately, so I fled to this city. Hopefully, people won't try to force me into marriage if I work here with Carole. Mister Roost, you won't force me like them, right?"
_Those sure are big. I kinda get why they wanted their sons to marry her. But I won't force anyone, okay? I'm not that kind of man._
"Mister Roost is not that kind of man!"
_See? Even our Miss Villainess thinks the same._
"I don't think talking about marriage here will help, though..." Timmy added.
We continued to interview them one by one.
By the time we ended the interview and moved to another room to discuss who we should hire, I found a shocking truth.
They were all unique and had the potential to become great maids!
What kind of village was Carole from?
Unfortunately, since we were still in the early phase of development, we couldn't hire all of them and could only take two out of eight as planned.
And since we should choose safer options during development to avoid risk, but also had to choose those who bordered the common standard to maintain our uniqueness, in the end, the ones we chose were...
Sirry, and Gerena.