Employee Benefits Matter
When I left the living room, I got caught by Rosalina and Marissa, who dragged me off to Maria’s workshop. They wanted me to come up with clothing designs for women to wear in the stone sauna.
“We still don’t have enough of the Pere fabric for all the staff. Since the stone sauna has long resting periods, we’d like a substitute outfit for now, even if it’s divided by gender.”
“That’s kind of sudden...”
“But we’ve handled sudden requests for you before, haven’t we?”
“Young Master Reinhardt, please.”
Rosalina and Marissa pleaded earnestly.
“Did the female staff say something to you?”
“Well... when we made the work clothes last time, we did accept their request,” Marissa said, trailing off. So, in other words, the women had asked—well, begged—for this too.
I’d probably need their help again later, so I might as well cooperate now.
“How about making clothes out of bath towels?”
“Clothes out of bath towels?”
The three of them blinked at me.
I had them bring me a bath towel, then sewed the two short ends together to make a tube. Out of the two open ends, I sewed two strings onto one of them.
“So instead of wrapping it around the body, you put it on over your head like a dress?”
“Exactly. It’s easy to make, keeps your hands free, and you don’t have to worry about it slipping off.”
“Wouldn’t it be too short?”
“It’s about the same length as wrapping it around your body.”
“But it leaves the chest area open... I’d prefer it a bit longer.”
I was about to tell them not to ask me about such details—but considering all the unreasonable favors I’d asked of them before, I couldn’t exactly complain.
Hmm, what should we do...
“If we just have the towel fabric delivered as-is, everyone could choose their preferred length, right?”
“I see. If we pool our funds, the fabric shop might agree to stock it for us.”
“What about the chest area?”
“If you want to adjust that, you could fold over the top edge enough for a string to pass through before attaching the shoulder straps. Then you could tighten or loosen it yourself.”
“That’s a great idea.”
“I’m taking that one.”
“You’d just sew two spots, attach the straps, and add the string—it’d be simple to make.”
“We could make a lot in a short time.”
“Young Master Reinhardt, thank you so much.”
Rosalina and Marissa seemed pleased, so I figured it’d be fine.
“This kind of outfit would let you lie directly on the stone slab without spreading a towel first.”
“I don’t think walking barefoot on the slab would cause burns, but just to be safe, no one should rest their head or feet directly on it.”
“You’re right. We’ll make sure everyone understands that.”
“Make sure to tell everyone the precautions.”
“It might be good to post a notice on the door with the entry rules.”
“Do that, please. Make enough for the Knight Order’s bath and my family bath, too.”
“The paper might get damaged quickly since it’s by the entrance.”
“Then writing it on a wooden board with paint would be better.”
“Leave that to Maria—she can handle it.”
“Can we ask someone with neat handwriting to do the lettering?”
“If it’s one of our staff, that’s fine.”
Once we’d decided on the contents and written something clear and simple that everyone agreed on, I left the arrangements to them.
When I checked the effects of our hot spring, the results were:
Fatigue recovery – 60%,
Healing wounds and bruises – 22%,
Skin improvement – 18%.
It made sense. I always felt refreshed after a soak, and the Knight Order had mentioned their injuries healed faster. But skin improvement, huh...
Now that I thought about it, the women’s skin really did seem more radiant lately.
Maybe it was better *not* to spread that around...
But even if I stayed quiet, word would get out eventually.
Mother had already caught me off guard, saying, “You haven’t reported the hot spring results yet, have you?”
I played dumb, saying I’d forgotten, but she saw right through me.
“You thought it’d be a hassle if people found out about the 18% skin improvement, didn’t you, Hardt?”
Bullseye.
“Anyway, lately I’ve been getting requests to build a family dormitory for our staff. Those requests are probably going to increase now.”
“A family dormitory?”
“Yes. If employees who marry each other had housing, they wouldn’t have to quit their jobs.”
“Why would they quit otherwise?”
“Because they don’t want to leave. The benefits here are too good to give up.”
“The pay went up?”
“No, it’s the food and the hot spring effects. No one else offers that.”
It seemed our household’s reputation had risen in unexpected ways. Employee benefits really do matter.
“Are you actually going to build the dormitory?”
“Yes, though it’ll be limited to married employees. I’d like to make it happen.”
“Why the limitation?”
“Because thanks to a certain someone, we’ve got more confidential matters than ever, and we can’t just hire new people freely.”
Oh no.
This was heading straight toward a lecture.
Time to change the subject.
What do you think about this chapter?
