Chapter 493: Helping Out

I arrived at the Heine Trading Company’s office. Brother Alex and Sister-in-law Daniela were buried beneath piles of paperwork. No wonder only the servants had answered when I knocked earlier.

A great deal of work had accumulated while they were in the Kingdom of Raven. Father and Mother had helped, but they each had duties of their own and probably could not finish everything.

“Julius, Lady Fabienne—you’re here.”

Brother Alex peered out from between the stacks of documents. I felt a little guilty. I had only intended to stop by and greet them before returning home, but it seemed I was interrupting their work.

“Sorry for disturbing you when you’re busy. I thought I’d say hello before leaving…”

“You’re very courteous, Julius. Well then, shall we take a break?”

“Yes, let’s do that. When it’s just the two of us, there’s no one to stop us, so I’m glad you and Fabienne came.”

This time, Sister-in-law Daniela peered out from between the documents. They really did look busy. I immediately asked Nero to prepare tea and began helping as well. Lady Fabienne naturally joined in too.

It was a bit tricky since there were documents on both the table and the sofa.

“This is quite a situation you’ve got here.”

“Haha, yes. Everything here is money-related. As you can imagine, we can’t exactly let others handle it.”

The flow of money was important. Even if the Heine Trading Company’s staff were trustworthy, they could not be given unrestricted authority over the accounts. At a glance, Brother Alex and Sister-in-law Daniela seemed to be checking the figures for errors.

I wonder if I could help with that?

“I see… Well, I happen to have a little free time—would you like me to help?”

“Would you?”

“Of course. Leave it to me.”

Just in case, I checked Lady Fabienne’s expression. She smiled and nodded. She was going to help too? That made me happy.

“Thank you, Julius. That’s a big help. New documents keep coming in every day, so no matter how much we do, it never ends.”

Sister-in-law Daniela looked tired. Seeing my usually cheerful sister-in-law with such an expression showed just how exhausted she was. It was time for her younger brother-in-law to step in.

In the game, I used to compound and sell large quantities of magic potions. That meant constantly calculating profits from material costs and sale prices. Eventually, I grew tired of opening the calculator app every time and learned to use an abacus, so I was good at mental arithmetic.

“I’m not sure how much I can help, but I’ll do my best.”

“I’ll help too, Sister-in-law Daniela.”

“Thank you, Fabienne.”

Since both of them looked quite tired, I made sure they took a proper break. Refreshing the mind is important—it improves efficiency. When I told them that, they replied, “We’ll do that from now on.” I’ll hold them to that.

Once the break ended, we resumed working. Brother Alex and Sister-in-law Daniela returned to their desks, while we worked at the table.

“Fabienne and Nero, I’d like you to sort these documents. Separate these from these, and place them here.”

“Understood.”

“Got it.”

It was not that I distrusted them, but if anything went wrong, it would be painful for them to fall under suspicion. I therefore asked them only to organise the documents. Even that would greatly improve efficiency.

I began processing the documents they sorted, one after another. It was mostly just adding up amounts, so it was easy. I quickly did the mental math and checked for mistakes.

“Brother Alex, I’ll put the documents with incorrect totals in this box.”

“Got it. I’ll check them later.”

And so the verification work began. Thanks to the two of them sorting the documents, things went smoothly. Ah—this one’s wrong.

“Brother Alex, I’ll mark suspicious figures in pencil. Once you’ve checked them, the marks can be erased.”

“I see, that’s another use for a pencil. More convenient than I thought.”

“It can be erased, so it’s not for important documents. For those, please use a fountain pen.”

“I’ll recommend it to our business partners as well.”

We continued working at full speed while chatting. It had been a while since I had done clerical work. I never liked it much, but occasionally it was enjoyable—especially when it helped someone.

“J-Julius-sama, aren’t you going a bit too fast?”

“What are you talking about, Nero? Look at this pile of documents—if we don’t hurry, it’ll be sunset! Hurry, hurry!”

“E-Even so, you’re way too fast, Julius-sama.”

The two of them complained, but once they became accustomed to the process, they would grow faster. In the end, I might be the one unable to keep up. I would have to work hard not to lose. Oh, another mistake. There were many errors; no wonder Brother Alex and Sister-in-law Daniela had been struggling.

“What is that? It’s moving so fast…”

“I wonder what’s going on? I’d like to peek inside Julius’s head.”

“Uuuh, Julius-sama, too fast!”

“Nero, that document goes over there.”

One way or another, we finished the pile of documents beside our table. A third contained errors. That was a problem—it meant quite a few people were struggling with calculations.

Still, that was understandable. This world had neither computers nor calculators, and there was a limit to what could be done by hand. It was also doubtful that everyone had received a proper education in arithmetic. Perhaps I should make a calculator. With a cleverly designed magic circuit, it might work. Then again, an abacus might be better.

“Julius.”

“Hmm? What is it, Brother Alex?”

“I was thinking it might be time for another break.”

“Is it that time already? Sure.”

I glanced at the clock. So thirty minutes had already passed. Time flies when you’re focused. Since I was the one who suggested taking frequent breaks, I can’t very well ignore it myself.

Nero looked completely exhausted, so I prepared the tea in his place. It was rare to see him like this.