Kays Translations
Just another Isekai Lover~
Chapter 60: I Made a Little Money at the Academy
“So that’s how it is,” Merlin said, his expression softening as understanding dawned on him.
Kanna, brimming with excitement, turned to her son. “My dear boy, you have no idea how booming the tavern business has become! This place is practically turning into a gathering spot for dwarves. Grilled skewers and small dishes paired with beer—it’s simply a perfect combination. We’ve only been open for a few days, and we’ve already earned several hundred gold coins!”
Merlin nodded with a smile, though inwardly he mused: If Mother knew I make tens of thousands of gold coins in a single day at the academy, she’d probably faint. A few hundred coins are nothing—I could barely buy a few bottles of alchemy potions with that.
“If things continue like this, I think we’ll soon be able to pay off the five hundred thousand gold coins we owe, just from running this little tavern. Who knows? Maybe someday we could even reclaim the family estate!” Kanna said, placing the gold coins a customer had handed her into the cash drawer. She picked up a piece of burlap to wipe the counter, a wistful look lighting up her face as she dreamed of the future.
Merlin studied his mother closely. At this moment, she hardly resembled a countess at all. Instead, she looked like a devoted woman guarding her small household. He couldn’t help but think that both his father and mother had remarkably resilient and positive mindsets.
If any ordinary noble faced the kind of hardships the Leo family had endured, they would have likely crumbled long ago. The idea of bouncing back? Suicide would probably have seemed like the only escape.
“By the way, son, we’re about to run out of the spice mix you supplied for the skewers,” Kanna reminded him.
“Don’t worry, Mother. I brought plenty of pre-mixed spices and marinade,” Merlin said, pulling a large bag of ready-made seasonings from his spatial ring and handing it to her.
Kanna’s eyes widened as she caught sight of the spatial ring in her son’s hand. Her hands trembled slightly as she grasped his arm, asking nervously, “Son… where did you get that spatial ring?”
“I bought it at the academy,” Merlin replied casually. After all, the ring was a free gift when he purchased alchemy tools and potions, so technically, he wasn’t lying.
“Bought it?”
“The cheapest spatial rings cost at least ten thousand gold coins. Son… where did you get so much money?” Kanna’s gaze shifted to Merlin’s handsome face, a sudden worry crossing her features. Did my son… sacrifice his own charm for money?
“Mother, I make a little money at the academy,” Merlin said simply.
Then he didn’t hide anything. He recounted everything he had been doing at the academy these past days. When Kanna heard that Merlin could earn over ten thousand gold coins in a single day, she was utterly dumbfounded.
Merlin then pulled out his magic crystal card. “There’s still over ten thousand gold coins on this card. There’s no need to worry at all about the five hundred thousand we owe. In about a month, I should be able to gather all of it.”
“???”
Kanna’s head spun with questions. Could her son really earn money this fast? When did gold become so easy to make? She and her husband had spent an entire year running the estate and barely earned ten thousand coins.
That was through estate taxes, the merchant guild they had built, and their noble connections. And here was her son, earning such sums while still in school—it was simply unbelievable.
Kanna threw her arms around Merlin, overwhelmed with pride and affection. “You truly are your mother’s wonderful son. I can’t believe I gave birth to someone so extraordinary!”
Merlin gently pushed his mother away, still awkward from her sudden embrace. “Mother, the tavern’s operations are fine as they are for now. In a few days, I’ll bring several alchemy ovens. That will make grilling much easier, and we could even make lotus-leaf beggar’s chicken with them…”
He looked around at the massive tavern and frowned. “Mother, there’s not even a single server here. How can this work?”
“We were trying to save money, of course,” Kanna admitted, feeling the fatigue in her aching back. Sometimes she had been so busy she even had to summon water elementals to help serve dishes. “But now it seems clear we need to hire some staff.”
“That’s easy. We can recruit part-time students from the Arcane Academy. Many of them are looking for proper work, and as for wages, you don’t have to worry. I’ll take care of it.” Merlin thought about the countless students struggling to find work; giving them a simple part-time job would make them grateful beyond measure.
Of course, the academy wasn’t close—an hour by carriage—but if they could arrange griffin transport, travel time could be reduced to just over ten minutes. Merlin made a mental note: it might be time to expand the griffin delivery service. After all, the Academy’s Beast-Taming Department had plenty of griffins.
“Recruit Arcane Academy students as servers?” Kanna hesitated.
“Merlin, these are elite students. Would they really come to be servers? Isn’t that… a waste of talent?”
“Don’t worry. It’s not a waste. As long as the pay is good, they’ll jump at the chance. You have no idea how undervalued Arcane Academy students are these days.” Merlin thought of the students he employed: countless “hungry” young people eager for even the smallest opportunity to work.
“How high is ‘good pay’?” Kanna asked. She figured if the wages were too high, it might be simpler to keep summoning water elementals, even if it meant she had to work harder herself.
“From my understanding of the academy students, one gold coin a day will find someone willing to work. Two coins a day, and they’ll practically fight for the position. Three coins? They’ll love this job.”
Kanna counted on her fingers. “Thirty, sixty, ninety… isn’t that too much?”
“The tavern’s revenue will only keep growing. This isn’t that much money. Paying high wages ensures the students will work with loyalty and dedication.” Merlin was comparing to wage tiers from other places—3,000, 6,000, 9,000 gold.
“Different positions should have different pay. Grilling masters should earn more. If you want the skewers to taste perfect, I recommend recruiting fire mages—they’re masters of flame control.”
“For cleaning staff, wind and water mages would be ideal. Using magic will make the work easier, and the results will be spotless.”
Other taverns used ordinary workers, but Merlin planned to employ top-tier magic users from the Academy. His offered wages would undoubtedly attract a flood of applications. After all, these students would crawl through muddy ponds for a few silver coins to gather lotus leaves—and then clean them thoroughly.
“All right…” Kanna sighed, realizing that, given how quickly her son earned money, even these wages weren’t unreasonable.
In the Leo family estate, a servant might earn three to five gold coins a month, and a cook around ten. Raising that tenfold was jarring—but knowing the servers would be highly capable students from the Arcane Academy made it far more acceptable.
Merlin also planned to have the tavern collaborate with the Academy’s Beast-Taming Department; sourcing meat from the Academy would be far cheaper than buying externally. And for deliveries, the students themselves could handle it, with griffins ensuring fast transport.