I Said Make My Abilities Average! Chapter 5—I Am a Normal Girl I
Adele skipped dinner to learn more of this world. Since she is used to missing meals, it wasn’t a problem. More importantly, though, is what’s to come.
Adele, as of current, is poor as a church mouse. Her father did not allow her to bring anything. Her tuition was paid for in full, as well as breakfast, lunch, and dinner. Food would not be a concern, if she ate on campus every meal. On the other hand, she can’t afford snacks, let alone eating out. Adele could afford not a single thing. Not clothes, underwear, nor soap. Not even a notebook, a pen, or ink. … there is no way she can go on like this.
Honestly, what were my dad and stepmother thinking? While thinking that, Adele decided to visit the housemaster first thing in the morning and crawled into bed. Since there wasn’t anything else to do anyway. Falling asleep, thoughts crossed her mind: I’m going to live my life as a normal person this time. People always see me as special, always having too high of expectations for me. I’m sick of it all. I’ll be the same as everyone else, at equal status, and speaking as equals. And then—and then, it would be nice if I could make friends…
“Please give me a job!” “What’s that all of a sudden in the morning… Well, no, you’re right. I did say to come to me for work, but on the first day, eh?” “Currently, the money I possess is zero and I have but two pairs of underwear left. The exam is tomorrow, so if I don’t go out and make some money today, the next chance I would have to do so is on the weekend. And that would make things really tough for me…” The dorm mother pressed at her temple and grimaced.
“… work experience so far?” “None.” Adele doesn’t even have any part-time experience, and that is with her previous life included. “Follow me.”
Adele was brought to a bakery by the housemother. “Hello, Aaron. I have brought along with me a potential salesclerk, but what do you think?”
The housemaster explained the situation to the owner of the bakery. She explained everything truthfully and frankly—things like that how Adele is penniless, how she only wanted to work on her days off, how she had zero working experience.
“Nah, can’t go wrong with your referrals,” Said the owner, and then explained to Adele,
“We here have the important task of making the bread that goes on everybody’s table. That’s why we ain’t got the time to take a single day off. With that said, though, we ain’t exactly happy ‘bout it. So that’s why we were thinkin’ of baking only ‘til noon once a week. That way we get half a day off. Normally, we make once in the mornin’ and once after noon. So that’s why we were lookin’ for someone to be our store clerk once a week for us. Whaddya think? If you’re okay with it, why don’t you try working here? If something doesn’t work out later on, you can always quit there and then.”
For Adele, this was the ideal job. Remembering the price of bread wouldn’t even be a challenge to a 10 year-old girl. Plus, the selection here isn’t too different than a bakery in Japan. But even if there were a lot of variety, it wouldn’t take long for Adele to remember it all.
“I'll take it!”
With this, it seemed like she could live a normal school life.
In this world, there are six days in one week and six weeks in one month. Since there are 36 days in one month, there are 10 months in one year—360 days in one year. As well, there are the two days of “grief and thanksgiving for the passing year”, one day of “changing of the years”, and another two days of “welcoming and celebrating the new year”. With those five days included, 365 days in one year. It is convenient this way as weeks and months were easily divisible. And on one of those six days per week, it is a day of rest for society, with the academy included. It is on that day that Adele will work at the bakery.
Though Adele will have no rest days, it can’t be helped. However, as it is a school for children 10 to 13 years old, school wouldn’t be that tiring and there would not be homework either. There probably are people who would go back to their dorm to study on their own time, but for Adele, that wouldn’t be necessary.
It wasn’t the weekend today, but afraid of being of being thrown into the real deal on her first shift, Adele was left behind for training while the dorm mother returned.
Adele’s on-the-job training went well. In her previous life, Misato didn’t socialize much, if at all. It wasn’t because she was bad with people, but because “nobody would go out with Misato”. It was not the case that she wanted to be alone. And because Adele has Misato’s memories and the knowledge of Japanese customer service, playing the role of a young shopkeeper was simple and her customer service was extraordinarily good. In the evening, Adele went back to her dormitory. In her hand tightly gripped was two silver pieces.
This money is the first I’ve earned all by myself! Money that I can use however I want!!
Adele was on cloud nine. However, at that moment came suddenly a sense of anxiety.
Oh, no. What if I dropped this? What if it’s stolen from me? What if I get mugged?
It was extremely unlikely that there would be a mugger targeting 10-year-old girls, but Adele couldn’t help but worry. A reason probably why was that a part of her was still thinking that she is 18-years-old.
That’s right! The magic item box!
If she puts the money in the item box, neither would she lose it nor would it be stolen. Adele was grinning from this brilliant idea of hers and chanted the spell in her head.
The silver pieces that were once in her palm disappeared. Next, she tries withdrawing it. The tactile sensation returns to her hand. She immediately stores her money back into the item box. She was pleased by the success but suddenly comes to a realization and her face turns a little pale.
What if the magic item box had failed on me? My hard-earned money would have vanished! I totally should have tried it out with a rock or something first! Adele, you idiot…
Well, everything turned out all right so it was nothing to fret over. But she’ll be more careful next time, Adele reflected, and headed back home to her dormitory.
Incidentally, to think of it in terms of Japanese yen, one bronze piece would be 10 yen; one small silver piece would be 100 yen; one silver piece would be 1,000 yen; one small gold piece would be 10,000 yen; and one gold piece would be 100,000 yen. Compared to Japan, produce is cheap, meat and luxury goods are more expensive, while tools and jewelry are ridiculously expensive. Though it would be meaningless to simply convert the numbers, they would be appropriate values from the point of view of an average person.
A normal worker with a family would earn about three gold pieces in a month. Since there are 30 working days in a month, it would be equivalent to earning 10,000 yen per day. In comparison, Adele earns two pieces of silver in a day, equivalent to 2,000 yen and an hourly wage of 250 yen—sufficient for a child tending a store. Extrapolating to 12 silver in a month—equivalent to 12,000 yen—would be plenty to buy necessities. Though it is nowhere enough to buy her own clothes, Adele could just stick to wearing her uniform. In order to maintain a sense of dignity, the school will also repair any damage or exchange ill-fitting uniforms, free of charge. Not that it costs nothing, but that it is prepaid through the tuition fees. Undergarments are at Adele’s own expense. Fortunately, a brassiere would be unnecessary for her, making it more economical. Not that Adele finds the fact fortunate though. In any case, Adele is able to escape free from the danger of not having any money.
From now on, on the days Adele works, the master of the bakery will come in before day breaks. He will start making bread for people from the neighborhood, coming for his freshly-baked bread for breakfast. Any workers who still have to work on the weekend will come in to buy bread for their lunches. The master will keep on making and baking until afternoon, when Adele comes in to tend the store. Then he can have his half day of rest and take his family out somewhere. The master is able to escape free from both the dangers of overworking himself and the discontent of his wife.
Previously: /ch001/ /ch002/ /ch003/ /ch004/ /ch005/ (full list of translated chapters)
