30 New roles (1)

"…Ms. Elise, Ms. Lisa, please don't go home yet, I need to talk to you both" told Alfraed with brooding expression as his employees finished their share of work for today.

Sensing how restless their employer was, the two obediently stayed. Emma and Evan, who always accompanied their mother to work happily returned upstairs to continue reading story books bought by Alfraed. They guessed that the talk among the three adults would take time.

Then, Alfraed explained in two days, in Day of Woden, the renovation of the store should be completed, and they would have bigger space for activities. At that same day, new workers, consisted of twelve preparers and six potion-makers, would come to work.

Elise and Lisa nodded, signaling they understood the situation.

"So… I can't have you work anymore"

Out of the blue, Alfraed made a shocking declaration.

"B-boss?! Why?! Did we do something wrong???"

"Boss Alf, if there was a mistake in our work please let us know. I assure you, we won't repeat it next time"

Lisa and Elise were of course deeply staggered by what he said, and soon asked for confirmation in a panic state of mind, as well as intensely pleaded to not be dismissed by him.

"…No, no, wait, wait, sorry, I had lots in my mind that it came out wrong. I need you both! I'm not firing anyone! Please, calm down! … What I meant, I can't let the two of you work as mere preparers anymore…"

Seeing their flustered reaction, Alfraed realized he had failed to communicate what he wanted to say to them, and immediately corrected himself to calm his clinging employees.

"…Boss, that's a relief…" uttered Lisa, tears welled up in her eyes and threatened to fall, she also just realized how her legs trembled like battered cookies due to the misinformation earlier.

It had only been less than two weeks, but Lisa knew she enjoyed working here. The received pay was in good amount, and a nice lunch was provided. More importantly, the supervisor was a good person. This combination was hard to come by in other workplace, especially in her previous job.

Just remembering it made her mood dropped to the lowest point possible.

"…Boss Alf, excuse me, what do you mean not working as preparers anymore, were we unsatisfactory in our job…?" regardless of what Alfraed said, Elise still unable to shake off her remaining worry, and voiced her concern directly to him.

"…Both of you are good preparers, I guarantee it, and capable of working without me around, I have no complain with your work results. It's just…"

The numbers of prepares and potion-makers he hired ought to be enough to handle existing and additional orders to some extent for the time being. As such, what he needed now was people in charge of managing them, and the store.

Every week Alfraed himself had to focus on gathering materials in distant places for Greater and Perfect Grade potions, the store's current main attraction and profit contributor. Sadly, there was no one but him who could perform the task, leaving him unable to manage the store.

"So…"

Elise seemed to catch on what Alfraed was implying. But, would not dare to say it herself, and instead asked Alfraed to summarize his thought…

"…So, I need you two to manage them all for me… From now on, Ms. Elise and Ms. Lisa no longer be preparers, but Store Manager and Team Leader, respectively." emphasized Alfraed.

Alfraed knew this was a sudden change to all of them, but it was a necessary adjustment to cope with the growing business situation.

"M-me? Team Leader?" asked Lisa while pointing at herself in disbelief.

"Boss Alf, Store Manager? Me?" the usually composed Elise also had similar reaction to her more expressive friend.

Alfraed added the only reason he chose Elise as the manager solely because she could already conduct calculations and negotiations properly. In this occasion, he also pointed out that Lisa must attend a study session prepared by him, along with the twins, after finishing her work in the Day of Saturn to learn business arithmetic, the thing she currently lack.

Personally, Alfraed predicted Lisa would not need many sessions until she was capable at it.

"…I want to share something, my goal is to develop Herbs & Lotions to become a well-known company throughout the continent…To do that, opening new branches is inevitable. When the time comes, no, I'll give my best to make sure it comes, I prefer to assign my early employees as Store Managers" told Alfraed while casting meaningful glance toward Lisa.

Alfraed later stated that as Team Leader Lisa's new responsibility was to manage the preparers to be able to meet production target, and ensuring availability of materials at all time.

"Boss…I'll do it boss! I'll help in anyway I can!"

On the other hand, for Elise, as a Store Manager, her task was to make certain the store ran properly, starting from overseeing all employees, negotiate with suppliers, as well as dealing with buyers. Basically, when Alfraed was not present, she made all the decisions.

"I understand, like Lisa, I won't let you down"

"…Thank you, both of you. I'm grateful to have partners like you two… Now, for your new salary…"

""…Eh…?""

The ladies stiffened, and it took some time until they could processed what Alfraed just said.

"…Why the surprise? I'm giving you tougher job descriptions, so it's only right for me to adjust your remuneration…" told Alfraed playfully, and added "It won't be fair if I didn't" at the end of his sentence.

As he said that, money talk should be private and confidential. As such, Alfraed asked Elise to temporarily leave the storage room, and began the talk with Lisa.

"…Ms. Lisa, I'm fully aware this is rushing, but please treat your new position as a chance for learning. I'm also learning… So, are you happy working here?"

"I'm happy boss! That's why I was devastated when you said we can't work anymore, I was like 'Oh Lord" confessed Lisa to Alfraed with teary eyes.

"I'm terribly sorry about that…" cringed Alfraed at his poor choices of words.