Helping with Adventurer Party Management - Chapter 404

First, I decided to hear out the three people standing before me.

“Can I ask which workshop you’re currently working at?”

The three applicants looked uncomfortable and stayed silent for a while, staring at the ground—until one of them finally spoke, as if he’d made up his mind.

“Well… I don’t mind telling you the name of my workshop if I get hired, but I haven’t told my boss yet. So I’d appreciate it if you didn’t ask for now.”

“What’s that supposed to mean?” I asked in surprise.

Shion, who had been eating breakfast with me, leaned over and whispered, “My lord Governor, the world of shoemaking is based on a strict apprenticeship system. Unlike us third- or fourth-generation craftsmen who had no hope of taking over a workshop, a craftsman in line to inherit the workshop leaving would be a serious blow to the master. It must have taken a lot for him to come here. He’s probably a highly skilled artisan.”

I see.

I see. Up until now, we’d mostly recruited craftsmen who had been pushed out of their previous workshops. But now that the company had gained fame, skilled workers were seeking us out.

“I understand. Let’s not ask about your workshop for now. So, why do you want to work for our company?”

I needed to hear their motivation. If they already had a future path in their current workshop, wouldn’t it be better to stay?

“Those shoes! When I saw the shoes that adventurer was wearing, I wanted to use my own skills to make even better ones!” one of them said.

“Plus, I heard this workshop makes shoes for the Cardinal. Making shoes for townsfolk is fine, but I want to make shoes for nobles! I want to hone my skills even more!”

Ah, so that’s how we’re being viewed now.

Normally, shoes for the Cardinal would be made by top-tier artisans at long-established workshops trusted by noble families.

In fact, this town hasn’t had a workshop capable of that for over eighty years.

But I understand the thinking. Being able to make items for nobles is seen as proof that your skills are top-class.

The last one said, “I thought this was the only workshop where ordinary citizens like us could make shoes for the Cardinal.”

That’s true. To be hired at a top-tier workshop like Kwan’s, you’d usually need to be born in a second-class district or higher.

Many of their customers are nobles, so the artisans interacting with them must have the right background and sensibilities.

Birth and education can be cruel barriers. In the end, becoming a top-class artisan requires not just skill but also an artistic sense—or rather, an instinct for what aristocrats like.

Craftsmen from third-tier districts, with limited educational opportunities, rarely get to see the kinds of high-quality products that help develop that instinct.

To sum it up, they want to come to our company because they want to make better things.

That’s a commendable attitude for a craftsman. Curiosity often translates directly into skill. I’m sure their craftsmanship is solid.

But is it really okay to hire them?

They’re clearly a different kind of talent than the people we’ve taken in so far.

Still, it would be a shame to let them go.

In the end, I simply said, “I haven’t made up my mind yet. Please come back in three days,”