Ryouma came up with this system by referencing the system in his past life that used different colored plates to calculate the income for the day. It’s the system used by conveyor belt sushi. Of course, the system Ryouma came up with is still in its experimental stage, but in this world that did not have cash registers, that was more than enough to pique the curiosity of the merchants.
Unlike present day Japan that Ryouma came from. Here, the literacy rate is low and there are plenty of people who are poor at even the four basic arithmetic operations. And this system was especially suitable to be deployed in the countryside, as using the system only required one to accept the right payment and then follow the rest of the memorized procedure.
Depending on the time and place, with this system even people who can’t do math could become an asset. The gradation could also be changed to suit other businesses. With their sharp insight, the five merchants immediately realized these things, but Ryouma was completely oblivious to them as he continued to talk to Wogan and the others.
“After paying your bagged laundry will be received and these tokens under the counter will be attached to the string tying the bag closed. A similar token will be given to the customer. Once, the laundry has been washed, it will be returned to the customer after confirming that the tokens are the same.” [Ryouma]
After Ryouma explained how the tokens would prevent mixing up people’s laundry, he then threw luggage into a hole plastered onto a wall that resembled a dust chute.
“On the other side is the room that the cleaner slimes are… Ah, by the way, cleaner slimes are…” [Ryouma]
“A slime that eats filth. We heard from Serge-sama.” [Carm]
“Thank you, Carm-san. Do you two have any questions?” [Ryouma]
“About that new slime variant… Can it really clean stuff?” [Carm]
Carm immediately asked that question. His older sister, Carla, seemed like she also wanted to ask the same question, as she opened her mouth but immediately closed it when her younger brother spoke first.
“It’s probably hard to believe without seeing it for yourself… In that case, can I ask if anyone among the customers is willing to volunteer their laundry for a trial run?” [Ryouma]
“You can use mine.” [Jeff]
Jeff threw his bagged laundry over. Ryouma took it, and after showing to the twins that the clothes were indeed dirty, he threw it into the chute.
“I’ve already ordered the slimes to clean anything thrown into this chute and to bring them to the next room afterward, so everything is already automated. All that’s left is to retrieve the clothes from there, confirm the customer they belong to and return them. This is how this store operates.” [Ryouma]
In order to reduce the risk of clothes going missing and to allow the employees to focus on their job receiving the customers, we won’t be opening the laundry bags to fold them.
After giving a short explanation in a matter of seconds, Ryouma went inside and picked up the laundry. When Ryouma revealed the clothes inside, all the filth was gone.
“Wow, it really worked… Can the slimes clean anything?” [Carm]
“So far, yes, but just to be safe it would be best to check if the clothes are really clean. If they’re still dirty, you can just run them through the slimes a second time.” [Ryouma]
“Will dyed products be okay? They won’t discolor?” [Carla]
“I’ve tested cloths and clothes dyed in plant juice many times, but so far I haven’t seen any cases of discoloration. If there are any, it must be because of some other reason… You should inform the customers of this beforehand just to be safe. Is there anything else regarding the store’s operation that you would like to know?” [Ryouma]
“None.” [Carla and Carm]
“I see. In that case, how about we split the work and tend to the customers?” [Ryouma]
As Ryouma said that, he urged Carm and Carla to go to the counter. After that they took the laundry of the remaining 9 people. Ryouma watched Carm and Carla from the side, and when he saw that they were able to safely complete the job, he heaved a sigh of relief. As long as they can get the work done, then that’s enough. As for being tense, well, they’ll loosen up over time.
On this day, Ryouma took the first step of being comrades in work with these twins.
There’s a bit of misunderstanding left, though…