I ate with Zeff-san and Camil-san for lunch, then we went our way to meet someone. The place we headed to was a lawless area where even more miserable shacks and temporary housing could be seen.
âThis place sure is a lot worse off than the others.â [Zeff]
âI heard we need to meet someone influential in order to build the garbage processing plant. What kind of person will we be meeting?â [Camil]
âPopularly known as âTrash Hagâ⊠Sheâs been making a living for the past few decades picking trash in Gimuru, so if you need to talk about garbage, then sheâs the person youâre looking for. Sheâs also well acquainted with the children and the garbage collectors. Sheâs quite prideful about garbage collection, however, so she can be a bit moody. I met her recently too, andâŠâ [Ryouma]
âIf it isnât the rich boy.â [Trash Hag]
We turned to the voice that suddenly called out, and speak of the devil, the garbage grandmother was right there, carrying a jute bag over her bent back.
âAh, good afternoon, Garbage Grandmother. Are you on the way back home from work?â [Ryouma]
âThere was still some time until our appointment, so I was taking a walk. I canât believe youâd actually go all the way out here just to meet an eccentric old grandma like me.â [Trash Hag]
âAs Iâve mentioned last time, itâs a huge help to have the advice of a specialist when entering a new industry.â [Ryouma]
âAre those two behind you related to your business as well?â [Trash Hag]
Right, I should introduce them.
âTheyâre Camil-san and Zeff-san. Theyâre helping me with my work.â [Ryouma]
âItâs a pleasure to meet you.â [Camil]
âA pleasure to make your acquaintance, maâam.â [Zeff]
âA pleasure indeed. Feel free to call me Trash Hag. Everyone around here calls me that.â [Trash Hag]
When she told them that, they visibly became troubled.
For normal people with some degree of propriety, calling an elderly person they are meeting for the first time âTrash Hagâ would certainly make them hesitate. I understand exactly how they feel, unfortunatelyâŠ
âShe refuses to say her name no matter how much I asked. As such, Iâve taken to calling her Garbage Grandmotheră»ă» instead.â [Ryouma]
âI see. In that case, weâll refer to you as Garbage Grandmother too then.â [Zeff]
Like that we concluded our conversation there and moved to her house.
In order to build a garbage processing plant, we would be needing the help of garbage collectors. What point was there in having a garbage processing plant if there was no one to bring the garbage to it? Hence, another problem was negotiating with the people currently working as garbage collectors. After all, we will essentially end up becoming enemies with them since we will be contesting their livelihood.
Iâve considered hiring them, but I doubt all of them would respond positively, and sudden changes do make it more likely for sparks to flare up. Because of that Iâve decided that my garbage processing plant and garbage collectors will only target the places that the slum people find difficult to reach.
In the future, I do intend for my garbage processing plant to cover the whole town, but for now, it would be best not to get in each otherâs way and slowly build trust.
As suchâŠ
âWhat kind of places would allow us to avoid the current garbage collectors?â [Ryouma]
âHmm⊠For starters, the western side of town, the Craftsman District, is definitely out of reach for us. Amateurs have no business fiddling with the work of craftsmen, and some knowledge is needed in order to properly handle the chemicals they use. Because of that the craftsmen take responsibility for their own garbage and have arrangements already made to deal with them.â [Trash Hag]
In other words, industrial waste. Itâs probably fine, but I better make sure beforehand that we can dispose of them properly and have a safe way to transport them.
âThe adults also donât frequent the eastern side of town, the residential district. Those parts are under the jurisdiction of their association, and matters regarding garbage are handled by them. Itâs a rule of ours not to poke our nose there. People donât like seeing poor people like us as is. If we start causing trouble just to gather garbage, our standing will get even worse. If itâs just enduring some bad looks, the small children can go, but at most, all they can get are the small garbage on the wayside. Theyâre not allowed to get the garbage gathered by the association. Thatâs a taboo.â [Trash Hag]
I seeâŠ
âThe people here often frequent the Business District to the south. That district has plenty of inns and restaurants, so garbage is easy to come by. The store people would throw their garbage at one of the designated places, and we would come to pick those up. Lately, there have been people who would go to the store directly and wait with their cart at the back. Itâs quite a hassle, really. If theyâd just asked like you, I would have happily told them, but because of them even weâre getting caught in their mess.â [Trash Hag]
The slum people follow their rules to avoid being a nuisance to the town people as much as possible. They didnât ask for it, but I might as well do them some good and leak word of that through the merchant guild.
After getting some information from the expert, Garbage Grandmother, I promised to drop by again, and then went back to my store to deal with some documents. There wasnât much work to do at the store since Iâm at Gimuru, so thereâs no room for them to pile up, and on top of that, Carm-san is also working hard. Because of that most of my job at the store is merely to drop by, check the documents, and sign them. Frankly, itâs so easy it might as well be break time for me.
In my spare time, I got some secondhand clothes for the kids, as well as some clothes that might fit the goblins. I also spoke with the employees who were in their break time. After some rest, evening came, and it was time for me to do my last job for the day.
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