FFF-Tier System, SSS-Rank Wife

I could still remember a day, measly two weeks ago, just a day or two before my summoning.

I stood behind the shop's counter, watching how the customers came and went, pondering over my future.

It wasn't a nice memory. If anything, all I could remember about that day was the existential dread.

Just two weeks ago, I was but a student on a course that was doomed to lead to nothing with the artificial intelligence growing faster with every update to its engines.

A profession doomed by the simple fact the AI could replace juniors… but couldn't really do the same with seniors.

Still, with the market following down the most financially optimal path, all the entry-level jobs were already disappearing from the market while I still had some years to go through to gain enough qualifications to even bother applying for those.

No one cared about the fact that in five, maybe ten years there would be no new seniors to replace those who would retire. No one cared about the AI heading straight for the trap where there would be enough AI-generated content on the internet, there would be no more material for new generations of AI to learn from.

No one cared about the future, everyone only cared about today.

And in that situation, I thought about my own future, an extremely small slice of the reality where I tried to find a way to survive. A way to climb beyond the level of just slaving away for minimum wage that was quickly growing too thin to let me afford bare basics like rent and food.

Back then, I dreamed about making something that I could call my own. A company that would solve a unique niche people didn't realize existed. A company where I would decide between hiring people and putting AI to use. A place where I would be interviewing people for.

That was two weeks ago. And all I thought about back then was nothing more but a pipe dream, an unrealistic delusion of what would happen if I was born with a silver spoon in my mouth.

And now?

In just two weeks, I somehow went from a deadbeat student to a useless summoned hero all the way to a trader of coffee, inventor of charcoal and seller of blueprints, a man who was busy not working but hiring people to do the work for him!

"What are you thinking so hard about?" Selia asked, making use of the short moment between the last batch of adventurers leaving and before the next one would come in.

"How much my life has changed ever since I was brought to this world," I replied without any hesitation or thought about it.

Given my determination to stay as honest as I could with Selia, I didn't really give it much thought. And as a result, I was way too late to bite my tongue when I realized how this admission could make Selia feel.

"Ah!" I called out, turning to the side and reaching out for her shoulders, locking my hands on top of them as I stared right down Selia's eyes. "It's not your fault, I do not blame you, I'm perfectly happy with my life right now…"

"Huh?"

Selia gave me a startled look. Then, she leaned her head over to the left with an adorable, confused look on her face.

"Why would you blame me?"

"Ah…"

Once again, a realization hit me just a little bit too late.

Given how quickly I vanished from the place where I was summoned and how I only spent a short amount of time in the jungle of death before Selia found me, I hardly even recognized that time as something that happened.

In my memory, I was summoned… and then, Selia was there to save me from the beast.

What happened between those two events, I ended up putting aside, not thinking about it, which led to my momentary confusion where I equaled Selia to my summoning, thus, suddenly worrying about what she would think if I complained about me being in this world.

"Right…" I shook my head and rapidly blinked my eyes, trying to push aside the exhaustion behind my confusion.

Just like back on earth, whenever I went to do something, I put all of myself into doing it. And the last three days weren't any different, just like the last two hours of giving adventurers quick interviews and then splitting them into three groups.

And now?

The exhaustion was catching up to me, dulling my brain to the point where I could confuse Selia as someone somewhat responsible for my summoning!

"Yeah, sorry. It seems like I need to get some rest soon," I admitted to my weakened state. Yet, rather than following up my words with some actions, I then pushed my head up, shoulders to the back and face in the direction of the shed's main door. "But not now. Not yet. Not until we are done with this and the next part."

With but a single nod of my head, one of Greg's men waiting on the outside and peeking through a single gap between the boards making up the shed's wall passed the signal over to his companion. And within five seconds, the next batch of adventurers stepped inside, ready to sate their curiosity about what the hell it was that I talked about.

"Welcome and please, take your seats."

The process was exactly the same as with the first batch of adventurers and then every other group that came after them.

Heck, even with Greg's men now properly reinforcing the rule of only letting three people in at a time, I decided to stick to my earlier act and sit on top of the table rather than my own chair, only moving to where I was originally supposed to sit when the time came to finish up the deal.

The whole speech? The benefits? The pay?

It was all the same throughout the day, differing only depending on the class of the adventurers that came in.

Low-level ones could only apply for simple duties and would only be paid twice the standard manual labor rate of the city. The middling adventurers that could keep themselves relatively safe received the very same offer as the first party that came in.

As for the high-ranking adventurers?

Finally, after nearly three hours of interviews, it was the time for me to reveal what I would be willing to pay for them.

"I'm not going to lie," I admitted as I finally moved to the crux of the whole matter, the duties and the pay. "Since I wish to count on you guys to defeat the jungle protector in the future, I'm also willing to invest into your growth. That's why, even though at first you will only have to cope with some local beasts and bandits, I'm willing to pay them a whole gold coin a week. This pay shall increase to three gold coins once the whole thing gains some momentum and finally to eight gold coins a week once you guys are capable of completing the hardest of the tasks."

This pay was…

Well, to call it insane would be the most reasonable thing to do.

From what Selia told me, a high-ranking adventurer could hope to gain between two to six gold coins per trip to the jungle of death.

Not one-day trips, however, but ones that often lasted for an entire week.

A good trip full of bounty and with a relatively small number of monsters to fight would net them six gold coins while unlucky ones could return with only enough loot to exchange it for two gold coins.

With those kinds of prospects in mind, the idea of earning eight gold coins a week regardless of what they managed to hunt or not…

That kind of promise was more than enticing to make them work for but a fraction of their money in the beginning!

As for the validity of my claims?

Normally, just the amount of people I've been actively hiring would give me some credibility. Not a lot… but just enough for some more desperate adventurers to accept the deal.

But I never had to worry about something as silly as credibility when Selia sat right behind me, vouching for my every word with nothing but just her silent presence alone!

"Sir, if I may," one of the adventurers — after getting a nod from his two female companions — raised his hand.

Surprisingly polite behavior for someone who reached the status of a high-ranking adventurer.

"How do you plan for this… enterprise to make money in the first place?" the young man asked with a look of doubt in his eyes mixing with uncertainty whenever he glanced over to where Selia sat in silence. "I understand that this… coffee is valuable, but…" he shook his head, "for it to make enough money just to cover our wages, not to bring up all the other people that you've hired.."

The young man shook his head.

"With all due respect, but I don't believe it's possible. Sure, with Miss Saintess on your side, you could gather those seeds. I'm not trying to claim you cannot grow them in that jungle either, but…"

"It's okay. I can perfectly understand those doubts of yours. So, let me ask you this," I smiled.

Even though this wasn't the kind of pre-planned objection I had back when I presented on a stage but a genuine worry of a person legitimately interested in my offer, I could only feel relief.

Because I was fully aware of just how ridiculous my proposals sounded.

The amount of money I offered simply didn't match the difficulty of the job nor the profits this job could generate.

Or so they thought.

"Tell me, if you were suddenly summoned to another world where there was no booze and no meat," I leaned my head over my shoulder, "a world where you gain immense power and only need a few months to reach a point where you no longer need to concern yourself with money…"

A look of understanding appeared on the young adventurer's face even before I could finish my explanation.

And seeing how he was smart enough to calculate everything in his head, it was no surprise he could figure out where I was going with my explanation even before I finished it.

Still, I had no plans of leaving him hanging. After all, even if my explanation was no longer necessary for the man, I could still see confusion lingering in the eyes of his harem… I mean, his two lovely, female companions.

"In that set of circumstances, how much would you be willing to pay for a taste of booze and meat, tastes you gave up on thinking you would never be able to procure them again?"

I jumped off the edge of my table before resting my hands down on my hips.

"And what if the world you were summoned into was full of people just like you, powerful, rich and yet, with their tastes unfulfilled?"

Still.

Even with my explanation making all the sense in the world, there was one more question.

A question the young adventurer didn't dare to ask.

Contrary to all the adventurers that I've interviewed before, however, he was the first to have the qualifications to actually ask it.

Which is why, rather than going on another elaborative rant, I merely nodded my head.

"That's right," I smiled as I stared right into the young man's eyes. "If you are thinking what I think you do, then that's how I know and that's how I got my hands on the first seed."