Atago's mood wasn't any better the following morning.
"What did you do to piss her off?" Iger whispered to Winter. The two were walking ahead of Atago who kept a consistent distance behind them. Iger could feel the tumultuous atmosphere around Atago when he arrived at his home the previous night. Atago glared at Winter the entire night and didn't sleep at all.
Somehow, she didn't look tired after staying up the whole night.
"I said something she didn't like."
"What was it?"
"It was about work. I said we needed money." Winter didn't go further. Knowing Atago, the shipgirl would have her senses trained on his conversation with Iger. Anything he said would just fuel the cruiser's angry mood. He was too young to die, so he preferred to play things safe.
"You'll have to explain more than that if you want my help."
"I'm afraid she'll kill me if I do." Winter could feel her sharp glare on his back. He was tiptoeing on the edge of surviving the following night alive. Atago didn't need sleep. He did. If he continued pushing the wrong buttons, he might just see heaven the next day. Or hell.
"I doubt that. Friends don't do that."
Friends? They were acquaintances at best. Sure, Atago had been on a few missions that Winter was in charge of, but outside of that there hadn't been much interactions between them. The past few days in the forest had been more interaction than they've ever had.
"Right, still we need to earn money. Do you know any jobs we can take in the village?" Winter diverted the topic away from his doom. Maybe Iger could give them some suggestions.
"There's always work to do if you look around. Since you're a stranger, guardian roles and other intimate duties are off limits for obvious reasons. The villagers won't trust you watching out for them. You can instead accompany the woodcutter and cut wood out in the forest. We always need more of those. You can even do a little work for the farms. Tend to the crops, feed livestock, carry stuff around."
"You have farms? I didn't see any." As far as Winter saw, the village was surrounded on all sides by the forest. He hadn't seen any farms within the village proper. Small gardens, but nothing big enough to support two homes.
"It's three hours away on foot. You just missed the morning cart that brings our farmers there. We have a shared farm with two other villages in the area. They work together to grow wheat. It's how we have bread all year round."
That was actually a smart idea, Winter thought. Multiple villages working together to ensure a stable production of food like bread for all seasons. Since there didn't seem to be a winter season judging from the thin material on most buildings, then they could farm throughout the entire year.
"I think I'll ask the pub owner if he's looking for help first. I'm not cut out for manual labor." Winter would do a bad job because he didn't know anything. Even worse, he'd get tired quickly. He would preferably stick to easier jobs.
"Aye, that could work. Neena could always get someone to serve the food instead of her. Everyone who can't cook always eats at her pub." Iger rubbed his chin in thought.
"Miss Neena is the owner of the pub?" Winter clarified. Iger nodded as they arrived at the pub for their breakfast.
Breakfast was quick with little to trouble them. There were less people inside, but a fair number of them were yesterday's customers who saw Atago's scene the previous night. This time, it was a little more bearable for the shipgirl with less attention on her.
"I'll go ask the owner if she has some work." Winter stood up after finishing his breakfast. Atago narrowed her eyes at him slightly. "What? I'm the one who'll do the job. You didn't like the idea. Maybe we can find something better for you later."
"Nggh- fine." Atago turned away to look out the window.
Winter left the table and approached the pub's counter. Last night's chaos prevented him from giving the person at the counter any attention the previous night, but the lady manning it younger than he did. Talking was one thing, but doing it was another. Suddenly, Winter didn't feel so confident. What was he going to do? Advertise himself? He recollected himself before speaking.
"Miss Neena?"
The girl shook her head. "Neena is my mom. She's at the kitchen." She turned around and called for her mother through the doorway behind the counter. "Ma! Someone's asking for you!"
A woman old enough to be Winter's mother popped her head out. "Yes dear? Who is it?"
The girl jerked her thumb in his direction. Winter waved, unsure how to present himself. His experience was reporting to superiors in the officer academy. Never had he ever tried to apply for work outside of the military.
"What is it? I'm cooking." The woman looked annoyed to be disturbed.
"Uhh- do you have any jobs?" Winter felt like dying inside. He felt like running away. This wasn't his specialty.
"No." Just like that, the woman was gone. Winter blinked at the empty space and looked to the girl manning the counter who shrugged.
Suddenly Winter had an idea.
"What if I can get help?"
The girl at the counter looked at him disinterestedly. "Ma just told you no."
"Not me." Winter quietly used his eyes to signal in Atago's direction. The young girl caught it and slowly looked in the direction of Iger's table. Winter could see that Atago was tracking his progress. He wasn't the only one. The girl eeped and was noticed by the young girl whose eyes widened.
"Really?!" She gasped.
"I'm trying to convince her that it's not a bad job while we're stuck here." Not that they had any further plans. Winter and Atago were still coming to terms with the possibility of being in a new world. Everything so far pointed to that idea, even when they considered it a bit too far-fetched. It was like something out of a story you read online. Now, they were likely to be stuck in one.
"Wait a moment!" The girl ducked into the kitchen. Winter heard some conversation before she returned with the owner earlier.
"So…?" The woman raised an eyebrow at him. When Winter blinked blankly, the mother scowled. "You were mentioning your friend?"
"I need to convince my friend-" Technically. "-that working here is good." The commander immediately jumped at the opportunity. It wasn't the same wording he used for the daughter, but it was close enough that she wouldn't notice.
"Ma! Look at her!" The younger girl squealed excitedly. "Pleaseee?"
Neena took a long look at Atago. The fox looked back with a little apprehension with the sudden interest on her.
"More people will come here if they learn that she works here." Winter lightly pushed the idea.
"How will you convince her to work then?" The woman grumbled.
Winter saw that her interest was caught and continued his plan. It was devious to use Atago like a resource, but Winter didn't have much skills outside of planning. So he went with what he knew and used her as bait.
The enemy? Customers.
Nothing like a little adaptation of military strategy.
"That's my problem. She's perfect for being the barmaid- literally draws customers in." Winter lied for his own sake. If there's one thing he knew, it was that beauty does a lot of the carrying for first impressions. Atago's attitude wasn't bad either, it was within the realm of friendly-within-reach type if anyone talked to her. It was a trap he and several other officers fell into, and he was damned well going to use it to his advantage. "But she thinks I'm just using her to catfish people. I need to prove that it would work without relying on her looks."
The owner looked at Winter like he was an idiot. "Her looks would be the first thing they all notice."
"Just showing up here is enough for them to visit more."
Neena rolled the idea in her head a few times before settling on a compromise.
"Pay with food right? Make it work and I'll pay you with money too."
That's all Winter needed to get the ball rolling.
.
.
.
The service business wasn't for him.
"This order was for him!" Reena- apparently the daughter's name didn't stray far from her mother- hissed when Winter came back after mixing up the order for another customer.
Mentally keeping track of each person's order was difficult, even more so when there was no paper to work with. Paper was too important and expensive for such a small task in this era.
"Sorry- give me the right one!" Winter was panicking. Even with just a small village, the number of people filtering in at sunset was more than expected. It was saddening that Reena had to step in and help once it was clear he was overwhelmed.
"You're horrible at this." The owner's daughter rubbed her face after seeing him stumble around.
"You look like you're having a lot of fun."
The girl perked up when another's voice joined them.
"Ha ha- laugh it up." Winter grumbled when Atago popped up near them. Iger had left some time after breakfast but mentioned that he would return for dinner. The cruiser's mood brightened up considerably throughout the day. By dinner time, her mood was good enough to enjoy the little show of her commander running around.
"You wanted me to take this job right? Having second thoughts?" Atago poked fun while Winter took a short break. Everyone's orders had been served so he had a small period to rest before another customer entered.
"It's my first time doing something like this okay. Cut me some slack. I'm learning."
Some eyes watched their interaction, but it was a lot less compared to the previous night. As it turns out, hunger was a great distraction for the people. While Winter was running around, Atago noticed that there was less attention on her.
"How much is Winter getting paid for this?" Reena blinked when Atago shot her a question.
"…just food for now." She meekly answered, suddenly shy at the attention of the beautiful shipgirl.
"And how much work to get some money?"
Winter felt the floor drop below him. He hadn't planned how to explain the situation to Atago. His entire plan hinged on using Atago's growing popularity to get more customers, something which he was sure the cruiser would be against.
"Enough for two of you, but money depends on how many customers can be pulled in." Reena continued without missing a beat.
Atago blinked before slowly inching to face her admiral.
"I have a plan."
She didn't look impressed.
"Then you wouldn't mind explaining right?" The Japanese cruiser slowly smiled.
Winter shamelessly stared back.
"I'll start a fan club."
"What's a fan club?" Reena asked cluelessly.
"You…" Atago continued to smile, but the atmosphere around her darkened. "Are you trying to die Shi- Ki- Kan-?" All of her ire was focused on Winter, so none of the guests felt the dangerous mood Atago was exuding.
"I don't have any other idea how to increase sales on my own. I needed to use something." Winter admitted. "You don't have to do much but show up here for people to come."
"So it's just me again." Said shipgirl grumbled.
"Unless you have another idea, then I'll stick with mine." Winter crossed his hands. "I'm just trying my best here."
Atago pouted. She really couldn't argue against that logic.
"Cute."
"She's adorable."
"That lucky bastard-"
Then was promptly reminded about their spectators.
"Maybe you're right, I should look for a job." An idea popped into her head.
She needed to find Iger.