Chapter 55

**Elma and a New Seek of Freedom** is the fifty-fifth chapter of *Kobayashi-san Chi no Maid Dragon*.

## Plot

Elma demands new working conditions, though Kobayashi thinks she's hungry. Elma knows the company is violating the Labor Standard Act though Kobayashi knows that already as they can't accommodate any changes but things have been improving. Elma ignores her and decides to take matters in her own hand and drafts a proposal. Kobayashi reviews it and starts laughing, getting Elma angry, as she sees a recruiting page as they already recruiting but nobody is applying as their programming language is very hard. If they were to hire new people they would have to teach them quickly, which they can't. Elma thinks they can learn right away, but Kobayashi tells her they can't all be like her and tells her to revise the proposal. The next day, Elma finishes her new proposal, which Kobayashi approves, and submits it to the manager. She learns later that they turned it down, getting lectured about costs and quotas, as they keep the staff lean, and wishes he stopped talking in rhyme. Takiya thinks that the proposal is beyond the pay grade, and Elma explains they have meet certain sales goals set by the bank. Kobayashi knows their loans could get cut off even if they do share the name with a bigger company and Takiya also knows that a member of the family bought their company, the daughter of the boss who is in high school, and Kobayashi thinks they thinks of them as fast food. Kobayashi tells Elma she'll give up from trying to solve company problems so Elma accepts it and goes back to work and join them. The next day, Elma revised her proposal and Kobayashi is surprised Elma was able to finish so fast. Kobayashi sees that Elma tries to optimize, which would be normal, but asks how does she have a detailed grasp of company schedule which Elma answers she used clairvoyance, a multi-display that shows a thousand views at once. Kobayashi thinks its cool, though it makes Elma sound like a PC and Takiya thinks Elma has high-spec GPU. Elma goes to submit her work, and Takiya thinks it might work, getting his hopes up for Premium Fridays but Kobayashi doesn't feel right working less than eight hours. Elma got called to the executive's office along with Kobayashi and Takiya and Kobayashi thinks they will get fired, though Elma knows that will be wrongful termination. Mr. Magatsuchi thanks them for taking care of Shouta and Kobayashi recognizes him as a famous sorcerer. Elma asks him if he looked at her proposal, and Mr. Magatsuchi commends the proposal calling Elma the Saint of the Sea, which surprises Kobayashi. They ask why are thy there, and Mr. Magatsuchi mentions how Shouta summoned a god, and since they know her and her friends, he wanted to meet them. Kobayashi asks if Lucoa is a bad influence on his son, but Mr. Magatsuchi says its family policy that on must deal with their summons themselves so Lucoa might be able to teach him a few things, but Kobayashi thinks Lucoa can give Shouta diseases instead. Mr. Magatsuchi changes the subject back to work, and later they all leave saying it made sense that it wasn't going to work as they would have to give benefits to other members of the company as well but showed them a list of for multi-step improvement and they've gone home earlier which is an improvement. Elma thinks its not good enough as they must increase the number of days off an will not rest until it happens. This surprises them as Mr. Magatsuchi gave Elma Godiva but Elma counters saying it is high in antioxidants, which isn't relevant to their point. Elma refused to give up and created a labor union, handing out flyers and creating meetings and that Tohru came to help as well, which surprised Kobayashi; Tohru's reasoning being that if they succeed Kobayashi could come early. Elma and Torhu made a truce to work together for the greater good, making it seem that the reforms would be possible but Director Magatsuchi was cunning as he parried every move with logic and sophistry. Elma gets mad when it doesn't matter, as she wanted to line up for the limited-edition cake from the bakery by the station, which makes the truth come out. It is later revealed that the labor union only lasted once.

## Characters

* Kobayashi
* Elma
* Makoto Takiya
* Tohru
* Mr. Magatsuchi (Debut)

## Trivia

* It is hinted that Haru Jigokumeguri, a character from one of Coolkyou Shinja's mangas, Ojojojo, is the president of the company Kobayashi works at.