Continental Courier Service

Once Carolyn stopped crying, Margaret told her to visit the location on the note before noon and then went about her business. Almost as if to switch places with her, Mila returned with her breakfast order. Carolyn was sure that were traces of makeup bleeding on her face, but Mila didn't say a word about it.

"You're both, really so kind."

"I don't know what you're talking about. Just focus on eating. You have an appointment, don't you?"

"You're right, I do."

Carolyn felt sorry that she wouldn't be able to complete Benedict's task and obtain the map he promised as a reward, but she was even more determined not to betray Margaret's trust in her. While appreciating the taste of the food, Carolyn finished breakfast and then returned to her room to get ready for the job appointment. She didn't pack any fancy clothes, but she wanted to give a good first impression, so she chose her best plain skirt and blouse. Once she changed clothes and reapplied her makeup, Carolyn grabbed her cloak and messenger bag before leaving the room. She found Margaret at the front desk downstairs, so she thanked her once again and Margaret saw her off.

With high spirits, Carolyn headed towards her destination with the note as a guide. She had to pay close attention to spot the landmarks on the note, but it was enough to keep her on the right track despite her unfamiliarity with the city. After just a few wrong turns, she was in front of the grey building that the note highlighted as the goal. The signboard clearly matched what was on the note but she had to triple check because the building had not just two floors, not three floors, but four floors, making it the tallest building that Carolyn had ever been so close to in her entire life.

The city had access to better architects and materials, but it was still rare and extremely expensive to have a building with this many floors. In fact, the building was among the top five tallest in Vernum City, so it could also be considered a kind of tourist attraction.

There was some anxiety, since she wasn't sure if she had the skills to work here, but Carolyn felt more excited at the thought of entering such a tall building. After a deep breath, she moved forward and went through the entrance. Compared to the relatively sparse route Carolyn took to get here, the first floor was packed with people moving back and forth. Most of them seemed to be employees judging by their matching uniforms, but the few customers she noticed also seemed to understand where to go to do their business.

On the other hand, Carolyn was completely lost, but she wasn't afraid to seek help. She looked for the closest employee who seemed relatively free, and went towards them.

"Excuse me, do you have a moment?"

"Yes. Welcome to Continental Courier Service. How may I be of assistance?"

"I was given this to meet a Mr. Rome. Do you know where I could go to find him?"

To prove her case, Carolyn handed the note to the young man that she stopped. He didn't give her any weird looks, so she had no issue conversing with him. The young man showed a look of astonishment upon reading the message on the note, but he quickly hid it, though not quick enough for Carolyn to miss it. Judging from his reaction, she guessed that 'Rome' must hold a rather important position. Given that he could decide to hire someone, she knew he would have to be at least a supervisor, but she hadn't asked Margaret for any details regarding who he was.

"Mr. Rome should be in his office. Please, follow me."

The young man returned the note to Carolyn, and then politely offered to guide her.

"Thank you."

Carolyn accepted the young man's offer and followed him to a small enclosed space. When the door suddenly closed, her guard was immediately raised, but after the young man pressed a button next to the door, she felt the room rise.

"Wh, what's this?"

"Oh, my apologies. Is this your first time in an elevator?"

"An elevator? I think I've read about it before, but I didn't think they were put in use."

"Yes, they're rare even in the capital, but part of our motto is 'to never be a step too slow or too far', so as part of company policy, it was mandated that every branch have one. I find the stairs to be more comfortable despite the additional effort, but you'll eventually get used to it."

She felt a strange, floaty dissonance during the ascension, but it was over before she could get used to it like the young man said. Fortunately, she wasn't motion sick, but she couldn't say she was looking forward to having another go at it.

Once the door of the elevator opened, the young man led Carolyn to the first door on the left of the corridor and knocked on it.

"Mr. Rome, you have a guest."

There was a silver plaque on the door that read 'Assistant Branch Manager', but before Carolyn could process this, a deep voice responded from inside the room.

"Send them in."

The young man then opened the door and gestured for Carolyn to enter before closing it behind her. The room that Carolyn found herself in was about the same size as Benedict's office, but you could hardly tell because documents seemed to occupy more space than air. There were several piles of documents stacked so high that it would be a challenge to move around without accidentally causing any of them to collapse. She could spot furniture buried under the files, but no piece of furniture was free from the papery plague.

"What's your business?"

Carolyn tried to find the owner of the deep voice, but as they were hidden by paper, she gave up and went straight into what she came for.

"My name is Carol. Miss Margaret gave me a note with your signature and told me to come see you."

"Oh, you're from Boss Margaret's place!"

The man's exclamation crashed into Carolyn's ears, and she wasn't the only one reeling back. The mountains of paperwork that had been precipitously maintained finally fell apart. Carolyn was close to the exit, so she managed to escape most of the mayhem, but when her sight could finally reach the other side of the room, she found a desk and chair covered in paper.

"Mr. Rome, are you okay?!"

As Carolyn was about to rush to help, a hand escaped from the paper hill, followed by another hand, and both hands began clearing the documents. When she saw how thick and muscular his arms were, Carolyn knew he would be fine, but she still helped clear his area.

"Thanks. I got a little too excited there."

At first glance, the middle-aged man who had been buried by paperwork seemed like he would be more at home on a ship than in an office. He wore a suit and his appearance was tidy, but for most, it was hard to look past the bulging muscles and intimidating face. Nevertheless, Carolyn had a good impression of him.

"No, it's fine, but can I help you clean up in here?"

"That would help a lot, thanks."

The two of them then gathered the papers and, at Carolyn's suggestion, ordered them according to priority. Only Rome had the knowledge needed to assign priority to the documents, but Carolyn could order them according to relevancy and date, which made them much easier to group together. Usually Rome found it hard to keep looking at paperwork for more than an hour straight, but with Carolyn handing him documents to check at a consistent pace, the time flew by without him noticing. Still, even if his mind lost track of time, his stomach didn't.

*Growl*

The growl of his stomach was loud enough to fill the room and paused the movements of both Carolyn and Rome. Rome looked up at the wall clock, which had been hidden behind paperwork, and found that the hour hand was almost at 12.

"It's noon already?"

When he looked at his office, though there were still areas with paper piles, the room looked far more orderly than it had been in the past couple of weeks.

"I used to think I would never get to see the door from my chair again, but you sure proved me wrong. Your name's Carol, right?"

"That's right."

"I've decided. I can pay you five gold coins a month, free lunch in the cafeteria, and two weeks of vacation a year. What do you say?"

"Eh?"

Although she had plunged right into the work, Carolyn was helping as a show of kindness, so she was surprised to hear Rome's offer. From her understanding, the average family only earned about 50 silver coins per month, so the salary alone would be extraordinarily high.

She didn't think Rome was lying to her. In fact, his eyes clearly communicated how sincerely he wanted to hire her. Though it would mean closing the path to her working at the inn, she had already decided to pay back Margaret's trust, so her answer was obvious.

"My salary doesn't need to be that high, but if you're willing to hire me, then I'll gladly accept."