01.16 - The Hero Is a Part-Timer!

The contents of the flask slowly turned into a shining crimson.

“No way,” Isabella said as she stared at the flask. “It does resemble a High Health Potion, but I’ve never seen one with such a saturated red and high viscosity. This looks more like a gel than a liquid.”

“I can try its effect, if you want,” I said as I took off my gloves and unsheathed my sword.

I drew a bit of blood as the blade sliced a small wound into my left palm, then dipped my right index finger into the potion and rubbed a small amount of the liquid over the wound, like applying a salve.

A bit of steam rose around my left hand and the small wound closed itself in an instant.

Isabella watched in awe while Tia seemed bored by the demonstration.

“Are you sure you want a job with us?” Isabella asked with a hint of suspicion in her voice. “With a solution like that, you could probably open your own workshop.”

“I am not fond of paperwork,” I said.

“Right,” Isabella said with an undefineable undertone. “Let’s see what a diluted version can do. Actually, no, I can do that later, I am more curious about your companion.”

“Me?” Tia pointed at herself and tilted her head.

“Who… I mean… what are you?” Isabella asked.

“Never seen a Dragon before?” Tia asked.

“You don’t look like a dragon to me,” Isabella said.

“Well, duh,” Tia said as she slowly swiped her tail from one side to the other. “I’d hardly fit half my regular tail in a space this cramped.”

“Huh,” Isabella said. “The ingredient substitution might explain part of it. But you’d still need a master alchemist to see the creation through.”

“Look,” I said plainly. “I don’t care what you call me, all I want is a part-time job with a good salary and a way to keep a low profile.”

“Part-time?” Isabella asked.

I nodded.

Tia nodded.

“I think that can be arranged,” Isabella said. “As for the salary, we had three apprentices leave two months ago. I can offer their combined salary, plus a bonus for exceptional work. But I am not sure we even have enough high quality ingredients to…”

“Sounds good,” I cut her off. “If you give me three days off per week, I might be able to source some of the required stuff myself.”

“I… sure,” Isabella said. “I have to talk with my father, but I think we can arrange that.”

—

With thrice a regular apprentices salary all but secured and a loose schedule negotiated, it was time to advance to part two of my plans for the foreseeable future.

I had yet to officially decline my father’s second attempt to enroll me into Officer’s school.

The salary alone was good.

Not enough to pay off the debt accumulated by my mother in any reasonable amount of time, but it would be a start.

Part two of the plan required getting another part time job as an adventurer under an alias, for both me and Tia.

Kentaro was the one to facilitate it.

“Why not use our real names?” Tia asked on our way to meet him.

“I don’t want my father to know of our abilities,” I said. “Right now, it seems like he couldn’t care less about a second rate bastard child on some far off planet, but he already bothered with sending a second letter of recommendation after Lucy’s report. I just don’t want to draw unwanted attention. Also no tail swings this time!”

“But I only…” Tia protested, then went silent. “Fine.” She dragged out that last word.

We met Kentaro in an alleyway near the adventurers guild.

He didn’t try any further advances.

Maybe the tail swing he took to his face had made him reconsider.

“Told you it worked," Tia whispered after I finished my train of thought.

“And you just want my recommendation?” Kentaro asked. “I don’t really get it… what’s with the disguise?”

Tia and I had used the Transform Skill from our Shapeshifter Class to adopt a similar appearance to Kentaro and his niece.

Fair skin, narrow black eyes, ebony hair, the whole nine yards. Except for the physique.

Kentaro, or ‘Big Boy’, as they called him in the guild, was a mountain of a man, I on the other hand looked even slimmer than my Elden build. Like I would collapse if someone as much as sneezed at me.

Honestly, I looked like a cheap chinese knockoff of an even cheaper fifth rate anime protagonist, in a show based on a westerner's idea of a light novel. But that was fine. Just as I intended.

Kentaro was the first to step through the adventurer guild's front door.

“Jo,” he said to the female clerk at the register. “I’ve got some special recruits for you today.”

The guild members looked at us with equal parts suspicion and doubt.

Couldn’t fault them for it, we didn’t look like much, especially compared to our guarantor.

“Just a moment,” the clerk said. “I’ll get the…”

“No need,” said Kentaro. “They’re both irregulars. We’d like a combat evaluation for both. Is the guild master in?"

“A combat evaluation for two?” the clerk asked as she frantically rummaged through some papers on her desk. “The guild master is busy right now. But there’s a break in the schedule in…” she checked another paper, “...half an hour. Please wait in sparring room two.”

Kentaro nodded along. “Will do, follow me,” he said as he pointed to a corridor to the right of the receptionist's desk.

“Just a moment,” the receptionist said as we passed her by. “Names please.”

“I am known by many names,” Tia said as she read some random memories of mine. “Mountain Slayer… Thunder Li…”

I hit Tia on the head to make her shut up, then turned toward the receptionist.

“She’s Tiffany. I am Klein.”