3 Chapter 3 - First Job and Permanent Dwelling

It was a beautiful morning. The beams of sunlight quietly entered certain duo's room and were reflected by his hair.

"Aah good morning world." Said Nephrite as he woke up and stretched himself. As he looked at his arms and surroundings he stopped for a second.

'So it wasn't a dream after all.' He smiled and looked at the ball hidden behind the sheets. His brain had created a devious plan he always wanted to create.

But thinking about it more he decided that throwing cold water at a 6 year old was a little too cruel...

'Maybe when she is older and disobedient hehe.' Thought Nephrite to himself as he tapped her head a few times.

Neo mumbled a few times before her unique eyes had opened. Seeing Heterochromia in a world where everything had more depth and colour was a wonder in itself. Especially for a dimension traveller like himself.

"Wake up Neo! Today we are going to find a house or an apartment!" He said and Neo jolted a bit.

She had often heard that living in a house was much better than a hotel and this place was simply a heaven! Her battle against the pillow she was still holding was a testament to that.

Finally with a 'helping hand' from Nephrite. Both of them got dressed and they headed for the breakfast.

Safe to say that this breakfast opened a new world for Neo and overwhelmed her. After all for a child that could barely get enough food to get by a Swedish table was something on another level.

The Swedish table was pretty vast even for Nephrite and he had seen quite a share of these. Though it seemed justified after seeing the appetite of people. Especially a few men that looked to be professional huntsmen.

Coupled with the beautiful and peaceful atmosphere and room decorated with flower like patterns and bright sunny colours, Nephrite thought that it actually might be worth the buck.

The Swedish table itself had things like ham, salami, eggs with three variations, sunny side up, soft boiled and hard boiled. It even had three types of cheeses with a torch on the side where you could toast the cheese personally.

Though there was staff willing to do it at any time. Especially to prevent reckless accidents.

They even had few types of bread for people with allergies and preferences. The crispy on outside but incredibly soft on the inside baguette was Nephrite's favourite though.

Nephrite basically made himself a sandwich. He cut the baguette in half and added some butter. Then he layered ham, then he used some graded cheese and torched it before topping it off with some slices of juicy tomatoes.

Biting into it resulted in only one thought. 'Totally worth it.'

Seeing his face full of bliss Neo wanted to try it out too, but he was afraid of her throat injury getting worse.

Though that worry dissipated as she was practically already fine. It seemed that her aura was more vigorous than that old man predicted.

And so the duo peacefully ate their breakfast and returned to their room. Nephrite naturally forced Neo to brush her teeth and then decided to head out.

It seemed that Neo learned pretty quickly and already knew how to use the TV proficiently last night. Apparently sitcoms weren't her favourite and she liked action more.

He just hoped that she won't turn into life of crime or just pure slaughter. Anything else was fine with him. After all who was he to decide her future?

Though if she steps even a single step over to the dark side of drugs then he'll whoop her back into shape no matter how much she struggles.

Leaving worry aside he gave Neo some instructions if he arrived late and decided to hunt for an apartment.

The vitality of Vale had showcased itself during the day. Even though this was the more 'unwanted' side of Vale there were people walking around happily.

Wandering around for an hour and with some kind strangers he found a pretty famous housing agency.

'Azure Gem Estate Agency. AGEA for short usually dabbled in the middle to high income areas and even had a hand in establishing some outposts near the wilderness.

After all contributing to humanity was rewarded with numerous benefits and sometimes even no tax for some time.

The council of Vale did not need to spend a lot of money on a new undeveloped sector and the employed side earns money and reputation.

A nice win-win situation.

Entering inside the doors were automatic and everything was nicely lit. The interior had couple of spruce chairs and tables. The chairs themselves had nice woolly cushions.

Couple of people were already inside and Nephrite quickly found an empty spot. There sat a faunus man with bushy hair and goat horns.

Seeing an employed faunus was certainly a positive sign.

"Hello Sir welcome to our Azure Gem Estate Agency what would you need?" Asked the man politely.

"Hello, I would like to see some larger apartments for sale in some favourable middle income areas. Do you have any good ones?" He answered back.

"Certainly, would you like a fully furnished one or an empty one with basic amenities?"

"The fully furnished one will do."

"Alright, we have few dozen available. Does sir have any preferences to narrow it down or do you wish to see the pictures?"

"Ah, preferably an apartment with two bedrooms." The faunus man started typing into his computer for a bit before he responded.

"We have exactly 3 apartments with the highest one being 115 000 lien and the cheapest for 91 000 lien. The last one goes for exactly 98 000 lien."

"I'll take a look at the 91 000 lien one please." Said Nephrite.

The faunus man quickly pulled up few dozen photos.

There were two bedrooms, a small kitchen, a living room and a pretty big bathroom with a shower and a bathtub.

The walls were painted pure white and the floor was made out of purpleheart wood. He quite liked the overall aesthetics of the apartment and the fact that he can paint it in whatever colour he wants later on was a plus.

"I am interested in this apartment." Said Nephrite to the man.

"Would you like to see the interior of the apartment personally?" Replied the man.

"Sure, is it far away?"

"It is a few kilometres away but we provide free transportation." He said as he grabbed some car keys.

Nephrite nodded and followed the man. The car wasn't overly luxurious but was certainly a good model. After getting in Nephrite could smell a nice incense that reminded him of ivory woods.

The ride was pretty uneventful and they quickly arrived. The great thing about this apartment was that it was two blocks away from a shopping centre.

This apartment complex apparently had 3 people living in it. 'Maybe I can find a playmate for Neo while I would be working.' Thought Nephrite after hearing about it.

He himself did not realise but he was always thinking about Neo like she was his sister. If it was because of the series in his previous life or his body no one knows...

This apartment complex had 4 floors and surprisingly the priciest apartment was also in here. The reason for it's more expensive side is because it also comes with the roof top.

His soon to be own apartment was on the second floor. Another good thing about this complex was the elevator which Nephrite decided to fully exploit in the not so distant future...

The door wasn't fancy but it did had a peephole. Checking the apartment took only 20 or so minutes and everything seemed to satisfy Nephrite.

"Seems good can I pay through cash?" He asked as he was reaching for a nice leather wallet he bought.

"Sure, though we will need to verify and sign a few things. Though this procedure barely takes 5-10 minutes." Said the faunus man as they headed back.

It wasn't anything ground-breaking just checking the ID and criminal activity and signing a few contracts that would ensure his ownership of the apartment.

After everything was done he had just around 4 000 or so lien. It wasn't much but he felt that it could last for a month or two.

Safely tucking his legal documents into a fanny bag that he bought. It wasn't anything special just had the right amount of space. From here on out his life's starting and the money he had would probably last him barely 3 months.

Job was needed. Thankfully the fake ID credentials included a resume that he could use, though it would only help him with the more menial jobs like a waiter or a dishwasher.

It should be enough for now though and he wanted to test it out on a job that could be maxed quickly so he doesn't waste time on a job he won't have a use for in the future.

Thankfully Vale was a place where you could find posters of jobs on the plazas. In fact there was a specific place with few dozen job posters.

After all more and more younger generations want to become huntsmen and huntresses after seeing them 'epically' battle on their TVs.

Certainly a good boost against the Grimm though it slowly created a vacuum in other job places.

It wasn't all that bad though as this forced many other people to offer higher salaries which in turn made things more expensive and this led to a decrease in unemployment.

Indeed it created a bit more booming economy but it also created a more competitive and stressing environment.

Nephrite didn't really care though as he was used to this type of thing and just rolled with it.

The board has surprisingly quite an amount of odd jobs. Like taking care of 9 dogs and 2 cats for 2 months.

After scanning through all of them he had found a couple that interested him. After eliminating and selecting a few that fit the bill he was left with 3 occupations.

A waiter, dishwasher and a receptionist. In the end of those three he eliminated the waiter and receptionist option and chose to be a dishwasher.

The waiter was because he wasn't confident in his physique though being a dishwasher sounded equally terrible at least he could slow down or speed up sneakily. And the receptionist, because it was the most passive one.

He felt like the XP gain would be astronomically low and just pure RNG which he didn't want.

There had been 4 job notices for a dishwashing job and he chose the ones that had the most average hourly rate. After all highest paying hourly rate must come with some disadvantages like being scrutinized at least in the beginning.

If they pay a lot for work then they surely want good work and not some lazy bum that sits around.

Out of these he picked two and if they wouldn't hire him he would just come back. His first choice was a restaurant that was a block away from the shopping centre. With the help of surprisingly developed public transportation, he quickly arrived.

The restaurant itself was a humble looking establishment that brought a sense of familiarity.

*ding *ding

As Nephrite entered he was hit with a warm atmosphere and an appetizing scent that slowly drifted throughout the restaurant.

"Welcome to the White Pearl Diner would you like a seat for 1?" An almost melodic brought Nephrite out of daze.

It was an impossibly handsome man that had silver hair and blue eyes. In fact, his hair reflected light like an actual silver would. He had a slim build adorned with a simple green shirt that had a logo of a white pearl on it. His height was not something to scoff at either and he was around 185 cm if Nephrite's intuition was correct.

He wore a slight smile and stood like a straight arrow. This man was simply a terrific weapon for any female in vicinity.

"I heard that you are hiring and I would like to apply." After a second of staring Nephrite said. If amalgamation of every K-pop and Western model were combined this would seemingly be the result.

"Ah! Finally a guy that is interested! You have no idea how it is to be the only male staff in this place! Every time a guy applies he would quit the next week or so. The longest was a month!" The sudden change of that man startled Nephrite a bit.

'I wonder how many guy's esteems were utterly destroyed.' Thought Nephrite. Thankfully he was quite confident in his appearance and the possibilities to improve it so he wasn't worried.

That was what he chanted to himself at least

"Oh! Excuse my poor manners my name is Apollo Sunstar. The interview is pretty simple I'll take you to the manager."

Nephrite nodded and the man led the way. Along the way he had noted down that it was dominated by women and only a quarter consisted of men.

They quickly reached the backroom reserved for staff. There he saw 2 women both were quite the eye candy in his old world but here they should be just above average.

One was reading a book while the other one was busy scribbling something onto some paper.

"Ah Angela we have a potential worker here!" Said Apollo and the woman that was reading a book had turned around.

She had caramel hair with green eyes and wore a serious expression.

"Good afternoon mister?"

"Nephrite, Nephrite Antaeus madam."

"Very well you can sit down." She said and pointed at a chair right next to her before whispering something to the girl that was still furiously scribbling something, completely oblivious to her surroundings.

The girl then stopped looked at Nephrite with a piercing gaze before she took her paper and pen away, then she bolted out of the room.

Confident albeit a bit confused, Nephrite sat down and looked at Angela. He also noticed that Apollo seemingly vanished too and now there were only the two of them.

"So Mr. Nephrite I will ask you a basic series of questions. What was..." Angela asked a couple of standard questions like how he found about the job, his experience etcetera.

Nephrite smoothly answered all of them. After a short 30 minutes the interview was over.

"I believe that you pass Mr. Nephrite. When can you start working?"

"I can start working tomorrow..." Replied Nephrite as he then read the employment contract and discussed his breaks and working hours.

"I look forward to working with you." Said Angela as she shook his hands before Nephrite left.

'Ah I wish getting a job was this easy...' Thought Nephrite as he exited the restaurant...