Close deadline

Seeing her superior in such a sorry state, Alice got worried.

"Director, why do you look so...gloomy? Are you alright?"

Charlie grimaced, how could he be in a good mood when he had just lost 100 gold coins, maybe Alice was right, he should clean his room after every experiment. As he looked at Alice he saw her making a worried questioning expression.

"It's nothing"

Charlie shook his head and sighed.

"I... I just broke one of my new inventions"

"We will not get to eat meat every day"

Noctis added after Charlie.

Alice shook her head at their remarks, They were acting so childish for something that could be recreated. But hearing Noctis speak like that was a total surprise for her. Noctis usually acted so cold and arrogant, seeing her like this made her wonder what that invention truly was.

Alice was going to continue their conversation but she suddenly remembered why she was here in the first place. Her expression suddenly became serious.

"About the project that was given to us two weeks ago..."

She paused momentarily and seemed to contemplate how to deliver this news to him.

"...They are asking for a prototype by the end of the week"

The room was silent for a while, and suddenly Charlie's lips trembled.

This was unfair, how did they even come up with such a tight deadline? This was even his first project as the director.

"It's very difficult, I... am missing a component. Creating a working prototype and documenting it will take some time. The three-day deadline... I don't think there is any other option than to ask for an extension"

Alice's expression suddenly turned weird after hearing Charlie ask for an extension.

"Yes, the best thing to do in this situation would be to ask for an extension, bu... but the situation is a little more tricky..."

"Tricky, how so?"

Charlie suddenly had a bad premonition, how bad could the situation have become that they couldn't even ask for an extension? The very next moment, his premonition proved to be right as he heard Alice speak.

"Lady Nova...she is the one who's in charge of this project... and she is also personally coming for the inspection in three days."

Charlie cursed under his breath, He knew who this lady Nova was, he even had some history with her. If she was the one in charge of this project, it also meant she was intentionally causing him trouble.

But rather than feeling angry at her actions, he suddenly had a desire to prove her wrong, he had to complete the prototype within three days at any cost.

Seeing the fire of determination brun in Charlie's eyes, Alice got awestruck for a moment but soon composed herself with a tinge of redness in her cheeks.

"Let's go to the market, maybe there I may get some inspiration."

"Huh... market?... just you and me?"

Alice's tone got a little flustered and her cheeks seemed to redden even more.

"Yes you, me, and my cat"

"Meow?"

***------***

Charlie's office was on the first floor of the magic factory. Magic Factory had a total of three floors and an underground basement. Just above his office was corporate housing where most of the employees including Alice and him lived.

Charlie was walking to the ground floor with his cat on his shoulders. The cat searched for a comfortable position before wrapping itself around his neck and resting on his shoulders. 

As he was reaching the end of the stairs an empty research line came into view. Charlie was planning to turn this place into a research facility when the government issued their next budget. For now, he only had a few employees who were busy working on the production line anyway.

The reason why this factory had such a low amount of staff was due to this facility being established by him just some months ago. Some of his previous schoolmates followed him when he was pitching his dream of creating the magic factory. Alice was one of his classmates, she was quite close to him as they shared many projects during their school years.

His factory was in its early stages and was most likely being monitored by the government. If he got a bad record at such a stage, the budget would surely drop by a lot if not forcing him to shut down this place. For this reason, he couldn't let the inspection go badly.

He wasn't out of choices though. The reason he was ahead of everyone was due to his experience not from his time in this world but the time in another one.

It was true that he had transmigrated to this world from earth. Before his transmigration, he used to be a scholar dealing with the implementation of technology. It was due to this identity of his he had managed to incorporate concepts that looked out of the world and were efficient. This made him the star of the school. The concepts that he published were studied for their uses by various institutes.

When he finally graduated a lot of institutes wanted him but he refused all of them to start his research institute. The government too fully supported him and even gave him this large building. Their only condition was to prioritize their projects before others.

Since he had always solved the problems using his wit and experience he was sure he could figure out a way this time as well. After all many people's lives depended on this mission.

But there was a problem that troubled him more than the lack of staff to fasten the research. Rather, it was the lack of sufficient funds. Buying the necessary materials and equipment had already drained his funds by a lot. He was left with just over 2 gold coins which meant that he could only choose 10-15 test batch worth of materials. So, choosing the right materials was very crucial.

If only he hadn't lost that potion he would have more than sufficient funds to uncover the materials through testing. That fact made him bitter.

As he was contemplating his next action someone arrived from the upper floor. And a gentle and soothing voice followed.

"Didn't make you wait for long, did I?"

It was Alice, she had told him to wait for a moment as she needed to prepare something, now it seemed that she had gone to change her attire.