Quitting a Job

The next day, Ava woke up rather early and couldn't help but be a little excited. Today was the day she was going to move into her new room, her own room. At the same time, she had also set a meeting time with Lily, Haley, and Ahri, who wanted to go shopping with her after realizing she was about to buy nothing but a new set of sheets and call it a day.

But before she could get to any of that, there was still a chore she had to get through.

Lightly yawning, Ava got up and went to the wardrobe of the guest room, which contained two simple sets of clothing composed of shirts and pants. Of course, she had also bought a couple of dresses over the past few days, mainly under Lily's urging, but those were all placed in Lily's room.

Quickly slipping into something casual that gave her a good amount of room for movement, Ava let out a small smile before going over to the side of the room and hesitating for a moment before grabbing the small metal knife she had taken from the Rat and holding onto it. After yesterday Ava realized that although the town seemed like a safer place than the village, there were still enough unscrupulous people that anything could happen. It was better to be prepared.

Stepping out of the room, Ava made sure to lock the door behind her before looking around and seeing that it was still quiet. Carefully making her way down the stairs, trying not to cause any squeaking, Ava made it down to the main floor before making her way toward the side exit.

It was still early in the morning, so most of the girls weren't up, and the Foxes Respite didn't open up for business till late at night. Adding in the fact that they rarely took patrons, it was likely only two or three people were awake this early in the morning.

As Ava was about to make her way out the exit, she happened to run into Sasha, who was just stepping out of the kitchen. Surprised, Ava couldn't help but pause and give a slight bow to Sasha as a greeting before making her way towards the exit but she stopped when Sasha's voice called out from behind her. "Wait a moment, ya runt."

Confused, Ava stopped and turned around. Although she hadn't interacted much with Sasha over the period she had stayed at the Foxes Respite, Ava had to say she had a good impression of this quiet lady who made the majority of their meals. How could she not? Blinking, Ava looked at Sasha.

Letting out a toothy smile, Sasha nodded back in greeting before slipping into the kitchen for a moment before returning with a small basket and passing it over to Ava, "Doctor's orders, haha. Gotta eat up some breakfast, ya?"

Nodding, Ava let out a happy smile before whispering, "Thank you, Sasha."

Waving a hand, Sasha stepped back into the kitchen.

After the brief interlude, Ava stepped out of the backdoor, taking care to ensure that it didn't slam as it closed, before making her way through the convoluted streets. Before long, she found herself on the edge of the town. To be frank, this portion of the town could still be considered part of the gray zone, but generally speaking, that was only because most of the residents were rather poor and would mingle around in the gray zone to make some extra income, which led to such an impression.

Slipping past a few closed stores, Ava stopped in front of a small store that had a wooden signboard that depicted scissors cutting through a bolt of cloth before turning and stepping into the adjacent alleyway. Passing by a trash can, she came upon a rather unassuming door and knocked on it.

After waiting a couple of minutes and knocking a few more times, an old man who was still dressed in a nightgown and nightcap opened the door with blurry eyes and blinked a few times before looking down at Ava and letting out a slight scowl. "Come back at noon. You ain't gonna earn any points with me for coming early." After saying what he wanted to say, Ruffio closed the door on Ava, who stood there expressionless.

Waiting a brief moment, Ava knocked again on the door.

From behind the door, Ava heard the sound of something getting toppled over, followed by a string of curses. After a few moments, Ruffio arrived in front of the door again and looked at Ava with an annoyed expression. "I said come back at"

Cutting Ruffio off, Ava said, "I'm here to quit."

Stunned, Ruffio looked down at Ava and blinked a few more times to ensure he wasn't dreaming before letting out an angry laugh. "You little punk, who do you think you are quitting on me like that? Do you think this is a joke? That you can just come and quit as you like? I was doing a favor to your Madam by taking you on to beg-"

Once again cutting Ruffio off, Ava said with a blank expression, "I thank Master Ruffio for your instruction over the past few days, but after some consideration, I've realized this isn't suited for me." Then, taking out a folded piece of paper, she passed it over to Ruffio.

Annoyed, Ruffio took the piece of paper that Ava shoved in his face and held it casually in his right hand and was prepared to consider lecturing the girl in front of him but happened to see a seal imprinted on the page from the corner of his eye. Gulping, he swallowed his words before picking up the page and opening it to read.

After a moment, Ruffio sighed and lightly rubbed his forehead before waving his hand and saying, "Forget about it. Just go home, I won't say anything more, but girl, you have to know that quitting on an apprenticeship is a bad look. I won't say anything more on account of your Madam, but-"

As Ruffio turned back, he realized Ava was already halfway out of the Alleyway. With a red look on his face, Ruffio really wanted to scream at the girl in front of him, "Can you let me finish a fucking sentence?"