Job Interview

I quickly followed Alex through the jungle that was apparently Mistral's industrial area. I could still hear the alert sirens in the distance and saw the distinctive Mistral Airships flying towards the scene. I was itching to check my book to see what that new trait I earned did but decided against it. Even if I had pulled it out in that emergency, I didn't exactly want to advertise that power.

Speaking of power, I was expecting to level up with the 100xp I got from the quest. I wished the system would tell me how close I was to a level-up. All I know is that I need more xp as I get higher in level. I was also kinda surprised I didn't get anything from that explosion. Did Brick really protect all of his guys with that yellow light coming from his weapon?

I shook my head and refocused on where I was going. Alex was leading the way at a brisk walk. He said we would be more noticeable from the air if we ran. I wonder how long it would take to get there?

"We're here this way." He called out, and I followed him over to a fence which he almost immediately hopped over.

I sighed and climbed it the old-fashioned way. I was still a bit low on Mana and HP from the encounter earlier. Did Aura usually regenerate that quickly, or is that just this kid? I don't think they gave a relative time in the series. I only remember that Hazel could regenerate his Aura in seconds, though he was said to be an outlier.

I watched Alex pull out some sort of key to the side door of the warehouse-type building the fence was protecting. "What is this place?" I asked as we walked in the door, for him to have a key… Maybe this was a thing for Gunmetal?

"It's safe." He replied maybe he was still thinking about what I said earlier. "We normally use this as the dropoff point on this level, so Spider doesn't know about it."

"Ah, so you stole the hard-light dust for Gunmetal?" I asked, and he froze. Shit, I shouldn't have said that out loud. Now I need an excuse for how I know that… "Oh, sorry, was I not supposed to figure that out? It seemed fairly obvious considering the amount of dust you stole from them and what it could be used for." I was completely bullshitting this entire thing. "Especially with the embargo happening, I'm sure it's harder to source that stuff now."

We were already in what seemed to be the main storage area, and Alex took a couple steps back from me, hiding the briefcase behind his body protectively. "What do you want?"

Huh? "Nothing. I was just following you to get to a safe place." Though now that I think about it. If this Gunmetal guy really needs couriers…

"I should have known it was too good to be true." Then, he scoffed, "You expect me to believe that you randomly ran into me and then decided to save me from Spider out of kindness?"

"Geez, kid, I don't know my way around this place at all. If I had run by myself, I would have probably gotten captured. So I just returned the favor."

He studied me for a few seconds before relaxing slightly. Good, but how do I now bring this up without looking sha-

*Bang*

A gunshot rang out from behind me, and I froze as I felt the bullet whiz by my ear. It didn't take any HP, but it was so close to hitting me that I could actually feel a bit of pain.

"I recommend you don't move, or the next one won't miss." A stern female voice said from somewhere behind me. "Alex, is this the emergency you rang about?" I was almost insulted at the way she asked the question, though if I had been trained with Aura, I probably would have been able to react to that attack.

"No! Scar… This is the guy who saved me from the emergency!" He seemed exasperated as he walked over to where I assumed the girl was standing. "I know you have a hard time with it, but please remember to ask questions before you shoot at people. Even if you can't miss, it's still not a good first impression."

I sighed as they began arguing over whether it was a good idea to shoot at people you meet 'just in case.' "Can I move now?" I would rather not have a hole blown through my head.

They stopped arguing for a few seconds, and after some urging from Alex, the girl finally agreed. "Fine. But I've got my eye on you."

I turned around and studied the girl who had held me at gunpoint. She was around my height but looked a little older. She wore a dark red combat outfit with green highlights and a very weird-looking revolver(?) type gun that she was still holding at the ready. Finally, she had the same red hair as what I now assumed to be her brother in a sort of pixie cut, though I wasn't the best at identifying hairstyles.

[Observation: Scarlett Blaize Lv.??? - HP: 100% - ??? - ???]

Thank you, oh mighty Observation skill, for all the valuable information. "Any reason you want to shoot me?" I questioned.

"Who are you, and what do you want with my brother?" She lifted the revolver thing and pointed it back at me. Maybe that was the wrong thing to say?

"Name's Aster Tempest. I'm new in town and was running from Spider when I literally ran into him." She looked over at her brother, and he nodded. "We helped each other get away, and he said to follow him for a safe place to hide out, that's all."

She studied me carefully before asking, "How did you know about Gunmetal?"

"Like I said before, I made an educated guess. I'm pretty good at that sort of thing." I lied confidently. Maybe this was my chance to throw this in too. "I was also looking for a potential employer. As Alex can probably attest to, my 'interview' with Spider fell through."

I had been considering it ever since Brick brought it up. I was a bit too hasty when I said I didn't have any special skills to get a job quickly. Inventory is such a basic power that I thought of it mainly as an afterthought, but I could probably use it to transport goods. Storage and easy transportation of an unlimited amount of things I could carry would be a pretty good deal for anyone.

"Yeah, the guy did say something about your semblance after you pulled that book out of thin air," Alex confirmed. "Something about transporting things?"

I wasn't exactly planning on this becoming public knowledge, but what's done is done. "Yeah, I can store things in a pocket dimension." I pulled out the apple I had stolen earlier and took a bite. I hadn't eaten yet today. "It's pretty handy for transporting things."

"Really! That could be incredibly useful." Alex agreed. "With a bunch of the airships helping patrol the continent after the emergency, a good amount of the transportation is down across the kingdom. We can't even move large amounts of cargo because-"

"Alex!" Scarlett stopped him before turning back to me. "Semblance? How? You don't even have Aura." She motioned at my ear, and I realized it was still bleeding from when her bullet razed me. It was just a tiny cut, but it probably should have been easily healed by Aura.

Damn, on the spot again. "Your guess is as good as mine." I shrugged. "I've been able to do this forever but never had my Aura unlocked."

"Tch." She considered me for a few more seconds before giving in. "I guess no one would send someone like you as a spy." What did she mean by that? "You vouch for him?" She turned back towards Alex.

"Yeah, he pretty much saved my ass. Almost killed us both, but it somehow worked in the end. Though we're gonna, have one less vial of dust for the delivery."

Scarlett scowled and turned back towards me. "Fine, but you're not meeting the boss. Any jobs or business with Gunmetal goes through me."

So she's willing to trust me a little. That's good. If I can secure a decent source of income, I can finally work on what I actually want to do. I have some money, but the currency here is more similar to the Yen. My 55,000 Lien is only worth about 550 USD, not exactly enough to live off of. Though I still needed a place to stay.

"I don't suppose you have a place I can stay," I asked awkwardly. "As I mentioned, I'm kinda new in town. I can pay if that's an issue." I would really rather not spend another night in a motel, especially if I'm going to be woken up like that again.

Scarlett hadn't smiled during the entire conversation, but that made her smirk for some reason.

"Don't worry. I think we have a place you can stay at for free."

For some reason, I felt a chill go down my spine.

&&&&&&&&&&&&&&&

The house the siblings brought me to was surprisingly large. It was located at what I determined was around halfway up the mountain, and the neighborhood was noticeably nicer than where I had arrived. Of course, the area was still in a bit of disrepair, but I at least didn't think the area was infested with gang members.

But the trip up was horrible. Apparently, ever since the Fall, most interkingdom airships had been repurposed into emergency response craft to help with the Grimm situation in the rest of the continent. This meant we had to walk our way up half the mountain. I did not appreciate this after using up most of my stamina running from Spider.

—

Attribute Gained: +1 Constitution

—

At least I got my first training attribute point. I was glad because I now knew it was possible but disappointed that it took that long.

By the time we reached their neighborhood, I was seriously considering stabbing one of them in the back just so I could level up and feel that refreshing surge of energy… That's a lie. I was only slightly considering it.

I at least got the chance to ask more about the city. Apparently, Mistral was built with foot travel in mind, with the exception of more specialty levels. Most levels were pretty self-sufficient. So hopefully I wouldn't have to walk as much later.

It was getting dark by the time we finally made it, and I was still wondering where I would be staying. Was this house theirs? Or did they run some sort of apartment complex? Scarlett wouldn't tell me, and Alex seemed ok to follow her lead.

"You hurt them, and I kill you." Scarlett pushed open the door, and I followed her inside, still wondering what she was talking about.

"Scarlett!!" We were attacked by a rainbow. Or at least what I thought was a rainbow turned out to be a bunch of kids with different hair colors. From what I could tell, none of them seemed to be over 10, and they were all absolutely thrilled to see Scarlett.

An orphanage… Ok, that's a bit of a surprise but not unwelcome. Contrary to what Scarlett might have been expecting, I actually didn't mind kids, my little cousins were definitely a handful, but I still enjoyed it when they came over. Thought I was happy when the little one got to the point where he could actually play games with his older brother and me. It was fun busting out the Beyblades after years of not using them at all…

…

"Aster?" I heard Scarlett call out my name and turned around to see her watching me with a frown.

I pushed down those memories. I could reminisce later. "Yeah?"

"Nothing." She looked back at the kids. "Sorry guys, but I'm going to have to get our new housemate here all set up. I'll come back down later." She stood back up and grabbed my shirt to pull me towards the stairs.

"Are we getting a new big sister?" One of the little girls with long dark blue hair asked innocently.

Ok… I know I deliberately went with that sort of look, but I was a bit surprised. I mean, my shirt didn't leave much to the imagination with how tattered it was after all that fighting. On the other hand, the power of anime tropes must have protected my pants because they were much better. It was either that or the fact that the dungeon spiders really liked to jump.

I was about to turn back to joke around with the girl, but Scarlett pulled harder on my tattered shirt and led me up the stairs. "Hey, watch it. This is the only shirt I have." She kept on pulling. "What, are you worried that they will replace you with a newer and cooler big sister?"

She looked at me, obviously unimpressed. "I'm not going to dignify that with a response. Hah, and why am I not surprised?" She shook her head. "Nothing in that magical dimension of yours?"

"Ahh, It's a bit low on stock at the moment. "I laughed. "I pretty much just have some cash and that apple I ate on the walk here."

She sighed heavily before pointing at one of the many doors in the long hall upstairs. "One of our workers recently quit, so you can have that room. It's a bit small, but I don't want to put you in with the children."

"Thanks." I moved to enter the room, but she stopped me. "What?"

"You're disgusting right now." Ah, that makes a bit of sense. I had been running, then fighting, then walking pretty much all day. I wonder if Aura comes with temperature regulation from exertion? "The showers down there." She pointed the door out. "Wash up and leave your clothes out. I'll see if I can find you something to wear for the night."

"All right." I moved towards the door but stopped and looked back. "Really, though, thanks for this," I said sincerely.

"Don't read too much into it." She turned to go to another one of the doors in the hall. "You're an investment now. Just make sure you do good work."

Wow, don't I feel special? Finally, I've graduated from a potential enemy to an investment.

I entered the bathroom and was once again surprised by the relative niceness of this place. Sure, it wasn't exactly a five-star resort, but it definitely beat out the stereotypical orphanage I've seen depicted in the media. After ensuring I was alone in the bathroom, I pulled out my system book.

I just wanted to check one thing real quick.

—

[Disengage E: When running away, you can better see paths that will allow you to escape unscathed.]

—

That was underwhelming, though I suppose it wasn't a long quest. On the other hand, I knew that traits were always active and had a chance to boost in power after every level up, so maybe this could grow into something powerful?

I shook my head and focused on getting myself washed up. I wasn't sure how people in Remnant got hot water (probably something to do with dust), but I didn't want to waste it just in case.

Sometime during the shower, I heard someone come in, presumably to give me some clothes. I wonder whose I would take because I doubt I could fit in Alex's. He was only around 5'4.

When I got up and looked at what had been laid out for me, I sighed.

"Of Course."