“Allow me to introduce Lapis Whitebrow to you, Mister Rockin. Lapis is one of the office assistants working directly under me,” Meribel introduced the person who was supposed to be helping me with my clan’s administrative work going forward. Lapis Whitebrow resembled a rabbit beastfolk. Although, he looked to be very much human, including his hands that had five fingers despite him having a face of a rabbit.

  “It’s a pleasure to meet you, Mister Rockin,” Lapis greeted me, bowing his head.

  “Yes, hello. It’s nice to meet you too, Lapis. Huh?” I greeted him back, but then my eyes have caught something I did not expect to see.

  “Is something the matter, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked, seeing my reaction.

  “Ah, no. I just didn’t expect for the person to be…” I was about to say what I wanted tosay, but then stopped, realizing it might’ve been a little rude.

  “But didn’t you say your clan treats everyone equally, Mister Rockin? I thought having someone as Lapis Whitebrow who is under Master-Slave contract would add certain credibility to your clan,” Meribel said before adding. “Of course, it you are against it, I have other candidates to recommend to. They’d come at a higher price, however.”

  “No, no, no. That’s not why I became surprised. I am not against Lapis taking on the job. Actually, he’d be perfect for it. It was… something else that surprised me,” I quickly let Meribel know I didn’t want anyone else.

  “Is that so? If I may ask, what was it that surprised you about Lapis Whitebrow, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked, becoming curious.

  “I don’t want to sound rude, really,” I said, showing a silly smile.

  “Now my curiosity is even more piqued, Mister Rockin. I promise you neither I nor Lapis would take it personally,” Meribel insisted.

  “Ok… if you insist. I… was surprised to see Lapis having human hands and wearing shoes despite him being a full beast-human,” I told her with a bit of a hesitation.

  “Oh my…” Meribal couldn’t help but laugh, quickly covering her mouth with one hand to not be too loud about it, with Lapis squeezing out a smile as well. “I am so sorry, Mister Rockin. I should’ve introduced Lapis by telling more about him first. You see, Mister Rockin, Lapis is only a half-beast human. To make it clearer, only his head is of a full beast-human. The rest of his body is very much human. He doesn’t even have a tail, like many other half beast-humans do.”

  “What? Really?” I became even more surprised than before. “Ah, sorry.”

  “Don’t be, Mister Rockin. In fact, I should be the one apologizing to you instead. I completely misunderstood your surprise, thinking you would be against having a slave to work as a receptionist, in addition to him doing the administrating work for your clan,” Meribel told me, a somewhat embarrassing smile appearing on her lips.

  “Not at all. Actually, you’ve just solved one of the main problems for me. I was breaking my head over what to do regarding the people who don’t treat slaves properly. As you know, I only want to accept people into my clan who treat slaves normally. Not bend over backwards to be nice to slaves, but to treat them with enough respect. Having someone who is a slave work at the reception will help sift and sort people who are fit to join my clan and who are not,” I explained to her.

  “Glad I could help,” Meribel smiled, her smile showing she probably had a similar thought herself about who to recommend for me in advance. “Now, how about I show you the office I had in mind that you could use as your clan’s headquarters, Mister Rockin?”

  “Yes, that’d be awesome,” I said.

  All of us, including Ranalaiya, Sylfrin and Lilfira, followed Meribel out of her office and through the corridor for her to show me our clan’s new gathering place. Lapis was walking right behind Meribel himself as well. When we entered the room, I was visibly shocked to see the room being much bigger than I originally expected it would be. I was expecting a room of about two to three hundred square feet in size at best, but the current room was well over one thousand square feet if not more.

  “Would this room be big enough for you to use, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked, breaking the silence.

  “Ah, yeah, sure,” I said, shaking my head just a little bit to get me out of my surprised daze.

  “You seemed to be unsure, Mister Rockin. Is it too small?” Meribel asked.

  “No, no. Not at all. Quite the opposite. I actually expected for the office room you’d show me to be much smaller,” I told her.

  “Well, we do have a smaller room, but I thought you’d need some space to put a Quest Board and a table or two for people to sit down. Bear in mind, about one third of this room will be used by Lapis as well. He’d need a desk and a bookshelf or two to store documents,” Meribel shared her thoughts.

  “Yes, of course. Sorry, I completely forgot about that,” I said, feeling awkward for my lame excuse.

  “As you can see, the room here is totally empty right now, but the furniture will be provided by the Auction House free of charge. As for the rent, I did promise you a discount, Mister Rockin, so instead of eight gold coins I would charge six gold coins a month instead. Is that something you find reasonable?” Meribel asked me.

  “Oh, yes. That would be totally fine. Thank you,” I agreed. Negotiating a lower price would’ve been down right rude.

  “And regarding Lapis’ salary, I am sure you are aware that slaves cannot earn or own money by the law, Mister Rockin, but since Lapis works directly under me, we can agree that you will be paying me directly. Would that work for you, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked, wanting to hear my opinion on it.

  “Yes. I don’t see a problem with it,” I agreed.

  “Wonderful. The only thing left to agree is how much the pay would be. However, that depends on how many hours per day you want for Lapis to work, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked.

  “Right…” I said, touching my chin. I haven’t thought about that part yet, so I had no idea, really. “Honestly, I don’t know yet. The thing is, my clan is still fairly small and I doubt Lapis would have that much work, at least right now. Although, we were inundated with people wanting to join my clan after Lilfira’s Rites of Strength was over. The majority of people who wanted to join were not fit to become members, however,” I was basically thinking out loud, with Meribel and everyone else staying quiet, giving me time to think it through. “How about… two hours in the morning, starting at the same time when all main businesses open and two hours in the evening after the businesses close?”

  “Oh? May I ask the reason for such unusual working hours, Mister Rockin?” Meribel asked, wanting to hear more details.

  “This is just from my personal experience, but… I’d always plan to go into the dungeon in the morning and if I wanted to pick up some quests, I’d visit the Guild before leaving Hirvant. More often than not, the Guild would be packed in the mornings. The majority of adventurers would go check on quests in the mornings which, well, wasn’t a big surprise. So, I thought people in my clan would want to check on clan’s quests in the mornings too. As for the evening hours, I have Guild members who have their own businesses and it would be difficult for them to come here during the work hours, so I want to make it easier for them.”

  “I see. That is very reasonable,” Meribel said, adding a smile.

  “Of course, I don’t know if it’s the best way to do it, so I hope we can adjust as the time passes, changing the work hours as needed,” I added.

  “But of course,” Meribel agreed. “So, you want Lapis to work four hours a day, seven days a week and that would cost…”

  “Excuse me, Miss Meribel,” I interrupted her right before she was about to say the price, Meribel turning to look at me directly again. “Six days a week.” I then said.

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  “Six?” Meribel asked, looking puzzled.

  “Yes. Lapis would need to have a day off, wouldn’t he?” I asked.

  “Oh, you don’t have to worry about it, Mister Rockin. Lapis is a very hard worker and working four hours a day wouldn’t tire him that much,” Meribel told me.

  “That’s not the point. I will not agree on Lapis working seven days a week. The workload is irrelevant. Besides, he might be working four hours at the beginning, but when my clan grows, he might need to work longer hours eventually. In addition, he will be doing a very responsible job and I can’t have him work while being tired. Lapis needs to have one day off to have a proper rest. I will not agree to him working seven days a week,” I insisted.

  “I understand. Six days it is, Mister Rockin,” Meribel said, not arguing about it. It could’ve been me, but I’ve noticed the smile on her face became much brighter than before too. “As for Lapis’ salary, it would cost one gold coin and two silvers per week or five bronze coins per hour. Just so you know, Mister Rockin, the receptionist at the Guild gets two to three bronze coins per hour, depending on the job’s responsibilities they are overtaking. However, Lapis won’t be doing a simple receptionist job for you here.”

  “Yes, that’s totally fine,” I said, squeezing out a smile. I did a quick math in my head and calculated that it would cost me twelve gold coins per month, on a thirty day month period, just to keep the office and Lapis working for me, and that’s with Lapis working only four hours a day. The thing was, I had only eighteen gold coins on me right now. I have collected some fees from the applicants who wanted to join my clan which increased my balance a little, not that I have accepted them into my clan in the end. I had enough to pay for the first month, but I knew I would have to start making money fast after leaving here.

  “That settles then. It will take up to two days to get this office in working order for you, Mister Rockin. In the meantime, may I suggest you take some time from your busy schedule to provide all the necessary information for Lapis in order for him to do his work according to your requirements?” Meribel suggested.

  “Yes, of course. I will have to go get my clan’s application forms from one of the clan members and then I can come back here to talk to Lapis,” I said.

  “That would be wonderful. I will let the guards know to bring you directly to my office without you needing to wait, Mister Rockin,” Meribel said.

  “Thank you, Miss Meribel,” I said before remembering something. “Right, do you want to collect the payment now or when Lapis starts work?”

  “I will want to collect the rent in advance and Lapis’ salary needs to be paid weekly,” Meribel informed me.

  “Ok, that’s fine,” I agreed.

  “By the way, Mister Rockin, which day of the week would you want for Lapis to take a day off?” Meribel remembered to ask.

  “Oh, it doesn’t matter, really, as long it’s the same day of the week every time,” I said.

  “I see. Let me give some thoughts on that one then, Mister Rockin,” Meribel said.

  “Ok,” I agreed again.

  “Thank you,” Meribel smiled.

  Once the matter was settled, we exchanged our goodbyes and I left, paying the six gold coins for the rent before leaving too. Savirei was very happy to learn that I had found a person who will be taking care of the clan’s application forms from now on. She then became very, very impressed when I have told her about the agreement with Meribel Willmint and where our clan’s headquarters will be. Mentioning the hours that Lapis would work put another smile on her face too, Savirei extending her thanks for thinking about her business hours, not that she was closing down at the same time like the majority of the businesses in town. Obviously, Savirei wanted more details of what I had spoken to Meribel about, but I had a meeting to attend to. I promised to tell her more about it later, after everything was setup.

  Once back at the Auction House, Miss Meribel offered a different, smaller office for me and Lapis to discuss his work responsibilities in more detail, not forgetting to offer drinks and snacks for all five of us. Lapis was very professional and the way he described his previous work experiences made an impression that he was working as an accountant here at the Auction House. During our conversation Lapis was very attentive and polite, not interrupting me even once. He did ask many questions and took notes for himself, something that made an impression on me too. We’ve spent a good several hours talking, with Lapis being the one who was asking questions for the most part while I was trying to explain to him what kind of clan I wanted to create. Before parting, Lapis extended his thanks to me for taking the time to explain all the things that I did in great detail, promising he will do the utmost best job to help the Rockstars Clan grow and prosper. The next stop was Alragus’ workshop.

  “You have rented an office at the Auction House and hired someone to help with our clan’s quests?” Alragus snorted, looking both surprised and impressed.

  “Yeah, I thought it would make a lot easier for everyone. The place won’t be available until the day after tomorrow, though,” I told him.

  “That will be a big help indeed,” Alragus agreed. “Right, is there something you needed from me or letting me know about our clan’s meeting place was the main reason you have come here?”

  “Right, do you need any crafting materials? All our storages are overfilled. I will be going to the Guild to check if they have any quests to allow me to get rid of as many items as I can, but I thought I’ll offer what I have to you first,” I told him. The thing was, with the people stalking me for the past two days, I wasn’t able to do anything other than stay at Savirei’s diner to deal with all the applicants who wanted to join my clan. I had to take the burden off Savirei, also making sure the applicants didn’t bother any other patrons too.

  “If you have any ore on you, I will take it,” Alragus said.

  “Yes, I have,” I said before turning to the three ladies behind me. “Do any of you have any ore in your inventories?”

  “Yes, I have some, Master Rockin,” said Ranalaiya.

  “I think I have too,” added Sylfrin.

  “I will check as well,” Lilfira said.

  After everyone checked, we piled twenty two pieces of ore for Alragus. Six of those were the Hardened Iron Ore that we had collected as drops from the normal Stone Golems. The remaining sixteen were the Brown Iron Ores from the Lesser Stone Golems. I wasn’t bothered about collecting Brown Iron Ore at the very beginning, but after eating most of our food, I decided to collect some for Alragus.

  “Six Hardened Iron Ores? Good,” Alragus became happy about those right away.

  “Yeah. We had more of those on us, but I shared the ore with Tarrion and Virghel since they’ve been helping us farm experience,” I said.

  “Stone Golems, eh?” Alragus snorted, keeping whatever he wanted to say to himself.

  “Something on your mind?” I asked him.

  “Yes, but…” Alragus said, but still was not willing to share it with me.

  “Just say it,” I said, rolling my eyes.

  “It’s about Lilfira reaching level fifteen while you are still level nine,” Alragus finally told me, forcing me to turn to look directly at him. “I know only that much. Tarrion said to ask you directly if I wanted to know more.”

  “Right…” I mumbled, scratching the back of my head. “I have a skill that doubles the experience gain from monster kills for my party members. The benefit doesn’t apply to me, however.” I thought I could tell him at least that much.

  “I’ll be damned. Now it makes sense,” Alragus said. “Still, I would’ve thought you’d be higher level by now. Not to mention, you knocking out a red dragonkin who was level twenty one.”

  “Sigh…” I dropped my head, but then opened my Status Window before navigating to my skills tab. “Just… you know… keep it to yourself, ok?” I said before swiping my finger in the air, a window appearing in front of Alragus.

  “Wha…” his mouth dropped the moment he saw my unique skill, his eyes staying glued at the screen, Alragus reading the description as fast as he could.

  “Done?” I asked him.

  “Yeah, sorry. It’s my first time seeing how a Unique Skill looks. Congrats,” Alragus said, trying to suppress his shock.

  “Thanks,” I said before closing my Status Window. “By the way, I was always curious. What level are you yourself?”

  “I’m level twelve,” said Alragus.

  “Twelve?” My eyebrows shot up. “You’ve been going to the dungeon?”

  “Yes, sometimes. Although, I haven’t been to the dungeon for some time now,” he said before adding. “I need to increase my level in order to increase my stats. Higher level equipment requires higher Strength stat and working at the forge needs higher Stamina too. I will need to go to the dungeon to increase my level at some point if I want to be able to craft higher quality gear in the future.”

  “Oh? You could come to the dungeon with us sometime if you want. You know, will be faster for you to raise your level. Although, there is a caveat to my skill too,” I added, scratching my cheek with one finger, remembering Lavita.

  “Eh? What do you mean?” Alragus asked.

  “Well… I’ll tell when you decide to go with us,” I said.

  “When are you leaving?” Alragus didn’t waste time.

  “Huh? Sorry, but I don’t plan on going to the dungeon until the office for our clan members is ready to be used,” I told him.

  “Oh, ok. Mind taking me with you when you do?” Alragus asked again.

  “Sure. I might ask Tarrion to go too, so we could go to the lower floors of the dungeon. Monsters give more experience points in the lower floors, you know,” I said.

  “Right. Before I forget, with the Hardened Iron Ore you have brought, I could craft you a new armor set. You said you needed one before, but I’ve crafted armor for Lilfira instead,” Alragus reminded me.

  “Yes, that’d be awesome, actually. My current one is… getting rusty,” I said, not that my armor was getting rusty. It was another way of saying I definitely wanted a new one.

  “You want me to use Tarkee skins too?” Alrgaus asked.

  “N… no, not really,” I squirmed. “I don’t have that many Tarkee skins on me and I’d rather wear armor that offers some extra to Strength stat instead of Agility stat.”

  “I see. How many set pieces are we talking?” Alragus wanted to know.

  “So, chest piece, shoulder pads, bracers, leggings and shoes. Five?” I suggested, expressing it as a question.

  “Only five? What about helmet and gloves?” Alragus suggested.

  “Oh? I don’t know. I don’t like wearing a helmet. As for gloves, they’d need to be comfortable for me to wear, since I use shields to fight,” I told him.

  “Fine. If no helmet, three pieces of Hardened Iron Ore should be enough to craft a six piece armor set. I’ll pay you for the rest?” Alragus offered.

  “Sure,” I said.

  “Since you’ll stay in Hirvant for the next two days, I’ll start on your order tomorrow. I have a few orders that I need to finish today,” he informed.

  “Awesome,” I showed a thumbs up sign.

  After our trade was done, we have left Alragus’ shop. Next stop was supposed to be the Guild.

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