Flipping through the book, I still have no idea what it’s saying. Apparently Azariah already has the alphabet memorized. I’m so jealous of her. She loves her job, gets a free tutor, and I’m stuck here having to clean up after nobles. Oh well, it pays well, and my interactions with all the maids are fun, so I really shouldn’t complain so much.

I put the book back on its shelf, finishing cleaning up Lady Noelle’s room. Although she’s only ten, she’s apparently one of the nobles I’m meant to be serving, so I have to treat her with utmost respect, even if that seems rather cold of me. I still remember just how much I got scolded for calling her “Noelle” instead of “Lady Noelle” when somebody heard me. I guess I know why she was laughing now.

I think I did a pretty good job of cleaning her room, even though I’ve never cleaned my own. I even made sure to ask her how she wanted everything organized, and made sure I didn’t touch anything she told me not to! Aren’t I thoughtful?

Anyway, I have more important things to do than sit around in a ten year old girl’s room all day. After I’m done cleaning Lady Noelle’s room, I’m meant to meet with Baron Wisefang, the head of the household, and my employer. Yes, that is his name. Some of the other lower noble families apparently have similarly brutal names like “Thunderbelly” and “Misteye”. Putting that aside for now, this meeting is obviously very important so I need to get going!

Lady Noelle is Baron Wisefang’s daughter, so her room is actually kind of close to his office. It doesn’t take me very long to get there because of that. Walking in, it’s a large open space. There's bookshelves against both of the side walls. There’s a huge desk in the back of the room, and massive windows looking over Heafdes behind that.

Sitting at the desk is Baron Wisefang. A tall, skinny man with dark grey hair and eyes. He looks a lot older than he actually is. Standing to his left though, is another one of my coworkers. Virginia was another tall woman who had magenta hair coming down all the way to her waist and eyes of the same color. She’s wearing another maid uniform, and I have no idea why she’s here.

“Greetings, Baron Wisefang.” I bow, trying to get the introduction right. 

“Come in, Kiaran.” He says. I entered his office. 

“Kiaran, you’ve been working here for the past 4 days. How have you been doing under my employ?” 

“I’ve adjusted about as well as I can, but I can’t help but think everyone else has been doing a much better job than me…”

“You’re too modest with yourself, Kiaran. You’ve been doing well enough these past couple of days. I just wanted to make sure everything was going alright on your end.” 

“Oh, yeah, my end’s fine. Work can be really annoying at times, but hey? What are you going to do?” 

“So Virginia? Has Kiaran gotten along well with all our other servants?” He turns over to Virginia, who speaks for the first time in our entire meeting. 

“Yes, Kiaran is very agreeable and nice to be around. Although he doesn’t have a very good sense of etiquette-” 

“Hey! I’ve been trying to do better with that!” 

“...although he doesn’t have a very good sense of etiquette, he has been very adequate as a servant, my lord.”

“I noticed that already, Virginia. Kiaran, I’ve also heard you’ve gotten along well with my daughter?” 

“Yes! She can be a hassle to deal with at first, but she’s just another sweet little girl when you get to know her! I’ve enjoyed all the chances I’ve gotten to interact with her so far!” 

“It’s nice to hear that. She doesn’t get along with many people outside her immediate family. I’m glad she’s taken a liking to you.” 

“It’s really nothing. Thank you, though.”

“You’re too humble.” Baron Wisefang then takes two small bags that sound like they have a bunch of metal in them. 

“Would you prefer to receive your payment for the week in silver or gold?” 

“Huh? But it’s only been 4 days- Oh, today’s Adasday, isn’t it? Payday.” 

“Yes. I’m giving you your pay now.” 

“But we’re only halfway through the day.” 

“I wanted to have this meeting with you, might as well give it to you now. So Kiaran, do you prefer to be paid in silver or gold?”

That’s honestly a good question. I’m assuming both bags have the same amount of money in them. Not all that good at math, so I can’t figure out how many gold coins would be in the gold bag. The silver bag though, there should be 36 silver coins. 

“How many coins are in the gold bag? Sorry, math isn’t really my strong suit…” 

“The conversion rate for silver to gold is 1 to 6, so 6 gold coins.” Surprisingly, it’s Virginia answering my question instead of Baron Wisefang. 

“You not being able to convert silver to gold doesn’t bode well for when we send you to buy anything…” Virginia says next. Oh crap, that’s right. I did just make myself look like a total idiot there, didn’t I? I’m sure Azariah would be cringing if she could hear this. It isn’t my fault, OK? I don’t touch any of our money! Azariah and Aubrey (mostly Aubrey) handle all of that stuff!

“S-sorry… I’ll be sure to try and drive that into my thick skull whenever I get the free time.” 

“Don’t worry about it. I’ll have one of the maids teach you later in the day when nothing much is going on.” Virginia says again. Baron Wisefang remains silent.

OK, let’s move on past this. Do I want to be paid in silver or gold? We don’t really have any expenses great enough to be paying in gold I know that. So we’d probably have to convert the gold into silver, so Aubrey would get kind of annoyed at me. Silver it is then. “I’d prefer to be paid in silver, please.”

><><><><

There’s surprisingly little maids out and about in the halls at this time of day. It’s early into the day, so I had kind of assumed everybody would be heading every which way. That clearly isn’t the case though. Virginia doesn’t seem to think it’s weird, though. 

“Hey Virginia? Where is everyone?” 

“Huh? Whatever do you mean?” 

“Shouldn’t there be more maids walking around at this time of day?” 

“Oh, it’s around lunchtime for the servants of the house.”

Oh right, yeah it is that time of day, isn’t it? I was thinking so much about the meeting with Baron Wisegang I completely forgot it was lunchtime! “Shouldn’t we be heading to the servant’s dining hall then?” 

“That’s where I’m going. Were you just following me with no idea what we were doing?” Crap, that’s exactly what I was doing…

“What? No, of course not, I knew exactly where you were going, that’s why I was following you, of course.” 

“Along with etiquette and math, lying clearly is not one of your strong suits, Kiaran.” 

“Yeah, I guess a lie like that would be stupid easy to see through…”

“Yeah, though I still can’t believe that you asked how many gold coins you were being paid…” Virginia holds her hand up to her mouth and suppresses a laugh. 

“H- hey! Yeah, I get it, I thought I was an idiot too as soon as I realized what I said…” 

“I apologize.” 

“Don’t worry about it, I’m not very smart anyway. It’s OK to laugh.”

“Hm? I didn’t know you thought of yourself like that…” 

“Yeah, to tell the truth I’m really jealous of all of you. You all get your work done so much faster than me, are so much smarter than me, and act way more gracefully than I do.” 

“Hm… I don’t think that’s quite true.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Of course, it’s an indisputable fact that you work slow and can’t get your head around how to act properly, but that’s hardly a problem. You liven up everyone’s day just by being around them, and you get along with Lady Noelle surprisingly well. And she doesn’t get along with anyone.” 

“That really isn’t all that impressive.I’m just being myself. And Lady Noelle’s a really nice girl when you get to know her…”

“It is impressive, though. Not everyone is as socially adept as you Kiaran. I’ve heard you’ve memorized the names and faces of all your fellow servants already. Not to mention you already pretty much know your way around the mansion. To do all of that in less than a week is truly remarkable.” 

“Is it really?”

“Yes it is. And don’t belittle yourself so much. I’ve talked with the maids you interact with, and you’re doing far better than you think. Asking Heather for history lessons so you can understand etiquette better? Not to mention the main reason you’re working so slow is because you’re being so thorough. Trying so hard to imitate the work of the other maids is slowing you down.” 

“It is?”

“Yes, simply put less thought into it, and you should get all your work done as quickly as the other maids.” 

“Is that really the case?” 

“Of course. You work best when you aren’t really thinking all that much, just doing the task laid out for you.” 

“Right, yeah. That is how I am, isn’t it? Thanks for the advice, Virginia.” 

“Don’t worry about it.”

><><><><

The adventurer’s guild was a large two story building. On the inside, it looked similar to the inn Kiaran, Azariah and I are staying at. I assume that’s just this country’s style of architecture. I walk up to the front desk. The receptionist is a woman in a brown and white uniform.

“Welcome to the adventurer’s guild, sir. How may I help you?” She’s courteous. This kind of customer service reminds me of my past life. 

“I’d like to apply as an adventurer.” 

“Of course.” The receptionist takes out paper from under the desk. 

“Just fill out this paperwork and pay the enrollment fee.” 

“How much is that, exactly?” 

“Three copper coins.” 

“That isn’t that much…”

Kiaran, Azariah, and I have both spent two weeks at our jobs at this point. That means we’ve all gotten one full week’s paycheck. Since Kiaran & Azariah are both making enough money to support the three of us and we had a large amount of money left over from the castle, I decided I needed to hurry up and get as much experience in the adventurer’s guild as possible. I quit my job, but compared to the money those two are bringing in, it wasn’t very profitable anyway. I take a silver coin I had gotten from Kiaran’s second payday. 

“I don’t have any copper coins on me? Can I get change for this?” 

“Of course, sir.”

The receptionist quickly exchanges my silver coin for five copper coins. The paper work isn’t all that much. Just have to write my name, place of birth, age, if I’d ever worked as an adventurer before, stuff like that. Azariah & Kiaran have both managed to uncover enough information about this world for me to confidently lie about where I was born. The answer “a small, unnamed village northwest of Hallenstedt” is enough to dispel any suspicion.

“Are you done, sir?” 

“Yes ma’am. Is there anything else I need to do?” 

“No sir. As of now, you’re enrolled as an adventurer in the Heafdes Adventurer’s Guild. As a newcomer, your rank is “wood”, the lowest rank. Take whatever quests you like from the quest board, but you won’t be allowed to take any quests two ranks or higher than your current rank.”

That’s understandable. So according to Kiaran, my rank will increase along with my experience, and all the quests at the wood level are simple quests like “Find a lost kitten” and stuff like that. I still won’t be making much money, but I can’t complain. I have to hurry up and get as much experience as possible, in order to raise my rank.