World’s Cutest Alchemist

“A…Casual chat?” Ashley asked after a moment.

“That’s right!” I said, sipping on my hot chocolate, “It’s such a hassle to speak so formally all the time! How do you keep speaking so professionally twenty-four seven?”

“…That would be due to the nature of my job.” Ashley replied hesitantly.

“Wow, how do you unwind? You said you deal with young awakeners all day? That’s gotta be tiring!”

“I relax just like everyone else; Sometimes I listen to music, on days off I may go hiking or camping…Understanding people is just part of the job. It’s not particularly tiring or exhausting.”

“Wow! Spoken like a true unbiased party! Hehe!~” I giggled, “So, question.”

“Yes?”

“Do you care if I speak like this? Honestly, there’s just no way I can be in big boss mode all the time.”

“It’s no problem.” Ashley replied, “It’s normal for the clientèle to speak casually.”

“…Big boss mode?” Luna mumbled so quietly only I could hear her.

“Good! Good!” I smiled, “So, Ashley, do you wear glasses when you’re alone?” I asked.

“…Glasses? No, my eyesight is perfect.” She replied.

“Do you read books?” She flinched a little as I continued speaking, “Or watch shows? Movies? Anime? What’s your favorite genre?”

“I like watching reality TV. Other than that, I prefer calm and relaxing things since I’m usually very active.”

“So you like slice of life mainly?”

“That’s correct.”

Hm…I’m getting a certain other vibe from her! Hehe, my gut is never wrong! But! I’ll let her be, I haven’t even officially hired her yet.

Ashley and I continued chatting for nearly twenty minutes, in that time, I think I got a pretty good understanding of her. And, from what I could tell, it wouldn’t be a problem to trust her with things.

Luna also occasionally chimed in and didn’t seem to dislike her.

So, in just about thirty minutes since meeting her. I had made my decision.

“Alrighty!” I finished the last of my hot chocolate, “Ashley!”

“Yes?”

I put on my most corporate sounding professional voice and a neutral expression,

“You’re hired.” As soon as I said that, the corners of my mouth started to twitch up uncontrollably, a second later, I burst out giggling, “Hehe! Mouse! I sounded so cool just now, didn’t I!?”

“And it lasted for less than a second.” Luna replied, hiding her smile.

“Doesn’t matter~ I still sounded cool for that second, didn’t I? Hehe!”

“Pfft…” Luna quietly chuckled.

“So, Ashely,” I turned to her, “Any questions?”

“What kind of tasks will you assign me?” She asked.

“Well, anything association-related is stuff you’ll handle. For both Mouse and I. Other than that just some casual things to make things easier? What kinds of tasks do people even give personal assistants?”

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“Usually scheduling, planning things, or food-related things like buying groceries or making sure you eat balanced meals.” Ashley replied, “I can also work as a personal trainer, I have skills beneficial to physical and mana growth. I’m able to create a training regime that would fit either of you.”

“Interesting, interesting. You said earlier you have a skill that can determine what we need to work on to better our foundation? How does that work?” I asked.

“It requires me to be allowed to use a skill on you, but, if I do, I can get a general overview of your weaknesses and strengths. I have another skill that helps me see what kind of training is most effective for you. With that information, I can determine what you need to focus on and create a regime for you.”

A skill that can see someone’s weakness and strengths? That sounds busted. I wonder what grade that is.

“Can you also use that overview skill on monsters?” I asked.

“Yes.”

Her class was Manager, right? That sounds like an amazing utility-type class. I can see her being desired by a lot of guilds if she wasn’t apart of the association.

“That’s a very cool skill!” I said, “Alright, when can you start?” I asked.

“I can begin now if needed,” Ashley replied, “If I remember correctly, you just registered with the association. I assume you haven’t done any of the simple things like setting your status, preferences, and avoidances.”

“What’s that? I’ve heard Mouse talk about it, but I’ve never looked into it.”

“It’s to show your current availability on the awakener database. It’s what people will see when they search up your public profile.”

I looked at Luna for confirmation and she nodded.

“Alright! Then, let’s do that.” I said, “Is here a good place to do it?”

“There’s no problem. This is nothing major and the isolation barrier will suffice.”

“Okay~ So, what do I need to do?”

“I’ll just ask some questions and you’ll answer them.”

“Got it!” I nodded.

“First, what should I mark your status as?” She asked, “I can mark you as unavailable if you’re not looking to receive offers from the association.”

“What kind of offers can I receive?”

“If you complete the tower floor test the association does monthly, and set your status to: ‘Available for Party’, you can receive offers to join parties that are on that floor. There’s a similar option called: ‘Available for Gates’, which lets you see offers for gate clearing parties.

For production classes like yourself, there’s ‘Available for Commissions’, and ‘Available to Talk’. The former allows the association to offer you jobs to create things that other awakeners request. The latter allows people to inquire to you directly before making any requests.” Ashley explained, “There’s also ‘Looking for xx’, which is the same as available but more active.”

“I understand,” I nodded, “Let’s just set that as unavailable for now.”

“Understood,” Ashley nodded, jotting something down on a notepad she retrieved from her bag.

She proceeded to go over more of the boring jibber-jabber, it was all just really basic things. Like, if I’m available for parties or commissions, what kind of environment do I prefer fighting in or what kind of potions do I prefer making? Is there anything I will avoid?

Basically, it was just filling out the essential but boring about me section of anything.

In any case, I went over things with Ashley for about thirty minutes. After which, we were finally done with the association matters.

For reference, I set my status to ‘Unavailable’.

“Alright, I’ll get everything handled promptly.” Ashley said as we finished our conversation.

“Okay~” I nodded, “Mouse do you have anything you need done at the association?” I asked.

“No,” She shook her head, “I’m still waiting for a gate party request to come in.”

“Then, if there’s nothing else, I believe we are done here for the day?” Ashley asked.

“Ah!” I jumped up, “One more thing!”

“Yes?”

“We need help looking into houses.” I said.

“Understood,” Ashley flipped to a blank page on her notepad, “What are your requirements, budget, and anything else I need to know?”

Wow, just like that? I should’ve gotten a personal agent sooner! I’ll just dump every annoying task onto them!

“We only have a few requirements!” I smiled,

“Okay.” She tapped the bottom of her pen and it made that satisfying clicking nose.

“We’re looking to spend a max of up to three million, but that’s flexible,” I said and she jotted it on her notepad, “As for the requirements…We’re looking for a two-car garage and it needs to have at least five rooms?” I said uncertainly before starting to count with my fingers, “A well-ventilated alchemy area, I’d like for it to be connected to a storage area where I can keep materials.

Also, I need a place to stockpile my potions, it needs to be big enough to fit shelves, crates, and other containers. Next, we need a room to build an in-home gym, big enough to fit whatever workout equipment Mouse needs.

Then, we also need a gaming room to fit our consoles and computers.” I looked at Luna and she nodded, “Also! Also! We need a home cinema! And finally, we need either a greenhouse or conservatory!”

“…Is that it?” Ashley asked after finishing writing down things on her notepad.

“Oh! Right! The layout of the house can’t be atrocious! The furniture is all stuff we can and will likely replace, but if the kitchen and bathroom is nice and practical, that’d be optimal!”

Ashley wrote a few more things down. Taking a peek at her notepad, it was completely filled from top to bottom.

Hm…It wasn’t that much, was it?

“What about the location?” She asked.

“Um…Mouse, what do you think? I don’t really care if we’re in a more rural area.”

“It’s fine if it’s a little rural, but I don’t want something in the middle of nowhere.” Luna said.

“Understood.” Ashley nodded, “And you want an already built house? The other option is to hire people to build one that fits your requirements exact.”

Oh! That doesn’t sound bad at all! Luna and I living in a house we designed together. Plus, that would ensure we have everything we want without compromise! There’s only one problem I can think of though.

“How long would that take?” I asked.

“The longest part would be getting the proper documentation. However, due to your current status, I believe that it will be significantly faster to get approval. Especially if we directly contact the association, it would definitely be one of the things that they will help with.

As for the building itself, that would only take a few months. There are plenty of utility-type classes out there.”

“Hm…Mouse, what do you think?” I asked.

“It means we’d have to buy land for the house to be on,” Luna said, “I don’t know exactly what that entails, but I think it’d be a good choice. Honestly, we do have a bit high standards that’ll be hard to find without major renovations.”

“Okay, and when does your lease end? Mine’s over the end of next month.”

“Um…I actually pay month-to-month, so, there’s no specific end date.”

Pfft! Okay! So, that’s what she was lying about before. She’s so cute.

I internally giggled before turning my attention to Ashley,

“Then, yeah, let’s hire people! Can you handle all of that mess?” I asked. Honestly, it feels like a lot of work.

“Yes, that’s my job.” Ashley replied without changing tone.

Oh my goodness! I can really just dump everything onto her? Heck yeah! I should’ve gotten a personal agent sooner! I wonder what else I can offload to her?

“Okay~ Then, I’ll leave that to you. I don’t think there’s anything else? Mouse?”

Luna shook her head.

“Then, it was nice meeting you two,” Ashley said, standing up, “I’ll start on the tasks immediately.”

“Thank you~” I said.

“Thank you.” Luna said.

“Just doing my job.” Ashley nodded.

Luna and I waved her off. In the future, unless she’s needed in person, she’d text the group chat we created for further communication.

Now, there was just under an hour left until the interviews with the enchanter and glassblower. Until then…Hehe, it’s just Luna and I.

“Mouse, Mouse!” I said.

“Yeah?”

Luna turned to me.

“Mwah!”