World’s Cutest Alchemist

“Mouse!” I said, hugging her from behind, “I’m gonna go out, kay?”

“Where are you going?” She asked, leaning her head on my shoulder and looking at me.

“Hehe, it’s a surprise~” I smiled.

“Hm…A surprise? Should I come with you?”

“No way, it’d ruin the surprise if you did.”

“Fine,” Luna rolled her eyes, “Are you going with anyone?”

“Ashley and Louis!” She asked.

“Louis?” Luna repeated, “Who’s that?”

“It’s Mama’s person,” I shrugged, “Meeting him for the first time today.”

“Well, if he’s trusted, that’s fine. See you later.”

“Mwah!”

…

Today was the day I’d be signing the contracts at the ALG office. I think I remember the lawyer mister calling it ‘closing’ or something, but, who knows? He could have told me it was called ‘alligator, ambidexterity, amber day’ and I’d have believed him.

Louis was meeting us in front of the building, so, it was just Ashley and I in one car.

A little bit later, I stepped out of the car. I looked at the familiar building, it really does look nice. I wonder when I’ll get a building of my own? I’ll need it for the guild headquarters.

I didn’t want to think too much about that stuff right now because I knew myself. Once I started thinking about it, my time for the day would be stolen as I’d think about the aesthetics, name, logo, branding, location, and all the official stuff.

So, I shook my head and looked around a bit before spotting an older looking man leaning on his cane in front of a wall close to the entrance.

He wasn’t elderly, at least, if he was, he aged extremely gracefully. He had neat black hair styled in a comb over. He wore square glasses—the ones without a frame at the top. His chin was clean shaven and overall, he looked like a well-put together dude. For his clothes, he wore a black suit with a pink undershirt and black tie. His shoes were the standard formal dress shoes and I saw him wearing a wedding—or maybe an engagement ring? One of those were on his left ring finger. The most obvious part of him though, was the cane he was holding. It was a pleasant auburn color and looked kind of like a big candy cane.

My gut told me this was him. This was my lawyer! I don’t know what I expected him to look like, but, I must admit I’m not disappointed…Ah, well, I mean, I don’t choose lawyers basted on aesthetics but…Bah! Whatever!

I waved at him and he gave me a soft wave back.

Ashley followed behind me as I approached him.

“Ms. Stella, is that right?” The man asked, his voice was clear and crisp. I bet he’d make a good commentator or host.

“That’s right!” I said, “Are you Louis, the lawyer mister?” I asked.

“I am Louis, that’s correct.” He nodded, extending his left hand, “It’s nice to meet you. You look a lot like Elara.”

“Nice to meet you too!” I shook his hand, “Well, I do take after her quite a bit,” I smiled before looking at his cane, “Are you injured?” I asked.

“Just a medical condition,” he said, gesturing to his left leg, “Lost a bit of functionality, but it’s nothing concerning.”

“I see.” I nodded, “How long have you been lawyering for my Mama?” I asked.

“Wow…Geez…Hm…About fourteen years now, I suppose? She was my first client after I got my degree.”

A case of theft: this story is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Fourteen years!? Goodness! That’s almost as long as I’ve been alive!

“That’s a while.” I said.

“Yeah, thanks to her, I’ve experienced some cases that I’ve never even heard of before, haha.” He chuckled, “So, today, you’re just going in to close the contracts?” He asked.

“Um, yep! Just signing them and that’ll be that!”

“Understood.” He said.

We headed inside and soon made our way to the familiar office room.

The same three people were here, Eugene, Janette, and Harry. We exchanged greetings before I took a seat in the same spot I sat last time.

…

To my disappointment, nothing really exciting happened during the closing—or, better known as: alligator, ambidexterity, amber day.

Hehe.

Anyways, thanks to Louis, everything was handled smoothly. When we were outside the ALG building, I briefly explained to him that I needed a contract for drug mister. After he said he’d have it written and sent to me within the day, Ashley drove me back to my house.

Thankfully, since Louis practically did all the thinking for me today, I wasn’t mentally exhausted!

I unlocked the door and stepped inside-

“Boo!” A sudden voice came from the side.

“WAAAH!” I jumped and turned to see a snickering mouse! “You!” I glared at her.

“Hahaha!” She laughed.

“How’d you even know I was back!?” I asked. There was no way she got from the computer to the door within seconds, right?

“I felt it with my senses.” Luna answered.

“Wah! Such a broken trait!” I grumbled, placing my hand over my racing heart, “You nearly gave me a heart attack!”

“Sorry, sorry, but, it was funny.” Luna said with a smug smile.

“You!” I jutted my lips, “Just wait for my retaliation.” I said, puffing my cheek.

“Hehe, okay.” Luna chuckled, “Just know that it’s going to be hard to scare me.”

“Scare?” I tilted my head.

“If it’s not scaring me, then what?” She asked.

“Just wait until Christmas.” I teasingly smiled.

“Christmas…?” She repeated, not understanding it immediately.

But, once she did, her face turned bright red.

…

“Ahem,” Luna cleared her throat, “The association sent a list over while you were away. Do you want to check it and see if any materials they gathered interest you?” She asked.

“Oh! Yes!” I nodded quickly. Even if I can’t use them now, I can probably stash them in the fridge and use them later, right?

We headed to the couch and she handed me her phone before scooting close to me so we could both see the screen together.

“Just click that right there and you can scroll down.” She said.

I did as she said.

[Gate: Rocky Androsia (C- Grade)]

[Total Revenue - 78,325,667 Points]

[After Association Tax - 75,975,897 Points]

[Collected Loot]

* 1x Stoneskinned Eagle Core - 1,500,000 points (Reserved by Water Princess)

* 1x Stoneskinned Eagle Beak - 230,000 points

* 8x Stoneskinned Eagle Talons - 150,210 points each (2x Reserved by Water Princess)

…

* 1x Dead-End Vulture Core - 25,000 points (damaged)

* 1x Dead-End Vulture Beak - 17,000 points (damaged)

* 8x Dead-End Vulture Talons - 15,000 points each (damaged)

“…” I paused as I continued to read the ‘damaged’ dead-end vulture parts. Slowly, I turned to look at Luna, “Hey…All these parts are damaged.” I said.

“Don’t know how that happened.” Luna replied nonchalantly, her eyes darting to the right.

I tapped on one of the items and it pulled up a photo. In the photo, the talons were charred and looked brittle.

“Hey, why’s it look like that?” I asked with a steady tone.

“It must’ve been old.” Luna replied.

“Uh-huh…” I said.

I pulled up a picture of the body itself. It was already plucked of its feathers, so, it looked kind of ugly.

“Hey…” I started, “What’s with the patterns on it? Looks like what happens when you get struck by lightning.”

“Lichtenberg Figures,” Luna said, “And, well, I did strike it with lightning.”

“Aha!” I exclaimed, “So! You’re the culprit who ruined the materials!”

“…It was me, your honor. Take me to jail.” Luna bowed her head.

“Hahaha!” I laughed. Luna did as well.

It was interesting; The association really made it convenient for awakeners. Luna told me that their only job during gate clears is to clear the gate, after which, the association will harvest and collect any materials inside of it. Well, at least the obvious ones like the monsters they take down and whatever the party marks.

When that’s done, they make a whole list of the materials collected, where the party can reserve materials before they’re sold to the association. And they only take a 3% tax of the revenue to do all that.

Then since the gate stays open for a little while even after the boss has died, the association allows awakeners to explore and collect anything left over inside the gate for a small fee.

“So, you made 76 million points from this clear?” I asked.

“Total, yes. It’ll be split between everyone in the party.” Luna said, “The party leader gets a bit more though.”

“I see, I see,” I nodded. “Then, how do the reservations work? Does everyone get less money because someone reserved something?”

“No,” She shook her head, “We’ve already confirmed how much we each got.” She said, clicking something on the app.

There, it showed a list similar to the party details screen.

[Flowers123] - 8,475,897 Points (Leader)

[GogglesWarrior] - 7,500,000 Points

[Venwinter] - 7,500,000 Points

[PhantomDiver] - 7,500,000 Points

[RealRealRealArcher] - 7,500,000 Points

[Searching The World] - 7,500,000 Points

[Faithful Priestess] - 7,500,000 Points

[Raindancer] - 7,500,000 Points

[ElectricTypeMouse] - 7,500,000 Points

[Water Princess] - 4,887,548 Points (Reserved 1x Stoneskinned Eagle Core, 2x Stoneskinned Eagle Talons, 4x Toxic Spitting Goat Core…)

“Anything you reserve gets deducted from your payout.” Luna said, “It seemed like the party leader this time decided to be kind and only took enough to make the rest of us get a clean number. Sometimes, it can be hard to look at with all the numbers.”

“I see, I see.” I nodded, “That’s neat. So, you made 7,500,000 points from one gate clear?”

Converted to money that was $75,000! If she can do at least one of these weekly, that’s $300,000 per month! Wow, that’s actually more than I expected. So, although production classes do make more, combat classes still make quite a bit.

So, who gets screwed here? Utility classes? No, cause that explorer was a utility class…Hm…I guess everyone gets their slice of the cookie.

Actually, thinking about it, production classes get screwed the most! Drug mister told me about that.

“Remember, this is from a C- grade gate which is a bit lucky to get.” Luna said, “The average is a bit lower, but, overall it’s still great money.”

“Mm,” I nodded, “Is there a limit to the amount of things I can reserve?” I asked.

“No, not really,” She shook her head, “The points I made isn’t the limit as you can spend personal funds after that’s out.”

“Got it~” I smiled, “I’ll just reserve a little then.”

Honestly, I was tempted to spend everything and reserve the whole list, but I held myself back. Even if I did buy all the materials, I wouldn’t make anything with them until we move anyways.

“After everything’s confirmed and set. They’ll send it over via trade.” Luna said, “Or, alternately, if you want to pick them out yourself, we can visit the association in person. Our loot will be in a room.”

“Yeah, that’s what I’d like to do.” I said, “I can’t trust them to pick out the best ones.”

“Affirm,” Luna nodded, “We can go after it gets confirmed—Probably in a few days.” She said.

“Perfect~!” I smiled, “Anything else interesting about the app?” I asked.

“Mm…Not that I can think of?” She said.

“Then,” I stood up and stretched, “I’m gonna get to making potions.”

“Alright, have fun, I’ll be on the computer.” Luna said, standing up.

…

Days passed, and soon, it was the weekend. And today, I was expecting something that made me very, very excited…