I Own A Brothel In Another World (Ch. 1-196)

Chapter 181 - The Real Woes of a Job Interview

Elise jogs my way while dragging a person I'm not yet familiar with by the wrist. It looks a little comedic, to be honest. It wasn't that long ago that she was the more timid one while interacting with me, save for the moments we shared in the guild, but right now, she beams at me joyfully while pulling a shy, blushing girl behind her back.

Well, I guess our little fun together got rid of that awkwardness. Not that I'm complaining.

Nevertheless, our black-haired receptionist is accompanied by a slightly shorter girl with ruby-red eyes that seem to gleam mysteriously. To add to that mystery, her long, straight hair has a similarly mystical, silvery shade. I'm not sure if it's just my brain playing tricks on me but as her light grey strands flutter behind her back, a faint sparkle adorns the motion. As for her attire, she wears the same Adventurer's Guild uniform in which I've been introduced to our dear Elise.

I think I can already guess what this charming newcomer's occupation is.

The mystical girl does her best to avoid my gaze as I look their way, but fails to do so completely, and I do catch her glancing at me a few times. To say that she's skittish would be an understatement. It doesn't exactly look like she is too uncomfortable, but it's obvious that Elise is pretty much forcing her assumed friend to come here. We'll see if it's really for her good.

Expecting another brief conversation, I move slightly to the side so that we don't inconvenience the people working on the interior and such. The sooner the headquarters are finished, the better. We need to start taking commissions and making ourselves known so that Lianne can trust us with her jobs. It would look quite suspicious if a newly established company were to suddenly immediately start working with the kingdom.

So, I lean on the decently free wall and wait for the duo to get to me. They dodge and weave through the small crowd of construction workers and artisans. While Elise manages to avoid bumping into anyone, in her excitement, she doesn't really take her companion into consideration. The silver-haired lady fails to match her evasive manoeuvres while being dragged like a piece of wet cloth, stumbling at least a few times and brushing her shoulders against some innocent bystanders, which evokes some frowns and vocal displeasure.

Sighing lightly, I raise a brow at the airheaded receptionist as they finally stop in front of me, both catching their breaths. "You know you didn't have to run all the way here, right? I could have very well come to you if you just sent me a word that there's something you need from me."

"Sorry! I didn't plan this encounter! At least not yet." She smiles apologetically. "I was just showing the place to my friend here and thought it was the perfect opportunity to introduce her. She's currently on a short break at the guild so I wanted to get to you as quickly as possible."

"That's more or less fine, but I think you should pay a bit more attention to your friend here. With how absorbed in your objective you were, she must have collected a fair set of bruises and scrapes." I tilt my head to look past them and hint at the small chaos they created.

"Oh! I'm so sorry! I got a little too excited there! Are you okay? You are not hurt, right?" Elise faces her friend and pats the shorter girl all over with a concerned expression.

"It's alright..." the person in question answers with a quiet, gentle voice, barely audible to me with how shy it sounds.

"Thank the Goddess. I promise to make it up to you. Sorry again," Elise adds with a wry chuckle.

"So, may I know the reason behind your sudden distress? You mentioned showing your friend around. I'm not really against that, but we aren't yet open here and I think it would be wiser to save such activities for after we are done setting things up. Or at least give me a heads-up about the visitor. Unless you did notify Ria or someone else," I address her again as they both turn to me.