“Thank you for your time, Mage Whitaker. I will inform you of my decision in a few days,” I said to the old woman, who looked to be in her early seventies.

“Thank you for considering me,” she said and walked out of my office.

“How was she?” I asked Zela sitting beside me. “Her knowledge was good, but her explanations were too complex,” she replied.

I am not a mage. I need someone to check the knowledge of the person; I am interviewing. There is also Carla, who is very good at people; there is a reason, my father has chosen her.

The old woman was the seventh mage we interviewed in the past five days. She is also one of two, that Valentina had recommended.

There is one more interview in the afternoon. This one was recommended by Shaun; the one he talked about in my office.

“So, I would not be adding her to the list?” I asked, and both of them shook their heads. Of all the seven people, only two have been added to the list; I have already ordered a background check on them.

“I will swing by the establishment. Are you coming?” asked Carla. We are in my office in the city. It is more suitable to interview here than in the establishment.

Though the ones we hired will need to teach the girls in the establishment before they shifted to their new home.

“I can’t, there is a lot of work here for me to do,” I replied, looking at piles of boxes by my desk, which I have to go through today.

“Good luck,” she said and walked out with Zela, but not before glancing at Fang, who is sitting on the small cushion bed.

“Good boy,” I said as the door closed and threw the treat at him, which he caught in his mouth.

It is the first time I have brought him out of the manor, and he is doing well. He sat there without making even the slightest sound, despite people coming and going.

Many wanted to pet him, including Carla, but I stopped her. Despite the progress I had made; it is still dangerous for others to touch him.

Those sharp teeth could easily bite off the bones.

I have made great progress in his training, and it is all thanks to the new skill I got, twelve days ago. I was surprised when I got it. It is a rare skill. Even Lv. 20 trainers didn’t get it, but I got it.

Though, I shouldn’t have been surprised.

It is a trade I am most experienced in. I have trained in the dogs since I was a child and helped out my father whenever I go home.

It could be said, I have got the skill because of my experience.

Though, it should also be nodded that monster training is on a completely different level than dog training.

The skill is very good, but it is not easy to use. For three days, I have been scratched and bloodied more than I could count before I learned to use it properly.

The skill Command Projection is an invaluable skill. It lets me project command to the monster I am training. To do that, I need to touch the monster. I am training, and I need to have a clear and concise projection in my mind.

Which is the toughest task.

It had made Fang very angry the first time that my guards thought it had lost its mind and wanted me to kill him.

It was my mistake, and it took me three days and I nearly spent all my time figuring it out, but it was worth it. Seeing, I had finished the obedience training in less than a third of the time.

Today, I have even brought him to the office to get used to the people.

Click!

I had just fed him when the door opened, and Jill and Clair walked inside and sat opposite of me before pulling the boxes on the table.

Jill gave me a big stack and shared a small one with Clair.

We are researching the plan for the Oksall trade. Half of the time had already passed, and I have around eight days before I will need to present it to the Count.

I could get an extension from the Count, but there is no need to do that. I am confident I will be finished on time.

These girls are good. I have taught them tricks of doing research, as I had done to Carla, Ina, and Margaux.

They had learned it and already helping me with the work. Clair had even gained the Reading skill.

I opened the first stack and started to read it. My Reading skill is very fast, all thanks to the points, I am investing in the mental attributes.

The latest attribute, point I have got; I had invested in intelligence, which has increased my reading speed further.

This intense research in the past few days had done another thing. I was able to mould my Reading skill fully. It is now devoid of any restriction. It now gives the same reading speed as legal documents to other texts.

It was not an easy task, but I did it. Though, it is also worth mentioning that Reading is a common skill and the one I use the most.

It is quite hard to manipulate and mould the other powerful skills, but I am trying and was able to have small successes.

I pushed those thoughts and focused on the stack of documents ahead of it. I took the first stack and begin to read it while taking notes on important points.

There is a lot of information here, centuries old.

The grey guilds have a large amount of information on all kinds of things and since it is barely the lowest level of secrets due to their age, I have got cheaply, and the city paid for it.

There is also a heavy discount, which cities get.

The lords might curse the grey guilds, but they are also the ones who use their services the most. These people are very good at keeping records. I could get hundreds of years of information from them.

Support the author by searching for the original publication of this novel.

Not all information here has been brought from the grey guilds. The majority of it is from the public domain.

We only needed to pay for copies and transport fees.

An hour passed and then another and I read through a truly large amount of material. So much that I wouldn’t have been able to do it in a day.

I am not simply reading, but employing the reading methods, which makes my speed even faster than simply Reading. It is amazing what I have been able to do in these few days.

It would have needed a month for a normal person.

Thankfully, nobody has come to disturb us. Some people might have come, but I have kept someone downstairs, and unless it is important, nobody would disturb me.

I read through stack after stack of papers and the majority of information there is not useful to my current purpose, but now and then, I would find a line, a paragraph, or an article in there that will be useful.

Click!

I was reading with the girls when the door clicked, and Carla walked inside with Zela.

“Jill, Clair, take the rest,” I said. The girls put the stacks in the boxes, before walking out of the office.

“How are the things in the establishment?” I asked. “Good, Margaux is handling everything well,” she replied.

There is also Della and Lola to help her; I have relieved her too and in this week. I will relieve Andrea as well.

They need to learn as much from Carla and Margaux as possible. I have a feeling that I will need some of them soon.

A few minutes passed, and we discussed a few things before the magical intercom lit up.

‘Mr. Silver, Mage Aldridge, has arrived for the interview,’ Clair informed. He had arrived exactly on time.

‘Send him in,’ I said.

Click!

A few seconds later, a man with bronze skin, who looked to be in his early sixties, walked inside.

At first glance, there is nothing remarkable about this man. He is of medium height and average face, but his eyes are completely different. They are sharp and at one glance; he seemed to have seen through everything.

“Mage Aldridge, take a seat,” I said to the man. “Thank you, Mr. Silver,” he replied and took a seat in front of me.

“It’s nice seeing you again, Scholar Aldridge,” said Zela. “You too, Mage Zela,” he replied with no change on his face.

“I assume you have read the job requirements, Mage Aldridge?” I asked him. “Yes,” he replied expressionlessly.

“And you will not have a problem or aversion to those who you will teach if you get the job?” I asked. “No, you will be paying to teach me, and I will do that; it didn’t matter to me whom I have to teach,” he answered.

“Good, we will begin then,” I said and started the interview. Though it had started the moment he walked inside.

I have taken hundreds of interviews, and many were like this one, where I had barely any knowledge of the field I am taking the interview for.

The clients or their people with me had tested those aspects, while my job had been testing the other aspects.

There are methods of that, the set of questions. I started to ask them, from the first question and what he said and the way he answered them.

All three of us had asked questions, Zela asked the ones related to magic, while Carla and I asked those related to our expertise.

“I heard that very few were people last in your course till the end, why is that?” I asked the most important question.

He didn’t answer it immediately, like most of his answers. It is the thing I liked about him. He weights the question before answering them.

“Most people find my class difficult and me overbearing.” He replied after a second of silence.

“Why do not change your teaching method then?” I asked, and his expression changed ever so slightly.

“Why should I? While my teaching may be overbearing, those who remain in my class till the end are best and do better in the academy and out of it,” he answered, with a hint of pride in his voice.

“That’s all. Thank you for your time, Mage Aldridge.”

“I will inform you of my decision in a few days,” I said. He nodded and got out of his seat before walking out of the office.

“He is overbearing and prideful,” I said as he left. “There is nothing wrong with that. The man is confident of his abilities and unapologetic about it.”

“We need this type of person to teach the girls,” said Carla. It surprised me. As she doesn’t like such people, but now she wants a person like him to teach the girls, whom she is quite protective of.

I turned to Zela.

“Shaun is right about him. His knowledge is quite deep and could explain it in understanding language,” she said.

“We will make our decision after we interviewed the rest,” I said. I am quite hesitant about the man. I do not have a problem with man, but his straights.

“You know, he is just like you. So confident in his abilities that it is irritating,” said Carla, surprising me.

“I am not like that,” I said, glaring at her.

“You should see your face when you explain things to people. It can be irritating sometimes,” she said I wanted to refute that and even opened my mouth, but closed it.

Maybe there is a reason why some people didn’t like me. I will need to work it; as nobody, like the smartass.