I headed through the staff cafeteria where I saw Rachel eating a steak.
“Oh! Welcome back, where’d you end up going?” She waved at me before she swallowed a piece of steak.
“Hello. I was meeting with someone, I got a side-job to do after work because I need quite a lot of money.” I replied, pausing for a moment before looking around, “Have you seen the boss?” I asked.
“I think she’s out right now, some sort of business-opportunity as she called it, I swear her eyes looked like money signs when she left, haha.”
“Ah, alright. I need to speak with her tomorrow then.”
“Mhm, so a side-job, huh? How much money do ya need?”
“I need about 20 gold.” As those words left my mouth, Rachel spit out some of her food, “Huh!? 20 gold?! Good luck with that, haha! I see why you took a second job now, what’dya need that much money for?” She asked.
“Rio and I are going to apply to Heavensward.” I replied before taking a seat across from her.
“Ah! I see, you two are close to your prime after all. Heavensward, huh? I remember dreaming about that place when I was younger, haha. What’s ya second job?”
“I don’t know the technical name for it, but I’m just singing for people at events and stuff. It’s like catering but with music.”
“Oh! I see, good luck with that, I think that’s such a great idea! I don’t know why, but it feels like you’s got some kind of relaxant in your voice, haha. Usually in the afternoon it gets a little rowdy round here, but that didn’t happen today.”
Huh? Really? Is it because of my ‘Music’ talent? Did it have that kind of effect? No, right?
“Maybe it’s just a coincidence. Anyways, I’ll be heading to bed now, night.”
“Night, sweetheart. See you tomorrow.”
I headed back to my room before flopping onto the bed, I wasn’t exactly going to sleep just yet, but I wanted to relax for a few seconds. It was a hectic day today, if I didn’t have my ‘Peace of Mind’ skill I don’t think I could’ve pulled through…Haah…I’m tired…
I need to shower…
…
“Mm…?” I opened my eyes and sat up, I fell asleep. I could see Rio sleeping on his bed and the alarm clock read 6:20 A.M, the sun had just started to peak through the blinds.
Ah…I guess fatigue caught up to me.
I stood up, stretching my body before heading to the bathroom. Luckily, Jennette had given us multiple uniforms to wear, so I didn’t have to reuse one before washing it.
I took a shower and brushed my teeth, yawning as I got dressed. After I flopped back onto my bed, I didn’t really know what to do.
What can I even do with my free time?
It wasn’t like I had a phone I could scroll through, I didn’t know how to train or even control my mana so that was a useless thought. Elle’s ring should just be increasing it passively anyways. I guess I’ll try and find out more about my talent.
I stood up, looking at the sleeping Rio one last time before heading downstairs. Most of the lights were still off but the halls were luminated by the sun. I headed to the staff canteen after grabbing a journal and pencil, they were just lying there in the breakroom, I figured I’d be able to use them.
“Mm…” I twirled the pencil around in my hand. I was trying to think about what the ‘Music’ talent had to offer and what it actually helped me with.
For one, I knew it had already helped me with singing. Though I sung a lot yesterday and my voice got a little dry, it didn’t hurt. I felt like I could still sing a lot more.
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Rachel said something about calming her a little, right? Is that some sort of secret effect of it?
After I scribbled in the journal everything I could think of, I suddenly heard a door open behind me and looked towards it. It was Jennette, “Oh! Morning, Leo. Rio still asleep?” She greeted me as she walked in.
“Morning. Yeah, he’s still out.”
“I see. I heard from Rachel you wanted to speak to me, is now a good time?”
“Oh, yeah. Do you want to talk here or in your office? Does it matter? It shouldn’t take long.”
“If it’s not too important, here should be fine.” She replied before taking a seat across from me, she looked at the journal before continuing, “Hm? Are you studying?”
“No, I was just jotting some things down. Oh, actually, do you know anything about the ‘Music’ talent? It’d help a lot.”
“Music talent? Oh! Do you have that? It took a second for me to remember, but I’m pretty sure it’s a pretty rare one. I can’t remember much other people who have that one. As far as I know, the people who have it usually have a certain instrument they’re good at. I don’t know much more than that, sorry.”
“No, it’s alright, thank you. So, you wouldn’t happen to know if it has a certain effect or anything? Or is that a no?”
“I don’t believe so, but I could be wrong. I don’t have a talent myself, but I always thought that talents were just things that helped you at the start. I believe that even if you have the talent, you still need to put in the hard work.”
“I see…Alright, thank you.”
“Was that all you wanted to talk about?”
“Ah-no, sorry, that was unrelated.” I replied and she tilted her head, I continued, “Next week, I’m hoping I could get a day off. I know I just started and everything, but-” She cut me off and started to speak, “Oh? Was that it? Of course you can have a day off, it’s just one day, right? Is there any specific reason or do you just need a break to rest your voice?” she asked.
“To be honest, it’s because I have a side-gig lined up. I was going to sing at a little event. It’s for a birthday party and it’s paying well.”
“Ah, alright, that’s fine. Shouldn’t you take two days off then?”
“Huh?”
“So you can at least rest your throat a little? Doesn’t constantly singing hurt your throat a bit?”
It hasn’t yet…Well, I’m not going to complain.
“I don’t know. But it’s fine if I take 2 days off? Even if one of those days is just me working somewhere else?”
“Of course. Just because I hired you, doesn’t mean you have to live, eat, and sleep, everyday constantly working here. That’s just bad business practice. I care for my staff.”
“Oh…Okay, thank you then. I’ll happily take those two days off then, it should be on Saturday and Sunday I think.”
Her actual birthday was on Sunday, but I’d be taking Saturday off to rest my voice.
“Alright, that’s fine. Just let me know in advance when you take a day off, you don’t work on Saturday’s anyway, so I guess it is only one day off, haha. Oh yeah, I heard from Rachel that you’re in need of money?”
“Yeah, Rio and I are trying to get into Heavensward so I’m saving up 20 gold. I’m hoping that I can get a lot of events and work my way towards there.”
“Heavensward! I understand. I can see why you’re taking side-gigs now, I wish you luck with that.”
“Thank you.”
“Then, I’ll get back to work now, bye~” Jennette stood up and waved before she left the canteen.
Jennette Cloudsly…A ruthless business woman, are all ruthless business woman like that? Haha…. I don’t exactly know why I wrote that in her introduction, though I don’t remember writing much about her at all, I can tell she’s a nice and considerate person though.
Now that I had that resolved, I probably had a bit more free time to do whatever.
I guess I’ll try and figure out what to sing… Happy birthday probably wouldn’t cut it…
Flipping to the next page in the journal, I started to scribble.
…
Around 30 minutes later, Rachel entered the canteen and started to speak, “Oh, you’re up early, good morning, sweetheart.” She sat across from me, and I replied, “Morning.”
She looked at the journal before continuing to speak, “What’re you writing there?”
“I’m trying to think about what I should sing at a birthday party.” I didn’t know any types of birthday songs, and I could only remember so much songs from my world.
“Ah, I see, I see. Why don’t you sing the birthday song then? The one that goes ‘A happy birthday, here’s to you, the stars they wish upon the moon~’ Haha, that’s always a fun one to sing.” Her country accent made it sound a little funny.
Huh…? They have a birthday song here? The ‘Happy birthday’ song of this world? Interesting.
“I’ll keep that in mind, could you sing it again? I need to write the lyrics.”
“Sure can do, sweetheart.”
As she sang, I wrote down the lyrics before eventually coming to a stop. For some reason, as I wrote the lyrics down, it felt like I could understand a deeper meaning behind the words, it was something I couldn’t exactly explain though. Was it because of my talent?
A wish upon the moon, huh…? This feels kind of trippy…
“That should be it, anything else you need, sweetheart?”
“No, that’s good for now, thank you.”
“Of course, just let me know if I can help you with anything, anyways, do you want some breakfast?”
“I’d love some.”
“Alrighty, Saul, sweetheart! Could we get three breakfast meals, please!?” She shouted towards the kitchen.
“Three?” After speaking, I could hear a door behind me and in came Rio.
“Ah, good morning.” I waved to him.
“Good morning!” He replied before taking a seat next to me.
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