After the welcome party ended with the first gathering, everyone left the restaurant.
“Raine, I'm heading this way, so make sure to escort Erica home. Also, here's the key to your room,” the branch manager said, handing over a key.
“Understood,” Raine replied.
"See you," the branch manager said as he departed.
As Raine parted ways with the branch manager, he walked through the now darkened streets with Erica, who was headed in the same direction.
“I was the only one who drank alcohol tonight,” Raine remarked.
“I’m not good with alcohol, and I heard the branch manager once had a bad experience with it,” Erica replied.
“Oh, I see…”
“Erica, I know this might sound odd, but how did I come across today? Was I strange? Did you think, 'I can't work with this guy'?”
Raine was worried.
“Hmm… I could tell that you were very concerned about that, Raine,” Erica replied. “But I don’t think it’s something you need to worry about that much.”
“Really?”
“To be honest, when I was watching you study, I sometimes thought, 'Why doesn’t he understand this?'” Raine confessed.
“There’s only a two-year age difference between us, Raine, but I’m ranked level 10 while you’re ranked level 3. The difference in talent and ability is obvious. It’s natural to think that way, and it’s probably true. But you explained things clearly, and more importantly, you were very reassuring. With just Leonora and me at level 10, we felt quite anxious.”
“Having two level 10s must have been tough…”
“Is Leonora young?” Raine asked.
“She’s the same age as you, Raine,” Erica replied.
“Twenty-two, huh… Still quite young.”
It seemed that for the past year, Erica and Leonora, both relatively new, had been managing almost everything on their own.
“That must have been tough,” Raine noted.
“It was tough. There was no one to teach us, and we failed many times,” Erica admitted.
The branch was in a worse state than Raine had imagined.
As they continued their conversation, Raine and Erica walked down the darkened street until they reached the front of an apartment building.
“Erica, I’m not very good with interpersonal relationships, but I’ll do my best to help rebuild this branch. Let’s work together from now on.”
“Yes, let’s do our best,” Erica replied.
“Alright then, see you tomorrow.”
“Yes, good night,” Erica said as she bowed politely and entered her room. Raine looked at the room number on his keychain.
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“My room is over there,” Raine muttered to himself.
The keychain had "A-102" written on it, indicating that his room was in the same building as Erica and Leonora, directly across from Erica’s room. He walked to the door, unlocked it, and stepped inside. Since it was dark, he turned on the light.
“As expected, there’s nothing here. It’s a bit lonely,” he remarked.
“Especially after seeing Erica’s room yesterday,” he continued.
Although the layout was the same, Erica’s room was bright and charming, as one might expect from a woman’s room.
“Let’s just unpack our things for today and get some rest early,” he decided.
“Yeah, let’s start organizing tomorrow,” he agreed.
Raine used spatial magic to unload their belongings, setting up just the bed before taking a bath. The bathroom had a proper tub, so he filled it with hot water and decided to soak.
Helen, the cat, also liked to soak in a bucket filled with warm water. Despite being a cat, Helen loved baths.
“This workplace seems like it's going to be tough…” Raine mused, staring blankly at the ceiling.
“I think it’s a good workplace,” Helen replied. “Erica is great, and despite everything, the branch manager turned out to be a good person too.”
“Well, he didn’t seem like a troublesome person, and for a noble military man, he was quite approachable,” Raine admitted.
“What about this Leonora?” Helen asked.
“I don’t know much about her yet, but I’m sure things will work out fine,” Raine said.
“I hope so.”
“Helen… the welcome party wasn’t too bad,” Raine added.
“Glad to hear that, Raine. There are all kinds of people in this world. Sure, there are many unpleasant ones, but there are just as many good ones too.”
“I see… I’d like to be one of the good ones,” Raine murmured.
Up until now, he had likely been one of the unpleasant ones. No, he still was. But if he wanted a fresh start, he needed to change. Even if the path to promotion was closed, his second life wasn’t over yet.
“Let’s do our best from tomorrow onward,” Helen encouraged.
“Yeah,” Raine agreed.
After soaking in the bath for a while, Raine and Helen got out, moved to the bedroom filled with cardboard boxes, and went to sleep.
The next morning, Helen woke Raine up. He got ready and headed to the branch. As Erica had mentioned, the commute took only 30 seconds, which was very convenient.
“I guess I can sleep a bit longer from tomorrow,” he mused as he entered the branch, unsurprisingly finding it empty.
“We haven’t had breakfast yet,” Helen pointed out.
“I forgot to buy bread yesterday. I’ll just have some emergency rations and supplements later… Wait, where’s Erica?”
Raine went up to the second floor but found no one there. However, the lights were on.
“She seems to be on the third floor. I can smell Erica from up there,” Helen said.
“The storage area…” Raine guessed.
He climbed the stairs to the third floor and found Erica packing potions into a magical bag for delivery.
“Oh, good morning, Raine,” Erica greeted him when she noticed his presence.
“Good morning. Preparing for delivery?” Raine asked.
“Yes, once I finish packing these potions, we’ll head to the city hall and the military office first thing in the morning.”
“Got it.”
Raine watched as Erica placed the last potion in the bag and stood up.
“We’re ready. First, we’ll go to the city hall nearby. You’ll probably be going there alone often in the future, so I’ll show you the way,” Erica explained.
“Thanks,” Raine replied.
They descended the stairs and exited the branch. Erica walked to the left, and Raine followed.
“This is the place,” Erica said as she stopped in front of a three-story building.
The city hall was about 300 meters from the branch, quite close. As they entered, the hall was filled with staff and visitors, a stark contrast to their branch.
“It’s kind of depressing,” Raine noted.
“Please don’t say that,” Erica replied, seemingly sharing the sentiment.
“Right… Where’s the reception desk?” Raine asked.
“It’s over there,” Erica pointed to the far right side and walked in that direction.
They stopped in front of a reception desk, manned by a man in his forties.
“Mr. Rubert,” Erica called out to the staff member, who was busy writing.
“Hm? Oh, Erica, what’s up?” Rubert replied.
“We’re here to deliver the graph paper and bricks,” Erica said.
“Huh? The deadline isn’t until later, but you’ve finished already?”
“Yes, Raine, who was assigned here yesterday, completed it,” Erica explained.
“Raine?” Rubert glanced at Raine.
“Yes, he was dispatched from the capital. Raine, this is Rubert, the person in charge here,” Erica introduced them.
Raine stepped forward. “I’m Raine Alexander. Pleased to meet you.”
“Rubert. Likewise, nice to meet you. Erica, it’s great that you have a new colleague,” Rubert smiled warmly at Erica.
“Yes!” she replied cheerfully.
“Well, I’d like to place the next order. Is that alright?” Rubert asked.
Placing an order on the day of delivery… That’s typical bureaucracy for you.
“What do you need?” Erica inquired.
“We need 50 more bricks delivered. Also, I’ll give you 50 pieces of iron ore, and I need them smelted into ingots. Can you do that?” Rubert asked.
“Ingots…” Erica looked at Raine for a moment. She likely hadn’t done it before.
“No problem,” Raine assured her.
Smelting ingots was basic. Nothing too difficult.
“It’s alright. What’s the deadline?” Erica asked.
“About a month,” Rubert replied.
“Understood,” Erica nodded.
“I’ll go get the iron ore. Leave the bricks over there,” Rubert said, heading to the back. Erica placed the wooden box filled with bricks on the counter. After a short while, Rubert returned with the iron ore. They received it and left the city hall.