After finishing work, Raine had dinner at Erica's, then returned home and went to bed.

The next day, Erica came over in the morning to help Raine unpack.

"Raine, what is this?" Erica asked.

"An air purifier. My Helen is quite delicate," Raine explained. It could suck up dust and hair.

"Oh, I see... And this?" Erica inquired further.

"A humidifier. Helen has a weak throat," Raine added, noting that it gets dry easily.

"There are so many things I don't recognize. Did you make these?" Erica asked, curious.

"Yeah, most of them are for Helen," Raine replied. Raine didn’t really care much about air quality or humidity.

"You really care a lot, don't you? That's nice, Helen," Erica remarked.

Helen, who was sitting on the table, let out a happy meow in response.

"Sorry for making you help with all this," Raine apologized.

"Oh, no worries. Besides, it doesn't seem like there’s much stuff. We should be done by the morning," Erica reassured.

Even with Helen around, it was basically just Raine living there.

"That's a relief," Raine said.

They split up the work and started unpacking, setting up furniture, and organizing the place.

After most of the unpacking was done and they were arranging the kitchen, the doorbell rang.

"Hmm? Someone's here?" Erica wondered aloud.

"A sales rep, maybe?" Raine guessed. The only acquaintance Raine had around was the branch manager, who didn’t seem likely to visit. So, it was probably a sales pitch, maybe for a newspaper.

Leaving Erica to handle the kitchen, Raine went to the front door. Upon opening it, Raine saw a blonde girl wearing a large pointed hat. She wasn’t very tall, probably not even 150 centimeters. The hat made her look like a witch, but her stature seemed more like that of a child, though her physique was not childlike.

"Who are you?" Raine asked, puzzled. She didn't look like a salesperson.

"This might sound strange, but who are you?" the girl asked in return, which was indeed an odd question when visiting someone’s home.

"Oh, that voice... Is that Leonora?" Erica, who had been in the kitchen, came to the door.

"Hey, Erica. I’m back," the girl greeted.

"Welcome back. So you’ve returned," Erica responded.

If you discover this narrative on Amazon, be aware that it has been stolen. Please report the violation.

It seemed this girl—no, this woman—was the Leonora they had heard about.

"Yeah, I took the first airship this morning," Leonora explained.

"So it's all done, then? Oh, this is Raine Alexander, who just transferred here the other day," Erica introduced Raine.

"Raine Alexander. You can call me Raine," Raine said.

"Nice to meet you. I’m Leonora von Letzelt. I’m glad we finally have another colleague," Leonora responded.

"A noble, huh?" Raine remarked.

"Well, I’m disowned, but yes," Leonora clarified.

"Huh? Why?" Raine wondered.

"Would you like to come in? We’ve just finished tidying up, and I can make some tea..." Erica offered.

"I’ll make it!" Raine volunteered.

"That’s kind of you. Oh, Erica, here’s a little gift. Maybe we can have it with the tea," Leonora said, handing Erica a box wrapped in paper.

"Thank you," Erica said, heading to the kitchen. Raine invited Leonora inside and seated her at the table.

"Man, I’m exhausted... Oh, is that a cat?" Leonora asked.

"That's Helen, my familiar," Raine explained.

"Hello," Helen raised her head and greeted Leonora.

"Hmm... A familiar, so you’re a magician?" Leonora asked while petting Helen.

"I just have the certification. My main profession is alchemy. I’m a Level 3 Alchemist," Raine replied.

"Level 3? That’s impressive... Ah, your mentor is Claudia Zettel, right?" Leonora inquired, recognizing the name.

"You know her?" Raine asked.

"Well, she’s the head of the main office. The famed ‘Witch Claudia’s protégé’—that must be you, right?" Leonora surmised.

"I wouldn’t call myself a protégé, but it's true she looked out for me. Even though I ended up getting demoted," Raine admitted.

"Maybe so. Leonora, you’re a noble, right? Why were you disowned?" Raine asked.

"Raine, it’s not polite to ask that when you’ve just met someone. It’s better to wait until you’re closer..." Erica chided gently.

"Yeah, that’s true... Sorry. Forget I asked," Raine apologized.

"No, it’s fine. I’m not hiding it or anything. It’s not a big deal. I just didn’t agree with my parents' plans, so I left home. I wanted to pursue alchemy, but they wanted me to marry into some prestigious family. I refused and left home, so they disowned me," Leonora explained.

"I see... So, why did you come to my apartment?" Raine asked.

"This apartment is actually a branch dormitory. I sensed someone in a supposedly vacant room, so I got curious. I first went to see Erica, but she wasn’t there. So, I thought maybe she was here, and turns out, I was right. I thought you were her boyfriend at first..." Leonora admitted.

"She was just helping me unpack. She's a really nice person," Raine clarified.

"Indeed. She’s quite the admirable person. But you can’t have her; she’s my maid," Leonora teased.

"I’m not a maid!" Erica exclaimed, returning with coffee and some cookies Leonora had brought. She sat next to her.

"Thanks. And Leonora, thanks for the gift. I’ll have some," Raine thanked them both and took a cookie.

"No problem," Leonora said.

"It’s no trouble at all. So, how’s work? Do you have anything to do? If not, I might take tomorrow off as well," Leonora wondered.

"We currently have a request from the city office to make 50 bricks and turn iron ore into ingots. There’s also a job from Colonel Weder of the military for crafting a magic sword, but that one is for Raine," Erica explained.

"A magic sword? Well, that’s beyond us. So, bricks and ingots... No potions?" Leonora asked.

"A Level 10 Alchemist can handle bricks and ingots, right?" Erica pointed out.

"I'm not really feeling it, but we’re short-handed... Besides, I’ve never done ingots before," Leonora admitted.

"Everyone starts somewhere. Erica didn’t know how at first either, but she managed to turn iron ore into iron," Raine encouraged.

"Hmm... Erica, I’ll help starting tomorrow," Leonora decided.

"Thank you," Erica replied.

If the two of them worked together, they should easily meet the deadline.

"Ah, eating these cookies made me even hungrier. Let’s go out for lunch to celebrate Raine’s arrival," Leonora suggested, finishing her coffee.

"We already did that before," Erica pointed out.

"I wasn’t there, though. Don’t worry, big sister will treat you," Leonora insisted.

"Big sister?" Raine asked, confused by the term.

"How old are you?" Raine questioned.

"Twenty-two," Leonora answered.

"Yeah, I heard we’re the same age..." Raine mused.

No way.

After that, the three of them left the house and went out for lunch together.