The recruiter gave Saber her final question.

"I need you to summarize your answer to this in one word," he stipulated. "Here's the question: How do you win this game? Think carefully before you speak."

…What the crap? Who asks interview questions like this?

Saber kept her calm, though I saw the slight frown upon her brow.

I ran through the possibilities. Was the answer "Base-Core"? Was that one word or two? What about "basecore?" Was that even a word? What about "win"? Maybe he had given her a trick question…

"Strategy," Saber finally announced.

"...Oh." The recruiter stroked his chin in silence. "Huh…"

Come on you assbag! Aaaaaaa!!

"That's a respectable answer," the recruiter said. "But it's not the one I'm looking for. You got one out of three questions right. That's not good enough, I'm afraid. Feel free to apply again in 6 months."

I really wanted to cuss him out, but knew better.

"Estoy muy enojado," I muttered to Hei in my rudimentary Spanish, our private language. I'm very angry. I hoped this recruiter didn't know Spanish.

"It's alright," Saber said to us as we exited the Combat Institute's guild hall. I think she also meant to say it to herself.

"You deserve better," I told her in a low voice.

We looked around the other guilds. I wanted to find a waste-water management guild, so I could leverage my Ring of Water Purification. But no such guilds existed, and the closest they had was a Cleaner's Guild. They cleaned clothes, carpets, even entire buildings. If anyone wanted anything cleaned, they went to the Cleaner's Guild. Good enough for me. I told them about my magic ring, and they handed me a membership packet to fill out. Straightforward and professional, unlike some recruiters.

"This is gonna take a while," I told the others as I settled down at a countertop in the hall. "You don't have to wait for me."

They left in search for their own guilds, leaving me by myself. We agreed to reconvene outside the Cleaner's Guild Hall.

I filled out my name, date of birth, then the address of my future apartment. I also had to fill out my level, and tick a box to indicate my class. I picked "mage". Other options included fighter, assassin, marksman, tank, support, and "other." The next few pages detailed prices for cleaning jobs. Rugs were $1-2.50 per square foot. That sounded like a nice deal for me; I could submerge a rug and brush it hard; then as the dirt and debris soaked into the water, I'd just spam Ring of Water Purification.

"Hey, senorita," a man whispered from over my shoulder. I jerked around, startled, and almost elbowed him. It was the Combat Institute recruiter, smiling at me.

"Oh, you. How did you find me?" I asked, slightly creeped out.

"Big hole on your back. It really makes you stand out in a crowd."

"...Oh yeah." I twisted around, checking the laser-hole on the back of my clothes. It was bigger than I remembered, about the size of a plate. It hadn't bothered me too much before, perhaps since I had been so in shock at everything that had happened earlier today. But now I felt mildly embarrassed about it, especially with him pointing it out.

"I'm Tanin, by the way," he said. "Pleased to meet you."

Tanin? Wasn't that a chemical or something?

"I'm Sophia," I replied.

"Sophia, good," he said. "I have a favor to ask you. Would you like to join the Combat Institute?"

"Saber wanted to join, not me." I told him. "She's the other girl." I hoped his memory was baseline functional.

"Yes, she did want to join. But so do you, you just don't know it yet."

Annoyed, I showed him the pay rates for carpet cleaning. "I don't know. How much are you paying?"

"For someone like you? We can start at $6,000 a month. And it only goes up from there, because I'm sure you've got enough talent for a few promotions."

"No way," I blurted out. "$6000? A month?!"

Tanin grinned. "That's what I said."

This seemed too easy to be real. I wondered how Mr. Atlas would respond.

"What's the catch?" I asked.

He laughed. "You're a funny one. Come, I'll give you the details."

We returned to the Combat Institute's guild hall. Or at least, the reception hall. They had an entire complex to themselves, with about a dozen buildings and many courtyards, almost like a small college campus. He took me to a side-room, which appeared to be an empty classroom with a blackboard at the front and many desks facing forward. After we entered, he closed and bolted the door.

You might be reading a pirated copy. Look for the official release to support the author.

"I heard what you said to your friend," Tanin revealed to me. "Tu estaba muy enojado." You were very angry.

Crap! He actually knew Spanish! I grew hot under my collar. Did he just lead me into a trap? Did he get me alone, so he could dish out payback for me badmouthing him?

I shot a glance at the ajar window of the classroom. If he tried anything funny, I'd jump out. We were on the first floor. I'd use my Vortex Shield to defend myself if needed. Hopefully, this was him acting on his own, without the approval of the rest of the Institute…surely retaliation against criticism would be against guild policies, right?

"I want to apologize for how I had behaved," he said.

"...Eeh?"

"I didn't mean to lead your friend on," he said with a humble bow of his chin. "In fact, I should apologize to her as well. You see, we simply require all members to be level 3, for integrity's sake. I shouldn't have offered an interview in the first place. Admittedly I made my questions very hard, if only to screen her out. If she's interested in interviewing again, she is welcome to as soon as she levels up. No need for another six months."

I let loose a tense exhale. "I guess that helps."

"As for you, we are looking for someone like you right now. Did you just arrive here from Bronze?"

"I suppose."

"So you'd be level two then. Don't worry, the game won't let you level up to three until you reach Silver. But my point is: I'm fully willing to endorse you as an exemption to the requirements. Your skillset is exactly what we've been looking for, and we're excited to have you join us right now."

How did he know my skills? Could he tell I was a mage, or perhaps a water-mage? He shouldn't know about my Ring of Water Purification either.

"...What skills do I have?" I questioned him.

"You speak Spanish."

"...Huh? Oh. Right, of course I do."

I mean, I did take Spanish 3 in high school, which taught stuff like how to ask for directions to the airport. And how to talk about your favorite food. I’m not saying I got a good grade in the class, but I did take it.

"Perfecto," Tanin said. "Just what we need. You're gonna be the star of the show."

I was so confused for the next minute, but Tanin made me sign a non-disclosure agreement before he'd answer any questions. So I did. And then, he explained to me the details of what he had in mind for me. It turned out that the Combat Institute desperately wanted a spy for infiltrating the Spanish-Speaker's Guild.

"What do you suspect them of doing?" I asked.

“See, that’s the problem. Eso es el problemo. We don't know what they're doing, because we don't understand Spanish.”

“Right, eso es el problema,” I corrected.

He snickered. “Ay, looks like we’ve got a chica muy feisty here!”

I cringed so hard I could’ve slapped him, and still have enough leftover cringe to slap myself afterwards.

"Anyways," I continued, "I guess you want me to be a spy?"

"I was thinking informant. I think that's a nicer word. Don't you agree?"

I wanted to ask my teammates about this. But then I remembered I legally couldn't, now that I signed the non-disclosure agreement.

"It's a short mission," he assured. "Get in, stay for a week or two, then cancel your membership with them. That's totally kosher. You can work a cushy office job afterwards at our Institute, or join our Expedition Division, or do research, or train to become an instructor here. We offer an endless selection of career opportunities."

"Can Hei join too?" I asked. "He's the friend I talked to, the guy with black hair. He also speaks Spanish."

"Even better!" Tanin said. "Two heads are better than one. We can make him your backup."

"What about Saber? The paladin girl."

"Does she speak Spanish?"

"She's Platinum rank in real life. Top 5% of the playerbase."

Tanin snorted with laughter, like I had just said something ridiculous. "Well then of course! Why didn't you mention that earlier?"

Good question. We really should have. It was easy to forget things like that during the nervousness of an interview, I supposed.

"What about Mr. Atlas and Jack, then?" I asked. "So the knight with the cowboy hat, and the hooded assassin-looking guy."

"Don't push your luck, chica. You're putting my poor recruiter-self in a hard spot." That was a no.

Late that night, our team convened together at the inn to discuss progress on our job searches. Mr. Atlas found a night-shift job as a watchman in Ring One, and already had an acceptance letter given to him by the Guard's Guild. Hei had applied to the Mechanic's Guild, not that he had any experience with machines that I knew of.

"I'm set," Jack told us. He refused to elaborate further, then left.

I told Saber and Hei about my admission into the Combat Institute, and how she could join as well.

"How did you get in?" Saber asked.

"I signed an NDA," I told her. "I guess it's like…reasons. They also want you now, and Hei as well. I told them you were Platinum IRL."

The next day, the three of us returned to the Combat Institute together. We found Tanin in the reception hall. He made a puzzled Hei and Saber sign NDA agreements too.

"That doesn't mean you can just tell each other everything," he said. "Sophia is still working with classified information. I'm not sure about the other two of you yet. Consider next Monday the first day of your job. I'll get someone to meet you here at 9AM for your job training. Expect salaries biweekly."

"Poggers," Saber said.

We spent half the day filling out paperwork for joining the Combat Institute. Mostly the same stuff I had to deal with for the Cleaner's Guild form.

In the afternoon, we explored town and learned the specific location of Mr. Atlas's job site. We still didn't know what Jack did. We also looked around the shops. I bought a white coat I liked, one that went down to my knees. It had big, badass collars that could be upturned, and an iron clasp above the chest, to give it that extra fantasy-mage flair. A utility belt tightened it at the waist. The belt had many pouches and compartments, and I managed to fit my notebook snugly into one of them.

In the Magic Shop, I found a Magus Battlehat, which the shopkeeper displayed inside a glass case. Despite its mundane appearance – a pointy hat made of lush, violet-black silk – it had the ability to boost Arcana Points by 30%. It sold for $11,000, which was way outside my budget right now. Maybe one day.

Friday came, and we finally moved into our five-bedroom apartment. It felt bigger than my home back on earth. Moving in took all day, but we had made it our home by evening time. I picked a corner room on the second floor as my bedroom, and it shared a bathroom with Saber's.

"Sophia, this is a bit sudden," she said as we examined the bathroom. "But would you be free this evening?"

"For what?" I asked.

Saber glanced aside meekly. "I'm trying to plan a triple date."