When I arrived at the mansion, a young woman was waiting outside the door for me. She had short curly hazelnut hair, big round eyes, and a bulbous nose. She was wearing a black dress shirt and pants. In her hand was a folder.
“Hello?” I said as I approached the door.
“Ah, hello. This is the place, no?” She asked.
“This is a place,” I said. “But the question is a place for what?” She looked lost.
“Oh, right.” She searched through her pockets and pulled out a cutup newspaper ad. “You’re hiring?”
“Oh, yes. That’s us.” I looked at her with [look-a-look]. She was level 11, an alchemist, and only 17 years old. How did she get over level 10 at such a young age? Does she come from a good family? Did she get lucky with some guy like Sterling?
“Ah, so do I- Is there an interview?” I could tell my staring was making her feel weird.
“No, you pass.” She had everything I needed, level over 10 and the alchemical class; I could train her to do the rest.
“I did!?” She was surprised.
“Yeah, it’ll be 1 silver per week. You’re fine with that, right? Raises will depend on performance.”
“Yes.” She nodded.
“Okay, good. Come inside. You have to sign the contract.” I opened the door.
“Okay.” She said.

I had set up my things in the office upstairs to meet and interview people.
As I led her to my office, I heard Benard scream, “Sherrie!”
I turned around and noticed him running towards me. “Hello,” what the hell did he want? “Benard, meet our new employee.”
He stopped in front of our new employee and awkwardly said, “Ah, hello…”
“Hello.” She said.
He didn’t know what to say to her. So he turned his eyes back to me and said, “I need to talk to you.”
“I’m here.”
“It’s not very important… if you’re busy…”
“Just spit it out.” I exhaled. The new employee waited silently beside me.
“Ah, okay. Edna asked about the books you promised her?”
“Edna?”
“Yeah, my little sister. She wrote me a letter. She never writes letters, so I thought I better ask you.”
“Oh, right, that one. She wanted the summoner book and something else…” I had completely forgotten. “Oh, right, the tamer. Right? That’s it, right?”
“Yeah,” Benard nodded.
“Aaa, I don’t have time for that.” I took out a silver coin. “Here, why don’t you buy her the books.”
“Ah? I don’t know anything about magic.” He shook his head and tried to give the coin back.
I refused to take it. “Ask Terrie for help. Or ask the store clerk or something. Just get her the fundamentals of the summoner and the fundamentals of the tamer.”
“But.”
“Okay, I have to work. It’s not that complicated. You can do it.” I said and left him to think for himself.

“That’s Benard,” I told our new employee as we walked away.
“He seems like a nice person.” She awkwardly said.
“He is.” We walked up the stairs, and as we approached the office door, I wondered, “What’s in the folder?”
“My proof of specialization.” She said.
“Oh.” Since I had [look-a-look], I didn’t need it. But hiring her without looking at it would be strange… “Can I see it?”
“Yes. That’s why I brought it.” As we entered the office, she handed me the certificate of specialization.
“You got certified last month.” It had the date, institution, specialization, and her name, Priscila Vargas - another thing I had forgotten to ask.
“Yes!” She cheerfully admitted.
“So, Priscila, you’re willing to sign a 5-year magic non-disclosure agreement?” I asked.
“Yes, I’m willing.” She nodded. “All the alchemist jobs need that, no?”
“Yeah, they do.” But usually, it’s a legal agreement, not a magic one. I took out the contract from my drawer. “You’ll be trained on everything you need to do. So you don’t need prior experience. You think you can manage that?”
“Yes!” She energetically nodded her head. “I’m willing to learn!”
I placed the contract in front of her and asked, “You’re willing to  start today?” I need workers asap. I want to get my finances in order by the middle of next month, then leave for Greinne. Originally I wanted to go at the end of this month, but that doesn’t seem achievable  anymore.
“Today?” She wasn’t dressed to work in an alchemical workshop, but she couldn’t refuse on the first day. “Sure.”
“Alright, you can sign on the dotted line, and we can head out to the workshop.” I pointed at the pen on the table.
“Okay.”
And right before she signed, I made it clear, “Remember, this is a magic contract, so you’ll go into a coma if you disclose any of the recipes you learn here, and if I don’t cancel the coma, you’ll die.” This wasn’t a slave contract, so I had no reason to lie.
“Ah…” She stared at the contract. “Okay, I understand.” She nodded and signed the contract.
“Great!” I snatched the contract up and put it in the drawer. “Let’s go to the lab.”

***

Inside the lab, I sat her down and explained what she’d be doing.
“I need to get more chairs.” There was only one chair in the lab, so I was forced to stand. “Anyway, I’ve settled on making and auctioning 3 products,” I explained. “The All-day Vitality potion, Over-clock pills, and the Mana Storm potion.”
“All-day Vitality? The expensive ones? That gets auctioned in Hoopersville? The same one that got stolen a few years ago!?” She asked enthusiastically.
I was surprised she knew of our town, Hoopersville. It was a small town. Our family’s been ruling over that town for over 10 generations. But, “Stolen?” I didn’t know about that.
“Yeah, it was stolen a few years ago while being transported, no?”
“I don’t know about that, but yeah, the same potion.”
“But isn’t that a secret recipe of the Hooper’s? Wait!” She took out the cutout ad from her pocket and looked at my name. “You’re a Hooper. The Hooper.”
“Sherrie Hooper, 3rd daughter of Clara Hooper.” I waved my hand.
“O, wow.” She said. I didn’t realize we were so famous.
“Anyway, we’ll be making 30 of each product every month. Each bottle will be 50 millilitres. The Over-clock pills, there’ll be 30 in each bottle.”
“What’s an Over-clock pill?” She asked.
“Oh, right.” I hadn’t explained. “As you probably already know, The All-day Vitality potion keeps a man aroused all day, and unlike other aphrodisiacs that damage the man’s health, this one doesn’t.” She nodded; she already knew. “The Over-clock is like the [boost] spell. Do you know about the [boost] spell?”
“I think so; it makes you think faster, right?”
“Yeah, pretty much. Over-clock isn’t as… potent - for lack of a better word - as the spell. But it effectively does the same thing.”
“Okay.” She nodded.
“And the Mana Storm potion temporarily increases your mana.”
“Like mana recovery?”
“No, that recovers mana you lost. This increases the capacity and, I guess, it recovers the mana too.” I explained. “Only temporarily, though.” I didn’t have the ingredients to make the potion that’d permanently increase the capacity. Though that is something, I plan on  obtaining during our next dungeon trip.
“Every fighting magician will want one.” She was shocked.
I nodded. “Yeah.” With these 3 products, I hoped to make 4, maybe 5, platinum per month. Only then will I be able to move forward without having to constantly worry about my finances. And that’s what I needed the 5 assistants for. Hopefully, in a month or so, I can leave  everything to them and focus on levelling up and thwarting the Demon Queen.

“Okay, so I’ll teach you how to make the Vitality potion first.” Just as I was about to explain to her the details, Garth burst into the lab.
“Master, there you are!”
“Here I am.”
“There’s a lot of people out there. They’re waiting for you.” He said.
“Who?”
“The applicants.”
“Oh, more showed up.”
“Yes, there’s a lot of them. I made them wait in the entrance hall.”
“Hmm… Priscila, I think the explanation is going to have to wait. Why don’t you…” I didn’t know what to do with her. “Can you wait here?”
“Sure.” She agreed.
“Okay, thanks. I’ll try to do this fast.” I said before leaving the room with Garth.

“How many are there?” I asked Garth as I followed him to the mansion.
“I counted 34.”
“Oh… All of them here for the alchemist assistant position?”
“No, I think some of them are here for the head maid.”
“You take those.”
“Huh?”
“You interview them. You’re the one who wants a head maid. I’ll take care of the ones looking for the assistant position.”
“But where will I interview them?” He didn’t have an office.
“I don’t know, use the dining table. Figure it out on your own.”
“Hmm…”

We entered the mansion, and there they were.
“So many…” I took a deep breath and spoke. “How many of you are here for the head maid position.”
“I am.”
“Me too.”
“Ai.”
“Put up your hands!” I yelled and put a stop to their individual responses. “Okay, all of you,” I talked to the people with their hands up, “you’re going with him. Follow him.” I dumped them on Garth.
“Ah, right. Okay, follow me. We’re going to go to the dining area.” They stood up and followed behind him, one after another.
With the head maid applicants gone, there were around 20 people left. “This is more than I hoped for.” I only had 4 more contracts left. I looked at everyone with [look-a-look]. There were 1 level 15, 7 level 13, and then the rest. I didn’t need the rest. “This job pays 1 silver  per week. If you’re not okay with that, you should leave now.” None of them left. “Okay… Everyone state your levels, starting with you.”
“Oh, me. Ah, 11.” She said.
“Okay, you.” I pointed at the next person.
“10.” She sulked. “The ad said you only needed 10.”
“Yeah, it did.” But I didn’t think so many people would show up. “And you.” I pointed at the next person.
So we went down the line of people. Some of them lied to make themselves look better. Unfortunately, the level 15 lied and said she was a level 17, probably because one of the level 13s lied and said she was a level  17.
“Okay, you, you, you… and you can stay.” I picked out 6 people that looked good.
“What?”
“What about us?” The two liars asked.
“Oh, right…” I had no idea how to tell them to fuck off. “I don’t need level 17s.” I shrugged.
“What? But, why?” It didn’t make sense; who wouldn’t want someone of a higher level for the same price.
The others who weren’t selected got up and left, but the 2 liars were insistent on staying. They couldn’t understand why they weren’t picked. So I tried to come up with another reason on the spot, “I don’t see any certificate of specialization in your hands. I’m sorry, I can’t hire people without it.”
“Ah, that.”
“I don’t have one either. Do I need to get one?” One of the people I had picked naively asked.
“Hah.” I squeezed the bridge of my nose and tightened my eyes.
“I can get one.” One of the lairs said.
“Yeah, me too.”

Ultimately, I just had to cut the bullshit. “Look, guys, sorry. But you weren’t chosen. Try somewhere else. I’m only going to interview these 6. You two may leave.”
“That…”
“Hmm…”
Finally, they sulked off.

“Okay, now it’s the 6 of you. I only need 4. You, come with me first. When I’m done with her, I’ll interview you, then you, then…” I pointed out the order in which I’d interview them. Then I led the first one to my office.

***

I took the seat on my side of the desk and said, “So, tell me about yourself.”
“My name is Swapna Vigo. I’ve worked as an alchemist assistant for both…”

While I was interviewing the 6, Priscila showed up, having lost her patience. She wanted to know how much longer she’d have to wait. I told her she could go home and come back tomorrow morning at 9.

I listened to all 6 of them, and 3 out of the 6 had prior experience. So I chose those 3 plus 1. Finally, I gathered the chosen in the office and handed them each a contract.
“Here,” I explained, “this is a non-disclosure agreement. A magic one. If you disclose the recipes or methods of production you learn from me to anyone outside, this contract will be breached, and you’ll suffer a coma. I’ll have to cancel the coma, or you will not survive. I’m under no obligation to cancel the coma. If you agree, sign on the dotted line.”
“How long does this contract stay in effect?” One of the chosen, Prune Brodeur, asked.
“For the next 5 years,” I answered her. I only need the contract to stay in effect till the Demon Queen is defeated. I want to be the exclusive seller of these products and avoid competition till then.
“Alright.” Prune agreed and signed the contract.
“Any other questions.” They shook their heads. “Good, then you guys can go home for today. I’ll see you all tomorrow morning at 9.”