*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Come in!"

*Creak* *Stare*

"Hmm? What are ya lookin at? Want me to gouge out dat eye of yers!!??"
"Now, Now, He may be nervous. Calm down a bit, delfina. Why don't you start over? How about an introduction first?"
"Tsk, Count yerself lucky. Now hurry up and don't waste my patience!"
"...Yes, I'm Jimmy Grappler. I'm a Squirrelkin. I specialise in agile attacks with daggers. I used to be a defender of the birch section of the squirrelkin territory."

Now that I sold those luxurious items slowly rotting away in my inventory, we have a bit more time to relax. Well, not really relaxed but now we have time to recruit a new employee.

We rented this room at the merchant hub in this city. There aren't any merchant hubs in towns or villages, so we have to travel here after finishing up our business at the molekin town where I sold the wine.

We are travelling within the molekin territory, so I didn't have any good items to sell. The good thing is that we have more money now thanks to selling that rich customer.

The city is huge and there are many people looking for jobs here. These merchant hubs aren't really owned by merchants but by the city mayor itself. This is basically a place for merchants to socialise with each other, gather news and do business with others.

You can't directly sell your wares in the hub because it would just crowd the location but it is possible to sell it to your fellow merchants.

This is also the best location to hire employees for your merchant group. It's a convenient place because interested people will gather here by themselves, which saves time trying to hunt them down.

"We would be travelling all over the continent, which means you will be away for long periods of time. Though we do offer timed leave after a few months, we won't be able to guarantee leave because of the circumstances of travel. There are bandits, business deals, weather, and other situations that might delay our travel, so we won't be able to let you leave even if we want to at such occurrences. Do you have any opinion about it?"
"...Uh."
"We're askin if ye can tough it out, ye bastard!"

We don't know any way to evaluate an employee. The only thing we can go by is their specialty.

Hops here is more of a dueler. She is fast, so she uses that to move around here and there. The faster she attacks, the more wounds will appear on the enemy. She also has a good grasp of the battlefield, so if she is being lured away by her opponent, she would quickly disengage and come back to protect the wagon.

She does well even if she is currently the only guard. However, we need someone to be the shield. We need someone to delay the majority of the mobs while she takes out the backliners and leaders. I am the one who is currently doing that because I am the tank right now but we thought it would be best if we have one more.

There are no wizards, or rather an effective one, in this continent. That is why we need more frontline meatshield to hold off the majority of enemies until hops take out the backline support. Also, bows and crossbows are very useful in this continent, so that is the preferred method of attack rather than firing magic.

"...I used to work in the birch section, so other than fighting, I am used to handling customers. We deal with more than 5-8 groups of customers a day in our section. Other than guiding the lost, we also do conflict resolution. We had to be unbiased and fair for both parties during the resolution or risk angering one or both parties involved."
"That is certainly a very useful quality to have. As a merchant, we deal with customers all the time, and although our group is only starting, we will have to deal with the upper class. An employee that knows how to handle themselves during those delicate moments will surely be nice to have."
"Ah? Is dat it? You tell us ya specialise in daggers but ya sound like some desk sitter! What combat experience do ya have?"

Hops is a good people person but we are doing an interview right now. We decided to be very formal. Also, to find out their nature, we are doing this strategy to unnerve them.

This plan is to scare or anger them with hops' rude and angry remarks, while I soften them up with nice compliments and sympathetic smiles. Yes, the old good cop, bad cop. The good loaner, scary repossessor. The sexy bar and bouncer routine!

"...Thank you for your time."
"I see, well thank you for taking the time. Best of luck to your future job hunting."
"Tsk, wastin our time like dat! We are hiring guards! Don't bother coming in if ya can't even fight! We don't have time to care for bluffers like you!! Give da next group yer applying a disclaimer before ya even sit down next time!!"

*Pat* *Pat*

I know you are supposed to be playing the bad one but the guy is already leaving, stop it already.

*Creak* *Close*

"That guy was no good. We should outright reject those kinds of people. We are looking for a frontline defender, right?"
"First of all, you should lower your intensity for a bit. I was afraid that you would jump over the desk and start pummeling the guy a moment ago. Secondly, even if we currently need a meat tank, we don't have to stick to our preference. As long as they are useful, we can hire just about anyone. As you said, we only need someone trustworthy. You are doing well as our only fighter right now. I can defend the wagon and slow down the rest of the enemies fine. We don't have to be particular on the kind of fighter the applicant is."
"Fine but can we change it up? I want to be the good one next. You suit the grumpy look better."
"What are you saying? Did you already forget our first meeting? You already have experience being a bad bandit."
"I know but you have a nastier personality. You are the one with all the schemes and conspiracy."
"I don't have schemes, I have strategies. Also, If I start acting like the bad guy, the applicants would leave before introducing themselves. Who would want to work for an angry, unreasonable boss?"
"Tsk, Ok but next time when we have more members, I will be the good one!"
"At the rate we are going, the next time we recruit again isn't too far off."

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Ok, that should be the next applicant. Get into character."
"How many are we going through today?"
"This should be the third one today. We have five more and then we will be done."

We have gone through 20 applicants so far and so far there are 4 possible applicants that show promise. All four of those are frontline fighters. The only problem is that they aren't defensive fighters. Those four are the type to charge into the enemy and start to go wild.

It might be good but we are going to have a tough time with all of the healing bills. We have to pay for their recovery if they get injured on the job, so I would very much want to have someone with a careful personality.

*Knock* *Knock* *Knock*

"Are you ready?"

*Nod*

"Stop knockin an come in already! Do ya think we're deft or something!?!?"

I thought I told you to tone it down a notch. Well, whatever, let's just get this over with.

"Excuse me. I'm Risa Bane."
"Welcome Miss Bane. Why don't you take a seat."
"So? What can ya contribute to our merchant group? Are ya useful?"
"I'm good at spy work."

*Stare* *Stare*

Yes, you heard that right. Don't look at me dumbfounded like that.

"Oh, spy work! That is certainly a unique specialty. Can you elaborate it a bit more?"
"I track, scout and assassinate."

*Glance* *Glance*

I know. This is a very unique applicant we have.

"Assassinate? What were ya doin before? We don't need troublesome baggage ya know!"
"My previous job was a guard at the snake territory."

Is that it? She doesn't talk that much, huh.

"We travel all over the place. Are you comfortable with that? We might be away for an extended period of time. We won't be able to guarantee when we will be back to the region you live in."
"I have no residence. It's fine."
"Is that so? Well then, in your words, why should we hire you?"
"I'm good at following orders."

Is that it? She is pretty stingy with words, huh. It should fit perfectly with a stingy merchant group. Ok, she is also a potential recruit.

"Thank you for your time. We will announce the result in three days. Please visit this place by that time to check if you are hired. We will wait for three more days afterwards before we have to leave, so please don't be late."
"Ok, thank you for your time."

*Creak* *Close*

"That was a weird applicant. Why did you stop talking halfway through?"
"She was good. I can barely sense her presence even though she was sitting right in front of me. She was skilled."
"We won't know for sure unless we see her in action."
"That was her in action. I shut up because she won't respond differently no matter what I say. Her character will remain the same and she isn't using a pretence when doing the interview. That was her true personality."
"Hmm, I'll add her to the possible recruit list."
"She would be very useful. Call the next one. I'm starting to get hungry, let's finish this quickly."

I'm also starting to get hungry. We already went through a very good applicant, so I want to pack up and clock out for the day.

I still need to make the weapon and armour for me and bunny. I already bought the materials, so I can just rent out a workshop.

This is the city, so there are a lot of places to rent one out.

We have two more days of recruiting that needs to be done. This is the city, so most of the goods here are more expensive. We will have to leave here without goods and stop by a nearby town to buy new inventory. I wonder which territory is good for the new recruit. We want to see her in action, so travelling through dangerous areas should be fine.

The problem is picking a location where there is just enough danger but not too much that me and bunny won't be able to solve it in the worst case scenario. That will have to wait until we have decided on who to hire.