Looks like we have our culprit.

Time to report this woman to the authorities- oh?

These clothes… they're exactly what I wanted.

It was a simple full sleeve shirt and a pair of comfy trousers.

Oh my, did she read my mind? Could Noelle be a Goddess?

I donned them and sure enough, they were comfortable as heck.

"Shall we?" Noelle asked after I finished wearing them.

"Sure."

With that, we exited the room-

"Oh look, the runaway sister." Only to find Clementine hanging just outside the door.

That's pretty brave of her, considering she did just leave me back there, alone and afraid of Noelle.

If it wasn't for my out of the box thinking skills, along with my superior lying capabilities, I would have been chewed alive by Noelle.

"I-I didn't run away!"

*Doubt intensifies*

"Whatever, let's go." I said to Noelle, and together, we left the whining Clementine behind.

I have no interest in conversing with deserters.

After taking a right from a cross section of hallways and going up a flight of stairs, we arrived before a rather normal looking door.

Noelle knocked on the door, "It's me. I brought Samur."

"Come in."

The door was opened and there he was. Sitting behind a large desk with a bunch of papers before him, the sunlight pouring in from the window behind made him look like the boss of a large evil organisation.

And now that I think about it, that sure is a weird place to put a desk. His body is casting a shadow on the documents before him.

Azell capped the pen in his hand, "Please, have a seat," and pointed to the chairs in front of him.

I followed and sat on the chair on the left. Contrary to my expectations, Noelle just closed the door and left, thus leaving the two of us in this room.

"You sure took your sweet time waking up, didn't you?" He asked as he placed his elbows on the table and held his chain with his hands.

Trying to look cool, are we?

"I just took this chance to take my recommended 8 hours of sleep. I like multitasking, after all."

People who think sleeping less makes them cool are wrong. If it was up to me, I'd sleep 25 hours a day.

And no, that's not me making another suicide joke (surprisingly), that's just the number of hours my home world used to have.

"Well then, Multitasker. We have a lot of things to discuss, don't we?"

Oh boy.

❄️ ❄️ ❄️

"I see. So what happened back then was an accident which was out of your control."

"What, did you think I had lied to you while making that promise?"

I actually had, but the key is to look so confident that you make anti-vaxxers look like nervous infants.

"No, not really."

He totally did. This motherfucker.

…

Wow, I'm actually hurling curses at someone just because he almost saw through my lies.

I swear to God that if being such a Bad Boy doesn't drown me into ladies' private parts, I'll sue the one who spread this information.

"Anyway, let's move on to more important things, shall we?"

"Alright." He nodded then took a document out of his drawer. "Here is the contract. Take your time to read through it carefully. If there is a clause that you don't agree with, we can discuss it."

Does that mean he'll change a clause if I do not like it?

Well, let's see.

I took the thicker than usual contract and started reading through it.

❄️ ❄️ ❄️

Wow, this contract is actually pretty good.

First of all, I get 20 paid leaves a year. Then the Guild also covers half of my medical bills for injuries sustained in dungeons. The other ailments, with an exception of few, are covered in full.

Along with a place of accommodation and 50% discount on the food from the canteen, they also offer a summer vacation of sorts every year.

However, they do take, barring actual equipment, 30% of the loot from the dungeon and commissions.

But they handle the necessary paperwork and also provide the potions required to raid a dungeon- along with many other miscellaneous things- so I guess that's understandable.

This makes me wonder though; are we really going to have so much work that we'll actually need paid vacations?

Well, whatever. I like drowning myself in work as it keeps my mind off my existential dread I mean it keep me away from boredom.

They are hiring me for a basic term of 5 years, though, at a salary of 2000 Golds per year.

"I have no idea how valuable gold coins are because, you know, I was stuck in my home."

In a basement, to be more precise.

"Understandable." He nodded. "To put it into perspective, 100 Gold is enough for a middle-class family to live a comfortable life in the capital city."

Hmm, well, that does sound nice, but I'm not a middle-class family, am I?

"Would this amount be enough for me to buy things like equipment, raw materials etc?"

"It should be enough. You also get paid from the dungeon raids, monster hunting and commissions, so the overall amount of money you end up with is enough to buy top class equipment."

Hmm, his words do make sense, on the surface, that is.

But I have no idea if what he's saying is the truth or not.

Besides, the Guild has agreed to provide me the laboratory equipment free of cost (which they obviously should) and bear the cost of up to 'Rare' class resources.

Anything above that and I would need to empty my own pockets. I can then file a bill at the guild, after which they'll give me back a portion of it.

They won't give me anything for my personal research though.

Well, I won't be needing to buy raw materials anytime soon, anyway. I have Arteria and Neia at my disposal.

So overall, the deal is decent.

"I would like my salary to be increased to 2500 Golds. Also, change Clause 12 so that if my research using expensive raw materials comes out to be successful, the guild would pay me back the money I spent on them."

However, the very fact that Azell gave it to me right away means that he has some room for negotiation.

So if I can, I should definitely get some more out of him.

"2500 Golds, hmm…" He rubbed his chin. "You're asking for a lot. I'm not sure if we can pay that to a new recruit."

"But I have the skills to match it. Is there anyone you know who could create Mana Circuits from scratch?"

"Well, there are none. But even if I do agree to the first one, the second is not possible. Raw materials can be really expensive, and to ask us to pay for them for your own research is going too far."

Fair enough.

"Then let's make it like this; if the results of my research directly benefit the Guild, then the guild will bear all costs incurred in it."

"Hmm, that seems… reasonable. Is there anything else?"

"I assume that this contract can be changed later as long as both the parties, that is, you and me, agree to it."

"It's written there in Clause 17."

"Well, we have a deal then." I took the pen and signed the contract, right below Azell's signature.

Immediately afterwards, the paper glowed with an azure hue. The words written on it rose up in the air and shone brighter than the future of an average social media influencer.

The sentences copied themselves until there were two floating contracts.

One contract rushed towards me, hit my chest and got absorbed in it. The same happened to Azell.

Sure enough, a moment later, I felt an invasion in my soul.

Rejecting it would have been easy, but I created a fake 'surface' on my soul and let it engrave itself there.

And so, the contract was completed.

"The contract has been etched on our souls cannot be broken. Welcome to the New Dawn Guild, Samur." He extended his hand.

"Pleased to be a part of it." And I shook it.

With this, I've taken the first step of my new life.