As planned, as soon as the day's business hours were over, I headed to the Spring Wakaba-Tei to meet with a potential employee.

　Garnett was with me, of course.

　He didn't need an escort since he was in a safe town, but he didn't have time to wait at home, so I decided to take him out for an evening walk.

'Welcome, Luke,'

　Sylvia greeted me as she cleaned the entrance area of the inn.

　It seemed that the peak of dinner time had already passed, and there were only a few guests chatting in the dining room space next to the entrance.

　In one of the seats, there were two familiar faces.
　They are Sakura and Noir, who are also long-term guests here.

　They seem to be discussing something with a piece of paper spread out on the table and are completely oblivious to our presence.

　I'm curious what the two of them are doing, but I have other things to do right now, so I have to put that first.

　As Sylvia leads me to my room, she hands me a sheet of paper.

It's a personal statement to be used for the interview at our inn. Since it's so important, I asked them to write down their background and so on. Please use it as a reference when deciding whether or not to hire me.

　A personal statement is a piece of paper that contains personal information, just as the name suggests.

　When you register with the Adventurer's Guild for the first time, you are supposed to submit the same kind of document, although the name of the document is different.

''It's something authentic ...... I didn't think of dropping it off for an interview or anything else.

　As a matter of fact, if it wasn't someone with so much of a problem with their personality, I would have decided to hire them and have them work for me right away.

　He is the kind of friend that Sylvia would introduce to me.
　It's hard to believe that someone with a personality problem would come along.

You should take what you can get. It's not like you're going to lose anything.
Well, that's one thing.

　As I walk down the hallway, I look over my personal statement lightly.

　Erica of Walnut (Walnut) Road.
　She used to live in Walnut Town, just down the mountain road from Green Hollow Town, but apparently moved out of town for a reason.

　The identity card had more details on it, but I arrived at the room where the prospective employee - Erica from Walnut Street - was waiting for me, so I decided to put the confirmation of the contents on the back burner for now.

''Erica. Luke-san has arrived. Can I open it now?
'Oh, oh ......!　I'm fine!

　Even through the door, I could hear the tension in her voice.

　Sylvia opens the door and invites me and Garnett into the room.

　Two chairs were placed in the center of the room facing each other, and on one side of them sat a girl of Sylvia's age.

''Kook, I'm Erica from Walnut Street!　I look forward to working with you!

　The girl with a strong-looking face and the color of nervousness on her face, that was Erica from the walnut road.

　From the way her brown fluffy-textured hair hung down long, it's hard to imagine her running around in the fields and mountains like an adventurer or hunter.

　It's my imagination, but he's probably the type of person whose life is usually complete in the town or indoors.

''Well, you said you wanted to work in our shop.
Yes, sir!

　Erica's nervousness was almost pitiful to watch.

　Her shoulders were so tight and stiff that she didn't even seem to have time for an affectionate smile.

'Don't be so awed. I'll just be in the same mood as when I'm talking to Sylvia.
'Yeah ...... but ......'
Don't worry, the other employees don't talk so stiffly. This one in particular is amazing.
Don't quote me. Don't quote me.

　Erica moved her gaze to compare me and Garnett, and let out a small counterpart.

　In fact, the attitude of the two regular employees of the White Wolf Store towards me is not that of a so-called superior person.

　I'm not particular about that, I just think they should behave in a way that is easy for them to do.

I'd like to know why I wanted to work at ......, but that's still weird: ...... I wanted to work at the White Wolf store because... ...its ......

　I'm trying to talk to him properly, but I'm in an unnecessary slumber.

　It's a very primitive atmosphere.
　This appearance, in fact, may be surprisingly a boxed girl.

''(It's kind of nostalgic. ...... There were many new adventurers like this too.

　A person like Sylvia, who has been helping out in the customer service since childhood, would be able to deal with it in some way or another, but not all people in the world were raised that way.

　It's not all people in the world were brought up that way, but it's not all of us who were brought up that way; it's not uncommon for a person to have business-like contact with a stranger for the first time in his or her life.

　For example, a young man who has just come out of a rural village.
　In his hometown, everyone is like a relative, and it's not uncommon for him to be surprised to find that the only connection he has is with money.

　For example, a young man who was born in the city and spent his childhood in a school, born in a wealthy family.
　Some of them get bored with city life and try their hand at adventurer's earnings, but they lack the experience of working in the first place and struggle to make ends meet.

　Erica didn't seem to be either of those, but I could see that she didn't have a lot of life experience.

'It's not like I'm deciding whether or not to pass or fail an interview, so you don't have to try to talk so tightly.
Is that right?　Not ......, is that right?
'Of course. I was introduced to you by Sylvia of all people. It's almost as if I've come to tell you that I'd like to do you a favor.

　When I made my intentions known properly, Erica let out a deep breath of relief and released her tension.

'But since you're here, I'd like to hear your story too. Like why you decided to come all the way to Green Hollow to work there .......
Yes!　Let's see, I come from a family of apothecaries, and we've been an apothecary in Walnut Town for generations. Naturally, my dad and mom are thinking of having me take over. ......

　Erica squeezed one hand in front of her chest.

'...... I want to own my very own new store!　But it doesn't make sense to ask my parents for financial support, and if it's local, my parents can't work with their hands in the air: ......
So you ran away from home to try to make money in another town.
'Yes!　If you work for a few years, I'm sure you'll be able to save at least the opening costs!

　I see, so you've come running out to follow your dream.

　That's a very touching story.
　I know one person who jumped out of the village chief's house like that.
　I know what it feels like to work hard for a dream.

　In the end, that guy didn't come close to grasping his longing, but that doesn't mean Erika will either.

''I see, do you have the necessary skills to be a pharmacist?''
'Of course!　I've helped out at home, and I've even been told I'm one of the best at mixing potions!　Oh, no, but I may not have much experience with customer service and stuff like that ......, but your father's apprentice does a lot of stuff like that .......

　Erica is mumbling her words, but for me, it's enough to know that she has skills in the compounding system.

In this case, how do you think we can get some experience with our dreams?
'What?　What kind of ...... is that?
We call ourselves a weapons store, but we're looking to add other items to our product line. We've just started to deal in magic items.

　To be honest, it was a nice miscalculation that Erica had those skills.

''If you're up for it, why don't you make the concoction into our product?　We're going to try to make a section of our store look like yours. What do you think?
...... Ho, are you sure you want to do this?

　Erica stood up and gripped my hand tightly as she kicked off her chair.

　The sparkle in her eyes was the very pure light that only those who pursue their dreams can hold.

'I do!　Let me do it!