Chapter 145 – Misunderstanding.

Roland was not sure how to approach his second potential employee. While Bernir came to him and begged him for it, this time around he would be the one trying to poach a good worker from the guild. While he didn’t feel bad about that part he still was getting closer to his goal of becoming a business owner.

After a long moment of awkwardness, he was able to gather the strength to ask the question. Elodia was acting somewhat strange during the whole debacle, she was not composed and her eyes darted all over the place.

“You want me to work for you?”

“Yes, I’ve been meaning to expand my smithy and add my own wares but this is not something I can do alone…”

Roland tried continuing but he could feel that something was wrong. The woman next to him had stopped walking and was making a stern expression. Would she refuse him outright?

She could have had some circumstances that kept her away from taking up other job offers. She also could be the type that was loyal to her workplace.

“Ah yes, of course, it would be work-related…”

He could hear her mumbling some words before fixing her glasses and straightening up. Elodia was back to her old self and it looked like she was going to give him a reply. That is, if a certain person didn’t call out to them from afar.

“Oh, what do my elven eyes see? Big sis and Wayland coming home together?”

Roland looked to the voice and spotted Elodia peeking out from the corner of a large property. He had been around here before but never took the time to go inside. From what he knew, this was one of the orphanages that this new growing city had.

There were actually only two with the bigger one belonging to the church of Solaria. That one was much larger and had more funds that came from the worshipers. This allowed the kids to get through their childhood days without many woes as they were provided for.

It had some drawbacks as the children were asked to get clergy-related classes if they ever wanted to stay past a certain age. One of Roland’s old acquaintances came from such a place and she made her disdain for it quite noticeable.

Through this fact sometimes orphanages like this could be better for the development of the child. They would not be forced to go in one particular direction but this depended on the caretakers.

There was no money to be gained here and without a sponsor, such establishments were mostly doomed to fail. It was surprising from Roland’s perspective that Elodia was somehow able to make it work.

But, she had to still work long hours so there were probably times where the kids remained without supervision. From what he knew, there were three proper adults here. Well, one of them was more like a child in a man’s body though.

“Good evening, Lobelia. We were just talking about work.”

Roland just nodded as he was not sure what the half-elf was getting at. Lobelia on the other hand looked over to Elodia and started grinning for some reason. Through the long walk, he had managed to explain the gist of the deal.

There was not much that he could do here until he had the plans for the new store. Elodia would require a contract, her wages needed to be decided and for what she would be responsible for.

Roland wanted to force the bulk of the operation onto Elodia’s shoulders. He did not want to worry about the accounting side of the business. That didn’t mean that he would not be checking the books to see if someone wasn’t cheating him out of his money.

Things like interior design, store uniforms, and what the market looked like would be on her. He wished to have a manager to take care of that part of the business while he focused more on his craft. Spending long hours just sitting behind the store counter was not something that he ever wished to do again.

“Ms. Elodia I hope you think about my proposal. You don’t have to hurry as I haven’t decided about the store layout yet but if you decide to accept I would be glad for your input. If you find yourself unconvinced I would also appreciate it if you could point me in the right direction, you probably know someone who would be interested?.”

It was clear to him that the woman was acting strange through the entire walk. He wasn’t sure but maybe she was more loyal to the guild than he previously thought. If she refused then his only option would be to make a notice and then interview people.

Without knowing many people in this city he would rather ask for the opinion of someone that he somewhat trusted. He knew that this woman had a head on her shoulders and would probably point him in the right direction.

“Ah, yes Mr. Wayland, I’ll give it a thought…”

She trailed off a bit at the end while bowing down with her head and slowly turning around. It seemed that he would now be able to return home and give his new endeavor some more thought. Bernir was tasked with getting the contractors ready, with the city still being in development the waiting times were still long.

“Wait, you can’t just leave like that!”

While Roland was about to turn and go back home he saw Lobelia bolting out of the orphanage. She was followed by two kids that quickly followed her instructions.

“Get him!”

His legs were grabbed and clung to by two young boys while Lobelia started yanking on his arm.

“Don’t be a stranger, Wayland, it’s already late. How about you stay for some tea?

“Um?”

Even while the elven girl was yanking and the kids were trying to push him towards their house, he remained without movement. His basic stats were quite high and with his multiplier of two, he would give warriors at level hundred a run for their money.

“Damn, what are you made of?”

Luckily for him, Elodia was quick to deliver divine judgment to Lobelia’s head with a quick fist strike. The two kids that were pushing and pulling him were instantly frightened and started running away.

“Run for it, big sis is angry!”

They scattered in two separate directions which caused Elodia to stop. It was clear that these two knew that if they separated that she couldn’t get them both. This was clearly not their first rodeo but he wasn’t sure if they realized that they would have to return home sooner or later and probably get punished anyway.

This tale has been pilfered from Royal Road. If found on Amazon, kindly file a report.

“Wayland, what are you doing here?”

While he was free from the clutches of the two kids another bigger child arrived. It was Armand who was holding a half-empty bottle that was probably filled with cheap booze. Roland didn’t answer as he was still ready to just go, instead, he saw Lobelia sprinting over to him and then whispering something into his year.

“No… them?”

He then turned around and looked at Elodia with a raised brow. His gaze then turned to Roland before going back to Elodia once more. Armand then turned to Lobelia and the two started grinning at each other.

“Well… then I’ll be going, Ms. Elodia please think over my …”

“Oh, where do you think you are going?”

Instead of being able to leave, he felt Armand’s muscular arm being slung over his shoulder as the man got dangerously close.

“What are you doing?”

He asked but was just petted on the shoulder instead.

“Don’t be a stranger, I’m sure you’ll love the stew!”