牛奶色隔壁有夫之妇

"Why do you want this job?" Arthur asked.

"I lost my parents when I was young, and since then, I have been living in the streets, trying to look for opportunities, but people often don\'t like, you know, people who live in the streets. But I recently started on my magical path and hoped to land my first job!"

Arthur was interviewing a few people to hire, two to be precise. Jane and Wisa were getting all he needed to produce the avatar — as it was not an easy task — but even with it working as an alchemist, Arthur still required one person to get the orders and one to make the deliveries.

"And what qualities do you have?"

"…"

She went silent, and after a few seconds, she said, "I am an honest person, and just like I am working hard to improve in my magical path, I want to do the same here, in this job… Also, I heard the owner was also an elf, and you know, our life here in this place is not great…."

The girl who came looking for a job was an elf. She had pointed ears, like all elves, blond hair, and green eyes. Her skin was pale and flawless, as if she had never aged.

Arthur had the looks of an elf, which is why she went there looking for a job. He did not know at first, but elves were few there and suffered a lot at the hands of other races.

It was rare to see a powerful elf, and an elf owner of a potion shop was even rarer.

"You are hired. There are two positions available, one to stay here and write down the orders and take care of the supplies, and another one simpler where you only need to deliver the potions."

"I want the first one, if possible! Thank you! May I know your name?"

"You can call me Arthur. Do you want to start today? I can show you how it\'s done."

"I am Alessia. Yes, please, show me how it is done!"

"I will, but first, take your uniform," Arthur said, taking out a special uniform he had made for those who worked in the shop.

He gave her a uniform and a few new clothes as she lived in the streets.

"There is a bathroom there for you to change into. The salary will depend on how the sales go but expect at least 1000 gold coins a week."

Gold coins were no problem for Arthur, and he had plenty of them. This is what people often used to buy ordinary things, but after you get to a higher level of power, the magical items would require mana stones.

He could pay more than ten to her, but she was still weak and would not have a use for mana stones, and it could even bring her trouble, as others could try to steal from her.

"W-What? Am I hearing this straight?" Alessa said, almost yelling.

She could not believe the payment would be that high, especially for someone who had just got the job. She could get out of the streets and live decently with that money!

"I know this is not that much, but as I said, it will increase with the sales."

"No, that\'s not it. For someone who lives in the streets, this is like a dream… Thank you, Arthur," Alessa said, kneeling in front of Arthur.

Arthur grabbed her by the arms and said, "you don\'t need to do that. We are all equals here. Go change your clothes, and we can start your training."

Alessa could not hold her tears of joy as she went toward the bathroom, changing into her new uniform, a robe mages often used but with a design printed on it, an elixir with an eye beside it.

"How do I look?" she asked Arthur after getting out of the bathroom.

"You look… incredible," Arthur said, as he could not deny that the girl was beautiful.

"Anyway, you will work downstairs, come."

They both went downstairs, where the alchemy laboratory was, as well as the storage and the room where Alessa would work, sitting behind a desk, writing down all the orders that came to her through the magical device Arthur created.

"You see this mark right there, in the table? That\'s the magical mark, and mages will come in touch with you through it, sending their orders. Then, all you have to do is hear them and write them down in this book. The shop closes at 6 pm, but we only accept orders till 4 pm. So, when the orders are closed, you can start separating them so that the delivery person can deliver them."

It was not a hard job, and Alessa understood it quickly, starting her work right after Arthur explained it. She answered the first call with Arthur watching her.

"Hello! This is Alessa from the Frostpeak Potion Shop. How can I help you today?"

"Hello! I am looking for…."

~~~~

"This is tiring, but it\'s fun! I loved working here, Arthur!" Alessa said as she and Arthur closed the store for the day.

"You did pretty well today. Here, Alessa, take this," Arthur said as he handed her a magical pouch.

"What is this?"

"Channel your mana in it."

Alessa did as he told her, and when she looked at what was inside the magical pouch, she could not believe it!

"2000 gold coins? What is this for?"

"A bonus for the incredible work you did today. You can keep the magical pouch too, but be careful to hide it well so that no way can steal it from you."

"Thank you, thank you very much!"

There were no words for Alessa to express how happy she felt, but one thing she could do was keep doing an incredible job while working in the Frostpeak Potion Shop.

"There is an inn right there!" Arthur said, pointing at a nearby building, "you can stay there while you look for a house to rent now that you have the money for it."

"I will. Thank you again! Bye, Arthur, see you tomorrow!"

"Bye, Alessa."

Arthur waved her goodbyes and then went inside his shop again. He waited inside for about one hour before Jane and Wisa came carrying two bags filled with magical ingredients.

"Did you find the things we need?"

"Yes!"

"Good, let\'s go!"

~~~~

In the Frostpeak Potion Shop\'s basement, Arthur drew a symbol using his blood, a circle with some runes he did not know.

Jane and Wisa were there, too, putting some ingredients around the circle, as they were part of the spell\'s ritual.

"Ghost Heart, Harpy Oil, and Dusk Bloom."

"Corrupting Blossom, Serpent Borage, and a Candied Bone."

These were some of the ingredients needed for the ritual, but there was one crucial part: the avatar\'s appearance and knowledge.

Arthur decided to give the avatar everything he knew, taking out some critical parts in case it somehow got evil.

"It is better to be careful."

The avatar would have to start from zero, all the way down as a first circle mage, and it would have no bloodlines and no system.

But Arthur still believed the avatar would be extraordinary and could get stronger than his main body in the future, all because of the forbidden spells he wanted to practice.

"I will give him the appearance I am using right now, an elf. So everyone who saw me in the shop will not get suspicious when I am out of the city."

"But can he turn into a vampire being an elf?"

"Yes, it can. Elves are the few races that can turn into vampires, like humans, and vampire elves are also known as Blood Elves."

"I see. Well, so let\'s do it!"

They had everything ready for the ritual. Arthur took out a part of his hair and put it in the middle of the circle.

"Now I will meditate with the spell, and you two keep chanting this."

He gave them a piece of paper containing a chant in an unknown language, but Jane and Wisa managed to replicate it, even if they did not understand the words\' meaning.

Arthur sat cross-legged in front of the magical circle made of his blood and did the spell\'s chanting. It did not take long, and within five seconds, all the magic ingredients around the process flew toward the strand of hair Arthur put in the middle of the circle, mixing it and forming a prototype of a body!

Then, Arthur\'s consciousnesses made a copy of itself with only a few pieces of information missing, and it also flew toward the mixture.

Boom Boom Boom

The entire basement trembled, and then it went completely silent. After a few seconds, a body came from the magical circle and looked precisely like Arthur!

"This is so strange! The avatar is not something else but an extension of myself, as Ikarus told me. How can my mind control two things at the same time?"

Arthur could not explain the mystery behind the avatar spell from the Blood Monarch, but he could tell that the spell was extraordinary, and now he could be in two places simultaneously!

"Did it work? It is so strange to see the two of you!" Wisa said.

"Yes, it did. The avatar is me, but I can think of two different things simultaneously, like having two minds! Mind-blowing, to say the least. But it does not have power, and I will have to train from zero; still, it is a fantastic alchemist, just like me, so our problem is solved!"

Now Arthur could focus on finding the inheritance and dealing with the three hunters looking for him.