Yay, just in time! *superman pose*!

Thank you very much to Dan for the PR and thumbs up! :D

Enjoy!

Anyhow, releases will be a little slow since I'm in the middle of exams! I will keep to the 2 weeks deadline though!

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*Rumble rumble*

The thunder rang out, serving as a messenger for an impeding storm. Due to the early hour the streets of the metropolis that was New York were already almost devoid of humans, everyone that didn’t have to stay outside had fled into the warmth of their homes or had found shelter elsewhere.

The few people who didn’t were all hurrying along to do so, many of them holding their umbrellas ready, some looked worriedly up at the sky, probably hoping to be inside once the downpour began.

There were quite a few short-rental cars driving through the streets. More people than usual had called for this convenient form of transportation. It was comfortable and way better than getting drenched by the rain later on. The short-rentals had long since replaced the taxi business. They were cars equipped with the latest auto-pilot function that didn’t require anyone to steer it. You could simply call one with your phone and it would automatically drive to your location and take you where you wanted to go. Truly convenient.

Therefore, pedestrians were quite scarce.

Amongst the few pedestrians one could see the short figure of a girl. She was wearing a dark red trench coat that reached a little past her hips and looked like someone had successfully combined the concept of a dress with a useful jacket.

She was carrying a black bag about the size of an average school bag in one hand, the other she held at her side carefully. The sleeve of her coat just barely concealed the bandages underneath.

It was Robin.

Somehow or another she had finally reached the busy city center. She felt truly grateful to the well-developed infrastructure of New York. Thanks to that and her watch she had found her way without major problems. This watch was something she had gotten from Daniel. It was a small wristwatch configured for voice operation. It was actually a small computer. It could access the internet, local map data and had many other useful functions. She could even make calls from it if she wanted to! But from outside it just seemed like a normal watch.

‘Not that I have anyone I could call though’, she sighed to herself.

But this wasn’t something just anyone could have. In fact it was still a luxury normal people couldn’t dream to afford. That wasn’t because of its functions but because of its size. If normal people wanted all these functions they would at least need a computer desktop sized machine for it.

Each model made to date was unique and specifically created only for their owner. The technology used on it was simply that new, the effort put into each watch was too huge. In fact not even 50 of them existed in the whole world. That was why she would have to keep it a secret from now on. As a blind girl without a family to turn to for help this wasn’t something she could lose. Not to mention… she felt like the AI that ran her model was like a friend.

With many breaks in between and without sleep she had stayed up the entire night to walk. It showed. Her demeanor was tired and her limbs all ached from the strain she had put on it. But her face still showed a strong determination.

‘I refuse to die like this!’

“Momo, when do you think it will start to rain?”, she asked into the air. She was talking to her watch.

She was wearing a small wireless earpiece that was connected to her watch so she wasn’t worried about anyone hearing the response from the AI. The voice of a cute girl sounded into her head, it sounded completely natural, unlike AIs of previous generations.

“Yes! The data from various weather stations implies it will start pouring down any minute now! But from what my own sensors tell me it should still take about 15 minutes! You should be there by then!”

“That’s good, thanks.”

“No problem, Robin! But say…”

“Hm?”

“Your condition doesn’t seem to be very good. As I predicted you overdid it! Once you arrive there you have to rest up properly, you hear?”

“Ah… you are worried about me. Thank you, Momo.”, she giggled and smiled silently before quietly muttering “But that might not be so easy…”

She could hear the AI sigh and grumble some words she couldn’t quite make out. Something about selfishness maybe?

“Ah, turn right here and cross the street, no signal. No traffic detected, fine-tuning sensors just in case. Ok, cross.”

Robin followed the instructions without hesitation and not even 10 minutes later she arrived at her destination.

The small shop she arrived at was located in the middle of a side street. Unless you specifically looked for it you probably wouldn’t be able to find it. The exterior was quite ordinary, like thousands of small cozy shops in the city. Yet this one held a particular importance to Robin.

It was an accessory shop.

She had asked Momo to search for a place meeting a few requirements.

Her experience regarding the real world was minimal. She didn’t go to school after elementary school, she hadn’t worked in her life, but that didn’t apply to Zayvin.

As Zayvin she had a lot of experience. Though she was still poor at talking to people that wasn’t important right now. Zayvin was a mage, her specialty was battles using magic. In reality magic did not exist, neither did she have the constitution to fight in this body.

So the only thing she could rely on was her poor crafting skills. As a frontliner she had never taken up any major craft but only the ones she might need on the field. Alchemy was obviously out of the question. Most of the herbs and ingredients she needed didn’t exist here after all, neither could she easily identify them because of her eyes.

The only option she had left was her jewelry skill. She acquired it to process raw gems and precious metals. It was also useful as some groundwork for magic enhancements. Working with gems was something she was quite familiar with and she had often converted them into jewelry to sell in game. Thus this was the easiest choice for her.

She had asked Momo to find a jewelry store that was small in size that had recently lost a craftsman and was looking for a new apprentice on a long term basis. It had to have a good reputation with employees and customers and specialize in handmade goods. A family owned business would be ideal.

As for why… obviously she was way too suspicious. Plus she needed a job right away and couldn’t afford to wait for weeks before the application process for a bigger store was finished. She would be dead by then.

She also wasn’t delusional to think she was good enough to work as a full employee so this is what it had come down to.

Reconfirming her determination, Robin took a deep breath and stepped up to the door. According to Momo the store would open in an hour, but the deliveries all arrived around this time so the store was probably staffed already.

“Momo, is there a bell?”

“Raise your arm a little, the camera angle is a bit off.”

“There you go.”, she said as she raised her arm a bit.

“To your right on the wall next to the door. It’s the second from below. Its an old one with only voice transmission.”

“Thanks! You’re the best!”

“Ehehehe…”, somehow the AI had happily started laughing.

A few awkward seconds later Robin pressed the small bell and waited for a reply. A few moments it was quiet and Robin was just about ready to wait outside until opening time after all, but then with a small cracking sound the almost ancient intercom buzzed to life.

“Good morning, how can we help you? Sorry, but Gina’s Glitter is still closed…”

The bored voice of a young man sounded over the intercom, startling Robin quite a bit.

“Ah, sorry for disturbing you. I-I came because I was informed you were… looking for a new jeweler apprentice… i-if this is a bad time I will just wait until later…”

“Ohh, an applicant?? Seriously??”

A few strange cracking noises sounded out from the intercom before it turned off. Confused Robin just stared for a moment, unsure of what to do. Her heart sank.

‘I… made him mad…’

She was about to turn around and leave when suddenly with the ringing of a bell the door flew opened and someone jumped out of the store.

“Are you the applicant?”

A young man stood in front of her, his breathing slightly heavy as he stared at her expectantly.

‘D-did he run here? Moreover, he sounds really excited… What’s going on here?’, Robin wondered quietly, unsure how to react.

“Y-yes?”, she carefully replied.

“Perfect! Come on in for now, I’ll go get the owner. Sorry, we still have some deliveries coming in right now so I’ll have to leave you.”

“Ah no, please don’t worry. I-it was me who just suddenly came outside of opening hours…”

“Alright, I’ll be right back then!”

“O-okay.”

Robin stepped into the small shop and carefully shut the door behind her. She didn’t want anyone else to come in before the shop was ready. Plus the first raindrops were starting to fall.

“Momo, how does it look?”

“Ah, its quite an ordinary small shop. The workshop is probably out back. The front has three glass cases and some glass cabinets meant for display. Referring to other sources… Their quality is very high simply judging from visuals. The workmanship for the pieces is intricate and beautiful. All of them are made to last, there is only roughly 5% of works that have some weak points but they aren’t very large.”

“Good work, thank you, Momo.”

“No problem! But I found something worrying as well…”

“Eh?”

Just as she was about to ask what Momo found she could hear some quiet stops approaching from the front. The steps were soft and gentle, quite different from the sound of the man’s steps from earlier.

“Ah, good morning, young miss.”

“G-good morning, madam.”, Robin greeted nervously. She hadn’t expected the shop owner to be an old lady like this. Judging from the voice alone she was a gentle and kind woman. The years seemed to have treated her well.

“Kristian informed me you would like to take up an apprenticeship with us.”

“Yes, I do.”

“I see, please follow me into the back. You look tired. We can talk more comfortably in my office.”

The woman had discreetly looked her up and down as they exchanged greetings and motioned for her to follow with a smile.

Momo automatically directed her so she didn’t crash into anything and thus she followed the kind woman into a small office. Various folders and filing boxes lay around the room in an orderly fashion. This was most likely were all the paperwork related to the store was done.

“First of all, good morning and welcome to my humble shop. I’m Regina Francis, it’s very nice to meet you.”

“You are too modest, i-it’s a very nice shop, I’m happy to be here today.”, edginess had made its way back into Robin’s mind. She swallowed it back with all her mind. This was something she had to do no matter what!

“M-my name is Robin Cross, it’s a pleasure…”

They shook hands and exchanged some basic information. Robin really started to like the owner.

“So… Robin, tell me… why did you really come to our shop? You’re a very bright child. From your age you should still be going to school. Even if you had graduated your first choice certainly shouldn’t be a small shop like ours. Please be honest.”

Robin sighed into herself as cold sweat gathered in her palms. This was the critical point.

“Th-then I’ll be honest. I… I couldn’t go to school since elementary due to some p-personal reasons… n-now my family… they got tired… of me and kicked me out.”, Robin took a deep breath to steady herself before continuing to speak. The old shop owner waited with a serious expression.

“I… I enjoy making accessories and learned about it myself before. Right now I don’t… have anywhere to go… I need to support myself from now on so looking for work like this is my only option... to survive on my own. I-I chose this shop… because I’m not… very good with people… I don’t know… so a smaller shop… is better for me. You have a really good reputation and the quality of your jewelry is great. This kind of place I want to learn from. I… I will work hard to learn from you. P-please give me a chance!”

The expression on the owners face was grave and she pondered silently for a while. Robin stayed quiet. This was something the owner needed to decide. She had been honest as to her intentions.

Finally she sighed and started.

“Let me quickly sum this up for myself. You have no place to go so we’d have to arrange some quarters for you. Since you don’t have anything but what’s on you we’ll also have to see to your living expenses for one month in advance and I still don’t even know how capable you are, not to mention you are blind…”

She sighed and shook her head. Obviously she hadn’t missed the small indications in Robins behavior that her eyes couldn’t see. In fact she was quite impressed on how well she conducted herself despite her blindness…

“This is really more trouble than its worth…”

Robin had closed her eyes and waited quietly for her to continue speaking. She would be rejected…!

“But somehow… I have the feeling I should give you a chance.”

“Eh…!”, Robin raised a surprised voice at that. She had already been sure it was hopeless, the chance of success had been really slim in the first place. She had already resigned herself to swallow her pride and turn to the authorities. Even though the waiting time would have been far too long… to think Ms Francis would give her a chance!

“Follow me, I’d like to see what you can do.”

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Whoooo, a skill test for Robiiiin!~

While you wait... check for my writing progress as well as interesting bits about my world here

I've also added a few sketches of how i imagined my world and some characters