"Miko, you take over the counter, and I take Kayla into my office." Lilith proclaimed, grinning.

"Good luck!" Miko said, again patting me softly on my back. Should I be afraid? Why is she wishing me luck? I felt like I was before some kind of surprise exam in school.

But I gave it my best to follow Lilith without panicking. My sweaty hands and forehead told me that I was failing in that regard, but I'm optimistic that I will leave this office alive.

I took a deep breath before I sat down on the only chair across from Lilith.

Her office was pretty small but cute, just like herself, and most of the furniture was straight out of a catalog. I bet every single one got a Swedish name to it, but she certainly tried to touch it up with several kinds of flowers and some decorative items. My favorite piece was the framed drawing of probably herself with another person in it.

The room also had a lot of natural light coming in; since there was a huge window front behind her, I could see right into the garden behind the building.

"Sorry that it is so tight in here." she apologized, maybe because I looked so stressed, but this room was definitely not the reason.

"Ah, don't mention it; I think it's pretty comfy." I wasn't necessarily lying; the room just did not care that much for me at all.

"Thank you, so where do I start?" she scratched her cheek and fetched some documents from her desk drawer.

"This is the contract; would you like to go through it with me? Or do you want to read it alone first?"

"Together with you, if that's OK." not like she offered me to go through it together a second ago.

"Of course," she grabbed another copy of the contract and handed me one.

"Since we are a magical business, we do not have that many regulations like you would find in the regular job market; we are pretty free to decide how much and for what tasks we pay our employees."

The first sentence already sounded like some kind of scam, but for now, I had to believe her.

"The basic pay you get every month is pretty low, but the bonuses for completing a mission are comparatively high, so you can get up to a salary of around 4.000€ after taxes," she inhaled sharply and sighed. "But sometimes the situation concerning missions can be very frustrating, meaning that the pay stays low and you got nothing to do." 

She immediately blurted out the payment, perhaps to motivate me for the rest...

"Mhm, and what are we doing without any missions? Like, do I still need to come here every day?"

She shook her head. "No, no, you're pretty much on standby all the time. If we have an incoming job, me, Miko or our secretary will just call you. We may need you right away, so we'd appreciate it if you kept that in mind."

Right until now, everything she told me was pretty easy to follow. Still, I had that one question ever since Miko invited me into this guild last night.

"And what will be my tasks on a mission? Is it dangerous?"

She sighed again. "Good question, yes and no. I want you to join us because you can use healing magic, so, of course, I want you to use it; plus, we're trying to avoid sending you straight into any dungeon. If, with emphasis on if, everything works out as I have planned, all you have to do is help build the barrier around the dungeon entrance and patch up the injured after they leave the dungeon."

I was listening closely and saw her facial expression shifting into a more serious tone. "However, there is always the possibility of a monster breaking out or the chance that you need to enter a dungeon. I know that you did not live as a mage until now, so I was already thinking about ways to get you accustomed to everything slowly."

The most dangerous situation I have had to get through on a daily basis in my life up until now was crossing the street. The possibility of facing a monster sounded absolutely unreal, and honestly, I am not sure if I ever want to make that experience.

But I trust her, and I trust Miko. I want to take this chance; I don't want to regret my decision, so I stopped thinking for the moment.

"Where do I sign?"

MIKO

I am not exaggerating when I say their conversation took not longer than five minutes. Kayla left the office alone, smiling but visibly shaking. I was pretty certain that she had just joined the guild because I never witnessed anyone declining an offer by Lilith before.

"And?" I asked cautiously. Kayla, on the other hand, was more focused on calming her breathing.

"I start next month." she finally proclaimed with a soft voice.

"Congrats, and welcome to our guild!" I walked towards her and gave her a hug; I don't know why I did it, maybe because she looked so lost and helpless. First, she stood there, not moving an inch. Moments later, her arms also enclosed my back. I felt her restless breathing on my chest, but she relaxed steadily.

"Wow, that's rare," Lilith said in a badly acted shocked voice after leaving her office. I just glanced at her for a moment before I focused on Kayla again. "Everything's fine now?"

"Yes," she whispered, "thank you." She ended the hug and stepped back. Her cheeks flushed pink, her gaze fixed on the ground. I could not deny that I also felt some degree of… I actually don't know which kind of feeling that was.

And I can't remember when the last time was that I got physically close to someone like that. Maybe it was because I rarely meet someone so vulnerable as Kayla. I was certain that I acted on instincts, not on goodwill.

"Since you two get on like that, I decided that Miko will be responsible for Kayla's training. She will need assistance in getting the license." Lilith explained.

She spoke as if there was another option.

Normally, the thought of helping someone annoys me a lot, but to be honest, I looked forward to raising this little puppy to become a full-fledged witch.