Having had her fill of the Merchants Guild for the day, messing around with a few transactions, and seeing how the place worked, at least from the outside, she decided to call it a night.

  Sure, she headed around the city, having a little fun with the people walking by and flogging their wares. It was also good to see how nice people are. All you had to do was create the illusion of someone walking down the street, sending it in the direction of someone else, and that person, with such good manners, moves to the side to let them pass.

  Granted, what they don’t see is the actual person coming towards them, having been turned invisible for a few moments.

  The resulting collision is very satisfying, especially when they are carrying something. To see it go flying and landing all over the place is cathartic to Oriana.

  Then there were people at the stalls. Creating illusions to make their produce look like it's somewhere else, as they try to bag it up for their customers, was also a fun, silly thing she liked to do. The look of confusion when they try to pick up a loaf of bread and end up with a pastry was great.

  The customer just looks back at them with the same look of confusion, wondering what this odd stall vendor is doing.

  Then there was another little game she liked to play.

  On the occasions when Oriana finds herself hungry and can’t really be bothered to buy something, she heads to a nearby stall as a customer appears. When they purchase something, the seller normally places it on the counter while they handle the coinage.

  Using a mix of invisibility and illusion magic, as well as some good old elbow grease, Oriana quickly exchanges the food item with something a little more…tasteless.

  Well, disgusting is probably the better word.

  Leaving Oriana to walk away with a roll of bread or some type of fruit, while hearing the sounds of the customer spitting out what is actually a lump of mud.

  The preceding shouts really add to the drama.

  Getting back to the Inn she ended the day with another meal from Robert, and then heading to bed.

  With another well-deserved peaceful night's sleep, Oriana wakes to the sun starting to rise and gets ready for her job interview.

  Back on the streets, once she reaches her new place of business for the next week or so, she ducks down an alley and applies an illusion on her whole body, turning her from Oriana to…Michelle.

  Michelle, the bespectacled, pig-tailed newbie, wants to join the Merchants Guild as an accountant to get a steady and well-paying job.

  Brunette hair, freckles, blue eyes and wearing a professional outfit, she was ready to go.

  And so, without further ado, Michelle headed in to apply for her dream job.

  “H-Hello there.”

  “Yes. How may I help you, miss…”

  “M-Michelle. Michelle Afraud.”

  Oriana felt like she had to add a little something to the name just as a challenge.

  This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

  “I’m here for the job opening. The trainee accountant.”

  “Oh, I wasn’t aware anyone had applied for that yet. I had heard we were pretty understaffed at the moment. Let me have a look.”

  The clerk turned away from the booth to start searching through some nearby documents. A frown showed on his face when his search for whatever he was looking for came up empty.

  “I’m not seeing a job application under your name. he said with a frown.

  “What…B-but, I definitely sent my application. I spent ages making sure everything was spelt perfectly. I sent it in three days ago. It-it should be here.” Michelle said as she looked down.

  “I’m sorry, but it doesn’t appear it was sent here.”

  “But…what do I do now?”

  And with a quick flick of the wrist, the ultimate weapon to garner sympathy showed on Michelle’s face.

  Tears.

  Illusioned ones, of course.

  The clerk’s face quickly turned to worry as he saw Michelle break down. To him, it was clear that she really wanted the job and that something as simple as the job application letter not having reached them could take that potential job away from her.

  But not on his watch.

  “I think…I think there may be a way to sort this. Let me check with my manager quickly to see how to resolve this.”

  “Thank-thank you,” Michelle said as she rubbed the fake tears away from her eyes.

  The clerk stood up and headed into the back room of the Merchants Guild.

  Several minutes later, the man returned, a bright smile on his face.

  “Good news. According to my manager, the application form is more of a formality, and well, you can’t help it if your application got lost on the way here.”

  Michelle shook her head while looking glumly at the ground.

  “Because of that, we are happy to give you a little test to see if you have the skills to be an accountant here. Please come on through, and we can get you set up.”

  It would have been nice if Oriana had known about the application letter beforehand. Never really having to apply to a job in such a formal way, she had no clue.

  Also, she hadn’t heard anything during her time in the Merchants guild the day before about such a thing. All she had seen was the advert about accepting new accountants.

  Not that it mattered now, as all she had to do was take a simple test, and she would be golden.

  So, following the clerk into the backrooms of the Merchants guild, she prepared herself for the test to come.

  “Incredible.”

  Not that she really needed to.

  Her time in school and her various jobs so far have given her plenty of skills and experience. More than enough for the entry exam as a trainee accountant.

  “Have you done accounting work before?”

  “Some, I had a small job doing the accounting for the store. It wasn’t much, but I guess it helped in the long run.”

  “Well, I will go check with my manager, but I think you being hired is a certainty. It’s possible we may want to contact your last place of work …but, I've never really seen it happen, so probably not.”

  “I’m not sure you are supposed to say that.” Oriana couldn’t help but think. Not that she was going to correct him, as it would only bring more chaos to the place if some kind of crazy person applied in the future. As long as they could do the math, getting in would be simple.

  Case in point with how she got in.

  The clerk headed back into the backrooms again, leaving her on her own as she waited for the verdict. Hopefully, there would be no issue. No need for a reference check. And she could get on with her new dream job.

  Well, Michelle’s that is.

  Looking around, she could see the rest of the clerks all doing their day to day jobs at the other booths. They shifted documents around, spoke to merchants and other customers, before scanning the document with a magical device. Something that seemed to be standard procedure for them to do.

  Before long, the clerk was back again from his boss’s office, a smile on his face as he saw Michelle.

  “Good news. You have the job.”

  “Really!”

  Michelle jumped up, excitement plastered on her face. Her dream job.

  The clerk put out his hand to shake hers, welcoming her to the team.

  Michelle stepped forward to reciprocate, but tripped on air and fell to the ground before she could.

  “Sorry… I’m so clumsy. Can you just…forget that happened.”

  “Ahh, su-sure.”

  Red blush appeared on the man’s face as he reached to help Michelle up. That might have been because her skirt had ridden up slightly, showing a bit more of her legs.

  “Such a simple man.” She realised.

  The tripping on air had been planned, but not to make this random clerk blush. The trip was done to show off Michelle’s clutzy side, cementing it as part of her image for this workplace.

  Such a character trait was sure to cause all sorts of problems in this office environment, full of important trade deals, magical devices and critical documents.

  Plus, she figured it would be fun for her character.