I wasn't even sure how much a crossbow was worth, but I had to guess that a good one would make those magic scrolls he used seem cheap.

  A slingshot... if I could find a park to hunt in where the animals didn't turn into tiny crystal shards, I could have made one myself by now, so it seemed especially unfair to need to rely on someone else for that.

  "I can't afford them," I said flatly.

  "It's really no big deal. Look, I get that you have trouble trusting other people, but helping others is just our culture. If you want to fit in, you'll have to accept it."

  'Yeah right.'

  I was perfectly aware that my looks encouraged all kinds of free help from adults, assuming they didn't flag me as a witch or demon instead.

  And although this world had accepted me despite the fact I hadn't once seen another human with my hair or eye color, they'd sure think I was a demon if they knew what I really was.

  "No, I'm okay. I don't want free help. Please stop wasting money on me. I want to earn it by myself."

  That explanation usually did the trick. Who could resist a child's heartfelt plea to not be spoiled rotten?

  But this man just sighed.

  "I'm not sure I can do that... alright, you don't want to get it for free, meaning you'll accept it as payment then?"

  "Payment? For what?"

  "Look... just give me a week. Stop dying for that long, and I'll figure something out."

  He wanted me to stop working for a whole week? I had a bit saved up, so I could, but it'd be the same thing as just burning what little money I had earned.

  Nevertheless, as far as I could tell, he was a local authority. I couldn't just say no.

  Regulations like these were always the worst. I should have known, an unidentified and unlicensed alien like me would eventually get punished.

  I let out my own defeated sigh.

  ***

  My one week vacation didn't involve any relaxation.

  I spent half the time I usually hunted exploring the city on the Terra side of things, earning a bit of pocket change by scrounging in the urban environment.

  The other half, I spent listening to people.

  Those two chances to talk through a magical, psychic translator would have normally amounted to little in terms of educational value, but I was used to learning foreign languages with virtually zero common cultural ground. To me, they were incredibly useful.

  Without a tutor, bridging written and spoken language was very difficult, but not quite impossible.

  I gradually begun to pick up the general sound and flow of the language, as well as a few very common words or phrases.

  The supplies I'd saved up gradually dwindled away, vanishing far faster than it took to earn them in the first place, and I considered trying to hunt when nobody was around, but decided against it.

  Still, a week had passed. At the very least, the translation effect had taught me what a week was in this world, so it wasn't like I'd gained nothing.

  That man had returned, this time with a woman.

  They must have used those scrolls before I spotted them, because I understood both.

  "Hey there, kiddo. I found a job for you. It's part time work, but the hours are the same as your usual hunting hours, or you could do weekends if that's better."

  "A job?" I asked blankly.

  "Yeah. This is Cierri. She's from a different guild, one that specializes in information gathering. They've been wanting to map this dungeon out for ages now, but it's always been too low of a priority."

  Considering he'd apparently arranged this job for me... I didn't like the notion that I'd caused multiple organizations I knew nothing about to reprioritize their schedules.

  But apparently, my concerns were written all over my face, because the man addressed them, raising his hands placatingly.

  "Relax, kiddo. This was bound to happen. It was overdue, really. The most I did was remind the right people that it hadn't been done yet."

  "Overdue?"

  "Of course. Stable dungeons all need to be mapped out for safety compliance. They just get lazy with beginner dungeons, since the safety concerns are minimal... but that's really just an excuse."

  "So she really does speak a different language," the woman remarked. "Fascinating."

  'Ah.'

  Stolen from its rightful place, this narrative is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.

  The convenience of the translation magic made me forget that the language I'd been speaking was utterly alien to them. Of course, a layman probably wouldn't take much notice... but if this woman was into gathering information, she probably did right away.

  "Hear that? Your new coworker's already happy to work with you, so don't fuss over the costs or whatever. That's just the cost of doing business. You'll be paid too."

  ***

  Cierri already knew that the small outsider girl's role in this was mainly to receive charity in the guise of a part time job, or else she might have raised ethical concerns about hiring a kid who didn't even speak the same language as her.

  In other words, they'd be paying the kid a pretty decent wage, and mostly just expected her to be the mascot for the whole project.

  But surprisingly, the girl was a rare find. Whatever language she spoke was totally new to her. Once she found that out, the adventurer was quickly willing to help make sure things went off without a hitch.

  "So, what's your name?" She asked, taking charge of the improvised meeting.

  "Kid's fine."

  "You know that just means... well, I guess if that's what you prefer."

  Some outsiders could have pretty unusual perspectives on what names were. Perhaps the girl came from one where getting a personal name was a rite of passage.

  Or perhaps she just didn't want to share her real name.

  Of course, that desire could be cultural too.

  "Usually, in dungeons like these, I like to camp out. I know it's short notice, but would your parents be willing to let you stay overnight on weekends? It's not a big deal if they aren't."

  The girl paused, before answering just as dispassionately. "I can do that."

  "I see. Alright, we can start preliminary work today, and begin mapping this weekend."

  For some reason, that made the girl look a bit uneasy.

  'Did she have weekend plans that I just ruined?'

  But no explanation was given, nor did it feel right asking for one.

  ***

  The woman, the one named Cierri, gave me a rundown of what the job entailed.

  Since I'd been coming to the dungeon regularly for a few weeks now, and since other people had noticed me coming and going quite far into the woods rather than just sticking to the closer spots, they decided that I was probably the best guide they could find.

  I was a bit skeptical there, but I assumed they meant cheapest rather than best.

  The only trouble was that I had no clue when the weekend started.

  I'd managed to clumsily ask about the current date though.

  Since humans are forgetful creatures, such common sense questions are actually quite mundane and ordinary. You might imagine asking such a thing would tip people off, but actually, they usually just assume you forgot.

  Except in my case...

  "Sorry... what's today's date?"

  "Ah, it's the 27th."

  "I meant... day of the week..."

  "Oh, it's a Wednesday."

  "And, um... no... I didn't catch that... how many days until the weekend?"

  "Oh, I see. Today's Wednesday, tomorrow's Thursday, then Friday. We'll meet Friday afternoon, the same time as today."

  "Oh."

  'The same time as today.'

  I could have skipped that whole conversation by simply showing up the same time I always did.

  The regret I felt immediately reminded me why I usually prefer to live in total solitude, but what was done remained done, so there was no helping it.

  She also explained that she had a mapping spell that automatically recorded information, and it was mostly my job to serve as a guide while she did all of the actual work.

  Well, she worded it a bit more charitably than that, but that's how it was.

  Surprisingly, I even got paid to let her explain things to me.

  It was more in an hour than I'd ever made in my whole life. Well, my life in this world, that is.

  I was still learning my numbers, but this was an easy one. For an hour of my time, I received a single note.

  But whereas the notes I got from hunting deer all said 100, this said 1000.

  It was worth twenty deer. One hour was equal to a week of my usual work. I'd already mostly regained the loss I had to endure to get it.

  I begrudgingly accepted this new job, not that I'd been given much of a choice to begin with, but it had just become hard to pass up.

  ***

  "Huh? Why do you have those?"

  "It's food for the weekend. Do you need some? I can get more."

  "No, I... I brought enough. Please tell me you don't eat it raw. I know you're still learning, but it says not to right here, see?"

  Cierri was commenting on the bags of flour I'd brought. Of course, there was also some salt, a small baggy of ground dandelions I'd gathered from Terra, and a few other things in my bag of rations.

  "No, I can cook it."

  "Using what? Look, I'll hold unto those and give them back, but we told you, we're covering all expenses. Did your parents... no, forget I asked, just... don't worry about food."

  I felt bad that she'd be carrying two days of my supplies, but she took them without letting me say no, so I also felt a bit annoyed.

  But she really had brought food, enough for a whole weekend.

  It was awful too, like a form of torture. I'd accepted dry flatbread with the occasional supplement for nutritional purposes, but she had a wide variety of snacks, drinks that weren't just water, and even proper meats and cheeses.

  She had a whole camping cooking set with her too, and made stew for dinner, and sandwiches for lunch.

  "How are you carrying so much?" I eventually asked her.

  "It's a standard item bag. I wish it were mine, but it's guild equipment. Sadly, they're not cheap, pretty much only high rankers can afford their own. Basically, it's bigger on the inside, and lighter on the outside."

  Such convenient magic was almost boggling in everything its mere existence insinuated.

  ***

  The job was pretty simple.

  We just walked around the forest in a strategic pattern.

  She didn't even have to take notes. Her Skill automatically mapped everything out, storing it in a small handheld device she carried on her.

  Apparently, it had a range of about 300 yards or so.

  I thought my job of basically just walking around with her was simple, but it turned out that's about all she did too, so I didn't feel as bad.

  It made me really want to get a Skill of my own.

  The only hard part was watching her use those translation scrolls. Even at my current pay rate, each one was worth about twenty hours of work, and she burnt multiple each weekend just so she could talk with me.

  Of course, she said it was a necessary expense since she might need to ask me questions, but most of the questions she asked were totally unrelated to the job.

  Oddly, despite her Skill doing all the work for her, she still took notes. I figured she must be very diligent at her job after all.

  I pointedly refused to answer any personally identifying questions, since I didn't really have an identity in this world, having just started existing perhaps a month prior.

  She got the hint, and quickly shifted to talking about other things.

  Sometimes she played teacher or storyteller, telling me about life on Terra, in general or her own in particular. Other times, she made fairly extensive small talk, asking my opinion on this or that and trying to get me to elaborate why.

  It was exhausting.

  However, it was also a ton amount of information about my new world, and an intense amount of training in its language, so while I definitely hated it, it wasn't something I could simply pass up.

  Since she was apparently an outgoing person, I realized that I'd been hired mostly to keep her company.

  Well, hopefully that first 1000 note wasn't a fluke.

  When I asked her about pay, she told me that it was basically an off-the-table bonus, and my actual income would be distributed every other week.

  Well... I just had to survive another two weeks off of my saving, and hope it was enough.

  Considering I got to eat well while I worked, it wasn't so bad, at least.