A Dragon's First Job Hunt
A week had passed since Flare received her official identification. She had a legal identity now, but she was still completely broke. Well, technically, she had mountains of gold, but converting it required asking Silvere for help, which was far too much of a hassle.
"I finally have an ID, but I can't do anything without actual cash..." Flare muttered, rolling around on her bed while hugging a giant teddy bear. Suddenly, her phone buzzed.
"Who could that be? I don't even know anyone who would text me." Flare unlocked her phone to check the notification.
"Ah, I completely forgot."
Flare realized she had promised to give Silvere an answer once she got her ID, but it had slipped her mind entirely.
She scrambled out of bed and rushed into the living room.
"Hyun! Silvere asked me if I could help watch her cafe. Is it okay if I take the job?"
"Of course it's okay. You don't have to ask for my permission for things like this, you know?" Hyun smiled, reassuring her that since it was his sister asking for help, she should do as she pleased. "Just make sure you don't do anything too dangerous out there, okay?"
"Yeah, I know."
Flare picked up her phone and typed out her reply to Silvere.
Chime!
"Silvere, I'm here!"
"Oh, you're right on time. I was just about to get ready."
"Yeah, I had a few things to bring, so I packed them up."
"Then please take a seat at the counter first. I'll get you a drink. What would you like?"
"Just give me an iced chocolate latte."
"Coming right up, Flare."
While Silvere went to make the iced chocolate latte, Flare pondered what she wanted to buy once she got her bank account and card. There were so many games she wanted on various gaming platforms, but she had heard they required a high-spec PC. First things first, once I get the money, I need to build a proper computer. Just thinking about it made her giddy.
As she was lost in these happy thoughts, Silvere approached the counter with the finished iced chocolate latte. Pulling up a chair next to her, Silvere spoke.
"Here is your chocolate latte, Flare."
"Thanks, I'll enjoy it."
"By the way, Flare, I can easily set up the account and card for you, but you mentioned you wanted to exchange gold for cash?"
At Silvere's question, Flare, who was happily sipping her chocolate latte through a straw, nodded.
"Yeah, that's right."
"But how much gold do you actually have?"
"I don't really know. I just grabbed a bunch of stuff from my lair. I'll probably have to pull it out to see." Flare admitted that even she didn't have an exact count.
"But since I brought it all in my Subspace, I'll need some space to pull it out."
"Hmm, hold on a moment. I think we have an empty storage room. Wait here."
Silvere left to check on the empty storage room. She returned shortly after Flare had finished her chocolate latte and guided her to the warehouse right next to the cafe.
"Here it is, Flare. It's an empty warehouse about twice the size of the cafe."
"Oh, this is actually pretty spacious. Alright, should I start pulling it out?"
With those words, Flare began pulling out massive, heavy gold bars one by one. However, the sheer volume she was retrieving was far from normal. Once about a hundred gold bars, each weighing roughly 100 kilograms, were piled up, Silvere's expression turned deeply troubled.
"Um, Flare? I think it might be best if you stop pulling them out now."
Flare, who was still pulling gold bars out of her Subspace, looked up with a puzzled expression.
"Why? I haven't even pulled out ten percent of what I brought."
Silvere spoke with an incredibly serious face.
"Flare, the gold you've pulled out just now already weighs ten tons."
"And that's ten tons of pure gold. Even for the government of this country, buying all of this would be a massive financial strain."
Silvere already had a headache thinking about how she would consult with the President to dispose of all this. But what could she do? From a dragon's perspective, this was just a light handful of pocket change. Since Silvere was a dragon herself, she understood this all too well.
"Flare, could you please put everything back except for two gold bars?"
"It's just too much. Honestly, even if you only sell two of these, you'll already have a larger net worth than Hyun."
"Is gold exceptionally expensive in this world?"
"Of course it is. Even the smartphone you're using right now has gold inside it."
Fascinated by Silvere's explanation, Flare began putting the gold back into her Subspace.
"So gold is used for a lot of things here? How interesting. Back home, we only ever used it as currency. Alright, I'll put everything back except for two bars."
"And Flare? You do realize that we can lift these like cotton candy because we're dragons, but humans can't, right?"
"Of course I know that. Why do you ask?"
"We'd need heavy machinery to transport these, and calling in that kind of equipment would attract way too much attention."
"Can't you use Subspace too?"
"Of course I can. But my Subdimensional Space Magic isn't nearly as vast as yours. My mana capacity isn't at the Lord level, after all." As a standard dragon by birth, Silvere explained her unavoidable limitations, noting that she lacked the immense mana pool of a Dragon Lord.
"Still, it's a bit of a shame. If it weren't for the difference in mana capacity, I might have actually beaten a former Dragon Lord at least once."
"Mmm... genetic limitations... there's really nothing you can do about that."
Flare spoke casually as she finished putting away all but the two gold bars.
"Alright, they're all back in. Are you going to carry these?" Flare asked, lifting a 100-kilogram gold bar in each hand and spinning them around effortlessly as if they were plastic toys.
"I'll put them in my Subspace and take them. I can store up to five hundred gold bars of this size, you know."
"Oh, really? Then here, take them."
"Once your account and card are issued, I'll deposit the value of the gold directly into your account." Silvere took the gold bars from Flare and slipped them into her own Subspace.
"Yeah, I'll leave the details to you."
"Oh, and about the offer I accepted yesterday..."
"Right! Come to think of it, that was the main reason I asked you to come over today. The sheer amount of gold made me completely forget for a second."
"So, when should I start? You mentioned I'd be covering for you when you're away."
At Flare's question, Silvere pulled out her phone, checked her schedule, and spoke.
"First, I'll need to teach you how to brew coffee, make other drinks, operate the espresso machine, and clean up. Could you come by tomorrow as well?"
"Sounds like there's a lot more to do than I thought."
"Well, you do need to be able to take basic orders. Although, given our location, we barely get one customer a day, so there won't be much to do."
"Alright, let's wrap up for today then. What time should I come tomorrow?"
"Hmm... Come to the cafe at 2:00 PM tomorrow as well. It's not something you can learn in just one day."
Since Silvere had to meet with the President after seeing Flare off, she quickly bid her farewell.
"Have a safe trip home, Flare!"
"Yeah, see you tomorrow."
Once Flare left, Silvere pulled out her phone and made a call.
"Hello? It's me, Silvere. I think we need to meet somewhere a bit more private today instead of our usual spot. Do you have a good place in mind?"
"Why a private location today?"
"I received a request from the Dragon Lord. We've gotten quite close, and I have something to deliver to you."
"So, could you visit my cafe after all this time? And bring a truck with you."
"Very well. I shall head over immediately. Please wait a moment."
Some time passed, and a sleek black sedan arrived at Silvere's secluded cafe. The car door opened.
Chime!
"You got here fast."
"I said I would head over immediately, didn't I? I merely kept my word."
"Take a seat at the counter first. This might take a while."
"Very well. I'll pass on a drink, so please, tell me what this is about."
Silvere sighed softly at the President's business-like tone and got straight to the point.
"The Dragon Lord—well, Flare—asked me to set up a bank account and a card for her. And she handed me this to pay for it."
As soon as she finished speaking, Silvere opened her Subspace and pulled out a massive gold bar.
The President's eyes widened as he stared at the gold bar in Silvere's hands.
"What on earth is that? Is that... gold? It looks like completely pure gold without a single impurity."
Silvere smiled at his reaction.
"Yes, it's 100% pure gold. I have two of these bars right now. Each one weighs about a hundred kilograms."
A hundred kilograms each. Two hundred kilograms of pure gold was incredibly rare. It was indeed something that would be difficult to procure even with the national government's budget.
"Ha... So, what does she want us to do with this gold?"
"Flare said she has no cash, so she wants us to buy it from her. What do you think? Are you interested?"
"Of course we'll buy it. It's extremely rare to find gold of this purity. Since she also asked for an account and a card, shall we deposit the purchase amount directly into the new account we set up for her?"
"Yes, please do that. Let me know when it's all processed."
"Will do. It has been a while since we had such a pleasant transaction, Silvere."
I suppose this is what they call a win-win transaction where everyone ends up happy, Silvere thought with a smile.