Isekai Jobhunting   von KatouHasegawa
                         (Jobhunting in another world)
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                 Prolog: Prologue or a fated meeting perhaps?
                 --------------------------------------------


The tension was ringing in the air. Just 5 more seconds left... 
4... 3... 2... 1...
And... Time for lunch break! Daniel grabbed his coat, cigarettes and umbrella
and rushed through the door mumbling a 'See ya'. He stepped outside and was
instantly welcomed by a gust of icy cold air. It may be freezing but at least he
could finally get away from this gloomy atmosphere that always surrounded this
office. He looked up at the sky. Grey, heavy clouds hung above the entire city,
almost as if they're trying to suffocate it. Daniel sighed and lit a cigarette.
When the small flame gushed out, it warmed his hands for a few moments. Then he
set off to the the same café as usual. 

As he left the shop with steaming hot potatoes filled with parsley pesto and a
Chai Latte, he felt like he is being watched. But there was no one nearby. 
Slightly anxious he quickened his pace a bit and turned at the next corner. He
looked back but there was no one following him. 
'Was it just my imagination?'
Confused he scratched his head when he heard a tiny buzzing sound. 
'From above?' 
He looked up. Just to meet the eyes of a small girl with long, jet black hair
loosely braided to a ponytail. She was wearing a flowing, red dress that looked
like a rose and most stunning of all, there was a pair of faintly glowing wings
attached to her back. They were almost as big as her. Long, paper-thin and
translucent at the tips.
“Huhhhh?!”
Daniel stumbled backwards, almost letting his precious meal fall.

“Ah. You noticed me?” 
The fairy flew down to his eye-level and hesitantly hovered a while. Then she
floated further downwards until her feet touched the ground. Standing right in
front of each other, the size difference became very apparent. While Daniel was
of tall build, the fairy girl barely reached half of his height. Yet her frame
seemed rather fragile. Too frail for any ordinary child.
“Urgh... I'm not used to this...” 
She tried to smile and hide her disgust for the dirty asphalt, as well as the
cigarette smell. 
“Ahem. My... apologies, stranger. I hope I didn't startle you?”
She looked up to him with deep, scarlet red eyes. 
On the other hand, the look on Daniel's face expressed nothing but surprise. 
“Uhm, my name is Florette. As you can surely see, I'm a Fairy Scout and I've
come to find...” 
She tilted her head, looking for the right words. “...something... like an
interesting artefact from this world.” She gazed at him with an intense look,
waiting for a reply.
Daniel inconspicuously checked the surroundings for any hidden cameras. 'If this
is some kind of prank, they did a real good job with that masquerade... Guess
I'll play along for now.'

He reached out his hand for a handshake. 
She stared at it for a while. 
“Oh! You want compensation for the information?”
“No, I just wanted to-”
“It's fine. I'm new to this position, so I'm not yet used to the customs of
other worlds.”
She took a note book which was attached to the back her belt and opened it.
“Alright. Let's see...” She flipped through a few pages. “I believe gold
is a common currency in many places. Would one gold coin suffice?”
Again that expectantly stare from her.
“Shouldn't I introduce myself first? You haven't given me a proper chance
yet.”
“Oh, dear! I forgot...” 
“Though I would take that gold coin!” Daniel smirked a bit. “Well, I'm
Daniel. I work at an office nearby and I must say, your costume is pretty nice.
Looks expensive... Especially those wings. Oh, and how did you do the 'appearing
out of the sky' and flying effect?”
Now it was Florette's turn to be startled. 
“I... Ah... Uhm... Maybe one question at a time, please...”
She seemed a bit flustered.
“This dress isn't that special, you know... Though a friend of mine
recommended it to me. They said, red suited me.”
“I see... And you're here for... what? An artefact?”
“Well, it doesn't have to be an artefact precisely. I just want to bring a
special souvenir home to cheer someone up.”

“Let me guess, a friend of yours?”
“Yes, but another one.”
“What does this friend like?”
“Hmm... She likes flowers and strange things from strange places. But recently
she has been so depressed, nobody could find anything that could bring her smile
back. So, I thought I'd get her something extremely strange.”
“And that's why you came here?”
“Yes.”
“You think this place is strange enough to find something 'really
strange'?”
“Please, I don't mean to insult your home world. Though I've already seen
quite a few strange things so far...”

She pointed at his lunch.
“This for example. It's very peculiar.”
Daniel tried not to laugh.
“Those are just ordinary hot potatoes...”
She pointed at his suit.
“And your attire is also unusual. But what strikes me most interesting are
your eyes.”
“My eyes?”
“Yes, they're blue like the sky.”
He looked up. The heavy clouds were still hanging there, blocking any ray of
sunlight that tried to make its way down to earth. The girl shook her head.
“I mean the sky from my world. Not this world's sky. Everything is so dull and
grey here. And these high, rectangular buildings... I feel like I'm in a prison
here.”
Her expression changed a bit. Maybe it was homesickness?
“It's not everywhere like this... But if you want to bring your friend
something special, you can have my hot potato.”
A certain spark came back to Florette's eyes.
“That would be very kind of you!” She bows to him. “I shall take it with
me!”
She reached to her belt pocket to pull out another book. This one was a lot
bigger and heavier than the first with ancient, complicated looking signs on it.
As she opened it a warm light escaped the pages and some of the signs started
moving and left the book. They began to dance around the two of them and circled
around. 

“Ok, Florette, was it? How much did you pay for this fancy effect?”
“This book? It's not mine actually. I just... 'borrowed' it from the friend of
a friend. Though he'll probably get mad at me if he knows that I'm the one using
it.”
“Is he that strict?”
“No, he's just worried that I'll break things with it... Now where was that
spell again...”
She turned a few pages, apparently looking for the right page.
“Wait, wait, wait...! Do you know what you're doing??”
Daniel had a feeling that this could end badly for him.
“Well, I think so...”, was Florette's response and this feeling just got
worse.
She lifted her free hand up to the sky and shouted an incantation.
“Exuni versa dori ginem!”
The glowing signatures suddenly spat out fire and engulfed everything in a
blinding light. Daniel quickly tried to shield the blazing flames with his arms
but was thrown backwards and lost his footing.

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