Chapter Fifty-Eight - Engineer

I'm hoping to get another chapter done today. At least one more! Oh, and lemme know what you think of our little friend <3 Might do her POV next!

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Rosario glanced to the side, but Lucky was already wandering off to stare up at a tall wall-mounted shelf of history books. When she turned her attention back into the deeper ends of the room, all she caught were the trailing ends of a coat as the girl who had been staring at her fled.

Not... very rapidly, however.

Rosario hummed, curious, and then she chased. The young girl had darted out between the rows of shelves, but... well, she came up to about Rosario’s hips, and someone with legs that short could hardly get away. 

She did make a good effort of it, however.

Rosario found her at the very back of the store in a rather compromising position. There was a door back there, possibly a rear exit. It was locked, but the girl had inserted a pair of metal sticks into the lock and was wiggling them around. Hair pins? Those didn’t look like thieve’s tools. 

She took her time approaching, after all, other than a strange look, the girl hadn’t done anything to her. So she used [Inspect] on the child only to return something a little strange.

Hailey Copperfidget

[Engineer] - level 4

Rosario noticed two things. First, the girl froze the moment her [Inspect] was sent out. The second was that a small light flickered inside of her glasses. Strange. But not quite as strange as her job.

Now, it was entirely possible that a child could master a job well enough to level it, but it struck Rosario as somewhat unlikely that a kid would pick [Engineer] of all things. Adding to that, the job sounded more like a second tier kind of job. She’d never seen the like in KingBreaker, but most jobs of that nature started with [Apprentice] first. Her enchanter and mage jobs both followed that pattern, at least.

“You seem distressed,” Rosario said. She made sure to keep her voice soft and gentle. She was not the motherly sort--definately not--but she had some experience with kids. Usually it behooved one to be kind and soft-spoken around them.

The girl froze, then slowly turned.

No, this wasn’t a girl. Well, she was definitely feminine, but not a child.

Hailey Copperfidget stood at what Rosario would guess to be about four foot nothing, or about a head shorter than Cricket, who was already height-challenged. Still, for all that she was short, she was definitely a woman, though not a particularly developed one. It was the face that gave it away. She had wide, pale-blue eyes, but her features had the maturity of a grown adult... even if she wore her hair in pigtails.

Also, most children didn’t wear button-up shirts and suspenders. Though maybe Rosario couldn’t rely on her own expectations when it came to current era children’s fashion.

“Hello?” the young woman said. She fidgetted, tucking her hairpins back into her ponytails as if there was nothing strange going on. “Can I help you?”

Rosario smiled lightly. “No, it’s fine,” she said. The woman relaxed, though it was barely perceptible. “Though... I did notice that you seemed somewhat shocked back there. Are you well?”

“I’m fine,” the engineer said. Too quickly. 

“Oh? Are you? Are you certain? If you’re distressed, I may be able to help?”

She shook her head, then her eyes started to look for a way out. The moment her glasses were lined up with Rosario noticed that the flashed. She narrowed her eyes at the spectacles. They seemed like normal, if old-fashioned, glasses. Thick metal frames holding glass in place. The strange part were the tiny gems mounted on the inside of the frame. There were tiny, hair-thin wires leading to each gem and snaking back along the arm of the glasses. 

Tilting her head a little, she noticed that the wires lead to a small box hooked to the frames near the engineer’s temple.

The lights flickerted on again. Ten flashes from two gems, though she noted that they didn’t flash in a one-two sequence. It wasn’t so consistent. A pattern? 

The young engineer was obviously well aware of the flickering lights. For some reason they were making her sweat rather profusely. “What’s your name?” she asked casually.

“You know that already, no?” 

A mistake. 

Rosario had never sensed anyone using [Inspect] on her, though... maybe she could, if she paid enough attention to it. It was a spell, technically, though one weak enough to be mistaken for the wave and flow of ambient mana.

This young lady seemed to know that Rosario had used that sort of spell on her already. Or maybe Rosario was misconstruing the situation?

“I feel like we’ve started a little wrong,” Rosario said. She pinched the edge of her skirt. She was wearing her maid’s outfit, sans aprons, which really just made it a comfortably dress. She curtsied with a little bow. “I’m Rosario, [Seamstress] and a few other things. Who might you be?”

The woman swallowed thickly. “Hailey. Ah, Hailey Copperfidget. Engineer, freelance.”

“A pleasure,” Rosario said. “Say, Hailey, would you like to have tea? I believe I saw a nice place just down the road.”

“I couldn’t impose,” Hailey said. Her glasses flickered and she ripped them off of her face. It was obvious that she was immediately blinded by the way she defaulted to squinting, but it seemed less distracting for her. 

“I insist,” Rosario said with a kindly smile.

“I... ah, have this book I need to purchase first. It could take--”

Rosario noticed that indeed, Hailey had a book. She had a small satchel hanging off of one hip as well, and judging by the way the leather was poking out there were more books within.

She reached over and plucked the book away, then turned to read the text embossed on the cover. The Magic and Mathematics of Invention. “Interesting reading,” Rosario said. She eyed the small tag with the price. Nineteen silver, which was a decent cost for such a small book.

“Come,” she said.

She turned and made her way to the front, only pausing on the way when she happened to notice several books on fashion. She swept her hand across the row, and all of them disappeared into her inventory. 

Hailey followed after her with small, reluctant steps, her eyes going wide as Rosario disappeared the books. 

“Lucky! Are you done?” Rosario asked.

“Huh?” Lucky asked. She was standing before the same row of books as earlier, holding two in hand. A clerk was lingering nearby, not too far from the counter, and suspiciously between Lucky and the exit. “Oh, Swordmaster Thorn, I’m done, I think. I was just looking at these two? Give me a moment.”

Rosario squinted. The True Biograph of Sword Saint Sybell. The other was The Art of Small Unit Tactics. She smiled. “Take both,” she said.

“That’s... a lot,” Lucky said.

“It’s fine. I wouldn’t want you to be bored on the ride, and they seem like appropriate reading material. Say, Hailey, you seem academically inclined, do you think that someone can level up by reading?”

The young woman stiffened as Rosario turned her attention down onto her. “Yes,” she said eventually. “Yes, you can level up just by reading. Though it’s more about taking in and understanding new concepts, I think, than just rote memorization. It’s generally inferior to being taught in a class, and it’s definitely worse than being tutored or having a master teach you directly. Of course, the rates of growth are incomparable to direct experience in the subject matter as well, but that rather goes without saying, I’d think. Nonetheless, yes, you can gain valuable knowledge leading to a level up by reading.”

For someone so small, she had a lot to say.

Rosario moved to the counter and gestured for Lucky to put her books down. She set Hailey’s atop the two. Then she removed the stack of books she’s grabbed from her inventory. The clerk stared, then cleared his throat and began to process through it all. It took a moment, with the man having to check a ledger, but in the end... “Nineteen gold, ma’am,” he said.

“Of course,” Rosario said. She removed as much from her inventory and set it down, a neat stack. “I believe these are worth a little more than the local gold. Keep the change, yes?”

The man thanked her profusely after using [Inspect] on each coin in turn. Rosario took all of the books back into her inventory, then she moved towards the door. “Come along? Ah, right. Lucky, this is Hailey. We happened to bump into each other in the store. We’re going to have tea. You’re welcome to join us.”

“Sure?” Lucky said. Then she put on her best earnest farmgirl smile, the sort that Rosario was certain would melt some hearts. “Hey there! I’m Lucky. Well, that’s what my friends call me.”

“A pleasure to meet you,” Hailey said.

“So... I know this ain’t proper, but ah, you’re an adult, right?”

Hailey blinked, then blinked again. “Yes? I’m twenty-three. Ah, do you mean my stature? I’m a gnome. You must be from Lithos.”

“You knew?” Lucky asked.

“The accent, and I think gnomes aren’t nearly so common there,” Hailey said. “Um... you know, I really do appreciate the offer for tea, it’s quite generous, and quite kind of you, and truly I don’t think I’ve ever really been invited for such, but I am a rather busy woman. I’m a freelancer, you see, and so I need to get back to work, otherwise my projects will never be finished and then who knows what will happen to me? Success is one part luck, nine parts hard work, isn’t it, and I truly ought to put in that hard work. So, it was a pleasure to meet you both, and I thank you for the experience, but I shall be going now.”

“No,” Rosario said. She smiled. Her curiosity was piqued, and she had a few interesting suspicions. “Come. I swear that I won’t harm you. I’m just curious. We can sit down, have tea, and ah, I never did give you your book, did I?”

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