While Alex had been struggling in the morning, Alicia was actually much better.
About an hour before when she raced down the stairs with wobbly steps, she made her way into the kitchen before walking towards another set of doors near the back of it. This was the door that led to the rest of the ground floor of the inn.
Starting from the second floor, all the upper floors were dedicated to rooms for travelers who need a place to stay. The front half of the ground floor that was next to the entrance was the dining area with the bar. The kitchen was situated in the center of the ground floor which connected the front to the back.
The back was separated into other smaller rooms, some for storage and others as places to relax for employees. Many of the employees who worked, also live in as well. Outside where the showers were was a fence that separated it from the housing for employees.
The employees would share rooms like a dorm from Earth and the small rooms could have upwards of 5 people in them. They were separated by gender to prevent "accidents." In one of the small rooms of the employee area behind the kitchen, was Alan's office. It was shared by the owner himself and a manager who was in charge of the employee affairs.
Her name was Marie and she was a middle-aged woman who had been working with Alan ever since he first bought the land to build his Inn. She was an old friend of his wife, Sharla, and also helped raise Emma when she was needed.
At that moment, Alicia knocked on the office door and heard the mature and cold voice behind the door say, "Enter."
Marie had black hair and matching eyes. She was actually in her 50s, yet she looked like she was barely 30. Those were the rewards that came with reaching the first evolution! She was very alluring, with her very generous chest and slim waist. She also had that 'Ice Queen' demeanor that was attractive to many of the employees and lucky customers who've met her.
She hardly ever worked in the kitchen or served food, and only cared for the management of the Inn as a whole. She dealt with the deliveries, and maintenance when needed, and anything else to make sure the business ran smoothly.
If not for the fact that Alan had bought the land with his own money, she would be the owner. Alan had no idea how to do this stuff and trusted Marie. The three of them, Alan, Sharla, and Marie, had all come from the same town in the countryside.
They all left together for the big cities when they reached adulthood at the age of 15 where Sharla and Alan fell in love before Alan when on to become an adventurer to earn money for their business. They spent about 5 years separated before Alan found out that Sharla had his child.
During those 5 years, Alan had skyrocketed through the rankings and became very strong. He even went on to be a Colonel of the Kingdom's army before being wounded and forced to retire. It was around the same time he heard the news that took too long to find him with all his moving around.
He raced back home to reunite with his family and begin his business.
Alicia entered to see the woman looking down at documents reading before giving a quick signature and moving on. Her eyes moved fast thanks to her evolution and she could last much longer working without rest than normal people.
She glanced up to see Alicia before looking back down at her paper. However, she stopped and stayed still for a while. She knitted her brow that wasn't visible to Alicia before looking back up at her.
She stared for a few seconds at the young girl and watched her with interest. Marie was confused at first, but then her frown slowly grew into a smile. She was able to recognize people based on their Essence signature.
It was something everyone could learn if they really stuck to it but it was a difficult thing to do in a short time. She knew Alicia had a gentle and weak Essence signature but the girl, no woman, she was looking at now was still gentle, but no longer so weak.
She had gained quite a bit of stats in the few hours they didn't see each other and she was shocked at how that was possible. It was a well-known fact that it was impossible to increase a person's stats by more than one at a time for whichever stat they were training for. The only way to go beyond that limit was to use outside help such as treasures or pills.
Both were not safe to use and usually took something when they gave something, leaving a person with fewer stats in another category or with an illness of some sort. However, Alicia looked just fine except for her slightly messy attire. Marie continued analyzing Alicia while the latter stayed still. Marie could be a very scary woman so it was an unofficial rule to never speak or do unless she said to.
After a few minutes, Marie's smile turned into a wide smirk. She had figured out that she had now become a woman. She didn't know why or how she could do it so fast, but it seemed to give the girl much more confidence which was good.
Practically everyone recognized that she was a shy and quiet girl but now she held her head up higher and stood up straighter. She even kept her gaze on Marie, which was very hard to do even for more confident employees.
Whoever she got busy with, really broke her out of her shell. Marie shrugged and let it go. It wasn't her business what she did as long as it didn't affect business which brought her to her next question.
"Where were you last night?" Marie kept her smirk on her face as she already knew the answer. She was smart enough to put two and two together but she wanted to hear it straight from the guilty party.
Alicia gulped nervously before stuttering a bit, "I'm very sorry Miss Marie, it won't happen again. I got distracted after finishing my rounds last night and let it affect my work. I will accept whatever punishment that comes my way."
She bowed down to hide her fear. Although she was much more confident without her realizing it, it didn't mean it changed her personality completely. She was still introverted and after coming face to face with Marie, she wasn't sure about what she said to Alex about being fine would be true.
Marie noticed that she was very vague but let it go. She sighed before looking at Alicia seriously.
"Alicia, you have been working here for a while now and although you are one of our newest workers, you are probably one of our best even among some of those who have worked here for years.
"You give your all to do your job with 110% efficiency and you always asked questions when you were unsure of something. Although I am quite surprised that you didn't show up last night for closing, I didn't go searching for you even though I and many others were worried about your safety.
"Many employees have disappeared during their shifts for various reasons so I will give you a warning and small punishment just as I have done with them when they get in trouble for the first time.
"You will be cleaning the latrines and showers for the rest of the week instead of closing. Someone else will cover you for that."
Alicia sighed in relief. Although she didn't like cleaning the gross areas of the Inn, it was better than getting a wage cut or getting kicked out. Marie smiled again at the girl whose emotions were available for the world to read.
Marie had a soft spot for her, as she reminded her of Sharla when she was younger. Her best friend was an innocent, lovable girl who had a hard time saying no. She was a bit shy, not as much as Alicia, but they both gave the same vibe.
After Sharla had grown fond of Alan, she blossomed into a beautiful butterfly which made her much more desirable. As she was head over heels for Alan, when he left, it was up to her to protect her friend from the scummy suitors who would try to woo her.
"If there is nothing else you need, go and take the rest of the day off. I can see you are tired." Marie said as she went back to her work.
Alicia was shocked and confused. Why was she getting the day off? Wasn't she in trouble?
"Umm... Shouldn't I get back to work?" She spoke softly afraid of getting reprimanded again.
Marie smirked again as she rested her head on her hands while her elbows rested on the table.
"You must be very tired after what you did last night I can also see the bags under your eyes from here."
Alicia reached up to touch her eyes to feel it was slightly saggy while Marie continued.
"So what's his name?" Marie surprised the young woman.
"I-I don't know what you are talking about. I do feel tired actually so I will go rest now." Alicia realized she was seen through and tried to hide her blush and run away from the situation. As she was leaving the room she heard Marie yell again.
"Make sure to cover up those marks on your neck sweetheart~" The woman teased.
Alicia blushed harder as she brought up the collar that was on her maid dress and quickly made her way to her room, hoping none of her roommates were there.
She quickly made her way to the living quarters for employees while avoiding others when necessary. She slowly unlocked and entered her room hoping not to wake anyone in the process.
"Oh my god you're alright!" She jumped as she heard another woman's voice before being caught in a bear hug.
'Fuck!' Alicia thought as she tried to look at the woman holding her. The woman had blonde hair and green eyes. She was about 5'6" and her perky small breasts squished against Alicia's back. She had some tears in her eyes that threatened to run down her pretty pale face. The scene could make anyone's heart melt but Alicia just wished she chose to hide in Alex's room for today.
"Hi Kaya, I'm back." She sighed.
"Where were you last night?! Are you alright? Did you get hurt? Who kidnapped you?!" Kaya's questions got more ridiculous by the second and she didn't give Alicia a chance to answer any of them.
Eventually, she had enough and fought out of the girl's grasp.
"I'm fine, I just met someone from my hometown last night so we hung out. I was so surprised that I had forgotten about my work. I'm sorry for worrying you." Alicia tried to sound sincere.
She thought her lie was pretty good, but unfortunately, it didn't work. Kaya narrowed her eyes, "Don't lie to me, even if it was a boy you hooked up with, you wouldn't have disappeared in the middle of work. You know how crazy Marie can be."
She whispered the last part making sure Marie couldn't hear. Many employees had some crazy theories about the scary woman with the majority liking the idea of her being the Matriarch of some assassin guild and using her members to listen to everything that happens in the building.
She somehow manages to find out any secrets that people have kept from the business. Whether it had been bribes or tips, trying to hide broken equipment, or stealing. Whatever it is, she always finds out.
Although Alicia hoped to get by with that excuse, she knew that eventually what she did would spread. The women who worked here especially were amazing at getting gossip. It was only a matter of time before they were found out. Especially if they were going to be working with Alex soon.
Alicia looked away when Kaya said "boy you hooked up with" and blushed a little.
Kaya saw and her jaw went slack but Alicia moved away to lay down on her bed.
"I'm a bit tired so I will be sleeping, please don't bother me." She laid down, not even bothering to get out of her work outfit, and let her exhaustion take over.
Even with Kaya crying out for her to spill the beans, she drifted off to sleep. Kaya pouted and stomped out of the room, probably to go gossip with the other girls who had the day off today.
While the drama surrounding Alicia was going on, Alex was having a much harder time.
"GAH!!" He screamed as he was hit in the ribs once again by a wooden sword. He was sweating hard and glared at the man ahead of him.
'He really hates my guts huh.' Alex thought as Alan stood above him with that same nonchalant look and rested his large wooden sword over his shoulder.
However, Alex noticed the corner of his lip lift ever so slightly.