The ways of a broke orphan

"I'M BEGGING YOU, PLEASE!" I clasped my hands together like I'm praying to the interviewer in front of me.

My name is Elise Camille Sandrine, an orphan who's barely surviving.

As a last ditch effort to pay my bills before they forcefully throw me out of my apartment, I applied for the South branch of the Aetherian Guards.

The old, stingy woman who's assigned to be my interviewer looked bored as she observed me, "Okay."

What... Is that it? Am I hired?!

I panicked internally as she shuffled something from her drawer, seemingly looking for something.

She picked up a stamp and pressed it down on my resume, "You're hired..." her sloth like voice confirmed as she handed me my documents.

"YES!" I raised my arms up in the air as I sprung up from my seat like I won a match.

"I won't disappoint the branch!" I held her hands, showing my overflowing gratitude.

"Don't get too proud..." she randomly commented, waving her hand dismissively.

"Aetherian Guards is in a shortage of employees on any branch, you're a last ditch effort as much as we are for you." she informed me which made my smile falter a little.

As expected, it's not like people will purposely want to risk their lives by entering the portals and fighting off those monsters.

"I see, still, thank you!" I waved my hand as a farewell before leaving the cramped room and heading for the counter.

"Good morning, I'm a newly hired hunter," I placed my papers under the small opening on the glass barrier "I would like to get my ID." I smiled and she nodded along.

She then placed a small metal plate on her palms and eyed me, "Don't smile." she ordered, and I put on a stoic face.

With that, her palm glow in a color of light green and the plane metal plate started forming words and my photograph, "Here." after the light disappeared, she handed me the metal plate.

"Thank you!" I waved at her as a farewell and a small smile crept up her face and nodded at me.

I moved to the next counter and said, "Hi, I would like to apply for a mission!" the employees who have been eyeing me since earlier froze.

"Oh, immediately?" the new staff asked with a chuckle as she looked at the open missions that I can still apply for.

"ID please." she asked, and I slipped my ID under the hole through the glass barrier.

"Rank D15, there's an open spot for a dungeon raid for a rank D11 dungeon, would you take on that?" she asked, obviously pleased with my personality.

"Yes, please." I replied, and she smiled before picking up a small paper, her hand glowed the same color as earlier, indicating that she's using transmutation magic to print something on the paper then handing it to me.

I read the address before waving them goodbye then heading for it.

"She's a nice breath of fresh air." the woman behind the counter commented, and the other woman nodded along.

...----------------...

I arrived at the location shortly and saw the crew for the said dungeon raid.

One of the members spotted me, "Elise?" He shouted and I nodded, running towards them.

"Oh~ The rank D15, right?" another man asked, and I nodded along.

"We have another one for defense, quiet a good rank at that." the one who shouted my name earlier commented, and I laughed along.

As we entered the portal, a normal cave appeared before us "A cave? This will be a breeze." The one who shouted my name, Alex, commented as the head of the crew.

"Elise, you have portal creation, right?" Alex asked and I nodded.

"Mind finding the boss's lair? We'll cover you as we do so." He negotiated and I agreed.

While walking, I stood in the middle, opening small portals the size of my palm one after another as I tried to locate the lair.

"Hmm... It's here. It's a Venomfang, rank D13 boss." I alerted them and we stopped walking for a while to observe the orb like portal floating on my palms.

"Now that we know where the boss is, let's farm for some dungeon crystals." Alex ordered, and the crew agreed.

Dungeon crystals are found inside monsters from inside the gate, they were multipurpose items.

They can be used to create magical weapons, a substitute for gasoline and more. After the emergence of portals, the world started relying more on these crystals.

And now, most of the machines are run by them since these are more environmental friendly and more cheap since it comes in hoards.

The crew started to slash the goblins that appear, the collectors slice them up and collects the crystals while I support the offense team by summoning portals to redirect their attacks.

"So many..." I commented as I created a portal in front of me that connects to another portal behind a goblin so that when the arrow entered the front portal, it will exit on the other one and pierce the goblin.

"Alex, watch out!" I noticed a goblin that came from the top of the cave, I summoned a portal on top of him to redirect the goblin.

"Urgh..!" I felt something hot in my chest, like something is burning but it disappeared immediately.

After the bottle, Alex high-five me "Nice one, Elise!"

"Right, you're a good assist!"

"Good for a first timer!" the others gave me a look of approval and I humble accepted them.

I opened a portal that directs to the boss's lair, "Whenever you're ready." I motioned to the portal, now large enough to fit a human.

The others started entering the portal sneakily, attempting not to wake up the boss and I entered the last and closed the portals.

Come to think of it... That goblin earlier... Did I open an exit portal?

***Download NovelToon to enjoy a better reading experience!***