Chapter Ninety four

Mrs Briggs eyed the young lad sitting primly in front of her. After taking a token sip, he had not touched the drink he had ordered. This situation looked very similar to the one where she was searching for a grand niece-in-law. As she had been fed up with the process, she had begun to treat that as first round of interview. The genteel ladies had behaved similarly. She really wanted to wrap him up and give him to a daughter of the family. Alas, this would remain a dream.

Now this prim lady, ahem, a good gentleman was showing off his eccentricities. Did he know the immensity of his demands?

Yep. He did. He looked so apologetic and all.

"Really, Atharva! Can you atleast tell me why?"

No upcoming boss would be happy to take working hours only personal assistant, however perfect he may seem. Heck, even she didn't. And she was retired lady dabbling in things here and there. Her whole team of assistants were supposed to be on standby because she never had an idea when she would need them.

Atharva was thinking. Should he divulge the information? No matter what the age, elderly always felt playing games is just passing time. Even in the era of eSports players becoming prominent brand ambassadors. Even in the time when influencers earned more credits than regular office worker, no parent would be happy if his or her child wants to be an influencer. Same principle really.

But he had already told her that he got his first pot of gold from the game. Still... will she accept playing games as a reason? He was really not willing to lie to her. Well, here it goes.

"Umm, how to explain it? I got this side gig. It is paying me well. And I have contractual obligations there. So I can not stop working."

There. Truth but vague enough. And he did have contractual obligations. He had signed to be an investor for two can- barely- survive sort of guilds. And he had ordered lists. They too were obligations.

"I'm ready to pay for breach of contract. You can pay it back later if you wish."

"But I like that work, Mrs Briggs." Atharva really did. He loved thinking of ways to earn money and planning for it.

He explained further. " It's sort of investment. You told me that I could be a boss or an assistant. This is me, trying to be sort of boss. But I am not entirely willing to push all my energy there as it's high risk -high profit type. So I am ready to work as an assistant too."

Mrs Briggs thought for long. She found something was off. This boy was being vague, deliberately so.

Hmm, a work in after hours. Yet, he was confident enough to work next day on time with full energy. High risk but a chance of high profit. What sort of a job would he be exposed while he was stuck in Saint Augustine?

Online jobs? Most of them were scams. He should know enough to steer clear of that. Even if it's normal online gig, it should not be for long hours. He still needed some time to sleep and recharge.

Unless....

She breathed in. She suddenly had an inkling of what he was doing. " Don't tell me that you are going to to give up being a crème of an assistant and be a mediocre one just because you are playing games."

D*mn! Got caught. But how did she even guess?

"Mrs Briggs, I know this is a temporary thing." He started to explain. He was overridden.

"Just because you earn some credits in the game, doesn't mean that you can keep on earning there."

"Mrs Briggs!" He forcefully stopped her. He really did not want her to harp on about dangers. He knew it. He had prep talk with himself everyday after he saw the bank balance.

Mrs Briggs stopped talking giving him time to continue. "I know the dangers online games. Believe me, I never played before. I stayed away from them because they would drain time, energy and credits. But this is different."

Mrs Briggs huffed. She didn't even say, all say the same thing every time. Strange how a single sound can tell so many things.

Atharva smiled wryly. " I am playing . The game where you can convert your game coins to credits. And yes, I know the statistics of a mediocre noob earning enough coins to be enough for conversion.

But, I am going to work for a guild. They are paying me hard credits, deposited to my bank account."

"How much? How much can a guild pay for a self declared noob? A hundred a day? A thousand?"

A thousand credits a day would amount to thirty thousand a month. A huge number for a fresher graduate.

Mrs Briggs really had no idea of how much guilds would pay. But she was sure that it was nowhere near enough to what Atharva could earn if he was not stuck at his point. So she said, "Atharva, a great assistant would earn anywhere between fifteen to fifty thousand a month. But if you loosen up this rule of working only in working hours and not even being on standby, you could potentially earn a seven figure salary a year at minimum. The bonuses would be even more. As your boss rises the corporate ladder, even a eight figure salary is a possibility."

Fifteen to fifty thousand a month - it might seem too much for a just graduated student. But it was not, if the said student was from Saint Augustine. Especially if he had finished all the years and scored well in the finals. Half a million of credits or so per year. And it was just salary. The bonuses, the overtimes...he could earn a million credits minimum in a year.

Truly a tempting offer. And the freebies he could enjoy, the perks he could use, the hidden benefits of being a good assistant...yeah, truly a tempting offer.