“Boss?”
“Hmm? Ah, three magic stones.”
“Yes. Here you go.”
I took out the magic stones from the backpack strapped to my back and handed them to Presia. After receiving the magic stones, Presia replaced the ones installed at intervals on the outer wall and repaired the barrier.
“Didn’t you also repair the academy’s outer wall barrier last time?”
“Is that right? Two more magic stones.”
“Just a moment. Yes. Here they are. But why is the boss repairing it again?”
A few days ago, Presia had taken me along to restore the barrier along the outer wall surrounding the academy late at night. However, what we did back then, Presia and I were repeating once again.
“Ah… I got called in from above.”
…Typical of the magic academia known for its corruption. No matter how much aura prevents the aging of the body, the physical types like knights are bound to be influenced by the passage of time. In a bad way.
As such, normally knights have limitations on the influence they can exert as they age. No matter how good their reputation or skills may be, as their physical strength declines, so too does their power. If they can’t learn to be humble and start acting out? They could just get stabbed by their crazed juniors.
If one doesn’t want to see that kind of sight, they had better conduct themselves properly, possess expert-level political skills, or reach the level of sword master. Once one becomes a sword master, physical aging is almost non-existent, and in cases where one is already quite old, their body can even revert to its prime. It’s a very reliable solution.
On the other hand, the magic world tells a slightly different story.
Most magic grows more experienced and profound over time. As a discipline of knowledge that is hardly affected by the body, time is on their side. Of course, while the spark of new ideas may diminish as one ages, by then, they would have already established their spells.
For wizards who tumble to the flow of time? Well, I think that’s pretty much non-existent unless it’s due to dementia.
Thus, the upper echelons of the magic academia are all a banquet of old, corrupt fossils who have held their positions for a long time.
However, there are exceptions even in this magic academia. Presia standing right before me is one of those exceptions. No matter how profound the knowledge that deepens with time, a single genius can overcome it.
Geniuses cannot be measured by the standards of ordinary people. They achieve things that us ordinary folks could never imagine.
At the age of 16, Presia became the master of a certain type of magic. Because of this, she was granted a castle by the emperor of the empire and could take on a professorship at the academy.
Yet, in the end, Presia also seemed like just a child in front of the old-timers of the magic academia. No matter how much talent and ability Presia had, other professors were not people she could easily dismiss, and unlike knights, they do not weaken with time, so they simply pushed her down through their connections.
To break free from such absurdity, she would need to possess magic that far surpasses their abilities.
Given her talent to have taken on a professorship at such a young age, I would say ten years should be enough for her. By then, the magic academia of the continent will likely revolve around her.
“Well, it can’t be helped. At least, I hope we can make a quarter of the progress today.”
Though we finished the barrier surrounding the academy in a day, the city is, of course, much larger than the academy. As someone who has lectures to attend the next day, I can’t stay up all night like this, so I need to spread the work over a few days.
Of course, Presia is a nocturnal human, an owl person, so she wouldn’t mind working alone through the night. However, as an employee, it would be pretty awkward to let the boss work alone. And above all, Presia is still a 16-year-old girl. I couldn’t just leave such a little girl to wander alone at night.
“Okay. Then let’s keep going.”
Having completed the area we were currently standing in, Presia slowly moved on. I also followed her, walking slowly.
“Uhaha! Hey, boss! One more drink here!”
“Urrgh… I can’t drink anymore…”
Just because it’s night doesn’t mean all the shops close and end their day. Instead, bars become more active at night. Walking through the city at midnight, I saw scenes I hadn’t noticed during my usual outings.
Bright, dazzling lights illuminating the streets, with the weather starting to warm up, people sitting at outdoor tables drinking, others holding onto lampposts checking what they had eaten today, and one guy urinating against a wall…
“What a crazy guy!”
I rushed out and slapped the back of the man’s head who was urinating against the wall and casually tossed him aside. What’s that little punk so proud of, showing off his thing in the street?
I turned my head to check on Presia, but fortunately, she seemed to be examining the state of the barrier and didn’t notice.
Presia, who was walking along the wall, nearly saw that guy in his drunken stupor. I couldn’t let such a young girl’s eyes be sullied.
Moreover, it was a total mess, with drunken people all over the place. I was starting to doubt if this was the street I usually walked with my friends.
“Hey, young lady. Out with your little brother at this hour?”
A random guy spoke to me.
“Mister, if you’re drunk, just go home and sleep.”
I ignored him and tried to head back toward Presia. However—
“Hey, aren’t you just walking around in that outfit in front of a bar? How much? How much will it take?”
He was clearly heavily intoxicated, and despite me wearing the academy uniform, he failed to recognize I was a student and kept bothering me.
Of course, I wanted to finish my quota for the day as quickly as possible and go in to sleep, so I simply ignored him and turned back toward Presia.
Suddenly—
?
I felt something tugging at my skirt and turned my head to find the man who spoke to me lifting my skirt.
Whistle! Whistle!
The guys sitting at the outdoor table were whistling at me.
Only then did I realize the situation I was in. Over two months since receiving the TS magic, I had been trying my best to ignore that I was a girl, but at the academy, no one had ever harassed me like this. Naturally, I should have been embarrassed about showing my panties, but instead of responding as a girl, I just stared at the crazy guy.
Belatedly, I gave the man who lifted my skirt a light kick and pulled my skirt back down, straightening my outfit.
“What’s wrong?”
“Oh, nothing. It’s fine. Don’t mind it.”
“Really? Then just two magic stones.”
After that, as I continued through the bar area, I dealt with three guys urinating in public, four who were bothering me, two like that earlier lunatic trying to lift my skirt, and one who tried to touch me before I finally wrapped up the work for the day.
“Well then, here’s today’s payment. Since I think it’ll take a few days to do the work, I added a bit more onto the night allowance.”
As soon as we returned to the lab, Presia immediately handed me my payment for today. The bag she gave me felt quite heavy.
This is why I can’t leave my boss. What other boss would take such good care of their employees?
“Just come at 10 tomorrow like today and wake me up.”
“Yes! Then I’ll head in now!”
I bowed slightly and left the lab, then opened the bag to take a look inside.
It was substantial. Given the amount of work I had done today, it would probably take about four to five days, excluding today, to finish all the work. That means my final payment would likely be four to five times this amount.
I wasn’t joking; at this rate, my earnings for the month would probably exceed my salary. I returned to my room, happily imagining what I would do with this money.
*
Second day of the urban barrier restoration. With the dormitory roll call finished and nearing 10 o’clock, I was standing in front of my closet, contemplating.
The female uniform at the academy is primarily a skirt. Spring, summer, fall, winter. While the clothing thickness and jacket changes with seasons, the lower half is essentially a skirt.
Now that I’ve started working under the boss, I’ve gained some financial freedom, but until then, I had no choice but to live frugally. Because of that, it wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there were hardly any casual clothes in my closet except for a few tops that I layer over.
Normally, I would undoubtedly put on my uniform and head into the city. In fact, given that the academy is at the heart of the city, many students walk around wearing their uniforms even on the weekends, and I usually do the same.
However, thinking back to yesterday, wandering around in a uniform, specifically in a skirt, at that hour doesn’t seem like a good idea. Of course, even if I went out in a uniform skirt, if I encountered bothersome guys like yesterday, I could just slap them on the back of the head or give them a forced kiss on the foot.
However, I could inadvertently show something embarrassing to Presia. Thus, I needed to minimize exposure as much as possible to avoid any potential issues.
While diligently examining the few clothing items I had, I was able to find an outfit that could cover my body as much as possible.
