Chapter 21: The Night Shift

“Boss?”

“Hm? Ah, three mana stones.”

“Yes. Here you go.”

I took out the mana stones from the backpack slung over my back and handed them to Presia. Presia accepted the stones and replaced the ones set in the outer wall, repairing the barrier.

“Didn’t you fix the academy’s outer wall barrier last time too?”

“Yes, I did. Two more mana stones.”

“Just a moment. Here they are. But why are you handling the restoration again?”

A few days ago, Presia had taken me along to walk around the academy’s outer wall in the middle of the night, restoring the barrier.

However, we’re once again repeating what we did back then.

“Ah… got pushed around from above.”

…It’s typical of the corrupt and entrenched magic academia.

Even though aura slows down physical aging, physical types like knights are still fundamentally impacted by time — in negative ways.

As they age, knights generally have limited influence. No matter how well-regarded or capable they are, their strength declines as their bodies weaken.

If they become overconfident and arrogant? They’re likely to get stabbed by a younger knight with eyes full of ambition.

To avoid such disgrace, they either behave wisely, have political skill at an expert level, or reach the level of a sword master.

Becoming a sword master nearly halts physical aging, and for those already well into their years, their bodies even revert to their prime.

However, the story is a bit different in the field of magic.

Most magic grows more seasoned and profound with time. Since magic relies on knowledge rather than physicality, time is on their side.

While they might lose a spark of innovation as they age, by then, they would have already established their own spells.

For a mage to be defeated by the flow of time? Well, aside from dementia, it doesn’t seem likely.

Thus, the higher ranks of magic academia are filled with aging, entrenched elites who have held their positions for a long time.

Even in magic academia, there are exceptions. The person in front of me, Presia, is one of them. Despite the depth that knowledge gains with time, a single genius is unbeatable.

A genius defies the standard by achieving what ordinary people could never imagine.

Presia became the master of a branch of magic at the age of 16. Because of that, she was granted a title by the emperor and was able to hold a professorship at the academy.

But ultimately, even Presia was just a child in front of the elders in the magic academia.

No matter how talented and capable she was, the other professors weren’t people she could simply ignore, and unlike knights, their strength didn’t weaken over time.

So, she was gently pushed aside.

For her to escape this unjust situation, she’d need magic that far surpasses their capabilities.

Given her talent, which already landed her a professorship at such a young age, ten years should be enough. By then, the entire continent’s magic academia will likely revolve around her.

“Well, there’s no choice then. It’d be nice if we could cover about a quarter of the area by today.”

The barrier around the academy only took a day, but the city is much wider than the academy.

Since I need to attend class tomorrow, we’ll have to divide the work over several days.

Of course, Presia is nocturnal, an owl type, so working through the night alone wouldn’t be too much for her.

But as an employee, it’d feel wrong to leave the boss to work alone. And above all, Presia is still just a 16-year-old girl. I couldn’t let such a young girl roam around at night alone.

“Alright. Let’s keep going.”

It seemed Presia had finished restoring the current area as she started moving slowly. I, too, followed her at a steady pace.

“Haha! Hey, boss! One more drink here!”

“Gah… I can’t drink anymore…”

Not every shop closes up and wraps the day when night falls. In fact, it’s the bars that become livelier at night.

Walking through the city late at night, I could see scenes that I don’t usually encounter on regular outings.

Bright, colorful lights illuminating the streets, people drinking at outdoor tables since the weather’s getting warmer, others clutching onto lampposts and revisiting their meals from earlier, and some people relieving themselves against walls…

“What kind of lunatic…!”

I quickly ran over and gave a sharp smack to the back of a man relieving himself against a wall, roughly tossing him aside. Why was he proudly showing off his little thing on the street?

I glanced back at Presia, but luckily, she seemed too focused on checking the barrier’s status to notice.

If I hadn’t intervened, Presia might have seen this drunk guy’s thing while walking along the wall. I can’t let young Presia’s eyes be tainted.

What a chaotic mess, full of drunken fools roaming around. I almost doubted if this was the same street I usually walk with friends.

“Hey, miss. Out with your little brother at this hour?”

A drunk stumbled over, trying to start a conversation.

“Mister, if you’re drunk, go home and sleep.”

I tried to ignore him and head back to Presia. However—

“Well, walking around in an outfit like that in front of bars, you’re looking for something, right? How much? How much for you?”

He was clearly very drunk, hitting on me without recognizing I was a student, despite me wearing my academy uniform.

Obviously, I wanted to finish today’s workload quickly and go back to sleep, so I ignored him and started to walk toward Presia.

Swoosh.

Huh?

Feeling a tug on my clothes, I turned to see the man lifting my skirt.

Whistles! Whistles!

The people drinking at the outdoor tables even started whistling at the sight.

It took me a moment to fully understand the situation.

It’s been over two months since I got the TS spell, so I had somewhat adjusted to being a girl, but since no one at the academy had acted this way toward me, I hadn’t really been worried about people staring at my underwear.

I should’ve been embarrassed, but all I did was glare at the lunatic, reacting as a girl a beat too late.

I quickly kicked the guy lifting my skirt, pulled it down, and tidied up my clothes.

“What’s wrong?”

“Oh, nothing. You don’t need to worry.”

“Really? Then hand over two magic stones.”

As we passed through the bar district, I dealt with three more people peeing in public, four people hitting on me, two who tried to lift my skirt like the crazy guy, and even one who attempted to touch me. Only after handling each one was I able to finish today’s task.

“Here’s today’s pay. Since we’ll be working for several days, I added a little extra for the night shift as well.”

As soon as we returned to the lab, Presia handed me my pay for the day. True to her word, the pouch was considerably heavy.

This is why I can’t leave my boss. What other boss would take such good care of their employees?

“Come by tomorrow at 10, same as today.”

“Yes! Then, I’ll be off!”

After giving a quick bow and leaving the lab, I opened the pouch right there to take a look inside.

It was considerable. Judging by today’s workload, it seemed like it would take another 4-5 days to complete all tasks, excluding today.

This meant that my final pay would be four to five times this amount.

No joke, at this rate, the allowances might exceed my monthly salary this month. Happily imagining what I could do with this money, I returned to my room.

Day 2 of restoring the city’s barrier. Dormitory curfew checks were done, and it was nearing 10 p.m. Now, I was standing in front of my wardrobe, debating what to wear.

The academy’s female uniform generally includes a skirt. Spring, summer, fall, and winter — while the thickness changes, and jackets may be added depending on the season, the bottom is always a skirt.

Thanks to working under the boss, I’d gained a bit of financial stability, but before, I was forced to live frugally.

So, apart from a few layering tees, I practically had no casual clothes for going out.

On a typical day, I would wear my uniform when going out into the city. Since the city revolves around the academy, many students wear their uniforms even on weekends, and I am no exception.

However, recalling yesterday’s events, I realized it wasn’t the best choice to wander around late at night in my uniform, especially in a skirt.

Of course, if I wore my skirted uniform again and encountered people like those pests from yesterday, I could deal with them by giving a smack to the back of their heads or forcing them to “kiss my foot.”

However, I might end up showing Presia something she shouldn’t see during all that. To avoid unnecessary complications, I decided it was best to minimize exposure as much as possible.

So, as I carefully looked through my limited selection of clothes, I finally found something that would cover my body as much as possible.