Royal Academy, Headmistress’ Office (Headmistress POV)

The noontime sun shone through the curtains, lighting up my desk as I yawned and continued to look through the dozens of applications piled up in front of me. The stamp in my hand left an ink print of the Royal Academy’s official seal at the bottom of the application that I was reading and I tossed the application to my left where it landed in a small, messy pile of accepted applications on the floor next to me. I spun my office chair around and stretched before covering my eyes with my hand to shield them from the sunlight outside. A light moan inadvertently left my mouth and the slight pain from stretching made the stiffness in my back fade. Outside, the beautiful campus lawn and the people rustling through the streets behind the fence painted a peaceful scene, and I felt my will to continue doing paperwork start fading away. There was a part of me that didn’t want to turn around and acknowledge the truth, but the reality was that behind me on my desk was a pile of applications I still had to go through.

“Ugh… You know what, I think I deserve a little breather. Maybe I’ll have a small tea break and come back in half an hour. Yeah… that sounds good.”

Hopping out of my chair, I stood up and turned around to face the door with a smile on my face. I was about to leave, but the moment I took a step, the sound of footsteps echoed in the hallway and a foreboding sense of exasperation overtook me for a second before the door to my office opened, revealing an old man with a head of grey hair and a similarly colored beard. He was wearing a blue robe that covered his whole body and in his hands was an opened envelope.

I could already tell this was gonna be a nuisance just from the anxious look on his face when he walked in.

“What is it, Professor Balrum?”

“Headmistress, I just received another application for the alchemy department. What should I do with it?” (Balrum)

Professor Balrum, who was the current head of the Royal Academy’s alchemy department, pulled out some papers from the envelope and placed them onto my desk. I felt a sense of fatigue bubble up inside me and averted my eyes from the papers while sighing.

“The application period ended yesterday, so we’re not accepting any more applications. Just throw it out. Whoever it was, they were late anyway.” (Headmistress)

“I already considered just throwing it out, but unfortunately, this application has a letter of recommendation from the House of Irisveil.” (Balrum)

“Irisveil?... Oh, Marchioness Irisveil. The dragonslayer, right? Isn’t she the Captain of one of the Knight Squads now?” (Headmistress)

“Yes, precisely. So, what should I do with it? I’m not sure if it’s acceptable to just outright reject it.” (Balrum)

“What do you think we should do then?” (Headmistress)

“Hmm, well, he looks a little young, but it says that the applicant specializes in ancient alchemy and we don’t have anyone who teaches that. So I was thinking that we could hold a small private test for him to get on the Marchioness’ good side. If he’s not up to the challenge, we can at least say we gave him a chance, and anyway, we wanted the best of the best for the golden generation this year, right? He might even be a hidden expert, and if he is, we’ll be one step closer to the Institute.” (Balrum)

One step closer to the institute, huh? Well, I guess I can understand how Professor Balrum feels. After all, the alchemy department is the smallest one in the Royal Academy, since most talented students interested in alchemy would rather enroll in the Institute where they can build connections with Alchemy Guild members. If I remember, we barely had any alchemy professor applicants at all, even with the huge hiring campaign this year.

You see, this year’s student population is what they call a golden generation, a wave of talent that only occurs once every few centuries. The testing scores for this year’s incoming students were off the charts, and we’ve had to react accordingly. After being the headmistress for so long, I’m well aware of how we compare to the other top institutions, and while the quality of our professors is significantly above average, only a few of them are truly at the top of their fields. So I set off a huge hiring campaign to search for the best of the best, the top experts to come and raise the golden generation this year.

The application period for professors lasted a month and we’ve had applicants come from all over the Empire. Even after a rigorous preliminary test, there were still dozens of applicants who passed, so after weeding out a few more through one on one tests with some of our current professors, it was now up to me to personally sort through the remaining applications to figure out who the most qualified applicants were. As of yesterday, the testing period has ended and honestly, I’d rather not see another application on my desk...

“Eh... Well, I guess it’s fine if you want to give him a chance, but I’m not filling out any more paperwork for it. So that means I won’t approve any requests for materials and I’ll leave his skill to your judgment. If you wanna test him, you’ll have to do everything yourself.” (Headmistress)

“No problem!” (Balrum)

“Alright, then you go handle it. I’m going to go get a cup of tea and take a short break.” (Headmistress)

Royal Academy, Front Gate (Kyle POV)

Why did it have to be today that I decided to show up?... Why couldn’t they have just extended the testing period until next week or something?... No, better yet, why is it that I’m unlucky enough to show up the day after it ends? Well, I guess it’s my fault for being a borderline shut-in these past few months... If I went out more often, I probably would’ve heard about the huge hiring campaign sooner.

It was currently right after noon and I was standing outside the front gate to the Royal Academy in a dress shirt as the summer sun slowly roasted me. Time passed as I made some small talk with the security officer in the booth next to me who gave my application to the department head about 15 minutes ago.

You see, when I showed up earlier and told him I was here for a job interview, he informed me about the testing period for new professors and how it just ended yesterday, but fortunately, he was a pretty nice guy and still helped me hand in my application. So hopefully, that completely legitimate recommendation letter that Aria definitely wrote and stamped for me with her personal seal will be enough to convince them to give me a second chance, otherwise, I’ll have to make do with the Institute, and that means it’ll be a total of four entire extra blocks I’ll have to walk every day.

The security guard and I were talking about the warm weather recently when I saw the main entrance to the academy open out of the corner of my eye. An old man wearing a blue robe walked out holding my application and recommendation letter in his hand. The security officer greeted him and opened the gate, as the old man walked over to us before speaking to me.

“So, I assume you’re Sir Kyle, correct?”

“Yep, that’s me.” (Kyle)

“Hmm, a manaless? How unusual... Well, it’s not like you can’t practice alchemy as a manaless. Nice to meet you, Sir Kyle. I am Professor Oliver Balrum, head of the alchemy department here at the Royal Academy. I’ve looked over your application and have decided to conduct a private examination to test your qualifications on the grounds of your recommendation letter.” (Balrum)

My eyes lit up as I shifted my body back into a proper posture after slouching from the heat before.

Nice! I knew forging, ahem, asking Aria nicely for that recommendation letter would help.

“Really? Great! So what do I have to do?” (Kyle)

“Just follow me inside for now. It’s a little too warm out here, so we’ll be holding the test in one of the training gymnasiums.” (Balrum)

Professor Balrum turned around and walked towards the main entrance again as I followed behind him. We entered the building and quickly made our way down a few hallways until we reached a large gymnasium. He walked to the middle of the gymnasium before turning around and tossing me a few small bags.

“Alright, since your application was a little late, I didn’t have the time or resources to set up another preliminary test. So instead, I will be personally testing your skill. You wrote in your application that you specialize in ancient alchemy, correct?” (Balrum)

“Yes.” (Kyle)

“Perfect, then this will be simple. If I remember correctly, ancient alchemy was originally optimized for combat, so your test will be to break this barrier.” (Balrum)

Professor Balrum held up a large pendant which looked like a polished light element monster core on a chain. The yellow-colored monster core was covered with intricate engravings and inside the grooves of the engraving, there was some sort of sparkling ink which drew out the pattern of several alchemy circles.

“Inside the bags I just gave you are some high-quality alchemy materials and monster cores to work with. Your time limit will be ten minutes, and you can attack me at any time during the duration. Your test will start… now.” (Balrum)

As soon as Professor Balrum announced the start, he silently activated the alchemy stone pendant and it shone for a moment before a pale yellow barrier covered him from all directions like a bubble.

“So, wait. All I have to do is break the barrier, right?” (Kyle)

“Correct.” (Balrum)

“Ok then.” (Kyle)

I placed the bags on the ground and shifted my body into a basic fighting stance as Professor Balrum gave me a confused look. My left hand was held openly in front of me, resembling a loose spear-hand, while my other hand was clenched into a fist as I held it by my right side. A breath of air entered my lungs and a moment later, I exhaled as my leg pushed off the ground and shot my body forward.

It wasn’t even a second before my other leg smashed into the ground right in front of the barrier, fracturing the floor and stopping a good portion of my momentum as my fist extended out from my right side, smashing into the barrier while a crazed wind burst outward from the air around me. The moment my fist made contact, a sound similar to glass cracking rang out as the barrier shattered and the broken shards evaporated into particles of mana. My fist went straight through the barrier, albeit having lost a good bit of its force, but just before it reached Professor Balrum’s head, I held back as much of my strength as I could, which resulted in me just bonking him lightly on the head.

I retracted my hand and returned to a loose standing position as I smiled wryly at Professor Balrum who stood there dumbfounded for a moment.

“So, did I pass?” (Kyle)

Professor Balrum fell backward and sat down on the floor as he took deep breaths and held his hand to his chest.

“W-Were you trying to kill me!? I think I just saw my life flash before my eyes! What the hell were you doing!?” (Balrum)

“What? I just broke the barrier like you said, it sounds like a pass to me.” (Kyle)

“I meant break the barrier using some sort of alchemy!” (Balrum)

“Eh? Then say that in the first place...” (Kyle)

“You’re taking a test to be an alchemy professor, not a knight squad tryout! What made you think that breaking the barrier without using alchemy would be any indication of your skill as an alchemist!?” (Balrum)

I gave a sigh before walking back to my original position and picking up the bags off the floor.

“Alright, reactivate the barrier and let me do the test again then. I’ll use alchemy this time. Ten minutes haven’t passed yet, right?” (Kyle)

“Wait! You know what? Let me get a training dummy this time instead.” (Balrum)

Professor Balrum ran over to the supply closet nearby and rummaged around in it for a few moments before returning with a training dummy with a target painted on it. He placed the dummy where he was originally standing and backed up towards the exit.

“Alright, your new test is to destroy the training dummy. And use alchemy this time!” (Balrum)

“Ok, got it.” (Kyle)

I opened the bags and rummaged through them. Inside were various materials for making alchemy stones like enchanted ink, engraving tools, and raw monster cores, but all I really needed was a monster core. I picked out a decently sized red monster core and pulled out a pen before quickly scribbling an alchemy circle on it.

Usually, when making an alchemy stone, I would engrave the alchemy circle on monster core since pen can rub off when I’m carrying the stones around. But since this one’s going to be used immediately, a pen is perfectly fine and a lot easier than engraving anyway.

After I finished drawing the alchemy circle, I put the pen away as I held the monster core in my fingers, and the glint in my eyes sharpened. My hand shifted like a blur and I threw the alchemy stone at the training dummy before activating it.

“【Explosive Lance】, full power cast, activate!” (Kyle)

The alchemy stone shone with a red light in mid-air before transforming into a vague spear shape made of flames. A moment later, the flames stabbed into the training dummy, and a deafening explosion occurred. Fire spread out in all directions, engulfing the area around the training dummy as everything burnt to cinders. After the initial explosion, streams of smoke burst outward, making my clothes and hair flutter in the wind as the fire died down. When the smoke finally cleared up, there was only a charred crater left where the dummy used to be and the floorboards nearby were all either cracked or uprooted.

“Alright, I used alchemy this time like you asked, so did I pass?” (Kyle)

I turned around to look at Professor Balrum, who was just standing there and staring at the crater with his mouth agape. We stood in mutual silence for a moment before his eyes lit up and he finally spoke again.

“Y-Yeah, you passed.” (Balrum)

“Great! By the way, here’s the rest of your stuff back. What should I do now?” (Kyle)

I handed the rest of the materials back to Professor Balrum as he gulped.

“I-I’ll have to go inform the headmistress. Just wait here. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” (Balrum)

“Ok.” (Kyle)

Professor Balrum was about to turn around and leave when suddenly, a strong gale blew open the doors, and a girl dressed as an office lady burst into the gymnasium. She looked like she was around 15 years old, a little younger than what Eliza looked like. The wind blew in from behind her as it made her long blonde hair float in the air, and her skin was light with a slight peachy tint while her piercing sky-blue eyes with pointed ears indicated that she was an elf. She called out to us in a serious tone as Professor Balrum froze up.

“Professor Balrum, is everything ok!? I was in the office when I heard an explosion!”

I looked over at the little girl’s panicked face before trying to reassure her that everything was ok.

“Are you a student here, young lady? Don’t worry, everything’s ok. It was just some alchemy being used on a training dummy.” (Kyle)

“Who are you? Professor Balrum, what’s going on?”

“Headmistress!” (Balrum)

Eh? Headmistress?

“I’ve made my decision. Please, hire this man right now!” (Balrum)

“What? Wait, just calm down and tell me what happen-” (Headmistress)

“Quick, before the Institute finds out about him!” (Balrum)

“Professor Balr-” (Headmistress)

“I won’t let them steal away another talent like this! He will be a part of my alchemy apartment if it’s the last thing I do!” (Balrum)

Hey, Professor Balrum, I’m excited here too, but uh... it kind of looks like the headmistress is a little angry.

There was a scary smile on the headmistress’ face as waves of anger radiated off her. Instantly, half a dozen light green magic circles appeared in the air behind her and small tornadoes formed, extending out from the center of the circles. Blades of wind radiated from the tornadoes as they hovered in mid-air, rotating around the headmistress while she spoke in a low tone with a furious glint in her eyes.

“Oliver, I appreciate your enthusiasm, but I’ve had a long day, and I’m not in the mood to deal with your incoherent rambling or the extra paperwork I’ll have to fill out afterward to clean up this mess. So first of all, you’re going to tell me exactly why my gymnasium is in pieces, ok?” (Headmistress)

I flashed a nervous smile and took a step backward from the headmistress as I was about to let Professor Balrum take the fall for me, but the moment I moved, the headmistress’ head snapped over to stare at me with the same angry smile on her face.

“And just where are you going, Mister? You saw what happened too, right? Well, I’ll be having both of you tell me exactly what the hell happened and why you’ve destroyed the gymnasium.” (Headmistress)

Come on! Why is it always me!? Does every woman around have to be so violent and tyrannical!? Can’t I just meet some normal people for once!?

My fake smile twitched a little as the wisps of wind coming from the tornadoes made my clothes and hair flail in the air while my internal screams echoed uselessly into the sky.

***

About half an hour later, I was sitting in the headmistress’ office next to Professor Balrum as the headmistress looked at us with an angry look on her face.

“So, you’re telling me that you two almost tore the entire gymnasium down just to hold a test?” (Headmistress)

The headmistress stared at us with a scary smile on her face after we told her everything that happened and I averted my eyes to break eye contact before nervously answering her.

“Uh.. y-yeah.” (Kyle)

“Alright then. Professor Balrum, let me ask you something. If you were going to have a combat test, why didn’t you hold it outside? Be completely honest. We had plenty of open training fields, so what genius epiphany made you decide that it would be a great idea to hold one in the gymnasium instead?” (Headmistress)

“W-well, it was a little too warm outside.” (Balrum)

“A little too warm? You destroyed an entire gymnasium because it was too hot outside!?” (Headmistress)

“A-Ahem. Well, technically, yes. I didn’t expect it to get so out of hand though.” (Balrum)

The headmistress just sighed and held her head down with both her hands as she closed her eyes with a distressed look on her face. Professor Balrum and I sat there stiffly while we watched the headmistress bang her head on the table in silence. After a few moments, she finally got up and looked at us before sighing again and talking in a disappointed tone.

“I’ve had enough. Professor Balrum, just go for now, I’ll interview him and discuss the details of your punishment with you later.” (Headmistress)

“Yes, headmistress!” (Balrum)

Oliver, you damn traitor! Don’t just ditch me here! I thought we were in this together!

Professor Balrum got up immediately and bolted out of the room with a relieved expression on his face as I sat there and smiled nervously at the headmistress. She picked my application up off her desk and glanced over it before staring at me again.

“Alright, so your name was... Kyle, right?” (Headmistress)

“Yes, ma’am.” (Kyle)

“Well, you passed Professor Balrum’s test. And while he may be stupid enough to hold a combat test inside, I at least trust his discernment as an alchemist. So judging by how desperate he was, there’s no problem with your level of skill as an alchemist. However, there are a couple more glaring issues with the rest of your application. First of all, do you have any other identification besides your guild card? Guild cards are technically a form of legal identification, but with how easy it is to get one, they aren’t exactly the most trustworthy. Your guild card doesn’t even have your last name on it.” (Headmistress)

Damn, I knew this would come up eventually. What else do I have on me for ID?... Come on, think, Kyle, think...

“Uh… well actually due to some personal reasons, I’ve renounced my last name, but as for other methods of identification, I do have a library card, if that counts.” (Kyle)

I pulled out my library card from my pocket and held it in my hand to show the headmistress as an awkward atmosphere filled the room. She stared at me for a second with a disappointed face before facepalming and sighing.

“Looks like that’s a no. So… what exactly is your relationship to Marchioness Irisveil then?” (Headmistress)

“I’m a former member of her adventurer party.” (Kyle)

“Well, judging by the fact she wrote a letter of recommendation for you, she at least trusts you, and I’ve heard that the Emperor was fond of one of her party members, who I assume is you.” (Headmistress)

The headmistress leaned back as all the tension left her body and she slouched backward into her chair.

“So now for the second issue. I want to know. Why did you come to the Royal Academy? With your skill, the Institute of Alchemy would definitely hire you, even if you applied late.” (Headmistress)

“... Do you want me to be completely honest?” (Kyle)

“Of course.” (Headmistress)

The headmistress picked up her cup of tea and took a sip out of it as she waited for me to answer. I sheepishly scratched my head as I kept up my nervous smile and answered.

“Ahem. Well, the Royal Academy’s two blocks closer to my house, so I wouldn’t have to walk as far every day.” (Kyle)

The headmistress put her teacup back down and bonked her head backward into the chair cutely as she sighed again with a distressed face.

“How did I just know it would be something stupid... Fine, I guess you’re hired then.” (Headmistress)

She tossed my application into the pile of papers next to her and sat up straight in her chair again before turning around and opening the window behind her. The warm afternoon sunlight shone in through the glass as a light breeze entered and cleared out the stuffy air in the room. The sound of the city outside could be faintly heard in the background and the headmistress took a deep breath before twirling around in her chair again with a professional smile on her face. The gentle breeze made her long hair flow in the wind and the soft sunlight reflected off her face as she spoke with a strong voice.

“Welcome to the Royal Academy, Professor Kyle. I’m Mari Sylfey, the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind, and your new boss.” (Mari)

Eh? She’s one of the Empire’s Grand Mages? No wonder she was able to chantlessly activate such high-level wind magic before. Wait, I heard before that the Grand Mage of Wind looked young because she was an elf, but isn’t this a little too young? She’s basically a little girl. Well, anyway, appearances aside, I probably shouldn’t get on her bad side.

I gave a gentle smile back before I saw Mari’s professional demeanor instantly collapse after she gave me that line. She melted back into her chair and took another sip of her tea before letting out a relieved breath and holding out her teacup towards me.

“Alright, now that you’re hired, your first job is to go get me a refill.” (Mari)

“Eh? Wait, don’t I start working on the first day of school? I’m a professor, my job is to teach, right?” (Kyle)

Mari gave me a smug chuckle and sat back up in her chair before reaching over the desk and placing the teacup in my hands.

“Well, the first day of classes is in a week, so yeah you’ll be teaching then, Professor Kyle, but for now, you’ll be working as my lackey, ahem, I mean my assistant. After all, I’m gonna have to do a lot of paperwork to get the gymnasium repaired, and since you were the one who destroyed it, it only makes sense for you to help me fix it, unless you want me to dock your salary instead. The teacher’s lounge is right next to the stairs at the end of the hallway. I want chamomile tea with two teaspoons of sugar. Even if you’re manaless, you can still make some tea, can’t you?” (Mari)

“What about Professor Balrum then!? He’s not completely innocent either!” (Kyle)

“Professor Balrum still has to sort out the budget and class placement for the alchemy department, and I already told him I would discuss his punishment with him later. Anyway, why would I choose an aging old man over a young new hire like you for menial labor? It’s alright, just think of this as a sort of hazing. Now, hurry up Professor Kyle, we’ve still got the rest of the applications to sort through, then the department budget distributions, and the personal facility check to make sure everything’s running fine among just the major things. Oh, and I hope you don’t mind if I just skip the titles, since technically, you’re not a professor yet, right, Kyle?” (Mari)

Of course. It always just comes back to me doing menial labor, doesn’t it? First it was Eliza and Olivia, then Aria, and now Mari. I guess it’s just my destiny to eternally be a butler...

Mari went back to reading through the papers on her desk as I let out a sigh before getting up and leaving the room with teacup in hand.

“Just call me Ky then…” (Kyle)

***

Goddammit. Why the hell did I actually try to help!? I made a major mistake. I should’ve just acted utterly incompetent at everything until Mari let me go, but no, I just had to go and actually try, didn’t I?

It was about an hour or two into the evening by now, and the lamps in the office lit up the pile of papers I was sorting through as I sat on the floor. Mari was sitting in her chair as she occasionally laughed while nonchalantly reading a newspaper. Approximately an hour ago, she finished sorting through about half of the applications, and immediately lost all will to continue. She loosened up her clothes a bit to relax, deflated all the tension in her body again, and took off her shoes so she could sit cross-legged in her office chair while I was still sitting on the floor sorting through more papers.

Oh? Why am I sorting through the papers when it should be Mari’s job you ask? Well, you see, after I came back with her cup of tea a few hours earlier, she made me do some menial tasks for a while like organize the messy piles of papers she had on the ground and hand her more papers from a pile, but as I was looking over her paperwork, I noticed that she made a small mistake, and the moment I pointed it out to her was the exact moment my downfall started.

When I showed her that I was competent enough to do paperwork, she made me help her process some easy documents at first like stamping papers that she already looked over and approved with the Royal Academy’s seal, but I was stupid enough to actually try completing the menial paperwork quickly since I thought if we finished everything early, I could go home sooner. However, instead of letting me go early, Mari just piled up more and more paperwork on me and only vaguely told me what to do with most of it, until eventually, I was the one who had actually finished most of the paperwork Mari was supposed to do today.

I was currently sorting through the budget requests from the magic department that Mari was supposed to finish by tomorrow, and the sound of me flipping through papers echoed around the room as I wrote down numbers in the notebook next to me. Mari glanced at the clock before twirling around in her chair and kicking me in the back lightly.

“Ky, how’s the magic department’s budget coming along? You don’t need to finish it today, but I’ll definitely need the numbers to double check by the end of tomorrow. Oh, and we need to send in a request for funds to repair the gymnasium tomorrow too, so you might have to make an errand run to the castle.” (Mari)

I was about to cry as I realized just what I had gotten myself into before Mari kicked me lightly again, this time in the back of the head.

“Hello? Ky, you there?” (Mari)

I turned around and yelled at her as I closed the notebook and threw the papers to the side.

“Argh! What was that for? I‘m pretty sure at this point, this qualifies as cruel and unusual punishment! I swear, I’m gonna report you to the authorities!” (Kyle)

“And exactly what authorities are you going to report me to? I am the authorities. I’m the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind, and even if I did abuse my power, you wouldn’t be able to do a thing about it. Who do you think the bureaucracy would believe, the headmistress of the Royal Academy or a newly hired Professor whose only legal identification are his guild and library cards? Besides, all I did was outsource some of the less important tasks to one of my subordinates. There was nothing wrong with my course of action.” (Mari)

Mari nudged me lightly again with her leg as she gave me an evil laugh. The tears finally flowed out of my eyes as I handed her the budgeting notebook and cleaned up the pile of papers next to me.

“Give it back! Give back the small amount of professional respect for you that I had before! I heard that the Empire’s Grand Mage of Wind was a noble elven lady with decades of experience and a kind heart, but you’re just an evil witch!” (Kyle)

“Hey, I’m a noble lady through and through! Stop whining just because I made you do a little paperwork.”(Mari)

Mari pouted before quickly flipping through the book and double checking the budget. After a moment she slammed it shut and threw it on the table.

“Anyway, looks like there’s no problems with the budget. You know, if Professor Balrum wasn’t so hellbent on having you teach, I’d steal you in a heartbeat to work as my assistant.” (Mari)

My heartbeat sped up in fear as I thought about the hell that being Mari’s full-time assistant would be. I put on a nervous smile and spoke with the most sincere voice I could currently muster as I tried my best to put on an act.

“I deeply apologize, but unfortunately, I must decline your offer, headmistress. Being your temporary assistant was my sincerest joy, but alas, my heart tells me that teaching others is my true passion. So with the greatest of woes, I must courteously abstain.” (Kyle)

“You’re an awful actor, you know that? Alright, I’ll let you go soon, but before you go, give me a shoulder massage, my neck is kind of stiff from all the paperwork today.” (Mari)

Mari rubbed her shoulder with one arm as she swung her other arm around a bit to loosen up her back.

“Just let me go home already!” (Kyle)

“Hey, don’t forget that I’m your boss, which means I can dock your pay for any reason I want.” (Mari)

I gave a sigh before I walked behind Mari’s office chair. She leaned over with a triumphant smile on her face and rested her upper body on the desk while stretching out her arms as I reached over and started lightly massaging her shoulders. A look of bliss appeared on her face and she let out a relieved sigh as tears started poured out of my eyes again.

About fifteen minutes later, my hands finally stopped and Mari was half asleep on her desk. I gently shook her to wake her up, and after a moment, she got up and rubbed her eyes cutely.

“... Ugh. How long was I out?” (Mari)

“About 15 minutes. Now, can I go home already? I’m gonna be late for dinner at this rate.” (Kyle)

Mari let out a yawn and stretched a bit before finally telling me I could go home.

“Alright, you can go now. By the way, we’re starting at 8 AM tomorrow, so don’t be late.” (Mari)

“Yeah, yeah…” (Kyle)

I finally left the headmistress’ office as I slowly shambled home while thinking about how much of a pain tomorrow was going to be. When I got back, I quickly made dinner for Aria while complaining to her about my new job. And after dinner, I told her that I would probably be home late for the next week before going to bed early to prepare for my inevitable torture tomorrow.