Chapter 17: Chapter 16: Alicia Wants to Get Paid!

After a long, long six chapters of content, Alicia—who had been employed by Shadowstep for almost a week now—had finally begun her real job.

Alexandraine brought them to the town hall, where the hell of overworked mages resided. Several low-level mages lay motionlessly on sofas as they slept, trying to recover some modicum of mana before getting back to work.

To Alicia, however, this was heaven. After all, she didn’t need to answer to nagging bosses. She didn’t need to dress up. As long as she filled up arcane stones, everyone would praise her. She didn’t know the sufferings of low-level workers. Unlike Alicia—who was gifted by the goddess—these mages were breathless after filling a single arcane stone. The most they could manage was five in a day.

“Alex! Are these your rumored students?” A man, who lay on one of the sofas went toward Alexandraine.

“Ahem! Lady Elidranthia, Alicia—this is Hendrick, a level 3 water mage in our town,” Alex said, emphasizing Eli’s honorifics. He then pointed toward another ‘corpse’—a woman sleeping on the couch. Alexandraine didn’t want to wake her. After all, he knew how hard mage work could be. “That one is Lilac, our level 3 wind mage, and that one is Kain, our level 3 earth mage.”

“Greetings, Mr. Hendrick. I am Elidranthia Shadowstep. Pleased to meet you,” Eli said with a curtsy. Alicia didn’t follow suit. They weren’t nobles, so she didn’t feel it was necessary to use noble etiquette. Nah... she was just lazy.

“Ah… Greetings, Lady Elidranthia. I apologize for my rude manners. We don’t usually welcome nobles here.” Hendrick placed his right hand on his chest and saluted Eli. All mages who graduated from the Academy were taught some basic etiquette when dealing with nobles—it was mandated by the kingdom.

“Alright. Shall we begin work? How many do we need to fill today?”

“Ugh… we still have sixty to charge. We just finished the ten that came in yesterday,” Hendrick groaned.

“Well, I have brought reinforcements! As you might know, in Shadowstep, high-level mages—especially light and fire mages—are not allowed to use more than a quarter of their mana. But these kids aren’t even combatants, so they can help you to their full capacity.”

“Huh? You're only allowed to use a quarter?” Eli tilted her head.

“It’s a military doctrine, Lady Elidranthia. We’re a border territory. Mages are vital to national defense. Without us, the military would need five times as many knights. And even then, the casualties would be much higher.”

“Yeah… the stampede season is getting close,” Hendrick muttered, clearly disheartened. “Ugh, I’ll have to work overtime again. You guys are getting off easy.”

“Well, good luck with that. If you think I’m being pampered, why don’t you try sleeping on the watchtower next time?” Alex smirked. Eli was relieved by the light-hearted atmosphere—they could still joke around. She had feared there would be resentment about the unfair deployment policies.

“Nah… I’m no good with gore and stuff,” Hendrick admitted. He was known to be a coward. In Shadowstep, everyone had to go through mandatory military training before adulthood, but Hendrick had always been terrified of monsters—his grandparents had been killed during one of his childhood travels.

“Well, let’s begin. Remember, you can charge the arcane stones directly, but you must use the scale to top them off.”

“Are we employed? How much are we being paid?” Alicia, the ever-greedy one, wasted no time in asking the most important question—at least to her.

Alexandraine turned to Eli. “Hmm… our salaries technically come from Rodrique. So… would it even make sense to pay her?”

“We should,” Hendrick replied firmly. “I don’t want Rodrique or Count Shadowstep to think these arcane stones just fell from the heavens. They might be kids, but they’re already level six. That’s even higher than you, isn’t it? We should at least register them as volunteers. Or… are they going to become permanent members?”

“No… They haven’t graduated yet. We only hire graduates from the Mage Academy.”

“Well, part-timers it is then. Let’s treat them like visiting mages from abroad.”

“Well, we shall do that.”

“Ugh… but if they keep working like this, they’ll be paid more than us.”

“Huh?” Alicia tilted her head in confusion.

Eli sighed. For she knew the harsh reality that went over Alicia's empty head. Alicia had never entered the workforce before, so she didn’t understand that part-timers could sometimes earn more if they worked as hard as—or harder than—full-time employees.

“It won’t be forever. Only until stampede season is over.”

“Well, you’re right,” Hendrick conceded.

“Manners... They’ll be your superiors one day. Especially Lady Elidranthia,” Alexandraine whispered to Hendrick.

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“Of course. I’m not a high-enough-level mage to dare challenge Count Shadowstep to his face,” Hendrick replied, struggling to hold back a laugh.

“Mr. Alexandraine, can we begin now? Where should I start?” Eli asked brightly.

“Of course. Here you are, Lady Elidranthia. We only have two mana scales, so you’ll need to share. Feel free to sit wherever you like. And if you get tired, the sofas are all available for resting,” Alex said.

“Why do you have more sofas than chairs? Are you slacking?” Eli frowned, eyeing the supposed mage workroom. It felt absurdly decadent—only two tables with four chairs total, yet over ten sofas and even three bunk beds were present.

A few arcane stones lay scattered on the tables. In the corner, the only shelf held several boxes. Without that shelf, Eli would’ve assumed this was an employee break room, not a mage guild’s official workstation.

It reminded her too much of inefficient government workers—those who arrived right on time but did nothing all day. They bragged about long hours and overtime, yet achieved zero productivity.

They were never punished. As a result, it was the people who suffered.

Even the FBI agent Eli had worked with in the past could only sigh in frustration at their own government.

“Of course not. Higher-level mages might slack off, but we lower-level mages don’t even have the time. We donate every last iota of our mana to the town hall. Otherwise, we’d lose our jobs, you know.”

“The country sets quotas for mages,” Alex added. “If I’m not mistaken, level 3 mages are required to fill at least 5 arcane stones a day, level 4 must do 10, and level 5 needs to manage 10. Well, due to the stampede season, I’m exempt from this duty. And light mages are always the exception—they need their mana for treating patients.”

“I see...” Eli frowned. From the outside, the rule seemed fair. But this kind of system made people do the bare minimum. She was sure Alex could easily fill more than 20 feystones if he wanted.

“Let’s start working! These stones won’t fill themselves. Where are the ones I need to charge?” Alicia asked as she rolled up her sleeves, hyping herself up.

“Right away, Miss,” Hendrick said, pulling a large box from the shelf. Inside it were six smaller boxes. Eli raised an eyebrow when she peeked inside—most were filled with water and fire arcane stones. There were a few wind stones, but not a single earth or dark arcane stone. Meanwhile, there was a pile of light magic stones.

“Hm… I thought light mages needed to see their patients directly to heal them?”

“That’s true for serious injuries and dismemberments,” Hendrick replied. “But for minor stuff—bruises, scratches—we have a Chaisse Longue. It’s pretty popular with the knights who get banged up during training. These are non-vital, though, so it’s fine to ignore them.”

“Non-vital?” Eli turned to him, surprised. In her mind, doctors were among the most important professionals. She didn’t expect Hendrick to dismiss them so easily.

“Healing bruises and scratches can wait,” Hendrick said flatly. “But people will die without heat and water. Especially water. These light stones inside the Chaisse Longue can only heal that much. They are not a replacement for doctors.”

“Well, since we have two high-level mages here, let’s fill them up,” Eli said.

They got to work immediately. By the time the sun had set, every single backlog of arcane stones had been charged. Hendrick and Alexandraine could only stare in astonishment.

“Hahaha! We finished it! That was easy!” Alicia cheered. The arrogant Alicia reveled in the joy of her accomplishment.

“Great job! If this continues, we might even expand our facilities—more refrigerators, maybe even open clinics and theaters!” Elidranthia also jumped with excitement. This time, she would make a difference. She would finally be of use to society.

Both girls had an enormous mana pool. Elidranthia was slightly tired, but she hadn’t even used half her pool. Alicia, on the other hand, looked more bored than exhausted while charging the stones.

“I can’t believe we actually cleared them all,” Hendrick muttered, still in disbelief.

“This town will flourish once they graduate. I’m getting excited just thinking about it,” Alex said with a smile.

“So, so, where’s my pay?” the shameless Alicia asked. She had worked, and now it was time to be rewarded—or so she believed. Understandably, she had never been part of the workforce, but surely she knew about monthly salaries for full-time jobs? Yet the greedy Alicia acted like a freelancer.

“So, you two filled a total of 100 arcane stones. The payout should be 2 gold coins between you. The money will be deposited into your account in five business days. I’ll speak with our finance manager about the transaction,” Alexandraine said as he walked off.

“Uwaa… As expected of high-level mages. They earned a whole month’s salary in a day,” Hendrick said, impressed. "And you guys didn't even seem tired..."

Not even a minute later, Alex returned with a spectacled woman in tow. She was the finance manager—or what might be called the Human Resources Manager in modern times. Since there were fewer than ten mages in the whole county of Shadowstep, there weren’t many people to manage. It only made sense that this competent woman held multiple roles, handling everything from arcane stone logistics to personnel.

“Greetings. My name is Lily, Miss Alicia, Lady Elidranthia. Both of your payments have been forwarded to Count Shadowstep.”

“Huh? Why is that?”

“Well, because he is your guarantor. You’re underage, after all.”

Alicia started to have some doubts. What Lily said seemed logical—but part of her resisted the idea. Why not give the money directly to her? And why was her guarantor the Count instead of her own father?

“Let’s go talk to my father, Alicia. As a child, holding even one gold coin is dangerous, right? Even back on Earth, you’d be a target for robbers,” Eli said.

“Yeah, you’re right,” Alicia nodded. There weren’t any banks in this world, after all. It made sense to entrust the money to the Count.

Alas, she had forgotten one thing: she already owed one gold coin to Elidranthia for buying the monster eggs. Unfortunately for her, Elidranthia had not forgotten.

“You still owe us one gold coin for buying that green egg, remember? You need to pay that first,” Eli reminded her.

“Eh? Aren’t we friends? How could you take all my earnings? At least leave a little bit for me…”

“Friends are friends. Debts are debts. Debts need to be paid. You’re lucky we didn’t charge you interest. ” Eli said, puffing her nonexistent chest. The sting of spending two whole gold coins on gacha eggs was still fresh in her mind.

“Well, let’s work here again tomorrow! If we keep this up, we’ll be rich in no time!”

“I’m afraid you won’t be working here anytime soon,” Lily interjected. “You’ve cleared all the backlog the mage guild had. For the next few days—or even months—our own mages should be more than enough.”

“Eh? Why?” Alicia finally began to understand the demerit of part-time work. They might be paid more than full-time workers per job, but they could be dismissed at any moment once they were no longer needed.

“We don’t have any more depleted arcane stones. Instead of paying you like freelancers, it would be more cost-efficient to employ you as full-time workers once you graduate.”

“Eh… but that's unfair...” Alicia whined. She felt like she’d been used—worked hard and got nothing in hand. But alas, that’s how the world worked.

Alicia returned home empty-handed.