“Repeat after me! A healthy body!”
“A healthy body!!!”
“A sound mind dwells within!”
“A sound mind dwells within!!!”
“…”
The booming voices echoed through the gymnasium.
Soon, the students of the Imperial Magic Academy’s Combat Magic Department began their training with determined expressions.
At first glance, it seemed like a typical routine, but as the training started, the students weren’t honing their magic or techniques—instead, they were punching iron pipes and wooden poles.
“What on earth is this…?”
“After watching Lady Yuri in the last ranking tournament, we realized something! Strong magic? Techniques that catch your opponent off guard? None of that matters!”
“…!?”
“As long as you have a strong body, you can endure any powerful blow, and you can overcome any technical gap with sheer strength! Just like Lady Yuri demonstrated!”
“Wait, I never…”
“Thus, we realized we must revere strength and resilience above all! We’ve adopted a new training method, and those who follow Lady Yuri have flocked here, turning this into such a large gathering!”
“…”
Yuri almost lost her composure.
How could they witness that and conclude they needed to bulk up and build muscle?
She tried to explain countless times that she wasn’t tough but merely had a recovery ability, but it was no use.
“Ah-ha! If we continue this rigorous training, we might someday gain a recovery ability like Lady Yuri! This is valuable information! We’ll redouble our efforts!”
“Ah…”
And so, they continued their mindless training with such remarks.
No matter what she said, they only interpreted it their way and refused to listen.
Yuri sighed in resignation, deciding to give up.
‘Still, this might look quite intimidating to outsiders…’
They yelled as they punched steel plates.
Despite being battered and bruised, they laughed like maniacs.
Knowing the context, it seemed a bit pitiful, but without any prior information, anyone seeing this scene would first think it terrifying.
It even looked a bit like some sort of cult gathering.
Would this cause problems later?
Surely, it wouldn’t escalate into being labeled as a rogue militant group within the Imperial Magic Academy, dragging her into some messy situation, right?
Deciding not to overthink it, Yuri brushed it aside.
“Oh no, I forgot to fill out the tuition deferment agreement.”
Suddenly recalling what she had been putting off, Yuri headed straight to her dormitory.
The deadline for submitting the second-semester tuition deferment form was tomorrow, but since she might forget again, she decided to get it done now.
She carefully opened the black envelope, revealing a contract-like agreement.
Though she didn’t suspect any mischief from that Mr. Black, she still reviewed it thoroughly in case of errors.
“His handwriting’s different from when he writes letters.”
In the letters they exchanged, his handwriting exuded warmth and humanity.
This, however, was cold and rigid, like it had been churned out by a printing press.
It felt oddly fresh, but then—
Yuri was struck by an inexplicable sense of familiarity.
“This… looks familiar… Ah?”
She realized the source of her déjà vu.
It resembled the contract Julia had once shown her—the one pledging a future marriage with Aslan Vermont.
No, it wasn’t just the handwriting.
The contract format, font thickness, and even the layout were all strikingly similar.
While she couldn’t compare them side by side, the similarity was enough to suggest they might have been written by the same person.
“Is it because they’re friends? They do have things in common.”
It wasn’t unheard of for document styles to overlap.
Especially since Mr. Black and Aslan Vermont were close friends, it wasn’t unnatural for their contract-writing habits to resemble each other.
Moreover, that stiff, printed font was probably widely used across the empire.
So this wasn’t rational evidence to conclude the two were the same person.
Yuri shook her head, chuckling softly.
No way they’re the same person, right?
“Yeah… no way…”
Even as she repeatedly muttered this to herself, she couldn’t quite shake the unease.
Why did her chest feel so tight…?
***
‘Hiss. Looks like I’ll be bogged down with paperwork.’
The establishment of the Vermont Investment Corporation had caused a surge in tasks to handle.
Although Irene managed the operations, the pile of reports awaiting review was mountainous.
At this rate, I’ll be buried in paperwork all week until next week.
That means I won’t even be able to spend any cozy time researching Black Magic with Julia.
I won’t be able to entertain Charlotte when she gets bored of training alone and barges into my office.
I won’t even have time to meet Yuri.
Argh.
It’s already miserable just thinking about it.
I was indulging in the ridiculous fantasy that someone might suddenly swoop in and magically finish all my paperwork when—
“My Lord, I’ve come to get approval.”
“Approval? For what?”
“For various accounting matters… There’s quite a lot. You’ll need to review it yourself.”
“…!?”
[The Evil God ‘Kali’ clicks their tongue in amazement, saying our knight is truly unmatched.]
Sylvia appeared, balancing a towering stack of documents in her arms and nudging the door open with her elbow.
In that moment, my heart skipped a beat, as if I had just fallen in love.
No way…
Did Sylvia handle all that herself?
The amount of work I had estimated would take me at least a week of sleepless nights—she did it all on her own?
“Did… did you actually complete all this?”
“Yes. There were no specific orders, but I had some spare time… Was it something I wasn’t supposed to touch?”
“No, you did well. But how did you finish it so quickly?”
“Ever since awakening my Aura, my mind seems sharper, and my hands move faster. That might be why I’m working at more than double my usual speed. Ah, let me do a quick review.”
Sylvia began flipping through the documents to double-check them.
Her eyes darted across each page at lightning speed, taking less than a second to read each one.
She swiftly flipped through the entire stack and, with a light motion, set it down as if it were nothing.
Her efficiency was downright astonishing.
I had expected Sylvia’s work efficiency to improve after awakening her Aura, but I never imagined it would be to this extent.
I immediately grabbed Sylvia’s hands tightly.
Her face flushed red all the way to her ears.
“Sylvia.”
“Y-Yes? My Lord?”
“I think we’ve found your calling. I never dreamed you had such a talent for paperwork.”
“Hehe… You’re too kind.”
“Therefore, I’m assigning you all future paperwork duties.”
“…Huh?”
Sylvia scratched the back of her head with a silly grin but quickly froze as she grasped the situation.
It was the natural course of action.
Assigning tasks to the person who is the most efficient at them is the best approach.
Sylvia will handle the paperwork.
I, who excel at spending time with the children and goofing off, will enjoy my freedom.
What a beautifully balanced division of roles.
Surely, Sylvia would agree without objection.
“To accommodate your increased workload, I’ll lift all accumulated salary reductions and raise your pay. Congratulations.”
“M-My Lord!?”
Patting Sylvia’s shoulder in a congratulatory manner, I left the office feeling lighter than ever.
I could faintly hear Sylvia’s voice, dripping with betrayal, calling after me from behind, but I ignored it and stepped outside to enjoy the sunlight.
It’s ridiculous to keep relying on people to do things by hand in this day and age when we have tools akin to machines, like Sylvia, to handle the workload.
Does this mean my life of sleepless nights buried in paperwork is finally over?
Having a Sword Master in the family sure makes things convenient.
‘Wait a second. Is this right…?’
Using a Sword Master to handle paperwork…
I briefly wondered if this was the right thing to do, but I quickly brushed the thought aside.
There’s no more efficient way to utilize a Sword Master than this.
After all, it’s far more productive than war—a destructive act that generates no real profit.
‘At least I won’t have to worry for a while.’
Closing my eyes, I took a deep breath, savoring the warmth of the sunlight and the chirping of birds.
How long has it been since I felt this kind of freedom?
After all the recent headaches, it felt especially sweet.
I was enjoying my leisure when I suddenly spotted Julia hurrying toward the research lab.
“Julia, what’s the rush?”
“Huh? The rush? I’m just heading to organize some research materials… why?”
“Oh.”
Hearing Julia’s answer, I froze in place.
Ah, right.
Now that I think about it, I still have to finish the Black Magic research before the academic conference, don’t I…?
The realization of what I had completely forgotten hit me like a ton of bricks, and my vision went dark.
