A Fortune-telling Princess [Novel] Chapter 286

“You knowing is enough.”

Don’t lie to me. Do you think I’m stupid? I already checked. I’m asking because I know you haven’t been going to the shop much either.

“What is it?”

“The weather was just nice.”

“So?”

“The weather was so nice I couldn’t bring myself to stay quietly at home.”

“You’re saying you slacked off because the weather was nice?”

“Yes.”

“It rained the day before yesterday.”

“I also happen to like rainy days very much.”

Camilla stared hard at Dorman as he smiled sheepishly.

Does he expect me to believe that?

What was this? Was he hiding something again?

Am I about to get blindsided again?

Seeing Camilla’s gaze grow colder and colder, Dorman hurriedly waved his hands.

“I won’t slack off again. Ever.”

“……”

After that, he kept subtly watching her mood, which made him look extremely suspicious, but Camilla did not press him further. What more could that fellow possibly be hiding at this point?

I don’t think there’s anything left that could surprise me.

It was also possible he really had slacked off because the weather was nice.

“Your wages are getting docked.”

“Ah! That’s too harsh!”

Shut up.

*****

“What? The new recruit still isn’t here?”

“No, we told any one of them to come, so they should be here so—ah, perfect, they’re—hurk!”

“Hey, new recruit! Hurry and take this to the Master of the Magic Tow—!”

“……”

Beella, a wizard who had worked at the magic tower for five years, pointed at the mana stones gathered on one side after having formulas engraved into them and looked at the new recruit opening the door.

But the moment Beella met the new recruit’s eyes, she could not finish speaking.

“Uh…”

…Why is that man here?

Because the person who had come after being called a new recruit was none other than Arsian, the one known as the worst new recruit.

Those who graduated from the academy with a major in magical studies were obligated to work at the magic tower for half a year.

After working there for six months, the magic tower issued them a completion certificate. Only then could they be formally recognized as wizards.

Arsian was no exception to that rule. Of course, since he had no particular intention of being recognized as a wizard, he had never planned to work at the magic tower in the first place.

But…

“You went through all that trouble to graduate from the academy, so why wouldn’t you get the certificate?”

“Do I need to?”

“Of course you need to! The more government-issued certifications you have, the better!”

“……”

He did not understand at all why a piece of proof like that was supposed to be good, but under Camilla’s intense gaze, Arsian had no choice but to quietly nod.

That was how he had ended up entering the magic tower, and nearly a week had passed since then. A moment ago, when a senior wizard called up any one of the new recruits, he had come to the mana stone workroom. There had been no other new recruits waiting there except him.

Beella and the junior wizard exchanged frantic looks.

Hey, why did you call him here? Are you insane?

N-No. I just sent a communication to the new recruit waiting room… I said any one of them should come up.

Beella glared at the junior wizard who had summoned the new recruit as if she wanted to kill them.

But the junior wizard felt wronged too. They had merely called for a new recruit. How could they have known that man would come?

If they had to name their mistake, it was that they had said only what they needed to say the instant the communication connected, then cut it off without checking who was on the other end.

“Are you saying you called me here to move this?”

Arsian’s voice was icy. He had held back his annoyance and come all the way here, only to find that the reason he had been called was to move things. He had thought they might be assigning him some important task.

“Are you joking?”

Why were they making a new recruit do work meant for servants?

“N-No. That’s…”

But it’s standard for new recruits to handle odd jobs…

What important work could they entrust to people who had only just graduated from the academy?

Because the policy existed, they let them work at the magic tower, but for those six months, the work new recruits did was not much different from servants’ work.

Watching Arsian’s gaze grow colder and colder, Beella, the person in charge of the workroom, broke out in a cold sweat. She knew the rumors about Arsian well.

They said his hobby is beating people up.

They said he beat people until they were on the brink of death, healed them with magic, and then beat them again!

It was not something that could be dismissed as mere rumor. A few wizards who had picked fights with Arsian, trying to break the arrogance of an insolent new recruit, had been smashed to pieces just like that.

And entirely with mana, at that. The wizards who saw that overwhelming mana had no choice but to doubt their own eyes.

How is that a new recruit?

A new recruit who did not seem like a new recruit.

Since that day, everyone in the magic tower had been trying to avoid getting involved with Arsian as much as possible.

Why else would he have been left alone in the place where the new recruits waited? No one touched him or assigned him work.

If they had known Arsian, the problematic new recruit, was the only one in the waiting room, the mana stone workroom would never have called.

Why did he even come to the magic tower?

They said his magic skill and swordsmanship were already both at a level others could hardly catch up to.

On top of that, he was the heir to House Sepra, the very crystallization of black magic!

No matter how they thought about it, they could not understand why he had bothered to enter the magic tower. Surely he had not come because of the completion certificate.

“I’m asking you. Did you call me here to move things?”

“Th-That… No, no. I can move them myself. There was some kind of mistake—!”

THWACK!

“Hurk!”

Beella, who had been hurriedly shaking her head and making excuses, gaped. A hand had struck Arsian hard on the back of the head.

“Who else would move it if not the new recruit?”

“……”

Arsian turned around with cold eyes, only for his expression to shift into something sour.

Because the one who had hit him on the back of the head was none other than Camilla’s older brother, Ravi.

“What are you doing? Pick it up.”

Ravi pointed at the container holding the mana stones. He was telling him to pick it up and follow him at once.

“……”

Arsian stared silently at Ravi for a moment, then, unlike before, picked up the container of mana stones without another word.

Watching from the side, Beella and the other wizards’ eyes shook wildly.

I’m seriously curious. Why only Senior Ravi?

Right?

The only person in the magic tower who properly treated Arsian like a new recruit was Ravi.

He ordered Arsian around when everyone else found him difficult to deal with. In fact, he was harsher on Arsian than he was on the other new recruits.

“Move faster. Once you’re done carrying all that, clean my workshop too.”

“I thought each person cleaned their own private workshop.”

“Why? You don’t want to?”

“……”

Even stranger was that Arsian did not show much reaction to Ravi’s demands and orders. If anyone else had acted like that, a fist or magic would have flown at them immediately.

No, he was clearly dissatisfied, and his eyes gleamed coldly as if he might explode at any moment, but in the end, he did not let that anger out.

Why? That foul-tempered bastard?

Maybe it’s because Senior Ravi has a temper too?

Did he get some kind of weakness of his?

Isn’t Arsian the kind of person who would kill the other person before they could get a weakness on him?

True.

The wizards kept whispering. It was amazing every time they saw it. Why was he so obedient only with Ravi? Of course, his expression could not have been more murderous, but at least he was not hitting him.

“Once you finish cleaning the workshop, go to the library and organize all the messy books—!”

THWAAACK!

At that moment, another powerful impact rang out.

Everyone present widened their eyes. Just as Arsian had been struck moments earlier, someone had hit Ravi hard on the back of the head.

“Whoa, damn it! Who—!”

Someone in the magic tower had hit him! Even his master had never hit him before!

Ravi whipped his head around in disbelief, then flinched and unconsciously took a step back.

“Wh-Why are you here?”

His younger sister, Camilla, was standing there with a fierce glare.

“Brother, did you just hit our Arsian?”

“Our Arsian? Why the hell is that bastard our Arsian?”

“Is that what matters right now? Why are you hitting people? You have a perfectly good mouth, so why use your fist?”

“You just hit me too! Is your fist not a fist?”

“You deserved to be hit! What did Arsian do wrong that you hit him? Where on him is there any place to hit?”

“…Hey, let’s speak honestly. How does he not have any place to hit?”

Are your eyes broken? Did you sell your conscience somewhere? How can you say that after looking at that huge build? Ravi let out a hollow laugh, stunned.

Then, when he spotted Arsian behind Camilla, smirking as if he found this extremely enjoyable, something snapped, and Ravi’s temper surged.

“Hey! You little—!”

“Hey? Heyyy?”

But Ravi, who had been about to shout at Arsian, could not finish speaking again.