The Sixteen-Year-Old Professor
"Ah, I heard about it. Still, try not to be too late."
I'd had my doubts, but Presia really had gone and gotten permission from the dorm supervisor.
Stepping out of the dormitory, the chilly night wind greeted me. The weather was starting to warm up, but the night breeze still carried a bite.
Unless something special was going on, no students were out at this hour. On the way to the magic research wing, the only people I spotted were a few figures who looked like teaching assistants.
Magic Research Building, Room 707. I gave the door a light knock and walked straight in without waiting. During the day, a faint sliver of sunlight had filtered through the gaps in the curtains, but now that the sun had fully set, the only light in the room came from a small lamp.
As expected, Presia wasn't in the first room. I headed for the inner chamber like it was the most natural thing in the world. There she was again—sprawled across the sofa, snoring softly. She must have been sleeping deeply; neither my knock nor the careless sound of my footsteps seemed to rouse her.
"Boss?"
Our appointment was for ten o'clock, so I had to wake her somehow. Afraid she might take offense if I laid a hand on her precious person, I simply stepped closer and called out in a quiet voice.
"Boss?"
Still nothing but soft snoring. I raised my voice a little.
"Boss? It's time to get up."
"Mmm... what...?"
Only then did Presia rub her eyes and push herself upright. Still half-asleep, she clearly had no idea who had woken her or why I was even here.
"You called me for ten o'clock today, remember? Time to wake up."
If it had been daytime I might have simply yanked the curtains open and let the light do the work, but with the sun long gone that trick was useless. The only thing slipping through the curtains now was starlight.
Fortunately, after sitting there in a daze for a moment, Presia finally came to her senses. Once she did, her eyes looked far sharper than they had during the day. Apparently our boss was a night owl.
"Ah, you're here. Right. We had work tonight..."
She finally stood, rummaged through the wardrobe, and threw on a short cape. Underneath it she wore nothing but a thin dress. She was going to freeze out there, but she didn't seem to care in the slightest.
"All right, let's go. Grab that basket I prepared and follow me."
Smack.
As she brushed past me, Presia gave my rear a sharp little slap and strode ahead.
She'd done the same thing last time, and now again. I was starting to worry a little about the boss's tastes. Not that I had the pride—or the courage—to protest. I'd sold those off long ago for salary and bonuses. Honestly, for this kind of money, a couple of swats on the backside were nothing. And besides, she wasn't some guy; she was a tiny girl. It just came off as cute.
Because of the difference in our strides I had to walk slowly to keep up, and before I knew it we had reached the wall that encircled the academy.
Presia slipped one arm out from under her cape and laid her palm against the top of the wall.
At once a wall of light flared into existence—the barrier surrounding the academy. For all its quirks, this place was the continent's premier training ground for talent, packed with the children of high nobility. An enemy attack of any kind would be catastrophic, whether it came from terrorists, a sudden monster migration, or a demon raid.
That was why the barrier magic installed here was said to rival the one protecting the imperial capital itself.
While I watched in fascination, I noticed fine cracks spider-webbing across the glowing wall in a roughly ten-meter radius around the spot where Presia's hand rested.
"Take two of those out of the basket and hand them over."
I immediately pulled out a pair of the translucent mana stones and passed them to her. Presia yanked the spent stones from the wall and replaced them with the fresh ones. But a simple swap wasn't enough; just like last time she sketched several magic circles in the air, and a moment later they flashed brilliantly. When I looked up again, the cracked section of the light wall was whole once more, as if nothing had ever been wrong.
"Still plenty left to fix... Collect the spent stones and keep up."
I stuffed the two dull, drained mana stones into the basket and hurried after her.
We had been at the barrier repairs for quite a while, yet we hadn't covered all that much ground. Walking the entire perimeter of the academy wall simply took time.
"Achoo!"
About halfway around, Presia let out a tiny sneeze. The night wind must have been getting to her; she was rubbing her arms under the cape, trying to chase away the chill. I'd been uneasy ever since she stepped out in nothing but a thin dress and a cape...
I shrugged off my school jacket and draped it over her cape. She was so much smaller than me that even that single layer was enough to swallow her whole.
"Thanks."
"Don't mention it."
She clutched the jacket closed with both hands, shielding herself from the wind.
The night air was cold for me too, but not enough to catch a cold over. Still, I couldn't help thinking I should have stopped her before we left the lab.
"Why are you the one repairing the barrier, Boss?"
I finally voiced the question that had been sitting in the back of my mind. As far as I knew, this was the academy's job.
"They dumped it on me... said I was young."
Passing the buck from above, huh. Same everywhere, I guess. But entrusting something this important to a student—and a first-year at that?
"But aren't you the same year as me, Boss?"
"Same year? No."
Oops. Her youthful looks had made me forget she might actually be an upperclassman. If she had a complex about looking young, she would have had every right to get angry. Luckily she didn't seem to care; she just kept walking in silence.
"Then how old are you, Boss?"
"Me? Sixteen."
?
Academy freshmen were usually eighteen. Presia was two years younger than that. And if she wasn't even the same year as me, she had to be at least a second-year. What kind of ridiculous genius was this?
"Wow... so when did you enroll?"
If the school trusted her with this, she was probably at least a third-year. That would mean she entered at fourteen?
"? I'm not a student."
"What?"
"I'm a professor in the Magic Faculty."
?
???
"Well? Feeling a little more respect for me now?"
Presia wore a faint smile.
Hold on. My brain refused to process what I'd just heard.
This tiny girl in front of me was a professor in the Magic Faculty? A girl younger than me? Not even a scholarship student—an actual professor?
Only then did it click. That was how she could sleep through class hours in her lab, and how she had an entire research room to herself.
She wasn't a student, so she didn't need to worry about lectures. She was a professor, so of course she had been assigned a private laboratory.
"Uh... then what should I call you? Professor, maybe?"
"...Boss is fine."
I had no intention of looking down on her just because she was younger. If anything, being invited to teach at her age was something to revere. Besides—money makes the rules. Big brother, big sister, whatever. My respect for the boss had always been absolute.
"So what do you teach, Professor? Looking at the magic you tested on me, I can't quite pin it down..."
The spells she'd used on me suggested a specialty in buffs and debuffs, but there had been plenty of completely random ones mixed in. I asked out of genuine curiosity.
"Those were just hobbies I made for fun."
Of everything I'd heard tonight, the fact that my salary and bonuses came from her mere hobby was the most shocking revelation of all.
By the time we finally finished, midnight had long since passed. Sleep was dragging at my eyelids, yet our boss looked more energetic than ever.
"I'll head back now. Good work tonight, Boss."
"Mm. I added a little extra for the night shift."
She held out a pouch of silver coins. It felt noticeably heavier than usual.
In this day and age, a boss who actually paid night differentials? If I didn't respect her, who would I respect?
I bowed a full ninety degrees once more. I love you, Boss. Call me anytime.