Chapter 46
Chapter 46
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Translator: penny
Chapter: 45
Chapter Title: Indefinite Contractors Stir Up Trouble in the Magic Tower (2)
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The sight of Mura and her friends, whom he ran into right in front of headquarters, was something else.
People nearby kept whispering, but they had no time to pay attention to that.
Mura and her friends rushed en masse to the manager's office.
Clinging blindly to the hope that Titania would sort out this absurd situation.
"Manager Titania has stepped out due to urgent business."
"Gasp!"
At Elena's announcement waiting in front of the manager's office, it felt like the sky had come crashing down on them.
"Urgent, urgent business! Please contact the manager right away! They kicked us out of our assigned department without any prior notice! This is clearly..."
"You're talking nonsense, Junior Mura. Why are you lying?"
"Pardon?"
"Why lie? Do you think I'm a fool? Or is the manager the fool? Answer me."
"Uh, wh-what???"
The atmosphere turned strange.
Elena was supposed to take their side.
She was wrong.
Mura flinched, of course, but so did her friends behind her at the sight of Elena looking at them with the same pitiful gaze as the regular staff who had told them to get out earlier.
"No prior notice? Have you got dementia? We notified you repeatedly."
"Pardon?"
"You still don't remember? Unbelievable. If you keep up this poor work attitude, we'll have to take measures."
"...!"
"Looks like it finally clicked. Honestly, it's ridiculous."
Mura and her friends were at a loss for words.
That's right.
Those were the exact words Titania and Elena had come to deliver dozens of times whenever they slacked off or showed laziness.
They had brushed it off every time. Sneered at it.
We're the only ones who can do this work—what's with the discipline threats? They'd ignored it and thought only of going out to play.
Those memories now struck the back of their heads like an iron rod.
Elena continued in a cold voice.
"Your poor work attitudes showed no signs of improvement despite dozens of warnings and reprimands. Both the dispatched department and us here got fed up. So we found replacements for you. We took the necessary measures. Any problem with that?"
"Th-then, who's the replacement? Tell us!"
Mura said desperately.
Regular hiring was next year, so it had to be another Indefinite Contractor.
Then it was simple.
Just pull that person to their side.
Turn a diligent worker into an Indefinite Contractor who loves slacking off, and everything would go back to normal.
The response to her question, born of that belief, shattered it completely.
"Junior Daniel."
"Pardon?"
At the name from Elena's mouth, her complacent friends' eyes went wide.
Daniel? The dragon slayer, connected to the Northern Archduke, candidate for 5th Circle mastery, the Indefinite Contractor with all the hot rumors—supposedly outshining even the regulars these days?
Why was his name coming up here?
They exchanged glances of suspicion.
Elena responded to their doubt with a sneer.
"Junior Daniel. Didn't you hear me?"
"W-wait a minute. That's a lie, right? I've never heard anything about him having translation skills."
"Of course not. It hasn't been long since it happened."
"Pardon? What do you..."
"You've heard the news. Junior Daniel succeeded with demon possession magic and contracted a high-grade demon."
"Of course we...?!"
"N-no way?"
"Lies."
"Too bad. It's not a lie."
A chill crept into Elena's smirk as her lips curled up slowly.
"The contracted demon turned out to be remarkably intelligent. Enough to interpret ancient languages and runes."
"...!"
"Add Junior Daniel's diligence to that. What do you get? Oh my. Miracles happen. The work that would take you a week? He handled it in two days. Good for us. Great, even."
"E-Elena Grade 4. Wait just..."
"It's a problem. You lot with the worst attitudes and performance, versus the best: Junior Daniel. Who do you think the organization prefers? Answer me."
"Th-that's..."
"..."
"Oh dear. Too hard a question for you? Allow me to answer instead."
Elena stated firmly in place of the fidgeting Mura and her group.
"No department in the Magic Tower needs your help anymore."
"...!"
"Your desk work ends today. So prepare for field work like the other Indefinite Contractors. Don't forget: fail to meet this month's minimum workload, and it's penalty points and discipline."
Elena's declaration made the heavens crumble again.
The complacent friends were gone now.
Only friends with fires on their feet remained.
Mura's mind went blank.
She and her friends had only ever done translation work up to now.
No field experience, and they couldn't do it even if ordered.
They knew full well their magic skills, stamina, and willpower all fell short for fieldwork.
How... will we survive the winter?
Her vision darkened.
Someone who had lounged in the paradise of sloth and laziness had no savings to speak of.
The same went for the others.
Winter required money. Money required work.
But now, she had no work she could do.
The karma from her shoddy labor came crashing back, crushing her entirely.
Savoring the faces of the sinners lost in fear and despair at their leisure, Elena finally pulled out her prepared line.
"If it were up to me, I'd kick you out just like this. That's my honest feeling."
"Eek!"
Mura and her group paled and trembled.
"But Manager Titania insisted on giving you one last chance."
"Pardon?"
"Take it."
Elena tossed a thick stack of documents at their feet.
They were densely packed with ancient script and runes.
"Wh-what's this?"
"Part of the work Junior Daniel is handling right now. Even a capable, diligent person like him can't shoulder everything alone. So we're assigning some to you."
"I-is that so!"
Mura's group brightened.
Elena snorted derisively.
"To three of you."
"Pardon?"
"Three?"
"What are you misunderstanding?"
Elena laughed coldly.
"Why share the last chance equally? No reason."
"...!"
"We no longer want lazy, slothful employees. We want the real deal: diligent, fast, competent. That means selection is necessary."
She pointed at the documents.
"The rule is simple. The three who translate the copies the fastest and most accurately. Only they get the work. Easy, right?"
Mura and her group shuddered.
There were eight of them in total.
In other words, Elena was saying:
Fight each other.
"Time limit... let's say tomorrow morning at 6 a.m."
Current time: 6 p.m.
Twelve hours left.
No time for sleep.
The volume was enough that they'd have to cling to it desperately just to finish.
The frozen Mura and her group exchanged pale glances.
Elena delivered the finishing blow.
"What are you waiting for? If you want to live, run. First come, first served favors the quick, you know."
-Thud!
"Ahh!"
"H-hey! Stop!"
Mura bolted first.
The remaining seven chased after her in a panic.
No time to curse the traitor.
No room to blame anyone.
They just sprinted full-tilt toward home, where their work tools were.
Watching their ugly scramble with a satisfied smile, Elena murmured.
"Junior Daniel. You... are truly the best."
Winter.
The mood in the Foreign Legion had changed.
A monster had appeared, injecting tension into the notoriously lax Indefinite Contractor scene.
That monster's name: "Daniel and Gorgo."
"Heard? Those complacent slackers are totally screwed."
"What? How?"
"Junior Daniel? What do you mean? Spill the details."
"Crazy. Isn't demon possession just an expensive spell? It has abilities like that too?"
"A demon that's lived thousands of years—its knowledge could cover more than just ancient languages, right?"
The Magic Tower's Indefinite Contractors, especially the specialists, were on edge.
"This... doesn't put us in danger too, does it?"
"We're not as bad as Mura."
"True. But we have slacked off. Everyone knows, even the regulars."
"Th-that's true, but..."
Not as bad as Mura.
But hadn't they done work half-heartedly, sloppily?
That was the reality—they couldn't flatly deny it.
"This... Daniel won't come for us too, will he?"
No one answered.
Normally, they'd dismiss it as needless worry.
Not this time.
Actual victims had emerged.
The biggest issue: no guarantee this was a one-off.
"Isn't this the manager's message?"
"Message?"
"Yeah. 'Shape up, or Daniel's your replacement.' Spot on."
"Ugh. Yeah."
To the Magic Tower mages, Daniel had long been fixed as Titania's hidden right-hand man.
And that Daniel crushed a pack of rowdy Indefinite Contractors?
No mage in the Tower was naive enough to think there was no meaning behind it.
The Indefinite Contractors had headaches.
Could the demon Daniel contracted handle all their jobs? Low probability.
But not zero. That's the problem.
Titania's message, via Daniel.
It was no different from a threat to their livelihoods.
Two choices.
Submit or resist.
Weighing pros and cons, which was safer?
The answer was clear, and the Indefinite Contractors—who had zero interest in gambling—chose it without hesitation.
After that, the attitude of Indefinite Contractors doing desk work changed.
Not fully diligent yet, but the slackers were definitely gone.
Work speed doubled, and tardiness vanished.
The regulars marveled at the unrecognizable Indefinite Contractors.
"Finally feels good working together."
"Yeah. If only they'd been like this sooner."
"Now we can actually collaborate at a decent pace."
The regulars' praise soon reached higher-ups' ears.
The top brass attributed it all to Titania's leadership and decided to commend her.
"Entrusting the Foreign Legion to you was the right call. Keep up the good work."
"Of course, Elder."
At the monthly general meeting.
Praise directly from Zeke, one of the six elders, in that official setting.
Titania smiled; her rivals bit their lips.
Leaving the meeting room with more joy than ever, Titania thought of one person.
'Daniel.'
She knew.
He'd only worked hard to do desk duty in the Tower over winter.
No political motives behind it.
'Politics really isn't his thing.'
But the result was political gain.
A ridiculous outcome: massively improving the poor work ethic of freeloading workers (Indefinite Contractors) and straightening out discipline.
A lucky man who always brought her benefits, intentionally or not.
How could she not covet him? How not agonize over it?
Daniel. What card to play to make this man solidly hers?
"Manager."
"Yes, Elena?"
"The investment party early next year. How about inviting Junior Daniel?"
"...!"