The Former Assassin Becomes a Noble Lady

---

“Boss?”

“Hmm? Ah, three magic stones.”

“Yes. Here you go.”

I took out the magic stones from the backpack slung over my shoulder and handed them to Frecia. As she received the magic stones, Frecia replaced the ones installed intermittently along the outer wall to repair the barrier.

“Didn’t you repair the academy’s outer wall barrier last time?”

“Right? Two more magic stones.”

“Just a moment. Yes. Here you are. But why are you repairing it again, Boss?”

A few days ago, Frecia had taken me along to restore the barrier along the academy’s outer wall in the middle of the night. However, we were now repeating what we had done that night.

“Ah… I cut some corners up there.”

…Typical of the magical community, infamous for its corruption. No matter how much Aura prevents the aging of the body, physical types like knights still inevitably bear the brunt of time. Unfortunately.

Because of this, usual knights tend to have diminishing influence as they age. No matter how good their reputation or skills, as they grow weaker, their power will inevitably dwindle. What happens if they can’t humble themselves and act recklessly? They’ll just end up getting stabbed by a crazed junior.

If you want to avoid such a fate, you either need to behave yourself or have political skills at an expert level, or reach the realm of being a Swordmaster. Becoming a Swordmaster essentially halts physical aging, and in cases where someone is already elderly, they can appear youthful again, making it a solid solution.

On the other hand, the story changes a bit for the magical community.

Most magic becomes deeper and more seasoned with age. It’s a scholarly pursuit that is nearly unaffected by physical changes, so time is on their side. Of course, as one ages, their flashes of inspiration might diminish a bit, but by that time, they would have already established their spells.

When does a wizard fall victim to the passage of time? Well, unless they suffer from dementia, not really.

Thus, the higher-ups in the magical community are all old, entrenched curmudgeons who’ve been sitting on their thrones for ages.

That said, exceptions do exist in the magical community. Right in front of me stands Frecia, one of those exceptions. No matter how deep knowledge becomes over time, a single genius cannot be surpassed.

Geniuses cannot be measured by the standards of mere mortals. They achieve things that we commoners can’t even begin to imagine.

At just 16 years old, Frecia became a master of a particular branch of magic. Because of this, she was granted a castle by the Emperor of the Empire and could take on a professorship at the academy.

However, in the end, Frecia was just a child in front of the old-timers in the magical community. No matter how talented Frecia is, the other professors are not to be underestimated, and unlike knights, they don’t weaken with age, so she got pushed aside.

To escape such absurdities, she would need to possess magic that far surpasses their abilities.

Given her talent as someone who already holds a professorship at such a young age, I believe ten years would be sufficient. By that time, the magical community of the continent will probably revolve around her.

“Well, then there’s nothing to be done. At least I hope to progress about a quarter of the way today.”

While we finished the barrier enclosing the academy in just one day, the city is obviously much larger than the academy. Since I have classes to attend tomorrow, I can’t work all night, so I’ll need to spread the work over a few days.

Of course, Frecia is a nocturnal creature, an owl person, so it wouldn’t be a problem for her to work alone throughout the night. However, for me as an employee, it would feel off to let the boss work alone. Most importantly, Frecia is still just a 16-year-old girl. I couldn’t just let such a little girl wander around at night by herself.

“Okay. Then let’s keep going.”

Having restored the spot we were currently standing at, Frecia slowly continued walking. I followed her, walking slowly behind.

“Ahaha! Hey, owner! One more drink here!”

“Ugh… I can’t drink anymore…”

Just because it’s night doesn’t mean every store closes up for the day. In fact, it’s the bars that come alive at night. Strolling through the city in the middle of the night revealed sights I hadn’t seen during my usual outings.

Brilliant lights illuminating the streets, people enjoying drinks at outdoor tables now that the weather warmed up a bit, folks grasping lampposts while recalling what food they ate today, and guys urinating on walls…

“What the…?”

I dashed out and slapped the back of the man urinating against the wall and tossed him aside nonchalantly. What kind of proud little guy thinks it’s okay to whip it out on the street?

I turned to check on Frecia but thankfully, she seemed to be checking the barrier’s condition and hadn’t noticed anything.

She almost caught a glimpse of that drunken man’s indiscretions while walking along the wall. I couldn’t tarnish the innocent eyes of young Frecia with such sights.

By the way, this place is a complete mess with nothing but drunken idiots stumbling around. I’m starting to doubt if this is the same street I used to walk with my friends.

“Hey there, missy. Out here with your little brother at this hour?”

A dog of a man approached me.

“Sir, if you’re drunk, you should go home and sleep quietly.”

I tried to ignore him and turn back toward Frecia but—

“Hey, with an outfit like that just wandering around in front of a bar, isn’t that basically asking for it? How much? How much do you want?”

Clearly, the guy was really drunk, as he failed to recognize I was a student even wearing the academy uniform.

Naturally, in my rush to finish my work for the day and head home to sleep, I was inclined to ignore him but instead turned back toward Frecia.

Whoosh!

?

I felt something tugging at my clothing, and when I turned to look, the man who had spoken to me was lifting my skirt.

Whistle! Whistle!

The lads sitting at the outdoor tables saw this and started whistling over.

It was only then I realized the gravity of the situation. It’s been more than two months since I received the TS magic, and I’ve been doing my best to ignore that I’m a girl, but such advances were non-existent at the academy. Of course, I should feel embarrassed about my panties being exposed, yet I just stared at the crazy guy instead of reacting like a woman should.

Finally snapping to attention, I kicked the man who had lifted my skirt, quickly pulled it down, and tidied my outfit.

“What’s wrong?”

“Nothing, it’s all good. Don’t worry about it.”

“Really? Then just two magic stones, please.”

After that, while passing through the bar area, I dealt with three guys urinating in public, four more pestering me, two trying to lift my skirt like that last guy, and one who even tried to touch me before finally wrapping up today’s work.

“Well then, here’s your pay for today. Since I think it’ll take a few days, I added some extra on top of your night rate.”

As soon as we returned to the lab, Frecia handed me my pay right there. True to her word, the bag I received felt quite heavy.

This is why I can’t leave my boss. What kind of boss takes such good care of their employees?

“Come by tomorrow at ten like today to wake me up.”

“Yes! Then I’ll head out now!”

I bowed as I left the lab, immediately checking the bag to see what was inside.

It was quite the haul. Given today’s workload, it seemed it would take about four to five more days to complete everything excluding today. That meant my final pay would be four to five times this amount.

I kid you not; this might even surpass my salary this month. I returned to my room, daydreaming happily about what I would do with this money.

*

Day two of restoring the city barrier. Having just finished the dormitory roll call, it was now nearing 10 PM, and I found myself pondering in front of my closet.

The academy’s female uniform is essentially a skirt. Whether it’s spring, summer, fall, or winter, while the thickness of the clothing might vary with the seasons, the bottom is fundamentally a skirt.

Now that I’ve gained some financial freedom working for my boss, my previous enforced frugality has lightened up a bit, but before that, I had no choice but to live simply. Hence, it’s safe to say I barely have any casual clothes in my closet aside from a few layering tees.

Normally, I would have just suited up in my school uniform and hit the streets. After all, this city revolves around the academy, and many students wander around in their uniforms even on weekends, myself included.

However, after recalling yesterday’s events, I’ve concluded that walking around at night in a school uniform, specifically a skirt, isn’t the best idea. Of course, even if I wear my uniform skirt and encounter guys like yesterday, I could just slap them in the back of the head or make them kiss my foot (forced) and that would be that.

However, there’s always the chance I could show Frecia something she shouldn’t see in the process. Therefore, I needed to minimize exposure to avoid complications.

So, as I earnestly scoured through my scarce wardrobe, I discovered an outfit that could adequately cover my body.