Chapter 1 – Sudden Dismissal Notice

「Noelle Springfield. You’re useless, you need not to come to work anymore. You’re fired.」

At the guild master’s remark, I was at a loss for words.

Among the really small number of staff, I worked myself to the bone continuously.
How many hours have I been working in a row now? I stopped counting after it went beyond three digits.
Overwhelming number of overtime when there was no overtime pay at all.

Minimum salary.
Dead-eyed colleagues who fell sick resigned one after another.

A harsh working environment that seemed to have condensed the negative points of the countryside.

But still, I endured because there was hardly any jobs in the countryside where I could use magic.

I loved magic since I was little and it had always been my dream to get a job where I could use magic.
For me, this magic item craftsman guild was an important workplace so I had to keep this job no matter what.

That was why I thought I should do my best and work twice, thrice as hard as the others to be acknowledged and yet…

「Good grief. You’ve served for three years but you’ve only been able to craft crystal balls which anybody can do. I want you to imagine yourself in my shoes, too, having to hire a good-for-nothing like you.」
「I can also craft intricate items. Let me do it, please. I can do it.」
「It’s impossible if it’s you. In the first place, there’s no way a woman can craft a decent magic item.」

The guild master hissed venomously.
It became common for women to work using magic in the royal capital but the fact was, the countryside was different.

Especially in the western region where I lived, such old-fashioned ideas were deeply rooted.

「You, graduating from the royal capital’s prestigious magic academy, must be a big, fat lie. How shameful.」
「It’s not a lie. I really—」
「You’re still saying that, huh. You’re incompetent and yet, the only thing that you have as a grown-ass woman is your mouth.」

Said the guild master with a cruel smirk on his face.

「You have no talent. Give up on magic and look for another job.」

---

「It’s really hard to make a living…」

A few days later after being chased out of the workshop, I sighed as I kept going through the job postings at the employment agency.

It doesn’t matter how bad the terms are. I want a job where I can use magic.

Thinking so, I faced the harsh reality as I started job-hunting.

In a remote rural town, there were only a few jobs where one can use magic.
As I earnestly prayed to be given a glimmer of hope, the ojii-san of the magic potion pharmacist guild said with an apologetic face,

「I’m sorry. The town mayor’s son told me that if I hire you, I won’t be able to work in this town.」

The town mayor’s son was the magic item craftsman guild master who fired me.

As someone insensitive, I hadn’t realized at all but since the beginning, the guild master, who failed to get admitted to the old, local magic academy, somehow disliked me, who graduated from the prestigious magic academy as a mere woman.

It was no wonder I was made to do nothing but chores and simple tasks.

Even now, he was using his position to put pressure on me, preventing me from getting any magic-related job in this town.

Why would he go out of his way to do such a thing…?

It’s hard…the world is hard to live in…

Lamenting with nowhere to go, I decided to vent out by eating.
It was set up at the side of the town’s adventurers guild,『Bellyful Diner.』

I passed through the sign curtain of the battlefield where numerous heavy eaters gathered.

「Welcome, jou-chan. What are you having?」
「Large set meal, please.」
「Oh, got it.」

The owner of the diner was a good cook.
The customers in surrounding tables saw me and said,

「Hey, hey! That jou-chan is done for, isn’t she?」
「Ordering a large set meal with a child-like body, huh.」

Who’s a child?
I’m on my third year as a working adult and has graduated splendidly from a magic academy.

I’m indeed short.
But as I don’t want to be seen as a child, my bras are stuffed with four-layered pads.

Son of a bitch, don’t say whatever you please.
I’ll show you what I can do…!

Twenty minutes later, the customers were all dumbly staring at me, who cleaned my plate without leaving a thing behind.

「It’s a lie, right…?」
「That jou-chan, what kind of stomach does she have?」

Fu-fun, see that?
In my academy days, I defeated a male senpai, who was the captain of the sports club, and sat in the top seat of the school cafeteria’s heavy eaters’ battle.

When it comes to heavy-eating power, I have confidence to beat anyone.

It was then when my mood was lightening up a little seeing the reaction of those around me…
‘Kusu-kusu,’ I heard a chuckle coming from behind.

I knew that soft sound.

「You’re the same as ever, huh.」

A nostalgic voice.
I turned around.
And my tense expression couldn’t help but softened into a smile.

「Luke…!」
「It’s been a while, Noelle.」

Luke Waldstein.
My best friend, whom I was always with during my academy days, was there.

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