Sir Mage, You Said We Would Only Hold Hands! Chapter 13 - Refill the Mana

 

What kind of bullshit is this, she wonders.

 

She told him not to contact her personally, so he brought forty-six items through designated inquiries? Birkin wondered how to respond to this elaborate nonsense.

 

Let’s say forty-six is a ridiculous number.

 

How much time will it take for her to get them one by one and refill the mana, and how much mana will they get? Birkin didn’t answer, but thoughtlessly rummaged through the items that filled the table.

 

Then, the table was so full that one item tumbled down. Surprised, Birkin hurriedly stretched out her hand and caught the falling item.

 

SheI checked and it turned out to be a mage’s item, ‘Callian’s Wand’.

 

This item alone was worth the equivalent of Birkin’s monthly salary. The Callian Collection was the item series most desired by mages with low mana circles, so it wasn’t easy to obtain.

 

In addition, she only looked at it briefly, but she also saw knight-specific items such as ‘Callian’s Cloak’, ‘Callian’s Monocle’, and ‘Leo’s Mithril Shield’… It’s obvious, the items used by the knights were all famous for being expensive.

 

“Doing all of this… seems like it would be difficult.”

 

“Tomorrow too.”

 

“No, it’s still hard even tomorrow.”

 

“Then, I’ll see you every day.”

 

As soon as Birkin finished speaking, the suggestion was heard, as if he was clearly waiting to say so. Birkin replied, frowning as her stomach ache came again.

 

“If you leave the items in charge, we will contact you after charging. Please come back then.”

 

“I don’t want to.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“…You don’t have to go.”

 

Birkin felt sick to her stomach. She couldn’t understand what the man wanted by doing this to her.

 

Forty-six? Suddenly Birkin felt a sense of déjà vu. Yes, something similar has definitely happened in the past.

 

It was a young noble gentleman whose family name she doesn’t even remember. No, it was a waste to even use the word gentleman.

 

The nobleman was one of the guests who came after hearing rumors about Birkin, and from the day after his first visit, he brought dozens of items and ‘ordered’ them all to be recharged.

 

No matter how different their status was, they were at least customers and employees within the Magic Tower. Since there was no reason to listen to his orders, Birkin naturally refused and the man ran away.

 

When she looked at Liam Moore, the noble babbler came to her mind. Then, for a moment, she got emotional.

 

“I can’t.”

 

Birkin spoke calmly while looking at the items in front of her. If he came to tease her, she didn’t want to treat him with a smile.

 

Anyway, she hasn’t even built up a reputation in Deepdale yet. Birkin felt fortunate to have the crazy terrible guy as her first customer.

 

“Why?”

 

“It’s too much for me to handle on my own. If you need to fill in all these items at once, it would be better to hire someone privately. I don’t only receive inquiries from Sir Liam.”

 

“Then for today, only this.”

 

As soon as she showed signs of getting up, Liam quickly grabbed one of the items and held it out to Birkin. He seemed somewhat impatient.

 

However, what Liam held out was ‘Leo’s Mithril Shield’. Birkin thought as she lowered her eyes to look at the item.

 

Is this actually messed up, she wonders.

 

Of the forty-six items, Birkin really doesn’t want to do this one. That was also what she thought. The mana efficiency wasn’t that good at level 5, but the amount of mana that could be loaded was so large that it was a time-consuming item.

 

But she couldn’t refuse even this.

 

Birkin eventually quietly placed her hand on the mithril shield. Liam was staring at her so persistently that she turned her gaze to the side.

 

If it had been the headquarters, she would have recharged the mana by continuing conversations to build friendships with customers, but since she was dealing with other people, she didn’t want to have even the slightest social life. Birkin lowered her eyes and quickly refilled the mana.

 

About twenty minutes had passed like that.

 

“It’s done.”

 

“Already?”

 

Not already, it’s now.

 

Of course, she couldn’t say this to his face, so Birkin answered briefly, gathered up the documents she had brought with her, and stood up.

 

Liam, who was looking at her, hurriedly got up to follow her. He also sensed something was wrong with her. Birkin’s expression was unusual.

 

“There is still time left, so you can come out slowly. I will stand up first.”

 

“I’ll come tomorrow too.”

 

“Ah, yes.”

 

Birkin’s answer was cold. As she left the consulting room, Liam followed Birkin closely behind her, like a puppy following its owner to work.

 

Birkin glanced at Liam behind him and said.

 

“Aren’t you taking care of it?”

 

“What,”

 

“The trunk,”

 

Only then did Liam check where he was sitting. Next to it, the trunk was lying on the floor without being able to close.

 

How much is it all?

 

If Birkin sold all the items in the trunk, she would at least be one step closer to buying her own home, something she had longed for. However, Birkin, who wasn’t interested in things that didn’t belong to her, left first without looking back.

 

“…”

 

Liam, who couldn’t follow Birkin when she told him to pack up the trunk, remained in the consulting room and just blinked.

 

Then, when even the sound of Birkin’s footsteps could no longer be heard…

 

Pow! Clank, rrrrr…

 

Liam kicked the trunk in an annoyed manner. Even though no magic was used, the trunk flew quite forcefully and hit the wall, with everything inside pouring out. Some of them couldn’t withstand the impact and were damaged.

 

“…It’s useless.”

 

Liam brushed his gray hair and let out a short sigh. His appearance was somewhat different from the Liam Moore everyone knew.

 

***

 

“Vice, you’re back?”

 

“Yes, did everyone enjoy their meal?”

 

After leaving a meaningless greeting, Birkin sat down and started doing paperwork without even having time to catch her breath. Time was quite tight to complete all the paperwork before general consultation hours.

 

As Birkin returned and focused on her work in silence, Sophia and Docson also took notice and sat down. It seemed like they shouldn’t talk to their vice, who was clenching her teeth and concentrating on work.

 

How much time has passed like that?

 

Herian spoke carefully through the silence.

 

“Um… Vice Redfield. It’s time for a general consultation.”

 

“Ah, Sir Rutt. Thank you for letting me know. Let’s all move slowly.”

 

“Yes.”

 

After being harassed by Liam Moore since the morning, she went straight to work and her whole body was sore. Birkin stretched out her arms, relaxed her body, and stood up.

 

Among Docson, Sophia, and Herion, Birkin, who stood in front, went down the stairs. As they entered the counseling room on one side of the first floor, she saw people from Team 2 looking quite.

 

But it was different from yesterday.

 

Apparently, the people in Team 2, who until yesterday had been welcoming new team members warmly to help them get used to consulting work, were unusually whispering to them today.

 

Birkin, noticing the atmosphere, raised one eyebrow and instructed her team members to go to their seats and take over. She then turned to Team 2 Deputy Edward.

 

“Deputy Edward?”

 

“Ah. You really came at 4 PM?”

 

“The official shift time is 4 PM, Deputy Edward.”

 

Edward then said, ‘What’s so difficult about coming just an hour early?’

 

Birkin suppressed the urge to ask him, ‘What’s so hard about doing just one more hour?’ Even if she responded in the same way, she would only end up on the same level as this person.

 

“Anyway, thank you for your hard work. From now on, our Team 3 will take charge.”

 

“Ugh. That’s right, Vice. That’s because women are so strong.”

 

Edward left, kicking the floor without hiding how upset he was. The people of Team 2 followed behind him without hiding their displeasure.

 

After everyone left, Docson, the only man of the team, cautiously asked Birkin.

 

(i’m so confused i thought Herion is also a man?? i’ll keep it like that until there’s a clear confirmation)

 

“Um… are you okay? I think our relationship with Team 2’s Deputy has worsened…”

 

“Sir Docson.”

 

“Y-Yes?”

 

Birkin, who took off her outer clothes and placed them where Deputy Edward was sitting, said casually.

 

“If you go in here with your head down, you will only be treated as a joke. Don’t worry about work, there won’t be any damage.”

 

“N-No! I wasn’t worried that it would harm me in terms of business, but I was afraid that Team 2 Deputy would hate Vice.”

 

At those words, Birkin looked at Docson for a moment and laughed. Docson seemed like the youngest child of a family who grew up with a lot of love. So, he might be worried about this.

 

“How can everyone like me? There are also people who hate me.”

 

Since her academy days, Birkin has decided to take it easy whenever someone dislikes her. To the extent of, ‘Do you hate me? Hate as much as you want, I will hate you too.’ She didn’t want to be stressed out about personal relationships, even at work.

 

General consultation hours were a little busier than yesterday. Team 2 was also assigned to work together for Team 3 that was to conduct the general consultation for the first time, but today they all left on time.

 

“Sir Customer, this item…”

 

“Aih, I don’t know anything about that. Just figure it out yourself.”

 

Birkin let out a short sigh as she saw the team members all busy moving around without any time to catch their breath. It seemed like she would have to request reinforcements by submitting a separate request to Chief Ad.

 

Still, Sophia and Docson, who are on the easy-going side, adapted to consulting work fairly quickly. Rather, it was Herion who had a hard time.

 

“That’s difficult. You’ll need to make additional payments…”

 

“Again?! I’ll need to pay again!”

 

“…You must pay to use it.”

 

The customer in front of Herion pounded the table so hard that it made a loud noise. Sophia and Docson, who were next to them, as well as other customers, turned their attention to Herion’s table.

 

Fortunately, Herion didn’t seem surprised, but it wasn’t good for people’s attention to gather like this. Birkin approached there.

 

“What’s going on?”

 

“Who are you again?”

 

“I’m in charge. Our employee is still new and is getting used to the job. Sir Customer, what’s going on?”

 

Birkin gave a businesslike smile. Then she casually touched Herion’s shoulder for him to stand up then sat down herself.

 

Herion, who was suddenly pushed out of his seat, didn’t know what to do, but ended up standing next to Birkin.

 

“When I bought this, they said it would be free for repairs for up to one year. But they said they couldn’t do it!”

 

“There is no broken part in the item…!”

 

Birkin cut off Herion, who was trying to refute the customer’s words until the end.

 

“Ah, sir. That’s right. Wait, let me check.”

 

Then, after briefly checking the item presented by the customer, she smiled again and continued speaking.

 

“It’s having a bit of trouble with the mana storage part. Could you wait a moment?”

 

“Look! I told you it’s broken!”

 

The customer was elated and glanced at Herion.

 

Birkin smiled until the end and stood up holding the item. And when she turned around and headed towards the place where the partition was installed that was invisible to her customers, Herion, who had been looking at the customer with a dissatisfied expression for a moment, followed her into the place.

 

Herion said with a somewhat resentful look.

 

“There is definitely nothing broken…”

 

“Sir Rutt.”

 

“Yes.”

 

Birkin instructed, putting down the items on the table with all smiles gone.

 

“Please fill this with full mana and tell the customer that the repair is complete in ten minutes.”

 

“Pardon?”

 

“Do I have to say this twice?”

 

“N-No…”

 

Herion, overwhelmed by Birkin’s force, responded with a depressed face. If it runs out of mana, it just needs to be recharged, it’s not broken. That was a fact everyone knew.

 

That customer just needed an ‘excuse’ to recharge mana for free. Customers wouldn’t leave unless they charged, and then they would be in trouble. Birkin wanted to let Herion, who was a bit stiff, know that he didn’t have to go that far.

 

Birkin left to manage the consulting room again. Just then, a notification rang on her wrist. The sender was Chief Ad.

 

Nine times out of ten, the first contact you get from your boss is bad. Birkin wiggled her eyebrows as she remembered one of her old workplace policies.

 

— Wise Magic Tower Life TIP! —

Mana recharge is a paid service. Customers who need to recharge, please complete the payment.