IQBSA 03

Chapter 03

“Let’s talk again in a month.”

The words, like a death sentence, echoed in my ears.

“I never agreed to any such contract!”

I wanted to deny it, but unfortunately, I had clear memories of Serpine signing that contract.

‘She was even worried that Roakin might break the contract first.’

After graduating from the academy, Serpine couldn’t find a job easily due to her lack of magical power.

The Magic Tower was the only place that called her back, so I understood her desperation.

‘But still, you shouldn’t just sign such a slave contract without thinking!’

And now I was the one who had to suffer the consequences.

I tossed my pen onto the ledgers I’d been organizing in frustration.

“Ugh, why does this work never end no matter how much I do?”

Perhaps because all of Serpine’s knowledge and experience had been vividly transmitted to me, I had little trouble adapting to this world.

But in just one week since possession, I’d experienced hell on earth.

Because there was an insane amount of work.

I’d secretly been nervous about what bloody tasks I’d have to do as the Tower Master’s secretary, but it turned out to be needless worry.

Though monster subjugation was indeed the Magic Tower’s main business, I was excluded since my mana manipulation was at a hopeless level.

My role was to stay at the tower in the Tower Master’s stead—who was mostly away on trips—and handle all sorts of administrative work and tedious errands.

‘I should have realized it from the moment I woke up buried in paperwork.’

In a world without proper labor laws, there was no way there were regulations on working hours.

Serpine had worked every day, sleeping in short bursts while crushed under mountains of work.

And after I became Serpine, all that work naturally fell to me.

Even I, with my long-honed overtime experience, who usually didn’t flinch at any workload, found myself groaning in despair.

‘Is this really a brutal death? Isn’t it just death from overwork…?’

Actually, maybe Serpine didn’t die because of the Empress Dowager, but from overwork.

[–Let’s definitely renew the contract this year!]

Suddenly, I remembered a note Serpine had written on the first page of her notebook.

I took out the notebook and tore that page out with a rip.

“I don’t want to die from overwork twice.”

Even filing a complaint with the Labor Office wouldn’t be enough—renewing the contract would make me a complete pushover.

Even if it weren’t for the Empress Dowager, I had no intention of renewing.

‘Right! Until now, I’ve been working like an ox.’

Losing an employee like me—such a pushover—would be a huge loss for the tower too.

That must be why the Tower Master was stubbornly trying to keep me.

It’s not like we had much personal connection, barely exchanging a few words outside of work reports.

The only plausible explanation was that he wouldn’t let me quit because of work.

‘Then I’ll just make him want to fire me.’

I jotted down a detailed plan in my notebook.

“Hehe. Perfect.”

I hung a [STRIKE] sign on the door and clasped my hands together with satisfaction.

The first strategy I’d devised to get fired—

Make myself so useless that he’d have no choice but to fire me!

‘Strikes are a worker’s legitimate right.’

It might be an unfamiliar concept in this world, but from a modern person’s perspective, it wasn’t impossible to attempt.

I gazed contentedly at the sign, then went back inside the secretary’s office.

But immediately, the door burst open and Eliser came rushing in.

“Serpine! Serpine!”

“What? What’s wrong?”

“Lucifer has disappeared!”

I stared at Eliser with incredulous eyes.

‘Eliser Hilbriss.’

Born into the Hilbriss family, one of the elder mage houses, he’d faithfully followed the elite path and was currently in charge of the Artifact Department at the tower.

And this impressive man had come running to deliver news about a missing cat.

‘That arrogant cat, just like its master, does whatever it wants every single day!’

This was already the umpteenth time Eliser had clung to me, whining to help find Lucifer.

I’d only been possessed for a short while, but I was already so familiar with that pink hair that I was sick of it.

“He’s probably in the Tower Master’s room.”

“I already checked—he wasn’t there. This time he’s definitely run away for real!”

“I told you, instead of searching every time, just put a tracking collar on him.”

“He said collars are suffocating and doesn’t want one! What if he’s lost and wandering outside in this cold weather?”

Eliser shuddered with a horrified expression.

Though Lucifer often disappeared at will, he’d always been found inside the tower before.

But seeing Eliser’s voice quiver, this time seemed more serious than before.

I eventually stood up from my seat.

“……Wait here.”

“Hooray!”

Eliser bounced around joyfully as if he’d received a godsend.

With a sigh, I went into the storage room and retrieved some dried Cataria leaves.

‘I think this is right…’

I remembered a scene where the female lead smelled some leaf while cleaning, and Lucifer went crazy, swooning over it.

That leaf was Cataria.

I suspected this leaf had the same effect as catnip.

“Go to your room and bring one of Lucifer’s toys.”

“Got it!”

After Eliser left, I began extracting the essence from the Cataria leaves.

I was brewing a potion with ingredients to amplify the scent when Eliser returned, carrying an armful of toys.

“I wasn’t sure which one would work, so I brought everything.”

Eliser, whose specialty was artifact crafting, also made Lucifer’s toys himself. As a result, there were countless varieties.

Among the dazzling artifacts, I picked up a simple feather toy.

“This one looks good.”

I carefully coated the toy’s feathers with the potion, then handed it to Eliser.

“Take this and go. Walk around shaking it, and you should find Lucifer.”

“Okay! But you’re not coming with me?”

“Of course not. I put up a strike sign outside. Didn’t you see it?”

“I didn’t see it… A strike? Why?”

Eliser made a bizarre expression, as if he couldn’t believe what he was hearing.

“Don’t ask for details. Anyway, I’m not working starting today, so find Lucifer with the others.”

“Serpine, wait—!”

“Bye then.”

I pushed Eliser out the door and slammed it shut.

Then, as soon as I sat back down, I noticed a light blinking in the communication crystal.

‘Right, I should have turned off the communication crystal too.’

The communication crystal was an artifact powered by mana stones, which you could think of as a telephone for voice conversations.

The glaring golden glow meant it was a contact from the Imperial Palace.

Even if I was on strike, I couldn’t ignore a contact from the palace.

‘Sigh.’

“……Secretary’s office.”

When I answered with a heavy heart, a scolding voice came from the other side.

[Has the Tower Master suddenly become a coward?]

‘Caris Lil.’

He was the captain of the Empire’s Golden Knights and practically the Crown Prince’s right-hand man.

At his sudden mockery, I asked, bewildered.

“What do you mean by that?”

[I could overlook skipping a few trivial missions, but now you say you won’t attend the regular inspection? How am I supposed to take this? Are you picking a fight?]

“Did Roakin himself say that?”

[……You didn’t know?]

When I asked back in confusion, Caris began explaining the situation.

“……”

Due to the contract between the Magic Tower and the Imperial Palace, when cooperation orders came, they had to assist in monster subjugation.

But two days ago, Roakin had pulled out of the Liu Gorge expedition.

I’d known that much, but according to Caris, Roakin had said he would also skip the next scheduled mission.

Just then, someone else opened the door and came in.

“Serpine! A directive came down from the Council of Elders, but I’m too busy, so could you handle it for—oh, you’re on a call?”

I waved my hands frantically and mouthed silently:

‘Get out.’

The last person to visit was Sheila from the Potions Department.

Sheila stormed in, snorting, and spoke accusingly.

“Serpine, how could you do this to me?”

“……What did I do?”

“An unexcused absence! I never knew you were such an irresponsible person.”

“Sheila, you seem to have gotten too comfortable and forgotten—I’m not part of the Potions Department.”

“……!”

Sheila looked shocked, as if she’d just realized it for the first time.

In fact, Serpine did have one foot in the Potions Department.

Due to her lack of magical power, she couldn’t meet the qualification requirements and had to taste the bitterness of failure every time, but Serpine’s original dream was to join the Potions Department.

In her free time after work, Serpine gladly helped with the Potions Department’s work.

With her extensive knowledge of potions, Serpine blended seamlessly into the department, which was probably why Sheila had been confused.

“W-Well, but we’re like one big happy family!”

What workplace has a “family-like” relationship?

Serpine might have fallen for it, but I wasn’t fooled by such cliché tactics.

I said in a regretful tone.

“Sorry, but it’d be better to find someone new going forward.”

“What do you mean?”

“I’m quitting.”

“……No way!”

Sheila looked as if she’d been struck by lightning.

“How can you just leave us behind like this? You know better than anyone that this is the busiest time of year. The orders are piled up like mountains and they’re just not going down. I really can’t handle this, Serpine.”

Sheila gave me a pleading look.

Based on experience, the Foundation Day season brought a flood of commissions, so there would indeed be a lot of work.

‘But…… that was your job in the first place!’

In office worker language, “I can’t do it” means “I don’t want to do it, so you do it.”

She was planning to whine and dump all her work on me!

“No, you’ll do fine without me, Sheila.”

“……Are you really going to abandon me like this?”

I nodded firmly.

After consoling the tearful, stubborn Sheila and finally sending her off, I collapsed onto the sofa, exhausted.

One reason Serpine had been so overworked was that the lazy mages of the tower had been dumping their work on her.

‘They recognized a pushover.’

The tower people called me over for all sorts of trivial matters.

Just look at how Eliser came running in a fuss over a single cat.

Even though I was on strike, how many people had come looking for me today alone?

‘Can’t they see the sign?’

Someone must have secretly cast an invisibility spell on it.

I immediately ran out to check behind the door.

[STRIKE.]

But the sign was hanging right there, as if mocking me.

‘How come not a single person saw it before knocking…’

That’s just how mages were.

Utterly self-centered.

Completely fed up, I just took the sign down and tossed it in the trash.