Magic Tools Are Selling Too Well

My eyes opened suddenly, as if I’d been hit on the head with a hammer.

In front of me was a girl who looked like a foxtail, fidgeting as she looked at me.

“Who are you?”
“Ah! Y-you’re Senior Sacher, right?”

She trembled like a foxtail grass at just one question.
Her hair color was also light green.
Even the ribbon on her uniform was green, making her overall appearance quite fitting.
A green ribbon meant… first year, was it?
As I was thinking about this,
The back of my head was still complaining of a dull pain.
I could easily guess the reason.

“I-I’m sorry, senior. You weren’t waking up, so I… your head…”

There was no need for a confirmation kill, though.

I scratched my head and stretched.

“Yawn. It’s fine. I’m used to it. So, what’s up? I don’t think I’ve seen you before, junior.”
“Ah, well, Dean Opert is looking for you. I’m Delia Bluecliff, a freshman in the Alchemy Department! I-I admire you, senior!!”

She quickly said what she needed to say, then immediately bowed her head and shouted.

The sudden confession of admiration drew the attention of a few people in the lecture hall.
It seemed even she hadn’t expected to shout, as she covered her mouth with her hand, startled.

Her face turned red with embarrassment.
Are there… red foxtails?

“…I see. Thanks for letting me know.”
At times like this, quickly moving aside helps both parties.

I roughly packed my bag, patted the shoulder of the junior who had turned into a statue, and left the lecture hall.
I kept yawning as I walked, still not fully awake.
While walking, I thought about the junior from earlier.
She seems quite shy, but she’s a junior who says what needs to be said.
She even said that interesting thing about admiring me.
And that name.
Delia Bluecliff.
It sounded familiar, but I couldn’t quite remember.
Had we taken a class together before?

And thinking about it, the premise was wrong from the start.
My overall grades from last year would be close to dead last, so how could she admire someone like me?
It doesn’t make sense logically.
I don’t even know anyone in the department except for one close junior.
The two friends I have are from different departments.

Maybe she’s confusing my name with another senior’s?
With such idle thoughts, I walked to the dean’s office.

I tend to sleep a lot.
Not just a little, but really a lot.

Being late to class because of oversleeping has become a familiar daily routine.
As soon as I sit at my desk, I feel sleepy, and even when I’m eating, drinking tea…
Sometimes I even feel drowsy while smoking on the rooftop.
Thanks to filling all my academy lectures with sleep, I can’t even remember what subjects I took anymore.

I’ve never felt that this trait was particularly inconvenient in my life.
People can sleep a lot, what’s the big deal?

I don’t want to become a hero who leaves their name in history like some people, and I certainly don’t want to become a researcher or professor.
If I had a dream, it was simply to run a small alchemy shop under my own name.
I’ve had some disadvantages due to sleeping a lot, but it wasn’t enough to affect this modest dream and peaceful life.

But right now.
This body that sleeps too much was approaching quite a crisis.

“You might get expelled at this rate, young man.”

The dean, with his slightly balding head, said with eyes that looked at me as a troublemaker.

I was startled and asked back.

“Expelled for sleeping a bit?”
“It’s not just a bit, is it!”

The dean, who had been speaking with his chin resting on his hand, suddenly started pounding the table with his fist.

Come on, if it’s not, then it’s not. Why are you suddenly getting so worked up?

“Are you really in your right mind? How can you sleep through every subject, every day, for an entire year? You’ve received eight Fs because of your attitude of just sleeping during classes, eight! Even if we brought in some random kid from the outskirts of the empire and sat them down, they wouldn’t get grades this bad!”

There was actually an inaccuracy in the dean’s angry words.

To be precise, only three Fs were due to my “class attitude.”
The other five Fs were because I scored 0 on exams, as I slept through them and couldn’t take them.

But if I said this out loud, his anger would probably double.

I just listened quietly with my head bowed in a gesture of reflection.

“Sigh… I’m sorry for yelling.”
“It’s alright.”
“It’s because the department has such high expectations for you. After all, you did get the top score in the practical admission exam.”

I completely understood the dean’s feelings as he looked at me with bitter eyes.

Of course, I was lucky that day.
I couldn’t take the written exam because I overslept, but I barely woke up in time for the practical exam.
Who would have thought that I, who got first place in the practical admission exam, would turn out to be a good-for-nothing who just sleeps all day?
It must have been an unexpected turn of events for everyone.

Lazy genius.
This was how my nickname had changed from the department’s most promising student a year ago.

But I feel wronged.
Being sleepy and being lazy are clearly different issues.

“Anyway, most of the professors’ opinions about you are the same. The consensus is that while your attitude is poor, they can’t help but acknowledge your talent. Especially the report you submitted for the ‘Understanding of Magic Circuits’ class is being considered for submission to the imperial academic journal ‘Leica’ as an outstanding paper.”

Ah.
I was lucky with that class too.

It was one of the few general education courses for first-year students that replaced the exam with a report, and since it was a general course, Ruen and Shunika also took this class.
I just helped out a bit when my friends seemed to be struggling with writing the report, and then got interested and submitted one myself.

But the professor was so impressed with that report that he made a fuss about it all semester.
Originally, he was a professor who just quietly taught his classes, but after seeing my report, he became a different person.

He would ask if I had any thoughts of transferring to the Magic Department every time we met, submit my report to faculty meetings, and even make the worst suggestion of joining as a researcher after graduation.
He would grab me with the report and talk like a revolutionary who had made an incredible discovery…
In my opinion, that professor wasn’t quite normal either.

Thanks to that, I managed to get an impossible A+ grade despite sleeping through the entire semester.
That was the only A grade in my academic history.

“So, then…”

Anyway, I felt hopeful at the dean’s sudden praise.
Maybe he just called me here to give me a lecture?

But the dean shook his head heavily.

“However, we can’t turn a blind eye to your poor attitude.”

No, shit.
What am I supposed to do?

I almost cursed out loud at the dean’s roundabout way of speaking, but I desperately held it back.

In any case, I don’t want to be expelled either.
If I get expelled, I won’t be able to face my father, and I won’t be able to get my hero certification if I don’t graduate.
Well, I could probably get into another academy somehow, but it would be a shame to leave the Imperial Academy, which is called the best on the continent.

Above all, the cafeteria food here is too delicious.
Damn. An academy with delicious cafeteria food!
What’s with that?
If I could just sleep as much as I want, this place could be called heaven without exaggeration due to its excellent facilities.

As I remained silent, lost in thought, the dean finally got to the point.

“We’d like you to work as a student assistant and help with department affairs.”
“A student assistant?”
“Yes. In particular, you should actively participate in events held by the department, and also work a certain number of hours at the alchemy shop operated by the department within the academy. This is the condition set by our Alchemy Department professors in exchange for accommodating you. If you diligently attend to the department’s affairs, at the very least, you won’t fail your major subjects.”

It’s not just not bad, it’s an extremely good condition.

It was clear that the department cared about me.
Giving grade accommodations in exchange for helping out with work a few times to a good-for-nothing who just sleeps all day…

In a way, it might be seen as unfair treatment, but academies were places where professors’ differential treatment based on talent was severe to begin with.

Moreover, they’re not promising to give especially high grades.
They’re just ensuring I won’t fail, allowing me to graduate, so it was a win-win condition that didn’t discriminate too much.
At this point, it would be foolish not to accept.
I nodded and asked.

“But isn’t the student assistant position usually for third-year students?”
“It’s possible for second-year students with the dean’s approval. You’ll be a second-year this year, so there won’t be any problem if I approve it.”
“Ah, I see. Thank you.”
“And don’t forget. We’re only accommodating your grades in major subjects. We can’t extend our influence to subjects from other departments or general education courses.”

If you get three Fs, you receive an academic warning, and if academic warnings accumulate, you’re automatically expelled.
I can’t remember if it’s three or four times, but anyway, I was in a crisis.
I had already received two academic warnings.

The dean was indirectly telling me not to take more than two courses from other departments in one semester.
Because courses from other departments that don’t receive accommodations would very likely result in Fs.
The dean continued while stroking his chin beard.

“The newly appointed professor, Lafurie Melaine, will be your supervising professor. Professor Melaine is also in charge of running the alchemy shop, so you can ask her about most of the work you need to do.”

Lafurie Melaine.

It was a completely unfamiliar name.
In the first place, I didn’t know any of the professors in the department, so there was no way I would know the name of a new professor.
Still, I hoped she would be a good teacher.
Though I’d probably sleep through her classes anyway…

But as I listened, I caught something about the alchemy shop work that I hadn’t paid much attention to before.

“The alchemy shop, how much do I have to work there?”
“You’ll work five days a week, about 7 hours a day.”
“…”

I take back what I said earlier.
This is a complete slave contract, isn’t it?

The dean cleared his throat and quickly added.

“Ahem. We’ll also provide you with a salary. 50 silver per hour. If you wish, you can also sell magic tools you’ve made yourself with your supervising professor’s approval.”

As if those would sell much…
I knew the dean’s last words were just thrown out there to ease the awkwardness.

Still, it wasn’t a bad deal.
At least it wasn’t unpaid, so I could think of it as something similar to a work-study scholarship.
Moreover, the key point of this job was the accommodation in grades in exchange for the work, so I didn’t hesitate long before accepting the dean’s offer.