sampah

“Good morning, young miss. Please wake up… Oh, you were already awake?” said Anne, my maid, with a hint of surprise in her voice.

“Yes. Today is my first day of actual work at the Magical Tool Laboratory. I have to act like an adult,” I replied proudly.

I had entered the Magical Ministry in the spring, and then took the newcomer examination to find out which department I would be working in. I ended up at the Magical Tool Laboratory, where I would start working today. I was thrilled.

I’m finally a working adult… I think I might get emotional.

After all, my previous life had ended when I was still a student. I was raised in the country, the daughter of a simple office worker, and when I was in high school, I enjoyed little time as an otaku before my untimely death. I remembered all of this when, at the young age of eight, I fell down and hit my forehead in the castle garden. Thus started my new life as Katarina Claes, a duke’s daughter.

My slanted blue eyes looked a bit menacing, but at least my silky brown hair and new face — slightly better-looking than the one in my previous life — weren’t that bad. Or so I thought, until my sudden engagement to the prince made me realize that these features belonged to Katarina, the villainous antagonist of Fortune Lover, the otome game I had been playing shortly before dying.

Once I reached 15, I would have to enter the Academy of Magic, where, in the game, Katarina would bully the protagonist and be destined to either exile with a good end or execution with a bad end. Doom either way.

I spent the years before joining the academy coming up with countermeasures to these doomed endings. But after my enrollment, I met with the protagonist, Maria, and became friends with her…

I had to overcome a few challenges, but the game peacefully came to its conclusion with the Friendship End. I could finally spend the rest of my days in peace and freedom!

After graduating from the academy, I got a job at the most important organization in the kingdom — the Magical Ministry. I thought that I wouldn’t need to worry about the future anymore… but I then found out that the Magical Ministry was the setting for the sequel to Fortune Lover.

The love interests from the prequel would come back, along with some new faces, for the protagonist to romance… I had no problem with this — what I did have a problem with was that in Fortune Lover II, Katarina Claes, after being exiled, would come back just to be a villainess again. She was ready to make more mischief and risk more Bad Ends.

Why would you do that?! Leave me alone! We already avoided doom once!

And here I was once again, having to prevent a catastrophe, this time while working at the Ministry. And now I had even less information to work with.

But I won’t let all these years of efforts go to waste! I will attain my dream of a peaceful retirement!

I’ll win over doom for the second time! I swore to myself, clenching my fists with determination while sitting on my bed.

“Lady Katarina, you managed to wake up early today. Do not squander this rare opportunity. Stop wasting time, lest you be late,” said Anne, giving me a meaningful look.

Oh snap. I had been so busy reminiscing and swearing things to myself that I had forgotten about the time.

“I’m going to do my best! I won’t lose!” I said, jumping off of the bed.

“Yes, please do your best. You should start by changing clothes,” said Anne, helping me put on my work getup with her skillful hands. So began another morning like all the others.

★★★★★★★

“I’m counting on you to teach the newcomers,” my boss said.

I replied with a “Yes, ma’am,” but I actually had my share of doubts.

This year, two new employees were deployed to the Magical Tool Laboratory, the department where I, Guy Handerson (known as Laura) work. One of the two had already come in as an apprentice, but the other one was… a very problematic newcomer.

Duke’s daughter and fiancée of the third prince. Nobody with titles as important as those would normally work for the Ministry, which was why she had been the subject of many rumors before she’d even set foot here.

One of those rumors said that this allegedly spoiled noble girl had asked either her father or her fiancé to give her a job here to kill time until her marriage, and people now assumed this to be the truth.

It wasn’t, in fact. She was very different from who she was made out to be.

I had spent a few days with her to oversee the examination that would decide which department she would be assigned to, and I quickly realized that she was neither a spoiled noble girl nor just here to kill time. And I even came to know of the real reason why she was at the Ministry: hidden Dark Magic powers.

It didn’t surprise me that she was assigned to the Magical Tool Laboratory. She was a good girl at heart, but a difficult one for the Ministry to deal with for a variety of reasons. And all difficult-to-deal-with people ended up in our department.

What I wasn’t expecting was that I would be appointed as her mentor together with another colleague.

“I will do my best!” she said with sparkling eyes as she bowed her head. She was a really good girl. Despite being a duke’s daughter, she didn’t look down on people and was always trying her best.

She was just too peculiar. Of course, I was peculiar myself… but during the examination, I found out that my peculiarity was relatively tame. I had nothing on someone who would try to fight a huge dragon with a stick.

Katarina Claes looked at me with anticipation about what we would be doing next, and I, deep inside my heart, sighed.

How am I going to mentor this girl?

★★★★★★★

Today was my first day working at the Magical Tool Laboratory.

“I will do my best!” I said, bowing to the two colleagues who would act as my mentors.

One of them had a huge, muscular body underneath cute, frilly clothes and heavy makeup, while the other had a pair of thick glasses behind his long bangs. The former, in particular, looked unique enough to surprise anyone at first sight. But after traveling together for a few days and becoming acquainted with her, I wasn’t that shocked anymore.

They were Guy Handerson (who preferred to go by “Laura”) and Nathan Hart, the two people who had overseen our examination.

To be honest, at first I was a bit anxious about this department that was full of oddballs, so I was relieved that my mentors would be the two I already knew — not that they weren’t weird, but…

Of course one of them was a musclebound, blue-bearded macho who dressed, spoke, and acted like the cutest of girls, and the other was an easily forgotten, easily lost man who could never find his way back… But during the examination, I realized that they actually were very talented and caring colleagues, which is why I was relieved.

“Let’s all do our best.”

“We will teach you as well as we can.”

The two of them addressed me, and I once again briskly replied that I would do my best.

“First of all, let me briefly introduce the others in the department,” said Hart, pointing at the colleagues in the room.

There were the two who had guided us during our orientation: the woman who only speaks through her raccoon hand puppet and the narcissistic man with the sparkling uniform. Then there was another one wearing a white lab coat and clutching a smoking beaker, and one wearing a tanktop and holding a dumbbell. Almost no normal people. Almost none of them were even wearing the standard uniform. As expected of a department dealing with dangerous stuff, it was chock full of unique people.

After I was introduced to some of my new colleagues and showed the dangerous zones in the room, Laura walked into the mountain of papers in the center of the room and came back with someone, bringing him in front of me. I happened to know that someone very well.

“…Raphael,” I murmured.

“Welcome to the Magical Tool Laboratory. I’m Raphael Wolt, the vice-director,” he said with a smile.

“So you work here, Raph… Mister Raphael,” I said, realizing that I should speak respectfully to him now that he was my superior. My last-minute correction made him giggle.

“Yes, Lady Larna brought me here to work with her,” he explained.

Raphael, who was then using a fake name, had been the Student Council President at the academy. He was involved in an incident with Dark Magic and had to leave before graduation, quitting his fake name and starting work at the Ministry. Because of his complicated circumstances, he had to hide his identity. His red hair was still dyed brown, but his face was mostly back to his usual handsome one. However…

“…You have some pretty dark circles under your eyes. Are you okay?” I asked, noticing the huge spots ruining his beautiful face.

“…Oh, lately I haven’t had much time to…” he started explaining with a tired expression, moments before being interrupted.

“Mister Raphael, new documents,” said an employee before dropping a new pile of papers on Raphael’s desk, making his expression get even worse.

“Understood. Lady Claes, see you around,” he said before disappearing inside his mountain of piled-up work.

Our brief meeting was enough for me to understand that Raphael was very, very busy with work.

I was then introduced to some more people, and ended up greeting most of my new colleagues in the department.

“That is it for people who are here right now. There are some colleagues who are out right now, but I will introduce you to them when they come back,” said Hart before sighing. “Well… it is about time I explained the outline of our work here,” he said, his face grave.

“Y-Yes. Please do.”

It was decided that I’d be hearing that explanation together with Sora, the boy who I had met during another incident at the academy. Originally an orphan from another country, he had hopped from job to job until reaching this kingdom, where he started work at the Ministry just before I did. He was one of the possible romantic interests for FL2, and, as such, was not only talented but also stunningly handsome, with his hair the same light-blue shade as his eyes.

“Why does Sora need this explanation after working here for months?” I asked. It turned out that right after he had moved into the department, between Larna being out on duty and all the other colleagues being terrifyingly busy, he was given the simplest of instructions, asked to only follow those, and then more or less left to his own devices.

That’s… kind of sad. However, that explained why he was standing there with me, listening to that briefing.

Hart’s description of our tasks was… surprising.

The department was called “Magical Tool Laboratory.” Before our examination, we were shown a warehouse full of junk magical tools developed there, making me guess that we’d be working with, well, magical tools.

…But Hart said that most of what we actually did was carrying out the menial tasks that other departments couldn’t be bothered with. Checking reports from local Ministry branches, filing documents, distributing supplies, and even maintaining and cleaning the building. Menial tasks, alright. We’d only be researching magical tools in the spare time between those duties.

Seeing my surprise, Hart elaborated on why things had turned out that way. Our department director Larna had displayed extreme talent at a very young age, and achieved a considerable rank as a result. This, however, made a lot of people from other departments dislike her, which was why they forced all boring, trivial jobs onto her.

She was so talented that she would just come up with a magic tool to get the job done, and get more work thrown her way as a result. The Magical Tool Laboratory may have been full of weird people, but they were brilliant weird people.

Eventually people started asking her for assistance not to annoy her, but because they knew that she would be able to help. Now she couldn’t really refuse helping anyone anymore. And since the department had gotten its new vice-director, Raphael, a few years ago, its efficiency had increased even further, resulting in even more people asking for assistance.

So on one hand, this department mainly had to deal with other people’s menial tasks, but on the other, we were respected as people who could get things done.

“Other departments are more involved with research and experimentation, but magic tool research is a very young field, so…”

“Long story short, while you’re still new and we can’t trust you with important documents, you’ll mostly have to deal with manual labor. Is that okay with you?” said Laura, picking up where Hart had stopped.

Okay with me? If anything, not having to use my head would be…

“Perfect! Leave the manual labor to me!” I replied energetically.

This may surprise you, but I wasn’t actually all that smart… Back at the academy, I had the smartest students take turns tutoring me, and that was just enough to make my grades average. I was all too happy to do manual labor over research. I’d even been worried about not getting enough exercise now that work would take time away from tending to the fields.

“…That’s good to know,” replied Laura, perplexed, while Sora’s shoulders were shaking.

After the explanation was over, we went out of the department office to meet our colleagues and see what our work would actually involve.

Laura would be the one guiding us while Hart stayed with Raphael, helping him wade through all those papers. That was partly to help the busy vice-director, and partly to avoid him getting lost while outside. I was told that, in general, Hart rarely left the office for work.

“Okay, let’s go!” said Laura enthusiastically, sounding like the host of a TV program I used to watch as a kid in my previous life.

Since our other colleagues were currently moving around the building and would be difficult to track down, Laura said that she could give us a tour and introduce us to any colleagues who we happened upon in the process — kind of like how we did things during orientation.

“Miss Katarina,” said Laura, turning around before starting to walk, “I heard that during the orientation, you lost consciousness halfway through and weren’t able to see the whole place. You definitely need to see where everything is, especially because our people often go to other departments for work.”

She was referring to that very unfortunate accident on my first day.

“Thank you,” I said with a smile, happy that she would do that for me. Laura was a really kind colleague. When she asked me what places I had already seen, I told her, “I’ve seen the library and the Biomagic Department.”

“Oh, the Biomagic Department is impressive, isn’t it?” she said with a bitter smile. “Their department isn’t completely full of weirdos like ours is, but their director, Delius, is one of a kind. In particular, he tends to forget about everything else when he’s in front of rare creatures. You’d better be careful.”

She then explained that the Magical Tool Laboratory usually carried the feed to the creatures kept there, and that also, because our two departments were close together, we were on generally friendly terms.

“This is around the usual feeding time for the creatures. I know you’ve already seen the place, but it’s so close that we might as well stop by,” said Laura, leading us there.

“Here we are. I wonder if the feed has already arrived,” she said while standing in front of a door labeled “Biomagic Department,” which was promptly opened by someone, possibly a Ministry employee, who was shrieking and trying to run away.

What is going on here?! I thought to myself. I looked through the door and found the department in the same state as it had been during my first visit: a battlefield. Papers, shattered glasses, and broken dishes were all over the floor. The only difference was that the battle seemed to still be going on today.

“Ah, Elizabeth! Didn’t I tell you not to ride on there? Be a good girl and come down now,” said Delius calmly, while looking at the very monkey who, on my first day at the Ministry, had uprooted some weird plant while riding on my shoulder and caused me to pass out.

Everyone except for the director was doing their best to try to catch the monkey. That was enough to guess what had happened: Delius had probably let the monkey escape again by mistake, and now it was rampaging around the department and breaking things.

“Elizabeth! Come back!” said the director without moving while his subordinates were running around with nets and bags… This kind of scene made it clear why, after ours, this was the department that newcomers wanted to be assigned to the least.

I’m glad I wasn’t assigned here. Look at those poor people fighting… I thought, and then my eyes met the monkey’s.

Before I had time to process my surprise, the monkey had already started running towards me at an incredible speed. It jumped on my shoulder once again, where it stood as the employees came after it.

Startled, I tried to dodge them, but my legs didn’t move in time.

They’re going to hit me! I thought, closing my eyes… but I wasn’t hit. Instead, I felt enveloped by something warm.

I opened my eyes and saw Sora’s arm around me. He was enveloping me, protecting me from the incoming monkey-hunting employees. And what’s more, he used his free hand to catch the monkey. The love interests in FL2 also had incredible reflexes…

“Thank you, Sora,” I told him, and he immediately released me from his arm, looking away from me and giving only a brief “Sure” as an answer.

That wasn’t a very Sora-like reaction, so I tried to ask him what was wrong. Tried, because before I could open my mouth, Sora was surrounded by the Biomagic Department employees.

“Ahhhh, sorry! And thank you!” someone said, apologizing for almost bumping against us and thanking him for catching the monkey. Sora handed them the animal, and they collectively smiled and sighed in relief.

“Oh, thank you, I’m so sorry,” came a voice from behind them. It belonged to Delius, whose face didn’t look sorry in the slightest. He then explained what had happened, confirming my suspicions, while completely ignoring the angry stares his subordinates were sending him.

“Oh, you see, I got distracted and let Elizabeth run away! She’s so hard to catch! You’re newcomers, right? I’m Hector Delius, director of the Biomagic Department. Nice to meet you,” he nonchalantly introduced himself, probably forgetting that we had already met.

“I’m Katarina Claes. My pleasure,” I said.

“I’m Sora Smith. My pleasure,” Sora followed.

“The pleasure is… Katarina Claes? The Katarina Claes?! Perfect! I wanted to ask you a couple of things! Would you mind?” Delius said, his eyes suddenly sparkling, while inching closer to me.

What does he want from me?! I thought in fear, and then noticed that he had stopped moving. Upon a closer look, I saw that a female employee had grabbed his collar from behind.

“I’m out for one second, and you cause another accident! And why are you bothering newcomers now? Please get back to work!”

From her sharp voice, I recognized her as the woman who, after I passed out during the orientation, dragged Delius with her to apologize to me.

“Ah, welcome back. Don’t worry, I wasn’t bothering her,” he replied unconvincingly. In response, the woman just yanked him inside the door before deeply apologizing to us and closing the door behind them.

“…I wonder what he wanted from me,” I murmured to myself.

“Delius has taken an interest in you,” said Laura with a hint of pity in her voice.

“Interest?! Wh-Why?!”

I barely ever interacted with the guy! Why?!

“He’s crazily passionate about magic creatures,” she said, confusing me even further, to the point where I might as well have had a question mark floating over my head.

“Some of the directors have found out about your pet,” she said with a sigh.

“Pet? You mean Pochi?”

Pochi was a Dark Familiar, specifically a black puppy who lived inside my shadow. The fact that I owned him had to stay secret.

“…Yes, Pochi… As you can see, Delius loves magic creatures. Larna said that he’s been obsessed with doing some research on it.”

“…I see… But I think that Pochi has undergone a lot of research already,” I said. As the first Dark Familiar ever found, the Ministry had previously borrowed Pochi for a while to do research on him. Since they couldn’t find anything problematic, they’d given him back to me and he now lived in my shadow.

“Yes, but Delius was traveling on duty when that research was done, and he only read the report on it once he came back. Then he started pestering Larna to let him research it.”

I didn’t know that. However…

“But I can’t send Pochi off by himself…”

Pochi only stayed in my shadow or right next to me. He could be forced away from me, but as soon as he realized that I wasn’t around, he turned into a shadow and came back to me.

“Yes. When he was told that, he asked to borrow you for a whole year.”

“Wha?! A year?!”

“He said he wanted to be thorough in his research… He tried to settle for even half a year, but Larna just told him off, so don’t worry. But remember that if Delius involves you in his research, you won’t be able to leave until he’s done. Be careful around him.”

“…I will.”

I wouldn’t be able to leave for a year? And what kind of research would he even do in the first place? This whole thing is scary. I’d better be careful!

I then followed Laura away from the Biomagic Department and into a hallway, where we saw a huge box-shaped container.

Is that box… flying?! I thought, squinting at it.

“Oh, perfect. That’s the feed for the Biomagic Department,” Laura said.

Oh, so that’s what it was. Wait, more importantly…

“Excuse me, but… is that box flying by itself?” I asked Laura.

“Yes. This container is a flying magic tool, which makes it easier to carry stuff around. But it doesn’t fly by itself. There must always be someone behind it, moving it.”

I took a second look and noticed that the Magical Tool Laboratory employee with the tanktop who I’d met earlier was behind the container. He saw us and stopped to greet us.

Even when looked at up close, the container just looked like a normal, nondescript box. But from behind I could see a few sticks connected to it. Laura said that they were used to control the direction the container would fly in.

“That’s incredible,” I said, amazed at how our department apparently also made useful tools — the ones we had been shown before the exam were the exact opposite.

“I know, right? A lot of our tools are used throughout the Ministry,” Laura said proudly.

“Well, because of that, we’re slowly turning into the Handyman Laboratory…” said the tanktop-man with a tired expression on his face.

Sora and I cocked our heads questioningly, and Laura explained what he had meant.

The Magical Tool Laboratory took on the other departments’ tasks to try out the effectiveness of newly designed tools. The tools made performing these tasks more efficient, and so the other departments asked that we keep using them. In particular, magic tools were especially useful for small, trivial tasks, which led to more and more of them being passed onto us.

So envy towards Larna wasn’t the only reason behind the department being so busy. After this explanation, we left the tanktop-man and started walking to the next department.

Why is he only wearing a tanktop, anyway? It’s still spring… if anything, it’s a bit chilly…

We went on walking for a while, and then Laura stopped. “This is the Magic Powers Department,” she said, pointing at the fancy black door in front of us.

“Oh, this is where Maria and Dewey were assigned,” I said, remembering that from when the newcomers’ departments were assigned.

“Yes. This is one of the most popular departments within the Ministry, and the most talented people usually end up here,” Laura said.

Well, Maria was a powerful magic user with excellent grades, and I’d heard that Dewey passed the Ministry’s entrance exam with the highest score, so it made sense that they would be assigned to the Magic Powers Department.

“This department doesn’t usually ask us for help… but,” Laura was saying when the black door squeaked open and an incredibly handsome man walked out of it.

He had brown hair, and wore a pair of frameless glasses over his green eyes. He was Cyrus Lanchester, one of the romantic interests of Fortune Lover II.

All I knew about him was what I had learned from the note about FL2 I found in the book I borrowed: He had a strict and serious personality, he was a powerful magic user and department director in the Ministry, and he was good at his work but not so good at dealing with women.

I was frozen in surprise upon seeing Cyrus, who then noticed us.

“Guy Handerson? Then you must all be from the Magical Tool Laboratory…” he said, visibly grimacing.

What’s with that face?! First Dewey, then him?! Does he hate me from the start too? But why…? We met during the orientation, but we didn’t even talk… I was thinking to myself when Cyrus started talking, pushing his glasses up his nose.

“Tell the foolish woman in charge of your department that maybe this year she should finally make sure that her subordinates are properly trained,” he said before disappearing like the wind.

What did he mean? The foolish woman… Larna?

I looked at Laura for answers.

“Lanchester, the director of the Magic Powers Department… doesn’t really like us — or rather, he doesn’t really like Larna,” she said dejectedly, putting a hand to her cheek. As always, her mannerisms (and only those) looked very cute.

Anyway, the “foolish woman” was, as I had thought, Larna.

“He’s a very serious person who strictly follows the rules, so he doesn’t get along well with Larna… She’s a very good boss, but she can be eccentric. She often skips directors’ meetings and, when she’s interested in something, she just goes ahead without thinking of anything else… Lanchester makes it really clear he doesn’t like her.”

“But right now he looked like he didn’t just dislike Larna, but all of us,” said Sora, taking the words right out of my mouth.

“Yes, exactly… he doesn’t like any of us, since our department is full of unique people who don’t follow the rules,” she said, looking even more dejected than before.

I took a good look at her, her flamboyant makeup, and her modified, frilly uniform. The rulebook we’d received before entering the Ministry said that modified uniforms and excessive makeup were prohibited, meaning that Laura was breaking the rules.

I wonder if crossdressing is against the rules to begin with… I was now so used to seeing Laura that I’d forgotten how peculiar she looked. And then there were all the other colleagues in my department, almost none of whom were even wearing the uniform. It was no wonder that a person as strict as Cyrus would hate us.

However, as one of the new love interests of FL2, he was likely to lead me to doom. I had to befriend him, like I had with Dewey, and learn more about him… but he hated my whole department. I let out a big, sad sigh inside my heart.

Our tour went on and ended without any other remarkable event. Since the building was so large, Laura only showed us the most important places (just like during the orientation).

“This place is huge, but you only need to remember a few points of interest. Don’t start walking about willy-nilly, or you’ll get lost. A colleague from our department actually got lost just a few days ago,” she said, scoldingly raising her index finger. Of course, she was talking about Nathan Hart.

Thus ended our tour, the explanation of our work, and my first day at the Magical Tool Laboratory.

“Starting tomorrow, you’ll be doing real work,” Laura said, and I went back home feeling excited about the next day.

The Ministry actually had a dormitory, where Maria, Dewey, and Sora were staying, but they didn’t let me stay there. The reason, I was told, was that there was no room fit for the daughter of a duke. Not that I cared about the room I stayed in, but I was only allowed to live somewhere befitting my rank, and so I had to travel from home to work and back.

The swaying carriage brought me back home, where Mother had been (apparently impatiently) waiting for me.

“Did you do anything improper?” she asked me.

“Not at all! Things went perfectly,” I replied briskly.

Keith and Father, on the other hand, appreciated my hard work.

Starting this spring, by the way, Keith had become a sort of secretary to Father, to learn about his work and become ready to inherit the title of Duke Claes. He was so busy that we couldn’t see each other as often as usual, and that made me feel a bit lonely.

I ate dinner with my family, talking with them about my day at work, and then went back to my room.

“Hmpf! Hmpf! Hmpf!”

“Excuse me, young miss… you seem to be very busy, but may I ask you one question?” said Anne, my maid.

“Yes, of course. What is it?” I said, dropping the dictionaries I was holding in each hand.

“Why are you making strange groans while moving those dictionaries up and down?”

“Ah, this? I’m just working out my arms. I’ll start work tomorrow, so I thought I’d need as much muscle as possible.”

“Young miss, you work at… the Magical Ministry, do you not? Why would you need muscle to do that?” she asked, confused.

“There’s a lot of manual labor in our department, like carrying stuff around,” I explained.

“Manual labor? Carrying things around?! Y-Young miss, you are a duke’s daughter… That kind of toil does not…”

“That kind of toil? I prefer using my body over my head, so I’m totally happy about it.”

“…I see. That is very like you.”

Hm? Is she praising me? I think so. In that case…

“Perfect! Another 30 reps with the dumbbells! Hmpf! Hmpf!”

I started moving the dictionaries up and down again.

“If you need to work tomorrow, would that not just make you too tired? I suggest you just rest for today,” Anne said.

I agreed with what she said and went to bed.

The next morning, like on most mornings, I had Anne pull off my covers, help me prepare while I was still half-asleep, and put me on the carriage that would bring me to the Ministry.

The Ministry was in the same area as the academy, so I already knew the place and it wasn’t that far away to begin with. But I was so used to life in the dormitory, where I didn’t have to travel in the morning, that even this little distance felt like a drag. I also had to wake up earlier to account for the commute time — so of course, I had to make up for that lost time by falling back asleep the second I got in the carriage.

I reached the Ministry and walked to the Magical Tool Laboratory, where Laura and Hart, who were assigned to me as mentors, were already waiting. The two lived in the Ministry’s dormitory, and always walked to the office together to prevent Hart from getting lost.

“Starting today, you will actually work together with us,” said Laura, whose makeup was already on point this early in the morning.

She then guided us to a warehouse near the Ministry’s entrance, while Hart once again kept working in the office lest he got lost.

“What is this place?” I asked, looking at the room full of all kinds of stacked boxes.

“This is where all packages delivered to the Ministry are stored before being sorted and carried to the appropriate departments,” Laura explained.

Oh, that’s why there are so many boxes. Wait, she doesn’t mean that…

“Excuse me… are we going to sort and carry all of these packages?” I asked with worry. Working in the fields had made me sturdy enough, but this room was chock full of boxes. It wouldn’t be easy.

“Of course not, if we were to do this all by ourselves, a whole day wouldn’t be enough,” she said with a wry smile. Phew.

“There are people specifically hired for this job, but the Magical Ministry has grown so fast in the past few years that they aren’t enough anymore, and so we’re helping them with magic tools. We’re only going to carry a small portion of these packages,” she said, explaining which ones we would need to take care of.

“I’m going to show you how it’s done, and then you two can go and do it yourselves.”

After her explanation, Laura started showing us how it was done in practice. She went to the edge of the warehouse and retrieved the same container that the tanktop-man had been flying around yesterday. Each package stated the name of the department that it needed to be delivered to, and she chose those meant for specific ones and put them inside the container.

The “small portion” she had told us about was still large enough, but she moved those packages around so fast that we couldn’t even try to help her, proving that all those muscles weren’t just for show. The usual cutesy maiden had turned into a macho manual laborer.

“Since we are going to visit the departments in order, you want to put the packages for the farthest ones on the bottom, and the packages for the closest ones on the top,” she said, without stopping what she was doing. It wasn’t long before she was done, and then she placed her hand on one of the sticks attached to the container, which made it lift up and hover mid-air.

“Oh!” I said, impressed despite having seen this magic tool at work just yesterday.

“Try flying it. It’s easy once you get the knack of it,” Laura said while pointing at the (joy)stick.

“Yes,” I said, eager to try my hand at controlling the container… but all it did was shake around a bit. It was difficult.

“It’s harder than it looks,” I warned Sora as he went to try after me, but he instantly managed to make the container fly as he wanted.

“Well aren’t you slick?” I said, feeling defeated.

“Kind of, yeah,” is all he said in return.

Like all the other love interests of FL2, Sora was incredibly talented.

I wish I was too…

Since he was so good at maneuvering the container, he went on to deliver the packages as Laura oversaw him. I was walking behind them, looking with envy at how skillful Sora was.

“Don’t worry Miss Katarina, you’ll be able to do it yourself very soon. You just need to get a feel for it,” Laura comforted me. Her looks were unusual, but she was really kind.

While I was busy thinking about how good of a person my colleague was, we reached the first department on our delivery route. I wanted to help, of course, but in the time it took me to take one package out of the container, Laura had already taken out three. I have to try harder!

After someone in the department took the packages, we had to ask them for a signature. It looked just like what the delivery people of my previous world did.

“And this, more or less, is all you have to do when sorting packages. One or two people must take care of this every day,” Laura explained. “No time to lose. Let’s go to the next one,” she added.

Sora, who had been working at the Ministry longer than me, had already memorized most of its layout, and was able to move from one department to another even without Laura’s instructions. I have to memorize it too.

The three of us kept going around like that, and even though I still couldn’t fly the container, I at least got a feel for how to handle packages and became faster at taking them out.

“Ah, can you drop that over here?” asked a woman from the department we were now delivering to.

“Sure thing!” I replied briskly, feeling like one of those delivery boys from my previous life who were popular because of how muscular they were. “Here?” I asked with a smile.

“Yes, there…” she replied, suddenly shocked after seeing my face. “…I-I am sorry, asking you to do this. I will carry it myself,” she said, reaching for the package in my hands.

I was surprised by how abruptly her attitude had changed, but I couldn’t stop what I was doing.

“No, no, this is my job. Don’t worry. Right over here?” I asked, and then placed the package down.

“Th-Thank you…” the woman said, looking ashamed.

I wanted to ask her what was wrong, but Sora and Laura were already waiting for me outside, so I just bowed respectfully and left.

Similar exchanges, inexplicably, also happened in some of the other departments I visited.

“I wonder if I look that weak…” I muttered to myself, looking at my arms, while walking to the next destination.

“Why would you say that?” asked Laura, who had heard me, cocking her head to the side.

I told her that a lot of people were trying to take the packages from me while I was still halfway through delivering them. “So I thought that maybe they do that because I look weak.”

I’d spent my years since being reborn into this world working the fields, so I was positive I wasn’t weak, but maybe I gave off that impression because I was standing next to the musclebound Laura…

After looking surprised for a moment, Laura started giggling. “As expected of you, my dear. You come up with the funniest ideas. But I’m sure it’s just because you are the daughter of Duke Claes.”

“Because I’m the daughter of Duke Claes?” I repeated, unsure what the connection was, making her giggle even harder.

“Have you ever seen a noble lady carrying packages around?” she asked, and I finally understood.

I was used to doing all the heavy work in the fields by myself, carrying around fertilizer and everything. That was so normal in my house that the people around me, even when they offered help, wouldn’t go as far as offering to do all the work for me — or maybe they did at first, but eventually stopped after I declined again and again while telling them that it was all part of my training.

So maybe a normal noble lady would never do things that I took for granted, such as carrying heavy things and cleaning. I had even heard that some ladies refused to pick up anything heavier than a spoon, so that explained why people would be so eager to help me.

“What should I do then? I like this delivery duty.”

Carrying packages and other manual tasks were one thing, but if I were to stop doing this, the alternative would be what Hart was doing… Working through piles of documents while holed up inside the office. I could never stand that! I want to keep doing this!

I looked at Laura, who was still giggling, and waited for an answer.

“Tee-hee, just keep doing what you did today. People will eventually grow used to it.”

She had a point. The people at home had grown used to it as well.

“Thank you. I will!” I replied.

“Very good,” she said, patting my head. “I’m sure the rumors will also stop,” she mumbled to herself.

Her voice was so low that I hadn’t heard what she said, so I asked, but she smiled and said it was nothing.

We then spent the rest of the day making our rounds at the Ministry, helping with this and that as Laura taught us about the job.

“Haaah, I’m tired, but that was a good workout,” I said, stretching out at the end of the day while we were walking back to the office.

“That doesn’t sound like something a noble lady would say,” said Sora, laughing.

“Really?”

“Really. Well, noble ladies don’t usually do anything that would count as a workout in the first place. Is it really okay for a duke’s daughter to go around doing manual labor?”

“What? If I stopped doing manual labor, I’d have to stay closed up in that office sorting through papers! Anything but that!” I said, emphasizing how much I’d hate it.

“You really are a weird one,” he said, laughing again.

I first met Sora under unique circumstances, and when we were supposed to part ways, fate brought us back together at the same workplace. I was really glad to share my first job with him. Having a friend who I could speak freely to was part of it, but he was also very resourceful, and had a positive personality that kept me optimistic. Working wasn’t so scary if he was with me.

But oh, right, he’s actually one of the romanceable options in FL2. I’d almost forgotten that.

There was always the possibility that Sora could lead me to a Catastrophic Bad End… and what did he think of Maria, anyway? I’d never asked him about that. It’s only the two of us right now. This is the perfect chance.

“Hey, Sora, what do you think of Maria?”

“What’s this all of a sudden? I can never guess what you’ll think of next.”

“C-Can’t you? But you know, Maria… isn’t she cute? Dewey completely fell for her a couple of days ago during the examination, so I was wondering what you thought of her.”

I kept going, trying to get some information out of him. He thought for a while and then finally started speaking.

“She’s cute alright, and she also has a good personality. No wonder a lot of boys fell for her.”

“I know, right? She’s cute and kind! Having her as a wife would be so wonderf— wait, I want to know what you are thinking. Do you, like, want to date her or anything?”

“Not really. She’s cute and all, but I’m not that interested,” he replied, to my surprise. He was one of the game’s love interests, so, even if not to Dewey’s extent, he was supposed to be after Maria.

“What? Why wouldn’t you want to date a girl as cute as Maria?!”

If I were a boy, I know I would!

“Why…? That’s just my taste. She’s not my type,” he said coolly.

“If a girl as cute and kind as her isn’t your type… then what kind of girl is?”

“…Dumb girls who always give their best,” he said after thinking for a while.

I wasn’t expecting that.

“…You have really weird taste, Sora,” I said, and he gave me a noogie.

I was just speaking my mind… no need to be offended…

His taste in girls was really unique, but, through interacting with Maria, he could change and fall in love with her. I’d better keep an eye on him.

Once we reached the Ministry’s entrance, the Claes carriage was waiting for me.

“See you tomorrow, Sora!”

“Don’t oversleep, and come here on time!” he said before I disappeared into the carriage.

Looking through the window, I saw Sora walk back towards the entrance. That made sense, since he lived in the Ministry’s dormitory. He didn’t need to pass the gate to go back home. Had he come all the way here just to see me off? He’s kind of rough around the edges, but deep down he’s really kind too.

The note on FL2 said that in one of the Bad Ends Katarina would fight the love interest, who would fall victim to her Dark Magic. Of course I didn’t want to get killed, but I also wouldn’t want to permanently injure Sora by fighting with him. I prayed that I’d never have to choose.

The next day, I was once again able to wake up (or, more precisely, to be woken up by Anne) early enough to get to the Ministry on time.

Despite the previous day’s hard work, I, trained by all my years tilling the fields, felt no pain anywhere. I was so glad for farming. Though now that I was busy with this job, I didn’t have time to take care of the fields anymore. I had to keep up doing manual labor to ensure that, if I were exiled, I’d have the strength necessary to survive abroad on my own.

Today Sora and I are going to work mostly on our own! I’m going to do my best!

The first task was delivering packages, and I was ready to fill up the flying container as much as I could, but I didn’t manage to do much.

Laura said that she’d help out “just a bit,” but I could never compare to what she called “just a bit.” She filled up the container so quickly and effortlessly that I only contributed less than half of what she and Sora had. I would have to find another way to train my muscles.

Since I still hadn’t learned how to control the container, Sora would be doing that today too while I followed him and Laura from behind.

Just like the previous day, some people told me that they would carry the packages themselves, or that I didn’t need to worry about it, but I refused every time and told them with a smile that it was my job. I hoped they’d stop saying those things soon.

We completed a few deliveries, and our next stop was the library. The librarian was usually behind a counter so far from the library’s entrance that she wouldn’t hear us if we called on her from there, so yesterday Laura told us that we should leave the packages at the entrance and then walk to the counter to inform the librarian about them.

Since he was the one controlling the container, Sora stayed outside. Meanwhile I, happy to finally be able to offer some help, went inside to find the librarian.

“We have a package for you. It’s right by the entrance, so please come and confirm the delivery,” I told the old woman behind the counter.

“Thank you. I will come immediately,” she said, standing up.

That very second, several Ministry employees came out of the other side of the library, approaching her.

“I’d like to borrow this one book,” said the closest one.

“Oh, I am sorry. I need to go and receive a delivery, so please wait for a little while,” the woman, who apparently was the only one tending the counter, replied.

“Receive a delivery?” asked the man who was trying to borrow a book. “What is it, the Errand Department?” He looked at me with disdain in his eyes. “Forget about those losers and serve us first,” he went on with a sneer. All the other ones behind him quickly followed suit and started grinning.

I can’t believe these guys…

The librarian was looking very troubled, but, not seeming to care, the people in front of the counter kept being rude.

“Be quick. Whatever dumb task the Errand Department is doing can’t be as important as our work anyway,” one of them said, looking condescendingly at me.

“Take that back. There is no dumb task. If packages weren’t being delivered, you wouldn’t be able to do your work. All work is equally important,” said a calm but intense voice.

A man with brown hair, green eyes, and frameless glasses appeared behind the employees who were waiting in line. It was the same man I’d met the day before: Cyrus Lanchester, one of the FL2 love interests.

“…S-Sir Lanchester…” said one of the men, as all of their faces turned grim.

“I cannot allow a Ministry employee to say such things. Tell me your names and departments,” Cyrus said, staring sternly at them.

“That is… we just…” they mumbled, avoiding looking directly at him, before forgetting about the books that they wanted to borrow and running away from the library.

“No running inside the building,” Cyrus called after them.

“Thank you,” I said, grateful for what he had done.

“I only reprimanded those men for their behavior. You have nothing to thank me for,” he said coldly, before turning to face away from me.

“I’m going back to the office. You all keep doing your research, and come back once you’re done,” he said to someone deeper inside the library before leaving.

Realizing that some of his subordinates were in the library, I craned my neck ever so slightly to peek at them.

“Maria! Dewey!”

I found Maria, my dear friend and protagonist of Fortune Lover, and Dewey, the young genius who was one of the game’s love interests.

We had completed our examination together just a few days ago, and now the two of them were looking at the open books in front of them with great concentration.

“Lady Katarina!” they said in unison, surprised at hearing my voice calling them. I couldn’t resist the urge to approach my two fellow newcomers and the piles of books they were reading.

“What are you two doing here?”

“Director Lanchester told us to research some material regarding Light Magic, so we were doing that,” replied Maria.

Taking a closer look at the books, they were full of difficult words that triggered a sort of reading-allergy reaction in my brain.

“That looks hard…” I said.

“Not at all! You have to walk around the building doing a lot of different things,” she replied kindly.

“I’m just doing that because I’m not good at tasks where I have to use my head… But wait, why do you know what kind of work I’m doing?”

Since our departments had been decided two days ago, I’d had no chance to talk with Maria about my mostly manual labor and all the weirdos working with me.

“Well… you are somewhat well-known inside the Ministry…” she said with a troubled expression, further explaining that the daughter of a duke going around running errands had become a sensational piece of news.

Hm… I wish everyone in the Ministry would get used to it and start taking it for granted, like my family does.

“Are you also here for research, Lady Katarina?” asked Dewey, with a smile on his face that I could have never even imagined seeing during our examination.

At first I had been afraid that he hated me, but now I was really glad that he would talk to me normally like this. All that I had to do now was become even closer to him so that I could find out his weak spots in case things progressed like the game’s script and push came to shove.

“No, I’m just here for a delivery.”

“So you really are delivering packages! Incredible as always, Lady Katarina,” he said with a sparkle in his eye.

I had no idea what about that was supposed to be incredible, but he was obviously praising me, and I enjoyed it. At least until his next words.

“So, where is the package that you are delivering?”

“Right! The package! I was still delivering it! See you guys later! Let’s talk again when we have some free time!”

I had completely forgotten that I still wasn’t done with my delivery. I went back to the library’s entrance, where the librarian had already received the package and brought it back with her.

I apologized over and over to Laura and Sora for how useless I had been.

“Don’t worry,” said Laura, “the librarian told me that you were harassed by some jerks.”

But even after that, I had forgotten all about work and started talking to my friends, so I honestly apologized about that.

“Now, that won’t do. You’re an adult, so you should concentrate more on your work,” Laura said. I thought she would scold me more harshly, like Mother always did, but she was kind.

“Aren’t you going to get mad?” I asked, surprised.

“It’s only your second day working here; of course you’re going to make mistakes,” she replied.

Moved by her kindness, I decided to concentrate more and do my best.

“Anyway, you already ran into some annoying people, huh? Our department’s work is very unique, as are the people in it. But despite how weird they are, they are very talented individuals, so remarks like those you heard earlier are nothing new. Don’t worry too much about them.”

“Sure. I’m very good at not worrying about things.”

I’d been engaged to Jeord since I was eight, so I was used to unsavory remarks. Pointless insults went in one ear and out the other.

“You’re a very strong girl,” Laura said while giggling to herself, before frowning slightly. “But all we do here is run errands… Aren’t you envious of Maria? You’re both newcomers, but she gets to research magic powers in the most popular department,” she said.

Envious? Of having to do research…?

“Not at all. I’m not very good at using my head, so things like research are out of my league. I prefer carrying packages, cleaning, and other manual labor like that. I’m glad I was assigned to this department,” I said honestly, and, for some reason, Laura started patting my head.

“You’re such a good girl…”

Being patted by that huge hand hurt a little bit, but she looked so happy doing it that I just let her keep going.

And so, apart from that one minor mishap, my second day of work went on and finished successfully. Sora saw me to the carriage again.

“You must be tired. I appreciate the thought but you don’t need to come this way,” I told him, knowing that he didn’t need to come in this direction.

“I can’t have you get lost or fall asleep along the way,” he said, coming with me all the way to my destination. I didn’t think that getting lost could be a problem, but the previous day I had fallen asleep the second I sat down in the carriage and had to be shaken awake, so Sora wasn’t far off the mark.

My colleagues are so kind, I thought to myself while sitting in the carriage.

I had worked for my first two days, and tomorrow would be off. The people at the department told me to rest well after what must have been two tiring days, but I had no time to rest. There was something I had to do right away.

I had to find out more about the note. My future depended on it. Who wrote it? Why was it inside that book?

The next day I would go to the castle and ask both Jeord, who had returned the book to me, and the person who was looking after it after I’d lost it.

It’s time to do what I can! Yeah! Sequel? Returning villainess? Come at me! I’m going to overcome doom again! I swore to myself before falling asleep inside the swaying carriage.

Like on the previous day, I was so deeply asleep by the time we reached the mansion that calling my name wasn’t enough to wake me — I had to be grabbed by the shoulders and shaken. I went back to my room, still drowsy, and, without any energy left to even eat dinner, I fell asleep until the next morning. I guess I was more tired than I thought.