As soon as I got to the orphanage, I requested a consultation about my career path. The Director brought in some warm tea. Just from the scent alone, I could tell it was expensive.
It seemed like something good had happened to him.
"Have you been waiting? Have a sip. It's peppermint tea."
I took a sip and slowly nodded my head.
"This is good tea."
"Oh, you can tell?"
"Yes. I haven't drunk much tea, but the aroma is very nice."
"Hahaha! You know a thing or two. This tea was grown on the northern plains..."
The Director explained about the tea with a beaming smile. I smiled on the outside while organizing my thoughts on the inside. The Director knows I am a mage.
So I was worried he might interject his personal opinions into the career consultation, but- Seeing him like this, it seemed I didn't need to worry about that.
"Ah, look at me. I've been rambling on in front of our orphanage's greatest genius."
"... Greatest genius?"
"You've been a top student for five years straight, so of course you're the greatest genius. If it's Jern, I'm sure you could become a chief scribe. Are you here today to try out being a scribe?"
"No. I want to experience a different job."
I held out the award given only to top students. You might wonder what an orphan would do with an award, but it has its meaning. The award, given to the best model student at regular intervals, comes with the right to experience a chosen job for a few months.
In other words, it's a usable job experience permit. Of course, they don't pay you. It's more like unpaid work where you just get to experience the job, so not many people actually use it.
To begin with, the number of jobs you can experience is very small. The only one that's useful for your career is probably the scribe. The Director tilted his head and asked.
"If not a scribe, then what job are you talking about?"
"A janitor."
"... Huh?"
"A janitor."
"Uh, you mean, a janitor who... cleans?"
"Yes. I think it's the perfect job for me. I have a talent for wiping and scrubbing, you know."
"No, it's just..."
The Director couldn't find the words and just mumbled. He probably wants to say that being a janitor is a waste for me. I used that opening to add an important fact.
"As a janitor on the academy grounds, please."
"...!"
At those words, the Director gasped and stared intently at me. Well, I didn't think I could hide it. I met his gaze without looking away.
After a moment of uncomfortable silence, the Director was the first to speak.
"Jern."
"Yes."
"Is it, is it for the reason I'm thinking of?"
"Yes."
There's no point in deceiving him. It would only make the situation more difficult. But it doesn't always work.
The Director shook his head.
"No. It's too dangerous."
"No. It's not dangerous right now."
"Right now?"
"Yes. I'm ten years old. If I get caught, I'll just start crying and beg for my life."
"No, what in the world are you..."
"Wuuu..."
I started to cry. The flustered Director took out a handkerchief to wipe my eyes and sighed.
"Alright, well, I suppose they won't hit you or anything. If something like that happens, I'll protest no matter what it takes."
"That's reassuring."
"But that's not what I'm worried about. It's your... unique talent, isn't it."
What the Director was worried about was me, a commoner, being found out as a mage.
"Director, have you ever seen magic?"
"Hm? Yes. I know a noble, so I have some knowledge of it."
"I think my case is a little stranger than most."
"What... do you mean by that?"
I lifted the book on the desk and made it float in the air. At that, the Director's eyes grew three times their size.
"L-Levitation spell?"
"No. I'm just making it float."
"Isn't that the same thing??"
"It's different. It's not floating in the air, but in the sea."
"??"
"Director. I can't explain in detail, but I'm currently in danger of being crushed to death."
"What did you say?"
"Yes. My magic is just that unique. I'm at a crossroads where I either learn magic or die. Though the chances of dying are much higher even if I do learn."
"Heo..."
The Director, with a dumbfounded expression, collapsed into his chair.
"This is hard to believe."
"It really is."
I still can't believe I'm a mage myself. Did my persuasion fail? As I was bitterly forming my next plan, the Director took out an experience certificate from his drawer and started filling it out.
"... Director?"
"Mmm, this is something I should have said sooner... Jern. You are special."
"Yes, I suppose I am, being a mage."
"That's not what I mean."
The Director slowly shook his head.
"Do you remember when Linmel was playing on the back hill and fell from a tree, breaking her arms and legs?"
"... Ah, yes. I believe I administered first aid."
"Yes. You laid her down in the perfect position, applied a splint, and set a tree on fire."
"Do you know how surprised we were when we saw the fire and came running? You were trying to set the next tree on fire, and Linmel was all bundled up, sobbing her heart out... We were terrified, thinking you'd become a gangster and an arsonist."
"No, it was because on my way back after running to get the adults, it looked like Linmel was about to stop breathing..."
"Yes. The doctor said so too. That if it weren't for your quick thinking, Jern, Linmel would have died, or lived the rest of her life as a cripple. I'm not blaming you. You did a really great job."
The Director patted my head as he handed me the certificate.
"But I think what makes you special isn't your quick judgment or your brilliant ideas, but the warmth you showed in holding Linmel's hands tightly so she wouldn't faint."
"... Thank you."
"I trust you. I still don't quite understand what's going on... but I know you'll be able to handle it, Jern. If you need anything, just let me know anytime."
The Director saw me off with the same warm smile he had at the beginning. I left the Director's office, clutching the certificate tightly in both hands. Maybe it was because of the warm tea, but I felt my body warming up.
The next morning. I put on clothes I didn't mind getting dirty and headed for the meeting place, the capital plaza. To get straight to the point, it was a waste of effort.
"What, they sent a little runt like this?"
"I'm fifteen."
"What? You are?"
"Yes. I couldn't eat much and the Director abused me terribly, so my body couldn't grow properly."
The janitor, who looked to be in his mid-twenties, blinked a couple of times before handing over a set of clothes he was holding.
"Go get changed in that alley over there for now."
"Understood."
As I was changing into the clothes, I found a problem. This isn't a size I can wear. I cuffed the pants as much as I could, but I couldn't stop them from dragging on the ground.
What could I do? I came out dragging them behind me. The senior janitor sighed as he looked at me.
"... Hey, you wanna just go home? I'll tell your orphanage you did the cleaning."
"No. I like cleaning. Please let me do it. If I just go back, the Director will starve me."
"Agh... what am I supposed to do with this... Do orphanages like that still exist these days?"
The janitor, not knowing what to do, started walking, taking me with him. As I followed behind him, a question naturally began to form in my mind. It's obvious, but I've never seen a place called an academy.
However, if it's a facility that all nobles attend, they must have poured an incredible amount of money into it, and it should naturally be within the capital... The fact that I've never seen any related buildings is strange. Is it underground?
Following the janitor with such thoughts, I found myself at the city hall.
"Is this the academy?"
"Huh? Ah, right, this must be your first time. We go from here."
"...?"
The janitor stood on a carpet in the city hall and showed my experience certificate and his own credentials to an approaching official.
"To the academy."
"The kid next to you is..."
"Here for job experience."
"Confirmed."
Looking to the side, I saw other workers standing on nearby carpets for similar reasons, disappearing into thin air. We followed after them. My vision went black for a moment, and when I opened my eyes—thud.
I was in the middle of an unknown city.
"Whoa."
"Surprised? Everyone is, the first time."
I dusted myself off, got up, and looked at the huge castle before me. A city at least the size of the capital, by a conservative estimate. This entire thing is- "The academy?"
"Yeah. Surprised? But you get used to this teleportation after a while."
"... Yes, I'm surprised."
I was certainly surprised. But for a different reason. This isn't an academy built in another region and accessed by teleportation.
As a mage, I could tell from the start that different laws applied here. ... This is another world. Looking out beyond the castle walls, an endless plain stretched out.
It probably really was endless.
"Heavenly Realm..."
"What did you say?"
"It's nothing."
This is the new world created by a Great Mage who reached the Heavenly Realm. In other words, he established the academy within his own world. ... To be honest, I thought creating a world was just a figure of speech...
I can't believe it was meant literally. Feeling a shiver run down my spine, I followed the senior. The laws of this world were surprisingly identical to the other world, the original world.
It seemed the Great Mage who created this place intended it to be that way. Feeling a little relieved, I walked along the main road, and a scene completely different from the capital came into view.
"What are all those spires?"
"They're all magic towers."
"... But there was only one in the capital."
"They say building magic towers in the academy is the safest, the land is cheap, and it's good in many ways. Hey, am I your tour guide or something?"
"Senior, what are those clothes the people around us are wearing?"
"S-Senior? Ahem, those are cadet uniforms. The only ones who can stay in the academy for a long time are cadets. More than seventy percent of the population here are cadets, twenty percent are professors and magic tower personnel, and the remaining scraps are workers like us. You can think of it as a city where only students and professors live."
"I see."
Listening to the now-pleased senior's explanation, I looked around. Shops selling magical tools, very expensive dessert shops, a few restaurants, and cadets with sunken eyes walking down the street talking. In many ways, it felt like a world where mages lived.
The senior warned me not to do anything strange.
"The cadets are all nobles, so if you make a mistake, get on the ground immediately and beg for your life. We are truly, nothing."
"For someone saying that, you don't seem very tense."
"Listen, kid, I've worked here for three years. Since we're nothing, they don't even pay attention to us. We're just like the trees on the side of the road. As long as we don't cause any trouble, we'll be fine."
"Aha. I guess since they're all mages, they must be nobles."
"No? There are actually few professional mages. It's just because this is the road with the magic towers. Most of them are knights or officials."
As we were talking, we arrived at an old-fashioned style building in the center of the city.
"We work here."
"Where is this place?"
"Huh? This is the training hall for the knight cadets. Don't go anywhere, just sweep the surrounding area."
I'm screwed.
"Yep."
"You can hold a broom, right? Sweep the entire main road, then clean these stairs. I'll be in the next section wiping the railings with a wet cloth, so call me if you don't know something."
"Understood."
Once the senior was gone, I looked at the area I had to clean. There wasn't a lot of trash, but there were patches of dust and fine sand, and the area was so vast that it seemed quite difficult.
But sand?
There's no sea nearby. I listened for a moment and heard shouting from inside the building. It seems the knights are training on a sand pit.
I looked around, and as soon as I confirmed no one was there, I waved my hand.
"Will this work."
I pictured an ebbing tide and pulled the seawater from afar to sweep the ground.
Swoosh...
The result wasn't bad. The trash and dust were swept up in a large pile, changing what would have been an all-day job into something that could be finished with just a few sweeps of the broom.
[? ...?]
No. It was a little bad. It was my first time using magic on such a large scale, and the deep sea fish from above sensed something was off and started looking around. I stood frozen in place.
Then, they quickly lost interest and disappeared.
"This is a different world...."
Why are those guys still here? Grumbling, I finished the small amount of cleaning that was left. It was just a continuous task of throwing away what I'd already gathered.
A few minutes later, the main road was spotless.
"Let's see..."
Since there's nothing to gain here anyway, I prepared an excuse. I was looking for the bathroom and got lost since it was my first time.
Good.
I threw down the broom and walked out onto the main road. .. But I had to pretend to be a janitor, so I picked it back up.