Chapter 3

“Oh, by the way, do you have some time after this? I can give you a tour of the office.”

It was true that walking into a company on your first day without knowing anything felt like a high hurdle.

“Sure, I’d appreciate that.”

Kelkel-san and I left the cafe. As a matter of course, she covered the bill for my drink.

On the way, we passed through the capital’s busy shopping district. Perhaps because Kelkel-san was so cute, men kept stealing glances at her. They probably thought we were on a date. I doubt anyone would imagine this girl was a company president and I was her prospective new-grad hire.

Past the shopping district, there were several signs for White Magic corporations. I was sure some of my classmates or dorm mates would end up working around here.

“Ah, so the office is around these buildings? It makes sense, since there are so many magic-related companies here.”

“Actually… no. The land prices around here are pointlessly high. We’re going to walk a bit further. Oh, but just a little bit more!”

——I was then forced to walk for an hour and a half.

The Royal Capital is a city enclosed by high walls. Technically, the city has expanded well beyond the walls, but after walking for ninety minutes, we were comfortably in the outskirts.

“Is it really this far…?”

“Isn’t it good exercise? Besides, for jobs involving swamps and things like that, the suburbs are much more convenient.”

Just as we began to see fields obviously growing vegetables for the city dwellers, Kelkel-san spoke.

“Here is our company.”

A sturdy stone fortress towered over us, sporting a sign that read ‘Necrogrant Dark Magic Co.’ It stood atop a small hill, and it looked like we’d have to climb a gentle slope for about five minutes just to reach the entrance.

“This is… less of an office and more of a fortress, isn’t it…?”

It didn’t look like the headquarters of a ten-person company. It was sized to withstand a siege of at least two hundred people.

“About a thousand years ago, when this land was still divided into many nations, this was built as a fortress to defend what is now the Capital. Necrogrant Dark Magic Co. bought it. You know, just in case a ‘Dark Magic Hunt’ or something happens and we have to barricade ourselves and fight back.”

That’s a bit ominous…

Well, given that the image of Dark Magic is still bad today, I suppose it couldn’t be helped.

Inside, the fortress felt like a perfectly normal magic company, but it was eerily deserted.

“It’s quiet, isn’t it?”

“There isn’t much administrative work, so most people are out in the field. When working outdoors, they don’t necessarily have to clock in at the office.”

I see. It’s not primarily about paperwork at a desk. That didn’t sound very ‘Dark Magic-y’ either.

I was led to a reception room. President Kelkel (I’m an employee now, so I’ve switched from ‘-san’ to ‘President’) excused herself for a moment, saying she had something to fetch.

What looked like animal hides were hung on the walls of the reception room, which was quite creepy. That part certainly felt like Dark Magic. On the bookshelf in the corner, books were lined up with titles like Dark Magic Isn’t Actually Scary and is Safe and Secure Dark Magic for Children.

They were really putting in the effort to improve their image…

“Sorry to keep you waiting.”

President Kelkel returned holding a long wooden staff. Looking closely at the staff, I saw a bat carved into the head. It was quite a sophisticated piece of work.

“Well, since you’ve come all this way, there’s something I’d like Franz-san to try. A familiar summoning.”

“A familiar!?”

That was a word that almost never came up in White Magic.

“That’s right. In Dark Magic, we often have familiars do the manual labor. We call forth a low-level demon from the underworld and form a contract. In this industry, a Dark Mage without a familiar isn’t trusted, so first, please bring one out.”

It was one of those implicit rules found in every industry. I’d heard that at companies on remote islands, a boat license was mandatory; it was probably something like that.

“If you can successfully summon a familiar, we can support your lifestyle even before you officially start work. It’s not a bad deal.”

I see, so a familiar is a being that serves its master.

“For example, my familiar is—”

Smoke billowed from Kelkel-san’s hand, and out came a furry dog with wings.

“This little guy. His name is Gelgel.”

A girl with dog ears having a dog as a familiar was a bit confusing…

“Hello-woof. I’ll do my best today, woof.”

The dog familiar started talking.

“I’m hoping you’ll summon a companion like this. By the way, he can serve tea and even transcribe borrowed magic books. Gelgel, did you have any other special skills?”

“I was the Kingdom Chess Champion three years ago, woof.”

“That’s a wide range of activity!”

“The prize money from the championship went toward the company’s profits.”

Wait, that belongs to the company…?

“Well, the chess thing is an exception, but you’ll be summoning and contracting a familiar like this.”

“It won’t… take my soul or anything, will it…?”

That was my biggest concern right now. When the words ‘Dark Magic’ and ‘Contract’ are used together, you tend to brace for the worst.

“It’s fine. At our company, we pay wages to our familiars too.”

“You can have it with a salary!?”

“Forty silver coins a month-woof.”

“He gets paid pretty well for a President’s familiar!”

For context, the going rate for a magic school graduate’s starting salary in the Capital is about twenty silver coins a month. Even that is only because of the prestige of having a diploma. Trying to get a magic job without a degree is almost impossible unless your parents were mages who taught you, and even then, you’d be looking at a job worth about thirteen silver coins.

“Well, for a familiar handled by a rookie like Franz-san, the salary would be around ten silver coins. We’ll negotiate that with the familiar.”

Saying this, Kelkel-san opened a book to a specific page and placed it on the table. It was an incantation for Dark Magic, written in a special language. We had learned the basics in school, so I could just about manage to read it.

“Enri, Banra, Hirundirke, Gigu, Ranfi…”

“Oh! Impressive! To be able to grasp the pronunciation of this chant immediately… I doubt even ten percent of magic school students could do that!”

“My grades weren’t bad, after all.”

To be blunt, in terms of grades alone, I was in the top tier of the class. My teachers were even puzzled as to why I couldn’t find a job.

But, well, what’s emphasized in job hunting is stuff like communication skills… I have the ability to study seriously for a test, but I don’t have the ability to say something impressive to a stranger in an interview. I wanted to scream that such things have nothing to do with being a mage.

Does having high communication skills mean you can use magic?! If it’s so necessary for a job, then include more communication-improvement classes in the curriculum!

Oops, I got a little heated there…

“If you can read it, you know what to do. Hold the staff and recite the incantation over the magic circle.”

“Isn’t drawing a magic circle difficult if you’re not used to it?”

“We can skip that part. The carpet in this room is actually a magic circle.”

Looking at the floor again, it did indeed have a mysterious pattern that looked like an eye inside a circle.

“Here, I’ll give you this staff as a gift.”

I was handed the bat staff.

“It usually takes about a month to successfully bring out a familiar, so just work on it in your spare time. Even if you haven’t produced one by the time you start, don’t worry, I’ll still hire you. Training new recruits is part of the company’s job.”

“Can I try it here, just as a test?”

“Yes, please, go ahead.”

Well, it would be most efficient to try it lightly here and have the President correct me if there was anything wrong. I held the staff and began the chant while moving it over the magic circle.

“Enri, Banra, Hirundirke, Gigu, Ranfi…”

Then—suddenly, the magic circle began to glow.

“Wait, did you actually succeed on the first try!?” the President cried out.

I didn’t know what was happening, so I could only cover my eyes with my free hand.

And after the light subsided—

A demon girl, wearing clothes that emphasized her chest in a rather daring way, was floating there.