Part-Time Partners

“Why is it you again?!”

Standing at the entrance of the teahouse, Lorraine looked at the person behind the counter who was currently bent over, writing in a ledger. She let out a helpless, annoyed cry. Without even looking up, Erich clicked his tongue. “Save the chatter. Hurry up, change your clothes, and get over here to help.”

“Oh.”

Lorraine didn't argue back this time, obediently slipping into the back room to change. This was already the third time she had run into Erich like this. The first two times could be written off as coincidence, but if she claimed it was a coincidence this time, she wouldn't even believe it herself.

To tell the truth, this whole story had to be told from the beginning.

With the ranking tournament just around the corner, Erich should have been spending all his time in the training rooms honing his magic. However, he had run out of money.

He still had a few gold coins left on him. If it were just for food, he could probably stretch them to last until graduation if he was frugal. But the academy's training rooms charged a fee. Even if he rented the lowest-tier single room, it still cost one silver coin per hour. Students in the Solar Orbit and Dawnstar Orbit received a free monthly quota for the training rooms, and other classes in the Morningstar Orbit likely did too. Unfortunately, the absolute worst class, Morningstar Class F, had no such perk. To grind his proficiency, Erich had no choice but to bite the bullet and pay up.

But how could he undergo high-intensity training every day without proper maintenance? Nourishing magical ingredients, potions and massages to relax his body after practice—it all added up to a massive expense. On top of that, as a first-year, if he wanted to borrow high-level magic books ahead of schedule, the library required a deposit. One thing led to another, and those few gold coins were quickly running dry.

Consequently, Erich had no choice but to start working part-time.

The academy library had been hiring student librarians, so he applied. That was the first time he and Lorraine had run into each other. The second time was on Sage Avenue, the most bustling commercial street near the academy. A shop was hiring temporary morning labor, and he spent the entire morning moving goods, only to find Lorraine working at the same place. The two of them had stared at each other in sheer disbelief.

As for this third time, it truly wasn't a coincidence.

Before transmigrating, when Erich played Starspire, he could control Lorraine to work at the Crescent Teahouse to earn some gold coins, exchange them for a few cups of tea with magical effects, or simply to steal a few glances at the voluptuous and gentle elven proprietress.

Erich coming here to work wasn't entirely for the money, either. Back in the game before his transmigration, he had visited this teahouse every single day. Seeing the familiar scenery gave him a sense of peace. Moreover, the proprietress was easygoing and beautiful, and the shop's all-wooden interior perfectly suited his aesthetic.

In short, with all these factors stacking up, he had crossed paths with Lorraine once again.

Lorraine quickly emerged after changing. A light-green-haired elf wearing a form-fitting cheongsam was standing by the kitchen door, waving her over. That was the proprietress, Violetta. She looked to be in her thirties, mature and intellectual, though no one knew her actual age. She ushered Lorraine into the kitchen to help wash the teaware, then turned to Erich. “Erich, could you please deliver the tea to table three?”

“On it.”

Originally, the proprietress had run the shop entirely on her own. Later, when things became too busy to handle, she hired Erich to take orders and handle the register. Eventually, she hired Lorraine to serve tea and help out in the kitchen.

Ironically, Lorraine being hired was actually thanks to Erich.

Standing behind the counter in his cyan suit, Erich certainly caught the eyes of many female students. His reputation hadn't been great when the semester started, but after nearly two weeks, he hadn't done anything out of line. On the contrary, a candid photo of his side profile taken in the library had spread widely throughout the academy. Coupled with the stunning moment he swung his sword and knocked down a sophomore, quite a few female students ended up patronizing the teahouse just to see him. As business boomed, the proprietress decided to hire Lorraine as extra help.

“Here is your herbal tea. Please enjoy,” Lorraine said as she emerged from the kitchen carrying a tray, wearing a textbook customer-service smile. Erich leaned against the counter and watched, clicking his tongue inwardly. This girl certainly knew how to put on a proper front in front of customers—she was a completely different person compared to her usual, claw-baring self around him.

But speaking of which, Erich had actually been growing increasingly comfortable around Lorraine lately. She still couldn't control her mind-reading. Previously, Erich had to keep his nerves taut every time he saw her, terrified she would catch some stray, inappropriate thought. But over the past few days, Erich found that the moment he saw Lorraine, his mind would automatically start chanting “form is emptiness, emptiness is form.” Having achieved a state of semi-absolute mental clarity, he was no longer afraid of her mind-reading.

At ten o'clock in the evening, the teahouse closed. The proprietress smiled as she saw them to the door, slipping a small bag of herbal tea to each of them. “Thank you for your hard work. Have a safe walk back.”

“Goodbye, ma'am,” Erich and Lorraine said in unison.

A cool night breeze picked up, leaving the academy's pathways largely deserted. Lorraine walked beside Erich. After a brief silence, she suddenly spoke up. “Did you know that your match against Alicia has been scheduled as the opening battle?”

Erich nodded. Before the Freshman Ranking Tournament officially began, it was customary to have a few exhibition matches, usually featuring upperclassmen. However, this year, the academy had shown some respect to the Wayne family by elevating this otherwise informal duel between Alicia and Erich to the very first slot of the exhibition matches.

“If you lose to that Alicia girl, I'll look down on you,” Lorraine said.

Erich gave a confident, roguish smile. “I'll win.”

His tone was so absolute that Lorraine couldn't help but turn her head to study him. Under the moonlight, this guy did look terrifyingly strong, but she couldn't shake the feeling that he was being overconfident. Alicia was by no means an easy opponent to deal with.

“You really aren't nervous at all, are you?” Lorraine snorted. “Do you even know where Alicia stands in Class A? Over the past half month, Solar Class A's progress has completely outstripped the other classes. But even so, Alicia still firmly holds the top spot, even overshadowing Her Highness Leonora and Celine. Do you know what that means? It means her current strength is among the very best in the entire year.”

Hearing this, Erich nodded.

Of course he knew Alicia was pushing herself to the limit. Over the last few days, whenever he visited the training grounds, he would see the door of one of the highest-tier single rooms tightly shut. He had also spotted Margaret carrying various high-grade meals and recovery supplies in and out. The mistress and maid were truly putting their lives on the line for that bet.

Lorraine continued to babble on. “Her family's Wine Magic gets trickier the further along it goes. Irene sparred with her and said her Water Bullets are actually red. Getting hit by one makes your entire body go numb, almost like being poisoned...”

Erich simply kept nodding with confidence.

Halfway through her rant, seeing his completely unbothered attitude, Lorraine grew thoroughly exasperated. “Are you even listening to me?!”

Erich nodded again.

Lorraine wanted to say more, but they had already reached the dormitory building. She glared at Erich, threw out a final, “Well, if you lose, I'll be the first one to laugh at you!” and turned to run upstairs.

Erich stood where he was, gazing up at the night sky.

The opening match... Fine. Since the academy wanted to put it out in the open, he would win it fair and square for everyone to see.