Mage And Wolf
Chapter 234

Chapter 234: Chapter 234

Having gotten no sympathy from Karl and Lelou, the desperate Junior Priestesses finally turned to me in hopes that I would find someone to take over their paperwork. They’d gotten soft handing it all off to Karl’s assistant.

"You mean to tell me that the twenty of you together are having trouble doing the work of a single man?" I ask and they all flinch.

"It’s not that, just got a we’ve got a schedule and the paperwork interferes with our other scheduled tasks. The Acolytes are already overworked and we can’t just refuse the Priestesses." One black robed Junior Priestess tries to come up with a good excuse.

Hui’Jin is passing by and stops to laugh at the excuses the Dragonkin is making. She’s still officially my assistant and acolyte, so she likely gets some paperwork on my behalf.

"Priestess Hui’Jin, how many pages of documents do I get a day?" I ask.

"About two hundred."

"And of those, how many do I take care of myself and how many are left to you?"

"I do all of them, you’ve been gone for months." She answers, giving me a pouty face.

"How much work is each of these Junior Priestesses given daily?"

"Five documents each, usually between two and ten pages." She answers confidently and the girls start to see where I’m going with this.

"Everyone to the table and bring out your work. Until I’m certain you can perform the tasks necessary of a Junior Priestess I will be supervising you while you work every night. A little dedication should straighten things out, if not, a few months in penitent Robes might remind you of your duty." I smile ushering then towards the dining hall. The threat of penitent duty makes them much more eager to work.

It is all basic clerical work. Write copies of and proofread documents to be signed later, verify inventory sheets and the like. The Blue Robes have some student papers to grade from an answer sheet, their job being basically Teacher’s assistants.

I dig inscription tools and a stack of paper out of my rings and start making up a talisman. It’s in the basic knowledge on inscription I gained in the Shadowed Blade Sect, a talisman to copy out a document you’re touching.

Everyone is working quietly, afraid to get in trouble, when Hui’Jin hands me the first document to sign.

"The ammunition trade with the native reserves. No errors." She says and I look it over quickly. It seems enchanted ammunition is a restricted trade good from Arcana, so only certain people can trade for it. Why it’s my department I’ll have to ask later.

I make a triplicate copy and sign them, setting them off to the side.

"Munitions to the Air Force Base. All good."

"This one is a generic form, copied for every individual item, fifty pages in all, all needing to be signed. This I sign first, then copy.

"That’s sixty pages read, copied and signed. How is everyone else doing?" I ask, looking up to see that most of them are copying things by hand.

"I’ve got today’s test marked, I just need to run to the school to make copies of tomorrow’s assignments." One of the Blue Robed Junior Priestesses says with a smile.

"Junior Priestess, when does the school teach basic inscription to acolytes?"

"The twelve year old Acolytes learn the most basic of level 1 inscription. For the rest it depends on their career path."

"So you can make these? They’re a level 1 inscription." I ask and she nods.

"Then why do you need a photocopier? Just make copies for the class while you’re here."

She looks exceedingly embarrassed and begins to stutter, looking for an answer.

"You don’t have inscription tools or a ream of paper do you? Any of you?" I ask and they all hang their heads. Hui’Jin pulls out all the necessary tools, clearly having anticipated this outcome when she found out they were coming to me for help.

"Everyone make thirty talismans before making the copies of your day’s work. That is one a day for the next month. I will number the back and you can start doing your work unsupervised if I’m satisfied when you run out."

They balk at all the extra work, thirty talismans takes time and they were already too lazy to do the work they had. But they all do it, and I don’t even have to threaten them. The senior Priestesses come by to grab a bite to eat while we work, trying not to laugh at their despondent subordinates.

"How badly did they do?" Lelou asks when she comes in.

"Thirty days supervised work so far. I’m being kind to them, despite the fact most of them didn’t even bring the tools to do their jobs." I smile at her and the old Blue Robed teacher with her gives me a wicked grin.

"You’re making them write their own talismans?" She asks.

"Of course. It’s good practice to make all your own inscriptions. Even if you can buy them in ten packs from the Adventurers Guild." The girls all look startled at that and the teacher laughs.

"I wouldn’t have told them that, now they’ll just buy them."

"I am making them number them. One per day for the next month. When they’re finished their punishment is over. Assuming they don’t earn more in the meantime."

We chat as we work until Princess Amanda and Beta John come in, wondering where I went, as they’re almost ready for an evening snack.

"Sorry about that, I abandoned my duties for most of, well, ever since I got them. So I had to catch up on today’s work at the very least. I’m more or less done now, just looking over a few things involving the Demon City before I sign them. The city isn’t keen on letting the Succubus Queen trade cursed magical items for dual cultivation time, so they want an alternate solution, but it’s been on hold, since it’s my job and I was on another Plane."

"Just make them decurse the items first. They hate doing it, but they’re capable." John laughs and everyone stares at him like he said they should change the time the sun rises.