I Want to Be a Receptionist of The Magic World Chapter 1

Synopsis (click to show)

A world of magic.
I had a dream ever since I was young, and that was to become ‘a receptionist onee-san' at a certain place. But only first-class magicians could become one, or so my parents told me… First-class? So what? What about it? That meant I just had to work hard to become first-class, right?
…… Or, the story that portrays the heroine's road to become a receptionist, and her daily life after she becomes one.

WN .

Chapter 1
Till I Become A Receptionist-1

Looking up at the blue sky, one could see islands floating as though it were normal to do so.

That view hadn't changed since I had been born.

Looking further ahead, islands of different sizes could be seen floating in the same way. Of course, nothing had changed there too.

And my dreams for the future too, had never changed ever since childhood.

* * *

Ever since I had been born, my surroundings had been full of magic.

If my mother drew an arc with her finger, objects would float immediately. If my father casted a spell, flames would appear from his fingertip, killing evil demons. They were very cool.

Also, the granny who lived next door enchanted the flowers in her flower bed which made them sing every morning, livening up the surroundings. Then the old man living on the other side, perhaps wanting to compete with her, enchanted the vegetables in his field to sing mockingly every morning.

However, because their voice was a little lower than the flowers' in the granny's house, contrary to his expectation they ended up creating a harmonious choir. He never realized it though.

Okay then, I tried copying them and swung my finger with all my might. I shook it up and down, to the left and to the right. I also tried to jump. Oh, that seemed to work, yay! I somehow created wind… Because my bangs were floating, see.

But things didn't float around, and no flames came out. Flowers didn't sing, and there was no choir.

Well, I mean, the me from that time, hadn't known any spells in the first place.

* * *

“Nanalie, it's almost time~"

“'Kay~”

As I was gazing at the islands floating in the sky from the window in my room, I heard my mother's voice and turned away from the window.

I was in the middle of preparing for my entrance to the kingdom's Magic School, which would be starting today. I just finished packing, but because it was a boarding school I couldn't easily come home. I was a bit worried whether I forgot or overlooked something.

But well, even if I did forget something, there was nothing too important anyway, so perhaps I didn't have to worry too much.

Besides, there would be long vacations, so it wasn't as if I couldn't come back at all.

If there was anything I need, I could just get them then.

I was twelve years old now. And I had to attend the school for six years until I reached eighteen years old.

“Well then.”

White walls which were a bit filthy. The rattling wooden bookshelf which couldn't be called pretty. The desk near the window, with a box on top filled with textbooks that had helped me out during my village school days.

The simple bed with sheets draping down from the ceiling, which my father had nailed on with rusted nails because I had admired princess-like canopy beds.

The teddy bear which I had pestered my mother for, looking down on me from above a brown wardrobe.

I took my luggage and went out of the room, then straightened out the hem of my blue one-piece dress.

After which I turned around, imprinting the image of the room which would temporarily lose its owner, and hurried to my mother.

A small village in the Kingdom of Doran.

The place where I, Nanalie Hale, born from an archeologist mother and an exorcist father, had been born and raised.

Neither a noble nor a merchant, we were a very common family, and the ones around us were the same too.

If anything, my mother being an archeologist was perhaps the only unique thing about us. Though she hadn't done so recently, it seemed like she used to go here and there to investigate ruins.

On the other hand, my father's occupation as an exorcist was a very common occupation in the world, and they mainly did demon extermination and related miscellaneous work put up by a magical association called Harley, where they then received their rewards. They had to use magic more than normal, and it was actually a rather dangerous job. Depending on the request, there were both easy and difficult jobs, but the harder the job the higher the reward.

A long time ago, I had accompanied my father for his job twice, even though I had never gone with my mother for hers.

It was during that time when small children develop a disease that made them incessantly ask questions, like 'What do you usually do? Where are we going? What island is that? What's the job?' I wanted to know everything in the world and went around asking nearby adults about it, being really troublesome. Perhaps my father was just good at hiding his annoyance, because there was not a hint of that on his face. Thinking back on it, even I felt that I had been quite an annoying child.

I went with him for a relatively easy job, and the reward was about 20 pegaro or so. When asked how much 20 pegaro was, he answered it was enough to buy food for one day.

Harley was a place quite like a civil office where job requests for exorcists were offered, so one could frequently see exorcists going in and out of the building.

Feeling excited at being in a new place, I was fascinated with Harley's interior. At first I had expected it would be a really serious and dry place, but it was completely the opposite and much more like the bar my father frequented. Both the floor and the wall were made with wooden boards, making it seem like a really warm place. Perhaps there was also a dining hall, because there was a nice smell of a meat dish with spice mixed in it.

While I was distracted by various things, Father let the receptionist onee-san(?) look for a job. It took quite some time, but it was perhaps because his selection was limited due to bringing along a burden, aka me. Or so I thought now.

After he decided, he led me out by my hand, while the receptionist said the scripted line, "Have a nice trip! Do be careful," and I waved back with a smile.

I remembered the request was simple, helping out a granny with her field.

Unexpectedly the job ended much too soon, and I was left disappointed because I had imagined something more awesome.

There was not much difference with what he did at home.

“Welcome back! Thank you for your work! And little miss, thank you for your work, too.”

It was when Father and I came back to Harley after we finished the job.

The receptionist welcomed us back, which was perhaps part of her job. But the smile she had as she faced us made me think really deeply.

“? Is something wrong?”

“Nanalie?”

Even if I were asked to explain, I didn't quite understand it myself. I thought it was perhaps something close to falling in love at first sight.

In any case, for my young self, that onee-san looked dazzling.

The figure stood gallantly, handling paperwork for any kind of job, be it a dangerous or a meaningless job, with an unchanging expression.

Sending exorcists out with a 'Have a nice trip!' and welcoming those who reported back with a smile and a 'Welcome back and thank you for your work!'.

As I witnessed that, I started to look at her with sparkles in my eyes.

Not at my father who worked hard to fulfill his job.

Not at the big man sitting on the counter beside us who was boasting about him completing a difficult request.

Just at her who was sitting and waiting there, as she always did. As I did so, something called admiration started to boil up inside me.

My father then started dragging me, who was staring motionlessly at the sister behind the counter, back home, misunderstanding me as being tired.

Something like admiration couldn't be felt just because one wanted to admire someone.

It was something that welled up suddenly, and when you realized it you were already admiring that thing or person. That was what I felt.

And it was the same with dreams.

That was perhaps why there were a lot of cases where one started out wanting to become a florist, but then due to some reason suddenly wanting to become a cook or something else.

By chance, I wanted to become just like the receptionist, that was all it was. There was nothing mysterious about it, I just wanted to.

And thus my dream for the future became 'I wanted to become a receptionist onee-san'. It was definitely not a flashy job, but it was something indispensable.

When I had told Father and Mother, for some reason they had tried to stop me desperately.

Their reason was because in order to do so, I had to excel in everything, ranging from magic to studies. Only someone who could fight with magic, was smart enough to be counted among the upper ranks of the kingdom's magic school, and was capable enough in everything, could actually work there.

Yet I ended up admiring her more when I heard it.

Because such a graceful onee-san could actually fight with magic, and on top of that had a good head on her shoulders. That was really cool of her.

Thus to convince them both, I had worked really hard to become number one, even though it had been only in my village school. I felt like when one had a goal, how much one could put themselves into their studies would become different.

Thanks to that I had always been top of my class, and had mastered all the magic that was a part of compulsory education for children.

"You still don't have a familiar, so go take this carriage."

"Got it."

"Don't catch a cold, you hear?"

"I know, already."

I had to get on an unmanned flying carriage to reach school.

There was no other way to reach the islands floating in the sky. For those who had familiars, they could easily go by means of a certain method. My father had one, but parents were forbidden to send their children off to the island.

Besides, this was also something Mother made with magic especially for today.

At first glance it was nothing more than a normal brown and dirty carriage tied to a horse. But actually when the horse was fed a paper with the destination written on it, its limbs would dance through the sky and take the person inside to the place written—a fine magical carriage.

I could just feed it a paper with my home address to send it home, how very convenient.

"I'm off!"

I fed the horse with the paper and took off.

When I looked down, I could see my mother, waving her hands and gradually becoming smaller and smaller.

Above the Kingdom of Doran was the island where the king lived, named the King's Island.

No matter the kingdom, it was the norm for its king's castle to be located at the island floating above it.

However, I didn't really understand why they were floating.

Even if I asked the adults, their answers were vague and varied.

According to one theory I had learned at the village school, during the times when demons had been larger in number and had been rampaging as they pleased, great magicians of the past had launched king's castles with their surrounding lands to the sky in order to protect the royalties who were the pride of their kingdoms. Or so we were taught.

It was only one of the many theories out there, but for the most part they were similar to that.

Now, on the King's Island was the magic school, a place with long history that my father had also attended. For people who wanted to be exorcists, it was compulsory to be a graduate of that school, so it was normal that my father who had had that goal had also gone there.

Those aiming to become knights and those who wanted to learn magic in earnest also went there. People who wanted to work in places like Harley also required this school's certification.

Normal schools also taught magic to a certain extent, but the scale was completely different. If I were to describe it, it was like the difference between learning to cook homemade food and training to become a first-class chef.

Amongst all the students, there were many children of nobility, with dukes and earls as their parents.

Some of them were forced to go to this school, so there were both children who were excited to attend, and those who were not so.

Nobles had the duty to protect their lands from outside attacks, so their job was much like soldiers. Of course, economic management in the fiefs was also part of their job, but both were duties they had to do. This was a time when demons were not few in number, so as the king of their territory they had to become stronger.

It was hard to be nobles.

It wasn't just about wearing fluttery clothes.

"Woow!"

I could see the castle on the King's Island from the carriage.

The white palace was much more beautiful than what I saw in pictures. When I thought that the king and his queen lived there, that thought alone made me excited.

And in front of it was a building somewhat smaller than the castle, but way bigger than my house. It seemed like that was the magic school.

According to the map of the island my mother gave me, this island had the castle at its centre, then there was the castle town built in a circle around it where some of the retainers lived, and on the edge of the castle town was the magic school.

At last, I took my first step towards the receptionist onee-san.

While thinking fondly of my school life from now on, I held my hand in front of my chest.

Just a teaser. Might do more, maybe… :)

Chapter end