34 Job Hunt

The two boys began to wander the wide streets of the 9th floor. They looked like two foreign tourists who were completely lost. The ugly elves shuffled past them as they rushed between buildings for work. They ended up entering a random building to ask for directions. From there, it took them nearly an hour to reach an employment office.

The employment office was a two-story building constructed from some type of white wood. There was a brown-haired woman standing behind a counter that greeted them. "Welcome, how may I help you today?"

Virgil spoke, "We're looking for employment. We were told this place could help us?"

"Of course." She smiled. "Please follow me." She led them down a hallway and into a small office. "Now then. Please tell me your skills and I'll see what I can find for you."

"We're both 2nd grade magi and 2nd grade knights. I have some experience in politics and leading." Virgil answered.

"I can mine. I'm also an amateur actor." James answered.

"I see." She smiled. "I'll just put down no useful skills then."

The two boys frowned as she wrote on some paper. "Now then. What kind of job would you two prefer?"

"I want something where I can use my strong cooperation and leadership skills." Virgil grinned. "I like working in a fast-paced environment that continuously challenges me. It isn't just for money. I want to feel like I'm really accomplishing something!" He turned to his friend and rose an eyebrow. It was as if he was expressing, aren't I awesome? Those were perfect answers. They'll definitely find me a good job!

"What about you?" She questioned while looking at James.

"Ah, I just want money." He nodded. "You consider us as having no skills, so this is a waste of time. You should just give us whatever shitty jobs are available."

"Oy!" Virgil whispered. "What are you doing?! You're blowing it. These interviews are all about pretending to be interested in something! It's basic politics! I thought you were supposed to be good at this?!"

The woman behind the desk frowned. "You don't seem to be taking this very seriously. Do you even want a job?"

"Oh, I apologize." James sighed. "Let me give a new answer. I'm looking for a dynamic, fast-paced environment where I can grow my skills in both depth and diversity. I believe I can bring a synergetic effect to the team, as I am great at getting many parts to work better as a whole. I strive to meet and exceed KPIs each month. I'm also very interested in collecting and analyzing big data to improve efficiency and reduce waste. This will allow me to focus better on my relationships with the company's clients and improve our reputation. I also believe in implementing a blue ocean strategy whenever possible. It's far easier to dominate a newly created market rather than compete in a red ocean of existing competitors…"

He continued to rattle off fancy business terms while the two other people in the room stared at him with disbelief in their eyes. The woman behind the desk turned towards Virgil and whispered, "Do you have any idea what he's saying?"

"Not a damn clue." He shook his head. "Yale! Stop! Do you even know what you're saying?"

"Eh?" He stopped talking and noticed the two staring at him. "No, not really, but neither do most other people when they spout all that bullshit? I thought that's what you guys wanted since my being honest didn't work previously?"

"Forget it." The woman behind the desk sighed. "You're both 2nd grade knights, right? You appear quite young, so you presumably had a good teacher. I'm going to put you in charge of teaching a new class of elves who are starting knight training. Any objections?"

"Works for us." They both nodded. They were given a contract to sign. Then they were given an address to head to in a few days. The training period would last a month, and they should make enough to buy most of what they needed.

The two returned to their temporary home. They had nothing to do until the time came for them to train the new knights.

"Hey Virgil."

"What?"

"I just realized something important."

"Oh? And?"

"I only know how to train as a knight using my master's training method. Do you know how normal knights train?"

"That… I don't know." He shook his head. "They said the elves we're training are around 25 years old, right? They should be able to handle Skeleton's training, right?"

"Maybe…"

…

Several days later. They returned to the 9th floor of the grand tree. On the outskirts of the city on the 9th floor was a large dojo and training field. Unlike other buildings, this building was made completely from a type of gray stone. The training field was covered in green grass despite being within the tree.

The two entered the building and met with a large man. He spoke, "Hello, you two must be the new temporary instructors for this knight class. We have thirty commoner students that can't afford good teachers. I hope you teach them well. I'll check up on your progress in a few hours. They're already waiting at the training field."

The two headed for the field and saw thirty students lined up respectfully. "This!" James eyes widened in shock. He turned to his friend, "We... We can't train them using master's methods. The elves will kill us!"

"I mean… they're older than us, right? They can probably handle it?" Virgil responded.

The elves lined up in front of them were roughly 25 years old. However, they looked younger than 10 years old in human years. They were short and childish looking. Their eyes gleamed with excitement as they saw the instructors arrive. They bowed respectfully and shouted in unison, "Greetings teachers! Please instruct us!"

James glared at his friend. "We can't do it! It'll be child abuse! I don't want to go to jail again!"

"I'm sure the elves are reasonable. They'll understand we're from a different culture and how our teaching methods are a bit different. Just leave it to me." Virgil confidently walked forward and rose his head arrogantly. "Greetings! As you can see, my friend and I are not from around here. Our teaching methods are different. They'll be far harsher than anything you've ever experienced. Do you still wish to train with us?"

One of the larger boys stepped forward proudly. "I'm not afraid! I'll do whatever it takes to get strong!"

"Excellent!" He nodded. "I'll start with you! Come here!"

The boy ran forward excitedly. Virgil pulled a small branch out of his interspatial ring and filled it with mana. Then he began to beat the child just like Skeleton had beaten him and James in the past.

"AGHH!!!" The boy screamed in pain as tears welled up in his eyes. "It hurts!!! Stop!!! Please!!!" He begged for mercy over and over again.

"Our special training will allow you to grow stronger much faster than your peers! We can whip you into shape as 2nd grade knights within 2 weeks at most! How could such amazing results come with no sacrifice!" He yelled as he continued to whip out with the branch.

The surrounding students shivered in fear and took a couple steps back. James watched with his hands covering his eyes. He grimaced each time he heard the boy being hit.

"Yale! Are you just going to stand there?! Pick a student and get started. I've already almost finished with this one."

"Okay…" He sighed. "Who wants to train with me?"

The students whispered to each other debating on who to send up. A brave little girl with black pigtails stood forward. "I'll do it!" She chuckled to herself as she moved ahead of the other students. 'Idiots. This one is obviously a softy. I'll naturally choose to train with the one that will go easier on me.'

James frowned as he saw the girl step forward. 'I've never hit a little girl in my life… Okay, there was that one time in elementary school. She deserved it though! Honest! Besides, I was just a kid, so it was fine. This…' He grabbed a nearby branch and filled it with mana. A thwack sound rang out as he whacked her on the shoulder.

"WAHH!!!" She cried out. "It hurts!"

'Eh? I didn't even put much into the first one? Is she faking it?' He tested it by using no mana on the next hit. There was no way this hit would even hurt a toddler.

"IT HURTS!!!" She screamed.

'To hell with it.' He decided to stop holding back. He filled the stick with mana and stopped holding back. Thwack! Thwack! Thwack!

"Aghh!! It really hurts now! Stop! Softer!"

James sighed, "This hurts me more than it hurts you." Thwack!

"Liar!!!" She yelled.

The two continued to rotate through the students while using the methods taught to them by Skeleton. They didn't have the right magic-beasts for the 2nd stage of training, but they could easily use the mana-filled sticks. They could also have them choose weapons and spar with them later.

Two hours later. All the children lay on the ground completely immobilized. Tears and snort covered their faces. Bruises covered their entire bodies. The two of them stared with some guilt towards the miserable students.

"WHAT THE HELL?!" The large elf from prior had come to check on their progress. "WHAT DID YOU DO?!" He screamed as he charged forward to check on the students. He grabbed the nearest one and sent mana into their body to check if it was okay. "Eh? Her body has improved substantially. This progress… is amazing!" He turned towards the two boys with excitement gleaming in his eyes. "How did you do it?"

James sighed, "This is a secret training method from our homeland. We can't pass the methods to outsiders. Unfortunately, the difficulty of the training is quite harsh, but the benefits are enormous."

"I see." The large man nodded. "Anyways, both of you are fired. No need to come back tomorrow."

"What?!" Virgil yelled in shock. "How can you fire us?! We did an excellent job! Even you acknowledged the results!"

"Indeed. The results are excellent, but how am I supposed to explain this to their parents? You're already lucky I haven't called the guards to arrest you two for child abuse."

The two left while feeling grievance. They had worked hard for nothing. They weren't even given their first day's pay. "What should we do now?" James questioned.

"What else can we do? We'll have to find another job."

The two headed for the employment office from before. They met with the same woman within her office. She frowned when she saw the two. "How did you lose your job already?"

They explained what had happened as she nodded to show understanding. "I understand. So, you two are idiots. I overestimated your abilities previously. I'll be more careful in the future. Now then, let's see what job I can find for you two next."