Chapter Fifty-Eight: I Am Truly Astonished!

... After arriving at the office in the morning, Louis thoroughly cleaned the room, and as a result, found some strange curly hairs and some soft fur in the corner.

Staring blankly at the peculiar curly hairs he had gathered from the sickbed, Louis donned his gloves and tossed them out onto the balcony—these were from the goblins. As for the soft red and white fur that carried a faint fragrance, those must have come from the little foxes’ tails.

It seemed that when he wasn’t in the office, these little foxes often visited, no doubt let in by Helen. This must not have been their first time playing here.

No wonder things had gone missing these past two days. That silly girl—what kinds of friends has she made! They treat her as a little lackey, a walking purse, and then even steal from her family.

[Louis’ anger +5]

After tidying up, Louis took his seat behind Director Treve’s large solid wood desk, fiddling with the crystal ball on the table for a while. Once he’d adjusted its angle, he went to a cabinet.

Inside this cabinet were all sorts of clothing—at first glance, they looked like costumes. But no, Louis believed these were various outfits prepared specifically for the agents’ convenience when working outside, so they could easily disguise themselves.

He picked out several outfits—a “lady pirate,” a “female agent,” a “nun,” and so on—arranging them neatly in a section of the cabinet. With the addition of the maid uniform, the number was just right.

Then he returned to his desk, poured himself some tea, and read the newspaper for a while.

“Shock! Harold Defeated! Knockturn Alley Plunged Into Faceless Apocalypse Panic”—Clearly, this was written backwards!

“Is the Mysterious Figure a Man or a Woman?”—Who knows which damned goblin is making things up again.

“Astonishing! The Moonshadow Circus Is Actually…”—Louis suspected that Sakura Bell had secretly leaked this information.

“Heartthrob Countess Sakura Bell and Her Highness Princess Oxiclis Will Attend the Charity Gala in Two Days, Drawing a Swarm of Wizards and Nobles from All Over…”

“Special Department for Handling Unusual Mystical Objects: Summer Activities, Private Services 20% Off…”

After flipping through the newspaper, Louis gathered all the office’s financial documents. For confidentiality, they seemed to be protected by spells.

But that was useless.

“The office’s annual expenditure last year was 2,800 gold galleons? That’s over three million yuan!” Louis was somewhat shocked.

The annual budget for the various Watchmen stations across the Academy City was only a few hundred gold galleons at most! And those Watchmen actually did their jobs. The office here was a dispensable department. Even a few hundred galleons a year would be considered generous!

Director Treve, you’re really something! How did you manage to squeeze that money out of the Ministry of Magic?

Louis was dumbfounded.

Shaking his head, he curiously checked everyone’s salaries, intending to see how many earned more than he did.

“Last year’s total salary, including travel expenses and subsidies, came to 6,976 gold galleons. There were 21 temporary workers, most earning 2–3 gold galleons per month, with a few top temps at 4–5 galleons—a total of just over two hundred galleons.”

“In addition, there are five official agents registered with the Ministry of Magic… Monthly salary: 20 galleons?! Plus various subsidies? That’s a huge difference! The official agents are the true masters here; temps are, well… just temps.”

“Among the five agents, Director Treve’s monthly salary is the highest, at 40 galleons… That’s a half-million annual salary for Chief Treve! That’s a high rank. But it seems Professor Sacred Tree still earns the most—many have annual salaries exceeding a million yuan.”

Looking further, Louis suddenly sensed something odd.

“Wait, five agents a year, that’s only a little over a thousand galleons! Even adding the temps, it’s less than two thousand. So who’s receiving the other five thousand galleons in salary?”

As he dug deeper, Louis’ expression grew stranger: “There are daily wages? Temporary hires?”

His face grew more peculiar when he saw some people’s daily wages were extremely low—just students, given a single silver fox coin and a boxed lunch each day. Others, however, had extremely high daily wages—most of them were from the Red Fox Den, all listed under stage names, not real names.

The highest earner among them, stage name “Snow Fox,” only showed up a handful of times last year, and yet the total payments amounted to over 2,000 gold galleons! This year she seemed to have been hired again, currently out on a business trip with Director Treve and the others.

“What sort of official duties are these?” Louis was baffled.

“I want to go on a business trip too! I want to go on a business trip!!!”

Just then, a sneaky little kitten climbed in through the window, wearing a cloak around her neck and carrying a tiny backpack—clearly, Helen didn’t want to miss the spectacle today.

Louis pretended not to notice the invisible rascal, and continued reading the files. However, the little cat kept prancing about in front of him, as if trying to see whether he’d noticed her. It got to the point where Louis couldn’t concentrate, so he feigned sipping tea and basked in the sun.

Helen grew smug, transformed back into her human form, and began changing clothes inside her cloak; as she stuck out her little bottom, the cloak flipped up.

Louis couldn’t help but rub his face hard, put away the files, and went to arrange the bookshelf by the cabinet. Only after Helen had finished changing did he turn back, picking up a script written by Gael (Bolster’s pen name) to leaf through.

Just as Louis was enjoying himself, a sneaky figure crept under his feet and tied the laces of both his shoes together, then giggled mischievously—anyone could hear that laughter.

Apparently bored with this game, the lazy girl flopped onto the sofa by the fireplace, crossing her legs and secretly chatting with her girlfriends through the crystal ball.

At Helen’s urging, her girlfriends finally came over to cause some mischief.

Five little foxes burst in, each looking seventeen or eighteen, dressed in trendy—if unconventional—attire: one wore a pirate-style outfit with tall boots, a half-open short jacket adorned with colorful trinkets, and a shirt knotted to reveal a patch of white skin.

Another wore a witch’s dress, but the skirt had either been deliberately cut high to the hip or ripped into a short skirt.

Louis suddenly realized all his preparations had been in vain—the costumes he’d prepared were positively nun-like compared to theirs!

These little foxes actually had good taste, but in this era, their clothes were outrageous or outright revealing. Coupled with their figures, they’d surely draw stares wherever they went. Any professor who saw them would mutter about the decline of society.

Even more amusing, the group of girls all chewed gum, wandering around the office, fiddling with things here, kicking things there, or slipping items into their sleeves when no one was looking.

In no time, the office was a mess—a gang of little hooligans. And thieves, too.

Two of the foxes even brought a vintage camera set, a lighting board, and a magical “moon moth” lamp.

Louis was stunned—they’d come fully equipped!

When he gawked at them, those two foxes flashed him wicked grins and, still chewing gum, began setting up their equipment.

While working, they cursed incessantly, sometimes mentioning how they’d blackmailed some adult wizard or professor the day before, then deliberately glancing at Louis.

After three foxes had sufficiently turned the office upside down, one particularly tall fox sat right on Louis’ desk, playing with the items there and smirking as she tossed crude pick-up lines his way, even trying to lift his chin.

Louis was dumbfounded. Helen was equally shocked.

[Zinnia, you little witch! Just wait until tonight—I’ll strip your fur off!] Helen’s face flushed scarlet with rage, barely stopping herself from shouting.

You little brat, learning nothing but trouble—swearing already! Your sister clearly hasn’t disciplined you enough!

As the hand reached for his chin, Louis rolled his eyes and swatted it away with a fly swatter.

Zinnia yelped, then laughed. “Feisty, aren’t you? That’s exactly how I like them.”

At that moment, a tall young woman of about twenty entered, dressed in a black, deeply slitted witch’s robe and black aristocratic garter stockings—Miss Lilith, Chief Assistant to the Grand Alchemist Dylan, and one of the most notorious members of the Fox family at Sacred Tree Academy.

Or, in Helen’s eyes, one of the academy’s ultimate “big sisters”—a true queen bee.

Compared to these queens, Loufield was a model student.

Lilith was a perennial super-senior—most who stayed on after passing the wizard’s exams did so to earn a Sacred Tree degree or a professorship. Not Lilith. Though talented, she lacked the knowledge and never passed the exams.

She stayed simply because she liked it here—so many minions, so many admirers. What fun!

Her elder sister, Sakura Bell, never interfered with her antics, even giving her some family errands in the academy.

Thus, Lilith had a new excuse—it was “for business.”

It sounded impressive—at least among the students.

And there really was business: Grand Alchemist Dylan was actually an employee of the Red Fox Den.

As the manager of the Den, Lilith’s own teacher was technically her subordinate.

Professor Dylan was indeed somewhat afraid of her—in fact, she wasn’t the only one; many professors were. A super-senior who intimidated faculty and had ties to every power in Knockturn Alley—many students worshipped her, and many feared her.

In the academy, if a student knew Lilith, or she’d even spoken to them, that was a matter of pride. To be one of her followers was to be a boss among students.

Helen was absolutely in awe of her super big sister.

As this tall lady in a high-level black witch’s robe entered, all the little foxes quieted down, growing visibly more cautious.

Rows of narration and options appeared before Louis’ eyes. Staring at the words, he was utterly stunned.