"I don't have any hidden motives. A student from the General Department asked me for advice about a magic item, so as an Industrial Department student, I decided to take the job. That's all there is to it. Also, don't call me by that name. Call me Ann."
"Are you serious? This is that Hugo Clay! The guy who trashed the swords we and our upperclassmen worked so hard to make!"
"I understand how you feel, but if you're a craftsman, you should settle this with your skills. He's the one who came to you offering the chance. Stop complaining and just take the job."
"You bitch...!!"
"Hey, you two! Before you start arguing, there's something more important you should be dealing with! Put those breasts away! There’s a child here!"
Hugo cut into their quarrel, pointing directly at the female student's chest as he shouted.
She glanced between his face and her own chest, then gave a small "Ah" of realization. With a wry smile, she turned back to him.
"Sorry about that. I can handle the heat just fine, but as you can see, my chest is pretty big. Zipping this thing up properly makes it way too tight. That's why I wear it like this for comfort..."
"Just zip it up already! It's hard to know where to look!"
Hugo snapped at the girl, who was casually bouncing her breasts with her hands as she spoke.
Satisfied with his reaction—or perhaps feeling she'd gone too far—she properly zipped up her jumpsuit, then leaned in close to Hugo's face.
"Hmm... You're quite different from what I heard. They said you were a womanizer who'd try to put your hands on any girl, so I expected you to stare at my chest like you wanted to devour it..."
"That was the old me, before I lost my memories. A lot has happened since then, and I've changed."
"Ah, I think I did hear something about that. Well, it doesn't matter. Whether you're a perverted womanizer or an amnesiac, my job stays the same. You want me to look at your magic item, right? Hand it over."
As she spoke, the girl extended her right hand toward him.
Hugo finally lowered the hand covering Fee's eyes and looked back and forth between her face and her outstretched palm. After nodding in understanding, she introduced herself.
"Sorry for the late greeting. I'm Anhel Amber, a first-year in the High School Division of the Industrial Department. I should be the same age as you. Even though I'm a first-year, I've been coming to this workshop since my Elementary Division days. I have a decent track record, so you can trust me."
"Anhel, huh... I'm Hugo Clay. This is my younger brother Fee and my friend Melt. Nice to meet you."
"Yeah, nice to meet you too. One more thing—call me Ann. I don't like my full name."
Ann's vivid orange hair was cut into a short bob, and combined with her large, sturdy build for a girl, she looked remarkably energetic and active.
As Hugo thought that working in a place like this would naturally lead to such a robust physique, another male student interrupted the conversation.
"Hey, don't ignore me! I haven't given my approval for this!"
"Haa... Listen, why exactly do I need your permission to do my own work? It shouldn't matter to you at all."
"It does matter. This guy spent years badmouthing us. He's basically an enemy of the entire Industrial Department. There's no way we're letting him use this workshop. You all agree, right!?"
At the boy's call, the other students in the workshop erupted in loud agreement.
Anhel shrugged her shoulders in exasperation and opened her mouth to say something to them. But at that exact moment, the door behind them burst open with a loud bang as yet another person entered the room.
"Hey! When are you finally going to start working on my magic item!? How many days do you think I've been coming here already!?"
"It's you again! I've told you over and over—we can't do it because you haven't brought enough materials!"
"There's a whole pile of them right there! Just use those!"
"Those materials are for us to make our own projects, not for you! You're supposed to prepare the materials and cover the costs for your own magic item maintenance. That's the rule!"
The silver-haired young man wearing a red headband had barely stepped into the workshop before he immediately started arguing with the male student who had been speaking with Anhel.
Watching the scene with a slightly wary expression, Hugo turned to Anhel and asked, "Hey, who is that guy? The vibe I'm getting is that he's completely in the wrong here..."
"He's a General Department student who's been coming here for the past few days to request a new magic item. I think his name is Hex. I keep telling him to gather the missing materials himself, but he keeps demanding that we provide them."
Anhel answered Hugo's question with a sigh.
As she watched Hex's completely unreasonable behavior with an exasperated look, the silver-haired boy continued shouting angrily at the Industrial Department students.