Heaven's Greatest Professor

"Jenni, stop crying; our torment is over!" Aki exclaimed, patting his friend on the shoulder. "We can finally go home."

Even though he said that, his own eyes were bloodshot, with tears streaming down from all his exhaustion and accomplishment. They all had to forgo sleep for the last two days to complete their carving finally.

"My head hurts," Jenni mumbled. She peered up at the towering stele with bleary tear-filled eyes and laughed sillily. "I did not think I could do it, but I did it. I don't have to marry an old man. Father, I have not disappointed you..."

One of them, Darren, was already resting with his eyes closed, while the last one was drinking some diluted high spiritual juice, which wouldn't have a strong demerit to his constitution as the rejuvenation potion did.

"Give me that," Jenni said and seized the glass of juice from Dawg, who grumbled. Jenni didn't care about hygiene and drank the cold juice that her colleague drank. Some of the drink spilt over her mouth as her palms shook with exhaustion, but when she finally downed the glass, she found a figure coming down from the sky to land before them.

A chill spread down her spine as Jenni stared at the tall figure, the setting sun and broken sky behind him. His clothes were seething with sweat from overworking all day, yet the man had the gall to look gallant and dominating. Heaven was really unfair.

"Umm, Master Warden, your lowly slaves have completed our tasks," Jenni said demurely. Master Warden was worse than the worst slave trainer to Jenni. Even the drill sergeant didn't push the young soldiers this hard as he had done to them.

Thankfully, it was only a week, and it was over. Yes, we have earned our keep; you cannot torment us anymore, or I might really consider marrying an old man.

"So... It's over... right?"

The man didn't say anything, just stared at her with an amused smile, which, goddammit, annoyed her more than it should.

"I came back after inspecting all our work," Warden said. "There were dozens of faulty runes in the formation-"

Jenni groaned, a low squeak escaping her lips, while Aki just lay down on the ground.

"-other than that, it's good work."

"About the faulty runes?" Dawg asked, weariness and dread evident in his tone. "Do we fix them now?"

What do you mean, 'we', you dumb fuck? Jenni cursed inwardly. I have made sure not to make any mistakes. Obviously, it was all you dumb fucks who made the mistakes.

Even as her thoughts ran defiantly, she stared fearfully at the merciless Master Warden.

"Nah, I've already fixed them," Warden chuckled.

Bastard, couldn't you have mentioned that earlier, before giving us a heart attack, Jenni swore. Sometimes Jenni wondered if this vicious Master Warden truly enjoyed seeing the sheer look of horror in their eyes. Yeah, he's a sadistic bastard, I'm sure of it.

And he was a masochist too, or why else would he work all day without taking even a moment for rest? Jenni remembered the look of delight on his face when the stunning captain from the 16th infantry had thoroughly defeated him in a spar just this morning.

"Sir, our job is done," Aki asked hesitantly, "so can we leave?"

Warden shook his head. "The job is not over until we erect the barrier. We will do that in a few hours... but yeah, you're all dismissed until then. Be sure to be present at sundown. You wouldn't want to miss your great accomplishment."

Honestly, Jenni only wanted to lie on her comfy bed and sleep all day, but looking at the serious faces of the vicious master, she nodded slowly. With that, Master Warden left to attend to something else. Their shoulders slumped as they visibly relaxed upon his departure.

After about half an hour, Jenni stood up and made her way back to the Artificer department where her quarters were located. She went straight to the washroom, filled her bathtub with water, and herbs extracts, and rested in it. She fell asleep in the bathtub within a few minutes.

Thankfully, she had an alert rune installed in the tub because sleeping in the bathtub was an unhealthy habit of hers. Two hours later, the alarm blared, waking her up.

Snuggling into a pair of comfortable clothes, Jenni leapt into her bed to sleep, completely forgetting about Master Warden's assignment to show up at sundown. Well, even if she remembered it, she would just say: "Go fuck yourself" to his face if he disturbed her rest.

Yet within a couple of hours of her sleep, she awoke again, disturbed by countless calls at the door.

"God damn it!" she swore and jumped out of bed. "I swear if this is about-"

It wasn't Master Warden or her colleagues at the door, but the smiling face of Elder Ming.

"Kept your old man waiting for some time, Little Jen," Elder Ming, her father, said, inviting himself in.

"What are you doing here?" Jenni asked, and to infuse a bite into her phrase, she added, "Elder Ming?"

"You wound me, daughter," her father chuckled. "Can't an old man come to check on his daughter?"

"Cut the crap and come with the truth, or I'll shove your old ass out."

Ming scowled at her, but Jenni met his gaze with a challenge, as though asking him to berate her for using slang in front of her. Unfortunately, the old man didn't take the bait.

"Congratulations on completing the project," he said.

"So, you're going around to the quarters of all the adepts who worked on the project to congratulate them?"

Ming sighed. "I came to check on you and ask you a few questions."

"As my incompetent father or a superior officer?"

He didn't answer the question. "You look tired, so let's just not get into an argument now?"

Jenni studied his face and snorted. "You speak reason every once in a while, old man," she said. "But you still haven't told me, why did you come?"