Early the next morning, Yuriko pushed a button to ring a doorbell. It was in a single detached home a couple of blocks from her apartment, with an open yard filled with blooming flowers. She took a deep breath, appreciating the floral aroma but she could also detect the stench of canine feces in the odd corner or two. It was barely five-thirty in the morning, and the dawn was about an hour away, but this was the time noted in her dog-walking gig she accepted ahead of the painting modelling job later this morning.

“Good morning, Mrs. Wilcox,” Yuriko said when the door opened and showed the client still in her nightgown. “I’m Lilibeth Lawson, your dog walker for the morning.”

“Oh! Good morning!” Mrs. Wilcox covered a yawn with her hand. “Nessa’s out back. I’ll introduce you to her, and next time, you can get her directly. I’d rather sleep in.”

“Of course,” Yuriko answered, though she thought that the older woman was rather too trusting to just let a total stranger handle her pet.

They went around the house and found a large dog, with shaggy brown fur, bouncing around in an enclosure. The backyard had a wooden fence surrounding it, in stark contrast to the open front lawn. Mrs. Wilcox reached over the gate and unlatched it, then was immediately tackled by the rather friendly dog.

“Down, girl!” the woman laughed, not minding the facial licks. “This is Lilibeth, she’ll take you for a walk every morning from now on.”

“Except weekends,” Yuriko dutifully reminded the woman.

“Oh, yeah, except weekends,” Mrs. Wilcox echoed. She went inside to grab the leash while leaving the friendly Nessa to sniff Yuriko’s hands.

Somewhat used to handling a rather intelligent wolf, Yuriko simply reached over and petted the dog, even as she washed her aura over the canine. Her Mien acted on all creatures, of any gender, so she made sure she was projecting Serenity. The dog, Nessa, barked and sat on her haunches, wagging her tail and panting happily.

“Oh, look at that. She took to you,” Mrs. Wilcox said happily. She attached the leash to Nessa’s collar, handed Yuriko a pooper scooper and baggies, then said, “An hour’s walk, but I’m not that strict, as long as Nessa’s happy.” She eyed Yuriko’s attire, which was her training gear: sneakers, stretchy tights, and a plain t-shirt.

“Do you mind if I run with her?” Yuriko asked.

“Oh, she’d love that. These old bones can’t do that anymore,” Mrs. Wilcox laughed as she handed the leash to Yuriko.

Yuriko smiled and said her thanks. She barely tugged at the leash before Nessa ran ahead of her, pulling at her hand. Yuriko sent a slight feeling of disapproval and Nessa’s tail wagging slowed for a moment. When Yuriko indicated that she wanted the dog to stay at her side instead of running ahead, Nessa obeyed, then wagged her tail furiously when Yuriko patted her head. “Let’s run.”

“Woof!”

It took about ten minutes to adjust her pace and restrictions so the dog didn’t end up dead from exhaustion. She’d gone full tilt from the first minute and wound up nearly dragging poor Nessa behind her even as the dog tried her best to keep up. They ran up to Greyham Park and into the jogging trail. Going a couple of rounds there took twenty minutes, then they stopped for a while to let Nessa catch her breath. Afterwards, she went on a slow, heavily restricted jog back to Mrs. Wilcox’s house. She rang the doorbell, greeted a drowsy matron and received her pay of 15.50 Torries, then left to continue training.

She had an appointment in Bernard Hall to try out for the painting model job which paid twice as much per hour. She’d still be short by several hours though, and she might need to take a Sunsday gig to make it up. She also checked her lease agreement and she actually had a three-day grace period before penalties applied, and she had a whole cycle to make it up or she’d get evicted and her deposit forfeited.

‘At least I won’t be that desperate,’ Yuriko muttered to herself. Not that she really would be, but if she wanted to keep the identity, she’d have to conform to social conventions. Which meant paying her dues on time as much as possible.

There was also something called a credit rating. She wasn’t sure what exactly it entailed, just that if hers fell below a certain point, it would be harder to buy large things later in life. To keep it up, she just had to make sure she paid her bills on time. She also apparently had a credit card which was basically a convenient loan tied to her bank account. It allowed her to pay for things through it instead of with paper bills, and Lilibeth had used the card to pay for her groceries every cycle. She didn’t do that a few days ago, but she should with her upcoming grocery runs. She discovered the credit card bill and was somewhat relieved that Lilibeth had not run up an excessive amount of debt.

Come nine o’clock, she put on her uniform, since she was entering the university, and made her way to Bernard Hall. It was on the opposite side of Trinity Part compared to Palmer Hall and was right next to the College of Human Kinetics, which was filled with athletes. She recalled some sports that Lilibeth followed, but the one that really stuck to her was Battle Ball which was the sport Evan Andrews belonged to a team in.

She secured her scooter in the parking lot, though it started drizzling. The precipitation was light enough that the droplets hissed to steam almost as soon as they touched her hair. The sun showed through the sparse clouds, and the Radiant energy she absorbed was more than enough to keep her topped up.

Physique refinement was proceeding at the expected speed, and she’d recaptured her normal shape already. She was still a couple of inches and some change shorter than her true body, but it shouldn’t take that long to catch up. Only once she reached it would she train in the Five Phases of the Sword in earnest. Her Animus core was chugging along, but she actually had to prevent her Radiant Colligia core from forming. Using the Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords as her Ennoia core would be substandard without the Radiance core, so unless she wanted to mirror her true body, she was stuck at that step for now.

“The Ennoia of Swords would be best,” she murmured to herself. But that meant she’d have to focus on nothing but swordplay for a while. No Radiance, no Elemental energies, and no spells for sure.

She was certain that if her incarnation body could form that Ennoia core, her true body would be able to upgrade her Ennoia of Radiant Flying Swords to simply the Ennoia of Radiant Swords. Refining it to just swords would be impossible since that Ennoia was orbiting her Colligia.

Room 2003 was on the second floor and was easy enough to get to since the varied Halls were just mirrors of each other. The classroom wasn’t empty when she arrived, though it was only the professor that was there. She knocked on the doorsill and nodded to the woman sitting on the desk.

“Good morning.”

“Hmmm? Oh my…”

The professor, a young-looking woman wearing a stained smock, looked at Yuriko and covered her lips with her fingers at her exclamation. She stood in a hurry and rushed up to Yuriko, who simply leaned back and offered a slight smile.

“Who might you be, my dear? You couldn’t be one of our models, right?”

“I am,” Yuriko answered. “Lilibeth Lawson.” She had her phone opened on the acceptance email and showed it to the professor.

“Tentative agreement, wasn’t it? Ah, I’m Madeline Mendez, welcome, welcome. I think we can remove the tentative part now. I don’t think the other applicant would hold a candle to your…calibre.” Madeline giggled and pulled on Yuriko’s sleeve. “You’re early, which is good. It gives me the chance to get a good look at you. Hmm-hmmm. Now, why don’t we go over to the preparation room, shall we?”

Yuriko hummed to herself as she was led into a side chamber. The classroom wasn’t that big, and it was flat. It could fit thirty students squeezed together, but from the easels and canvases, she was sure only a dozen could work in it comfortably. The side chamber was small, barely five paces by three. Half of it was occupied with a mobile dress rack too.

“Our class is on human aesthetics,” Madeline said as she closed the door. “That means anatomy and human kinetics.”

“Which means?” Yuriko asked curiously.

“Well, we’re slated to have nude models a couple of weeks later.”

“You want me to pose naked?” Yuriko asked with an arched eyebrow.

“Only if you want to.” Madeline tutted. “This session isn’t for that. Ah, nude models are paid more handsomely.”

“Oh?”

“A hundred Torries an hour.”

“I see.”

“Hoh? Interested, are we? Financial worries?”

“Uhm, yes. I’m behind on rent,” Yuriko admitted.

“I see.” Madeline gestured towards the opposite end of the chamber. “Take off those bothersome clothes please.”

Yuriko sniffed. Professor Mendez was a pretty woman, but not up to the same standards as Gwendith. She could also detect a not inconsequential amount of lust wafting off the professor, but tightly controlled and pushed at the back of her mind. Her Mien could sense curiosity and a fine appreciation for aesthetics. Fine.

She tossed her hair over her shoulders and spun around. She hadn’t gone to her usual ponytail since Lilibeth didn’t do it much, and her hair only fell below her shoulders. She gracefully unbuttoned her shirt, unzipped her skirt, and kicked off her Mary Janes. The brassiere she wore was black and lacy with a stiff underwire. She felt the professor stare at the pale skin she slowly exposed. Once she was in her underwear and socks, Yuriko turned to stare at Madeline, who had slightly flushed cheeks and was breathing rather heavily.

“Should I remove everything?” Yuriko asked innocently.

“Huh—ah! No, not yet,” Madeline stuttered. The flush receded from her face and neck easily and her eyes turned from lustful to appreciative and appraising. “Do you mind turning sideways slightly, extend your right leg then have it go on tiptoe. Hold both of your hands, fists, over your bosom, my dear. Oh, here.”

She handed Yuriko a piece of white cloth that hung down to just below her hips. She adjusted Yuriko’s grip on it, flattened it over her front, then walked around her while muttering to herself.

“Beautiful! Gorgeous! Your body is a wonderland, my dear, and is worthy of a masterpiece!” Madeline exclaimed. “I’ll bump up your wages to a hundred Torries an hour. You’ll have to remove your underwear since it ruins the image I want to capture! Ah, don’t worry, we’ll artfully cover everything up with that towel!”

“Eh, ah…”

“Oh, may I touch you?”

“Er, yeah…”

Madeline’s hand darted towards Yuriko’s bicep and she used her fingers to squeeze. “Holy ghost! You’ve got steel under there!”

“Pardon?”

“Please flex, tighten your biceps and triceps as you curl your arm.”

Yuriko followed but didn’t clench too hard. Doing so would reveal every corded muscle she had under the soft padding of skin and fat. Her sense of aesthetics was rooted in the Mishala doctrine. Muscular women weren’t considered the height of beauty, but that was no reason not to seek strength. Mishala bodies looked and felt pleasantly soft, but warrior women hid steel underneath. That was to say, her muscles didn’t stand out unless she was deliberately flexing or swinging a weapon.

“Impressive. I’ll definitely want you for the following weeks. What do you say, Lilibeth?”

Staring at the earnest woman in the eyes, Yuriko hummed to herself. It was an easy two hundred Torries and with the work she already had lined up, it would mean she would be able to pay for everything she needed. Still, a bit of a buffer would be appreciated.

“Only if you pay me for next Watersday later too,” Yuriko said.

“Deal! Now take all of that off and let’s get you ready! Oh my, oh my!”

Yuriko giggled softly to herself, which caused Madeline to redden. Well, it wasn’t as if she would expose herself to a crowd.

Right?

Source: Webnovel.com, updated by NovelKeep