Miss Witch, even if we're poor, we can't sell ourselves!

It was almost dark when Meredith left Moon Forest Academy.

She stood at the school gate and took a deep breath of the cool early autumn air, trying to expel all the stale air that had been building up in her chest all day, but to little avail.

The top button of her white shirt collar had been ripped open in frustration during the meeting, and now it was loosely undone, her tie askew.

A dark gray trench coat draped over her arm, and several heavy documents from her briefcase weighed on her shoulders—the dispute reports she hadn't finished dealing with that day, which she would have to continue tomorrow.

"...Academician Meredith, you haven't left yet?"

A young instructor's voice came from behind.

Meredith didn't turn her head, but simply waved casually as a greeting, and then walked straight to the parking lot.

The car was an old-fashioned dark blue sedan, with draft papers and empty coffee cups scattered on the passenger seat.

She squeezed herself into the driver's seat, and the moment the door closed, all the noise was shut out.

It's quiet now.

Finally, it's quiet.

Meredith leaned back in his chair and closed his eyes for a while before starting the engine.

Anywhere is fine, as long as it helps her temporarily forget about all that trouble.

A series of problems have recently occurred in the college.

First, two students used her invented fireball spell to blast each other during a lab class, blowing a hole in the lab.

The board of trustees then used this as a pretext to cut her research funding.

Today she received another notification that someone reported her for fabricating data in one of her papers. Of course, it was baseless, but it took her three whole days just to deal with the investigation.

Although she is the youngest witch academician in Bellavita, a top scholar in the field of elemental magic theory, and has invented seventeen types of magic that have been included in textbooks, she has nearly 200 million fans on the world's largest video website.

But at this moment, all she wanted was to find a place where no one knew her and have a good drink.

While waiting at a red light, she tapped on the car's infotainment screen and aimlessly scrolled through local forums.

A post caught her attention.

【The Nightingale's Nest】:

Excellent service at affordable prices; even socially anxious women can rest assured!

She glanced at the comments section; most were positive, with the most frequently mentioned keywords being "good service," "reasonable price," "professional bartender," and "no unsolicited sales pitches."

Meredith raised an eyebrow.

There won't be any unsolicited sales pitches, which is more important to her than anything else.

She'd had enough of arguing with those old guys on the board of directors today. If she had to deal with persistent salespeople during her break, she might just blow up the whole street in a fit of rage.

The navigation showed that Nightingale's Nest was in an alley in the old town, about a 20-minute drive from the college.

She turned on her turn signal and turned into the dark street.

The bar entrance was much more understated than she had imagined, with the words "Nightingale's Nest" emitting a soft purple glow above the door.

After parking the car, she picked up her trench coat and pushed open the heavy wooden door.

Warm lighting, languid jazz music, deep burgundy walls and velvet sofas, and a faint aroma of spices and alcohol in the air.

Meredith stood at the door for a few seconds, feeling a slight weight lift from her shoulders.

I walked to the corner of the bar and sat down, folded my trench coat and placed it on the stool next to me, and put my briefcase at my feet.

I took off my glasses and wiped them on the hem of my clothes; the lenses were slightly reflected by the warm light of the bar.

Then she rubbed the bridge of her nose, opened her deep blue eyes, and began to survey her surroundings.

"Welcome! Are you alone?"

A purple-haired bartender walked over; his voice was very pleasant.

Meredith nodded.

"Hmm, this is my first time here. I've heard your service is pretty good?"

"Then you've come to the right place. We recently got a new chat girl at our shop. Today is her first day on the job, and since she's new, her chat fee is the lowest in the whole place. If you want to find someone to chat with to relieve your boredom, you can try asking her out."

Meredith instinctively wanted to say no, she was fine on her own, after all, she came here to relax by herself.

But when she looked up, following the direction Zimi Lu indicated, she saw the other side of the bar.

A little girl dressed as a maid is trying to reach a bottle of juice on the bar by standing on tiptoe.

She reached for it twice but couldn't reach it. After looking around to make sure no one was watching, she quietly moved a small stool, stepped on it, and successfully got the juice. Satisfied, she jumped down, moved the stool back to its original position, put her hands behind her back, and coughed casually.

The white headband was slightly askew on her light blonde short hair, but she was completely unaware of it.

Meredith couldn't help but smile.

"...Then let's go with her."