Chapter 38- A Wise Summer Vacation (5)
Soon after their talk, Dione departed from the school, leaving a message that she would fix an empty mansion in the capital in preparation for summer, and she would send him a carriage to pick him up the following day.
“See you tomorrow, young master!”
As soon as Dione left, Clayo immediately headed to the bank.
This time, he went straight to the main office, which he knew had substantial funds, unlike the Royal Circus branch he had went.
He would be able to withdraw 400,000 dinars in his account right away… but the problem was the check. They informed him that it would take another day to convert his “check” into cash.
Even if he wanted to pack up his luggage immediately, he still didn’t feel assured leaving without some money to sustain his plans.
Therefore, he returned to school a little witless and nevertheless packed his bags.
He nodded at Nebo in greeting and looked for Behemoth, who was nowhere inside the room. Whenever this cat would go on his routine field trips, he found it was difficult to locate him.
Shortly after, Sergeant Cha Ryuba approached the gloomy Clayo with a contrite expression.
“Clayo, you have to finish cleaning up the warehouse to complete your disciplinary service. You know you must do it again today, right? I also looked for Arthur, but I couldn’t find him, but I know he hasn’t left the dormitory yet. I’m leaving today – how many more days will you be able to finish the task starting tomorrow?”
At the reminder, Clayo could almost feel his teeth split in two, but he tried to maintain a strained smile in front of his friendly teacher.
Let’s be patient. Just be patient. It’s almost over. Clayo tried to comfort himself.
“Yes, I’ll go clean it up now. Thank you for letting me know,” Clayo nodded cordially.
Clayo knew it would be challenging to find Arthur in his room at this hour. And likewise, it was a grim prospect to look for the absent student if he had deliberately run away to avoid his chores.
But if he left it that way, Clayo was worried that the bad-tempered Jebedi would nag him.
I do this job not just to avoid trouble with my father, but I also don’t want to be caught by a level 8 wizard following me.
After a long sigh, he was determined to clean it all up by himself. He firmly fixed his mind and headed to the library warehouse once and for all.
Albeit he had cleaned up the place every day together with Arthur, the person whom he wanted to alienate from the most, there were still about five stockpiles of luggage left lying around.
Ah, yes, I learned magic to use it in this case.
Clayo strode forward across the middle of the hoard of books and stretched forth his left hand. The golden circle silently unfolded from his hands. There were a few pages contained within the magical ring.
It may require much of my time, but I have to finish it. I can do this!
A moment later, he activated two magic spells he had in his mind. Due to his previous failure in performing it, he was able to spot his mistakes and has now mastered the right timing to overlap spells with success.
Then, from the floor, two layers of complex and subtle patterns rose and brushed over the piles of paper.
“[Dismantle] [Degradation]!”
While the shape of the magic that unfurled before him was breathtaking, the spell didn’t work. The spirit was too weak, it seemed.
The books crumbled back to the floor, only some parts torn as if the shredding was incomplete. Something dark was also ominously present on the floor. Even the scraps had barely disappeared, only appearing as if they had scratched.
[Degradation] was a magical way of quickly removing small, microscopic objects. And it was a spell that took a long time to get rid of more substantial things. Therefore, Clayo thought to use it with [Dismantle] together. However, from the sight in front of him, he deduced the combined spell didn’t work correctly.
“I can’t stay here all night just to finish this…” Clayo sighed.
For a second time, he tried to cast another mantra.
Dust… dust. Ugh, it’s embarrassing. It sounds like two bottles of…’
He was lucky that no one was around.
Despite knowing that vacation had already started, and students would no longer come to school, Clayo still tried to check the place once more. When he had gauged that he was the only person in the warehouse, he chanted in a loud voice.
Behemoth had once told him, “If it’s a combination of a hymn and eloquence of words, only then can a mantra’s effect be maximized. That, and if the wizard yells it as loud as possible.”
“[Return from ash to ash, dust to dust!] 2) ”
Oh, I’m embarrassed! Clayo’s ears have turned red. It was too much for a 32-year-old drunkard to handle.
But this is all I can think of. What should I do now?
Though it felt quite shameful, it was bearable with no one around in the vicinity to see him.
Once more, two layers of magic permeated the pile of luggage, and the books and papers within the circle quickly turned into dust.
The dust, which had exploded in golden ether, soon disappeared into the air without a trace.