Chapter 21: It really wasn’t me
“I, I didn’t! It was Bryan!” Fitch was aghast and loudly protested his innocence.
Pa pa!
Another two slaps, Fitch’s cheeks were now puffed up. Fanny stared at Fitch in a towering rage as she bit off her words, “How dare you make excuses. Bryan is such an honest person, how could he have committed such a foul act? It must’ve been you.”
Bryan was at a loss for words as he gloated inwardly. He hastily painted a picture of honest, dumb innocence on his face as he looked at Fitch and Fanny. He smiled dully, “What’s wrong?”
“Master Fanny, it really wasn’t me!” Fitch was suddenly the most wronged man in the world as he clutched his cheeks and protested loudly.
“Stop lying. Get out. Now!” Fanny wore an expression of exasperation that iron wouldn’t improve and become steel (Chinese expression of wishing someone would improve) and replied heatedly.
Fitch’s face was sore and saw that Fanny was ready to erupt with rage at any moment. He knew that any explanation would be of no use, and was deathly afraid that Fanny would strike out again if he sent her up a wall. He smiled bitterly and nodded, heading outside the training fields with a face full of dejection.
When he passed by Bryan, Fitch paused and glared at Han Shuo viciously for a few moments, gritting his teeth and saying softly, “Bastard.”
Han Shuo pretended complete innocence of Fitch’s hate and even smiled honestly at him in a friendly, kind gesture. “Eh? How come you suddenly got fat?”
Fitch was infuriated and he turned his face away in resentment, after glaring at Han Shuo one more time. He quickly bypassed the obstacles in his way and disappeared outside the door in a blink of an eye.
“Bryan, what are you doing here?” Master Fanny’s anger abated as soon as Fitch left, and she posed a question to Han Shuo.
“Cleaning.” Han Shuo went to do his own thing in the corner of the training field. He picked up a broom and prepared to clean up the area a bit to get it ready for a subsequent round of necromancy students.
“Oh I see. Oh right, how’s your back feeling? When your injuries have healed, I want to take a close look at what’s going on with you. It’s incredible that an Agony of the Soul magic could allow you to gain mental strength.” Fanny was quite affable when faced with Han Shuo, conversing with him peacefully and helping him clean up the obstacles on the ground with no haughty attitude at all.
“Much, much better. Oh right, Master Fanny, can you not tell the school authorities what happened last night?” Han Shuo absentmindedly swept up broken bones and dust, and took a sniff of the right hand that had touched Fanny’s butt when he had a moment.
A faint, delicate fragrance emanated from the fingers of his right hand, making his heart lurch. His eyes immediately gazed strangely at Fanny’s pert butt, which happened to be not too far away. Fanny’s back arched slightly when she bent down to clear the obstacles, further accentuating the mesmerizing curve of her butt. It was as if it contained a hypnotizing power of temptation.
Fanny was a bit startled by Han Shuo’s words and quickly straightened her lithe body. She turned to look at Han Shuo and asked in astonishment. “Why? Hmm, Bryan you’re not concentrating, you’re stepping on the broom.”
He hadn’t expected Fanny to abruptly turn around. Han Shuo had a guilty conscience and hastily moved his foot off the broom, smiling dumbly afterwards. “Carey and Borg are actually good people. If you tell the school authorities what happened, they’ll be fired. Life will be difficult if their families don’t have the silver they earn anymore.”
Fanny gazed at Han Shuo in amazement and slightly crooked a dainty eyebrow. She smiled after a moment and said, “Bryan, you’re always so kind. You speak on their behalf even after they’ve bullied you. Alright, I’ll forget it, since even you, the victim, pleads so. I won’t put them in a difficult place. You are the key to my experiments, remember to tell me if anyone bullies you in the future!”
Kind! Han Shuo was at a loss of words internally. Sure, what he was doing now was “kind”, otherwise he wouldn’t have the opportunity to blackmail Carey and Borg into doing his duties. If the two of them left, then everything would fall on him and Jack’s shoulders. Who would give a crap about what happened to the latter?
As Han Shuo was thinking his random thoughts, Fanny looked at Han Shuo suspiciously and spoke again. “Bryan, I don’t think you’re that crazy. Otherwise, how could you say what you’ve just said?”
Momentarily dumfounded, Han Shuo’s heart skipped a beat. He hastily scratched his head and replied with some embarrassment, “Eh, I sometimes feel like my mind is dull and foggy. I don’t know what I do after that!”
“I see. Looks like there are some negative aftereffects of the Agony of the Soul on your body. Hmm, don’t worry. I’ll give you a close inspection when your back heals. I’ll definitely cure all your weird ailments. It’s almost time for me to lead students in the next round of experiments. I’m going to get back and get ready. You can clean up the rest!” Fanny chanted an incantation after speaking to Han Shuo, sending the zombie warriors in the training field back to the other dimension, and then left in a whirl.
Soon after Fanny had left, Han Shuo left the ruins in the training field and left to find Carey and Borg as well. He dictated arrogantly to them, “Don’t worry, I’ve already taken care of your business. The two of you can now go clean up the training field!”
Carey and Borg was happily astonished, and ran off willy nilly with mops and brooms, overjoyed to mop up behind Han Shuo after showering a round of gratitude on him.
Han Shuo had no pressing things to do after leaving the training field. He became curious about the contents of the jade box after recalling the events of yesterday, and truly wanted to learn what the ball was. There was no way that he could ask anyone else about this, and thus decided to head to the dark major library to see if there were any records of the ball.
Each major had its own individual library within the Babylon Academy of Magic. The range of topics contained within the books of each library were exceedingly diverse, and held all the wisdom and descriptions of the major’s collective knowledge bank. Generally speaking, libraries were not open to the public, and there were strict regulations regarding access for students from other majors.
Using Jack’s cleaning duties as an excuse, Han Shuo swaggered into the dark major library with a brush in hand.
“Bryan, what are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be cleaning the training field at this time?” Little fatty Jack was putting books away and was startled into a soft question when he saw Han Shuo walk in with a brush.
“Heh heh, Carey and Borg, those two idiots, will be the ones cleaning up the training field in the future. I’m here on serious business today!” Han Shuo smiled and picked up a random book in a relaxed manner. He glanced at it and put it back after realizing that it was a book on the foundational basics of dark magic.
“Carey and Borg are cleaning the training field for you. …how is that possible? Eh, is it because they’re scared of you after the beating in the training field yesterday?” Little fatty Jack had an expression of astonishment, but then remembered Han Shuo’s performance yesterday and looked at him with a bit of fear. “Oh right Bryan, what happened to you yesterday? You seemed like a different person. Even though we’re really close, even I was really afraid of you yesterday!”
Han Shuo laughed lightly as he put one hand on Jack’s shoulder. “That depends on who. If someone is making life difficult for me, I won’t let him have an easy one either. Heh heh, with our relationship, there’s no way that I would beat you up. Oh right Jack, where are the books regarding magical items in the dark major library?”
“Mm, second bookcase in the back. Why do you ask?” Jack pointed behind Han Shuo and asked in confusion.
“Nothing much, helping you clean?” Han Shuo smiled and walked towards the bookcase of magical item references.
“But Bryan, I’ve already dusted off that bookcase!” “Then I’ll dust it off again for you!”
When he reached the appropriate bookcase, Han Shuo started from the last row and started flipping through a book, carelessly throwing his brush to the side.
When he had been observing the jade box last night, Han Shuo’s mental strength flowed curiously to the ball inside. This allowed him to vaguely sense the magical currents within the ball. The Han Shuo of now wasn’t a complete rookie when it came to magical knowledge, and naturally understood that magical currents indicated that the ball was some kind of magical object. This was why he came searching for the ball’s origins within the library.
Unfortunately, Han Shuo realized after perusing most of the books on magical items that these contained only simple descriptions of ordinary magical staffs, robes and jewelry. It wasn’t what he wanted.
He cleaned up the bookcase with some dejection and resignation, no longer holding out hope for answers here. He then moved to the bookcases holding books on necromancy.
Since he had made his way to the library, he couldn’t very well leave empty handed. He should bring at least one book back for further study, Han Shuo mused as he started browsing through the books. The books at the top of the bookcases dealt with higher level magic, he wouldn’t understand them even he took them home. Therefore, he turned his attention to the lower level.
A book of “The Description of Dark Creatures” caught his eye. He flipped through a few pages and discovered that it recorded some of the particulars of summoning dark creatures.
Happy at heart, Han Shuo immediately went to find Jack and waved “The Description of Dark Creatures” at Jack. He chuckled, “Jack, I’m taking this book back for further study. Cover for me, don’t let other people find out.”
He didn’t wait for Jack to respond and happily stuffed the book into his clothes, grabbed the brush he’d discarded earlier, and left the library.