CHAPTER 60

The Cleaning Contest?

“Maintaining class and winning other students over takes a lot of money.
First, please pay for this meal. And give me everything in your wallet too.”

“Uh, oh. Yes, of course…”

The church agent, confused, took out his wallet.
He knew Idnia already received plenty of support funds, but she was a duke’s daughter.
Feeding her followers even once would burn through huge amounts of money—especially at an exploitative place like this academy.

“I know this is for the mission, but still—she’s asking for even more money?”
“But she seems so motivated… I can’t say no now.”

Reluctantly, the church agent handed all the money in his wallet to Idnia.

“Then please also cover today’s meal. Thank you.”

She handed him the bill and walked away.
The agent stared blankly at the restaurant staff.
The staff sighed and handed him the bill.

“We’ll deduct this as an advance on your salary.”

“Uh… shouldn’t this be covered as official expenses?”

“Only if approved. Until then, it’s an advance.”

The agent looked toward Idnia again—but she was already gone with Black Wolf.

For the rest of her time outside, Idnia shopped for snacks and gifts for the students, had a nice meal, took breaks, and even visited the harbor.
Before long, her outing time was over.

“It’s time to return. Black Wolf, I’ll leave the rest to you.”

“Got it. But are you sure this is the right thing to do?
There are so many powers watching the academy closely.
Wouldn’t it be better to just graduate quietly and go back to Betelgeuse?”

Black Wolf sounded worried about Idnia getting involved with dangerous people like the Scarlet Pimpernel and the church agent.
But Idnia shook her head.

“With Marie’s current abilities, she can’t survive the hardships that are coming.
I need to take care of things so she can become a proper Saint first. Then I can return home.”

Of course, she couldn’t just tell him she could see the future.

“Black Wolf. This world is a storm.
Even if I try to stay calm and unnoticed, when the wind blows, even the strongest trees fall.
To avoid being broken by the storm, I have to jump into it myself.”

“That’s my master. I said something foolish.
Better to ride the storm than be broken by it.”

Black Wolf was moved, though he misunderstood her meaning.

“Here, take this.”

Idnia handed him a jeweled cross. Black Wolf was surprised.

“Me? What if I run off with this?”

“Would you?”

“Of course not. I’m just saying—it’s a lot of pressure holding onto something this valuable.”

“It’s safer with you than keeping it in the dorm. Now, let’s return to the Academy.”

“Alright. Let’s take the Black Beast wagon back.”

He called the Black Beast and hitched up the cart for her.

Back at the Academy, Idnia said goodbye to Black Wolf.
As she arrived at the dorm, many students were already waiting for her.

Sendia rushed up first.

“How was it, Idnia?”

“Hmm. For spending five whole merit points, it felt short. But it was a nice break.”

“Aah, lucky! We won’t know unless we try it too.
By the way, you still have those four extra merit points, right?
The ones you can give out as Dorm Leader?”

Sendia suddenly spoke more politely—realizing Idnia could assign points as she saw fit.

“Yes, I plan to give them to those who need them, or to those who contribute to the dorm.
Ah, and I brought presents. Let’s share them!”

She handed out snacks to everyone.

There were 32 students in the Eurus dorm.
Even just buying enough for them cost a fortune—but that’s why she squeezed money from the church agent.

“You actually bought these?”

“And we can’t even bring food in through our servants.”

“Well, if the Academy allowed that, off-campus trips wouldn’t be special anymore.
If we could always get outside food, spending five points to go out wouldn’t be worth it.”

Everyone nodded.
The Academy intentionally banned outside food to make out-of-campus privileges more valuable.
And to control students by dangling merit points.

Hearing Idnia’s cool explanation, the students were impressed.

“Wow, so that’s how nobles think…”
“She’s way more mature than we are.”
“I thought I was smart when I got in—but the world is full of geniuses.”
“And not just smart—she’s kind too. Buying snacks like this takes time and effort.”

Some even started worshipping Idnia.

“As expected from a duke’s daughter.”

“Thank you!”

“Looks delicious!”

“Alright, everyone. Just take one each.”

Everyone happily took snacks.
Even Marie beamed as she got hers.

But then the armored gatekeeper showed up and ruined the mood.

“Time to sleep! The weekend is over!”

On Earth, the week is five days.
But here, it’s a six-day week.
As Idnia’s break ended, so did everyone’s weekend.

Most students came from noble or wealthy families.
This would be their first time experiencing the dreaded… Monday blues.

“Actually, that kind of makes me happy.”
“Watching nobles suffer from Mondays—what a treat.”

The sickness of death…
It’s called the Monday blues.

Most students had never worked a day in their lives.
When Monday came, they were destroyed.

“Uuugh!”

“No way! I need more rest!”

“Why am I still so tired after a full weekend off?!”

Their fatigue didn’t go away after a couple days of rest.

And to make things worse—Monday morning started with a harsh class.

“Welcome back to Basic Alchemy! That’s right—not Extraction, but cleaning work today!”

It was the dryad Naily’s class.

Apparently, she wanted to drain all their magic after the weekend.

This time, they wouldn’t be working with willow roots—but with mandrakes.

“Let’s begin by cleaning mandrakes, which are often used in potions.”

“Cleaning?”

“Yes! We’ll start with washing them.”

The mandrakes were fresh from the dirt—ugly root plants with faces like creepy ginseng.

Alchemy assistants would normally be the ones to wash them.

“You want us to do that?
We came to study magic, not do chores!”

Sendia protested—boldly.
But everyone silently agreed with her.

“Alchemy may look glamorous on the surface—”

“It doesn’t even look glamorous.”

“Ahem. Anyway, most of alchemy is about ingredient prep, extraction, and managing lab tools.
This class is where you learn the basics.
Creativity? Without a solid foundation, it just leads to explosions.
Now, let’s divide into dorm groups!”

Each dorm formed a team.

“You’ll each get two washing tubs, one water pump, and a work table.
You have one hour to clean as many mandrakes as you can.
This will be a dorm-versus-dorm competition!”

“Ugh.”

The students trembled at the instructor’s cruelty.
But after seeing how Idnia and Karl used their merits, everyone was desperate for points.

They had to try.

“Let’s shake off the dirt first.”

“Ack! So dusty!”

Students began brushing dirt off the mandrakes.
Clouds of dust flew up, making everyone cough.

“Zephyros dorm! I’ll lead us. Follow me!”

Crown Prince Rudolf stepped up.
He had the strongest student work the water pump to fill one tub.
Then others threw in the muddy mandrakes.

“That’s not going to work…”
Karl snorted.

But Rudolf shook his head.

“Everyone—spin spell, now!”

They used magic to spin the water inside the tub, washing off most of the dirt.
Then they rinsed the mandrakes with clean water in the second tub.

But the clean water ran out quickly.
And physical labor? Not what magic students expected.

Worse, the dirty tub filled up fast with sludge.

“Should we drain it, Rudolf?”

“No. Watch this.”

Rudolf raised his wand and cast a spell on the mud.

He summoned a mud golem—a 130 cm walking pile of sludge.

The mud golem cleaned the tub and even took over the water pump.

Now even more students could help wash—and Zephyros, with its 61 members, rapidly cleaned a mountain of mandrakes.

Karl from Boreas dorm smirked.

“Dust? No problem. I’ll use wind magic—hang on!”

“Yes!”

With wind blowing from behind, the Boreas students shook off the dirt without choking.

They rinsed the mandrakes with clean water and worked fast.
Even though Boreas only had 47 students, they were moving faster than Zephyros.

“Nice. We’re going to earn tons of merit points again.”

Karl bragged—but then a voice called out:

“Are you sure about that?”

It was Lorenzo, the team leader of Notos Dorm.