Trash: Chapter 106 Pestilence Unbound (Patreon)

Chapter 106

Pestilence Unbound

As it turns out, even with an amazing Skill to remove Trash, it still takes ten-times longer to clean up a mess than it does to create said mess.

Added to the issue was the fact that the music classroom was officially labeled a biohazard. Or this world’s version of a biohazard room.

For a moment we all paused and looked on in shocked horror. Inactive slime stains covering myself, Madame Voyou and threatening to head towards the students in the front row. What had begun as a lesson in how to use music to render slimes inert, a process I am still unclear of, had shifted quickly from focusing on applications of layered music, to quick, let’s stop the slimes before they eat away at the wooden flooring.

“What was that?” One of the male students asked, confused about the sudden debris and shattering glass.

I was confused too, as I was violently pulled out of my music induced trance to find that I was suddenly surrounded by carnage and slimes. Slimes that seemed less frightening, namely from the fact that I expected them to react the same way lye or harsh acids would. Yet, what landed on me was relatively mild. Even still, my automatic response was to continue to use my Trash Skill on the slime particles and glass shards, removing them from me and my body before they could become a true problem.

While I was handling the immediate cleanup, the rest of the class acted like a wild bear was loose and searching for food in the open classroom. Music stands, desks, and instruments of all types and sizes were knocked over as panicked students retreated backwards away from the stage where an ecstatic Madame Voyou just giddily smiled at me. As if I had somehow just finished off a two-part symphony by myself, which in a way I had.

For a moment I thought I was okay, that was until Madame Voyou’s next comments brought my current state to crystal clarity.

“Roberts, Tevans,” Madame Voyou’s sharp voice rang out, her hand already out the same way one might when trying to slowly coax a wild and panicking horse to stop kicking and bucking. “You two go get one of the officials on duty and let them know that there is a containment breach.”

There was a pause, as Madame Voyou watched and gestured for the kids to go out the normally sealed shut doors at the back of the room.

“As for the rest of you,” she spoke, letting those words linger as if trying to come to some form of determination. “The rest of you go line up on the outside of the classroom, backs to the walls.”

At that, everyone began to move out quickly.

“Wait!”

At her one command, everyone that had momentarily looked reassured suddenly seemed to be expressing the exact emotions I was feeling internally. A mixture of fear, mixed with unending anticipation of the unknown.

“Only leave if you were not sprayed or splashed by the slime. By leaving here, you are declaring that you are safe from any slime related damages, and do not require assistance in having slime particles removed from your body or personage.”

A verbal liability waiver if I ever heard one. Yet, everyone seemed to think for a second. All the students who were at the back of the classroom immediately filed out. The rest all searched themselves and had their friends help search them. All to ultimately leave me behind, with a Madame Voyou who held up her slime covered arms and just seemed to laugh at how crazy things were.

It was at this exact moment that I realized there might be a screw or three loose in Madame Voyou’s head. That said, her smile was infectious, and after she and I were both clear of any slimes on us, I continued to remove traces of rogue slime particles wherever possible.

I was so lost in my own world of cleaning, that I didn’t even notice how Madame Voyou left the immediate area to communicate with the first responders. Only the loud and determined slamming of the classroom doors by the first responders seemed to let me know that people had come. That was when I saw how the room was being quarantined, as if we were knee deep in hazardous materials, which in a way was exactly what we were.

“Don’t worry, you are doing great,” Madame Voyou commented. As she spoke, I just nodded, continuing to cycle my Trash Skill and my Golden Life Ratio Mana Regeneration* to make sure I had enough mana to successfully fix my mistake. The longer we were in here, the more people came by to look into the room, and further seal the doors shut behind us. Finally, after a few more minutes of it just being the two of us, I finally broke and apologized.

“I’m sorry,” I finally stated, breaking the silence. Yet, Madame Voyou truly looked confused by my statement. As if I just said, fish should wear dresses on Tuesdays.

“What? What for?” Madame Voyou responded, confusion evident in her tone.

“For this, for ruining your classroom.”

“Oh please, this is perfect.”

“Perfect, as in you wanted this to happen?” I ask. There was a sleight pause, as Madame Voyou seemed to truly contemplate my question, before replying.

“Yeah, you proved my theory. In front of a classroom of students no less.”

“Your theory?”

“Yes, that music can be used by anyone to help neutralize the slimes.”

“What?”

“Think about it, right now, all of your fellow students are out there telling about how you crazily played your instrument. You, someone who clearly does not have a musical class, nor a form of magic tied to your Skills managed to neutralize slimes. Not just one slime either,” she paused before making sure to sound the proudest over her next statement. “In my classroom no less.”

There was a moment of silence as Madame Voyou just shook her head wistfully at that revelation. “I still say you would make a better Bard than a Healer. Though, you aren’t terrible at either for now.”

With that, I realized she was truly cracked. Apparently, she was excited about this development, not because she probably couldn’t teach music anymore. At least, she wouldn’t be able to teach here until this place was cleared and no longer a biohazard area, or whatever the equivalent term would be for this world. No, she was excited to have her music theory proven, that a student without any music related Class, or magically infused musical Skill could neutralize slimes.

Thinking back, I remember the intense burning sensation that occurred just before I managed to cause the slimes to explode. I remember feeling something breaking, as an intense heat burned in my left hand. Pausing, I pulled up my status page looking to see if any of my Skills had been forcefully changed. Only to find that they were all still the same as they always were.

I stare confusedly for a moment; it is only once I look further up that I see that something has in fact changed.

“Huh…” was all I could get out, as my eyes re-read the changed line for a second and third time.

***

(Quin “Mousey” Mossey)

Quin sat in the interrogation chamber, the thin sheen of sweat that had been forming on his back as he sweat through his clothing was now finally cold and damp. He found that his clothes now clung to him, but it was the good kind of clinging, as it helped his body finally cool off from the intense fear he felt.

Fear that he had been dealing with for a few days now. Fear brought about by his confession.

Only now that he had confessed did his body let him finally begin to relax, if ever so slightly. It was the faintest of relaxes that his body now offered. Faint in that he still had to wait for sentencing, for a verdict to come down about his confession. He was a child, and the courts had been lenient on his kind in the past, but that didn’t mean he would get off scot-free. While the government itself might be unwilling to physically punish him for his actions related to Death Eaters, that didn’t mean that common citizens wouldn’t be as unforgiving. Particularly the family members who had lost friends or family to the recent Death Eater attacks.

Fortunately, he had been found to be truthful with his confession. No signs of deception, or falsehoods noted in his delivery. The one judging Royal Order of Watchers (ROW) officer even attested to this, as his eyes glowed golden and he signed his name to the document. A document that had been rolled up and shipped off to be presented to the next level of authority figures. Either someone higher in the ROW hierarchy, or maybe the acting prince himself. If not the acting prince then at the very least the third prince would be involved, as this had been his spectacle to deal with.

In a way, Quin felt like the nickname that Cat always insisted on calling him. For he now felt like a Mouse, even after having had a day to come clean, it was only now that he came forward. Even then, it was only once he was cornered and all but forced to enter the school grounds. Mousey had let others go before him, then almost felt relieved at seeing Cat, for she all but radiated confidence. Confidence that Mousey had desperately needed, and still found lacking, even after she entered before him. Mousey even let others go in before him, separating him from Cat. Not because he thought that she would be found to be a Death Eater carrier, a fact Mousey knew was an impossibility as he had seen the Royal Seal Master himself begin forming seals on Cat’s body. While there was the off chance that the Royal Seal Master had somehow failed, that was a long shot. No, Mousey knew that Cat would be just fine upon entering. No, the issue came when Mousey had to enter. He would have to enter, and then he would be laid bare before everyone, and judged. That’s when they would see his secret. A secret that Mousey himself was still having a hard time adjusting to. A secret that said he should have known something was wrong with Sal, which he did, but only in hindsight.

If he had acted, warned others of what he had begun to see starting Friday night and into Saturday, could the tragedy that unfolded been avoided? Could he have saved lives? These are the thoughts that haunted him, even now.

As he was mentally berating himself for his past decisions, the door opened. Looking up, Mousey almost felt relief and fear strike him in equal measure. For there opening the door was the same ROW officer who had judged him to be truthful upon his confession. Seeing that same officer now, Mousey wondered if they had finally come up with a verdict. A verdict that came all too quickly, and simultaneously not quickly enough.

Would he be hung alongside Sal and the others? This was the number one concern that Mousey had upon seeing the muscular officer. Yet, Mousey was not prepared for what happened next.

“It seems that you will have a cell mate for the moment, while we deliberate some things,” the ROW officer began. Then as he spoke, he moved aside to let a battered and chained Johny Bloom, no he was a DiVoratore now, enter the cell.

Moving with labored and hidden pains, Mousey watched as Johny entered the cell. His movements clearly showing signs of being bruised and battered. The irony of their two positions was not lost on Mousey as he recalled many days suffering beatings at the hands of Johny himself. So seeing him now in such a bedraggled state was gratifying, if only slightly.

Then Mousey truly saw why Johny DiVoratore was in here, and a snarl crept onto his lip as he felt the unfamiliar sensation of rage begin to flow in his very bones as he took in the sight of the monster before him.