Book 4 - Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 17; Getting Together Late

The screen turns on as the chapter title plays "Chapter - 17; Getting Together Late".

Everyone had just finished marching and reached the Eastern Oasis.

Grim panted and wheezed before yelling "I think I've got a whole desert's worth of sand in my throat! Kalim, gimme some water!"

But this time Kalim's pupils had stayed red even after reaching the oasis, as he shouted back at the fire cat, Grim, "How DARE you take that tone with me!" This made Grim let out a surprised sound and jump back into Yuu's arms a little.

Kalim then crossed his arms, now creating a different atmosphere than how it was, before it was in a much more playful but now it was demanding respect and showing authority as he rudely stated to all of the students "I am not your faucet. If you want water, draw it from the oasis yourselves."

A more courageous student asks "You mean the one that's bone dry? How?" Another muttered to himself, hoping for the housewarden not to hear him, "This is going beyond tyranny…" Another heard and whispered back "Seriously, what's wrong with the housewarden?"

Just then Jamil, ever the hero, came up to the students telling them "Don't worry, I came prepared for this. We've got camels loaded with water. Offload it and share it amongst yourselves."

The first more courageous student took one of the waters as he thanked Jamil "Thank you. If only you were housewarden, Jamil."

Jamil then fakes a look of offense towards the comment as he told the student "Perish the thought. And don't vocalize it." before turning the fake look into one of sympathy as he finished his previous statement with "What if Kalim heard you?"

The student whisper-shouts back "But it's true!" The one that muttered to himself, heard all of this and added on "Even before Housewarden Kalim started acting like this, you were the one doing most of his duties, Jamil!"

But at this Jamil only shakes his head as he shushes them before saying "It's fine. It's my family's honor – actually no, it's MY honor to serve the Asims." While shaking his head and saying all of that he lowered his head so no one was able to see the small smirk that had played on his features. Which might have been caused by the fact that perhaps everything was going just according to plan?

The smirk was gone when he looked back up, ever hiding, as he added "Drink your water and rest up. It's getting hotter now that the sun's high in the sky. The march back will only be worse." to the students before walking away.

The first student whispered "Jamil…" as he walked away.

Just then Kalim, still with red pupils, shouted at all the students "All students, assemble! Break time is now over. Form ranks, and no lollygagging!"

The tan haired student then said "Jamil, I… I can't take another day like this." Another then tagged on saying "I'm done following the housewarden, too!" The third one then essentially shouted "Why are you still obeying him, Jamil?!"

Jamil replies "It's because…" before closing his eyes as he continues "He's Kalim Al-Asim." Yuu then asks "Because you like him as a person?" Jamil answers "It's…" before he paused to think for a second "hard to say."

Jamil then tells all of the students "Let's have a talk tonight. I'll arrange things so Kalim doesn't catch us."

He then turns his full attention to the two non-Scarabia students asking "Yuu, could you spare some time for this as well?" Yuu nods as her answer.

…

It then cuts to that night in the Scarabia dorm lounge. All the students are gathered there and are sitting around.

Jamil then walks in and looks around as he asks "Is everybody here?"

The tan haired courageous student from before answers as well as asks "Yes, sir. Where's Housewarden Kalim?" Jamil answers "Sleeping. I brewed him a soporific herbal tea. He should be in a deeper sleep than usual."

Grim, as per his usual, gets straight to the point and asks "So, what's the deal, and where do we come in? I'm exhausted, so make it quick. I wanna get back and pass out."

The purple haired student behind him scowls as he tells Grim "It's no different for the rest of us. Quiet down."

Jamil then starts talking "I understand that you are all unhappy with how Kalim is running things. Being locked in your dorms over winter break and forced to undergo harsh training day in and day out… Who wouldn't resent such harsh treatment? I agree that what Kalim's doing is not for the best."

The courageous student speaks out again yelling "Then why won't you stop him?!"

Jamil frowns, most likely for being interrupted but it also fits surprisingly well with what he said next so he didn't even try to cover it "I have, many times. But he's stopped listening to me."

Grim then brings the problem to the students fault asking them all "If you guys have that much of a problem with it, how about sayin' to Kalim's face instead of whining to Jamil?"

The purple haired student stutters and struggles to answer Grim's question "Well… Um…"

Grim then once again asks them all a hard hitting question bringing the problem back to them "What, so you can say it to this guy, but not to the one actually causin' the problems? What a bunch of gutless wimps." ending it off with an insult to all of them.

The courageous student then shouts back at Grim's accusations "Th-that's not true! We HAVE tried to talk to him! Over and over, actually!" The second purple student says "When he's not acting strange, the housewarden really is a broadminded, kindhearted soul…" The third pink haired student also from before adds on "Everybody in the dorm used to look up to him before this started happening. We thought we had the finest housewarden in all of Night Raven College."

The first student shared his story with Kalim "When I first enrolled, I had trouble adjusting to dorm life. He lent me a shoulder and let me air it all out." The second then shares his part "When I was struggling to keep up in school and ready to drop out, he joined me for late-night cram sessions to catch up." The third then finishes their little speech with "Sometimes he's a little cavalier and not totally on top of things, but we all loved our housewarden. It was fun being a Scarabia student. And yet…"

Jamil then interrupts saying "Yes. Kalim is a truly fine housewarden. He treats everyone equally and never puts himself above anyone else." He then sighs and fakes extreme sadness with his tone but his expression reads more towards tiredness as he asks no one "However did it come to this?"

Yuu concludes all that was said by asking "So it's hard to put your foot down because you look up to him, and you can't blame him because he's super nice?"

Grim then has a rare moment as he says something intelligent "Y'know, it might be a good idea to get Kalim checked out by a doctor. He keeps sayin' one thing, then changing his mind the next minute. Even his personality shifts. That's kinda weird, don'tcha think? What if he ate some bad food or something?" Yuu remembers what they had said earlier with poison and adds on to Grim's thinking saying "Yeah, it could be poison."

Jamil answers "Doubtful. If poison was causing this, then as his poison tester, I would be equally affected." to Yuu's statement. Then going back to what Grim said about the doctors he answers "A doctor, though? If we go back to the Land of Scalding Sands, the Asim household had a doctor in their employ… But as things stand, simply getting him home would be an ordeal in and of itself." as his expression shows one of annoyance just thinking about it.

The second student snaps as he curses "Darn it!" The first student says "This is getting us nowhere fast."

Jamil says "The problem facing Scarabia now is similar to a problem that Heartslabyul recently had to address. There, the students were also forced to live under their housewarden's tyranny, as I understand it. They were all afraid of Riddle's signature spell/unique magic, and no one could stand against him."

Jamil then shows the exact reason why he called the Ramshackle duo here, asking "Hence, I would like input from you two, since you were central in solving Heartslabyul's problem. What do the two of you think we should do?"

Before Yuu is able to even speak, Grim chimes up again saying "What if you challenged Kalim to a duel and became housewarden yourself, Jamil? When everything went down with Riddle, Ace and Deuce challenged him after the headmage floated the idea! Of course, they were a couple of knuckleheads and Riddle wiped the floor with 'em, but hey. Kalim's signature spell/unique magic ain't nowhere near as threatening as Riddle's. You could probably whoop him with one hand tied behind your back!"

Jamil looks shocked at what Grim said as he answers "That is… That is the one solution that is utterly out of the question!"

The screen fades to black before "To be continued" plays before fully turning off.