Book 4 - Schemer of the Scalding Sands: Chapter 33; A Scathing Retort

The screen turns on as the next chapter title plays "Chapter 33; A Scathing Retort".

They seem to have been on the losing end of the battle, as Kalim is too out of it and wouldn't be willing to fight Jamil anyways, plus having a magic-less student they have to help protect as well.

Jamil seems to spot a solid opening as he shouts at them "I have no need for an incompitent king or a con artist! Your personality flaws give me ADEQUATE cause~... To send you packing on a one-way trip to the ends of the earth! WHOOPEEEEE!!"

He then uses extremely strong wind magic to start to send them flying far away, causing them all to scream while Jamil shouts "SO LONG!" while laughing but is barely heard shouting "EX-HOUSEWARDEN KALIM!" before laughing insanely even more.

Yuu can only see the sky and clouds for a solid minute, proving how far and high they were thrown as they all continue to scream in terror. They all then crash land far away in a cold dark and gray place, with the only reason they were even able to be ok was because of the sand, and even then there were quite a few rocks around this place.

Grim groans in pain before complaining "I really can't catch a break around here…" Yuu thinks 'He knocked us into next week and then some…' but then notices someone looking at her at least so she says "I'm alive. Barely…" before slowly trying to sit up while putting a hand to her head.

Azul seems to have luckily kept his glasses as he wipes them off before pushing them back on and says "It would seem he flung us quite some distance." Floyd then rubs his arms as he complains "Brrr! It's seriously cold here!~ It's like we're under the ice floes."

Kalim is still passed out though, so Jade had moved over to him and tried to shake him awake while asking "Kalim? Kalim, are you alright? Please, speak to me."

Kalim then groaned in pain as he slowly woke up and asked "Rgh… Urgh… Where am I?" Jade smiles as he says "Good. You're awake."

He then states, answering Kalim's question and the others unasked ones "I believe we're at the edge of the dimension that contains Scarabia Dorm."

Azul then comments "Grim is a ball of fur, and we merfolk have some innate cold resistance, but… I fear Yuu and Kalim will not last long in this cold."

Jade states "We don't have any brooms or carpets to fly out on." so he further asks Azul "What does that leave us for options?" Although he didn't say it in a sarcastic tone of anything but seemed like he was more laying everything out so that they had full information to form a plan.

Floyd then says "It'll be a slog, but walkin's our only way back."

But Azul debunks that, telling Floyd "We spent quite a while in flight before we landed. It would take hours – possibly days – to trudge back on foot."

Azul then gets an annoyed look as he tells Floyd "...And I can't take another minute of you with that voice, Floyd. I'm tearing up the contract and annulling it. Back to your old voice." Floyd complains at that "Awww, but I liked being all baritone!~"

But Azul doesn't listen and takes the contract out of his jacket pocket and tears it up.

Floyd made varying noises as he slowly got used to and gained his regular voice again. Floyd then says "Yup, all back to normal~"

Jade then tells Floyd "I'm impressed you're okay with making a contract with Azul and lending him your signature spell as 'collateral,' if I do say so myself. I'd worry about him inventing excuses to hold onto it indefinitely… So I'd never make a contract with him, personally." Floyd shrugs but replies "Yeah, I wouldn't put that past him. But I didn't care about gettin' my magic back all that much to start with. If I got tired of the voice, I could just change the terms to somethin' else."

Azul, hearing the twins talk about him, gets offended and tells them "I'm standing right here, for the record."

Kalim is then heard sniffling and crying with tears in his eyes he mumbles "Jamil… I trusted you…" Floyd almost seems worried as he asks Kalim "You cryin', little Sea Otter? Your tears are gonna freeze over, y'know."

But Kalim doesn't seem to hear him as he mumbles "It's all my fault… I drove Jamil to the brink without even realizing it. The real Jamil would never do such things! He's a good guy! He's always helping me, giving me a shoulder to lean on, and–"

Due to this place being too quiet they could hear all of his mumbles though. Yuu then speaks up with an eye-roll, telling Kalim "A 'good guy' wouldn't knock his friend into another area code!" Kalim looks up at her shocked and says "What…?"

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