Ancient Wizards Return to Hogwarts...

Chapter 168 Eyes in a Water Drop

In an unassuming old apartment building on the outskirts of Cairo, Egypt, the bedroom light is still on even though it is late at night.

A middle-aged man with a large belly was sitting at his desk, writing furiously.

Under the dim light, lines of exquisite nonsense were written on parchment. In the small room, the only sounds were the rustling of the quill pen gliding across the parchment and the man's heavy breathing.

Obviously, writing a bunch of formalistic reports overnight is an extremely unpleasant thing.

After finishing a blank application, the man slammed his fist on the table.

"The organization's expense reimbursement process is getting more and more ridiculous! Expenses over thirty Galleons require the signature of a zodiac-level bigwig—if you don't want reimbursement, just say so! Expenses under thirty Galleons don't require a zodiac-level signature, but you have to go through suppliers on the organization's trusted list, and you have to compare prices from at least two suppliers. That Virgo guy is really something else!"

The man, seething with resentment, kept muttering curses under his breath: "What's so great about that Virgo? If I had her family background, I would have mastered the realm by now..."

"Day after day, it's all about hygiene inspections. Only someone without real skills would be so obsessed with hygiene. In a few days, we have to welcome that damn woman here for an inspection, which will delay production for several more days. Such a formalistic inspection! Even the tools in the drawers have to be labeled and have their locations marked, and we have to write quantity lists! Ha! Can't you just leave us alone?! Her arrival means I'll have to work overtime again—I'll be spending my entire Christmas holiday working overtime! Damn it!!!"

"After all the changes, they end up putting all the pressure on the people below. Humph! If an organization starts strictly inspecting hygiene and cleanliness, it's probably doomed. God, whoever it is, just get rid of this bitch!" The man grumbled as he stuffed an application form titled "Parchment Procurement Request" into the pile of documents in the drawer.

After venting his frustrations, he felt a little better. He stretched and leaned heavily against the old office chair, which creaked loudly.

The man picked up his wand and pointed it at a coffee pot not far away. Steam began to rise from the pot, and soon a cup of frothy coffee was ready.

A small cup filled with coffee floated gently onto the man's table. Instead of immediately enjoying the coffee, the man began to stroke a ring on his index finger.

The ivory-white ring has no decorations and looks like an ordinary ring at first glance. But if you look closely, you will find that the ring is actually made of bone.

"Everything I have is tied to you," the man muttered to himself, staring at his ring.

If he could merge with the divine remains, he could escape this detestable quagmire and leap into the ranks of the true high-ranking members of the Secret Order. If he were to comprehend the domain like Capricorn in the future, he could teach that crazy Virgo woman a lesson and make sure she was pinned down on the bed and rubbed against him.

It was clear that the man harbored deep resentment towards his direct superior, Vigo.

Tick ​​tock!

Just as he was going crazy over his ring, a drop of water suddenly fell on his neck, startling him.

The man looked up in surprise and then discovered that the ceiling was covered with countless water droplets.

"Are you kidding me? This is Egypt—" the man muttered instinctively, then suddenly realized something was wrong: he could vaguely see an eye in every single water droplet on the ceiling!

man:!!!

He instinctively grabbed the most convenient thing at hand—a coffee cup full of coffee—and smashed it against the ceiling.

The coffee cup shattered with a crash, shards flying all over the room, and coffee spilled onto the ceiling, leaving a large patch of grime.

The man slumped back into his office chair, gripping his wand tightly in one hand and unconsciously pinching the ring on his index finger with his thumb in the other.

After the coffee spilled, the whole room was filled with the aroma of coffee. The man was panting heavily, staring straight at the ceiling, his heart almost jumping out of his chest.

But the water droplets that had filled his eyes disappeared, as if everything that had just happened was just an illusion.

man:……

Could it be that I've been staying up too late and am hallucinating? The organization also has records that prolonged contact with divine remains can indeed lead to hallucinations.

According to the rules of the esoteric order, one should remove the ring containing the remains from the finger at this time, then close one's eyes and meditate. One should not contemplate the remains for the next 24 to 48 hours, but…

The man remembered what his Capricorn predecessor had once told him: the best time to try to merge with the divine remains is when hallucinations occur, although it is extremely dangerous, for fortune favors the bold.

The man made his decision. He took off the ring, held it tightly in his hand, and began to try to merge with it.

Time passed second by second, the aroma of coffee in the room gradually faded, and the man slowly regained his composure.

The water droplets that suddenly appeared on the ceiling and the eyes within them seemed like a hallucination.

While attempting to merge with the divine remains, the man was completely unaware that nearly a hundred beads of sweat the size of his eyes had appeared on his body.

A few hours later, as the first light of dawn appeared on the horizon, the man opened his eyes unwillingly: he had failed to merge with the divine remains.

"So thirsty." The man felt parched as he woke up. He didn't think much of it; that's how it is when you spend the night in the desert, and you feel completely dehydrated after waking up.

He picked up the water glass and drank the water in one gulp.

But this little bit of water did not satisfy his needs at all; he was still extremely thirsty, as if all the water in his body had been lost.

The man drank every beverage he could find in the house, but his dry mouth remained unrelieved. He stood up, went to the kitchen, and turned on the tap, but the pipe seemed to be clogged, and not a drop of water came out.

Utterly disappointed, the man decided to head to the esoteric branch under the son's control, where there was an ample water supply.

He lit the fireplace, then threw in a handful of Floo Powder. A flash of green light, and the man vanished.

After emerging from the branch's fireplace, the man eagerly headed towards the branch's storeroom. He knew those bastards had hidden a lot of liquor there, and now it was time to put it to good use.

"Boss?!" A voice filled with shock rang out. The man turned around impatiently and saw that it was one of his subordinates. He waved his hand impatiently, signaling his subordinate not to disturb him while he was drinking.

But his subordinate showed no sign of leaving; his eyes were filled with terror: the organization cadre standing before him had become a movable, dried-up corpse!

Sigrún has taught at the Iceland University of the Arts as a part-time lecturer since and was Dean of the Department of Fine Art from -. In – she held a research position at Reykjavík Art Museum focusing on the role of women in Icelandic art. She studied fine art at the Icelandic College of Arts and Crafts and at Pratt Institute, New York, and holds BA and MA degrees in art history and philosophy from the University of Iceland. Sigrún lives and works in Iceland.

The first update is here. The second update will be coming soon, but I'll try my best to finish it today.

Today's funny picture—what if Harry Potter was produced by Studio Ghibli?

(End of this chapter)