Chapter 10 Diary
2022-07-14 Author: I'm Just a Pigeon
Normally, the Board of Governors holds overwhelming power over the School Authority. While they can't just replace the Headmaster on a whim, finding an excuse to do so isn't particularly difficult.
But Hogwarts is different. After all, it's the only school of magic, so the School Authority naturally has much more say. Plus, the Headmaster himself is a powerful figure—while he doesn't make any harsh threats, if his string of titles were in a game, they'd take up half the screen.
They'd all be shimmering and full of special effects. Clicking on any one of them would reveal a limited-edition title of terrifying significance.
Under these circumstances, the Board of Governors could only be reduced to an organization where pure-blood families, unwilling to fade into obscurity, spend money to buy their status.
As for the matter of hiring a new professor this time, convening the Board of Governors was entirely necessary—not to make them take the blame, but to let them know that Hogwarts had no intention of sidelining them completely.
To put it bluntly, even if it meant taking the blame, the Board of Governors would fight for the chance and be exceptionally happy about it. Otherwise, who would even remember that a Board of Governors existed?
—
Azkaban.
William held the paper and pen, looking at these items that were once worthless, yet he couldn't suppress the joy in his heart.
Finding such things in Azkaban was incredibly difficult. In the past, when they were cheap, he would even use only one side of a page for drafts. But now, this stuff wasn't much cheaper than silver.
In terms of smuggling, plain paper and a pen didn't take up any less space than book pages, and the Dementors inside the prison certainly wouldn't provide such things to the prisoners. If it weren't for the Warden's influence and for him asking someone to bring extra this time, William would still have to be in his prison cell, scribbling on the ground with a wooden stick.
Of course, the main reason the Warden was willing to help bring the paper and pen was that William had claimed his inspiration was running dry and he needed them to create and revise some new stories.
In any case, this excuse of "gathering material" successfully helped William obtain paper and pen, and it also elevated the speed of his mental magic research to a new level. Without them, reviewing lengthy content like the principles of Potions was simply too difficult. If he had to write it all out with a small wooden stick, half the prison cell probably wouldn't be enough space.
As for his research on the System—there had been almost no progress during this time.
He had too little contact with the people in the other prison cells to meet the recognition condition, whatever its criteria might be. As for Jinbi, the newcomer in his own cell, he only recognized Galleons.
Although he, like the other wizards, was terrified of the daily visits from the Dementors, he unfortunately had absolutely no interest in William's stories.
Just like that, Jinbi's complete disinterest shattered William's hopes of getting another Treasure Chest.
After the routine story session today, Big Guy sidled up to the corner of the wall and asked conspiratorially:
"I say, Jinbi, why do you want to be an adventurer?"
"To earn a ton of Galleons."
"Tsk, a fine ideal. And after you've earned a pile of gold?"
"Earn more Galleons."
"There's no end to making money. When you have enough Galleons, what do you want to do?"
"Hire more people, go on better adventures, to Egypt, the North Pole, Africa, to dig up the treasures buried deep underground!"
"Tsk, with so much money, you haven't thought of doing anything else?"
"Anything else? What else is there?"
Jinbi's eyes, bigger than tennis balls, widened as he pointed at William. "Like in William's stories?"
He shrugged disdainfully. "Hah, women only get in the way of my exploration."
Everyone in the cell was momentarily stunned—they had just been looked down upon by a house-elf.
It wasn't until the rotating bath time on Sunday evening that William and the others finally recovered from the fact that they had been scorned by a house-elf.
After a quick bath and watching Jinbi beat up a prisoner who discriminated against him, William took out his precious paper and pen, once again suspecting that the bath had caused him to get water on the brain.
After much deliberation, he finally put pen to paper.
"Diary"
"Don't know the exact day of imprisonment, the third day of having paper and pen.
On the first day I came in (William silently thought to himself, *transmigrated*), I was still keeping track of time, but I quickly forgot.
Can't be helped. Prison life is truly miserable. Even when everyone chats and shoots the breeze, there aren't many new topics to talk about. Day after day, we waste away in prison (William silently thought, *can't mention the magic research*). The days are long enough to drive you mad, and the routine evening feeding by the Dark Guards is something you can never get used to, no matter how many times it happens.
Living day by day in a daze, I have no idea when I'll be released. I've even gotten used to bullying new prisoners.
Jinbi is so naive, but it makes me envious. I'm still just muddling through, but he has a clear goal and is working hard for it. Even when he learned that all the Galleons in the entire cell had been filched by two guys who were released, he was only dejected for half an hour.
From today on, I will be a better version of myself. (Silently allocated an extra hour to magic research in his mind and drew a small clock to represent it.)"
"Fourth day of having paper and pen"
"Made up a new story, received unanimous praise, except from Jinbi. It seems there's no way to get that guy's approval. Abandoning that goal.
My body has gotten a bit weak from the long period of inactivity. Starting today, I'll exercise for half an hour every day.
Also, Big Guy approached me to buy my manuscripts, one Galleon for two sheets. Where did he get the money?"
"Fifth day"
"There's a new prisoner in the next cell. Apparently, he was sent by the Department for the Regulation and Control of Magical Creatures—I'm not sure if I got the name right, that's what they said. The kid was looking for a gathering place of giants, supposedly to research the ecology of half-blood giants, but the Ministry of Magic suspected him of wanting to hunt giants to create dark magic products. He almost ended up with the felons.
Nothing else new. All sorts of things aren't going smoothly (William silently noted in his mind: *research*).
Also, Big Guy raised the price, one Galleon per sheet. How did he get so much money?"
"Sixth day"
"Got thirty Galleons. Jinbi seems willing to be hired for this price, but after considering the difficulty of obtaining the chest, I gave up on the pay-to-win approach."
"Seven"
"Wasn't very diligent today, got ten Galleons, but unexpectedly made considerable progress in other matters.
That guy Big Guy is obsessed. He actually wants to buy my diary too. As if I care about a couple of Galleons?"
"Eight"
"A boring day, nothing happened, no progress."
"Nine"
"Fifteen Galleons in earnings."
…
"Eighteen"
"Azkaban is unusually lively today. The Hit-Wizards actually arrived on the island early, and every prison cell was thoroughly cleaned. In Big Guy's words, it's so clean it doesn't even look like a place for people to live.
The prisoners who are about to be released are carefully cleaning every corner of the island, just like a spring cleaning—does the Wizarding World have this custom too?"
My typing speed is a bit slow, asking for recommendations by the way.
(end of chapter)