God of Trash

Rhys dripped three dots of potion on his hand. That was all the more he could handle right now, without having to vent excess mana. As fun as excess mana was, it didn’t do anything for him. Didn’t help rebuild or strengthen his body, expand his core or mana tolerance, anything. Three dots meant he could practice handling more impurities, strengthen his body, and expand his core, all without losing anything… or at least, much of anything. He glanced up. Black smoke still billowed up behind him, but now it was tinner, and more concentrated. Even darker than before, to the point it almost looked like a trail of ink instead of smoke. It would give away his position, but then, he was allowed to be up here. Even if the upper tier staff found out he was here, he had completely legitimate permission to be here.

He gathered the trash into a pile as usual, but now he worked around the outskirts of the upper tier’s central square. Any time he picked up a scrap of paper, he scanned it for information, but obtained nothing useful. Most of what he found was receipts or lists of materials, or crumpled pill wrappers. The pill wrappers he added to his pile instinctively, and the same went for higher-tier potion vials, but for the most part, everything he found landed in the trash pile.

Dragging the melted husk of a cauldron onto the pile, he stood and dusted off his hands, gazing upward. At the top of the central square sat Aquari’s house. That was where he was going to find the most information about Aquari and her decisions, to include her thoughts on this new loaned teacher. Why not go straight to the source? She’d agreed to let him pick up the trash, so it wasn’t like she’d stop him. He’d avoided her house on instinct, because she was the most powerful and could rescind his invitation if she sensed anything awry… but she was also the one person whose notes he really wanted to read.

Fuck it. He’d come up here to gain access to the trash, yes, but he also needed to find out more about the teacher. If he kept flitting about the edges of the area, he’d never figure anything out. Putting his hesitations behind him, Rhys marched up to Aquari’s residence—and stared. His jaw dropped.

He stood in her yard, though ‘yard’ was a crude word for the space he stood in. It was a massive garden, complete with hedges, ponds, fountains, and statuary. It stood outside a manor that would have put most nobles to shame. Fine brick walls, tall towers, and an ornate façade. Picture windows gazed down the mountain, and marble pillars glittered in the sun. The house itself was a work of art, and he could only see the exterior.

The only problem was the absolute mountain of trash that surrounded it and filled it. Drifts of papers pressed up against the windows. Bits of broken furniture tangled in the fountains, and ruined clothing awkwardly draped the statues.

Rhys raised his brows. That’s a task and a half.

On the other hand, there were so many papers. So much she’d thrown out, without even thinking about it. The information he craved was almost certainly there. A smile spread across Rhys’ face, and he rubbed his hands together.

It was time to get down to work.

He started in the garden. Abandoning his old trash pile for a moment, he built a new one just far enough outside her manor that it shouldn’t bother her. After all, there was no need to lug her garbage across hill and dale to his old pile. There was enough here for him to build a whole new one—no, several new ones!

Almost immediately, the old trash pile started sticking in his mind. He looked at his new trash pile, but the old one loomed large in his heart, calling to him, crying out. Why had he abandoned it? Why had he piled it all up, only to give it false hope? Rhys grimaced, then ran to his whole pile and dragged it over to the new one. It took him five loads, but it was worth it. No trash left behind!

Tossed on top of the small amount of Aquari’s garden he’d cleared, it was already enough to count as a full pile. He set it aside and started a new one. I don’t need a new potion right now, and I don’t need to attract Aquari’s attention until I’m done cleaning her place. It would take him days to work through the potion he had, especially with Less is More kicking in. There was no rush on burning the trash and filtering out the impurities. As to the second point, he'd watched enough hoarder shows to know that hoarders often weren’t happy to have someone clean up their garbage. They were attached to it, for whatever reason, and they didn’t want to let it go. When someone’s ancient memaw started hitting the people taking her trash out, the worst that might happen was a happy ride in a car with flashy lights for memaw. When a high-Tier mage got angry about someone taking her trash out…