Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The wine party had been hosted to allow the attending tycoons to discuss their stances on the coming war between the Church and the Voidwalkers. Baiyi did not care what these nobles thought, but the nobles and their overactive imaginations did not understand that.
These tycoons only wished to maximize their interests, so it was not a surprise to see them butter up to both Baiyi and the Church; this way, they could be on good terms with both sides.
On the evening of the next day, the tycoons headed towards Da Xue’s portal in their luxurious coaches. Although the coaches moved as a group, not all the tycoons in them knew each other. Some tycoons were friends with each other, and some tycoons had not been acquainted with the others. Every one of the coaches was inscribed with huge emblems that belonged to the families that owned them. As the coaches ride past, people tried to guess who they belonged to.
When the tycoons arrived at Da Xue’s portal, they followed the academy’s instructions and parked their coaches on the street, in neat rows leading up to the academy’s entrance, adding an air of grandeur to the otherwise nondescript street.
The sky had darkened when two figures appeared at the gate of Da Xue’s portal. Vidomina and Undine were dressed in lavish gowns that exuded enough grandeur to rival that of the visiting nobles. The two ladies gracefully greeted the nobles and reminded them of some academy rules that they had to comply with: no noisemaking, no quarreling, and no duels to the death.
A middle-aged man with a solemn expression was the first noble to exit his carriage. His family was at the forefront of Isythre’s mining business, and they monopolized at least thirty percent of the all discovered quarries within the Empire. Last year, it was just a bit off from joining Da Xue, but this year, he stood a much better chance. Duat’s invasion had left many cities in ruin and desperately in need of a renovation. Hence, the demand for raw materials was at an all-time high, and his family was raking in more profit now than ever before.
When the middle-aged man alighted from his coach, he turned around and helped his partner descend the coach. Then, the middle-aged man clapped once, and ten servants rushed out from the coach and began to offload several large boxes atop the coach.
The middle-aged man, his partner, and the servants approached Undine and Vidomina, and the man bowed slightly to the ladies in greeting. After a small but courteous exchange, the middle-aged man and his envoy walked into the portal. The coach that was left behind moved to the side, making way for the coach behind to come forward.
The families at the back of the line were not anxious; they knew that their position in the queue had nothing to do with their chances of obtaining a seat at Da Xue. They spent the waiting time observing the families at the front of the queue, trying to learn what they might have in store this time.
Only forty-six noble families had come to compete. A while later, they had all entered the portal to join the others for the evening ball — an event that could pass off as a ‘sponsored seat auction.’ Not many nobles had dared to attend this event and compete, as they knew how difficult it was to satisfy Grand Principal Hope’s large appetite.
The location of the event was set in a courtyard close to the residential area, where the guests were received by the Doles’ butler and a retinue of servants. Baiyi would only make his appearance after everyone had arrived.
Grand Principal Hope was sitting in the room of a different building, watching the noble families trod in. “Around forty families this time, huh? That exceeded my expectations,” he murmured.
“Well, how many did you expect, Mr. Hope?” Mia, who was sitting on his lap, asked out loud. She had on an off-shoulder nightgown — which left her back open — a pair of black silk socks and white heels. She sat with her back facing Baiyi, and her swinging made the Fifth Walker, who was watching her, feel a bit dizzy.
“Look, are you really okay wearing, you know, such little clothing?” Baiyi said, gazing at Mia back that was on full display. “Won’t you catch a cold?”
Mia’s shrunk away from the cold touch of his gauntlet. “Mr. Hope!” She warned. “You promise me that I’ll get to pick my own dress this time! If you had to pick, I’ll probably be dressed like a nun right now!”
“Hey, I’m… I’m not saying anything about your dress choice now,” Baiyi said, hurriedly backing off.
Whenever Baiyi attended events like this, he would be accompanied by either the steely Warrior Walker or dragon lady Aya. However, Baiyi had humiliated Mia at the last event she attended, causing other attendees to laugh at her, so Baiyi decided to compensate Mia by accompanying her for this event.
As they chatted, Vidomina walked into the room. When Mia heard the door open, she leaped off Baiyi’s lap and stood beside him like a proper young later.
“All set?” Baiyi asked.
“Yes. Everyone’s waiting for you, Godfather,” Vidomina replied as she walked over to his other side. She then shot Mia a knowing glance, and both girls smiled at each other.
“You look absolutely gorgeous today, Nina!” Mia whispered.
“You too, Mia. You’re so adorable, I want to hug you so bad!” Vidomina whispered.
Baiyi began to draw a formation in midair whilst chanting a spell. When the formation activated, the room became blurry, and the three found themselves standing close to a stage, in the room where the hall was being held.
“Welcome, my friends,” Baiyi said to the nobles below the stage, and the area instantly became quiet.
“As you all must know, I’m not one to throw parties; this is the only one I have organized this year, yes?” Baiyi took a step forward, and the girls followed. He grasped Mia’s hand and rested his other hand on Vidomina’s shoulder. “So, my guests, please enjoy yourself as much as possible tonight, as I only organize events like this once a year.”
“I would also like to introduce you all to my student, Mia. It was she who summoned me,” Baiyi said as he patted Mia’s head gently. Mia smiled in response and nodded in greeting to the crowd. “P-pleased to meet everyone! I, um, I think this is the first time I’m attending one of Mr. Hope’s party…”
“And, over here is my goddaughter, Vidomina. I’m sure you all have been acquainted with her already,” Baiyi said as Vidomina bowed slightly.
“What lovely young ladies! It’s as though I’m looking at a happy family,” came a voice from the crowd.
“Oh, yes! Mr. Hope is like a father to me,” Mia said, smiling.
It took her a while before she suddenly stopped and reconsidered what she said. Someone had called her, Hope and Vidomina a family, and Mia agreed with it. She considered herself Mr. Hope’s daughter. However, that statement would also mean Vidomina was Mr. Hope’s daughter, too! It was as though she just had entered what was supposedly a special club that only Tisdale and Mia could join.
Fortunately, being one who was not too patient for small talks and flattery, Baiyi continued with his agenda before Vidomina could even react, “There are five more seats this year, but it doesn’t seem to make things easier for individual competitors since the numbers had increased, does it? Either way, our rules stayed the same.”
Just like that, Baiyi considered his opening speech completed, which baffled the audience. They thought he would mention anything about himself at the Church, but it seemed that the man had ignored it altogether.
“However, there’s a small change in our agenda today, too. Before my guests could quoting, I’d arranged a neat little performance aiming to entertain my guests,” Baiyi said and snapped his finger.
It was then when he heard a deep, jovial voice ringing from around them, “Solare of Astora has returned!”
What the hell? I thought I’d told you to remove those stupid voice lines, you idiot! Or are you just high again?! Baiyi may look calm on the outside, but on the inside, he was jumping into snarking action again.
Very fortunately, the machine shut up and said nothing even more embarrassing after that—maybe the Engineer had noticed that he had forgotten to remove the voice lines and muted the gigantic mecha through his PlayStation-inspired remote control. Thus, all the nobles saw was just a large, quiet, white spider-marionette marched out behind the curtains.
“This, ladies and gentlemen,” Baiyi announced proudly, “is the Phoenix!”
The audience stared at the marionette dumbfounded. Without answering them directly, Baiyi cast an Amplified Lumos Spell towards the sky to illuminate a huge patch of verdant woods. Then, the spider-marionette extended its heavy steps and marched to a spot where no one was around.
The halo-like structure above it lit and fired off a straight, dangerous ray. Under Lumos, the crowd could see the entire patch of woods erupting in flames as if it was an ocean of inferno.
The spider-marionette did not stop there; It slipped into a rapid-fire mode and shot out continuous beams of light sweeping across another unharmed patch of woods. In a flash, the entire area was decimated.
The crowd was sitting far and safe from the burning sea, yet they could recognize a potent power whenever they saw one. Their eyes were bright with interest as they mentally compared every marionette they had ever seen with the one before them. There were certainly even larger mechas than this one, yet none could compare to the firepower this spidery one packed. After all, they had never seen an entire patch of woods completely destroyed in seconds, and from the looks of it, this was only just the tip of its power.
Naturally, they wanted the weapon for themselves. Someone boldly asked, “Master Hope, is this a new weapon developed by your esteemed institution? Is this for sale?”
“Ah, it’s only a prototype. Besides, this isn’t the main theme of the day,” Baiyi answered. “We’ll talk about this some other time. Now, we have some other business to attend to.”
He clapped and saw a funny-looking stuffed bear striding out from a side of the stage, its round fluffy body bopping above its round, fluffy body while its round, fluffy limbs flailed around comically. It looked like a baby girl’s teddy bear coming alive!
“Would you kindly restore this to normal?” Baiyi asked Mr. Bear in fairy language.
“Honestly, why didn’t you pick a better location to fire your power at?” The bear replied helplessly before rubbing its paws before its chest.
To everyone’s surprise, the flames consuming the woods suddenly trembled wildly before vanishing into thin air, as if they were never there. Then, broken, charred trunks on the woods started sprouting and growing in size before slowly returning to their original, sylvan state.
