“What happened this time is even more troublesome. Lilith’s matter caused a lot of anger with Judge Academy. Asabanor was already enough to cause Judge Academy some headache; with these things added into the mix, our diplomatic department is going crazy.”
“What does the dean think about Asabanor’s matter?”
“He obviously wants to quell it quickly. Working together with Judge Academy was also only possible thanks to the dean.” Yu Mei’s face slowly turned dark. “It’s a pity those stubborn old coots stirred up this mess!”
There was no way to know if the military’s resistance was due to having good intentions toward Asabanor or just purely to oppose the dean, but no matter what, Judge Academy and Dawn Academy had lost most of their trust in each other after Wildfire Town.
Talking as she walked, Yu Mei’s expression was solemn throughout. Probably noticing that Xiao Lin’s eyebrows were furrowed the whole way, she relaxed herself, saying softly, “You don’t have to think too much. You still don’t have to be concerned about all this. You’ll be fine as long as the dean is around. The dean will probably do something after what’s happened too.”
Yu Mei laughed coldly, but did not expose what they would be doing, only asking Xiao Lin to hurry back to the academy after he returned. At the very least, the military did not have any power within the academy, so Xiao Lin would be absolutely safe there.
Yu Mei had some questions for Xiao Lin as well, which he chose to answer only a portion of, such as the native talent holder in Silverlight Lake and the mixed-blood orc Hammerhead.
As for Silverlight’s status as a descendant of Atlantis, as well as the shard given to him by Onyxia, he said nothing. It was not that he did not trust Yu Mei, but the information was too sensitive, so it was not the place to say.
He could not hide Ibeiya either, even though he had his doubts about the status of that girl. Xiao Lin clearly remembered during their fight with the dark elf that the elf said, “Blood of the true ancestors,” but Ibeiya had helped them a lot in their journey. Whatever the ‘blood of the true ancestors’ was, it had saved Xiao Lin’s life, so he made sure to give her a few good words when he brought up that girl to Yu Mei.
“If it’s possible, let her stay in Dawn City,” Xiao Lin said tactfully.
“Oh, I didn’t know you had that kind of a hobby.” Yu Mei rolled her eyes, not waiting for Xiao Lin to explain before continuing, “This won’t be easy to do. Dawn City is our capital. Even though there are a lot of people coming and going everyday, you’d need to grow through a strict investigation in order to stay there for the long term, especially after what happened with Asabanor. The checks will be even more strict. It’ll be impossible to stay in the city for those without a clear background.”
“Then are you saying we should chase her away?” Xiao Lin obviously could not accept that result.
“There’s another option, which is to hand her to me,” Yu Mei said.
“Hand her to you?” Xiao Lin’s mind was obviously wandering as he measured Yu Mei with a suspicious look. He turned around to look at Ibeiya, and the girl immediately waved at him excitedly. That cute girl was absolutely capable of slaying both men and women.
“What are you thinking about!” Yu Mei glared at him angrily. “I mean let her join the sixth regiment. Our regiment needs people anyway. Anyone we can recruit is good!”
“Is that appropriate?” Xiao Lin furrowed his eyebrows.
“If she really is someone from the Rosa Kingdom, then you don’t have to worry. Just leave it to me.” Yu Mei seemed to already have a plan, but she did not want to reveal everything at that moment.
The way back to Dawn City was quite smooth, even though they went through orc territories. Everything was within the jurisdiction of Dawn Academy, and thanks to Yu Mei’s captain status, they immediately got the help of the local guards when they got closer to the city.
After six days, they finally reached Dawn City. There seemed to be added security outside the city walls. Patrols could be seen roaming the streets, but they were not around because of Asabanor. Instead it was due to the dean’s injury. The dean was attacked in the outskirts of the city, but the fact that an attacker could infiltrate their territory so deeply was already cause for clamor.
Xiao Lin’s return was very low key. Yu Mei did not even bring him back to the army camp. She immediately led Xiao Lin back to the spatial carriage the moment they went into the city.
“Planet Norma is currently a troublesome place, and your strength is still not at a good enough level. Go back and study properly!” Those were Yu Mei’s final words to Xiao Lin. She did not even give him the chance to privately say goodbye to Ibeiya before hurrying him back to the academy.
After half an hour in the golden Timesand, he opened the carriage. Looking at the blue skies in the academy, Xiao Lin paused for a good moment. He did not feel it before, but after spending so much time on Planet Norma, he felt unused to being back.
His return did not cause any effects at all. Even the student union president did not make a move. It was half a month since he left the academy. He would occasionally meet someone familiar on the road and greet them. Xiao Lin did not head straight back to the dormitories. Instead, he went to the lounge and picked up a copy of the Dawn Academy Evening News to read.
Since he rushed back, there were a lot of things he did not have the time to properly understand before being forced into the spatial carriage by Yu Mei. Even if the happenings on Planet Norma did not affect the academy that much, a lot could still appear on the evening news. Just as he expected, the headline was about the attempt on the dean. They even used some shocking red words, basically covering the entire page. The incident was described very simply, basically the same as how Yu Mei explained it to him.
The second page offered some views on the assassination attempt. The words within caused Xiao Lin to furrow his eyebrows more and more. The paper had used very straightforward words, accusing several academies of planning this attempt, including the Royal British Academy and Judge Academy.
While it was a reasonable conclusion, since looking at it from an unbiased point of view, it was not a stretch that Judge Academy would retaliate in anger and humiliation after what happened with Lilith.
However, after the speculation, the news very subtly pointed out that the reason the Royal Academy and Judge Academy would dare to move so openly in Dawn Academy’s own territory was due to the wrong decisions in governance within the academy in the last few decades. They accused the academy of spending too much manpower and resources on keeping the orcs in check, completely neglecting the threat of the other academies.
Even though they did not name anyone outright, it was obvious to anyone with an understanding of the inner workings of the academy. The news report was on the dean’s side, denouncing the assailant on the surface, but in reality, saying that the attempt on the dean was entirely his own doing!
Without a doubt, the one who wrote that piece was from the army. Xiao Lin clenched his teeth as he read it. Even though he was not very close to the dean, some people were worth trusting even after meeting them just once. Xiao Lin absolutely trusted the dean with this matter.
In contrast, the military had not only used Xiao Lin to get at the dean, they even tried to use him to kill Lilith. Just those things alone were enough to incur Xiao Lin’s disdain.