Chapter 238: Something Is Wrong With This Scene
Chapter 238: Something Is Wrong With This Scene
Translator: EndlessFantasy Translation Editor: EndlessFantasy Translation
The next day, the new students arrived!
The entire family woke up earlier than usual, and the girls seemed really excited at the prospect of having new classmates. Attie and Laeticia had prepared a variety of desserts for their new friends, while Mia and Tisdale put on the new clothes that they had bought the day before, with their eager faces as the extra adornment.
Although it was pretty nice to have classes right there at home, the small number of students made for a pretty unexciting ambiance. They missed the hustle and bustle of the Academy, after all, so a few more students would be most welcomed.
Baiyi himself did not have an aversion to that, either. 'It is good to have more people in the class,' he thought, seeing as the increased number of students would enable him to create a more competitive environment that could promote self-improvement and self-discovery. Plus, he could use these students as a means to expand his social network as well…
Baiyi made a few contingency plans since he was uncertain about the kind of students he was about to get, so he was now much calmer than he was the day before. First, if the student turned out to be a male — putting the stereotypical idea that studious boys are often introverted and shy — Baiyi would let the boy try a few lady's clothes until he developed a liking towards the boys, and at that time, the boy could walk the path of gender liberation 1 .
If the new students turned out to be senior citizens — well, that would be even simpler. Baiyi would simply select a topic from the Voidwalkers' Bored Topic Reservoir, and that students would be tasked to make researches on it until their time in the world was up.
The best case scenario would, of course, be female students. Then, Mia and the girls would have new friends, and they could all take care of each other. If the female students were slightly older and had a dependable, conservative, and highly-efficacious attitude, coupled with a set of healthy values, that would be a blessing!
Baiyi could not help but eye Mia and Tisdale at this point. As the weather grew colder, the girls had started wearing more clothes, but their skirts were still way too short for his liking. Even with black long johns, he was still worried that they would get a cold — besides, 'haven't they always favored white? When did they turn to black ones?'
Little Mia noticed that Baiyi was immersed in his thoughts and thought that the Soul Armature was worried about her. She ran up to the side, took off her white leather shoes and knelt on the couch, trudging forward with her Long John covered knees until she reached Baiyi. She shook his shoulders and cooed in concern, "Don't worry about us, Mr. Hope! We are gonna be such friends with the new students!"
Then, in a bid to pacify him, she automatically grabbed his hand and stuffed her horsetail braid into it. She acted like a daughter being coquettish to her dad.
Tisdale, who was watching, followed Mia's example and sat on the other side of her teacher. Her specially-made golden horsetail was stuffed into Baiyi's free hand as she added, "Sir, I'm sure the people at the Door of Conundrum are sending their very best to you!'
'Ohhhh… .My two daugh — er, students are so understanding and good!' Baiyi exclaimed internally as he felt his heart grow warm. His mask immediately donned a (≧?≦) expression.
It took a while for Baiyi to come back to his senses — hold on, that was definitely not the source of his concern! When Baiyi turned to look at Mia, he realized that the girl was already lying down comfortably on the couch, with her cute thighs resting naturally on his thighs. The texture of her black long john was alluring and inviting, to say the least, but the girl did not have a single sense awareness of how inappropriate this was, as she played with her hammerhead shark.
From Baiyi's angle though. He could see everything underneath her skirt...
Just as Baiyi was about to start a lecture, he heard a few knocks on the door. He helplessly shook his head, pushed the girl's legs off him and said, "I'll get the door."
With his fabric mask back on, he opened the door… and froze.
There was a really large dog right outside the door.
The dog was incredibly muscular. Even while sitting, the dog was still taller than Little Mia. Its body was snowy white and fluffy, and its pointy ears were perked up, twitching from side to side. Its eyes were narrowed into a line as it studied the Soul Armature.
However, that was not all there was outside Baiyi's door. Atop the dog's head was a grey owl. Its big watery eyes scanned the Soul Armature intently.
The big dog's pointy snout sniffed the air for a while as if to confirm something, and suddenly, it streaked towards Baiyi. Baiyi kicked at just the right time, and with a loud bang, the door shut, bashing the charging dog in the nose.
'Who would be walking a dog at this hour? And not even leash it up properly?'
However, he did not get to the living room before he heard very faint sounds of discussions outside. Maybe it was the dog's owner lecturing the dog?
As if to prove Baiyi wrong, the door was knocked hard on again.
Baiyi yanked the door open in frustration. 'Oh goody, now we also have three humanlike figures standing close to those animals from before — hold on, two of them looked familiar?'
Was that not his new buddy, Great Sage Baldy, and Little Miss Deep Pocket, Vidomina?
"Master Hope, we meet again! Oh, right, I should call you my Mentor now." Little Miss Deep Pocket, who donned the standard white robe that all members of The Door of Conundrum usually wore, smiled gently at Baiyi and curtsied elegantly.
The other beings also lowered their heads, bowing.
"Haha! Great Sage Hope, these are the five students the headquarter has assigned to you. What do you think?" Baldy said as he gestured at the "humanoids" and "non-humanoids".
Baiyi pointed at them. "Th-these four things — are my students?!"
"Oh no, no, no. Five," Baldy corrected him, and he pointed at something that looked quite short, yet it was wearing a plus-sized witch's pointy head.
"Are those two people? Oh no, I meant — two separate things?!"
"Here, over here." Baldy pointed at the arms of the person-underneath-the-hat. And behold, sitting nicely on the arm of the person underneath the hat was a potted flower.
It was not just any potted flower — it was a sunflower, which did not look anything like how sunflowers normally looked like. An obvious clue would be the fact that this sunflower had a human face — which was smiling at Baiyi at that very moment. 'What is this? A background character from an anime?!'
Seeing that someone had finally noticed it, the sunflower smiled even more cheerfully, wiggling its body in pride. Even its leaves were waving and dancing — as if it was showing off.
Baiyi said nothing. He looked at Baldy.
"What do you think? Excellent choices, right?" The Great Sage beamed proudly and happily rubbed the dog's head.
Baiyi stepped forward, grabbed him by his collar, and snapped, "Is this a joke from those higher-ups?"
A fiery-scarlet formation surfaced behind Baiyi as he growled, emitting dangerous waves of mana vibrations that froze all five beings, causing them to shudder.
"Hmm, impressive. This spell conjures flame poles, yes? Very fitting for the Great Sage who has saved the world multiple times. You can even cast this spell without chanting! Such admirable powers!" Baldy seemed to be too blissfully oblivious of his own peril as he reviewed Baiyi's threat. 'Gosh, he is a nerd.'
"It's called 'Doujou Temple Bell — One-Hundred Eight Fire Dragon Halberds'!" Baiyi snapped again and lifted Baldy's collar even higher.
"What a mouthful of a name," Baldy exclaimed in regret. "Please, calm down; I can explain. According to normal rules, the mentor chooses their own students, but you never replied to any of our messages. We had no idea what kind of students you would be interested in cultivating… Although, of course, there are rumors that you have some preferences for young and adorable females, we do not believe that a Great Sage like you would be so superficial —"
"Why did you guys not just believe that rumor — wait, no, I'm not that kind of person, either; but, still! …you shouldn't give me these… things, and call it a day!" Baiyi replied, unconvinced.
At his words and his obvious displeasure, the new students took a few steps back. The big dog and the owl hung their heads; the sunflower covered its face with its leaf, and Little Miss Deep Pocket and the Unknown Being underneath the witch's hat shuddered, feeling aggrieved.
"Please, they are truly excellent students. Here is proof."
Baldy slowly produced a form from his pocket and handed it to him. "The headquarter organized a poll for 'The Most Well-Liked Students' and, excluding Miss Vidomina, these students all occupied top four positions. They were sent here because they were the most likable students, you see. It was to make sure that no one would sully your reputation. Shouldn't you accept such a thought?"
The formation behind Baiyi dissipated, making everyone present sigh in relief. He took the form doubtfully and stared at it.
It really was the result of a popularity poll. The winner was Zakum 2 , whose race was… a kitsune? It was female. At the spot where the students' talents were listed, Zakum's talents were listed as "martial arts, magic, alchemy, adventuring"...
"Z-Zakum?" Baiyi shouted the name as an experiment.
The snowy white dog raised its claw and flashed him a bright smile.
'Which d-bag gave you this name? Were you born from the lava caves? Oh wait, the bigger problem is — are you sure you're a kitsune and not a doggo?'
Just as Baiyi was harping on its doggo appearance, he saw a very big, long, bushy tail, which beautifully complemented its snowy white fur, protruding from the dog's buttock. 'Awesome! Now all of the rich women would want your fur as their scarf!'
Meanwhile, the first runner-up was Nota Siniorius 3 ; female fairy; her listed talents were: "martial arts, magic (Ancient Rohlserlian formations), aerial battle, domestic works…"
"Um... Miss... Siniorius?" Baiyi called out again.
"Y-yes," the short humanoid with the witch hat answered sheepishly. She seemed quite afraid, but in the end, she managed to muster enough courage and lifted the brim of her hat a little. Underneath it was a face as chiseled and aesthetic as a work of art.