Why Did You Summon Me?

Although Baiyi was in a good mood after recent developments, the other inhabitants of the Void were less excited about the upcoming tidings. The other two interrogation sessions were not working out as well as they had hoped. Even though the Voidwalkers assigned to conduct the interrogations did so with a delicate decorum — which, at least, succeeded in keeping the hostages sane — the two hostages, the knight, and the abbot, refused to divulge any information; be it because of pride or some other reason, neither Baiyi nor the Voidwalkers were sure. They refused to budge even after the Voidwalkers explained their long term plans in detail.

“Fine, then. The two of you are dismissed; I’ll handle it,” Baiyi said in resignation.

“Apologies,” the Warrior Walker whispered.

“It’s alright. I know the both of you have done the best you could. Let me take it from here,” Baiyi replied before. After that, he used his consciousness to enclose the two hostages separately; this was akin to placing each hostage in solitary confinement.

It was a form of torture more pernicious than being forcefully muted. Being locked up in perpetual darkness without a single mode to communicate or a single way of telling how much time had passed, for a very long time, could mar even a person’s cognizance of self-identity. This was, in short, a very cruel punishment.

“Let’s see how long your pride can last,” said Baiyi. He had no plan to spend more of his time on matters regarding these hostages; whenever they could not take it anymore, they would loosen up.

When the students woke up, Baiyi summoned them all and began to tell them about his latest adventure. Naturally, there were bits and pieces included in the story that never really happened, including in his description of the inexistent realm guardians. He did this so that he would hold the complete attention of his students.

“Then, suddenly, right in front of me rose a strange, massive creature. It was eight feet tall, eyes as wide as bells, a vermillion face, and a mouth which resembled a pool filled with blood. It was incredibly bloodthirsty, so I yanked my cape off, spat on the ground, and let out a warcry from deep within my guts. After that, I catapulted myself straight at it and fought it for about three hundred rounds…”

He spun a tale of an incredible, titanic uphill battle, which he had to rely on his hardened resolve to overcome, in order to rescue so many from being devoured. Only a story of this caliber would make his students coin him the greatest hero alive. When Baiyi saw the starry eyes of his beautiful girls fixed on him, he felt strangely fulfilled.

No wonder so many enjoyed espousing a good sailor’s tale in a bar; the feeling of becoming an object of awe and reverence was pretty addictive!

When Baiyi finished his tale, it became his turn to inquire about their progress. “Okay, so my story is over. What’s yours? How were you? Did you guys have fun in class?”

The students instantly lowered their head in shame. Some were even red-faced.

“No classes, huh… Then, what have you all been up to?” Baiyi continued.

Mia stepped forward and filled him in on their activities. They ate, played, shopped like spendthrifts, and visited every part of the Walthart Empire, where they enjoyed the enriching experience of the local culture. It was as though they had been practicing the philosophy of ‘You Only Live Once’…

That would explain why so much of Baiyi’s money was spent.

“Mr. Hope…?” Little Mia could feel Baiyi’s anger boil from a mile away, so she instantly donned her most adorable facial expression and inched closer to him. When she got closed enough, she stuffed her horsetail braid into his hand. “Wanna play with this?”

Watching the youngest girl’s antic, Tisdale quickly followed suit and sat next to him. She grabbed his hand and placed it on her thigh, which was covered by a black silk sock. “Sir, you can play with me too. Just no stormy moods, okay?”

‘Who taught them to do something like this?’ Baiyi thought, slightly upset. Naturally, he had no plan to entertain their suggestions, but since they already seemed apologetic, he also had no plans to remain angry.

He retracted his hands and sat up straight, and with a serious expression, he said, “Alright; I’ll give you a pass on the past., but in the coming days, I’ll be adjusting the curriculum and the amount of homework to compensate for the lost time.

The students’ faces fell, and they screamed “no!” in their minds.

At that moment, a series of frantic knocks on the door rang through the living room, and an unfamiliar voice screamed, “H-help me! Master Hope, help me! These monsters are going to eat me!”

“You, go over there and tell those flowers to adhere to civility. After that, send the visitor away. Tell him that I have sustained an injury so grievous I cannot even walk properly, so I will not be able to accept visitors,” Baiyi said, pointing to the great Fox.

A wary expression appeared on the fox’s face. ‘So many people in this house, yet you ask me to get the door?’

Baiyi’s orders were not open to negotiations, however, so with a lowered tail, the fox went off to dismiss the visitor.

A few moments after the fox left, they heard the same voice saying, “Ey? Why is a dog answering the doo — oww, hey! Why is this dog biting me?! Help!”

Not long after that, silence returned to the mansion, and the fox returned.

“Mm-hmm. Perfect. In fact, for the next few days, you will be in charge of answering the door. If the visitors are strangers, bite them so that they will know not to visit again. None of them have noble intents, believe me,” Baiyi said to the Fox.

“As for the rest of you, Follow me to the lab and help me repair my armor,” Baiyi finished, looking at the remaining students.

His augustril armor was had dilapidated so much, it could now be confused with scrap metal. In truth, Baiyi had initially calculated just how hard the barbarians should hit his armor so that the damage would appear terrifying on the inside, even though it was still under his control. A sufficient amount of repairs could extend the armor’s useful life by a decade.

Augustril was a rare material that Baiyi himself did not possess, but he could fill the cracks in his augustril armor with mithril, and paint the patched armor to make it look as good as new.

Once inside the underground lab, Baiyi relaxed and let the broken pieces fall off, and then he instructed his students on just how to patch him back up.

As though their efforts were fueled by love and respect, the students worked carefully and meticulously, paying attention to even the slightest of details. It took a day for most of the damages to be mended. After that, a few girls went out and purchased silver paint, which they used to paint the refurbished armor, making him look as good as new.

After the work was done, Mia did not rub her cheeks against his face mask because his paint was still wet…

When the other students were working on the repairs, the fox sent off at least a dozen strangers. It could not help but feel that Baiyi had coined it an annoying mutt only useful for scaring away interlopers.

The interlopers did not give up, though; they decided to come at Baiyi using a deadly weapon — a woman’s curves. The next morning, Undine’s screams could be heard just outside the door. “Owwww! This horny Jawflower has focused on my skirt again!”

The fox knew better than to bite an acquaintance, so it let her in. This time, Undine was quick with her movements, so the Jawflower was not able to rip her skirt apart in service of its master.

“My most beloved Master Hope, what have you done this time? The whole world’s talking about you again. What crazy stunt did you pull off this time?” Undine went straight to the point the moment she stepped into the house. As per usual, she treated the place as her own, bouncing right onto the couch. She raised her feet into the air, baring the long lean legs on her curvaceous body for the soul armature to see.

“Yes; I did something, but it was not as crazy as they would like you to think it was. It did require a bit of luck, though,” Baiyi replied, briskly, foregoing a re-telling of his story. He expected Undine to already know the details. She must have only come at that moment because she had gotten the details from an outside source. Before coming over.

“Everyone just wants to know what the treasure you got is, you know?” Undine’s voluptuous body arched in an attempt to seduce Baiyi. “Must be something powerful, I’ll bet.”

“To be honest, I’m not sure what is it, either. I’m still studying it, but I need to keep visitors away for that. All I know at this point is that the treasure is a tome from ancient Rohlserlian times. It’s quite cryptic and unique.”

He did not mention the name of the book, however; he just opted for a vague answer. The public was free to guess what it was.

“A tome from the ancient Rohlserlian times? It can’t be the Book of Servitude from legends, right?” Undine’s expression was one of shock.

“Who knows? Maybe it is, maybe it isn’t. I need to investigate it more to know conclusively,” Baiyi remained oblique.

Undine furrowed her eyebrows and began to ponder something. After a while, she propped herself up into a reclining position and tossed her pale blue hair backward, baring her supple shoulders in an alluring manner, and then she cooed, “Master Hope, would you marry me?”

“No way!” Baiyi replied and fired a blackboard chalk-sized ice projectile at her forehead, sending her reeling backward.

Later that week, a rumor began to spread that the treasure Baiyi acquired may have been the Book of Servitude, a divine item which almost all sorcerers had dreamed of acquiring. Some powers even began to ponder how best to ally themselves with him if the rumors turned out to be true.

The elites and nobles of the society attempted to contact Baiyi, including Vice President Grant of the Sorcerers’ Association, the Emperor and the Pope — who had both suffered the biggest loses in the expedition to the secret realm — and even Vidomina’s father.

At first, they sent letters, but Baiyi did not read them. He instructed Laeticia to place them with the letters he received from strangers and burn the lot or use them as fertilizer for the mutated plants.

When the interested parties noticed that their letters were not being answered, they dispatched messengers to Baiyi’s home. After suffering attacks from the mutated flora and bites from the fox, the messengers got the same cryptic answer that Undine did.

Although Baiyi spoke in a humble and candid manner, his answers were empty and revealed nothing. It was the same as not answering.