Chapter 175

: Why?

In the next few days, Baiyi continued sending the two girls to school and waited till afternoon before they went back to the mansion together. The dangerous situation like before did not happen again but somehow, Baiyi kept meeting with commotions everywhere he went.
A young man and his Soul Armature suddenly leapt out in front of him and with a tone that reeked of self righteousness, he shouted,
Stop! You demon! I’ll punish you on behalf of the male population!

A second later…

Don’t bite off more than you can chew…
Baiyi dusted his hands as he walked away leisurely, leaving a pile of broken armor and a bruised man behind.
The next day

Stand right there, you beast! I’m going to compete with you for the right to sleep with Mia and Tisdale!
Another young man showed up with an even better Soul Armature.
A moment later

Scum…
Baiyi dusted his handsagain and walked away lazily, leaving another pile of broken armor and a bleeding man behind.
The next day again

Halt! You monster! We will free Mia and Tisdale from your evil claws! Return them their freedom and innocence!
A group of young men and a group of Soul Armatures blocked Baiyi’s path, wanting to teach him a lesson.
Some time later

What a mob…
Baiyi dusted his hands and walked away yawning, leaving behind a mountain of broken armors and a bloody mess.
Just like that, after a whole week of confrontations, the fame of Baiyi the Grey Devil had spreaded throughout the entire Arfin City, to the point that the name was even more famous than his fame as a master in repairing armors. Previously, every blacksmith in the city envied him but right now, they secretly thanked him in silence for giving them a lot of business.
Still, the troubles that he faced were nothing more than small-scale confrontations and things did not escalate. Somehow those men who got their asses kicked seemed to have a little bit of integrity. None of their family or authority came to avenge them at all. It seemed like they had grown a brain finally.
In actuality, it was all thanks to a rumor going around that the Grand Duke of Wright, who ruled the northern part of the Empire, had owed the grey devil a huge favor but nobody knew what exactly was that favor. Because of the rumor, other people did not dare to offend Baiyi anymore. After all, if he was just a mere Soul Armature of the daughters of a feudal lord and a fallen aristocrat, then it would be easy to take him down but with a grand duke standing behind him, nobody dared to go up against him anymore.
Somebody that could afford to stand up against such a tremendous power would not have so much idle time to pester the two little girls like fly.
So, now the question had arisen. Who was the one who spread the rumor? The answer was not too difficult to guess actually. There were only a total of three people who knew of the little relation between Baiyi and the Duke. Who could it be, huh? Baiyi was not a person who liked to spread things around and Vidomina was still in the Door of Conundrum.
After all the commotion, Baiyi’s life finally became peaceful again. Nobody dared to approach Mia and Tisdale anymore.
Although this kind of situation made other people worried for the girls, wondering if they would be able to find a spouse or not in the future
Anyway, the episode was just a small entertainment before the official day of the grand ceremony, like an appetizer for the bored audience. Now that the anniversary was getting near, not only the Celestial Fortress Academy, the whole Arfin City was filled with a festive and joyous mood.
To be honest, Baiyi was not particularly fond of the atmosphere. It was not that he was an introvert but it was just that he had a feeling that he has no luck when it comes to festive occasions. Just look at the Warrior Gala of the Steppe Barbarians. The moment he went there, the gala immediately turned into a sacrificial day. It was the same at Mia’s hometown, too. At first, it was very lively like a festival and then in just a short while, it transfomed into a horrifying attack from the devils.
Could it be that I’m like a festival saboteur or something? 
Baiyi could not help but wonder. Still, there was a voice in his head telling him that there might be a few small unpleasant events during the ceremony but it would not escalate into a huge ordeal.
Well, after all, who would dare to mess with Arfin city? Especially at the time when the academy was at its strongest. Not only that, the number of city guards were increased by threefolds and the Sorcerer’s Association, Fighter’s Association and even the Church would send many strong people to attend the ceremony. At that time, one third of the entire Walthart Empire would be concentrated in Arfin City. Other than Baiyi, who else would dare to mess with such a huge ceremony? It was almost impossible for anything to happen!
For that reason, Baiyi was not bothered about many things regarding the anniversary celebration. He only needed to look after the two young girls. Such a situation lasted till the last two days of August. At present, it was a holiday. The academy had given a special holiday to the students so that they could prepare for the celebration that would be held two days after. There was no need for Baiyi to accompany them to school anymore.
Of course, he did not plan to let the holiday go to waste. He had prepared long hours of lessons for them with breaks in between. However, before he could tell them his plan, Mia’s friends suddenly came knocking on the door to invite her and Tisdale out.
They were not the students from the elite class but they were the retirees’ children.
In just a short amount of time, the mansion that was usually tranquil immediately became very lively. Attie scrambled to prepare refreshments for the students and her cat’s ears immediately grabbed their attention. Amazed, they surrounded her in no time.

Awwww… What beautiful skin you have! Can I touch it?


Your cat’s ears are so cute! Like a little kitty!


Are you really 
a servant? I’ve never seen a servant as beautiful as you!


Being surrounded in such a way, Attie did not show any awkwardness. Instead, calmly, she smiled and thanked the students in a tactful manner. She must have been used to this kind of treatment since a long time ago.
All of a sudden, a loud voice could be heard roaring in the mansion. It turned out that it was Baiyi who was yelling at a few girls who were trying to play with his plants,
DO NOT touch my plants!
It was so loud that Mr. Sorry who came along thought that the sky had fallen down.

Sorry, I-I’m sorry. It’s my faults for not keeping my eyes on them,
Mr. Sorry quickly apologized. The first ‘sorry’ was, of course, his pet phrase and the second ‘sorry’ was his real apology.
However, the girls did not seem scared. One of them even held up Baiyi’s favourite kitty pot that housed sunflowers and beamed happily,
Master Hope, this is the little flower that I 
gave you last time, right? Whoa, I did not expect it to become so big! Looks like you really take care of it well. I’m very honored Master Hope!

Of course I take a good care of it. But no matter how well I take care of it, the small flower that you plucked from the road side will never become such a beautiful sunflower, okay? What? You think the gene mutated or something? 
Baiyi snapped coldly in his mind.

But I still think this Mr. Whale is much cuter!
Another girl lifted up the big whale coin bank and touched the fragrant plant inside,
Somehow it looks like Mr. Whale has hair now! Aww, this is so cute! This doesn’t seem like something that Master Hope would do!

Oh, lord! I pity the whale that actually has green hair! And what do you mean by this is not something that I would do? What’s wrong with an old man that loves gardening?

Anyway, since these were the children of his retired friends, Baiyi did not feel it was right to be too harsh with them. And since Mr. Sorry was acting as their guardian, there was no need to worry about their safety, so after giving Tisdale some pocket money, they all left happily with Attie. Along the way, laughters from the youngs boys and girls could be heard all the way to the next street.
As for Baiyi, he proceeded to put all the plants back in their original positions and went to the living room to clean up the tea sets. When he went out to throw the trashes away, a person suddenly walked up to him and asked politely,
Hello, can you tell me how to get to this place?

It was a particularly melodious and feminine voice. Although it was just a simple sentence, the way she spoke was like singing a pleasant song, having a tranquil effect on the listener’s heart.
Baiyi turned back and saw a young girl standing in front of him. The girl looked like she was around Tisdale’s age and she was wearing an ordinary simple linen dress. Her golden hair was tied up into a long big braid which was pulled to the front. Her beautiful look was no less inferior to the girls around Baiyi. Even in such a village-like dress, it still could not hide her natural and pure beautiful aura.
There was no doubt that the girl was really beautiful, the girl-next-door type that most men loved to look at.
There was a simple ordinary-looking luggage by her feet. Both of her hands were holding onto a paper that seemed to have an address written on it. However, Baiyi did not recognize the words on it at all.
Baiyi looked into the girl’s hopeful eyes that was as bright as a sapphire before he looked down and carefully studied the words,
You have gotten the note upside down.



Huh? Oh, is that so?
A blush colored the girl’s cheeks immediately. Hastily, she turned the paper upside down and said embarassedly,
N-No wonder nobody recognized could read the words at all…

How did you even managed to live this long? And that… 
Baiyi cast a glance at the girl’s body. Let alone Mia, even Undine would be ashamed seeing that body of hers.

What you’re looking for is the Arfin Church. You just have to continue southward,
Baiyi explained before pointing at the Church’s direction. Inadvertently, he saw the pendant that was hanging on the girl’s neck… a book-shaped pendant that looked like the cross on Earth. it was actually the standard ornament for the Church’s member, representing the holy scripture— the truth of the God.

Thank you so much for the help, mister. May the True God look after you forever,
The girl thanked Baiyi with a standard salutation among the Churchgoers. After flashing him a gentle smile that could heal all pain, she lifted up her luggage and walked towards the Church’s direction.
Baiyi listened to the subtle metal clunking noise coming out from her trunk and stared at her back till she disappeared around the corner of the street. With a low voice, he muttered to himself,
Your God will never look after me y’know. But speaking of it, why did you suddenly come ask me for direction?