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Liola’s Rage
“Whoa, Silver Mask, the lowest Dragon-thief, most heartless woman beater, and the most shameless woman kidnapper.” Kaiser looked at headline of the Academy Weekly in his hands, as he shook his head in confusion.
‘As Liola’s room mate, how come I didn’t know Liola was this terrible?’
“Liola-dage isn’t like that!” Purity seriously objected.
Kaiser took the newspaper, used it to wrap the fried bread-sticks he planned to eat as a midnight snack, and shrugged: “At least now we know that the Academy Weekly has its uses as a bread-stick wrap.”
“The Academy Weekly isn’t usually this biased.” Meinan quickly clarified: “But this time it involves Princess Lanski, so everyone’s a bit strained.”
Kaiser raised his eyebrows, and reminded Meinan that they had just walked past the cafeteria: “They blew the cafeteria into smithereens, and you call that ‘a bit strained’?”
Thinking about the original state of the beautiful cafeteria compared its current outlook, Meinan couldn’t hold back a sigh: “A gentleman’s rage is always because of a lady”
“Even for a lady, there should be a limit to the rage.” Kaiser shook his head in disagreement: “With the cafeteria gone, we have to go really far for breakfast.”
“Don’t worry, the cafeteria will be rebuilt in three days.” Barbalis’s voice suddenly came from behind Kaiser, whom jumped in fear.
“But you guys really are…” Barbalis didn’t know if he should be happy because these four are interesting, or start to worry considering they were natural troublemakers.
“Hey, hey. This time we weren’t the ones who caused the cafeteria’s destruction. It’s because the Mecha Fighters and the Knights started fighting each other.” Kaiser immediately started to protest.
Barbalis frowned: “I’m not talking about the cafeteria. I’m talking about Freesia.”
“Freesia?” Kaiser’s heart shook, and he made an innocent face: “What’s Freesia? We were at Yaron Plains Plains!”
“Stop playing dumb.” Barbalis said with a serious expression:
“Mizerui received a notice from the Paladin to immediately head of to the Dragon Continent. Both Lancelot and Blood Wolf mentioned a Knight wearing a silver mask and had golden eyes with black hair. Let me ask you, did you let Miluo out?”
Kaiser didn’t even stop to think, and immediately denied it: “Definitely not.”
But as soon as Kaiser said so, Liola glanced at Kaiser.
Barbalis smiled: “Oh? Then how would you know what the heck Miluo even is? No newspaper even published the Black Dragon’s name.”
Kaiser’s jaw dropped wide open. He was completely speechless.
Barbalis turned towards Liola, and asked solemnly: “Do you have the Dragon Empire Royal Family’s Dragon cross?”
Liola hesitated, and then took out Anise’s cross necklace.
Barbalis stared hard at the necklace, and frowned. “How the hell did you get that?”
“An old friend gave it to me.” Liola didn’t like Barbalis staring at the necklace, so he immediately put it back inside his shirt.
Barbalis murmured: “But how is this even possible? You aren’t even from this world. How did the Dragon cross get to the world you’re from?”
Liola already had a guess in his mind. Seeing the similarities between Lanski’s and Anise’s face, between Purity’s space magic and the magic that sent him to this world using the necklace, Liola had already guessed that Anise was from this world, and perhaps she was even closely related to Lanski.
“Sigh, no matter what, this necklace belongs to the Dragon Empire Royal Family. Maybe you should return it?” Barbalis gave the most reasonable suggestion.
Liola’s eyes suddenly turned cold, and the temperature seemed to have dropped as result.
Kaiser and others shivered against their will, and even Barbalis felt the pressure that made even Mizerui shudder.
“Don’t even dream of it!” Liola said with a cold expression. Everyone around him felt as if they were about to freeze to death.
As soon as Liola finished what he was saying, he turned around to leave, completely ignoring his class and its instructor.
“I think that guy is in a bad mood today.” Kaiser murmured.
“What!” Barbalis, who was nearly frozen to death, screamed:
“You knew he’s in a bad mood, and you didn’t stop me? Are you trying to get your instructor killed?! Don’t make me expel you and force you to fight Mizerui.”
“Damn! I didn’t know you’d be someone who’d say those words. I didn’t think you would dare to cross the best Assassin. Do you honestly think an Assassin would respect his instructors?”
Kaiser pouted in disdain, and advised kindly: “Next time when you speak to Liola, stand further away. Even Mizerui isn’t brave enough to stand too close to Liola.”
Barbalis thumped his chest: “Fine, fine. Next time I will stand a mile away. That way, I will have time to use Teleportation to escape.”
Kaiser and the others started to wonder: ‘Who in the world appointed Barbalis as the principal?’
* * *
Even though Liola left class out of rage, he soon regretted it. Why was he so short-tempered, and rash? Though now that he left, wouldn’t it be weird for him to go back?
Liola sighed, and decided to head back to the dorm to use Ki to heal himself, since it’s not a good idea to leave his internal injuries unattended.
However, when he was halfway to the dorm, Liola changed his mind. He remembered Baolilong was still inside the dorm.
The little White Dragon who was far more troublesome than helpful, would probably ram into his arms when it sees him, and therefore preventing from concentrating his Ki.
Liola sighed again. He decided it was best to find a secluded grove. Liola intentionally walked deeper into the forest, until he reached a small hill where no one was around, and started using his Ki to treat his internal wounds.
His internal injuries seemed to have far surpassed his previous estimation. While circulating his Ki, Liola had already spat out many mouthfuls of blood, and time flew as he tried to heal.
Suddenly, Liola felt someone was heading towards his direction.
He originally planned to stop healing, but when he felt the approaching person was holding Baolilong in their arms, who shared a mind with Liola.
Liola told Baolilong via telepathy, not to disturb him. He then continued healing, and planned to completely take care of his internal injuries in one go.
* * *
“Baby, your papa is vomiting blood, are you sure he’ll be okay?” Jasmine was concerned when she saw the black-haired man was surrounded by dark blood stains.
“Papa said don’t disturb him.” Baolilong took another huge bite from a piece of beef jerky Jasmine bought, as it told her what Liola had told it.
Jasmine answered with an “Oh”.
She contemplated on the strange situation she had earlier. She had ran into a five year-old child who was running around by itself, and Jasmine, as the child lover, went and asked the child where its parents were.
When Baolilong screamed that he was hungry, Jasmine took it to buy food… Though Jasmine had always wondered:
‘Do all the five year-old kids like to eat this much meat? And a lot of it too, he had already eaten enough beef to cover half of its body!’
Jasmine turned and looked at Liola. She thought, that black-haired man seemed really young and he was, at most, her age.
‘He really didn’t look like a father. But then again, for a man as handsome as he, it wouldn’t be surprising if he had some… Accidents. It was definitely possible.’
Jasmine imagined this aloof man in front of her eyes, fumbling around as he changed diapers, fed the child milk (cow milk, of course), or coaxed the baby to sleep.
She couldn’t hold back a burst of laughter. Baolilong was confused by the sight, and it didn’t understand why Jasmine suddenly laughed.
“Baby, where is your mama?” Although Jasmine knew this question could hurt the child, she couldn’t repress her question.
“Mama? Dead.” Baolilong answered as a matter-of-fact.
Jasmine blinked several times as she held back sympathetic tears.
‘So Baolilong’s mother had already died, and his dad must be devastated by her death, right?’
Jasmine looked at the handsome man with compassion.
* * *
Liola vomited out the last of his clotted blood. The blood he had spit out had almost dyed the ground around him completely red. But Liola felt his whole body relaxed. Unlike this morning, his steps no longer felt heavy.
“Are you okay?” Jasmine ran to Liola’s side with surprise and worry at the same time.
Liola slowly opened his eyes, and a pair of unique, silver eyes met Jasmine’s eyes.
Jasmine said without thinking: “Your eyes… are you blind?”
As soon as she said ‘blind’, Jasmine suddenly realized she said something very rude, and she got annoyed of how careless she had always been.
“I am looking at you.” Liola replied plainly.
Jasmine looked at the eyes staring back at her, and stuck out her tongue. She then handed Baolilong to Liola: “Here’s your son.”
Liola took Baolilong without saying a word. He didn’t tell her of the two mistakes she made.
One: Baolilong wasn’t his child.
Two: Baolilong was genderless.
“Hmm, classmate, you’re from the School of Sorcery, right? Were you meditating? I’ve never heard of vomiting blood during meditation.” Jasmine asked Liola curiously.
“I was healing.” Liola told her the truth.
“Oh.” As Jasmine replied, she stared at Baolilong’s actions.
As soon as Baolilong got back to Liola’s arms, its two little hands grabbed onto him tightly, as if it was afraid Liola would run away.
Jasmine had originally doubted if Liola really were Baolilong’s father, but seeing Baolilong’s actions, Jasmine was no longer worried.
“It’s dinner time. Baby’s dad, would you like to come with me for dinner?” Jasmine invited Liola with sincerity.
Liola had planned to reject the offer, but Baolilong pulled him, begged him with its pink, big eyes, and it even murmured: “Hungry.”
‘Didn’t you just finish two huge pieces of beef…’ Jasmine’s eyes widened. ‘Where did the meat he just ate go? Can it be that his stomach was connected to another dimension?’
“Fine, I’ll go with you.” Liola nodded. He thought about the fact that he was penny-less, and the cafeteria was destroyed. Kaiser probably had already dragged Purity to some restaurant, and Liola wouldn’t know where to look for them.
Jasmine smiled, and she brought him to the restaurant where Lanski and her had agreed to meet for dinner.
On the way, she couldn’t restrain herself from asking Liola various questions. But except his name, Liola used silence as an answer to all of them. This really wasn’t Liola’s fault, it’s just that Jasmine’s questions were far too…
“Classmate Liola, when did you meet baby’s mom?”
‘Never met her’ Liola thought.
“How many years did you spend with baby’s mom?”
‘Never spent any time together, though I spent quite a few hours with the baby’s dad’
“Was your wedding a Knight’s wedding, or Mecha Fighters… Ah, sorry, I forgot you’re a Sorcerer.”
Finally, Jasmine stopped, and said solemnly:
“Classmate Liola, I don’t think drowning yourself in sadness is good. If the baby’s mom is still watching you from the heavens, and she sees you being this depressed, she would be unhappy. So restrain your grief and find someone else. Find a new mom for your five year old child.”
Liola nodded. He would surely pass all these messages to Miluo, that is, if he was given another chance to see him.
Seeing Liola had agreed, Jasmine nodded in satisfaction.
* * *
They arrived at the restaurant, and was guided by a waiter to the best room in the restaurant. As soon as they opened the door, they saw more than ten Knights chatting amongst themselves cheerfully.
When they Knights caught a sight of Jasmine, they greeted her with warmly. However, when they saw Liola following her, they quieted down and stared at Liola with suspicious eyes.
Jasmine easily found Lanski among the Knights. She walked up to Lanski, and greeted, then introduced Liola: “Lanski, I brought a friend, is that okay?”
“Of course.” Lanski glanced curiously at Liola, and she started to guess what Liola’s relationship with her good friend was. Lanski was also curious about the child in Liola’s arms. As a woman, she was naturally drawn to Baolilong’s cute face.
“He’s not a Knight.” A Red Knight narrowed his eyes as he observed Liola. He was disturbed by Liola’s handsome face, and wasn’t fond of Liola’s thin body. But none of those reasons compares to his dislike to the gray Sorcerer robe.
Another Red Knight grunted: “A Sorcerer.”
“This is a meeting for Knights. This weakling of a Sorcerer shouldn’t be here.” All the Knights complained with dissatisfaction.
Liola wasn’t interested in the dissatisfaction among the Knights, but in the tone of their voices.
The Knights spoke differently than the straightforward Kaiser. Had it been Kaiser, he would probably have said somewhere along the lines of:
“This is the Knight’s territory, all Sorcerers get the hell out.”
“If I remember correctly, I asked Jasmine to come. So any friend she brings is my friend. Do you guys have anything to say about my friend?” Lanski said coldly.
“We would never insult your friend, Princess Lanski, but this person is a Sorcerer.” A Red Knight protested.
All the Knights were trying to hold back their hatred, but the truth was, Knights despised Sorcerers. Their hatred were far deeper than their hatred towards Mecha Fighters.
Mecha Fighters and Knights hated each other because of their competitiveness. The only common ground they had was their similar hatred for helpless Sorcerers.
Lanski waved her hand impatiently. Since she was a child, she knew Sorcerers were not all helpless. At the very least, she knew the Dragon Emperor, her father, has a Sorcerer friend who was terrifying. Someone never to be trifled with — Mizerui.
“Jasmine, come sit beside me with your friends.” Lanski maintained her gaze on the adorable Baolilong. She really wanted to pinch Baolilong’s face.
Jasmine knew it all too well. She knew Lanski would definitely like Baolilong. In fact, she perceived that no female creature who wouldn’t fall in love with Baolilong. With a smile, she led Liola sit between her and Lanski.
Liola sensed his seat was an important position. The rage index of the surrounding Knights’ eyes had already gone up from 100% to 1000%.
If he was a normal person, he probably would have ran off before his butt touched the seat. But Liola was the best Assassin, and the best Assassin must have the best ability to calm himself.
As a matter of fact, the only thing that’s challenging Liola’s ability to maintain his calm was not the terrifying eyes (He saw these eyes way too often. He had grown accustomed to them.), instead, it was the fact that she was sitting right next to him. The woman who had Anise’s face and Anise’s creamy golden hair.
“This little child is…” After Lanski had taken a few bites of her food, she finally asked.
Jasmine answered with a smile: “This is my friend Liola, and this cute little child is his son. His name is Baolilong.”
“Son?” Lanski looked at Liola curiously. However, Liola couldn’t look back, because Baolilong was bugging him to get the honey-baked ham on the table.
The pouting Baolilong once again took Lanski’s attention away, and she grabbed the plate of ham and set it in front of Baolilong.
Baolilong happily took large bites at the ham.
Lanski, with a smile on her face, got closer and closer to Liola. Liola could almost smell Lanski’s fragrance, though Lanski’s real intent was to touch Baolilong’s head.
“Sorcerer!” A Blue Knight couldn’t hold himself back anymore and yelled at Liola.
Lanski, who had noticed what she was doing was inelegant, bounced back to her original position.
Liola raised his head, looked in the direction of the Blue Knight, and stared at him curiously.
The Blue Knight put on his perfect Knight’s smile: “Since you’re a Sorcerer, and you’ve received Princess Lanski’s hospitality, shouldn’t you showcase some magic spells to entertain our Princess?”
Lanski and Jasmine both turned and looked at Liola. To them, this wasn’t too difficult of a request, and they were definitely curious about Liola’s ability, especially after Jasmine had witnessed Liola’s blood-spitting healing method.
Liola found himself in a difficult position. He couldn’t even feel the magic elements, so how could he possibly cast any magic spells and show these Knights?
Liola suddenly realize that Kaiser was useful in cases such as this. Had Kaiser been present, he could probably come up with some excuses to get through the current situation.
However, Liola could only answer them honestly: “I haven’t learned any Sorcery.”
Now, all the Knights looked down on Liola. So much that they almost started pointing at him to ridicule him! Even Lanski seemed colder. She could perhaps befriend a Sorcerer, but she didn’t want to be friends with someone completely helpless.
Jasmine, who had seen a number of similar situations in her days, kept her calm. She noticed how extremely calm Liola was, and she knew he was obviously not ordinary person.
“I should go.” Liola said, knowing he had overstayed his welcome. And if he stayed longer, these Knights would probably pull out their swords.
“Go?” A Red Knight laughed coldly: “Since you didn’t fulfill a guest’s duty, then leave behind the money for the meal.”
Liola replied apathetically: “I didn’t eat.”
The Red Knight pointed at Baolilong, who was still wrestling with the honey ham. The Knight obviously he wanted Liola to pay for his child.
If Liola had the money, he would have paid them without a word, but now he finally realized how money could bring about a hero. However, Liola would never become a hero because of money.[T/N: Hero is referring to someone who died in battle and become a hero.]
Nevertheless, the Knight had the guts to ask Liola for money.
Perhaps he should go earn some money? Liola started considering this possibility seriously, especially when he had the king of eaters, Baolilong, next to him.
“Stop making things difficult for my friend.” Jasmine started frowning. She started to feel uneasy. Trifling a secretive person like Liola couldn’t possibly end well.
Under normal circumstances, the Red Knights would never disobey the Blue Knight Jasmine.
However, with a damsel next to them, all the Knights wanted to show off their skill in front of Lanski. Therefore, the Red Knight ignored Jasmine, and slowly pulled out his sword, with hatred flashing in his eyes:
“If you don’t perform your duties, and you don’t pay, then don’t blame us for attacking you to protect our Princess Lanski’s honor.”
Liola tried hard as he could to turn what the Knight said to “Kaiser-ean”:
‘If you don’t f—ing pay, then for the sake of my wallet, I’m going to beat you up so much that you have to crawl out of here!’
“I have no money.” Liola said again with honesty.
The Red Knight smiled with satisfaction: “Draw your weapon!”
Jasmine got angry of what she saw. She didn’t think a mere Red Knight would possibly dared to ignore her orders, but Lanski stopped Jasmine.
Normally, Lanski would follow the Knight’s chivalry code to the letter, and would never let a Knight touch an ordinary person.
Lanski whispered in Jasmine’s ear: “Do you think that person looks ordinary at all?”
Jasmine smiled with understanding. She finally confirmed Lanski’s thoughts were similar to hers in regards of Liola.
From the look of things, Lanski seems to want the egotistical Red Knight to be taught a lesson, in addition, he could be a pawn to help her and Jasmine observe Liola’s real strength.
Liola had no plans to unsheath his weapon. Lanski had already seen his Broken Silver. If he pull out Broken Silver, isn’t he practically admitting he is Silver Mask?
Furthermore, Liola had no intention on battling with a Knight, since a Sorcerer shouldn’t even know martial arts. Liola stood still as if he planned on taking a beating, and said:
“I have no weapon.”
The Knight got angrier. A Knight was absolutely forbidden to swing a weapon at someone who had none. In anger, the Knight threw his sword aside, and threw punches at Liola.
Liola nonchalantly looked at the random punches. He thought of hundreds of ways to avoid them, not to mention thousands of ways to kill this Knight in a single blow, but he didn’t use any of them. The Knight’s fist landed heavily on Liola’s face, and many more landed on his body.
Lanski and Jasmine both widened their eyes in shock. Something seemed wrong. ‘Could Liola really be helpless?’
Baolilong was still biting the ham, and its pink eyes were filled with rage. If it weren’t for Liola who had already told it via telepathy not to do anything, Baolilong would have swallowed the Knight who dared to attack its papa. Baolilong bit hard on the ham, to try to suppress its rage.
Seeing Liola being beaten up, Lanski stood up and yelled at the Knight: “Stop. Let him go. A Knight should never hit an ordinary person.”
The Knight stopped his punches, and saluted Lanski as a fellow Knight, with his right hand across his chest.
Lanski looked down at Liola, her eyes were filled with sympathy. She took out a few pieces of gold coins, placed them in front of Liola, and apologized:
“Sorry, I didn’t stop them in time. Please take this money and go to the nearest healing center.”
Liola slowly raised his head. Compared to the punches, Lanski’s sympathetic eyes was far more fatal.
‘Please don’t look at me with Anise’s eyes!’ Liola screamed in his heart.
He noticed his feelings were identical to what he felt when Anise died. It was a feeling Liola was completely unfamiliar with.
Like a child throwing a tantrum, Liola hit the gold coins and they flew off the table. He glanced bitterly at the Knight who threw punches at him, and then walked out of the room without looking back.
Baolilong saw Liola leaving, it spitted out the ham inside of its mouth, and caught up to papa. At this time, Baolilong’s eyes had turned from pink to a near blood-red color.
Jasmine saw those bitter eyes, she shivered. Unlike Lanski, she still felt Liola was definitely not an ordinary person.
* * *
Liola didn’t know what he was doing. He started circulating his Ki and healed all the wounds he had on his skin. He didn’t consider these scratches and bruises as wounds. However, he was very frustrated, as if his heart has been set aflame.
After he had ran out of the room, he coincidentally ran into Kaiser and the others, who immediately backed more than ten steps away.
Kaiser yelled:
“Don’t come near me. Your eyes are a thousand degrees below freezing point. I don’t want to be the first person to die from cold eyes.”
“What are you talking about? I’m just a bit… unhappy.” Liola hesitated, still unsure of how to describe what he was feeling.
“Did you blow your lid?” Kaiser widened his eyes.
‘If this was just a bit unhappy, then how would Liola be when he’s furious? Would he run straight to the Commerce Alliance, launch all of their missiles, and perish along with the rest of the world?’
“Lid?” Unfamiliar with the expression, Liola didn’t want to say anything more.
He on reflex: “Give me the Knight’s uniform.”
But even Liola, himself, didn’t understand why he wanted the uniform.
Kaiser and others gulped.
Even if Liola had told them to bring Mizerui to him, they probably would rather pit their lives against Mizerui than to see Liola’s cold eyes, let alone some Knight’s uniform.
Purity trembled as she handed the uniform to Liola, and unlike her usual behavior, she didn’t stick around Liola’s side.
Liola took the uniform and patted the pocket where the silver mask was. He then disappeared into the darkness, only leaving behind a single sentence: “Get Baolilong something to eat.”
“I pity the poor bastard who messed with him.”
It was rare for Kaiser to show pity, but as soon as he thought about eating, he placed his pity on the back of his mind and happily went along with Purity, Meinan, and Baolilong to go eat some hot pot.
* * *
Liola put on the Knight uniform and the Silver Mask.
He knew what he planned on doing. He also knew full well that what he was about to do will do far more harm than good… But, he had to do it. The rage inside his heart continued to burn.
Liola walked into the restaurant. He stood by the door, completely ignored the waiters, as well as the curious and terrified eyes around him.
Even in Aklan Academy, it was rare to see a Silver Knight, let alone a Holy Knight wearing a silver mask, surrounded by a terrifying aura.
Before long, more than ten Knights approached the restaurant door. After seeing Silver Mask, they were all stupefied.
The Silver Mask, whom they have searched for long and hard, had actually been found, and was obviously waiting for them.
Everyone was surprised. Especially Lanski, who, with a surprised yet happy tone, asked shyly: “Are you looking for me?”
“Yes.” Liola said coldly.
Lanski was slightly flustered and a little loss for words: “Then… have you eaten yet? Uh, do you want to have dinner with me?”
Lanski had completely forgotten that she had just eaten.
Liola smiled in a strange, yet sinister way: “I’m full… of anger.”
Lanski was stunned, she didn’t know what Silver Mask was talking about, but all the other Knights were already quite angry when they saw Silver Mask.
With the addition of Lanski’s unusual behavior, their rage grew even more. A few Red Knights jumped out and yelled:
“You honorless coward, for our Princess Lanski’s honor, we challenge you.”
“You want to challenge me?” Liola smiled in satisfaction, and used his ability to feign a Knightly way of talking:
“Funny, I, too, want to teach a lesson to the people who tarnished my honor.”
Lanski looked at the Red Knights in complete disbelief.
A challenge across different ranks was not unheard of, but almost no Knight would dare challenge anyone who was two ranks above them. It was practically suicide! Since Lanski knew full well of Silver Mask’s true strength, he definitely had every right to be a Silver Knight.
“Princess Lanski, don’t worry. We suspect that this guy isn’t even a Knight, but instead just a lying trickster.”
A Red Knight said in satisfaction: “We already went through the entire list of silver Knights, and not a single one had a silver mask.”
“Any Knight who runs into a trickster with a Knight’s uniform has the duty to punish those who tarnish our reputation.” A Blue Knight who had been silent had jumped out after he heard the Red Knight.
Hearing this, Lanski was confused. Could Silver Mask really be a trickster?