Chapter Sixty-Seven: Headmaster Oliver

“Mm, looks like you all did quite well in this session. Now, everyone squat down and grab your own ears,” Louis said, lowering his head as he dusted off his sleeves.

The little Yordles, who had been waiting impatiently, puffed out their chests and eagerly grabbed things like wheelbarrows from the room, gathering around their leader. Some flattered and fawned, while others strutted swaggeringly through the Foxes, searching for those who usually bullied them. A few rubbed the backs of their heads, looking for whoever had smacked them earlier, or for the mischief-makers who had sprayed them with champagne.

A couple of quick-witted ones leapt onto the long stone table, first rearranging all the porcelain dolls, then planting their hands on their hips and boldly performing a tap dance among the dolls.

Others waved wands, making “zap zap zap” noises to scare people—now in this hall, if anyone so much as cast a spell, a Fox bully was sure to get the worst of it.

The Foxes were terrified, their hearts trembling as they squatted, not daring to move. Some, faces pale, buried their heads in their collars, hoping not to be recognized by the Yordles searching for targets.

Before long, several Foxes were dragged out and made to squat together. The Yordles had them run races on their hands, hop on one leg, and some even sprayed them with champagne.

No one among the Foxes was celebrating now, nor were there any more gentlemanly jokes about the Yordles. Everyone knew exactly why they were here.

The hall had turned into a circus. After Louis dusted his sleeves, Lilith and her companions approached, all of them shutting their eyes tight and trembling on the sofa, terrified this warrior would slap them. Xinia even lay flat on the ground and tried to crawl toward the door.

But Louis grabbed her tail and dragged her back, crying, leaving a trail of fur scratched up from the carpet.

“Wuwuwu…”

“Sit properly,” Louis said. Then he heard some of Lilith’s ‘knights’ in the hall cursing him bitterly in their hearts, wishing he’d stay away from their goddess Miss Lilith. So Louis smiled and gently touched Lilith’s little ear atop her head.

Seeing this, a few gentlemen riding tricycles with Yordles faintly reeled with dizziness. But not a single one had the courage to draw their swords and face the demon king.

Louis was a bit disappointed. He turned to Lilith and began to settle accounts: “What was with the rug under your feet just now?” He was genuinely curious, not understanding the reason.

[How could my noble feet step on a dog? Of course there must be a rug!]

Louis understood.

But Lilith gave a different answer. “Wearing, wearing high heels is a bit tiring, the floor’s too cold, I just wanted to rest my feet…” Lilith was on the verge of tears as she added, “Really.”

“Oh? So you weren’t making anyone kneel and lick your feet?” Louis glanced at the freshly changed white noble stockings on Lilith’s legs, raising an eyebrow with a cold smile.

“No, I really didn’t! Please, don’t punish me like this…” Lilith quickly put her shoes back on.

Big sister Lilith no longer propped up her feet or asked for a rug beneath them. Instead, she wiped her tears, hugged her head, and looked at Louis pleadingly. When it came to tormenting others, they were merciless, but now, facing it themselves, they were afraid.

Seeing how pitiful they looked, Louis stopped teasing her and couldn’t help but laugh out loud, sitting across from them and crossing his legs.

Perhaps because he was sitting a bit close to Xinia, Louis again heard the gentlemen in the hall cursing him in their hearts. He grinned and beckoned to Xinia’s little tail. She bit her lip but obediently sat on Louis’s lap.

Louis was stunned.

[Knew it, he likes this… I get the joke.]

A few of the gentlemen who had bullied Yordles earlier felt a sharp pang in their hearts and toppled off their wheelbarrows when they saw this.

Louis couldn’t help but laugh.

“I’m a magnanimous person. I can let today’s incident slide…”

[Petty Louis is obviously the sort who wouldn’t let even a child’s lollipop go. So, clearly…]

Louis ignored the narrator, tossing a stack of IOUs onto the table and smiling at the admirers who kept sneaking glances at him. “—As long as any of your ‘knights’ can beat me, we’ll call it even for today.”

The whole room turned away and focused on pedaling their bicycles.

What a joke! Give him a sword, and he could slay a dragon!

Who’d dare fight him?

Lilith and her companions, tears welling in their eyes, searched the hall for a knight brave enough to stand up for them, but unfortunately, all the elegant Fox gentlemen were engrossed in their circus acts.

Those who fancied themselves knights either lay groaning on the floor or pretended not to see anything.

As clever as foxes, every last one.

Why go up if you can’t win?

A gentleman’s revenge can wait ten years!

Just you wait.

Let him have his way for now. It’s only a minor loss, and Miss Lilith and her friends all come from noble families and will never have dealings with a pauper like him in the future.

No need to be angry.

At this thought, the gentlemen felt much better and pedaled their wheelbarrows with renewed focus.

“Sigh, looks like bringing these five thousand gold-galleon IOUs was for nothing today.” Amid the big sisters’ despair, Louis stuffed the IOUs back into his pocket—one wonders what people would think if they saw that the notes read: “Triff, Louis, debt: five thousand gold galleons.”

“My shoes seem dirty… hey, hey—use a cloth!”

Seeing Lilith and her friends squatting on the floor, polishing someone else’s shoes, the gentlemen felt another sharp pang. But when the demon king smiled at them, they all quickly pedaled their wheelbarrows to the other side, tossing balls with single-minded concentration.

Total defeat.

As he left, Louis gathered up all the porcelain dolls from the stone table. Then, under everyone’s gaze, he patted the heavy stone table and smiled at the Foxes still plotting future revenge against the Yordles.

He gave the long stone table a sharp elbow strike, and it split cleanly in two!

With a thunderous crash, the flagstone floor beneath shattered, the broken table collapsed in the center of the hall, raising a cloud of dust. When the dust settled, Louis and the Yordles had long since left, leaving behind only a group of Foxes who had wet their pants.

Total defeat x2

[“Chatterbox,” “Today in Magic”… Major shareholder ‘Wallace Berliv’s business intentions*1, Stogger Dragon Arena’s hidden owner ‘Archie Berliv’s business intentions*1, War God’s Hammer Muggle Arms Trade Company, War God’s Hammer Wizarding Special Relics Forging Group, hidden boss…]

Outside, a mourning dove cooed twice and flew away.

...

Headmaster’s Office.

Noticing that Professor Oliver was once again enthusiastically lecturing in riddles, Sakura Bell felt her eyelids grow heavy. Resting her chin on her hand, she nodded off repeatedly.

She’d only come by today to butter him up, but the professor got carried away and started teaching again.

If she’d known, she would have dragged Osycris here with her.

Speaking of which, that troublesome girl had been acting mysteriously lately and was nowhere to be seen. Word was, she’d even been giving extra lessons to that pretty-boy student recently—when she called him a pretty boy, the girl wasn’t pleased at all. And yet, day after day, she treated him like a treasure, even secretly tutoring him.

Thinking of that pretty face, Sakura Bell suddenly felt more awake.

Why didn’t she have a student so pleasing to the eye? And a foreign half-blood little prince, too—tsk tsk tsk.

But apparently, this student had lately irritated Osycris so much that she’d come to beg for a few spells, saying she wanted to give him some dueling lessons.

It nearly made Sakura Bell double over with laughter.

That silly girl couldn’t even handle her own student—must be that after six years, he’s finally grown up.

She probably adores him…

Honestly, her older sister had even offered to help discipline and train him before sending him back, but she got upset instead.

Still, it’s been months since the mysterious office submitted its accounts; maybe she should go tease him a bit?

It’s only right for a big sister to help teach her little sister’s student, isn’t it?

Once he’s obedient, Osycris will be grateful to her.

Suddenly, Sakura Bell wasn’t sleepy anymore, her eyes twinkling as her tail swayed with delight.

A piece of chalk struck her on the forehead, and she snapped upright, listening attentively. But it wasn’t long before she was dozing off again, chin in hand, nodding rhythmically (ZZZ).

On the desk, Principal Oliver, who had been lecturing passionately, slumped down despondently and puffed on his pipe.

These days, young wizards were becoming increasingly impatient; few could settle down and immerse themselves in knowledge anymore.

The only consolation was that little Osycris, after her recent setback, had finally buckled down. For the past two weeks, she’d spent every day in the library.

Perhaps she’d been inspired by her foreign student. Any teacher would feel pressured by such an erudite student.

Truly remarkable.

She had also mastered witchcraft and voodoo dolls, cleverly using a point every student had learned to deal with the new generation of Foxes.

No wonder she dared to cause trouble on her own.

It seemed he was not just an academic, but someone who knew how to apply knowledge.

He was already qualified to be called a Scholar of the Sacred Tree. Hopefully this year, his thesis would grace the desk. The Ministry of Magic and the Magical Council needed some fresh, young, imaginative blood.

It was time for a change…

Three hundred years… In all that time, only Francesco and this one had been so devoted to scholarship.

Six years without casting a single spell, focused solely on studies… rumor had it that even before coming here as an exchange student, he was like this.

Judging from recent days—and what Osycris had said—he wasn’t incapable, just focused.

Who knew how many books this little foreign prince had read, but according to the library records, he might have already finished every key text in the Sacred Tree Library.

Sadly, the library now had so few books left, it no longer deserved the name “Dawn Library.” After the book-burning fiasco, the collection was scant, and what remained could hardly be called true magic.

If the great sage Anthony from three thousand years ago knew of this, who could guess his feelings…

Flipping through the tattered “Junior Magic: Modern Magical Theory VII,” Oliver sighed softly. He puffed on his pipe, picked up this incomplete volume and another even more tattered one, “Senior Magic: A Brief on Four-Dimensional Space Construction,” then glanced at the dozen or so nearly illegible “How to…God…Dot Matrix Diagrams…” caressing them fondly.

But after a moment, Principal Oliver looked crestfallen again.

Just a dozen or so books left…

And no one wanted to learn them…

A bunch of “elementary school” students who couldn’t be taught…

Sakura Bell and even Osycris couldn’t understand, their magical power wasted.

If only he could teach Osycris’s student a little—though his magical power was low, if he could grasp even a bit, he could go far.

At least the “elementary” curriculum should be within reach.

Maybe he could teach up to “junior” or even “senior” level…

Where had Francesco reached, anyway?

He’d forgotten… it was too long ago…

A mourning dove flew in through the window, landing on the perch above Oliver’s desk. It opened its beak and spoke in human language.

“Absolutely hilarious! The new generation of Foxes got completely sorted out by Osycris’s disciple!”

Hearing this, Oliver clapped his hands and laughed like a child, just like those little Yordles in the lounge.

“Little Sakura Bell, didn’t I tell you? Your students can’t compare to Osycris’s~” The Yordle headmaster stoked the fire.

Sakura Bell immediately snapped awake.

What on earth?

Louis went and stirred up trouble in my students’ lounge?

What happened?

He sorted all of them out?!

Never mind, she’d find out soon enough. Whatever the reason—pretty boy, you started it, not your sister!

This time, she was going to give him a proper lesson on behalf of his teacher. Osycris would have nothing to say about it.

Sakura Bell grinned, feigning indifference, pouting as she said, “Of course, teacher~ Osycris’s learning is above mine—she’s also more diligent.”

Principal Oliver’s face fell.

How could this child lack ambition?

His mischief had failed.

So disappointing.

The world was so boring.

Seeing her teacher’s fallen expression, Sakura Bell snapped open her fan, turned away, and fanned herself while wagging her tail, secretly laughing.

“Hee hee hee hee.”

.........

Why does everyone say my chapters are short? So unfair. Others update 20-30,000 words a week, and I do over 40,000! Because I exceeded the word count, I’ve already dropped from the new book rankings.

Nothing more to say—please give me some recommendations.