Chapter 30: Chapter 26: What is called losing face?

The Elf teacher waved her hand, signaling for Long Yi to come in. Long Yi staggered slowly towards his seat. All along, Long Yi, Arin, and Wesley had been seated together. Arin’s performance in Dragon Language was the best in the class, while Long Yi’s was the worst; naturally, Arin had taken on the task of helping Long Yi with his studies.

But now, all three seats were vacant.

Long Yi was puzzled; surely, those two hadn’t taken leave?

Just then, the classroom door was pushed open violently, and a person covered in blood rushed in. Long Yi took a closer look; it was Wesley!

"Big brother! You’re back!"

Wesley’s clothes were full of footprints, and his collar and sleeves were torn in many places.

The Elf teacher frowned slightly and walked over swiftly. With a raise of her hand and the utterance of the Dragon Language: "Purify," a nebulous light flickered, and the bloodstains on Wesley’s face along with all the filth on his body disappeared.

At that moment, Long Yi saw two not-so-big scars on Wesley’s face; the blood must have come from his broken nose.

Long Yi’s expression gradually darkened as he approached Wesley and asked in a cold voice, "Who?"

"Second Year, from the Land Forces Department, over thirty people. Arin and I had just come out of the cafeteria when they blocked us halfway. Arin put on his Mithril dragon armor and held them off while throwing me out, telling me to run and call for help!"

Wesley spoke as quickly as he could before looking back at Long Yi.

"Teacher?"

Long Yi turned to face the Elf.

The Elf nodded and then turned away: "I didn’t see anything."

"Dare to touch our First Year people!?"

The fatty was furious at once; no matter the internal disputes within the class, foreign bullying was absolutely intolerable!

"I’ll go to the Land Forces Department to call people!"

The skinny one was the first to bolt out.

Wesley led all the members of the Air Force Division through the classroom to a secluded location, only to see the ground covered in bloodstains and no sign of the Second Year students. However, grieving cries came from the roadside drainage ditch.

It was the Mithril Dragon’s cry!

The crowd rushed over to see a person lying halfway in the water, covered in filth, and the Mithril Dragon weakly lying on top of that person, its cries growing fainter!

"Arin!"

Long Yi leaped down, lifted Arin, whose face was smeared with blood, into his arms. Seeing that it was Long Yi, the Mithril Dragon nestled its small head on Arin’s chest and lost consciousness.

As his body was jostled, Arin barely opened his eyes, trembling lips revealing a faint smile: "This time, I finally, didn’t disgrace myself."

With those words, he passed out entirely.

By then, the Land Forces Department’s main force had also arrived.

Everyone looked at the unconscious Arin and fell into silence.

"I said, don’t provoke the Second Year, look what happened, getting beaten up like this, why bother?"

A voice emerged from the midst of the Land Forces Department, and a chill grew in Long Yi’s eyes, just as he was about to speak. The fatty and the skinny brothers had already made their way through the crowd and dragged someone out.

"Hey, what are you grabbing me for? What I said was the truth, did I say anything wrong?"

The man was still arguing, only to see the fatty’s hand raised high.

"What are you going to do! My father is..."

Slap!

A slap fell, spinning the man around and leaving him clutching his mouth, not daring to speak anymore.

"Calm the inside before confronting the outside. Such people are sure to become traitors in war; I think it’s best to expel him."

The skinny one sneered on the side.

At this moment, Long Yi could hardly contain his rage, but he became calmer instead.

"This time, I didn’t disgrace myself."

This was what Arin said, a phrase that carried too much meaning within it. Even though Long Yi wasn’t one to mull over finer emotions, he could guess that at least before this incident, Arin had ’disgraced himself’ many times already.

When or where this happened was not important. Long Yi had seen for himself how Arin had been bullied on the first day of school, nearly to the point of tears; that was disgrace.

Arin was definitely from a noble family, and not just any minor nobility. Wesley must have known, but Long Yi hadn’t inquired. He wasn’t too interested in this matter. If a noble’s expectations for their child were not met, then ultimately, there was only one outcome.

’Disgraced.’

That time in the cafeteria, Long Yi had already determined in his heart that Arin could never be a qualified warrior. Despite his amazing talent in Dragon Language and his ability to cast up to seven layers of magic, such a character would undoubtedly be a burden on the battlefield and could even lose his life quickly because of it.

Long Yi considered Arin a friend, and he didn’t want to change a friend’s character, so he didn’t think Arin was suited for the battlefield.

Moreover, Arin himself was very aware of this.

Arin had always watched Long Yi’s battles, exhilarated even when covered in scars, never giving up! Each fight made Arin’s heart race, and he would dream of being just like Long Yi; this impulse only grew stronger with each of Long Yi’s battles.

Arin followed Long Yi’s performances, and what about Long Yi? He was observing him too, of course. He could certainly sense the change in Arin’s gaze.

Arin’s avoidance had slowly transformed into a hidden longing for battle!

"Disperse."

Long Yi spoke.

"Why disperse? Aren’t we going to seek revenge?"

The fatty retorted.

"Look behind you. Do you want to be expelled?"

The fatty turned around and saw that some school instructors and leaders had appeared.

"So, we just let them off like that?"

The fatty was a bit resentful; he couldn’t bear this grudge.

"Let them off?" Long Yi sneered. "Who said we were letting them off? We’re just letting them die slowly."

Having said that, Long Yi carried Arin and headed straight for the infirmary.

The fatty paused for a moment, then suddenly spoke up, "You heard Brother Long! Back to class now! We’ll continue our lessons! Wait for Brother Long to return!"

"Okay!"

The Air Force Division responded with a thunderous roar that sent a shock through the Land Forces Department; they began to speculate how, so soon after the start of school, had the Air Force Division already chosen a boss? Both departments trained on the same training ground and had seen Long Yi’s battle with the Second Year students, and the news that Long Yi had challenged the boss of the Second Year Air Force Division naturally spread throughout the whole grade. Still, the speed of this development was hard to believe.

Wesley followed Long Yi’s side, silent for a long time, until he finally spoke.

"Brother Long, I, I feel so damned useless. Among the two of us, clearly, I am the strongest, but I could only watch as Arin was beaten..."

Wesley’s eyes were bloodshot; he truly wasn’t afraid of being beaten. Ever since he was a kid, he hadn’t avoided beatings due to being an Observation Dragon, and of course, he had fled as well. But when he asked himself, he had never fled while a friend was getting beaten. Especially after seeing Arin’s current state, his heart felt as if it was being blocked by a boulder, extremely uncomfortable.

Long Yi glanced at Wesley but said nothing, which made Wesley’s eyes even redder. He really wanted to tell Long Yi that he wasn’t a coward, but at that time, if he hadn’t gone to call for help, the two of them would have been no match for that group of people! At that moment, it had been the best decision.

But Wesley still lacked the courage to say it, and now everything was too late. All he could do was silently pray that Arin was okay, aware that the seemingly weak Arin had someone formidable standing behind him.

They soon reached the infirmary, where the doctors had just seen off Long Yi, only to see that he had returned with a child covered in blood.

"Prepare the examination room."

Two doctors rushed ahead to clear the way for Long Yi to bring Arin into the examination room and lay him on a bed. Gazing at the battered Arin, Long Yi couldn’t help but think of the words he had said.

"Disgraceful."

Long Yi hadn’t lived in a so-called noble family; he didn’t know how important face was to a noble family, but judging by history, as far as Long Yi knew, sometimes face could even destroy a country.

The doctors ushered Long Yi and Wesley outside, and the two of them waited in silence. Wesley’s face was full of regret, while Long Yi seemed lost in thought.

Before long, a doctor came out.

"He has multiple external injuries, but none are serious. This child might look frail, but actually, his physique is very good. We’ve administered initial treatment, and he has no hidden health issues, so rest assured, though he will need to stay here peacefully and recover for some time,"

The doctor explained.

Hearing the doctor’s words, Wesley finally relaxed, and a slow smile spread across his face.

At that moment, a hand suddenly clapped onto Wesley’s shoulder. Wesley was turning around with a smile when suddenly a fist loomed large in front of his face.

Bang!

With just one punch, Long Yi knocked Wesley to the ground.

"This punch is for you running away. Next time something happens, have your Observation Dragon call for me."

Long Yi said with a smile.

Wesley, seeing stars from the punch and unable to speak, had a silent scream in his heart: "Today is Silver Dragon language class, my Observation Dragon is still sleeping in the classroom, I can only sense him, but I can’t call out to him!"

But when those words came to his lips, they turned into just two.

"Thank you."

Yes, Wesley had to thank Long Yi; the punch had significantly lessened his feelings of guilt. At least he knew that Long Yi didn’t blame him, for Wesley was very aware that Long Yi’s strength was more than enough to kill him with a single punch.

Looking at Wesley collapsed on the ground, hearing the words he murmured, Long Yi’s smile gradually broadened.

This Wesley was definitely talented. His strength wasn’t the best, but he possessed excellent judgment and execution skills.

In such moments, most people’s heads would heat up, and they’d go to the ends of the earth with their brothers. Everyone knew that if one person went to call for help, it might mean less harm for the second person. After all, there can only be a limited number of people standing next to someone, and the total harm is limited; the shorter the attack, the smaller the injury received.

But knowing it is one thing; how many can actually do it?

This Wesley was more than just a merchant’s brain.

Walking along the road, Long Yi was still pondering Arin’s words.

Had he finally not disgraced himself?

The moment Long Yi heard Arin’s words, despite his weakness, he knew Arin was prepared.

Long Yi had initially planned to cause a big scene in the Second Year class, but at this point, he suddenly abandoned the plan and came up with a new one.

Revenge is better left to those who were wronged to enjoy.