Off to School, Showing Off

With a loud crash, Fini shoved the wooden door open, and then a lively, adorable voice called out:

"Little Slave, where is my Little Slave? Your dear Miss Fini has come to see you."

"Miss, be gentler! More ladylike!"

Amid Sophia's reminders, Chen Cheng saw Fini walk in, wearing a white floral dress, skipping along with a bright smile.

When Jenny behind Fini saw the Iron Sword in Chen Cheng's hand, she immediately stepped in front of Fini and watched Chen Cheng warily.

"Put down the weapon."

Fini pulled Jenny aside and said:

"Jenny, don't be so nervous. Little Slave would never hurt me. Besides, don't forget that I still have the key to his Slave Collar."

Only after hearing that did Jenny relax somewhat, though she still cautiously stepped forward and took the Iron Sword from Chen Cheng's hand.

Seeing that Chen Cheng did not stop her from taking the sword, Jenny finally let go of the worry she had been holding in her heart.

"Miss, even if you have the key, you still need to be careful. Who knows whether your Little Slave understands how dangerous that collar is?

"Besides, just two months ago, there was an incident at Baron Xian Yue's residence where a slave hurt someone. This matter..."

Sophia behind Fini kept chattering in her ear.

"Alright, alright, Sophia. I know all that."

Fini answered impatiently.

She knew Sophia was worried about her, so she did not scold her maidservant.

Meanwhile, Chen Cheng was wondering why this little girl had given him such a nickname. Little Slave? It gave this middle-aged man whose mental age was pushing thirty goosebumps.

When Fini saw Chen Cheng standing there looking dumbstruck, she thought their actions had frightened him. She walked up and waved her little hand before his eyes, finally bringing his thoughts back.

Then, completely out of place, he directly swatted Fini's little hand aside and said:

"Hey, what are you waving for? My eyes work just fine."

It was merely Chen Cheng's instinctive reaction, but it stunned Fini and the two thirteen- or fourteen-year-old little maidservants beside her.

Their ears had not deceived them, had they? A wild monkey from the mountains could actually speak human language—and spoke so smoothly and vividly at that. This was like a scorpion taking a dump: one of a kind.

Though being surprised that he could speak the official language was somewhat insulting, that was simply the reality.

Their family did not own slaves, but whenever they went to Hui Dun City, they had visited the slave market. None of those savages there could speak their language.

They had learned that, even in noble households that kept slaves, only those captured as slaves when young could speak some basic language after growing up.

Only then did Chen Cheng realize that he seemed to have exposed himself. His expression tensed as he looked at the three girls of varying ages before him, wanting to see what they would do next.

He had already prepared to use the Crystal Pendant to remove the collar and escape.

Yet in the next moment, Fini pounced forward excitedly and hugged him. Her eyes glittered with little stars as she exclaimed:

"As expected of me—my eye for talent is truly extraordinary! I never imagined you were actually a noble from a savage tribe. No, next time I go to school, I have to bring you to Huidun Academy and show those arrogant people. My Little Slave is a savage noble!"

By this point, Fini and the others no longer doubted Chen Cheng's identity. Class distinctions in this world were extremely strict, and things that represented one's class would never be discarded.

For instance, the Magic Beast hide Chen Cheng had worn before. Though they could not tell what kind of Magic Beast it came from, anyone able to wear it had to be someone of very high standing within their tribe.

Ordinary savages wore only crudely made hemp clothing with poor warmth retention. Things like Magic Beast hides could only be enjoyed by the upper ranks of a tribe.

At the same time, wars broke out between those savage tribes. After war, there would naturally be prisoners and spoils. If those spoils and prisoners were of no use to the tribe, most would end up being sold to peddlers who risked their lives to collect goods in the mountains and forests.

Communicating with those peddlers required learning the official language. Naturally, those who possessed the most wealth and interacted most often with peddlers were the high-status people within a tribe.

It could be said that, in the village Chen Cheng had encountered in the forest, the old man who drove him away held the highest status. From his halting speech and the small size of the village, it was clear that the village was not wealthy.

Besides collecting goods, those so-called peddlers had another identity: they sold the locations of savage villages around the outskirts of the mountains and forests.

That small village had been discovered by Scorpio and the others, and it was highly possible that those peddlers had not gained enough profit there before selling them out.

Seeing that Fini had not doubted his identity, Chen Cheng let out a breath of relief.

To be honest, he did not want to hurt Fini and the others, then return to his former life on the run.

As for being taken to school for people to look at, Chen Cheng did not resist too strongly.

He had come out of the mountains to see this other world, especially its miraculous magic. It had stirred the research interest of a researcher like him.

If he wanted to come into contact with magic, an academy that taught knowledge might be an excellent place.

And once he got to school, he might have a chance to read this world's books and acquire systematic knowledge belonging to this world.

Afterward, wanting to show off the savage noble slave she had acquired, Fini took Chen Cheng around the entire town. She even made him greet everyone they met, while she held her proud little chin high and, amid everyone's cries of surprise, said, "It's nothing, really. He can only speak a few human words." Just to show off.

To be honest, Chen Cheng had never seen a little girl more full of herself than her. After talking all the way around town, his throat was practically smoking. He dearly wanted to grab that smug little girl and give her little butt two slaps.

But Fini, still immersed in her pride, did not notice the look in Chen Cheng's eyes that said he wanted to hit someone.

When they passed a small shop, Fini even thoughtfully bought Chen Cheng a cup of sugar water.

Watching crude sugar chunks mixed with impurities get crushed up and dissolved into a cloudy cup of sugar water before being handed to him, Chen Cheng honestly did not know whether he should accept it.

"Come on, Little Slave, don't be so polite. I know that sugar is what your tribes trade the most of every year."

In order not to expose himself, Chen Cheng could only force a fake smile and drink the cloudy sugar water.

In the blink of an eye, it was time for Fini to go to school. Fini's mother had died in childbirth while giving birth to her, while Baron Kekebor spent all year managing his territory and had little time to accompany Fini. Thus, the people who usually took care of her were not Baron Kekebor, but the two little maidservants by her side.

On the road to send her to school that day, Kekebor also gave Chen Cheng a number of instructions.

After all, Fini would now be attending the academy full-time, and the academy only allowed each student to bring one servant. Her day-to-day needs could only be entrusted to Chen Cheng.

Over the past few days, Sophia and Jenny, the two maidservants around Fini, had also given him a crash course in caring for someone. They wanted Chen Cheng to replace them at the academy and take good care of Fini.

Chen Cheng was able to sit in the carriage with them thanks to the noble identity Fini had imagined for him. Though he was merely a noble from a savage tribe, someone like Kekebor, who supported noble rule, naturally treated Chen Cheng with a bit more courtesy.

The carriage traveled along the bumpy road for most of the day. Chen Cheng's backside had been jostled so much that it felt numb, and he began wondering whether he could devise some kind of shock-absorbing device.

As he considered matters such as the materials and crafting process for a Shock-absorbing Spring, the carriage entered Hui Dun City.

The noble who ruled Hui Dun City was Earl Huidun, Kekebor's superior. This earl's background was anything but ordinary. His father was the current His Majesty the King of the Kingdom of Moss, while his mother was Princess Fipsa, His Majesty the King's younger sister.

That was right. This earl was the product of the incestuous love affair between the King and Princess, brother and sister. That was why, despite his noble bloodline, he was only a minor earl in this remote little city.

Yet no one in the entire kingdom dared to look down on this prince. The reason was that Princess Fipsa, his mother, belonged to the faction currently in power in the kingdom.

She served as the Minister of Finance in the government. It could be said that she held the kingdom government's purse strings, and no one knew whether this prince might one day ascend the throne through his mother's maneuvering.

Naturally, that messy nonsense among the nobles had nothing to do with Chen Cheng right now. What concerned him was whether he could adapt to the campus life ahead.

After all, he had no idea how schools in this other world differed from the schools of his previous life, and his memories of how one was supposed to be a student were quite vague as well.

That was because he had been a genius in his previous life. He learned everything at a glance, and when dealing with teachers, he mostly discussed matters with them. He rarely needed to ask for instruction over any particular problem.

And now, Chen Cheng had not the slightest awareness of being a slave.

Because after spending the past few days together, Fini had come to like Chen Cheng's calm manner and lack of a slave's servility.

He could speak to Fini in an unassuming yet neither humble nor overbearing tone, treating her as an equal. At the same time, he was very tolerant of Fini's temper. Whenever she was unhappy, he understood his identity as a slave and yielded to her, which made Fini feel incredibly pleased with herself.

Of course, to Chen Cheng, this yielding was simply a grown man's tolerance toward a little girl's bad temper.

After saying goodbye to her father, Fini had Chen Cheng, who was carrying the suitcase, follow her. Before the two of them stood a gate with the plaque of Huidun Academy hanging high above it.

When Chen Cheng saw the children from several years old to their teens, brimming with youthful liveliness, he finally truly understood that he had returned to campus.

Here, Chen Cheng could see distinct campus clothing styles: some dressed as mages, others in the short, practical attire of warriors. Yet among them, he could clearly sense the air of rivalry between the two groups.

Fini's clothing, which differed from both, was worn by only a very small number of people. Fini had already explained the reason to him in the carriage.

Previously, Fini and those like her had merely attended ordinary classes, commonly known as preparatory classes.

Beginning this term, they would choose either the magic class or the warrior class according to their talents and preferences.

Chen Cheng followed Fini to her classroom. There, he saw seven or eight little ones about her age. Some had slaves like him following them, while others had household servants from their families.

The difference between the two was whether there was a Slave Collar around their necks.

When the two entered the classroom, a voice like Donald Duck's came from behind them:

"What, Fini? Is this the slave you said last term you'd bring to compete with my big guy? Look how scrawny he is. I'd say he'd better not get blown away by a gust of wind."