"So even my fiancé, Suyo, thinks I'm annoying and keeps avoiding me..."
"?!"
The moment Qiji heard the word "money," his gaze shot up from Bai Lili's chest. "Bai Lili, what did you just say?"
"Huh? Oh, I said Suyo keeps avoiding me."
"Not that. The sentence before it."
"Suyo thinks I'm annoying..."
"The one before that!"
"...My family is very rich?"
Seeing the look in Qiji's eyes become inexplicably easier to read, Bai Lili felt as though she had... vaguely grasped what he meant.
She immediately looked both somewhat incredulous and delighted:
"Huh? Could it be... Qiji, are you willing to accept my money?
If you need it, you can have as much as you want!"
Hearing Bai Lili's outrageously lavish offer, the comments flooded the screen:
"Any amount??? Rich lady! Food! Hungry!"
"So this is a top-tier tall, fair-skinned beauty from a rich family?"
"So approachable! Her wealth brings her close to the people!"
"I want Miss Bai Lili to be my sugar mommy!"
"Suyo! Damn you! How could you turn your nose up at someone as wonderful as Bai Lili?!"
"Is it possible that under Suyo's mask, there's actually a sweet, soft, beautiful girl? That's why she keeps avoiding Lili!"
As the young lady of the Bai family, Bai Lili lacked many things in life, but money was not one of them.
She even thought money was the most useless thing in the world.
After all, there was nowhere in her life where she could use it.
For example, whenever she went shopping, everything she took a fancy to was free.
Even when she wanted to pay, the shopkeepers refused to accept her money.
She had never expected something so useless to come in handy now.
Bai Lili could not have been happier!
"Qiji, please, you must accept it!"
A second later, Miss Bai eagerly stuffed a bulging, faintly fragrant money pouch into Qiji's hand, as though afraid he would change his mind.
"If it's not enough, I'll bring you more tomorrow! My family has plenty more of this stuff!"
Qiji hefted the pouch, feeling the warmth it carried, and his handsome face beneath the mask could not help breaking into an utterly sincere smile.
"Bai Lili... no, Boss Bai.
I promise you, I'll make you feel that every penny you spend is worth far more than you paid!"
When it came to taking money and getting things done, Qiji's word was his bond!
Huomu, who had witnessed Miss Bai's display of cash power from the side, suddenly thought of something and turned to Setsuna, muttering quietly:
"Come to think of it, looks like we didn't need to kneel just now."
Setsuna flew into a rage. "I didn't kneel! Leave me out of it, you idiot!"
Back in the classroom, Teacher Yuejian Ren was still in his eternally languid pose, leaning against the lectern with that romance novel he seemed destined never to finish in his hands.
Only when the bell rang did he explain the contents of this month's task to the class, without so much as looking up:
"Take a batch of potions to the frontline outpost, and escort a caravan going the same way while you're at it.
Liuli, hand out the potions in a moment. Everyone take a backpack and pack your own. Don't lose them."
He then hastily gave them a few more instructions.
Once everyone had collected their potions in turn, Teacher Tsukimi led the way alone, reading his novel as he walked.
Seeing that Qiji had also put on a backpack and joined the group,
the other students of Class Eight all breathed a sigh of relief, reassured smiles appearing on their faces.
Everyone had seen the strength Qiji displayed during last week's rift assessment.
This task seemed simple, but they were leaving the city and would have to cross rifts. Nobody knew what they might encounter.
Although the whole class was going together with a teacher leading them, so nothing should go wrong in theory,
the teacher leading them was Teacher Tsukimi, the man who spent all day engrossed in a romance novel!
His irresponsible conduct was hardly reassuring.
By comparison, they felt that Qiji was the one who could truly make them feel safe.
When Class Eight left the academy, a small caravan of several mule carts had already been waiting for some time.
The caravan owner was an honest-looking middle-aged man. Beside him stood two children who looked no more than seven or eight, huddled close together and looking somewhat timid.
Yuejian, their teacher, glanced over and immediately frowned.
He closed his novel and muttered in a voice that was anything but quiet:
"Oh my, oh my~~ Why are there children here too?
You know, my personal favorite things are flowers, the moon, and romance novels.
As for what I hate most, that's humans, without a doubt.
And among humans, the ones I hate most of all-
are naturally children, the most troublesome of them all."
The comments immediately erupted into an argument over Yuejian's outrageous declaration:
"Did anyone ask what you like or hate?"
"Seriously? What did humans ever do to you? What did children do to you? Aren't you human yourself?"
"Fuck! He's as bad as my teacher!"
"What the fuck is he talking about? How did this asshole ever become a teacher?!"
"Wait, commenter above, I can't stand this teacher either, but at least he isn't wrong this time, is he? They're not going on a picnic. Bringing kids along on a mission isn't normal."
Hearing this, Qiji clicked his tongue inwardly.
Having read Lao Yue's character card, he knew that Lao Yue had died precisely because he was saving the children in the city.
And he had died a horribly miserable death...
So-
he really was a contrary adult.
Faced with Teacher Tsukimi's blunt words, the caravan owner looked a little awkward and hurried to explain:
"My apologies! Mr. Yuejian, it was my fault for not telling you beforehand!
These two children belong to members of the garrison at the frontline outpost. Their parents were badly injured in battle, and I'm afraid...
I brought them along so they could see their parents one last time...
If you think it's inconvenient, we can discuss the payment again. How about an extra twenty percent...?"
Yuejian waved a hand and interrupted him with a frown:
"Don't make it sound like I only brought it up to get more money.
They can come, but if anything unexpected happens along the way, and they hold us back or cause trouble-"
He glanced at the two children, who kept shrinking back in fright behind the caravan owner, and shrugged.
"I won't look after them."
"Yes, of course! Don't worry! I'll keep a close eye on them and make sure they don't cause any trouble!"
The caravan owner hurriedly assured him, pulling the two children close.
Chapter 27: Chain reaction
Hearing this, Teacher Tsukimi glanced at the two little ones, said nothing more, and returned his attention to his romance novel.
After setting off with the caravan and walking a few steps, he decided it was too inconvenient to read while walking.
He glanced at the mule cart piled high with goods and addressed his students:
"Someone clear a space for me up there."
But thanks to the fine reputation he had built for himself in Class Eight since the start of term,
there was no question-
no one paid him any attention.
A little embarrassed, Yuejian was about to take matters into his own hands.
But there were still honest kids in the class.
Huomu, for example, was an idiot who had never learned how to refuse anyone.
He darted forward and, in a few quick moves, hoisted the goods onto his shoulders, clearing a place for Yuejian to sit.
"Idiot."
Setsuna rolled her eyes at him, annoyed, thinking that he really was a fool.
"We're going to be traveling all day! Are you seriously going to carry that bastard teacher's cargo for him the whole time?"
"It's weight training!"
Huomu grinned. Not only did he think nothing of it, he was happy to have become someone "useful" to others.
Teacher Tsukimi, of course, had no qualms about taking advantage of Huomu's attitude.
He climbed leisurely onto the mule cart, crossed his legs, and read his novel, looking perfectly content.
The group made its way slowly toward the entrance to a rift on the outskirts of the city-state.
In this disaster-stricken world, rifts were a threat, but they were not entirely without benefits.
Some stable rifts with multiple exits had instead become natural "teleportation routes."
The rift before them, for example, had two exits nearly fifty kilometers apart in the real world, yet passing through the rift cut the journey to one two-and-a-halfth of that distance.
This greatly shortened the distances between city-states and outposts, supporting the fragile cross-regional trade of the era.
For this mission, they needed to pass through three rift routes rated D-class.
With Qiji there, rifts of that level could hardly be considered dangerous.
The greatest trouble lay in the journey itself.
As everyone knew, the terrain inside the vast majority of rifts could be described as extremely poor.
Twisted vegetation and jagged, rocky ground were everywhere.
In many places, the caravan's four-wheeled mule carts could not get through without the students lending a hand.
The group trudged along with the mule cart on their shoulders, taking uneven steps, while Teacher Tsukimi continued to lounge leisurely on the raised cart bed.