CHAPTER 106: A GIFT OF 10 MILLION

Alex silently watched as the two exchanged words, but it was mostly the middle-aged man who was arguing with the principal while the principal tried to reason with the other party.

Alex didn’t know who this person was, but the resemblance with a certain someone allowed him to guess his identity; that red hair was particularly eye-catching.

This person must be Laura’s father!

’No wonder he was so arrogant; he’s the head of one of the biggest families in Balon City, after all.’ Alex thought to himself.

The reason why he had come was because his daughter had complained to him that she was facing oppression in school, and the teachers didn’t try to help; instead, they prevented her from defending herself and even scolded her.

The man had found this unacceptable and had come for an explanation, but what he was hearing was a totally different thing, which enraged him even more.

He even asked the principal to tell him the name of the person behind his daughter’s hard time in school but the principal wouldn’t say anything and kept asking him to lecture his daughter instead.

In the end, Laura’s father left out of anger, but only after promising to cut off all forms of support, he was giving to the school, including donations.

The principal sighed tiredly as he rested on his seat after Laura’s father left the office, slamming the door so hard that it almost collapsed. He stared at the ceiling of the office, his mind drifting into thoughts.

Alex remained inside the white space and observed the old man, he wanted to see if the other party would curse at him for what had happened.

But even after many seconds passed, the principal didn’t say anything and just kept staring at the ceiling in silence.

Alex couldn’t help but be impressed by the old man’s loyalty.

Not only did he protect Emily at school just like Alex had instructed, but he also didn’t disclose Emily’s identity to the other party since it was obvious that the other party might be petty enough to go look for trouble with Emily outside school grounds.

He had followed Alex’s instructions even though he caused his school to lose a valuable supporter.

While it might be due to fear of what Alex might do to him if something happened to Emily, Alex still felt he should at least offer some compensation to the old man.

"Rested enough yet?" Alex said as he stepped out of the white space and appeared in the office. His voice startled the old man, who was staring at the ceiling, and caused him to jump up to his feet; he turned his head and stared at Alex with shock on his face.

From the principal’s perspective, it was as if Alex had been in the room for a long time, and they just didn’t notice him; it was just like the last time.

"M-Mr Chen!" The principal gasped in surprise after recovering from his shock. He silently let out a breath of relief as he stared at Mr Chen’s mask, he was just pondering over how Mr Chen would know if he told Laura’s father about Emily and Mr Chen’s instruction to protect her when the other party suddenly appeared.

The principal felt invisible sweat forming on his face, he had escaped a calamity just by keeping his mouth shut.

As for how he knew that this senior was Mr Chen, it was because Mr Chen was now very popular. Who else went around in Balon City wearing a black robe and plain white mask?

The principal didn’t know about Mr Chen’s identity previously and was just obeying the other party’s instruction because he was at a higher rank, it didn’t take long for him to find out about Mr Chen after words started spreading amongst the explorers in Balon City.

Almost everyone was talking about Mr Chen.

Alex wasn’t surprised that the principal now knew his identity even though he was a nameless masked mage when they first met, he remained standing in one place as he spoke.

He first told the principal that he was satisfied with how he had been following his instructions after they first met but quickly stated that it wasn’t still enough.

This was Alex’s plan after discovering that the Dark Union wanted to kidnap his sister, he was going to add another layer of protection on top of the officers sent by the Union. At least, someone would be able to watch over his family in secret when he wasn’t around.

After hearing that Mr Chen wanted him to not only protect Emily while in school but now had to protect her family as well when they were outside, the principal’s face turned ugly and he wanted to protest.

Why did he have to do something so tiresome? He was the principal of a school, not the head of some private escort organisation!

If Mr Chen wanted to hire escorts for Emily and her family, why didn’t he just submit a mission to the Union? The principal believed that hundreds of explorers would be willing to accept the mission since it was Mr Chen who issued it.

Seeing the old man’s ugly expression, Alex could tell what he was thinking and honestly didn’t blame him, but he wasn’t going to change his mind just because of that.

He brought out his left hand from under his robe, and a black card appeared between his fingers; it was the Union card which he used to receive payment for the beast corpses and mana cores he sold to the Union.

Alex threw the black card toward the old man and the latter caught it, a surprised look on his face.

"There’s over 10 million Zen in there, do a good job," Alex informed.

The eyes of the principal widened when he heard this, he stared at the black Union card in his hand before looking at Mr Chen in disbelief.

Ten million Zen?!

"Yes, yes! I’ll make sure to protect them!" The principal nodded his head vigorously like a hen pecking rice, Alex feared for a moment that his head might fly off his neck.

"Good." Alex voiced out before turning around and stepping back into the white space.

In the principal’s pov, Mr Chen turned around and disappeared from the office. While he was surprised, his focus was still on the black card in his hand, a smile couldn’t help but form on his face; he was feeling emotional.

Mr Chen finally rewarded him for his efforts. With this ten million, he didn’t need to worry about Laura’s father cutting off his support for his school for the time being.

His impression of Emily also grew. Mr Chen was willing to spend this much on Emily even though he hadn’t accepted her as his student yet and all of this was just because she was going to be a talented mage after awakening.

He made a decision, he was going to form a stronger bond with student Emily!

He didn’t dare to try to snatch Mr Chen’s student but there shouldn’t be a problem if he became a mentor to her, right?

...

After Alex was done with his business at Emily’s school, he used the void walk skill again and directly went outside the city. He crossed the outpost where the Union officers guarded and appeared a few hundred meters away from the border.

When he stepped out of the white space and ended the void walk skill, Alex saw that he was surrounded by yellow sand and the official road that they took the last time could be seen in the distance.

With his back facing the direction of Balon City, Alex gazed at the endless land covered in sand before him.

Time to farm exp!

Ah, as well as earning back the money he gave out earlier.

.....

Somewhere in Balon City, a group of people gathered in a high observation room and stared down at a large platform where lots of children were locked behind glass prisons.

"Red eyes, what’s the decision of the Union after getting the dark beasts from Mr Chen?"

"We have decided to wait for the branch leader before making any major movements but the sub-elders and the other elder have agreed to assist Mr Chen with anything he might need in the meantime."

"Alright, try to keep the Union occupied for the time being and try to get closer to Mr Chen and gain his trust."

"Understood, what are we going to do about Mr Chen? I feel he might find us even without the Union’s help, we can’t track his movements."

"I’ve requested help from the branch, a red robe is coming to help us kill him."

"..."

"Blue venom,"

"Your grace?"

"I’ve changed my mind; get that girl and her brother as well; kill the parents. They made me lose five dark beasts, I’m upset."

"I understand."

"Good, everything will be in place soon. Balon City will tremble at the name of the Dark Union!"