Chapter 23: Fasno's Little Trouble

Last year, on the night of the Lantern Festival, 

The flower market was as bright as day, 

The moon rose above the willow tips, 

People made appointments after dusk. 

This year, on the night of the Lantern Festival, 

The moon and the lanterns remain the same, 

But the people from last year are nowhere to be seen, 

Tears wet the sleeves of my spring robe.

Walking along Wall Street, the largest and most luxurious street in Winden City, and watching the flickering magical lights on the shops on either side, a famous poem by Ouyang Xiu, "Sheng Zha Zi," suddenly came to Lin Yuan's mind. Although he knew it was out of place in this otherworldly setting, he couldn't help but recite it silently in his heart.

Looking up, he saw Ellis in the night sky gradually shedding its thin veil to reveal its beautiful face. The pale cyan light cascaded down, illuminating the entire night sky with an extraordinary brilliance.

It was a full moon.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but smile. The moon in this world was different from the one in his previous world; it only became full once every three months, and it wasn't easy to see. He hadn't expected that after he thought about it, Ellis would so cooperatively reveal her entire face.

"Lin, what are you thinking about?" Katusha suddenly asked beside him.

Lin Yuan looked down and saw that Katusha's hands were already full of all sorts of miscellaneous items. He casually took them over and found everything from sandalwood combs to steel-bristle brushes.

Shaking his head with a smile, he avoided Katusha's question and asked, "Why are you buying so many of these things?"

"Some are for my own use, and some I'll take back home as gifts when I go on holiday," Katusha replied matter-of-factly.

Lin Yuan couldn't help but laugh. It seemed that no matter which world you were in, some things were always the same.

"Lin, you seem to have a good relationship with the Dean, don't you?" Katusha asked casually while picking through items at a roadside stall.

"Not bad, I suppose. After all, I was brought here by him..." Lin Yuan could only give a wry smile when he mentioned this.

"Brought here? What do you mean?" Katusha asked in surprise.

"Nothing. Anyway, I've been with him for two months, and he's the one who taught me magic. Our relationship is indeed good. Why do you ask?"

"The Dean is a Grand Mage. I'm naturally curious that you can have such a good relationship with him," Katusha suddenly smiled. "Lin, do you know why your class was chosen for the observation this morning?"

Thinking of Tre's sharp face, Lin Yuan sneered, "It was Tre, wasn't it?"

"So you know," Katusha picked out the items she wanted and handed them to Lin Yuan, leading the way forward. "This morning, His Excellency the Dean gathered us teachers who didn't have classes to choose a teacher's class for observation. Tre immediately suggested yours, and the Dean agreed without hesitation." She turned to Lin Yuan and smiled. "But unfortunately for him, Lin, your performance this morning was so good that the other teachers couldn't find any faults. You have no idea how ugly Tre's face looked after you were taken away by the Dean. I still want to laugh when I think about it."

Lin Yuan chuckled. No matter why Tre was always targeting him, since he had come looking for trouble, Lin Yuan didn't feel the need to be polite.

"Katusha, if I remember correctly, Tre is also in charge of the first year, right? Which class is his? I should also find time to observe his class."

"He's a mid-level Archmage; he wouldn't just be responsible for one class. All the earth magic for this year's freshmen is guided by him," Katusha's eyes twinkled as she continued, "But... he has a class the day after tomorrow in the afternoon. How about you suggest to the Dean that we go and see it?"

Lin Yuan sneered and nodded firmly, "Definitely."

"Alright, I'm looking forward to Tre's wonderful performance. Hehe... Ah, we're here," Katusha suddenly stopped.

Lin Yuan looked closely and saw a restaurant in front of them. Judging from the steady stream of people entering and leaving, the restaurant's business was quite good.

"Hungry? Let's go find a seat to eat," seeing Katusha take the lead and walk in, Lin Yuan quickly followed.

The interior of the restaurant was different from the traditional Kuse Empire style. For example, in Kuse Empire restaurants, there would generally be a pot of fragrant hemp grass placed in the center, while here there was a bunch of thistle flowers. Additionally, while Kuse Empire restaurants usually had a central hall with round tables and four small private rooms in the corners, this restaurant had an open hall with square tables, separated by low wooden walls in the middle.

"This is a Machino-style restaurant," noticing Lin Yuan's confusion, Katusha explained in a low voice.

Lin Yuan suddenly understood. So Katusha had been leading him around for so long just to have a taste of her hometown cuisine.

The people on the Farinos Continent didn't differ much in appearance. Even those from countries tens of thousands of miles apart didn't have significant differences in their looks. Even if there were some subtle distinctions, Lin Yuan, who had only been in this world for a little over three months, couldn't tell the difference.

After staring for a while and failing to spot any foreigners, Lin Yuan gave up and began to focus on the menu.

"Lin, I've ordered mine. You order whatever you like. I'll go to the restroom first," Katusha suddenly got up.

Lin Yuan nodded and watched as Katusha disappeared around the corner of the hall, then he lowered his head again to seriously consider what to eat.

"Bang——"

A sharp sound of a plate smashing on the ground rang out overhead. Immediately, a shout followed.

"Kid, don't push your luck."

"Well, that's too bad. Your faces are just too dirty. I'm afraid picking them up would dirty my hands."

Recognizing the voice, Lin Yuan was taken aback. Fasno! What was he doing here?

Before he could figure out what was going on, there was another commotion upstairs, sounding as if even the windows had been smashed.

Sure enough, the argument had moved outside onto the street.

"Brat, don't think that just because you're from the Pierre family, we won't dare to do anything to you. Let me tell you, this is Winden, and here, you have to listen to us."

"Oh? I thought it was Emperor Kudi who had the final say in Winden. I didn't expect it to be you guys. My apologies."

The people on the other side were momentarily stunned. This was the capital of the Kuse Empire, after all, and saying such things was indeed thoughtless.

Embarrassed and angry, they didn't say anything more. Their bodies sank, and bright martial auras began to emanate from within.

Fasno's heart skipped a beat. He hadn't expected that the lowest among these people was a 3rd-level warrior with external martial aura. It seemed he was in for some trouble today.

"Stop!"

Fasno turned his head and saw that Lin Yuan had somehow stood at the entrance of the restaurant.

"Teacher Lin? What are you doing here?"

Hearing the commotion and seeing people break through the windows onto the street, Lin Yuan had rushed out immediately. Initially, he had planned to assess the situation first, but he hadn't expected Fasno to provoke them into action with just a few words, so he had to step in quickly to stop it.

"Teacher?" The people on the other side glanced at Lin Yuan. "Are you a teacher from Finor Academy?"

"That's right," Lin Yuan walked over to Fasno and quietly asked, "What's going on?"

"Nothing much. I was just here on behalf of my family to discuss some matters with them, but they turned out to be so unreasonable."

Lin Yuan nodded. He didn't plan to ask too many details. After all, he only needed to hear what the people on the other side had said to know he didn't like them. Moreover, they were targeting his student.

Knowing that Lin Yuan was a teacher from Finor Academy, the people on the other side became more cautious. Not to mention whether they could afford to provoke Finor Academy, they were not sure they could handle this teacher himself.

"If there's nothing else, Fasno, let's go," Lin Yuan said.

"Wait!" Seeing that Fasno was about to leave with Lin Yuan, the people quickly shouted to stop them. But as soon as Lin Yuan turned and glared at them, they immediately shut their mouths.

Just as Lin Yuan and Fasno were about to walk back into the restaurant, the sound of hooves suddenly rang out from the street corner.

Hearing the noise, the faces of the people surrounding them lit up with joy, and they charged forward again, surrounding Lin Yuan and Fasno.

"Who dares to cause trouble on Wall Street?" The sound of hooves grew closer, and the leader of the patrol shouted before even arriving.

Lin Yuan glanced at the expressions on the faces of the people surrounding him, then looked at the eyes of the man about to shout, and couldn't help but sneer inwardly. He had seen this kind of drama in books before, but he never expected to encounter it in real life.

Sure enough, the patrol leader exchanged a glance with those people and shouted again, "Take them all away."

Knowing full well that being taken away by them would not end well, Lin Yuan was not about to comply. With a casual wave of his hand, a fire wall appeared in front of the charging patrol, blocking their advance.

"Are you a mage?" The captain, who was leading the patrol, was startled by the fire wall. These patrol soldiers were just ordinary troops, and even he, the captain, was only a Level 4 warrior. Facing a mage who could casually summon a fire wall, he had no confidence at all.

"What? Didn't they tell you?" Lin Yuan pointed at the people surrounding him and asked. He was also puzzled. Even if they didn't know about him, who had suddenly appeared, they should have known that Fasno was a mage as well. Why were they so surprised to see the fire wall?

"No..." The captain shook his head, then realized something and bowed, asking, "Respected Mage, may I ask if you are from Finor Academy?"

This captain's attitude was completely unexpected to Lin Yuan. He didn't think he would be so polite.

"Ah, yes, I am a teacher at Finor Academy, and this is my student."

"So you are a teacher!" The captain quickly dismounted from his horse and took a few steps closer. "I wonder how Dean Fernas is doing these days?"

Lin Yuan was completely bewildered by the captain's completely different attitude before and after. Although Finor Magic Academy had a great reputation and its teachers were always highly respected, it was not supposed to be this extreme.

"Dean Fernas is doing well, thank you for your concern. But this is not the time to talk about such things, don't you think?" Lin Yuan looked around.

"Oh, right." The captain waved to his men. "Come on, take these people away."

The people surrounding Lin Yuan looked incredulous, but they didn't resist and were obediently led away by the patrol soldiers.

"I still have patrol duties, so I can't chat with you, Mage. When you see Dean Fernas next time, tell him that Karl from the South District sends his regards." The captain finished speaking, turned around, mounted his horse quickly, and left without giving Lin Yuan a chance to ask any questions.

"What's going on?" Lin Yuan looked at Fasno, who also had a puzzled expression. It seemed this incident was unexpected to him as well. "Never mind, Fasno, let's go inside and talk. Teacher Katusha is in there too."