Chapter 276: Severely Punished!

The Great Merciful Tree King went to become the patrol chief.

This isn't done on a whim.

But it's what she herself said.

For her, who had exhausted all her energy and even lost her life once for Sumeru, she now just wants to enjoy life properly.

If it weren't that Sumeru is still not stable,

She doesn't want to deal with anything.

And it's precisely because Sumeru is still not stable.

That's why she voluntarily offered to take a post in the patrol team.

Moreover.

Like Youla, she also likes to parachute into important positions.

"I'm going to catch fish; you just play by yourself for now."

This is what the Great Merciful Tree King said before taking office.

Dixiya followed her to handle the handover.

Since the Great Merciful Tree King personally took charge of the investigation in Hope City, Luo De has returned to having nothing to do.

Of course.

Not going out to do things doesn't mean there's nothing to do.

Luo De, who had never fulfilled a teacher's duties, seriously began giving lessons to Ke Lai.

Besides Ke Lai.

There is also another student of Luo De's.

Tadela.

The young hawk raised by the Ta Ni Te tribe.

When Luo De initially brought her back from the Ta Ni Te tribe, she was merely a child who only knew how to kill.

After experiencing life in A Ru Cun and the days of desert hunting.

Now Tadela has grown tall and graceful; the bloody killing aura from her past slaughter of bandits and tribesmen in the desert has completely vanished—just looking at her appearance, you couldn't tell she was once a desert hawk with blood on her hands.

However, what Luo De teaches isn't some cultural class.

Actually.

Due to the age gap between Ke Lai and Tadela, Luo De can't teach them the same knowledge at the same time.

Therefore.

He is actually just chatting with Ke Lai and Tadela, and by commenting on their daily experiences, he imparts some of his thoughts to them.

Zhongli isn't here today.

He is by nature someone who can't sit still.

Hope City, this new city in the desert, is to him yet another place full of novelty and fun everywhere.

With his abundant interests, he never stays put in one place day after day.

Sometimes he goes out wandering on his own; sometimes Luo De acts as his guide.

Today he went out on his own.

From what he says, it sounds like he met a very interesting person yesterday and wants to visit them today.

Who knows which lucky person earned the Geo Archon's favor.

Kuseila is still the same as ever.

That old mercenary, who back in A Ru Cun dared to brandish his blade at Luo De when he revealed his identity as the Red King's envoy, now lives a leisurely retirement, his days either spent gardening and raising fish or cleaning the house and preparing meals for his family.

No.

When Luo De teaches Ke Lai and Tadela, he stops by every now and then, either bringing a snack or a drink.

After being interrupted several times, Luo De simply locked the door from the inside, ignoring Kuseila no matter how he knocked.

Just like that.

It continued like that until Luo De's lesson ended, and only then did he let Kuseila in.

"You."

"Back then you even got into a big argument with him over assigning too much homework to Ke Lai for A De Ba Yi."

"How come you're now just like that old guy."

Kuseila, holding a plate of fruit, walked along chattering, much like an old grandfather doting on his juniors.

Luo De retorted unhappily: "What I teach is different from his."

"We're both from the Academy; how different could we be?"

Kuseila's hostility toward the Academy has faded considerably, but that doesn't affect his sarcastic remarks toward A De Ba Yi.

No one knows when it started.

The two of them love to bicker whenever they meet.

Today you're an illiterate who doesn't deserve to learn how I speak; tomorrow you, a distinguished Academy scholar, don't deserve to eat the food I make.

Just like that.

Their back-and-forth banter has added plenty of laughter and cheer to the usually quiet household.

Despite the complaining, Kuseila also knows.

When Luo De teaches the children, he's not suited to be disturbed.

So after muttering a few words, he left with an empty plate and cup.

"Grandpa Kuseila bears no ill will toward Teacher A De Ba Yi."

Hearing Ke Lai say that.

Luo De, who was eating fruit, almost choked on a mouthful.

"Grandfather?"

Kuserla is about the same age as A De Ba Yi, so Ke Lai's addressing him that way directly puts him a generation apart.

"Dixiya let me call him that."

"A De Ba Yi teacher doesn't look very happy anyway."

Ke Lai said all that while pouting.

"Hey—"

Saying that, Luo De understood why.

He didn't reveal the reason, smiling as he asked about Ke Lai and Taderla's current situation.

"I am still studying at the Academy's school."

"Over there, the students are basically all desert children."

"Only one class has rainforest children, but they always end up fighting with kids from the other classes."

"The principal has handled this matter several times."

"But each time it comes to nothing."

Ke Lai truthfully reported what he had seen and heard at school.

Hope City's Academy branch implements A Ru Cun's new teaching system; whether it's the timetable or the teaching mode, it differs from the Academy's teaching style.

Many such schools are now being built in the desert.

It's just due to a lack of teaching resources.

The teachers at the school are basically from the Academy; some are students, some are volunteer scholars like Setare.

Ke Lai started school relatively late.

At least he studied with A De Ba Yi for a long time, so his basics are still pretty solid.

Besides, sometimes Tinari and Sagono also come by to give a couple of pointers.

So after the Academy officially opened a branch in the desert and established a school, Ke Lai directly skipped the beginner class still at the literacy stage and entered the intermediate class.

Originally, such schools opened in the desert.

In theory, they should all be desert students.

But after all, the Academy has mobilized a large number of scholars to support the desert, and many of those scholars have brought their families, so naturally we cannot let these rainforest‑area children go without schooling.

Thus a situation like the one Ke Lai described arose.

Desert dwellers' children and rainforest‑area children attend the same school.

"What about Taderla?"

Taderla is quite different from Ke Lai; as a tool person cultivated by the Taniit tribe for slaughter, she has never studied from a young age.

Even the Taniit tribe's elder Babel values the tribe's learning situation.

Tools still aren't eligible for learning.

In Luo De's words.

Learning frees people's thoughts.

The Taniit people obviously understand this principle.

In order not to let the hawks lose control, they certainly will not give the hawks an opportunity to acquire knowledge.

That is precisely why.

Although Taderla is much older than Ke Lai, even though she once took a basic course at A Ru Cun for a period of time, she still has to sit in the same classroom as children much younger than her.

And this school has more young children.

On the issue of opposition, however, it is far more serious than Ke Lai's intermediate class: "Those rainforest‑area children."

"Even refusing to sit in the same classroom as us."

Taderla said this with a very calm expression.

Then.

Then I heard her continue: "Desert children often come to me for help in fights, but besides Ke Lai, I haven't helped anyone else."

"Huh?"

Hearing that, Luo De turned his head toward Ke Lai, who was frantically waving at Taderla.

As soon as their eyes met.

Ke Lai immediately put his hands behind his back, giving an awkward smile as he locked eyes with Luo De.

"You also went to fight?"

Luo De eyed Ke Lai up and down suspiciously, then said: "No lying."

"Mm-hmm."

Ke Lai admitted with a grim face: "I've fought once."

"Huh?"

Luo De glared.

Ke Lai hastily corrected himself, stammering: "No, no, three, three times—Taderla helped me one, one."

At that point.

Ke Lai glanced furtively at Taderla, who was sitting upright.

Seeing Taderla not looking at him, she slumped and said: "Taderla has helped me twice."

However, Luo De didn't rush to criticize Ke Lai, but instead asked again: "What's the reason?"

Ke Lai is a good child.

Luo De has always thought so.

When she was wandering in the past, even if people despised her, threw stones at her, she would rather bite her own lips bloody than use her black fire.

Able to force Ke Lai to fight.

Luo De, without even thinking, automatically assumed it must be the fault of those rainforest-area children.

But this time.

He guessed wrong.

"I-I was dragged over."

"Master, you, you listen to my explanation."

Seeing Luo De's expression change, Ke Lai immediately explained in a panic, even her stutter disappeared, and she spoke a bit faster than before: "I originally didn't want to fight, but those bad rainforest children cursed so terribly that I, I couldn't hold back!"

"What did they say?"

Luo De asked, his expression unchanging.

"They said, they said the desert folk are all raised by sand worms, utterly lacking any manners."

"Moreover."

"They also said we don't deserve to sit and study together with them."

Ke Lai spoke, growing more aggrieved, tears welling up: "They said that if it weren't for Luo De's desert person deceiving the Dendro Archon, the Dendro Archon wouldn't have punished the Great Sage, nor would they have let the lowly desert folk steal the rainforest people's resources."

After hearing all that.

Luo De turned his gaze toward Ta De La.

"Hmm."

Ta De La, without saying much, nodded to confirm Ke Lai's words, then added: "Recently, many children have dropped out of school because of these things."

"Heh—"

"Hehe—"

Luo De laughed.

Even though Ke Lai was still wiping away her tears, she sensed a chilling killing intent suddenly erupting from him.

"These bastards."

"Do, get, good, ah."

Luo De gave a sinister chuckle, completely ignoring his two disciples sitting beside him, making no effort to hide his surging killing intent.

School.

This was the most important part of Luo De's and Nadixa's original stabilizing plan.

To fuse these two peoples, so opposed to such a degree, into one.

Cultural identity, the rainforest and desert are essentially one family—this is the most important part.

And children are the best time to cultivate this sense of identity.

Therefore, regarding the selection of those who can teach these children,

Nadixa could be said to have picked and picked, chosen and chosen; for this matter she even broke precedent to use mind-reading on mortals, confirming that these scholars coming to the desert had no ethnic barriers or fanatical extremist beliefs.

But she never expected.

After countless calculations.

In this matter, a loophole still ended up appearing.

Ke Lai's fight seems trivial, but basically everyone involved has a problem.

The rainforest children harbor a strong, groundless hostility toward the desert children.

The school teachers who know about this yet do not handle it.

The principal who forcibly suppresses these matters.

All of these indicate that someone is deliberately interfering with the process of cultural integration.

At the same time, this also shows that

Even a god-level mind-reading technique is not omnipotent; human hearts change far too quickly.

"Class is over today."

"I need to go out for a while."

Luo De, his face as cold as ice, ordered Ke Lai and Ta De La.

"Teacher."

Realizing that her own words had caused the problem, Ke Lai, looking worried, grabbed Luo De's sleeve, not wanting him to leave.

"This has nothing to do with you."

"I also won't harm your classmates."

Luo De gently shook off Ke Lai's hand and left without looking back.

Watching his back quickly disappear outside the door.

Ke Lai was so frightened she didn't dare shed tears, anxiously clutching Ta De La and saying: "Ta De La sister, Teacher he."

"It's fine."

"It's just that some people touched the teacher's berserk trigger."

Compared to the worried Ke Lai, Ta De La instead wore a smile, gloating: "Those foul-mouthed scoundrels, it's time they paid the price for their mouths."

Ta De La really dislikes those students who always speak rudely to the desert folk and the teachers who cover for each other.

If it weren't for her current status as a student,

she would have already moved to kill.

The result was that, because of this student's identity, all she could do was to be a little bit harsher when fighting in a brawl, giving those Academy students a lesson.

She had also received several punishments because of that.

Now it's settled.

The teacher has returned.

Someone has backed her up.

In Tadela's eager anticipation, Luo De contacted Nadixa and told her about this.

"Have you confirmed the truth of this matter?"

"It's not that Nadixa doesn't believe what Ke Lai and Tadela said; she just can't bring herself to believe that someone she thought highly of could corrupt so quickly."

"Ke Lai wouldn't lie to me."

Luo De also replied firmly, then said: "My suggestion is only one: expel the involved student, revoke their eligibility to study at the Academy for the next three years, suspend the involved teacher pending investigation, forcibly end their studies at the Academy under the pretense of academic leave, expel the involved principal from the Academy, cancel their current Academy position, and directly expel them from Sumeru."

Although no one was killed.

But Luo De's disposition plan is far more painful than killing them.

"Do you think I don't want to kill them?"

Just as Nadixa hesitated how to handle it, Luo De gritted his teeth and said: "Those who bring discrimination and injustice into the school, foster corrupt trends, undermine the Dendro Archon's plans, attempt to widen ethnic rifts to maintain the rainforest region's cultural domination over the desert region, deserve to die! All of them deserve to die!"

Upon hearing those words.

Nadixa's just‑arisen plea instantly vanished, and she immediately agreed to Luo De's disposition plan.

And this.

It will also become the most severe punishment and the widest‑ranging incident in the history of Hope City's founding.

(End of chapter)