The next day, Baiyi left the house together with the girls, even Attie came along, as they walked towards the academy. Mia and Tisdale gave up on their new clothes and were wearing their ordinary school uniforms while Attie exchanged her usual servant attire for the clothes that she bought the day before. It was a dress that was made from translucent white tulle, vaguely exposing her skin and curves to the passersby. With her unique bronze-colored skin, she looked exactly like a piece of tasty-looking chocolate that was enveloped by a layer of milk.

  Naturally, Baiyi objected to her wearing that kind of clothing that was even more seductive than being naked but yet, she loved it very much . It probably had something to do with how it looked a lot like her clothes back in the Steppe. When Baiyi told her to take that dress off, she held on to her chest tightly and backed away towards a corner, begging him with her pitiful kitty-look. With a tearful voice, she pleaded in a small voice, “M-Master…… P-Please. I-It’s still daytime !”

  Why was that girl always thinking of dirty things? Did she think that Baiyi would be so obscene during the day? Anyway, no matter what she thought of him, looking at her pitiful pleading, Baiyi decided to just let the matter go and let her wear whatever she liked.

  The distance from Tisdale’s mansion to the academy was actually pretty near, it only took 10 minutes or so by foot for them to arrive at the academy. Along the way, they managed to attract many looks from the passersby. Had Baiyi not secretly exuded a sense of coercion (another one of the Charlatan’s tricks), a group of wolves would have probably thrown themselves at the pretty girls around him.

  When the four of them had just stepped into the academy, a luxurious whirlicote suddenly stopped and blocked their way without warning. Just as they were wondering who the occupant was, Undine whom they had not seen for a long time, jumped down from the coach and waved her hands enthusiastically like a kid at Baiyi.

  Undine had replaced her usual sexy knightwear and instead opted for the academy’s uniform. It was somewhat similar to what Mia and Tisdale were wearing. However, the uniform somehow seemed to be a little small on her. It weren’t just her slender waist and body curves that were completely exposed by the tight uniform, even her skirt was much more shorter than the other girls. Theabsolute territory 1 between her skirt and her white silk stockings exposed more than it should have and her shirt was slightly shorter as well, exposing the snowy fair skin at her waist.

  Her beautiful pale blue hair was tied up into a single pony tail and draped casually at her back. Her face was decorated with a girlish smile as she nodded at Baiyi as a greeting.

  Tisdale quickly went forward and took hold of her arms. Intimately, she purred, “Sister Undine! This is so nostalgic! I feel like we’ve travelled back in time,” Turning to Baiyi, she added, “Look, teacher! Sister Undine looks exactly like how she looked when she was still in school. Isn’t she beautiful? There were many guys who pursued her during her school days!”

  Baiyi did not say anything. Instead, he cast his glance towards her waist area. The slight exposure of her skin had managed to turn an ordinary-looking school uniform into something sexy and seductive,

  Undine noticed Baiyi’s glance and the fact that he did not reply Tisdale’s question. Immediately, she turned slightly embarrassed as she explained, “W-Well, to be honest, I was a student of the academy as well last time and this was where I met Tisdale for the first time. After I graduated, I still keep my old uniform and since today’s quite a celebration, I thought that it would be suitable for me to put on my old uniform again. But somehow, I have put on some weight after I left the academy……” She stuck out her tongue cheekily as she finished her words. For an instance, she did look like she had become a student once again.

  Anyhow, since she’s a matured socialite now, she should not act like an innocent and simple-minded girl anymore, right? But come to think of it, she’s only a couple of years older than Tisdale and she has not experienced love before. Considering the fact that she’s shouldering her family’s burden, I guess, it’s okay for her to act like that once in a while, huh?

  \r \r \r

  After a few words of casual greeting, Undine invited Baiyi and the rest to the proscenium box that her family had reserved to watch the ceremony. After giving it some thought, Baiyi agreed and they proceeded to stroll around the academy.

  After two days of preparation, the academy was completely different from how it usually looked. Colored streamers hung from the trees, brightly colored flowers decorated every paths in the academy. The taller school buildings had banners with ‘2500th Anniversary’ hung on them. Along the way, they met many people who were busy talking, there was no signs of the tranquility and elegant aura that the academy usually exuded.

  The ceremony was held in a place similar to the ancient Roman’s debate chamber. The place was able to accommodate up to ten thousand people and the place had already been divided into a few sections with multiple modifications done on it. The surrounding of the debate chamber was heavily decorated with magic. Proscenium boxes were last minute set up for the aristocrats and the originally bald podium was now covered with a red carpet and flower petals.

  As they walked into the box, Undine’s Soul Armature, Leo was already waiting for them with a few glasses of wine. After they had entered, Attie was wise enough to go to the servant rest area next door and did not even try to offend the Dole family. Undine did not put on a displeased look on her face as well during such a happy occasion. She simply treated Attie as invisible and it could be considered as a huge concession on Undine’s part. Maybe it was for Baiyi’s sake or maybe it was because she needed Attie’s clan to be the transit station for her commercial route.

  After seeing Baiyi had entered the box, Leo lifted up a glass to toast him, his movement was no longer as stiff and rusty as it was before. It looked like he was finally accustomed to his prosthetic limbs.

  However, other than Undine, nobody else was able to drink those wine. Needless to say, Baiyi was a Soul Armature and he, of course, would not let Mia and Tisdale have even a tiny sip of it. Be that as it may, each of them had a glass in their hand, putting on a display as they talked while waiting for the ceremony to start.

  Soon after, when the debate chamber was filled with spectators, the ceremony finally started.

  The first show that officiated the ceremony was a magnificent light and shadow show. After a series of fireworks that could even be seen in day light ended, it spelled out a series of gigantic number ‘2500’ in the air, eliciting cheers and standing ovations from the spectators.

  What took place next was the opening speech by the representative of the Walthart’s prince from the Walthart royal family. There was nothing important in the content other than a lengthy amount of courtesy words. Even Baiyi was sick of the speech. Yet, to his surprise, his teacher suddenly voiced out in the Void, “Urghh, listen to that speech! The standard is not even half as good as the speech that I used to give. When I gave my speech last time, nobody would dare to even yawn.”

  Baiyi cast a side glance at Mia who was yawning with her head against Tisdale’s shoulder. A thought came to his mind.

  I guess, if she really nodded off during your speech, you, the Sage-Emperor of the Magi, would not be able to do anything to her, would you?

  After the speech had ended, President Rhansey took over and briefed the crowds about the history of the Celestial Fortress Academy. With the help of magic that was jointly cast by a few senior students and teachers, they created moving pictures similar to a movie theatre and let the audience relived the Celestial Fortress Academy’s history.

  The third show was performed by the Church. An archbishop from the Holy City led a group of choirs to the middle of the square. During the melodious hymns, the archbishop unleashed his Holy Power and blessed all of the people who were present.

  Actually, the large-scale collective blessing had no apparent effect on the receivers or whatsoever. It was just for the sake of being auspicious…… or at least that was what Baiyi thought. Anyway, when the melody of the Holy Song started to play, the few girls who were whispering quieted down immediately. Their hands were held tightly in front of their chests and their eyes were closed as in a praying pose, putting on a facade as if they were some ardent devotees.

  You might as well come beg me instead of that who-knows-what True God, Baiyi scoffed inwardly. He threw a casual glimpse towards the choir and saw a familiar figure among the girls. It was the beautiful girl who came asking for directions last time.

  “Why do you look so serious? Oh, don’t tell me you have your eyes on somebody, eh?” Leo the Soul Armature was apparently not a devotee at all. When he saw Baiyi staring at the choir group, he extended his head over and whispered. Following Baiyi’s line of sight, he finally found the target and continued to say, “She’s not as beautiful as my Undine. Or wait a minute! Could it be that you’re looking at some guy instead?”

  Baiyi ignored him.

  Still, Leo continued to add on, “But anyway, this choir really managed to make themselves look like a real choir. Hmm, not bad!”

  “What do you mean? They’re not a real choir?” Baiyi asked curiously.

  “Well, it’s not that, it’s more like they are not professionals. In truth, they are actually a group of knight trainees and back-up nuns. They are just here for the sake of cultural exchange and show their faces out of politeness.”

  “Ahh, so that’s how it is……” Baiyi muttered as he fell into deep thoughts.

  In truth, a nun did not have much any authority in the Church hierarchy. They were just like the mascots of the Church and usually, the number of the mascot would not be limited to only one. It would always be adjusted based on the circumstances. Still, they would at least ensure that every area had such a mascot in the Church.

  True to its name, a back-up nun was just the candidate to becoming a real nun. They were usually young and devout girls. NOTE: young and devout , none of them was dispensable! At the same time, those girls would undergo some simple training to learn about Theurgy and martial arts. After all, the nuns were not some ornaments that were placed in the house but instead, they were required to go to the battlefield every now and then.

  It wasn’t easy to become a nun. The key is the the age. One must not be more than 27 years old to become a nun. Even then, many of the back-ups waited for the opportunity till they became 27 years old and they still could not become a nun. Therefore, the village girl that Baiyi had his attention on did not seem like she would have any chance in becoming a real nun at all. Other than being beautiful, he could not see any other traits on her that would make her stand out from the crowd.

  Or perhaps, the art of acting stupidly cute was her special trait?

  Just as Baiyi was thinking about how he should approach the village girl, a man dressed in paladin attire suddenly rushed into the square abruptly and despite the horror on the archbishop’s face, he whispered strings of words into his ear.

  Just like that, the blessing ceremony got interrupted halfway, and the harmonious song by the choir was cut off unexpectedly.

  Shit! Could it be that somebody really did come to sabotage the celebration just like I thought? An ominous feeling started to form in Baiyi’s heart.