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“How about that? Do you believe me now?”

The voice appeared once again among the element turbulence.

Elder Mord frowned slightly. The owner of the previous voice was definitely Lilith, there was no mistake about it. However, something still felt off to him.

“Even if you didn’t hurt my student, destroying the Dragon God Lake was still a serious crime! I don’t think we can let you off this easily.”
“One hundred million.”
“What?”
“I shall offer one hundred million gold coins to rebuild Dragon God Lake.”

Elder Carter’s eyes lit up upon hearing the offer. He was about to say something, but got interrupted by Elder Mord.

“Nonsense! Do you think it’s realistic that a mere one hundred million gold coins could erase your crime of destroying the sacred lake?”

Elder Carter was speechless.

I think it’s very realistic! One hundred million gold coins are enough to build ten Dragon God Lakes. Not only that, it’s enough to expand the lake, deepen the lake, add on a fountain, add on a water park, pay raise…

However, Elder Mord was still glaring into the element turbulence, seemingly extremely dissatisfied with this suggestion.

“In any case, I won’t agree to this!”
“One billion then.”
“What did you say?!”
“I said… I’ll offer one billion gold coins to restore Dragon God Lake.”

The voice among the element turbulence offered an astronomical amount of money without any hesitation like it was just meal money.

Upon hearing the figure, even Elder Mord struggled to breathe. Such a massive figure. Elder Mord had never even thought of it, let alone seen it.

Not even the annual financial revenue of the Holy Dragon Empire reached that figure! Yet the voice among the element turbulence spoke of that figure so lightly, as if the value of a billion gold coins was less than a billion pieces of toilet paper to him.

“Are you sure you have this much money?”
“Over decades of years, I, Li…, lacks everything except money.”
“……”

Elder Mord rubbed his chin. He felt as though he had heard the same line from somewhere else, but he couldn’t recall who it was off the top of his head.

Elder Carter crushed the wine bottle in his hand from over-excitement and looked straight at Elder Mord, who was deep in thought with his head lowered.

Accept it! Accept it! That’s a billion gold coins! A billion gold coins!! As long as an honest old fart like you accepts it, I can say something that will definitely make everyone look good. None of us will look like greedy b̲a̲s̲t̲a̲r̲d̲s̲ either. Just a nod from you, that’s all that’s needed!

Elder Carter was silently praying in his heart.

However, Elder Mord refused after going through many conflicted emotions.

“The Dragon God Lake is part of the academy and also the sacred lake of Holy Dragon Empire. It’s not something that can be measured by money! You have to apologize to every citizen in the Holy Dragon Empire for what you’ve done!”

Elder Carter’s heart was bleeding, yet he had no choice but to go along with it. “T-That’s… right, you have to apologize!”

After a moment of silence, the voice asked helplessly, “So what do you guys want?”

“Show yourself and apologize to the citizens of the Holy Dragon Empire, then rebuild the Dragon God Lake with your own hands.”
“Impossible.”
“What do you mean impossible? Even if you are now a peak saint-level expert, you’ll still have to atone for your sin!”

Elder Mord widened his eyes in anger and reprimanded the peak saint-level expert loudly without the slightest fear.

“That’s right! Although now that the dean is away and no one else in this academy could beat a peak saint-level expert, there’s still no way we’ll overlook a matter in exchange for money!” Elder Carter chimed in righteously too.

“Oh yeah, I guess I’m now a peak saint-level expert…” The mysterious person among the element turbulence suddenly muttered to herself under her breath.

“That’s some nerves you guys have!”

The voice among the element turbulence suddenly turned extremely harsh. “How dare you reject my offer despite knowing that I’m a peak saint-level expert? Do you think you can protect your students if I were to get serious?”

“……”

Elder Mord fell silent. The mysterious person really hit the nail on the head. He could barely protect himself if he were to fight with a peak saint-level expert, let alone protecting the students. And there was no way he would allow even one student to get hurt because of him!

“So how about it? Why don’t you just accept my proposal? I’ll give the money to restore this Dragon God Lake, you guys take the money and get the job done. How’s that?”

“I…” Elder Mord felt internally conflicted but eventually, the students’ safety prevailed.

“I’ll acc…” Elder Mord’s eyes were red and he was about to accept the proposal.

“Wait.”

It was at this moment, a dignified voice interrupted him.

Unbeknownst to him, a white-bearded old man in green robes had appeared next to him.

The old man waved gently and Elder Mord felt as though a breeze was blowing against his face. His bloodshot eyes instantly cleared.

“Vice dean? Why are you here?”
“Why can’t I be here? Even if I’m blind or deaf, I should come over here since such a terrible thing has happened.”

The vice dean of St. Caroline Academy patted Mord and Carter on their shoulders in satisfaction.

“You both have done a great job to be able to resist the temptation and put the students first!”
“It’s my job.”
“R-Right… It’s our job, it’s our job.” Elder Carter felt like weeping but had no tears.

The mysterious person in the element turbulence also felt like weeping but had no tears. She could almost trick… solve the problem, but this old fart just had to appear out of nowhere. God must hate her.

The vice dean turned his head and stared at the elemental turbulence. He flung his sleeve and spoke powerfully, “The St. Caroline Academy has never feared anyone since its founding. If you insist on fighting, then I’ll accept your challenge!”

“Y-You… You’re not worried that I might hurt the students?”
“Hmph! Do you think an academy that has been established for thousands of years is really incapable of protecting its students?”

As soon as the vice dean’s voice fell, a golden light instantly enveloped the entire academy.

It was none other than the — ‘rules’ of the academy.

“This array has been blessed by the deans from past generations. In addition to maintaining the normal operations of the academy, its most important function is to protect the students from harm. I think as a newly promoted peak saint-level expert, it’ll take you some time to break this great array.”
“Wait, wait, wait. Even if you don’t have to worry about the students, you should worry about yourselves. Just the three of you against a peak saint-level expert? Aren’t you guys afraid to die?”
“Hahaha, who said there’s only three of us?”

The vice dean pointed to the sky as an order, and dozens of figures instantly appeared out of nowhere. Not only that, most of them were above saint level. Even the weakest was a peak rank nine.

These people were the other teachers, professors, elders and diplomats in the academy.

There were some extremely familiar faces among them, like Miguel, Marlin and Elder White. Even the panda-eyed Professor Kumar, who looked like he was dying, rushed all the way here.

The mysterious figure in the element turbulence broke into a cold sweat.

“D-Do… you guys… have to do this?”
“Hmph, of course. We dare not underestimate a peak saint-level expert. Now that the dean is not around, we are the only ones who could protect the dignity of the academy!”
“Are you guys not worried that I’d kill this beautiful, adorable, kind and gentle hostage, Lilith?”
“I know that as the vice dean of this academy, I should always place students first. Hence after this, I shall accept all responsibilities and resign from my position.”

The vice dean reached out to comfort Elder Mord and Elder White who had a sorrowful look on their faces. “But right now, I don’t want to see the dignity of the academy being trampled. And I can’t turn a blind eye and let the culprit escape after desecrating the sacred lake either!”

The vice dean took the lead and rose into the air and announced loudly to the mysterious person in the element turbulence.

“So now, as the vice dean of St. Caroline Academy, I declare war on you!”
“…..”