Ch. 61 - How Did He Dare

Academy office.

The quill in Ulasan's hand trembled incessantly.

He was creating his second masterwork—

*Ulasan's One Thousand and One Apologies*.

As his magnum opus, *One Thousand and One Praises* had already collected taxes on the road of "flattery" a thousand years into the future. Writing a sequel would only damage his reputation and cause him to lose the favor of the nobility.

To solidify his position as academy dean, he needed to set out on an entirely new track.

Noble lords also needed an outlet for their emotions. How to let the lords "curse comfortably and curse to their heart's content" became his current research topic.

Once inspiration struck, Ulasan felt himself entering a state of extreme mental vigor, causing his desire for expression to pour forth like floodwaters breaching a dam.

"Knock knock knock—"

But a series of urgent knocks suddenly interrupted his train of thought.

He stomped his feet in anger, his wig going askew:

"Who's disturbing me!?"

"Instructor, instructor!"

Outside the door came Geya Yuexi's anxious voice.

"I have something extremely important to report to you!"

"I'm in the middle of creative work. Whatever it is can wait until tomorrow!"

"It's about the Forgotten Monument!"

"He updated again!?"

Ulasan's brows furrowed tightly. He took a breath and sat back down properly.

"Come in."

Comparatively speaking, the Forgotten Monument was more important.

Geya Yuexi burst into the room, forgetting to even close the door, and slapped several pages of manuscript directly in front of Ulasan:

"Instructor, you must look at this..."

As Ulasan took the pages, he asked:

"Didn't I have you visit Tang Qi today? How is that boy doing?"

"He didn't return home."

Geya Yuexi had clearly run all the way here, still catching her breath.

"But—"

Before she could finish, Ulasan hastily interrupted:

"Still doesn't get it? That kid is incredibly dull, his level isn't high, and he can never understand what others are saying to him.

We can only hope he doesn't die in some unknown corner somewhere.

Come, let me see what new things have been recorded on the monument..."

Regarding Tang Qi's circumstances, he would only feel regret, but had no intention of taking responsibility for any mistakes.

But the more he read, the more unnatural his expression became:

[...The renowned bard Ulasan once devoted an entire chapter in his work *One Thousand and One Praises* to explain in detail "the way to conduct oneself when dealing with noble lords."

What? You ask where this bald halfling's renown comes from?

Well, if even the dean of Wandering Song Academy is so obscure, I suppose the bard profession truly has no future.]

"Who's bald!?"

Ulasan angrily straightened his wig.

"Understanding Poet's Academy so clearly, definitely a graduate student.

Investigate—we must thoroughly investigate and drag out this scourge of the bard community, lest we lose future patronage from the lords!"

"Please keep reading!"

"What's the rush?"

[But that's not important. At least the methodology mentioned in his book is indeed effective—

'When facing nobility, you must learn to show weakness.'

'You must demonstrate your abilities to the nobles, prove your worth, but be careful not to show too much.'

'What noble lords need most is face. If you handle everything too well, where does that leave their dignity?'

'Learn to show weakness, learn to give the noble lords space to perform. For instance, in a manuscript, you can deliberately include a few typos and then ask the noble lords to correct them'...

The same applies to this arena match—

I cannot win, but I must lose beautifully.]

Since it referenced his own masterwork, despite not liking the content or writing style of this journal entry, Ulasan's mood still lifted:

"Quite clever, knowing how to apply knowledge flexibly. If all the academy students were like this, we wouldn't worry about getting patronage fees...

What a shame—a promising seedling went down the wrong path!"

[But facts prove you cannot expect a fractured tribe to honor their so-called promises.

I naturally anticipated that the old goblin might suddenly turn hostile.

But what else could I do? Kill her with a single blade in front of their several hundred tribesmen?

I did everything within my power. If the outcome still goes against my wishes, I can only accept this ending.

So when I saw the Eldritch Blast in that instant, I truly had already resigned myself to fate.

Until Black Snake stepped in front of me.]

"..."

[How should I describe our relationship?

Cellmates, teammates, or friends?

Not that intimate—we'd only known each other three days.

He saved me only because 'seeing through the illusion' was important to him.

But we'd bickered and argued.

We'd fought and cooperated...

So I understood very clearly that when I stopped his bleeding, when I carried him on my back with blistered feet trying to bring him back to Catherine.

I never once thought 'he saved me, so I must save him.'

Rather, 'I want him to live.'

Even if he would tacitly allow Jackal to use force to coerce everyone in Starberry Town.

Even if he couldn't be called a good person.

I still wanted him to live.

But I failed to do so.]

"Sigh... if wishes could simply come true, how would Poet's Academy have fallen to such a state."

Only at this moment did the journal's words feel so sincere.

Even Ulasan couldn't help but set aside his opinions of the author and sigh along.

[So I promised him, swearing to take Catherine far from the orc iron cavalry and safely deliver her to Longgold City.

This wouldn't be difficult—as long as she agreed to abandon Anbi and elope back to Longgold City with Melade—

But she's a girl with conviction who never considered abandoning her family.

And I was unwilling to leave so easily either.

So I devised a plan.

A plan to lead three hundred commoners in a town-wide exodus.]

"That's impossible!"

Through the author's journal, Ulasan could clearly see the greatest obstacle in this entire affair.

"How could their lord possibly agree?"

He would never dare claim he thoroughly understood orcs or Starberry Town.

But he absolutely dared claim he understood nobility.

When the situation is unclear, very few nobles would willingly 'sever the lizard's tail.'

Moreover, how could commoners oppressed for so long dare defy a noble's orders?

[...So I needed to shatter their servility.

Make them realize that aside from themselves, no one cares about their lives.]

"He couldn't possibly—!?"

[...When I gradually broke down the defenses in their hearts and sang that tavern song.

I knew I'd succeeded.

But that was far from enough.

Everything done before was merely adding fuel to this surging fire of anger, but flames cannot burn through the iron chains of 'oppression.'

To escape this place, the most important and final step—

Was still to kill.

Kill that shrewd noble proxy, coerce that genuine but incompetent noble, order his servants to throw down their weapons...

So I hooked that steward's nape with a curved blade.

If I didn't need that little white pig's construct, I would have killed him without hesitation as well.

Thus making these commoners truly understand that the lives of those bigshots in their eyes are actually no more valuable than their own.]

"How is that possible!? How could he—how dare he do this—"

Ulasan was so frightened he fell directly to the ground, not even having time to pick up his fallen wig.

"Geya, quickly close the door—close it!

We absolutely cannot let anyone know this manuscript came from our academy!"

Geya Yuexi hurriedly closed the door and consoled him softly:

"You needn't worry. That's Longgold City after all. I've heard the nobles of the Lord's Alliance don't possess as much power as those in our Empire."

"But nobility itself represents a class, a status, a type of person! On that point alone, they have no fundamental difference!"

Ulasan felt his heart pounding wildly.

"A bard who walked out of our academy led commoners in rebellion against a noble on the other end of the continent!

Do you understand how much impact this would have on our academy if word spread?"

Geya Yuexi opened her mouth with a peculiar expression.

After a long silence, she suddenly said:

"Perhaps... he's not simply just a bard from our academy..."

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