Two days later...
Xiao Lin was sitting on a lesser dragon carriage, already on his journey. It was a carriage pulled by a wild beast with lesser dragon blood. It was very reliable, both in terms of safety and speed. Xiao Lin looked out of the window at the ruined village outside and the commoners in shabby clothing, feeling quite heavy. It was the third day since they left the royal city, and it had been half a month since he left Dawn City.
Luo Jianhui and Liang Taibai were with him, but behind them was another large group of people, including the merchants from the royal city. There were a few employees left in the embassy, and their task was to assist Ibeiya as well as communicate with the incoming garrison army.
Ibeiya did not go with them in the end. Even though Ibeiya was very reluctant to leave Xiao Lin, she faced a very stern rejection from Liang Taibai. Barring any accidents, the monitors in charge of escorting the royal family should already have returned to Dawn City, and the royal family would already have been under Dawn City’s protection.
On the other hand, due to the war, Ibeiya had been appointed as the queen. However, if she did not gain the approval of Dawn City, her time as the queen would be numbered.
“If you head back with us, and on the off chance that our higher-ups want another member of the royal family to be the monarch, then you’d be in a very awkward position.” Liang Taibai was vague with his words, but Ibeiya was a smart girl, and she quickly understood.
In order to preserve the power of the new ruler, it was hard to anticipate what sort of treatment she would get as a temporary queen. She could be imprisoned, killed, or even be used as a research subject.
No matter what, it was far safer for Ibeiya to remain, especially since the royal city had resumed its normal operations after the siege. Even if most of the work was done by the embassy, they still needed someone part of the royal bloodline to be the face of everything. Even if a lot of them thought that the young Ibeiya was not the best choice, she was definitely the only choice within the empty city.
...
Liang Taibai looked at Xiao Lin who was deep in thought, and suddenly smiled and asked, “Are you still worried about that girl?”
Xiao Lin did not deny it, and somewhat absent-mindedly replied, “I’m not really worried about Asabanor returning. That madman is single-minded, and will not rest until he achieves his goals. Since he chose to retreat, he won’t come back. I’m just worried about the troops that Dawn Academy sent...”
Liang Taibai laughed and said, “You don’t have to worry about that. They sent the first regiment; the captain is an old friend of Yu Mei’s.”
Xiao Lin immediately understood what was being implied. “He’s under the dean?”
“That’s right. I heard that the dean looks favorably upon you.”
“Aren’t you always in the royal city? How do you know that?” Xiao Lin smiled, turning lively as his worries were relieved.
“I might be a foreign envoy, but we’re essentially half working in the intelligence department. Don’t underestimate our information network.”
“Then are you with the dean as well?”
“I am with Dawn Academy.”
“Then, Ambassador Liang, who do you think is in the right in the conflict between the military and the dean?”
“Ah, that’s not the best way to put it. The political state of Planet Norma is much more complicated than that of Earth; there is no right or wrong here, only how many benefits are to be made.”
...
The conversations during the journey allowed Xiao Lin to understand Liang Taibai much better. The ambassador had a very deep and unique understanding of Planet Norma’s culture, history, and politics. To Xiao Lin, those were all things that were difficult to learn about in class.
Initially, Xiao Lin would still interrupt with his own thoughts. As they got further into their journey, he completely listened to Liang Taibai in silence, all the way until the carriage reached Dawn City. Liang Taibai’s voice had even turned a little raspy after talking so much.
Liang Taibai and Luo Jianhui needed to head to the foreign affairs department for their debrief, but that was not somewhere Xiao Lin was allowed to be at yet. Since he did not know how long the debrief would take, and Xiao Lin needed to hurry back to make his own report, they decided to part ways at the city gates. However, Liang Taibai gave Xiao Lin his address in the capital before they parted, and even passed a key to Xiao Lin.
Xiao Lin rejected it in shock, but Liang Taibai forced the key into Xiao Lin’s pocket, smiling as he said, “Don’t be mistaken; it’s just a very regular house. I’m always out of the city, and will probably need to return to the Rosa Kingdom after the debrief. My house in Dawn City was bought when I graduated, and it’s been a waste with it being unused these years. We hit it off quite well, and you’ll probably have many chances to return to Dawn City from the Academy later on. Just use my place for now. It’s better than staying in a hotel each time.”
With Liang Taibai being so upright and straightforward, Xiao Lin did not reject his good intentions. He thanked him again before leaving.
When Xiao Lin’s silhouette started to disappear, Luo Jianhui eyed his good friend and said, “I’ve tried to buy your house from you so many times, but you’ve always rejected me. Now you’re so generous. Didn’t you know that the kid won a lot of money from Century Casino earlier? He doesn’t have to worry about his lodging.”
Liang Taibai was much more familiar with Xiao Lin than Luo Jianhui thought, and smiled, “With that little amount of money, he probably won’t have much left after buying a place in Dawn City. He will have many more places to use his money in the future, and at least he’ll be safe staying at my place.”
Luo Jianhui said meaningfully, “Safe? Hey, old friend, you’re freaking me out. This is Dawn City, not the chaotic Rosa Kingdom.”
Liang Taibai did not answer. “Let’s go. There’s a lot we have to do.”
“The foreign affairs department isn’t that way. Even though we haven’t been back for many years, I still remember the way.”
“We’re going to the administrative department, not foreign affairs.”
“So you’re going to meet the dean first.”
...
The two of them quickly disappeared into the crowd in Dawn City, and Xiao Lin did not know that they went directly to the dean. However, Xiao Lin faced heavy investigations and questions after returning to the military. His status as an officer was on record, and Yu Mei had been in charge of the test, so Xiao Lin naturally needed to report back to the military the moment he got back. Furthermore, there were many people already waiting there upon knowing of his return.
However, that was all within Xiao Lin’s expectations; with such a huge incident happening, they would need to properly investigate it. Many of the questions needed to be verified by him.
Other than himself, the other monitors were also investigated, but they had already been questioned a few times before that. Being summoned to the military was probably to verify Xiao Lin’s information.
There were many of them in charge of the investigation. Other than Yu Mei and the student union president, there were also many others of differing ages. Yu Mei did not express any form of familiarity toward Xiao Lin after meeting him again. Of course, that in itself was a signal to Xiao Lin that the ones behind her were definitely not very friendly.
Yu Mei did not introduce any of them, which also meant that their statuses were far higher than that of Yu Mei or the student union president.
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