Why Did You Summon Me?

After talking with the Shadow Walker, Baiyi retrieved the three Voidwalkers being punished back into the area of the Void under his protection. He believed they had been punished enough.

When Baiyi tossed them into the real Void, the three Voidwalkers coined themselves martyrs, and they swore to fight tooth and nail to enjoy what they considered ‘their God-given right to enjoy the beauty of the female body. Although they had only been in the real Void for an hour, when Baiyi went to retrieve them, they were hyperventilating like fishes on land.

Baiyi poked them lightly with his consciousness, and a weak groan, which sounded as though it had come from a moribund old man, could be heard. “O’ gracious and merciful Lord Admin, I beg of you… No more… Shall never do that again…” [1]

For those trying to picture the area of the Void outside Baiyi’s protection: imagine been yanked out from underneath a warm comforter, by an angry landlord, and tossed into a bone-chilling cold lake. Even strong-willed warriors could not withstand such a torment, let alone the three pathetic gentlemen Voidwalkers, who had long since grown used to Baiyi’s protection in the Void!

“Utterly pathetic , the three of you. It was only a while!” Baiyi tut-tutted. “Do I need to remind you that I have to face the real Void, unshielded, all the time, while the rest of you enjoy my protection?”

“Ah, the mystery has finally been solved. This must be the reason you’ve been so difficult! I guess any nice guy would change into a callous jerk after tolerating thousands of years of that torment, aye?” A voice reverberated around. The Devil Walker had eavesdropped on Baiyi and the Shadow Walker, and he had been itching to speak ever since.

“Why don’t you go the extra mile to enslave some demons and use them to increase the number of soldiers you command? Don’t get me wrong; they die easily, but their stellar simplemindedness makes them the perfect cannon fodder. Wouldn’t you agree?” The Devil Walker said.

“Wow. How about… No? ” Baiyi refused. “I do not mind fighting the Church, but I have no intention of destroying them completely, neither do I want to slaughter every one of their followers, especially those who have nothing to do with our conflict. Whether you like it or not, there’s still a need for the Church to exist. I just happen to prefer that it be docile, not a dogmatic interventionist.” [2]

“Besides,” Baiyi said, “If I was in dire need of manpower, I would never resort to forming an alliance with disgusting demons.”

At least half of the world’s population considered themselves devotees of God’s Grace faith. If Baiyi were to purge the world of this religion completely, it would offend many of the normal followers, and they would become obstructions to the Voidwalkers’ goal. To eliminate that possibility, he would have to resort to killing every one of them , even the most vulnerable and innocent.

Suffice to say that course of action would be directly at odds with Baiyi’s principles. Therefore, Baiyi’s only purpose to battle the Church was strictly limited to forcing the religious authorities to behave in line and not get into the Voidwalkers’ way, instead of completely annihilating them.

Disgruntled with Baiyi’s response, the Devil Walker retreated silently into whatever corner of the Void he called his own.

The Void returned to silence and Baiyi turned his attention to the real world.

It was almost time. He picked up his communication slab and sent a few simple messages to a few of his contacts.

It was yet another night of indulgence to the richest nobles of Isythre, fit for conventional pleasantries like a wine party as well as more libertine activities. However, whatever festivities the night had to offer were suddenly interrupted when important news broke among them.

Suddenly, the nobles found themselves bidding their evening guests hasty farewells. Then, after their doors closed, they summoned their closest advisors, vassals, and their family for an emergency meeting to discuss Baiyi’s announcement:

“This year, Da Xue decided to increase the number of sponsored students accepted into the institution. There are now fifteen seats.”

It was a simple message, one that sounded like great news to every noble parent who dreamed of sending their useless descendants to Da Xue for a complete re-education. Yet, at that moment, none of them bore an expression of delight or relief.

In fact, they were white as a ghost.

“Isn’t this just the best news, Father?” A young noble with the countenance of an arrogant player [2] exclaimed excitedly to his aging father. “I finally have the chance to enter the academy of my dreams!”

His father, however, shown no sign of joy. In fact, the father shook his head and shot his son an unimpressed scowl. He knew his own child well enough to see through his motives—this son was not the least interested in knowledge, skills, or actual self-improvement; He just wanted something to brag among his equally shallow peers.

Da Xue’s name and reputation had soared so high that even Jimbo the farmer knew that only the best talents ended up there. Alumnae of Da Xue was automatically the cream of the crop; And if they graduated as Da Xue’s laureates, bearing those glorious pendants gifted personally by the Grand Principal… Why, they were basically the paragon of their generation!

Even if one managed to enter this prestigious academy as a sponsored student, it was still a proof of their family’s wealth and prestige, as it meant that their family’s material contribution satisfied the Grand Principal enough to take in their children. Alas, that was simply another thing these rich nobles — had never experienced life’s difficulties — loved to brag about; bored with their splendors, bragging became one of the very few things these nobles could do to feel any sense of thrill and superiority.

However, the father was not against sending his son to Da Xue neither, even if it meant a hefty sum of his fortune. According to his friends, it was an investment completely worthy of every dime they spent, no matter how dimwitted, lackluster, unmotivated, or all-around hopeless their child was before, they would always leave the academy a completely changed person with actual skills and intellect. That was why many of these nobles were so willing to continue sponsoring Da Xue lavishly; they saw the academy as a sort of reformatory facility for their unimpressive descendants.

None of these accolades were made to please the powerful Grand Principal; Indeed, the nobles praised the academy genuinely.

Frankly, it was hardly difficult to deduce why a bunch of rich ne’er-do-wells turned up a new leaf after entering the academy, when one’s superiors were a group of powerful, peerless savants, led by the unscalable Grand Principal Hope, they were quick to realize that their origin, family background, money, and station meant nothing at all. The only way to survive in a strictly meritocratic environment like Da Xue was to work their hardest; And should one found themselves having a hard time learning basic sensibilities, there were plenty of people in Da Xue who could hammer those into them, such as the butt-chomping Jawflower. [3]

In conclusion, there were many compelling reasons to send his son to Da Xue. Indeed, he tried to do so last year, attempting to send his kid in as a sponsored student. Unfortunately, the young man had lost that seat by a very slim margin.

Now, a new chance had presented itself: there were now more seats for sponsored students this time. Yet, the father felt even less hopeful of their chance…

This particular noble family was the largest tea supplier for the entire Walthart Empire. They monopolized the entire trade, amassing a fortune equal to a normal nation’s total wealth. However, due to the Duat invasion, at least half of their tea plantation had been destroyed and corrupted, while many of their workers had died. This pitted the family into an unexpected crisis — one that the father was unsure if they could ever recover from.

At this moment, the family appeared to be well enough, but who could tell if this was the start of a downfall? The father even worried that some opportunists may use this as an opening to wrench control over the tea-supplying business.

Honestly, the father was wary about this seemingly good news. Prior to this announcement, the number of sponsored students for every semester was a meager sum of ten, which deterred many from actually competing for them. Now that the seats had increased, it would no doubt galvanize more families to try their luck, hence increasing the number of competitors.

That was not all; The Duat invasion had provided some merchants and nobles a timely springboard to join the ranks of the richest, such as families trading on restorative potions and those who dabbled in medicines and apothecary. With these uppity newcomers climbing up the social ladder, old billionaires such as himself had to quickly find a way to remain at the top.

This was the reason why many of these nobles were unhappy to receive the news. It had always been hard to please Grand Principal with materialistic contributions; he never seemed to think there were enough. Hence, many nobles had made a sort of unspoken agreement between themselves about how best divide the sponsorship seats, but now, this new announcement was sure to disrupt that agreement!

“Well, well, well. Looks like our money and contributions no longer sate your appetite, Master Hope,” The father murmured under his breath.

He knew that Hope had killed a representative of the Church in public earlier. Now, combined with the timing of his latest announcement, the father feared that everything may be part of a larger scheme, especially since the Grand Principal managed to pressure even the Walthart Emperor himself to refute the Church’s offer to work together — a decision that had spurred much imagination and theories among the nobles.

“Order the servants to examine the state of that box in our basement before summoning the best craftsman we could hire. I need it to be repaired and polished before gifting it away to the Grand Principal,” The father finally said.

“Huh? You mean the box with all of our most valuable collection of art?” The son gawked at him and asked. “I don’t think Grand Principal Hope likes paintings though.”

The father placed his palm on his forehead weakly before explaining, “I meant the basement in our ancestral home, you idiot.”

“T-that one? We’re going to give Grand Principal Hope that one? But I thought that regalia is the most invaluable treasure of our house, handed down from generations to generations, and must never be given to any outsiders!”

“Regalia or not, it’s just an old piece of junk to us. If this junk could sate that Grand Principal Hope enough to take my child into his institution, then it’s a price well worth paying,” The father explained exasperatedly. Studying his son’s dumbfounded expression, he sighed and added, “Look. If you manage to get into Da Xue, please go for either political science or finance courses, okay?”

Conversations like these were happening in many other noble houses, too. Apparently, many thought that Baiyi was using this to force them into choosing sides. Suffice to say, it quickly became a migraine-inducing dilemma. Nobles ought to together and reprimand Hope’s imprudence, hence showcasing their steadfast allegiance to the Church and the Empire; Yet, none of dared to do so now. All of the money and power these nobles had would be no match to the actual destructive power the Voidwalkers possessed after all, and worse still was that Master Hope had shown himself to be reluctant to compromise. Who would dare think that he was not vindictive, among many things?

The nobles understood that must it come down to it, they rather crossed the Church than the Voidwalkers. In fact, the Emperor’s decision had made clear that the leader of the secular regime had chosen to side with the Walkers, too.

In the end, these nobles came to what they thought was the best solution: they kept absolute silence on which side to stand on, yet at the same time, they should gather the most precious object of their family and use it to butter up Master Hope, just so he may spare them from demise when the war began.

However, unbeknownst to these nobles, Baiyi never thought of asking these nobles to choose a side at all. Quite plainly, if he did not even need the Emperor’s support to win the war, then how could he possibly need these nobles?

The reason behind his announcement was simple; he just wanted more moolah. He wanted someone to indirectly fund his projects of integrating Earth technology with Isythre’s. Little did he expect that these nobles would be so fond of terrifying themselves with thoughts of worst-case scenarios!

Granted, Baiyi did not know that the deal between himself and the Emperor had already broken among these nobles, too. Regardless, the truth was that these skittish nobles had completely misunderstood his shallow intention.

Anyway, while Baiyi had accidentally caused unrest among the richest with his untimely announcement, Vidomina carried on with her agenda of the night. Instead of returning to her quarters to rest, she ran towards Mia’s chalet excitedly and shoved the door open in her zest.

The living room was already filled with the other girls, all brimming with festive excitement as they gathered around a large, round table where Baiyi’s earthling souvenirs piled.

It was the third day of the Sisterhood’s “Otherworld Souvenirs Bonanza”, and it had quickly become a chance to gather and bond with each other just like they used to.