In that instant, as if the stress response etched deep into his bones over the past decade had been fully activated, Yun Wei pushed through the crowd in front of him, rushed to the front, and shouted to the knight and peasant woman who were closest to him: "Quickly put down that child!"
"Yun!" Isaac tried to stop Yun Wei, but fearing he might hurt him, he didn't use much force. Ultimately, the crazed master broke free. Isaac stared in astonishment at Yun Wei, who had squeezed to the front of the line, and saw him shout loudly:
"That child has been scratched! He'll turn into a zombie soon too! Get away from him!"
He screamed hoarsely, hysterically. Yun Wei lost his usual composure, using all his strength in his shouts.
But he forgot that this was a dark and ignorant medieval world on another continent.
The peasant woman fell to the ground in terror, her legs kicking backward, revealing the wool socks she wore under her skirt, but she clung tightly to the child in her arms whose jaw was clenched.
Her linen apron was stained with blood and mud, her long golden hair was curly, and tears welled in her beautiful eyes. She sobbed, “No, sir, how could you be so cruel! No… By the Lord of Light! El Niño is just a child.”
Seeing this, the knight who was blocking her way roared angrily at Yun Wei, "What the hell are you barking about? That's just a child! Do you have any humanity left?"
The officer in the red and white eagle-tail uniform glared fiercely at Yun Wei and reprimanded him, "Who gave you the right to speak here? Get out of here! I must give you a major demerit and report it to your academy's dean. You little pig from Bili, what's your name?"
Yun Wei met his gaze without the slightest fear and said sternly, "My name is Claude, and I am a first-year student from Lunagal Academy."
His gaze swept coldly over the ashen-faced child in the peasant woman's arms. He gritted his teeth and raised his voice again, this time addressing those around him: "Anyone who gets bitten or scratched has the potential to be assimilated into a monster. That's all I have to say for today. Be careful, everyone."
The officer drew his sword with a "whoosh," pointed it at Yun Wei, and angrily shouted, "Enough, you treacherous, licentious Green Glass person! I will petition His Majesty the King to issue an edict banishing you from Red Moon! We in Red Moon do not welcome foreigners like you!"
Priest Mok shook his head and sighed with sorrow, "Oh, Lord of Light, bless! What's the use of students these days, no matter how much they study? They don't even have basic compassion."
Two senior students immediately chimed in, "Look at what you're saying, High Priest. Those are just the words and actions of a few bad apples, and they don't represent our Lunagal Academy."
"Yes, someone as despicable as him will be expelled from school by the dean sooner or later."
Upon hearing this, the older students standing around them also cast disdainful glances at Yun Wei. They whispered among themselves and pointed at each other, as if all upright people should stand up and criticize the blatant heresy.
Most of the other freshmen had complicated expressions and chose to remain silent. Yun Wei didn't dare to imagine the expressions on Vivian's and the others' faces behind him.
Just then, Isaac silently stood beside Yun Wei and stubbornly and firmly grasped his master's hand. Although his palm was cold, Yun Wei drew a trace of human warmth from it.
Upon seeing this scene, the knights shook their heads in disappointment once again.
The upperclassmen seemed even more excited. They tried their best to maintain the expression of extreme disgust on their faces and to control themselves from letting even the slightest bit of the excited smile that was about to burst from their mouths.
"Wow, look, they're gay! I wonder which family that tall guy is from. It's so embarrassing."
"If I were his father, I would be kicking myself. I should have put it on the wall back then."
"This is disgusting! I'm going to complain to the dean as soon as I get back to school. How could I possibly graduate from the same school as a rapist!"
“That’s right, Hagrid. Add me to the petition. No, I also want my father to go to the King and get them both kicked out of Red Moon.”
Yun Wei stood quietly in place, coldly watching the crowd around him, spittle flying everywhere. He felt a pang of regret; perhaps he shouldn't have stood up and said those words.
He should remain silent and observe coldly, just like before.
He was still infected by Isaac, and couldn't help but want to love the world again.
But perhaps, at this moment, the only right thing he should do is to take Isaac and fly away.
"Shut up! Cloud... there must be a reason why Claude said that. Otherwise, why would so many knights go in, and why would there be so many villagers inside, but in the end only a mother and child were rescued?"
Yun Wei turned around in surprise.
From the crowd behind them, a blonde girl stepped forward. Her blue eyes were filled with tears, but her short, pretty face carried an unwavering trust.
Her voice was so clear and high-pitched, like a grand mage's hymn to his beloved element, that it drowned out all the chaotic noises of the world and silenced the crowd that was originally displaying its ugly side.
Vivi paused for a moment, then looked around at the nobles around her and sneered, "And what you're all doing here is pointing fingers and lamenting your pitiful backgrounds. As soon as you graduate, your families will send you to be married off to other people, and you'll spend your lives in a daze with people you don't even love."
"You're jealous of their sincere and pure love, so you only dare to hide among the rabble at this time, taking advantage of the chaos to kick them when they're down. How ridiculous that I would travel so far to come here and study with a bunch of hypocrites like you!"
"Whoa, where did this brat come from, daring to be so arrogant!?" The senior named Hagrid seemed to have considerable prestige among the upperclassmen, and was the first to recover after his initial shock.
Seeing that she didn't respond, he gave Vivian a lewd look and sneered, "What, you're too scared to speak? This isn't how you stand up for someone, you hot-blooded young lady. Do you think if I wrote to your father and brothers about your performance today, they'd immediately drag you back to your parents' home and force you to marry someone else?"
Many noble boys and girls from the Kingdom of Blackthorn, upon seeing the blonde girl, silently took a few steps back and shrank their necks.
At that moment, they secretly lit a candle for Hagrid in their hearts.
Upon hearing this, Vivian glanced indifferently at the smug Hagrid, then laughed, like a wildflower blooming defiantly in the cold of the far north.
Her cherry-colored lips parted slightly, and the words she uttered sent chills down the spines of all the nobles present: "Rose. My name is Vivian Rose."
"Go and tell my brother Alaio, he will surely give you a satisfactory answer."
At this moment, her blue eyes were like the deepest icy spring in the North Sea, the source of the purest water element in the world.
The Rose family is the royal family of the Kingdom of Blackthorn in the north of the continent, and also the most authoritative magic family on the entire continent. Countless popular and widely circulated magic textbooks were written by the archmages of the Rose family.
Furthermore, it is a well-known fact (excluding Yunwei) that the Kingdom of Hesso is currently ruled by Crown Prince Alejo, whose doting on his twin sister has reached an almost pathological level:
About a quarter of the magic crystals produced annually across the entire continent are bought by Alejo to create all-night fireworks displays throughout the Kingdom of Blackso on his sister's birthday.
The blonde, blue-eyed girl in the black dress standing before them was none other than Prince Alejan's sister, Vivian Rose, who was rumored to have lit up the entire Black Soleil night sky!
Hagrid's face paled. He could hardly imagine the narrow-minded, vindictive, and almost perverted crown prince's furious outburst after learning of his earlier joking words.
He glared hatefully at his underling, who had just called out his name in his smugness. The latter was now clearly terrified, his face ashen, trembling like a tailless quail.
However, at that moment, Hagrid heard another extremely cold voice coming from afar:
"Hagrid, is that right? And all of you who spoke rudely to my friend Xie today, I regret to inform you that from today onwards, the Azure Glass Merchant Guild will refuse all orders from your family territories."
Strange afterimages appeared and disappeared in the air, circling everyone on the field like ink spreading in clear water. Finally, a black-haired, black-eyed man appeared beside Vivian.
As he finished speaking, Xie Mulang slowly clapped his hands. Beside him, a bodyguard wearing a black cloak knelt on one knee and appeared silently.
The crisp sound of his clapping was like a slap to the hearts of everyone present, and a slap to their faces.
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