Chapter 31: The Popular Sentiment
Once he looked at Yu Sheng'an's confused gaze, Dorman didn't dare to leave him hanging. He quickly said, "Mister should check the school's forum to take a look. This incident is already being mentioned in a heated discussion there."
Yu Sheng'an heard that and the illusory scroll started to unfurl in front of him.
He clicked and entered the Felix forum with a confident hand. He entered "Aileen" into the search bar and a dozen posts instantly appeared in front of him.
"Breaking news. Aileen was humiliated by Mage Instructor March and forced to kneel and beg for mercy!"
"Is this real?"
"I saw it with my own eyes! Aileen's flower pot was even smashed and you can still see the shards there. They are in the Berka Garden 300 steps in front of the Forest of Magic."
"Aileen? What a familiar name. Is she that lucky girl who got the purple snow wood magic wand from Ajaf?"
"That's her!"
"There's all kinds of rumors going around. Let me set the record straight. When I witnessed it, it seemed to be Aileen who offended Instructor March and that is why Instructor March smashed Aileen's flower pot."
"What kind of offense could be this serious? Why would a mage instructor make things so difficult for a mage apprentice?"
"He definitely knew who her backer was. So, this was actually done to humiliate Ajaf through humiliating Aileen?"
"There will be a good show to watch! Ajaf has taken all the wood-spirit mage apprentices since he came. Some instructors are already furious so this definitely wasn't a random incident!"
Aileen, who seldom came up in people's minds, had only two things being discussed on the Felix forum.
The first thing was about how she had received the reward from Yu Sheng'an—
The second thing had to do with how she had been humiliated by March.
Yu Sheng'an's gaze became colder and colder as he read through the forum's posts.
"Aileen, come here for a moment!" Yu Sheng'an shouted. Although his voice wasn't loud, it reverberated throughout the underground laboratory.
Aileen, who was giving out assignments nearby, quickly ran over.
"Are you looking for me, Mister Ajaf?" Aileen asked warily as she looked at Yu Sheng'an, who looked rather severe.
"March made trouble for you?" Yu Sheng'an said with a chilling expression.
"No…" Aileen denied instinctively, but she nodded eventually when she saw Ajaf's gaze.
"Tell me exactly what happened." Yu Sheng'an's voice was extremely calm.
Aileen bit her lips in trepidation before honestly telling him about the incident in a low voice.
"Why didn't you tell me earlier?"
"It is me who offended Instructor March. It has nothing to do with Mister," Aileen quickly explained.
Yu Sheng'an looked at Aileen's panicked expression and said nothing. Then, he turned and walked to exit the laboratory.
Dorman saw that and suddenly thought of something. He quickly shouted, "Mister Ajaf? W-What are you trying to do?"
Yu Sheng'an was completely silent. He neither replied nor faltered.
"This… Are you going to look for March? Hey, wait a minute!" Dorman panicked and quickly chased after him.
His shouts had also alarmed all mage apprentices in the underground laboratory.
Many of them looked over and discussed.
"What happened?"
"It seems like Mister Ajaf is very angry since Aileen was humiliated by Instructor March."
"Look in the forum. It's all there."
"Where is Mister Ajaf going now?"
"I don't know. He simply turned and left after hearing about the incident… Damn, do you guys think he is going to settle scores with March now?"
"My heavens!"
The mage apprentices were staring at one another in shock by this notion!
Suddenly, one of them couldn't suppress his curiosity any longer and chased after them.
Once this person started to move, it triggered a bandwagon effect.
After all, many of them were still waiting for their assignments so they all decided to follow suit.
Even those who already had tasks decided to ditch them and follow after their schoolmates when they watched them walk out.
Law cannot be enforced when everyone is an offender, right!?
Aileen was completely stunned at that moment.
She finally managed to react after a while, quickly chasing after them.
Yu Sheng'an didn't walk too fast so everyone was able to catch up with him. They could only see Lord Dorman talking to him non-stop at his side. It looked as if he were trying to calm him down.
Mister Ajaf continued to walk out of the school in silence.
He was followed by a big group of mage apprentices. That scene looked spectacular!
This shocked numerous mage apprentices and even instructors on their way out. Everyone was trying to find out what was going. Were they going on a group excursion?
Even the Felix School of Magic forum erupted into a furor.
"What happened? What was Ajaf and that group of people doing?"
"Is the Forest Magic going out on a field trip for a big-scale magical experiment? Why is such a large group of people walking out of the school?"
"Who has any ideas? Who can tell us about it? I'm so curious."
The Internet's convenience was fully demonstrated at that time.
It really only needed one person to witness the incident and the whole school would know about it.
There were all kinds of comments in the forum. Some who loved a show and had nothing to do at the moment decided to follow them.
That formed another big group of people who followed after them.
After all, who didn't have a few good friends?
Once Yu Sheng'an stepped out of the school's gates, there were close to 700 mage apprentices following after him.
That was almost one-quarter of the school's student population.
Needless to say, they caused an uproar in Willis City when that group of people walked on the street!
Being the capital of the Queville Empire, Willis had all kinds of talented people living there. The citizens would even see the Magical Deities in black robes on the streets sometimes.
But still, nobody had ever seen 700-800 mage apprentices walking out together before. That was truly the first time ever!
"What is happening?"
"I have no idea."
"Quick, should we check online?"
"There's not much on the Internet."
"Why don't we go and find out?"
"Let's go!"
Caused by the bandwagon effect—the curiosity and the intention to watch a good show—more and more of Willis' citizens began to follow after them.
The crowd started to get bigger and bigger like a snowball.
Yu Sheng'an, who was walking at the very front, resembled a meteorite that was dragging a very long tail behind him. He was so glaring!
Dorman, who was next to him, felt horrible!
Everyone's attention was on them at the moment. Hence, it wasn't appropriate for him to stay nor was it appropriate for him to leave.
The crux was, even he was getting a little confused.
What is Ajaf trying to do now?
Shouldn't he be heading toward March's residence if he wants to make trouble for March?
And if he wanted to complain to Dandell, he should also be heading toward the Circular Tower of Magic, right?
Why is he going out of the city?
In the midst of the crowd's din and the forum's furor, Yu Sheng'an went out of the city and stopped at a neat magical field.
"Dorman, if I remember correctly, March's plantation starts from this point on and extends 1300 steps outward, right?"
My dear grandpa, you're finally speaking… Dorman was so agitated that he felt like crying and he said hurriedly, "Yes it's correct, Mister Ajaf. What are you trying to do?"
Yu Sheng'an grinned before he turned and waved at Aileen.
Aileen swiftly ran over and she looked even more panicked than before. "Mister Ajaf."
Yu Sheng'an didn't reply. He swept his gaze over to the huge crowd and shouted, "Do you people know what a mallows is?"
With the power of divinity, his voice was still able to travel into everyone's ears with clarity, even though his voice wasn't loud.
Most of the mage apprentices looked perplexed, but the citizens of Willis were looking at one another in shock. They didn't know why that mage was bringing it up.
Some shouted loudly, "Master Mage, I do. It's a wild vegetable. The hills are full of them in winter."
Yu Sheng'an nodded. "That's right. It's a kind of wild vegetable! Let me introduce it to those who don't know about mallows. Countless peasants depend on mallows to survive the harsh winter in the rural areas!
"Mallows are considered food, but they're also bad at the same time. Not only is it bitter, you'll have stomach ache, diarrhea and even die if you eat too much of it! But you die anyway if you don't eat! If you eat them, at least you will have a chance to survive!"
The crowd who followed Yu Sheng'an, began to quiet down upon hearing his message.
Some were disdainful.
Some were befuddled.
And some had their eyes lit up as the pain touched the deepest part of their hearts.
"She!"
Yu Sheng'an grabbed Aileen's wrist and lifted her arm up high.
"My assistant, Aileen, is an exceptional mage apprentice. She finally removed the toxins and bitterness with magic after experimenting for countless days and nights. It doesn't even need to be magically modified and can be planted directly when you bring it home. Do you know what that means?
"It means we will have a vegetable that survives the winter! There's no bitterness, no toxins, no diarrhea and no deaths!"
The crowd was completely silent.
Numerous people began to look at that tan and thin girl next to Yu Sheng'an in shock.
Aileen was also looking at her idol, Mister Ajaf, with befuddlement. A voice kept talking in her heart.
Huh? Didn't I just do it over one night? How did it become countless days and nights? Furthermore… I'm also not sure if the white-flowering wrinkled mallow isn't poisonous. I can only confirm that it's not bitter.
Before her brain could even react, Yu Sheng'an suddenly shouted angrily.
"It was this wild vegetable that was destroyed by Mage Instructor March, one that could have saved thousands of lives! He destroyed the only sample! He doesn't allow mage apprentices to research crops and wild vegetables just because his magic plantation needs mage apprentices!"
Yu Sheng'an paused before saying in a furious voice, "Do you guys think he should be condemned?"
The crowd descended into silence.
"Condemned!"
An insignificant low murmur sounded in the midst of the crowd.
"Condemned!" someone repeated.
"Condemned!"
More people began to chime in.
"Condemned!"
Everyone was shouting loudly in unison!
"Condemned!"
The roaring shouts covered all the other voices and became the only voice in that part of the world.
"What is that—?"
Right at that time, the roaring shouts suddenly faltered!
Countless people widened their eyes in fear as they looked at Yu Sheng'an's back.