Chapter 271

Chapter 271: Ordinary Student

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Winter Festival was approaching.

The atmosphere within the school was filled with celebration, and the students momentarily escaped their tense academic lives to enjoy the three days of hard-earned vacation.

Colorful triangular flags hung from strings, which were decorated around the campus by members of the ‘Crown of Seven Colors’ clothing department. Circles woven from frozen holly branches adorned classrooms and corridors. The holly was deep green and vibrant, with small orange or red berries dotting the leaves, very enticing.

This plant, evergreen throughout the year, bearing yellow flowers, and producing fruit in winter, has beautiful connotations in the folk legends of the Western Continent, symbolizing ‘life and abundance.’ Later, the Angel Church incorporated it into its sacred texts, promoting it as a religious relic.

Although holly is not widely distributed, it is not particularly troublesome to cultivate. Nowadays, some gardeners and estates even grow it specifically for the winter festivals when people can purchase and hang them.

“Woah, finally on break! We can have fun for three whole days,” Alena exclaimed joyfully on the steps after leaving the teaching hall. Many students nearby were also chatting softly, the air filled with a light sense of joy.

Watching Alena’s un-ladylike cheers and jumps, Letis shook her head slightly and turned to ask, “Are we going to the dining hall tonight?”

“No need. Bumansa said they’ll be having a feast in their dorm today, so we should just go straight there,” Lolan Hill replied, shaking her head. She then walked down the steps with Nia, approaching Letis and Alena.

Splat—

A dark figure accidentally slipped from the steps, falling forward onto the snow water, then rolling obliquely. Clothes wrapped in snow water kept swirling until about 5-6 meters away, where it stopped due to colliding with Lolan Hill’s back foot.

“Sorry, sorry, I’m really sorry.”

Fingers, red from the cold, supported on the ground as he struggled to stand up. Looking at the black-haired girl in front of him, this fallen youth anxiously apologized.

His skin was pale, with dark shadows under his eyes, and his eyes were somewhat swollen, seemingly due to poor sleep leading to a careless fall.

Oh no, he thought inwardly. Judging from this classmate’s appearance and demeanor, she must come from a prominent family. Not only did I almost knock her over, but I also dirtied her dress. This is going to be trouble now.

As he bowed his head to apologize, his gaze swept downward, seeing the black stockings soaked in dirty water. His anxiety increased further. “I’m truly sorry, I didn’t mean to.”

“It’s fine, take care of your rest. I’ll be going now.” A gentle voice came from in front, followed by the sight of slender fingers…

The young man watched as her calves gradually left his field of vision, disappearing into the snowy winter night.

Was that it? He found it hard to believe as he looked at the young lady’s silhouette for a long while before putting his hat back on and starting to walk.

To Lolan Hill, this might have been just a trivial matter, but in the Ivar World, things were different. Even in Emanas, which advocated equality and mutual respect, nobles and wealthy merchants rarely mingled with commoners.

Even within the same school and classroom, there was an invisible barrier. There were many reasons for this; while some noble parents did teach their children to stay away from commoners, the real issue was the difference in their upbringing, making it difficult for them to find common ground.

In the eyes of the nobility, commoners were often seen as lawless and prone to deceit, generally considered morally corrupt.

From the perspective of the commoners, the nobles were often out of touch with the struggles of everyday life, and many rules were made to benefit the nobility. For people already struggling to make ends meet, blindly adhering to these rules would mean losing even more. Thus, breaking certain regulations became commonplace.

In school life, most students from commoner backgrounds would avoid those “nobles,” not wanting to offend or disturb those from wealthy families. If the other party was a beautiful young lady from a prominent family, they had to be even more cautious and maintain distance, as you never knew if an innocent action might provoke jealousy from secret admirers.

Noble offspring could rely on their family background for protection, whereas commoners would inevitably have to grovel and apologize. If they happened to be remembered unfavorably, they might face constant trouble during their school years.

The young man thought that even if the young lady was kind-hearted and didn’t pursue the matter, her appearance would inevitably attract a few protectors who would take the opportunity to assert their dominance. After all, one couldn’t expect teenagers around sixteen or seventeen to be particularly rational or composed.

But today was unusually peaceful, everything seemed to end naturally.

Exhaling a breath, he sighed at his good fortune and headed towards the library.

At a distant corner, a young man wearing a dark hat stood there, waving his right hand. A servant quickly approached from behind him. Judging by the emblem on his uniform, he was a third-year student from Bridge Academy.

“Go investigate that man. Find out his name, background, and character. Also, determine whether tonight’s incident was accidental or intentional. Leave no detail unchecked.”

“Yes, cousin Grace.” The student immediately left after hearing the instructions. They had their own methods and intelligence networks within their noble circles.

Only after his cousin left did Grace pull down his hat brim and continue to follow Lolan Hill and her group from a distance.

Although Jielanen failed to win over Lolan Hill, it didn’t mean he would give up.

Letting someone else get their hands on her, if this really happened, and Miss Lolan became someone else’s lover, then his days as a subordinate would be over.

At first, Grace also thought that Jielanen was just being whimsical; after all, Miss Lolan’s appearance was indeed breathtakingly beautiful. But there were many stunning beauties in Emanas, so perhaps Jielanen would soon have a new target.

But who could have imagined that this big brother of his, one of the future giants of the Cangcui Empire, seemed to have genuinely fallen for her and hadn’t forgotten that young lady for more than half a year.

This made Grace take it very seriously. If he failed to notice and let the future big sister-in-law run off with someone else, the rage of Jielanen would be unimaginable, and he himself couldn’t escape unscathed.

Therefore, recently, he had started to inquire about and follow this mysterious black-haired girl again.

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The young man who nearly knocked over Lolan Hill walked into the library, found a relatively quiet study room, took out his books and thick materials, and prepared to study.

The corners of his notebook were severely worn, revealing the gray interior material, and the pages were densely filled with various writings, both old and new, as if he had reviewed and summarized them many times.

Studying wasn’t difficult, but to stand out among the geniuses in Emanas required tremendous effort, knowledge, strength, and skills—all indispensable.

He was not a prodigy, nor did he come from a good background. His parents were commoners from the former Vergha, but due to his decent talent, he received support from a young age and was sent to study in the country of Rourna. Later, he managed to enter the gates of Emanas.

He deeply understood how rare such an opportunity was. Diligence, struggle, seizing every chance to improve, late nights became routine. He wanted to excel at school, to secure a bright future for himself and his family.

Under the dim yellow candlelight, he used a cheap quill pen to write and calculate on paper. The oily black cuffs of his sleeves brushed against the pages. As a student of the Sequence of Magic, he inevitably spent more time and effort on alchemy and calculation courses.

Thus, with a pen, a lamp, and a diligent figure, he didn’t fall asleep until the early hours of the morning, slumped over his desk. The book beside him revealed a plain and ordinary name—Jack.

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Thank you to Tangmen Infantry, Fantasy Star, Yuki Lily, My Name is Laozi, Unique W, Golden Melody, O, Shimi Ri, Star Melody, Qian Yinll Qian Tingfengyin, Doctor GoregoL, Has the Autumn Wind Fallen, Reader 20170222130214305, N0000000000o, Li Zhi Luo, Luo Yu MK, Reader 20191227143034978, Jian Wenxin Shen, Wu Ci, Salty Fish Otaku, Lazy Scholar, Ghost Hand Lingqi, Dreaming While Awake, and 22 readers for their support.

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(End of Chapter)