Holy Institution: Chapter 67

Chapter 67: Visiting family (8)

The fact that Di Lin had entered the volunteer army through his connections incited a minor commotion.

The commotion being Suo Suo.

He was just short of stuffing himself into Di Lin’s space bag in his insistence to go along.

Kevin seemed to have already foreseen this outcome a long time ago; he directed a strange meaningful smile at Rui Meng.

Di Lin felt his scalp turn numb from his smile. “Did something I’m not aware of happen?”

Kevin replied, “No no no, I should be the one asking that question. Did something that we aren’t aware of but want to know very much happen to you?”

Di Lin looked at Rui Meng in confusion.

Rui Meng shook his head firmly. “I’ve always been of the opinion that such a horrifying guess will never be realized.”

Di Lin asked, “Horrifying guess?”

Rui Meng cast a glance at Kevin. “He thinks that you and Hydin are dating.”

Di Lin’s face turned white. But one second later, the color of blood frantically surged up, turning his face as red as a tomato.

“Didn’t I say it’s horrifying?” Rui Meng shook his head in disapproval.

Kevin stated, “There is a basis for my guess. Given my tutor’s usual descriptions of Tutor Tagilis, he shouldn’t be the sort of person who’s willing to cooperate with a student and play the role of lover to chase away the princess.”

Rui Meng retorted subconsciously, “He isn’t playing the role of lover, he’s just someone who was secretly fancied. That won’t be of much help in satisfying his sense of vanity.”

Kevin asked, “Then why didn’t you help?”

Rui Meng choked off and only replied a long while later. “The other party is Princess Qiaoni.”

Kevin questioned, “Do you think that Tagilis would offend the princess for no rhyme or reason?”

“Who says there’s no rhyme or reason? Di Lin is the student he’s most proud of,” Rui Meng clapped his hands. “What’s more, with Hydin’s personality, he may even treat this matter as a challenge.”

Kevin asked in a strange voice, “Challenge?”

“If not, why not ask Di Lin? He understands Hydin the best,” Rui Meng turned and found that Suo Suo and Di Lin had disappeared. “Where did they go?”

The door was pushed open gently and half of Suo Suo’s head peeked out from the gap. “Di Lin said we’ll give the room to you guys. We’ll sleep in Kevin’s room.”

Kevin leapt up. “Wait, why are you going to my room…”

“These are your socks,” Suo Suo pinched his nose and tossed them in.

Kevin caught them in a fluster.

“Di Lin said that this pair of socks was hidden by you underneath the pillow so it must be very important to you. That’s why I’m here to hand it to you,” Suo Suo finished speaking, closed the door, and walked off.

Rui Meng covered his nose and glanced at the socks in Kevin’s hands in revulsion. “What are you doing putting stinky socks underneath the pillow?”

Kevin responded awkwardly, “To prevent the odor from leaking out.”

“…” Rui Meng swiftly kicked Kevin onto the bed.

A while later.

The socks flew out of the window like a meteor.

They left the school on a boat just like the last time, but the atmosphere this time was much heavier than the other time when they left for the competition with Saint Sauvy.

If the elites of the senior school didn’t have a tense expression on their faces, they were closing their eyes and resting. It was silent in the hold of the boat.

Di Lin sat on his own in the middle of a group of adults, resembling a rabbit that had mistakenly charged into a flock of sheep. He wanted to find the only person he was familiar with on the boat, but after considering the meaningful gaze Michelle and the others had directed at him today when they were leaving, he suppressed the urge.

Although it was with good intentions, he had ultimately pulled strings to enter the volunteer army as an exception. If he appeared too close to Hydin, it was likely that even more rumors and slanders would circulate.

The scenery was still the same scenery as before, yet Di Lin felt like he was sitting on pins and needles as time crawled past.

On the fourth day, he eventually couldn’t resist secretly going to Hydin’s room.

After knocking twice, the door automatically opened from the inside.

Hydin was lying on the bed. Under the illumination of the sunlight passing through the paper window, his handsome facial features appeared even more three-dimensional.

Only then did Di Lin recall that he had forgotten to buy medicine for seasickness due to the numerous matters that had cropped up. “Tutor?”

Hydin opened his eyes with much difficulty, forming a slit. “What day is it?”

“The fourth day.”

Hydin pursed his lips.

Originally, they could have used the magic array and directly gone to Langzan through Julan. This way, their time on the boat would not have exceeded a single day. However, Langzan had already sealed all transmission magic arrays to prevent other countries from profiting from their misfortune. This was also to say – it was absolutely necessary to sit on boats and ride on carts to reach Langzan.

“Do you want to drink coffee?” Di Lin’s tone of voice softened subconsciously.

Hydin made a light sound of agreement.

Di Lin took out the coffee and went to brew it. Ever since the last incident when he couldn’t find the coffee, Hydin handed him two boxes of coffee to carry on himself.

This boat wasn’t very large, but it still had the necessities.

Di Lin finished making the coffee and was just about to turn when his only route was blocked off.

“You’re that one from the junior school?” The person was a middle-aged man around forty years of age. The grizzled hair on the sides of his temples made him appear as if he had been through great hardships.

“Yes,” Di Lin replied cautiously.

“Your tutor is a genius,” The middle-aged man had no intention of making way for him.

Di Lin could only maintain a polite smile. “I think so too.”

“The trip to Langzan this time is very dangerous. You’re still young and aren’t anxious to accumulate credit, why do you want to take the risk?”

Di Lin tried very hard not to let his impatience show on his face. Restraining his temper, he said, “My friend is at Langzan.”

“Nobility?” The middle-aged man asked. “I know you’re an exempted student of nobility.”

It had been a while since he last heard the four words ‘exempted student of nobility’. Di Lin was sure that he had glimpsed the same contempt in his eyes that he had initially seen in Kevin’s. “Yes, this isn’t a secret.”

The middle-aged man noticed that his tone of voice had stiffened and smiled, making way for him. “I’m just curious about you and Tutor Tagilis. Because my impression of him is of someone who focuses on researching magic and disdains paying attention to the secular world.”

So accepting him as a student and bringing him out was considered paying attention to the secular world? Or, should he have simply said that Hydin was currying favor with him because of his noble identity? Di Lin found his malicious conjecture amusing yet laughable. He had paid very close attention to his every movement ever since stepping onto the boat, out of fear that they would look down on him. But he hadn’t thought that the other party would not only have judged him a long time ago, but even dragged Hydin in as well.

“Thank you for taking notice of my tutor. If there is a chance, I am very willing to better understand your tutor as well, though I still don’t know their identity at the moment,” Di Lin smiled as he walked past while carrying the cup of coffee.

“Diveaka nimoyoli…”

Di Lin heard the extremely soft incantation that came out of his throat. His footsteps paused and he anxiously took note of his surroundings.

The boat suddenly shook vigorously.

Without any hesitation, Di Lin used the wind elements to sweep himself back into the small room, before closing the door with a bang.

The boat steadied again.

He didn’t have the time to guess what kind of expression the middle-aged man had now because Hydin was laying weakly beside the bed, throwing up yellow water.

“This is bad. There’s no medicine on the boat?” Di Lin placed the cup of coffee down in passing and helped him up

Hydin slowly sat up and closed his eyes. “Who was it who used magic?”

Di Lin replied, “A senior.”

“Other than me, everyone else here is your senior.”

“Other than yours, I don’t know the names of anyone else here.”

“… Your socializing skills are too poor,” Hydin opened his eyes and stood up, picking up the cup of the coffee.

“What are you doing?” Di Lin snatched the cup of coffee before he could grab it.

Hydin’s brows creased. “Isn’t it for me to drink?”

“I changed my mind. It’s better for you to drink some light porridge first,” Without waiting for his reply, Di Lin opened the window and poured the coffee out.

Hydin raised a brow. “I don’t know if I should say that you wasted the coffee or that you polluted[1] the lake water.”

Di Lin turned a deaf ear to his words. “I’ll go cook porridge.”

“Clean the floor first,” Hydin rubbed his thumbs against his temples and went out.

The boat was bustling with noise because of the shaking.

The middle-aged man was seated at a corner. Upon seeing Hydin appear, his body shrank back slightly.

“Who was it who used magic just now?” Hydin’s distinct nasal voice suppressed the disturbance.

All the students stopped and turned, staring directly at him.

“There shouldn’t be any five or six-year-old children among you who need to indulge in mischief to increase their sense of existence, right?” Hydin’s gaze swept across them.

Not a single sound could be heard.

“Then, returning to my previous question, who was it who used magic? What is the reason? I am very curious,” The contrast of his sea-like, azure eyes against his pale-like-snow skin caused him to emanate a morbidly awe-inspiring aura.

The students looked at each other in dismay.

Hydin declared lazily, “I hope he will stand forward while I still have no intentions of looking into the consequences…”

The door behind him opened and Di Lin walked out.

The middle-aged man’s facial features tensed, and he stood up with a whoosh. “It’s me. I just wanted to review my magic.”

Hydin replied faintly, “Congratulations. You’re late.”

The middle-aged man didn’t understand his words.

“Since you’re so free,” Hydin turned and spoke to Di Lin, “Remove the magic array propelling the boat and find him a pair of oars.”

The middle-aged man guessed what he wanted to do, and his expression instantly turned ugly.

Hydin told the rest, “Remember to thank him for his hard work when we reach the shore.”

One of the senior school’s students stood up. “Tutor Tagilis, I understand your way of handling this. But Langzan’s situation is grave, shouldn’t we not waste time on the road?”

Hydin pursed his lips at the middle-aged man. “Did you hear what he said? Don’t waste time on the road.”

The face of the middle-aged man was as dark as the bottom of a pot.

The boat moved slowly, very slowly till the eighth day arrived.

The middle-aged man was finally set free from his punishment. However, the rest of the students openly voiced their discontent with the tortoise-like speed at which they had been moving the past few days. Sitting on this kind of small boat was already a very painful thing, what more when their trip was delayed.

Hydin appeared on the boat again

Faced with the students’ bitter gazes, he only did one action – a shooting motion.

Immediately, the boat shot forward like an arrow that had left its bow strings!

The next day, at half past two in the wee hours of the morning, the boat appeared at Senriga’s shore.

Hydin glanced at the sky and furrowed his brows. “We’re early.”

But nobody took notice of this problem, because everyone else apart from him had collapsed.

The area beside the windows as well as the deck was packed with people.



Unexpectedly, Hydin realized that this kind of speed did not incur any discomfort. He thought aloud, “So, seasickness can be relieved this way.”



Di Lin was considered one of those who had been less affected; he could still make his way shakily to Hydin’s side. “When will the person fetching us arrive?”

“This afternoon.”

“Then what should we do now?”

“Sleep,” Hydin returned to his tiny room with satisfaction, leaving Di Lin staring with furrowed brows at the rest of the people who were vomiting with extreme intensity.

[1] Slight wordplay here – the same Chinese characters were used for ‘wasted’ and ‘polluted’, although the meaning is different in each context.

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