Chapter 113: The Early Birds are Late

Su Ye was stunned. This statement could be found in each set of the Book of Aristocrats. If Socrates praised the nobles so much, could it be that the thick-browed and big-eyed mage himself had defected?

Therefore, Su Ye flipped through the catalog. There did not seem to be anything special. This set of books was just a record of the history of the noblemen.

Su Ye put the first volume back on the bookshelf. He looked at the ten thick volumes and took out the last volume.

He opened the cover of the last book. The title page only had the words ‘tenth volume’ and the name of Socrates written on it. There was nothing special about it.

Su Ye shook his head and put the tenth volume back on the bookshelf. Just as he was about to push it in, he thought of something and retrieved the book again. He directly flipped to the end sheet at the back of the hardcover book.

A line of beautiful handwriting appeared on the last page.

Su Ye stared at the line for a long time before he slowly closed the book.

“As expected of Socrates. Even though he has died, he will always be remembered as a hero.”

Su Ye exclaimed softly and turned to leave the library.

Su Ye carried the knotted cloth bag with him. After he ate his breakfast, he returned to class.

To Su Ye’s puzzlement, neither Lake nor Hort had arrived today. Two out of four of the early birds of the fifth table were missing. Moreover, it was almost time for class.

After Su Ye sat down, he took out the shield-shaped stone tablet from his cloth bag and placed it on the table.

He asked Palos, who was beside him, “Deskmate, which noble family’s token is this?”

Palos glanced at the stone tablet, then continued to read with an expressionless face.

He had been ignored.

Su Ye noticed that Rolon was staring at the stone tablet with a strange expression. Rolon was unable to hide the shock in his eyes.

“Rolon, do you know which family this stone tablet belongs to?”

Rolon concealed his astonishment and said, “Look for it yourself, but… Don’t simply show this ancient token to anyone.”

Su Ye immediately put it away. Just as he was about to ask Rolon what was going on, heavy footsteps came from the entrance.

The sound was too familiar. It was Hort’s footsteps. If he sped up his pace, it sounded like a giant passing by. With loud bangs, his footsteps could even kick up the dust on the ground as high as three feet.

However, his footsteps today were especially heavy.

Su Ye looked up and was shocked.

Hort was not alone. Lake was with him. They looked as though a thin slice of Spanish ham was stuck next to a slice of thick bread.

Both the thick bread and the slice of ham looked like they had just been chewed on, as if even saliva was still on them.

Hort’s face was red and swollen. The corners of his mouth were bruised while the corners of his eyes were injured. His nose was crooked. A small patch of his hair and scalp was gone and even his chin was deformed. Even though there were obvious traces of him having received magic treatment, many of the wounds could not be healed.

Lake was even worse off. The white of his right eye had been completely stained red and it was severely congested. His entire body was bandaged up like a mummy. He was limping as he walked. His nose was a little flat to begin with. Now that his nose was almost pressed into his face, only a round little nose tip was shown, like a bean embedded in a pancake.

The classroom instantly fell silent.

Hort often participated in private tournaments, at least four or five times a month. Besides that, he would fight once every two or three days. He often entered the classroom with a bruised face.

Everyone was already used to it.

However, this was his first time looking so miserable.

Lake had also participated in one or two private tournaments recently. It was purely to practice his magic combat skills. As he only sparred with mages, even if he was injured, the injuries would be minor. It was basically impossible to tell.

However, today was different. It was obvious that he had been beaten up by a warrior.

Usually, everyone would definitely tease the two people if they came in injured and supporting each other.

But no one laughed today.

Everyone’s eyes were filled with anger.

It was normal to get injured in a match, but it was too much for them to be so miserably wounded. It was very likely that someone had deliberately assaulted them.

Su Ye’s face darkened.

Lake and Hort had either been tricked by someone into an unfair match, or they had met a powerful opponent that they had no chance of defeating.

With a sullen face, Su Ye stood up and asked, “What happened?”

Rolon also slowly stood up.

Jimmy looked around and joined the standing group.

Ebert also stood up, but he seemed to recall something halfway. He sat down again and lowered his head.

Many of the male students in the class also stood up. Their movement caused the tables and chairs to rattle.

No one could tolerate their own classmates being bullied to this extent.

Moreover, this was Greece, the nation that advocated fighting.

Jimmy asked, “Were your opponents someone from our school or from other schools?”

Lake and Hort’s faces were full of shame. Although scars were men’s medals, the medals they wore this time were too many and heavy, causing the two of them to not be able to stand up straight.

Lake was the top student in their class. He had always been in the first or second place. He had never received such attention before. He lowered his head and did not say a word.

The smile on Hort’s face also disappeared. He hesitated as he was too embarrassed to speak.

“You guys have already been beaten to such a state. What’s there that cannot be shared?” shouted a male student.

“That’s right. This is going too far! Let’s have a private match with them today!”

“Even if we can’t win, we still have to fight. I don’t believe that with so many people in our class, we don’t stand a chance of winning.”

“Yeah!” Hutton also shouted in agreement. He had already become a warrior apprentice, so he really wanted to show off and win a match. It would be a good chance for him to get rid of his image of being beaten up by Su Ye.

Jimmy hurriedly walked over and helped Lake up.

The three of them slowly walked back to the fifth table and sat down.

Some of the male students formed a circle around them. The rest of the students also turned around and looked at the fifth table.

Palos’ head was still lowered and buried in her book, but her eyes kept glancing over to where Su Ye and the others were. Her attention was on them.

“Tell us about it. We’re all close friends,” Su Ye said.

Shame filled Hort’s eyes. He still couldn’t bring himself to tell them what had happened.

Lake covered the corner of his mouth as he slightly parted his lips and said, “Let me tell you about it.” After saying that, his face twitched, revealing a pained expression.

“The incident went like this. A third-year student that I knew was going to participate in a small competition. He happened to be short of people, so he contacted me. Initially, I didn’t want to go, but the reward was handsome. Regardless of whether I won or lost, I could earn one Golden Eagle. If I became the final winner, I could get ten Golden Eagles. The rate of this reward was rare. All of you know that I need to raise my sister, so I agreed to it. They were still short of people, so I contacted Hort.”

Lake looked at Hort with guilt and said, “All of you know that although Hort isn’t a warrior apprentice, he is better than any warrior apprentice. Black Iron Warriors are no match for him without using divine power.”

The students nodded in agreement. Hort had never been able to obtain divine power, even with the help of meditation; therefore, he was still unfit to become a warrior apprentice. However, he was physically tough. Many people even suspected that he possessed a Battle Talent Spirit.

Lake continued, “Things started off very smoothly. We won three matches in a row. If we won two more, we would be able to earn ten Golden Eagles. However, an accident happened. A few new noble students showed up. At first, they mocked Plato Academy. Then they mocked us. In the end, they even scolded us. They behaved very much like Stiflers.”

Many people had looks of disgust on their faces.

Stiflers referred to the idle young people in Athens. They liked to gang up and bully others at night.

“Hort had a good temper and wasn’t angry. But I was annoyed, so I refuted them. In the end, as all of you had guessed, we started squabbling with each other. Their words were mean as they included all of us in their trash talk,” Lake said helplessly.