Escorted by Pella and Evans, Larne, Marvin, Randy, Krarft and his children all returned to the Orca Academy Grandmaster level instructor residence. After returning Instructor Marvin to his home and asking Pella to call the over the academy alchemist to look at Krarft's wounds, Larne let out a sigh!.
Pulling on the rope that was connected to a bell in the management office, Larne called Tally over and instructed her to look after Krarft and his children for the next three months. He let Krarft and his children use the guest room on the first floor while Randy took his luggage to the servant's room on the ground floor and went to look after the Kano Horses afterwards.
After everything was settled, an hour had already passed. Larne also asked Tally for Dinner to be prepared for the group before sitting down on the couch in the lounge. Bringing over the bottle of unopened macks extract, Uriel put an iron pot into the fireplace in the lounge and started making the drink and added milk and honey crystals into the pot nonstop. After a while, a thick, fragrant smell spread throughout the whole house and even lured the two children and their father upstairs to come down.
Pouring the children one cup of Mack each and telling them to go check out what Tally was cooking for Dinner in the kitchen, Larne started describing the whole encounter with the assailants to the group, including the fact that one of the assailants said that their junior apprentice-brother wanted them to take only one of Larne's arms. However, Larne had no clue about anyone he had a grudge with.
"No one has a grudge against you?" Pella said derisively before coldly laughing. "This isn't about vengeance or anything you know. You might not have realized it, but you've already become a huge pain in the neck for many people, especially so with the case of the duels. Your relationship with most of the Master-leveled instructors of the academy was already bad enough, and right now, it's not an overstatement to say that you're existence like that of a nightmare for the other Master-leveled instructors in the whole Academy Sector. After only dueling for a month, you have almost defeated all the Master-leveled instructors from 24 academies. It's quite possible that the ones whose turns are next wish to cripple you to end this whole dueling event prematurely.
"As for the challengers that don't represent the academy, do you know how many people have lost fortunes for betting against you? During the last month itself, we managed to get a profit of 18000 gold kans from the betting pool! I bet many of them are hoping that you will lose so that they can earn some of their money back. For that, they won't hold back at all and will throw everything they can at you. From today onwards, you must be really careful for your safety. The Security Division will have a group of people following you at all times to ensure that nothing bad happens to you. Rahman, send some elites from the Swordsmanship Society to accompany Landon as well. With that many people following him around, I doubt that many will dare to cause any sort of trouble.
"Alright," replied Rahman.
"Don't do that, it's horribly inconvenient for me to have so many people following me in and out all the time! It'll be fine as long as I don't leave the academy right? I'm pretty sure that I can keep myself safe here at least," said Larne quickly. I can't have a horde of people by my side all the time! Imagine how it would feel when I need to go to the washroom!
"While it is indeed safer in the academy, it is still not completely foolproof. Don't worry Landon, I'll just have the people follow you around in secret without crowding around you. If we don't do at least that, the old bastard will really give us a harsh scolding by the time we report the incident to him tomorrow. Who asked you to be such a precious cash-cow for the academy? The old bastard is quite fond of you, you know." The group laughed out loud when Pella said that.
"You don't really have to let him know about it, right? Can't you not spread it at all?" asked Larne.
"We must definitely let the news get out as best as we can! That way, we can let the others who are plotting against you to rethink their plans. If we were to keep this hidden, it'll only let them think that you're afraid of future attacks and they'll try even harder to hurt you!" said Pella. "Also, Evans, make sure you get rid of the corpses of the assailants and spread the word that they ran away after seeing reinforcements come for Landon, but still managed to injure him quite badly. Put a bounty of the two if you have to. Make sure nobody knows that they were killed by Larne."
"Huh?" Evans didn't understand why Pella wanted that done.
On the other hand, Larne already had an idea on what Pella was planning. "Aje, the fatty's going to rip people off again..."
As expected, Pella said, "If word gets out that Larne managed to kill two Grandmaster level fighters, then who would continue to bet on his loss?! Think about it, who would bet on a Master Swordsman level fighter's victory against someone who has killed two Grandmaster Level fighters?!"
"Oh, I see," said Evans as he smacked his head in understanding. He then asked, "Fatty, would anyone believe that Landon survived the attack unhurt as he is?"
Pella suddenly had an idea and turned to look at Larne, then to Uriel before saying, "Uriel, get me a chicken tomorrow morning. We're going to help Larne with his 'injuries'. Brother Landon, I'm afraid that you will have to play along with us in this."
Larne furrowed his brows and said, "Hey, you guys are really too much!"
""It's fine, we'll just say that you got injured during the assault and wrap you up in some bandages and sprinkle some chicken blood on it. Oh, and Rahman, notify the herbalist to not tell anyone about Larne's condition unless they pay up. And in the event that they do, make sure the herbalist says that Landon got the injuries Krarft currently has. Landon, try harder to show that you're hurt in the duels during the morning and make them think that you'll be unable to keep up. Hehe... Think of all that money that'll fall into our pockets!" Pella and Evans's eyes radiated a golden light.
Even though this method was rather shady, Larne didn't oppose to it since he would be getting a cut of the profit anyway. As for the ones who would lose their money to the betting pool, he couldn't care less about them and even believed that they deserve it for not having the eyes to discern his true abilities.
Pella poured another cup of macks and continued while sipping his drink. "I have two suspects in my mind who could have plotted the attack just now. One of them is the Saint Marseille Academy. The academy challenging Landon tomorrow, the Purewater Academy, shouldn't be much of a threat to him. However, the 14th academy that has accepted the challenge, the Saint Marseille Academy is our academy's number one rival. That's why they are my prime suspect. Then again, if they were involved in this, I doubt that they'd send those two losers to deal with it. It doesn't fit the academy's modus operandi."
Larne raised a voice of objection. "Hey, those two were First Level Grandmasters you know."
"Even so, they are still losers for having been defeated by you. If I were there, maybe I would even manage to kill one of them myself," boasted Pella.
"Ugh..." Based on the junior assailant's performance, Larne had to admit that Pella did make some sense and that he would probably win if he fought against the junior one. Apart from being very good at dodging, the junior assailant didn't leave any other impression on Larne.
"There is another person I suspect," said Pella. "Do you remember Sanchez?"
"Who's that?" asked Larne while shaking his head.
"Oh, you..." Pella was totally frustrated. "Didn't I tell you that once before? It's that assistant instructor that riled up the dual elite course students to surround and attack you whom you later beat up, remember? After recovering, he got accepted by the Tapa Kingdom's Sword Saint as a disciple and he's now at the peak of the Silver Level. This time, he's back at the academy to duel you for revenge! Sheesh, I even reminded you about him once before you know."
"Ohh!!, his name was Hassen or something, right?" said Larne.