"Hehe~ Buck, co on! Catch !"
"Eh! Matron Agnes, Zhong Li is licking my balls!"
"Matron, he would not share his sugar balls with ."
The streets were bustling with the cheerful titters and complaining moans that could pierce a hole through your brain. The children are running around, doing what children do.
Watching over them was a mature woman with a kind smile on her face, her silver hair tied in a loose braid. She wore a worn-out robe that had several stitches over it. Yet despite her apparel, she held a grace that surpassed many of the rich people.
Just as Noah exited the church, his gaze landed on the kids running around.
Three kids were playing with a ball, kicking it around when it suddenly slipped from their control and hit a woman walking across the street in the leg.
"Argh!" Since she was not prepared for the sudden impact, her legs trembled and she stumbled a little. Fortunately, she did not fall and stabilized herself on ti.
She looked down and saw the ball lying beside her feet. She raised her head and saw the kids looking at her with scared looks on their little faces. Seeing the guilt in their eyes, she instantly understood what had happened.
Her yelp caught the attention of the matron.
She slowly walked toward the three kids to reprimand them and ask them to apologize when she saw the woman who was struck suddenly scowl in anger.
"Are you idiots? Do you think this is a place to play? Do you even have brains?" She started throwing curses at the kids. "Where are your parents?" Do they only know how to create you little devils and throw you out to do whatever you please?"
The kids trembled when they heard her ntion the word parents and lowered their heads even more. Seeing this, Matron Agnes, who had frozen in shock, looked at the woman coldly.
The woman only grew more enraged seeing their lack of response and started shouting. "Are you hearing what I said? Did your mother not even teach you how to respect your elders?"
"Their mother taught them well enough, but it looks like your mother failed to teach you well." Hearing the cold voice, the woman first recoiled in anger and snapped her head towards Agnes.
Seeing the woman's face, her eyes widened in recognition. She looked behind the woman to see a building across the church with Anna's Little Spirits plaque hanging on it and more than ten children looking at her with fear and confusion in their eyes.
Gone were their cheerful smiles and carefree aura. The building was in a better state than the church itself, with no cracks or broken walls, and the kids wore proper clothes.
"Sister Agnes…" The woman gasped, her voice quivered. Everyone in the city who had been living here for a long ti knew about Agnes, and they also knew how much she cared about the kids under her care.
Agnes walked closer to the three children, who hugged her from all sides and silently sobbed into her legs.
"I am sorry, Sister Agnes… I did not know they were…" Before she could blurt another unsavory word, Agnes's cold gaze silenced her.
"Go away." The matron took the kids back after shooting a cold look at the woman who tottered away from the area.
By the ti this incident ca to an end, Noah was long gone, and no one knew about his presence from the start to the end.
The youthful dragon was now at his final destination, the last place he wanted to see before he arrived at a conclusion.
…
Inside a silent hall filled with luxurious chairs and well-crafted furniture, a stern-looking middle-aged man sat with his back straight and legs crossed. His hands moved so fast that they appeared blurred.
On the mahogany apothecary table before him, several stacks of paper were arranged in two piles.
The atmosphere appeared to be serene as the man was imrsed in his work. Suddenly there was a knock on the door, causing his hand to pause and the blurs to disappear.
"Co in." After staring at the docunt before him for a second, he raised his sight and looked at the closed gate opposite to him.
The gates opened slowly before a soldier with an aged appearance and heavy armor stepped into the hall. He stepped before the man and knelt on one knee and clenched his fist over his chest.
"My lord, the unrest in the forests nearby is growing. It is anticipated that within one month, the beast tide is imminent." His words were crisp, without any fear or hesitation.
His words did not make even the slightest change in his expression.
"How many soldiers do we have?"
"Around three hundred… They are the ones that are close to mastering or have mastered the technique you bestowed on these ungrateful people." The man didn't even try to hide his disdain for the soldiers. "They have no idea what a treasure they were—"
"I did not ask you about these pointless things, did I?" Xu Shang narrowed his eyes and spoke with a colder tone, which made the man freeze in the middle. "How many of the commoners have been enrolled in the army, and how many are ready to graduate from the training program?"
Only after hearing the city lord move on with his question did the man finally dare to breathe and reply. "700 of them have successfully enrolled in the academy, aning they can face the lowest of ungraded beasts on their own, while a little over 500 are still in the program, with rely 40 or 50 ready to graduate."
Hearing the report, the city lord did not seem to be impressed by the numbers; instead, he clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"Any among them have any decent talent for cultivation." With no hope in his voice, he still asked as a formality.
But to his surprise, the guard before him nodded with a slightly elated tone. "There is a guy who has decent talent to reach the peak of the qi gathering realm in this lifeti; maybe he can even break through the next great realm."
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