Another World: The Failed Magician

As the sun rises, the small town gradually comes alive with activity.

The once sparsely populated streets gradually filled with pedestrians, and although everyone was trying their best to hide their expressions, some anger and panic were still evident.

The streets were now filled with patrolling soldiers. They were highly vigilant, alert to their surroundings.

Just then, a teenager pushed a wheelchair out of the house. A very old man sat in the wheelchair.

The boy looked at everything on the street and felt a pang of sadness.

"Grandpa, did we do something wrong? Why are other countries targeting us like this?"

"What nonsense are you talking about, kid? What did we do wrong? We just want to live our own lives."

"But if we haven't done anything wrong, why are they treating us like this? Why are they trying so hard to hurt us?"

Upon hearing this, the old man struggled to raise his arm.

Seeing this, the boy understood immediately and squatted down next to the old man.

The old man stroked the boy very slowly.

"They hurt us not because we did anything wrong. The more they try to destroy our country, the more it proves that what we are doing is right. They are just afraid of us. And hurting others is just a manifestation of their fear. Everything they are doing now is nothing but bluffing."

As he spoke, the old man's eyes filled with memories.

The young man nodded in understanding.

"Grandpa, I heard a new flower shop opened in the north of the city. Shall we go check it out?"

The old man slowly nodded in agreement.

Upon seeing this, the boy's melancholy expression faded somewhat. With a faint smile, he pushed the old man toward the north of the city.

Before long, a small and lovely flower shop appeared in front of the two of them.

At that moment, a young girl in a pure white dress stood in front of the flower shop. She had a sweet appearance and was chatting with customers who entered the shop with a gentle smile.

A male customer, who was about the same age as the boy, came over after seeing him.

"Cassie, you're here today too?"

"Yes, I brought Grandpa to see a different place today, and I didn't expect to run into you here."

Then, he looked at the old man being pushed by the boy and said...

"Hello, Grandpa Kanewall."

After speaking, he bowed deeply to the old man.

The old man slowly waved his hand.

“I’ve already told the child that he doesn’t need to act like this when he sees me.”

Despite the old man's words, the boy shook his head.

“Grandpa Kanewall, you have your principles, and I have mine.”

The old man gave a faint smile and then fell silent.

At this moment, Cassie was slightly stunned as she looked at the girl in front of the flowers.

After seeing his friend's performance, the boy quickly went to Cassie's side.

“It looks good, doesn’t it?”

"nice."

Rozier couldn't help but laugh when he saw Cassie's dazed expression.

Cassie only snapped out of his daze after hearing his best friend's laughter, though the boy's cheeks were slightly flushed.

Seeing his friend looking at him with a sly grin, Cassie felt a little embarrassed and had no choice but to take the initiative to change the subject.

"Rozel, how long has this flower shop been here?"

Rozier thought for a moment

"It should be open now, it's been open for about a week, right?"

Cassie noticed that the flow of people outside the flower shop was surprisingly good in the early morning.

"This flower shop has only been open for a week, how come it's doing so well?"

"The main reason is that this flower shop's products are indeed of good quality and low price, plus the owner's attitude towards customers is exceptionally good."

After hesitating for a while, Cassie finally asked her friend, "By the way, do you know who that girl who always stands in front of the flower shop is? I don't think I've ever seen her in town."

"Of course you haven't seen her. She only recently came to town, and she's the owner of this flower shop."

"Really?"

"Of course it's true. It's all because of you, kid. You never like to come and stroll around the north side of the city. This flower shop has been open for a week now, and I'm telling you, you didn't even know there was a flower shop here."

Do you know what the shop owner's name is?

“Of course I know that. Her name is Li Meng. I heard that her previous town was attacked by those bastards, so she came here.”

"So that's it."

"Wait a minute, what do you mean by asking me all this? You don't mean you've got your eye on her, do you?"

Cassie remained silent and did not answer.

Looking at his friend's expression, Rozier immediately understood what he was thinking.

"Sigh, what a pity. You're unlikely to have a chance."

Hearing this, Cassie asked somewhat anxiously, "Why?"

"Because she has a fiancé."

"Oh. How did you know about this?"

"Everyone's eyes aren't blind. This florist is so beautiful and has such a great personality. She must have already been approached by people. But she's made it clear she has a fiancé. So you definitely don't have a chance."

“Oh,” Cassie replied with a hint of regret.

"Let's go, since we're already here, let's go buy something." With that, she took the lead and walked inside.

Upon seeing this, Cassie's first reaction was to look at the elderly man sitting in the wheelchair.

"You and your friends go ahead, I'll wait for you outside."

After exchanging a few words with his grandfather, Cassie and his best friend went into the flower shop.

Meanwhile, in another dark corner that no one paid attention to, stood two teenagers.

One of them spoke first.

“We’ve been observing this place for a whole week, and the shop owner is just an ordinary person. Don’t you think it’s stupid that we’ve wasted a whole week because of an ordinary person?”

"It's because there are too many people like you that we've suffered such rapid losses. You don't really think our previous successes were due to your strength, do you? That was because we caught the Loca Federation off guard. Do you really think we'd have any chance after that behemoth reacted?"

"So, according to you, aren't we all just going to our deaths?"

"You only realize now that we were sent to our deaths?"

"No, you're lying. Dean Locas would never lie."

Just then, a girl appeared in front of the two of them.

After the girl appeared, the two immediately shut their mouths, not daring to make a sound.

The girl first gave one of the boys a cold look.

"Number Three, I can pretend I didn't hear what you just said, but I'm only giving you this one chance. If I find out again that you dare to talk about the dean behind his back, you know the consequences."

The boy known as Number Three could only nod slightly after hearing the other boy's words, not daring to make a sound.

After saying this, the girl disappeared from the spot.

Carnevol, seated in his wheelchair, watched the people chatting happily in front of the flower shop. Although everyone had some worries about the Dark Radiance, they were all full of confidence in the future. Their conversation was filled with trust in the Federation and aspirations for the future.

Upon hearing these words, a faint smile appeared on the old man's aged face.

Seeing these people before him, no longer having to worry about food, and happily envisioning their future, the old man felt an unprecedented joy.

The old man muttered to himself silently.

"Old friends, this prosperous era is just as we wished."

Just as the old man was feeling happy, a young girl dressed in a black robe suddenly appeared behind him.

At that moment, a cold dagger was pressed against the old man's neck.

The old man showed no surprise after feeling the cold blade. Instead, he continued to enjoy the morning sunlight in his wheelchair with a faint smile.

A cold voice came from behind the old man.

"If you beg for mercy, I might let you go."

Upon hearing this, the old man burst out laughing.

Then, the cold voice came again.

"Is this funny?"

The old man didn't speak, but his disdainful look said it all.

At that moment, the girl stretched out her hand and pointed to the flower shop in front of the old man.

“There should be more than 20 people there, and your grandson is among them. If you kneel down and beg for mercy now, maybe I will let them go.”

Hearing this, the old man's eyes gradually turned fierce.

Upon seeing this expression, a cruel smile appeared on the girl's cold face.

"Have you thought it through? All you have to do is beg for mercy to save them. It's a good deal, isn't it?"

Only then did the old man speak for the first time: "After all these years, you really haven't improved at all. Is this the only despicable method you've ever used?"

"The methods don't matter. What I want to know now is your choice."

The old man looked at the sun overhead, completely oblivious to the dagger pressed against his neck.

Why do you think you have victory in your grasp?

As the words fell, a flash of sword light streaked past, and the girl had barely reacted when she saw an arm fly into the air. Only when she saw the dagger in its hand did she realize it was her right hand.

Upon realizing the disparity in strength between the two, the girl's first reaction was not to run away, but to swing her only remaining hand and strike the old man's head.

Just then, another sword light struck.

The girl could feel her heart stop beating in that instant.

The two boys behind the girl tried to run away as soon as they saw that something was wrong.

The two of them instantly ran off in different directions.

Two beams of sword light flew straight out from outside the flower shop, followed by two miserable screams from afar.

After everything was resolved, the girl who had been greeting customers in front of the flower shop just a moment ago put away her long sword.

Li Mengyu walked up to the old man, looked him over, and then asked, "Grandpa, are you alright?"

The old man shook his head.

A squad of soldiers then rushed over upon hearing the commotion.

Upon seeing the two boys and one girl lying in a pool of blood, his expression immediately turned grim.

Li Mengyu took the initiative to step forward and took out a token.

The soldiers watching all showed expressions of respect.

After telling the soldiers everything that had happened, Li Mengyu left.

Only bewildered customers remained in front of the flower shop, along with soldiers cleaning up the scene.

At that moment, Cassie ran quickly to the old man's side.

"Grandpa! Are you alright?"

The boy's expression was full of worry.

"Don't worry. Your grandpa is in great health. How could that little assassin possibly hurt me?"

"Really?"

"Of course it's true."

……

After leaving the town, Li Mengyu changed back into a white martial arts outfit.

"Very good. Your speed this time was much faster than the previous times."

White appeared out of nowhere as he was talking.

Li Mengyu was not happy because of White's praise.

"Dean, isn't our method too primitive? When will we ever truly defeat Darkshine by waiting for it to come to us like this?"

White smiled at Li Mengyu's worried face and said, "Actually, you don't need to worry so much. According to the intelligence I have, most of the Dark Radiance have been wiped out by us, leaving only those that are hiding deep inside. And there really isn't a good way to deal with these. They've been hiding in the Loca Federation for many years. No, they won't make a move until they've completely ascertained the situation in a region."

"Isn't there any way for us to actively find them?"

Dean White shook his head.

The worry in Li Mengyu's eyes deepened.

However, things quickly returned to normal.

"Give me your next task."

White actually wanted to refuse Li Mengyu. Since Lu Xuan went to accept the trial, she had taken on 16 missions all by herself without taking a break.

But seeing Li Mengyu's somewhat tired yet determined expression, White didn't know whether he should refuse her.

Li Mengyu also saw the worry in the old man's eyes.

"Dean, I know my own body best. If I can't hold on any longer, I'll tell you. Don't worry, Dean, I'm waiting for Lu Xuan to come back. I won't collapse in a place like this."

"Alright, since you've said that, how can I refuse you? But I have one condition: you must rest for a while after you complete this mission."

"But!"

"No, but you are just as important as everyone else. I understand that you want to protect them. But you also need to protect yourself. If you don't agree, I will never entrust you with any more missions."

Seeing Dean White's resolute expression, Li Mengyu had no choice but to nod in agreement somewhat reluctantly.

Only after seeing that Li Mengyu had agreed did White hand the note to the girl.

"I know it might sound a bit long-winded, but I still want to say that you must take good care of yourself. Also, although Lu Xuan isn't very good at expressing himself, he actually cares about you a lot. People like him don't care about many things, so if something happens to you, he'll be really heartbroken."

Li Mengyu was a little stunned, unsure how to answer the question.

White stepped forward and gently patted the girl's head.

"Remember, you are always a person, not a tool. If one day you don't want to do any of this anymore, be sure to tell me, and I won't force you."

Hearing this, Li Mengyu nodded and lowered her head, not wanting Dean White to see her crying.

White could naturally see through the girl's forced composure. But at this moment, not exposing her was the greatest respect he could show her.