Another World: The Failed Magician

Inside a small tavern in the town of Carlos.

Dean White downed the wine in his glass in one gulp.

"It's rare to see a workaholic like you taking a break. You even have the leisure to ask me out for drinks."

Carl finished his drink and called the waiter to bring two more glasses.

"I'm taking a rare day off today, and it's not because I'm afraid you old man will pass away first."

"Hmph! I think you'll get the better of me first. You're underestimating my strength. But speaking of which, that old guy Polier is acting strangely this time. This ambush was supposed to be a test, and he did invest a lot of resources, but it feels weird that he thought he could kill me with this lineup. I went there prepared to die. Now that I think about it, it's a bit embarrassing."

"I didn't understand at first either. But after seeing this, I think I understand a bit. It seems that old guy isn't having a very good time either."

After saying that, Carl handed an envelope to Dean White.

After receiving the envelope, Dean White took out the letter and carefully read through its contents.

"You mean that old man Polier might be going to relinquish the throne?"

“It’s unrealistic to abdicate directly, but after all, he has been emperor for 500 years. If we were to replace him now, it wouldn’t be a good thing for the Silver Dragon Empire. The Silver Dragons understand this too. So he’s just being slowly stripped of his power.”

"Can he tolerate this? I've dealt with him for so many years, I really don't think he can put up with it."

“This is different from before. According to the intelligence brought by our people, Lokak has already obtained a special scale granted by the Silver Dragon Clan. So even if Polier has objections, he probably can't do anything about it. Moreover, just a day ago, that old guy announced that he was unwell and went into seclusion to rest. It seems that he is gradually leaving the position he has held for 500 years.”

"After all, no matter how loyal he is, 500 years in this position is indeed a long time. With the slow recovery of battle qi and magic power, I heard that some old guys in the Silver Dragon Clan have begun to recover."

"So those big lizards want to reclaim their rights?"

Carl nodded.

"After all, they are actually the highest rulers of the Silver Dragon Empire. No matter how loyal Polier is, he is not a dragon after all, and they can't truly trust him. But even so, that old guy still became king for 500 years because of his dragon-human identity. He has to be called a ruthless character."

Dean White carefully placed the envelope down and said with some emotion, "I've been an adversary to that old guy for so many years, and I never expected him to end up like this. I was even thinking of taking care of him myself."

"Based on the intelligence gathered, our intelligence department conducted a general analysis of him. The results should be fairly accurate. In the beginning, Polier actually arranged for all those who disagreed with him to ambush you. He wanted to use this opportunity to regain control of the Empire and also to assess your strength. According to his original plan, this incident in the Caenlai region was just the beginning, and his decisive move against you should have been in the next operation. However, at this point, he was far from the center of power, so his plan had to be halted."

"In that case, I actually have to thank those big lizards for taking down that old bastard, Polier."

"If you insist on saying it that way, then you're not wrong."

White sipped the wine the waiter had just brought him while glancing at Carl, who was dressed very formally.

"Oh, I just realized. You old codger, you dress this formally even when you're not working? Something's definitely up."

"What could possibly be wrong with me? You're overthinking it."

"Oh, I remember now, a few days ago the border sent you a letter saying they were confirming someone's identity. Ever since that day, I've noticed you, old man, have been all smiles. Come on, tell me honestly. Who are you going to see today, dressed so formally?"

"Stop being so gossipy, old man, he's one of my students."

"Student? Then why are you making such a formality? Oh, now that you mention it, I just remembered, that little rascal Lu Xuan should be back around today too. I wonder how he is now."

"You have the nerve to say that to me. I'd like to ask you, didn't you take that little Mo Yun with you? Where is she now?"

"She insisted on coming with me, and I couldn't persuade her otherwise. How could I let her do anything reckless in such a dangerous place? So I handed her over to Birus."

"Now that you're back safely, aren't you going to bring her back?"

Should we bring her back?

The air was suddenly quiet.

Carl suddenly remembered something and looked at White in shock, asking, "Don't tell me you didn't tell them you were still alive!"

"Is it strange that I'm alive? Why should I go out of my way to tell her?"

"Because I have a feeling that when you handed Mo Yun over to Bilusi, it was definitely in the tone of entrusting her with a future son."

"Of course. At the time, we didn't know what the situation was like there, and the Federation's other high-end combat forces couldn't intervene. So I definitely went there with the determination to die."

Did you let Birus know you were safe?

Upon hearing this, Dean White suddenly fell silent.

"No, we finally managed to capture one alive, so I was thinking of sending him to you as soon as possible to see if you could get any information out of him."

"But three days have already passed, haven't they? You're not going to tell me you've forgotten, are you?"

silence.

"You haven't really forgotten, have you?"

Still silent.

Carl looked at White, who was looking down at his wine glass, and walked over to pat his old friend on the shoulder.

"It seems you really have forgotten. Well then, good luck to you. I have to go see my students. I can't keep you company any longer."

After saying that, Karl turned to leave.

But she found that she had only gotten halfway up when White grabbed her hand.

"You bastard, let me go! You forgot about this yourself, don't drag me into it. This has nothing to do with me."

"That's incredibly irresponsible of you to talk like that. Didn't you tell me to go to Kahn?"

"I did ask you to go, but what you're about to do isn't what I told you to do."

After saying that, Carl tried to pull his hand away from White.

"You can't just leave me like this! If Bilus finds out about this, she'll definitely kill me. You have to save me!"

Without caring about her image, she grabbed Karl's hand tightly, preventing him from leaving.

“You old codger, don’t drag me into this. Don’t you know what kind of person Bilusi is? If you go by yourself now, you’ll be the only one who dies. If you drag me into this, I’ll be in trouble for both of us. I advise you to think about how we’ve worked together for decades and not to drag me into this.”

"No! I'll really die."

Carl struggled for a while but found he couldn't shake White off, so he had no choice but to sit back down at the table.

"Actually, there's still room for reconciliation in this matter. If you apologize sincerely and then give in to her, everything should be fine, right?"

"This is the only thing that really can't be done," White said, sounding like he was about to cry.

"You two must have known each other for a long time! Probably even longer than we have."

White nodded.

"So you haven't realized she likes you yet?"

"I…"

White stammered. He didn't seem to want to answer the question.

"If you're not even willing to say this, then I really can't help you. You'll have to figure out how to face her wrath alone then."

"Sigh, alright. We've come this far. Of course I know she likes me, but I'm this old now, and I really... well... you know, you should understand me!"

"I don't know anything about you. Besides, she's an elf, much bigger than you. She definitely wouldn't care about this."

"I care."

"So what have you been struggling with all these years? Or is it that you don't actually like her at all?"

"I…"

Carl stared intently at White without saying a word.

White downed the drink in his glass in one gulp.

"I like her."

"Then why don't you agree to her request? It was understandable before that the Federation was in its most critical period, but we've already weathered that storm. What's your reason now?"

“Karl, you know, right? I’ve practiced this martial art.”

Carl nodded.

“Normally, a Martial King of my age shouldn’t age so quickly, but because I cultivated that martial art, my life force is draining away rapidly and cannot be replenished. In addition, the entire continent is gradually recovering. I can now feel that this martial art is becoming even more unstable. So I don’t know when my life will end. Maybe in a few years, maybe tomorrow. And she is an elf, she still has a long life ahead of her. I shouldn’t disturb her.”

Karl fell silent upon hearing this.

"Right? You also think what I said is correct, right?"

"I didn't say you were right. I won't comment further on your relationship. My student should be arriving soon, and I have to go pick him up. Goodbye, and good luck to you."

After saying that, Karl quickly got up and walked out of the tavern.

As expected, White caught him again.

“Karl, something’s definitely wrong with you. You asked me out for drinks today in a very unusual way, but after I arrived, you really wanted to leave. You’re definitely hiding something from me, tell me now.”

"How could that be? We've been friends for so many years, why would I hide anything from you?"

"Bullshit, you old geezer, there's definitely something wrong with you."

"Let go, I have no problem whatsoever."

"If you're fine, why are you in such a hurry to leave?"

Carl glanced at his watch and tried to shake off White's grip on his hand, which was like a pair of pincers.

"Oh no, we're running out of time."

After saying that, Carl, like a deflated balloon, stopped struggling and sat back down in his seat.

"Hey, don't look at me like that. What do you mean you're running out of time? Just tell me, you jerk."

Carl remained silent, slumped in his chair.

"You're scaring me even more. What's wrong?"

White stepped forward and shook Carl's body.

Carl just let White shake him without saying a word.

Just then, a clear and melodious voice came from behind the two of them.

"Oh my, it's been so long since I've seen you two, and your relationship is still so good."

Upon hearing that incredibly familiar voice, White's first instinct was to jump out of the window next to him.

However, just as he jumped into the air, a bright green vine appeared out of nowhere and tied him to the ground.

"That's not very nice of you! Why is this your first reaction when we meet an old friend? I promised to take care of your student not long ago."

After realizing he couldn't walk any further, White turned around stiffly.

He saw Bilus standing at the tavern entrance, a faint smile on her face, watching him.

"How...how could that be? I'm so happy to see you. I just suddenly remembered that there's soup simmering on the fire at the academy. I have to hurry back."

"Really?"

Bilous walked up to Dean White, smiled, and knelt down to look into his eyes.

White hesitated for a moment, then turned his gaze toward Carl.

Carl pretended not to see the look in his eyes and stood up.

"I've arranged the appointment for you, so there shouldn't be anything else for me here! I'm in a hurry to meet my students today."

"mix."

"Order!"

Upon hearing Birus's reply, Karl vanished from the tavern in an instant.

Just as Karl stepped out of the tavern and breathed a sigh of relief, he heard a young voice call out behind him.

"Teacher, so you really were here."

Carl turned around and saw four young men standing together.

One of them was his student, Zhao Quan, and the other was a boy named Lu Xuan, whom he also recognized. He didn't recognize the two girls beside him.

Upon realizing it was his student, Karl quickly resumed his serious demeanor.

"By the way, what are you doing here? Weren't you supposed to be here in a bit?"

"Uh, we ran into Sister Bilus on the way. She said she knew where you were, so we followed her here."

"Oh, I see. So you saw what just happened."

Zhao Quan asked in confusion, "Teacher, what just happened? Sister Bilus said she had something to do and went in first. We waited outside. Just as we were debating whether to go in or not, you came out, Teacher."

"Oh, I see."

Upon hearing this answer, Karl breathed a sigh of relief.

After recovering, Karl noticed that a little girl was standing behind Zhao Quan, and she became very nervous when she saw him looking over.

Carl saw through their relationship at a glance.

The old man smiled with satisfaction and patted Zhao Quan on the shoulder.

Zhao Quan looked at Karl with some confusion: "What's wrong, teacher?"

"Yes, very good, you've made something of yourself. Your teacher is very pleased."

"Teacher, what do you mean by that? I don't quite understand."

"It's nothing. I also have something I want to ask you. This isn't the place to talk. Let's find somewhere else to chat."