Elf: Re-employment of retired champion of Padiya

Chapter 781 Farmland Failure Incident
4 month 29 day.

The day before Luo Mu set off for the Sinnoh region.

In front of the main gate of Orange Academy.

Looking down at the long "Hero's Steps," Luo Mu saw several figures resembling wild men weakly climbing towards the top.

When the group finally climbed the long staircase and stood in front of Luo Mu, he raised his hand and greeted them with a smile, looking quite relaxed.

"Oh, everyone's back."

Luo Mu also observed the condition of the others.

Leihe, who was walking ahead, was actually in good condition. After all, this woman dared to drive alone into the desert, so spending two or three days in the wild was nothing to her.

Rather, it was because she was exposed to plenty of sunlight during those few days in the wild that her skin, which had become pale from being away from the sun in the detention center, returned to its original healthy wheat color.

She even exudes a wild beauty.

Joey Joestar, who was following behind her, also maintained the nonchalant demeanor that Luo Mu remembered.

Based on his skills alone, Luo Mu really felt that even if he were thrown onto a deserted island, he could become the Bear Grylls of the Pokémon world.

Bipa is in pretty good condition. After all, she still has the energy to wrestle with her Pokémon even after practicing the "One-Punch Man-style training method" every day.

He could be considered another super-Patias.

Wilderness survival adventures are nothing to her.

On the contrary, only a few students remained.

He might not look like a beggar, but he's probably not far off.

They were dressed in rags and covered in dust, looking as if they had just fled from war.

Papanami's brown hair looked like a bird's nest on his head. Usually, this kid was very concerned about his hairstyle, and Luo Mu would make his hair stand on end if he touched it, but now he didn't react at all.

Peony seemed to have had all her energy and spirit drained by some creature; her frail figure looked as if she could be blown away by the slightest breeze.

Wu Li and Dan Yu also seemed to be in a daze, and their condition was extremely listless.

Looking at Luo Mu, who was dressed neatly and looked radiant.

Pipa and Peony were furious.

Although they are still in school, they now empathize with some office workers struggling in the hell of the workplace.

It's really a case of those above talking the talk while those below are running themselves ragged.

Luo Mu wanted to ask them directly if they had gained anything.

However, considering the large number of people coming and going at the entrance of Orange Academy, including school-aged children and their parents who come to visit, or students who know them from the academy.

Having experienced the same anxieties of this age, Luo Mu very considerately sent everyone back to their dormitories first.

Let them wash up first, and then gather in the arena.

Around 10 a.m.

The group, now fully prepared, gathered inside the arena. Although Peony and Papa still looked at Luo Mu with a hint of resentment, Luo Mu's emotionally intelligent arrangement had indeed calmed them down.

Leihe crossed her arms and took a few steps forward.

"Then let me explain the progress of the operation over the past few days."

She looked at Luo Mu, and only after receiving a nod of approval from him did she slowly speak.

Although it was called a meeting, it was more like a report given to Luo Mu alone.

After all, the few of them had been exploring the wilderness together for the past few days, so there was no need for any additional intelligence exchange.

Leihe was, after all, a history teacher, so her speaking skills were naturally quite good. She recounted their experiences in the wild over the past few days in detail.

Luo Mu listened attentively, and then summarized his thoughts.

The answer is that, while they didn't gain nothing, they were completely unable to locate the second sealing stake within the area marked out by Luo Mu at the Temple of Fire.

The several large bottles of "purifying water" that he brought with him while fully armed were completely useless.

Some might say, "Isn't there the sealing stake above the Fire Shrine that Wu Li and the others found in the waterfall? Why not just pour water on it?"

However, according to Leiho's predictions...

Although there is no specific order in which the sealing stakes are removed, once they are all removed, the treasure of calamity can be released.

However, the order is crucial if Luo Mu's "purification plan" is to be implemented.

First, from the distant sealing stakes, then to the closer sealing stakes.

Like boiling a frog in lukewarm water, it slowly weakens the curse and malice on the sealed treasure of calamity.

Choosing the sealing stake closest to the Shrine of Fire right away might trigger a violent reaction from the Pokémon of Calamity within the shrine, leading to unpredictable negative changes.

"Yeah, I understand."

Luo Mu let out a soft breath and glanced at Papa and his group, whose morale was low.

"This matter really can't be rushed. Let's all take a rest and then set off again in a few days."

It's only the end of April, and there's still a long time before the year ends.

They still have plenty of time.

It's normal that there haven't been any results yet, as this is only the first time we've set off.

Leihe immediately chimed in, "It just so happens that I was also planning to spend some time in the library researching, so everyone can take a break for the next couple of days and then we'll fight again in a few days~"

Since both teachers had said so, even though they were unwilling, they had no choice but to give up.

Let's go to class these next couple of days.

After Reho and the silent Joey Joestar left.

Several students gathered around.

Uri tilted her head back and asked curiously, "Is the teacher going to the Sinnoh region in a few days?"

Before Luo Mu could answer, Pipa interrupted, "I know, it's for the dessert competition, right?"

"Tsk tsk, this is great, I can go on a trip to the Sinnoh region again. This job is really carefree."

Pipa smacked his lips, and his tone inexplicably became somewhat sarcastic.

Hearing this, Luo Mu's eyebrows twitched, and then his hands shot out like lightning, quickly ruffling Papa's carefully styled hair into a mess.

As Pipa roared in disbelief, Luo Mu's lips curled into a wicked smile.

You little brat, you dare to be sarcastic in front of me? If I hadn't promised Alcremie, do you think I would want to go to the Sinnoh region at this critical moment?

Luo Mu casually restrained Pipa, who was trying to rush over and use a "headbutt" on him, and said to the group, "Let's dismiss everyone for today. After all, you need rest more than class right now."

Done.

Luo Mu shoved Papa toward Pipa, and the boy was held up by Pipa's arms with a helpless expression. He couldn't break free from the rock-solid force coming from her arms, and his feet were lifted several centimeters off the ground because of the height difference between him and Pipa.

This meant that Pipa could only glare fiercely at Luo Mu, watching helplessly as he yelled "Nigeri roda!" (meaning "I'll beat you up"). Only after Luo Mu's figure disappeared into the battle arena did Pipa release her hands from Pipa's grasp and pat him on the back reassuringly.

"Garlic Bird, Garlic Bird, that's just the teacher's personality, why are you taking it so seriously?"

Pipa had barely touched the ground with her feet off the ground before she was hit again, and almost stumbled and fell flat on her face.

He glared at Pipa in return, but she just looked away, a little guilty.

With nowhere to vent her anger, Pipa could only tidy her hair, which Luo Mu had ruffled, as she said, "I know his personality better than anyone. He has a bit of a wicked sense of humor, otherwise he wouldn't have given us this 'final exam' that seems to have no end in sight."

"So? You want to give up?"

Peony pushed up her glasses, her tone flat and unwavering.

"Give up? That's definitely not an option."

After fixing her hair, Papa smiled brightly.

"It is precisely because of the difficulty that we must do better and find the stake to complete the purification faster than Old Deng expected, so as to surprise him."

"He's only a few years older than you, so this way of addressing him is really inappropriate. I thought you were going to break up and split up, and I was just about to stir things up."

Peony blurted out her complaint, but when she met the firm gazes of Pipa, Wuli, and Danyu beside her, she had no choice but to raise her hands in surrender.

The Eevee charm hanging from the bag on her back swayed gently with Peony's movements.

"Alright, alright, the most important thing now is to shock that old Deng."

Although she disagreed with the nickname "Old Deng," Danyu still spoke up after thinking for a while: "But what should we do?"

"We can't just pick an area and then search around like headless flies, like we did a few days ago."

"In that case, even if we had another ten years, we probably wouldn't be able to search the entire Parthian region."

When Danyu spoke, Wuli, who was usually a nobody, couldn't help but nod in agreement.

"That is indeed a very insightful question."

Peony stroked her chin, lost in thought.

The other four looked at her expectantly.

After all, among the five people, Peony has the highest "Intelligence" attribute.

Add to that Shinji's calm and meticulous thinking, and you have a perfect think tank of strategists.

Leave the thinking to the two of them, and just focus on pushing forward.

After a few seconds of contemplation, Peony slowly spoke.

"In my opinion, Teacher Leihe is probably planning to search through the ancient books that have been sealed away for a long time in the library that has collected all kinds of books in the Padia region, looking for any words or clues that may be related to the sealing stake."

"So you mean we should go to the library to help Ms. Leihe?" Pipa couldn't help but ask.

Danyu somewhat agreed with Biwa's point of view: "Indeed, if it were just Teacher Leihe alone, who knows how long it would take to flip through such a huge number of books."

"No," Peony said, refuting their statement and shaking her head. "That's just another form of door-to-door investigation."

“We haven’t been able to do much in the past, and we might even have affected Professor Leihe’s thinking.”

"What do you mean?"

A look of curiosity appeared on Pipa's face.

Peony shook her finger: "It means that Teacher Leihe has ample historical knowledge, so she can search for keywords in her mind and then efficiently find the target ancient book."

"But what if we join them?"

"She not only had to give us directions for finding different types of ancient books, but also had to verify the significance of each piece of information we found."

"As a result, Ms. Leihe's workload has increased several times over. It is the best choice for us not to disturb her."

"Is that how it is?"

Wu Li stared wide-eyed, her voice still somewhat weak.

But the look in his eyes when he looked at the peony was tinged with admiration.

At least he hadn't thought of so many things, nor could he have considered things as thoroughly as Peony.

"But if that's the case, then we're just going to have to wait around?"

Danyu's tone was tinged with resentment.

For someone with a strong and stubborn personality like her, simply waiting and doing nothing would be contrary to her personal habits!
"Who said we can only wait?"

Peony's lips curled into a meaningful smile. She looked around before her gaze fell on the podium that Luo Mu occasionally used when giving academic lessons.

A computer provided by the college lay there peacefully.

Peony walked a few steps to the computer and pressed the power button.

Those who realized what she was planning to do immediately understood.

—They almost forgot that besides being able to dance otaku dances, Peony is also a computer expert!

Peony had no idea that her dancing by Thunder Lake that day had been leaked.

He was looking at the computer in front of him with a hint of disdain.

Tsk, as expected of the teaching computers provided by the college, the configuration is simply terrible.

Using this kind of computer will significantly reduce your skills.

With the program already written, she only needed three or four seconds to hack into the official backend of the Padia Alliance system and modify her BP balance at will.

But if we use this computer, the time would probably be several times longer, maybe even up to thirty seconds.

If I hadn't been in such a rush after washing up that I only brought my backpack and forgot to bring my laptop which was still charging, I wouldn't have had to suffer this injustice.

Peony sighed sincerely, and then began to demonstrate her divine power in front of everyone.

The slender fingers moved across the computer keyboard as if playing the piano.

In no time, she had written a homemade web crawler program.

As she clicked "Run," Peony explained to Pipa and the others, "In short, we just need to focus on what we're good at."

"The program I wrote automatically captures various information from the Internet in the Padiya region and filters out possible or suspected intelligence leads using keywords I set."

"Although some of the intelligence may be false, it's still better than searching for a needle in a haystack."

Completely bewildered and impressed, the four illiterate men stood there for several seconds before finally sharing a common exclamation.

—The power of science is amazing!

Peony's web crawler was quite powerful; in no time, a large number of candidate data points appeared in front of everyone.

Peony clicked on one at random, and her eyebrows unconsciously twitched as she looked at the title.

A crop failure in farmland?

(End of this chapter)