Lu Mingfei, become the King of Elden!

Chapter 228 A Bag of Potato Chips

"what?"

Xia Mi snorted, placing one hand on Lu Mingfei's chest to prevent him from getting up, while the other hand was on her hip, looking fierce like a policewoman who had caught a thief.
"Senior, it's very ungentlemanly to pry into a lady's privacy! If you keep looking, are you going to find out my measurements and how old I was when I had my first love?"

Her cheeks were puffed up with anger, slightly flushed, whether from her earlier actions or genuine anger, it was hard to tell. Her eyes were wide open, which, far from being intimidating, made her appear even more lively and spirited.

Lu Mingfei was being held down by her, and he was both amused and exasperated.
"I was just curious. I had to know who you were, and I'm an S-class. Norma just sent me your entire file. I didn't mean to."

"So what if you have high privileges!"

Xia Mi leaned down, bringing her face close to his, their noses almost touching, their warm breaths brushing against each other:
"Does being an S-class employee mean you can do whatever you want? Believe me or not, I'll report you for sexual harassment!"

Lu Mingfei felt somewhat helpless.

Junior sister, it's clearly you who's sexually harassing me.
The noble Storm Knight, leader of the Knights of Lost Home, de facto ruler of Stoneville, and Grand Master of the Storm Knights, Lu Mingfei, was utterly defeated by the shameless female thief before him.

"I was wrong, I was wrong, okay?"

Lu Mingfei backed down, raising his hands in surrender, careful not to make any sudden movements for fear of touching anything.
"Junior sister, you're so magnanimous, please forgive your senior brother this time! I promise I won't look around recklessly again!"

He tried his best to make his eyes appear utterly sincere.

A wise man doesn't suffer a loss when he's already at a disadvantage, especially in such an awkward position.

Xia Mi stared at him for a few seconds, seemingly judging whether his attitude in admitting his mistake was sincere.

Finally, the anger on her face subsided, and she pouted.

"That's pretty much it."

She released her grip on Lu Mingfei, but instead of immediately getting off him, she tilted her head and examined him, her eyes filled with curiosity.

"But speaking of which, senior brother, are you really an S-rank?"

Lu Mingfei breathed a sigh of relief, but upon hearing this, he felt a little helpless:
"Replacement guaranteed."

"Wow!" Xia Mi exclaimed dramatically, her eyes sparkling, "A living S-rank! Doesn't that mean I've latched onto a super powerful patron?"

She poked Lu Mingfei's arm with her finger, as if to confirm whether Lu Mingfei was really him.

Lu Mingfei felt a little ticklish from her poking and shifted uncomfortably.

"...Can you get down first before we talk about the thigh issue?"

He simply couldn't concentrate while chatting in this position.

Xia Mi seemed to realize just then how intimate their position was, a fleeting hint of unease crossing her face, but she quickly masked it. She nimbly jumped off Lu Mingfei, stood by the sofa, and clapped her hands as if nothing had happened.

"Alright, seeing as you were sincere and you're an S-class powerhouse, I'll forgive you!"

She waved her hand generously, then bent down to pick up the iPad that had been tossed onto the bedside table and handed it to Lu Mingfei.

Lu Mingfei sat up and straightened his disheveled clothes.

He took the iPad, but didn't look at it again, and casually put it aside.

“So,” Lu Mingfei decided to steer the conversation back on track, pointing to the German book on the sofa, “the alchemy and Nibelungen you mentioned earlier, were those taught in the preparatory class?”

“I guess so,” Xia Mi sat down on another sofa, swinging her legs. “The preparatory class will cover a lot of basic theories, including dragon history, the basics of Word of Power, an introduction to alchemy, and so on. Nibelungen is considered an advanced application of alchemy. The teacher mentioned it a few times, saying that it is the ‘holy land’ of alchemy, but also a ‘forbidden zone’, because everything there is ‘dead’.”

Lu Mingfei scratched his head. He didn't quite understand.

As a Faded One and a hybrid with off-the-charts combat prowess, Lu Mingfei is proficient in Storm Swordsmanship, Dragon Prayer, various combat skills, and most of the cold weapon fighting techniques taught at Kassel College, but this still cannot change the fact that he knows nothing about alchemy.

Whether on the border or on Earth, he was a semi-literate violent maniac.

“If you want to learn about alchemy, I suggest you first read the Jade Record. It is a fragment of a dragon clan classic. It is regarded as the origin book of alchemy. It only has thirteen sentences, but it contains all the truths of alchemy.”

"Ok."

Lu Mingfei sighed and muttered:

"Although I might not be able to understand it, my academic grades aren't very good."

"It's ok!"

Xia Mi sprang up from the sofa, clenched her right fist and pounded her flat chest twice, while giving Lu Mingfei a thumbs-up with her left hand. Her eyes shone brightly, and her face radiated a heroic spirit.
"Isn't my junior sister here too!"

She patted her chest and declared with absolute certainty:

"Senior brother, you're an S-rank! How can you let a few mere academic subjects hold you back?"
"As long as you look out for me at school, I, your junior, will do everything in my power to pull you out of this misery of failing grades!"

Her demeanor didn't seem like she was promising to tutor him; it was more like she was swearing allegiance and preparing to join Lu Mingfei in overthrowing some tyranny.

“Okay,” Lu Mingfei nodded in agreement, and joked, “Then my grades will all depend on Professor Da Mi from now on? I’ll hold you accountable if I fail a course.”

"no problem!"

Xia Mi readily agreed, then her eyes darted around, revealing a sly smile like a little fox:

"However... tutoring also costs money!"

"Tuition fees?" Lu Mingfei raised an eyebrow. "Didn't you just say that as long as I protected you, everything would be fine?"

"That's protection money, this is tutoring money, one thing at a time!" Xia Mi said matter-of-factly. "Considering you're an S-rank powerhouse, I'll give you a 1% discount! $50 per tutoring session!"

Lu Mingfei scrutinized Xia Mi repeatedly, and only after confirming that the beautiful girl exuding a pure and innocent aura was not Fingel in disguise did he slowly say:

"Junior sister, your current salary is almost on par with software engineers in Silicon Valley. I'm afraid I can't afford to hire you."

Xia Mi said with exasperation:

"Ugh! The prices are always inflated! Senior, you should haggle! Haggle!"

Lu Mingfei lay leisurely on the sofa:
“We Americans don’t follow that old-fashioned, capital-centric approach. Junior sister, you should give us your bottom line.”

Her eyes darted around, then she suddenly leaned closer, a sinister smile spreading across her face:

"Alright then! Considering you're my long-term meal ticket... oh no, I mean my long-term support, I'll give you a friendly price! One bag of potato chips for every tutoring session! Cucumber flavor, please! Is that alright?"

Lu Mingfei looked at her profile so close to his face, listened to her clear voice, and felt the sunlight streaming through the window onto her, as if coating her with a soft halo.

Lu Mingfei suddenly thought that maybe being a poor student wasn't so bad?

Of course, this is on the premise that the tutoring fee is really just a bag of cucumber-flavored potato chips.

(End of this chapter)