406 Lemme Tell You About The Dragon Knights

After the mafia-like hugging was done, the girls returned to their seats, waiting for Attie and Nota to finish preparing dinner. Tisdale, who had just arrived, went over to sit with Mia and Modred and realized that they had been playing Monopoly.

Like Chess — the favorite game of Da Xue's instructors — Monopoly was a game that Baiyi had introduced to them. Those who enjoyed dice games, loved Monopoly. The game was also popular amongst Da Xue's students. Sometimes, the academy's instructors were seen playing it; something Mia and Modred were doing now. Even though they were ten years older, both Mia and Modred were still children at heart, easily delighted by simple pleasures.

Zakum and Potter had been in the game, but since they could not scheme like humans, they lost early on. Only Mia and Modred remained, while the other two were their advisors. 

It was so strange to see such a simple game bring them so much joy. 

Tisdale, however, was not in the mood to play with them. She sat down on an empty two-seat sofa and placed her legs on the adjacent armrest. Feeling comfortable, she sighed and asked, "What time is Vidomina coming?" 

"I don't know. She's still busy dealing with a fight that broke out between some students," Mia replied.

"Wait. What happened?" Tisdale sat up immediately. At Da Xue, she was the Principal's Personal Assistant. Not only was she Baiyi's secretary, but she was also the second-in-command at Da Xue. Everything at Da Xue fell under her purview, so if a fight broke out amongst the students, she had to know about it. 

"It's the Southern students. They got into a scuffle with the students from the Faculty of Dragon-riding," Laeticia answered. "I came across them moments after the fight broke out and was able to stop them from harming each other. It was at this point that Vidomina arrived and took both parties away." 

"Those two gangs again?" Tisdale sighed exasperatedly. Her gaze inadvertently shifted to the resident troublemaker of their clique, Modred, who was right there with them.

In the second year after Da Xue was founded, dragon-lady Aya had a talk with the Dragon-knights, suggesting that they move their headquarters to Da Xue's micro-realm. She gave two reasons for this: one, the recent hike in accommodation fees at the present headquarters; second, her father — who was nearing the last few years of his life. She had already begun to shoulder the responsibility for the well-being of the Dragon-knights. Working as an instructor at Da Xue and an advisor to the Dragon-knights had begun to wear Aya out. 

Baiyi considered her request a reasonable one, so he went to the Imperial City to discuss with the Emperor himself about this matter. 

Back then, Baiyi was still on good terms with the nobles and people in the upper-class, for he had yet to make any requests regarding the Voidwalkers. As someone considered a savior, the top brass did not even consider denying Baiyi's request, as it would not favor them politically. Since the Dragon-knights had not made any meaningful contributions to Isythre after their migration from Gouve, the Treasury Ministry considered them a waste of money; hence, when the Treasury Minister heard that someone else wanted to take ownership of the Dragon-knights, he and his ministry were quick to agree. 

A few nobles did not agree to this, though, but back then, Baiyi's reputation was far-reaching. Furthermore, the Treasury Ministry was dealing with a large fiscal deficit, due to some natural disasters that had plagued the realm earlier. 

With that, It was agreed that Baiyi would take care of fifty percent of the expenses incurred in maintaining the Dragon-knights, while the remaining fifty percent other would be left with the empire. With this, the Dragon-knights was moved to the micro-realm and introduced to Da Xue's staff and students. A small mountain range within the micro-realm, which was much bigger than the lands inhabited by the Dragon-knights in Isythre and Gouve, was assigned to the Dragon-knights to build their headquarters. Even though the micro-realm was much smaller than Isythre and Gouve, the land that the Dragon-knights had here was much bigger. This provided more airspace for the dragons to explore. Aya was so elated with the development, she was ready to repay Baiyi by becoming his wife. 

It was after all this that the Faculty of Dragon-riding was formed at Da Xue. Baiyi had close ties with the heirs of the Dragon-knights, Aya and Modred, which ultimately meant that he controlled the entire Dragon-knights corps. At the time, not many could deduce that Da Xue's Dragon-riding course was being taught by the real deal. 

By the time Baiyi fell out with the nobles and other members of the ruling class, the Dragon-knights were firmly under his control. It was at this point that the other side realized that Baiyi had sneakily acquired a powerful military force from them; a force whose expenses they still had to cover half of, as per the agreement they made in the past. 

This was a huge slap to the faces of the ruling class. If there was a pillar of shame in Isythre, this 'swindle' would be written at the top of the pillar. This Empire regarded this act as Baiyi taking advantage of it while it was in dire straights; they called it a scam. This was part of the reason why the Treasury Ministry opposed Baiyi's propositions so strongly. 

Baiyi's victory was not a complete one, though. The fifty percent cost he had to cover amounted to a humongous figure, which was taxing on his academy. Nothing had occurred yet that required him to use the Dragon-knights, so the corps was not earning its keep, neither was it making him any money. Taking care of the Dragon-knights, and their dragons, was akin to tossing wads of cash into a fire, and after two years of doing this, Baiyi was in a financial pickle. Fortunately for him, the huge Blood Tearstone he had obtained from his battle against Molocchus had been processed by the Da Xue's Alchemy students — who worked so hard that people would consider it inhumane grinding — and was already netting him enough profit to mitigate the cost of taking care of the Dragon-knights, albeit only to a large extent. 

If it were not for this, caring for the oversized flying salamanders would have made Da Xue file for bankruptcy years ago. 

Da Xue made lucrative investments and started up some other businesses, and the revenue it earned whittled down its financial burden. Back then, because of the lack of funds, Baiyi and his family had to live on a tight budget. For two years, Mia and the other girls were unable to buy new clothes [1]. After they graduated from Da Xue, they joined its staff team, and with their first pay, they were finally able to purchase the latest mini skirts on sale at the time. 

Although the financial burden on Da Xue had been somewhat alleviated, the Dragon-knights posed more problems for Baiyi. The Dragon-knights were now out of favor with the nobles, and problems that occurred within the corps made Baiyi enraged. For example, the dragons were wild and harder to control than Modred was; this caused a lot of problems for Da Xue. Over the years, the dragons had clashed with so many of the realm's inhabitants, that even Baiyi was no longer particularly fond of 'Dragons vs. Unicorns' fanfictions; he had seen the real deal countless times, and he had had to settle the dispute before it got out of hand. 

Today, things had become much stable for Da Xue; however, the Dragon-knight corps was not free of trouble. Over the years, the dragons had learned to cohabitate in a more civilized manner, but their inherently wild nature seemed to have rubbed off on the students studying Dragon-riding at Da Xue. Most of the students that were caught fighting and flaunting Da Xue's rules were from the Dragon-riding faculty. This faculty was semi-independent from the academy, and it was under the control of Aya and Modred, with Baiyi chipping in a little, every now and then; hence, the faculty was riddled with delinquents. 

Whenever these delinquents caused a stir, Baiyi would wish that he had not taken over the Dragon-knights. He wished he had, instead, used the Dragon-knights as a bargaining chip, without taking over it completely. He had been unable to do this thus far because whenever the thought entered his mind, dragon-lady Aya would blink rapidly with tears in her eyes, asking Baiyi if he wanted to abandon her. Baiyi did not have the heart to let Aya handle everything on her own.

Although the Dragon-knights had brought Baiyi a heap of trouble, he knew that the corps had incredible potential; thus, he could not bear to abandon them, or Aya. This was not something he was willing to admit, though. 

This was the reason why Tisdale glared at Modred when she learned that the students in the Dragon-riding faculty had been fighting again. Although Modred was young, leading the Dragon-knights was a responsibility she would have to shoulder. However, at present, not only was Modred reckless, but she was also in charge of a bunch of unrepentant delinquents. This reality made even Baiyi shiver. 

As though what happened had nothing to do with her, Modred was currently playing cards with Mia. It was only when she noticed Tisdale glaring at her that she realized something was wrong. With a quick wave of her arms, Modred hurriedly said, "Big Sister Dale, this time, it's really not my fault!"

"Still, why are you here, playing games with Mia, as though nothing happened?" Tisdale asked with a gloomy expression, and the aura emanating from her intensified. 

"Aww, don't be too harsh on her, Big Sister Dale. I mean, if Modred actually attempted to put out the fire, there is every chance she might accidentally use oil to do so, right?" Mia, the softy, spoke up for Modred, albeit using a weird analogy.

"Mia, she's the Vice President of the Dragon-knights and the Vice Principal of the School of Dragon Knights. She is going to be their leader some day, you know. She should, at least, take up—"

Tisdale's words faltered at this point as her thoughts raced. To humans, ten years was an incredibly long period of time, during which one would grow and mature. For dragons, however, ten years was akin to the blink of an eye in their incredibly long lifespan. On second thought, letting Mia, at her age, resolve issues like this was as ill-advised as Mia implied. 

Tisdale recalled something about a rumor floating around within the School of Dragon Knights. According to the rumor, before a dragon knight attempted to subdue their first dragon, it was better they subdued a unicorn. This would allow the Dragon-knights to measure their own courage and power. When Tisdale looked into the source of this rumor, some students admitted that it had originated from their Vice Principal — Modred. 

'Sigh… The only concern Modred would have about this issue is if her lot won the fight or not,' Mia and Tisdale thought simultaneously. 

Although Mia had spoken up for Modred, whenever she remembered that she had to go out with Modred and her delinquents on an excursion, Mia would get a splitting headache. 

When Modred saw the anger on Tisdale's face dissipate, she ran back to Mia and shook her shoulders. "Mia, can you get back on tossing the dice—"

Boom! 

She had been blasted out of the open window by Tisdale's magic spell. 

A loud crash rang out from below, and moments later, Modred crawled up from the depression she had created on the pavement, wincing. "Gah... That hurt," she muttered. "Big Sister Dale can be so strict..."

She got to her feet and brushed the dirt off her clothes. When she finally raised her head, she found herself looking up at someone whose expression was even fiercer than Tisdale's.