Great! I'm surrounded by villains!
Chapter 81 - 2: Where to Find Magical Monsters

Chapter 81: Chapter 2: Where to Find Magical Monsters

After receiving Duan Mingyuan’s affirmative response, Yun Lin had no desire to stay any longer in a house with an ogre. She politely declined the invitation to dine, and citing the need to continue delivering messages, she hurriedly left.

The agreed time was three days later at dawn. If she accepted the academy’s invitation, Yun Lin would then take him along with this year’s students to Cloud Sea Academy at that time.

Jiuyue, who had been hiding in the bedroom and eavesdropping all along, watched helplessly as the Crane she had finally caught slipped away, feeling somewhat downcast. She sidled up to Duan Mingyuan and asked, "Mr. Mingyuan, do you plan to agree to Bai Yu’s proposal and teach at Cloud Sea Academy?"

"Why not go?"

Duan Mingyuan countered instead of answering.

With a first-class salary, comprehensive benefits, and access to knowledge once destroyed by the Extraterrestrials, he couldn’t think of any reason to refuse.

He had to believe in Jiuyue’s Ruihu bloodline now, for ever since the two of them started dating officially, his fortunes had soared. That morning when he checked his account, he found it flushed with funds, and just as he was worried about how to revive the hunter’s trade, Cloud Sea Academy sent him an invitation.

For Duan Mingyuan, the most attractive aspect was the knowledge within the academy. If what Yun Lin said was true, and Cloud Sea Academy had been established by those who refused to bow to corporations, then surely the forebears had managed to store their wisdom in the library. As such, he would no longer have to blindly search for solutions, but rather could stand on the shoulders of giants and develop a methodology suitable for everyone.

To put it more simply, once at Cloud Sea Academy, he could hold academic seminars whenever he wanted, and apart from teaching, he could spend the whole day reading in the academy!

"But, but..."

Jiuyue faltered, "Our relationship has just begun; I don’t want us to part so soon."

She immediately thought of the tragic romances she had incidentally stumbled upon in recent movies.

Lovers who had confirmed their feelings for each other were cruelly separated by the times, and when they met again after more than a decade, they could not recognize each other due to their different identities and stances...

"Why should we part? You can just go with me. I specifically asked, and Yun Lin said the academy allows both students and teachers to bring their companion monsters. The academy has been dealing with hunters for a long time."

"Really?"

"And I just found out that there’s a course in the academy that suits you," said Duan Mingyuan. "The ’Magical Monsters’ course. Many monsters inhabit the back mountain of Qing Chi Peak, some of whom lived there since the academy’s first establishment, while others sought refuge there due to the persecution from Extraterrestrials. The course content is to impart knowledge about monsters to the students, and during the annual end-of-year voting, ’Magical Monsters’ consistently ranks within the top three."

Jiuyue was undoubtedly the most suitable person to teach this course.

As an exceptionally rare monster able to maintain a human form and proficient in communication among monsters, she could take the students to the back mountain and let them experience the joy of dealing directly with monsters.

"In this way, our combined salary would be between 100k-150k Bei, which is considered an outstanding income in Yunlong City. You would also get to enjoy the various benefits and security provided by the academy," he explained.

The academy’s job was also incredibly relaxing. The ’Magical Monsters’ course took place only two days a week and did not require elaborate preparation. She could spend five days a week lounging on the faculty dormitory’s balcony, soaking up the sun.

Duan Mingyuan found it hard to imagine a profession more fitting for Jiuyue than this. Given this little fox’s nature, future financial security was a major concern—she had no plan for her work or life.

For a long time, she had been getting by on welfare from Da Jiang. If Da Jiang were to go bankrupt, Jiuyue would have to endure the same fate.

Forget about having chicken every three days; even once a month could become problematic.

When passing a fried chicken store, she could only stare at the advertising boards and drool—what a miserable life that would be!

"But all of this hinges on a condition."

Duan Mingyuan’s tone shifted, "You must absolutely not treat other monsters as food again, not even real chicken monsters. There are so many chickens in the world, why must you always fixate on monsters?"

So far, all avian monsters that had met Jiuyue held her in the poorest regard.

"Because monsters are considered game," Jiuyue confidently defended. "Even if I could eat chicken every day, sometimes I crave the taste of game."

Duan Mingyuan’s expression hardened, and he threatened, "If you catch other monsters at the academy, I’m sending you back home to watchdog."

"I won’t eat them anymore, I won’t!"

Jiuyue immediately promised, "I’ll go be the ’Magical Monsters’ teacher, I’m really good at dealing with other monsters!"

Having heard Duan Mingyuan’s words, she too became interested.

Earning money just by chatting with students and monsters, why hadn’t she discovered such a good thing in this world before?

With so much money, wouldn’t she be able to eat as many chickens as she wanted any day?

Wild game is good, but on the other hand, she could triumph by sheer quantity.

"Then it’s settled, Yun Lin will come to pick us up in three days, pack your luggage before departure, we won’t be coming back before this semester ends."

"Understood!"

Jiuyue rolled up her sleeves, full of eagerness, "I’m going to stew all the chickens at home, so we can take them on the trip."

Since she wouldn’t be able to return home for quite a long time, she naturally needed to prepare.

Chickens are everyone’s friends, and she would never allow her friends to tragically spoil and stink in the refrigerator; every friend must have a proper end.

Saying so, she hummed a little tune and walked into the kitchen alone.

Duan Mingyuan sat on the sofa, waiting, and soon enough, as expected, Tang Qianqian’s call came through. As soon as he answered, her loud and excited voice came from the other end, unable to hide her excitement, "Senior, a crane just came into my home and said I’ve been selected by the academy, inviting me to become a student of this cohort. Is it true?"

"It’s true."

"There really is such a school in this world! When do we leave?"

"I thought you would turn it down."

Duan Mingyuan was somewhat surprised; knowing Tang Qianqian, she was the type in class who had exceptional talent but could never get enthusiastic about studies.

"It’s not the same, didn’t I tell you before? Ever since I was a child, I’ve always dreamed of receiving an invitation from such institutions."

What she hated was the high school curriculum, but she had never despised the magical world opening its doors to her.

The only difference was that back then, what she envisioned were wizards, the kind who could fly in the sky on broomsticks.

She went on to say, "And I’ve looked into it, the curriculum at the academy is really simple, I could get high grades even while lying down! And after graduating, I could stay and teach at the school without needing to earn an especially high degree!"

Tang Qianqian felt like she had a new direction in her life once again.

Stay and teach at the school.

She had considered it in the past, but the academic requirements to stay at her own school were simply too high, not to mention needing to pull strings, and with her average grades, she stood no chance at all.

Suddenly, she thought of something and said, "Oh right, Yang Ping said he’s going too."

"His family doesn’t object?"

Duan Mingyuan was even more surprised; City No. 1 High School in Yunlong City was the top school, and over ninety-nine percent of its students could easily get into higher education.

"He said the academy is an institution established by the Extraterrestrials, his parents didn’t stop him, instead, they were strongly supportive of it."

"That’s a lie."

"There’s no helping it."

Tang Qianqian said, "After coming out of the factory that day, Yang Ping said he would never work for Extraterrestrials in his life, and he’s already been planning to deliberately fail to get into higher education. That kid is much more stubborn than he seems on the surface."