Chapter 181 : Exchange Students Arrive at the Port, Help in the Midst of Snow
Chapter 181: Exchange Students Arrive at the Port, Help in the Midst of Snow
Mitoten Port
After several days, the Alliance transport ships finished handing over the cargo they had carried. Only then did the Alliance cruiser dock and allow the exchange students aboard to disembark.
A specially manufactured radar continuously rotated atop the balancing beam of the warship’s mast. All anti-air weapons were in combat-ready standby mode, and the fire-control and range-finding teams constantly scanned the sea, land, and sky for suspicious targets.
Officials from the Tsarist Nation of Roshek had actually informed the fleet long ago that it could dock at the port. They had enough confidence to guarantee that this group of students would not come to harm.
But the fleet commander had consistently refused.
After all, the flames of war had already spread to this port city. Docks were typically prime targets for attacks, and he could not bear the responsibility if any of the students were injured or killed.
If the Alliance Council had not issued detailed orders before departure—explicitly instructing them to safely escort the students to the Roshek Royal Academy—he would have turned the fleet back halfway through the voyage.
He did not understand why the children of his own country had to be sent overseas, but obedience was a soldier’s duty, and he had to complete his mission.
Fortunately, the Alliance had prepared a security detachment for the two hundred exchange students: more than a hundred special agents and a squad of mecha warriors to reinforce the defenses of the Roshek Royal Academy.
At the same time, Saint-level Sherria Miranda was also mixed into the group as the final trump card.
The moment Cassius stepped onto land, dressed in a casual Zhongshan suit, he could not help but take a deep breath. He tidied his messy short blond hair and drew a cross on his chest with both hands.
“Thank the Empress for her protection~”
Life drifting on the sea had truly left a deep psychological shadow on this child who had grown up inland.
Whenever he walked in the cabin, the entire space felt tilted and misaligned. Sleeping was even worse—it felt like being on a rocking toy. He had been forced to sleep in a hammock, and just thinking about it brought tears of bitterness.
After adjusting his clothes, Cassius began counting the students as the representative of this exchange group, while coordinating with the special agents to provide them with any necessary assistance.
Watching from afar, the Roshek noble officials could not help but click their tongues in amazement as they observed the group of half-grown youngsters.
The number was not what surprised them.
Although they had never seen these clothes before, the Zhongshan suit had a simple design and nothing particularly strange.
However, within this group of two hundred people, the races could be described as a colorful variety of shapes and appearances.
In truth, it was not that chaotic. The main races of the Alliance were simply the Human Race and the Orc Race. The populations of other races were very small. For example, the third-largest race in the Alliance, the Dwarven Race, only had a population of around two million at most.
But the branches of the Orc Race were extremely numerous.
Common ones included cat, fox, dog, deer, bear, tiger, and lion types. There were also rarer mutated types like white tigers and white foxes—pure-colored variants and all sorts of others.
It was practically a grand animal kingdom.
Each had their own distinctive appearance. Even though their total number in the group was actually smaller than that of humans, their presence was incredibly noticeable, and they looked rather difficult to manage.
Among the noble delegation welcoming the Seris exchange students, the person with the highest status was the Tsar’s daughter, Princess Natalie Roshek.
She personally witnessed the blond man leading the group pat the head of a small dwarf girl who was standing with her hands on her hips.
The dwarf girl immediately jumped up and kicked him in the groin.
Seeing this scene, Natalie’s face paled in shock.
Kicking such an important place—were the girls of Seris all this… bold?
At first she wanted to say it was extremely improper.
But when she remembered that in the diplomatic correspondence previously sent by the Seris Alliance to the Roshek Tsardom, the Alliance had repeatedly emphasized an additional clause requiring women to be respected the same way as men, she suddenly did not know what conclusion to draw.
Women in the Tsarist Nation of Roshek held very low status.
Or rather, in all kingdoms that still maintained the old systems, women’s status was generally low.
The Seris Alliance was clearly very aware of this, which was why it had stressed the matter again and again.
Cassius crouched on the ground with a pained expression.
“Nai, you’re so cruel!”
The troublesome dwarf girl Nai stood with her hands on her hips, glaring down at the crouching Cassius.
“The Empress said that child-lovers should be used as targets for D20 grenade howitzers!”
Cassius: “…But you’re already an adult~ Otherwise how did you get into university?”
“Oh really? So you actually had those kinds of thoughts! Who said I’m an adult? I’m a special admission student! Do you want to die?! Take my hammer!”
“Hey hey hey—don’t hit my face! Next year I’ll…”
Hearing that sentence, the two female university students who had originally planned to step forward and stop Nai silently withdrew their hands and looked at Cassius as if he were trash.
“Next year won’t work either!”
“Ow! Didn’t I say don’t hit my face?!”
After being treated by the ship’s doctor, the fox-girl Veronica—whose seasickness had been quite severe—felt much better.
With a pale little face, she stepped down from the warship and reached out to grab Nai’s small hand, stopping her from continuing the beating.
“Little Nai, let it go for now. We can deal with him after we get settled.”
Veronica’s tone was gentle, though the drooping snow-white fox ears atop her head revealed that she was still not in good condition.
Nai snorted and put away her family heirloom iron hammer.
“Hmph, you’re lucky! Senior sister, do you feel better?”
“Mm… much better.”
Veronica gently rubbed Nai’s fluffy little head. Nai happily rubbed against her hand.
Seeing this scene, Cassius felt both envy and jealousy.
As a mutated snow fox variant, Veronica not only possessed extremely high talent in ice and snow magic, but also had an exquisite appearance and dignified personality. In the Alliance’s top universities, she was extremely popular—a true goddess-level figure.
However, Cassius had absolutely no romantic interest in her and had always treated her like a good brother-in-arms.
Instead, he constantly harbored improper thoughts toward Nai, who was technically still under the highest level of “capital punishment status,” and no one understood what exactly he was thinking.
Whether in society, within the school, or even within the Dwarven Race itself, there were very strict restrictions placed on dwarf children who left their communities.
Interracial marriage was almost impossible.
The difference in lifespan between races led to this special form of treatment.
If members of the Human Race or Orc Race could not reach the Ninth Rank, their lifespan would generally cap at around 150 years. Only by breaking through to the Ninth Rank could their lifespan extend further and roughly match that of dwarves.
However, Cassius possessed excellent talent and had a fairly high probability of breaking through.
Moreover, his actions were limited to occasionally patting Nai’s head. Because of this, everyone turned a blind eye and did not send him to prison.
Dwarves matured early, and their cultivation levels generally increased quickly. They had the ability to protect themselves.
Anyone who could endure their fists without being hammered to death was, in a way, considered to have gained a small degree of recognition.
Of course, that recognition was extremely limited.
Judging by Nai’s behavior, Cassius’s path of pursuit would be long and arduous. From time to time he even had to endure the deathly stares of the mecha soldiers.
Once the Seris Alliance delegation had more or less settled themselves, Princess Natalie finally stepped forward with the welcoming nobles and officials to hold the official welcome ceremony of the Tsarist Nation of Roshek.
The ceremony was extremely grand and represented the Tsar’s high regard.
As the female representative, Veronica conducted a cordial and friendly exchange with Princess Natalie. Under her guidance, they proceeded to the Tsar’s local palace for a magnificent banquet.
It was no wonder the Tsar received them with such solemnity.
Accompanying the exchange student group was a large shipment of military supplies.
In addition to two battalions of Little Sherman Light Tanks, there were also fifty thousand bolt-action rifles with four hundred thousand rounds of ammunition.
There were five hundred heavy machine guns of various models, along with five hundred thousand rounds of machine gun ammunition.
Additionally, there were twenty 75mm rapid-fire field guns with two thousand shells.
Although all of this had been purchased by the Tsar with money, the fact that the Seris Alliance delivered them at such a critical moment truly felt like help in the midst of snow.
And the exchange students who arrived with such a large amount of weapons and equipment naturally appeared, in the eyes of the Roshek nobles, no different from lucky mascots.