A Small Commotion

"When is Yuu going to wake up already...? I'm hungry..."

Grim groaned as he stood on a stool. Deuce sighed, "You were the one who knocked him out..."

As per her thoughts, Grim tried to copy Leona's move from the other day and threw a super long shot from where they were in the middle of the field. If she remembered correctly, the field was rather large like a regular sized mansion or two two three plots of field.

"We were like what..." Ace grumbled in confusing thoughts, "forty or fifty yards and you launched it the wrong way full power! Of course, you'll knock the prefect out cold!"

Lotus sighed as she tied the ice pack to the head with a bandage, "Grim has the power but not the control yet. Looks like we need more practice."

"F-fgna!!!" Grim shuddered with a teary look, "I-It wasn't on purpose!!!"

"It wasn't." Lotus wore a wide smile, "But, let's get it to the point that it's no longer by accident."

"Huh?" Deuce looked to her in bewilderment, "No longer by accident?!"

"Yup!" Lotus smirked, "That way, I can have another reason to take away your cans in the future. For now, I'll only take away tonight's can. You can have a dry sardine, instead."

"F-Fgna..." Grim cried, "My tuna..."

"Aren't you a little harsh on him?" Ace looked to her sternly.

Lotus sighed and reminded them, "I'm still taking him to the stalls to get him snacks later and who knows how much stuff he'd get if I don't keep an eye on him. You tell me if I'm being harsh on him or spoiling him?"

"S-Seriously..." Ace sighed in defeat.

"I have nothing to say anymore." Deuce nodded his head in defeat.

"Eh? Snack?!" Grim's teary face suddenly brightened up as he heard this with perked ears, "I get to have snacks?! Yay~!"

Lotus smirked seeing his sudden change of expression as though feeling he had been feigning gult and disappointment the whole time.

Ace and Deuce both sighed and shook their head in exasperation really wanting to wish they could pretend they didn't know him at all, but also unwilling to do so.

"Peony."

Bluntly, Lotus responded telepathically, "Yes?"

"How rare are Array Masters?"

"Array Masters?" Lotus feigned a question, "Who told you about that?"

There was a moment of silence before she heard, "Um... I..."

Lotus let out a telepathic sigh and responded, "Forget it. Array Masters are hard to come by. Even wanting to become on isn't easy to achieve just because you decided to be one and take on the studies. Thus, coming across one is difficult unless..."

Lotus thought for a bit as she watched Ace argue with Grim while Deuce shook his head in dismay, "Unless you hired one from a prominent source."

"What do you mean by Prominent source?"

"Family." Lotus responded, "Blood lineage is one of the factors to giving a cultivator the ability to start studying arrays. It's not often for there to be a family of array masters. The stronger the ancestors were the more likely it is for them to have stronger descendants."

"Really..." Riddle responded, "Ah! Dang it!"

Lotus smirked, "You sound like you're busy with something?"

Riddle grumbled, "It's just a game..."

Lotus laughed, 'Haha! Focus on your game. We'll talk another time. It does sound like you're having fun with the game. I'll watch from a distance..."

"Peony?"

Lotus ignored Riddle's words and turned to Grim as she said aloud, "Grim, you ready to go? We'll grab some food for the prefect too."

"Do you even have to ask?!" Grim called out impatiently, "Let's go and get a lot of stuff for Yuu!"

Lotus sighed and shook her head in dismay before asking Ace and Deuce if they wanted anything?

Ace grumbled, "We're not kids, you know..."

Deuce laughed, "We're fine. Just leave the prefect to us."

"All right." Lotus nodded and hurried after Grim, "Hey! Slow down!"

The two were surprised when they saw her rush after Grim.

"Maybe it was better than the prefect was with them, after all?" Ace questioned in confusion.

"I don't know..." Deuce wandered curiously, "I think he'll get a hold of him soon."

.....

The place was full of stalls and students that run it. Despite the incident from before, the students managed to regather their resources and start business once again. Grim was jumping from place to place despite Lotus reminding him of the limit of food he can get. Of course, the first thing he got was the chicken he was talking about. Lotus went about purchasing a few food and watching Grim have them on his own.

Of course, the line ended up going down after the games began. Lotus and Grim were lining up for the grilled squid when she noticed that the child before them hardly had much life force in him. She raised a brow when she had seen his strange blue flame-like hair. He was a little shorter than her and his body doesn't seem to be human. She raised a brow as she noticed the glowing yellow eyes under the light as the child ordered for a grilled squid. He then left shortly after.

When she turned to Grim, she found that he was already mesmerized by another stall. She shook her head with a sigh before getting ready to order the squid.

"Two squids!" Grim called out before she could respond.

Lotus raised a brow in surprise when she heard this, but Grim had already taken the squid. She sighed and paid the student working over the counter. As they left, Grim suddenly stuck one of the squid before her. She raised a brow and watched Grim as he said, "You have to try one too! Take it as payment for helping us play in the tournament! It's really good, you know?"

Lotus stared at it curiously before she wore a wry smile and took it, "Well... Alright?"

It was technically bought from her money. The grilled squid wasn't very bad and she's rarely eaten seafood before. She had fish before but that was it. The grilled squid was rather good and chewy. She was a little surprised to be honest. It reminded her of the snow skin mooncakes she struggled to create a couple years ago. However, this was warm and grilled with a light sauce. It was really interesting.

After buying a few things for the prefect, Lotus was about to leave with Grim when there was a commotion.

"Do you understand what I'm saying?!"

"What's going on?" Grim called out in confusion and turned his head.

Lotus raised a brow and called out to Crystal.

"It's the two people again. They're trying to purchase a succulent, but they're using the wrong currency."

Lotus frowned. She hesitated before picking up Grim.

"Hey!" Grim cried out in irritation, "I'm not a kid!"

"Not right now." Lotus responded firmly.

Grim shuddered in surprise before seeing the rare look of seriousness on her face, "W-What's going on?!"

When Lotus got there, she found that the situation had yet to escalate further as she stepped into the group and placed Grim behind her leg.

"Let me handle this." She said to the woman with black hair and blue robe with a short skirt.

They looked to her in surprise when she spoke with them in their tongue.

Lotus had little time to explain as she turned to the student, "They were trying to purchase something?"

The student was surprised to see her and was already irritated so he had little patience with others interfering, "What's it got to do with you?!"

"Why you little..." Grim growled, "And, here we are trying to help!"

"Grim..." Lotus warned and tapped the cat on the head a couple of times.

Another student with the octavinelle ribbon walked out with a slightly flustered look on his face to which Lotus turned to, "I guess he's had a hard time with the customers today. It must be because your plants have attracted a lot of customers today."

"Y-yes." The octivinelle student responded with a warning glance on the Scarabia student, "We deeply apologize for the trouble."

Lotus shook her head, "It's alright. These customers are acquaintances of mine. I was surprised to find them here just now. It seems that they want to purchase the succulent from your store?"

The guy with the athlete uniform nodded as he quickly gathered himself with a deep breath, "Th-That's right. Th-the lady was trying to push some strange things into my hand and walk away with it, but we need actual madols. Not items."

"May I take a look at the item?" Lotus questioned him.

"It's this." The student held out the silver sycee.

"What is that?"

"Is it pure silver?"

"No way..."

The woman behind them looked around in confusion nervously. All she wanted was to purchase this aloe. If she had known it would cause such a big commotion, she wouldn't have acted on impulse!

"I see..." Lotus nodded, "The aloe is about 50 madols if I remember correctly."

"H-How-?"

The Octavinelle student looked up in surprise when the other pointed to her upon realization, "Aren't you Lotus?"

"It seems you remembered." Lotus smiled and gave them a two hundred madols as she took the scyee, "They've used the wrong currency. Please forgive them. This is the first time they've traveled away from their town, so they aren't familiar with other currencies. Here's the fifty madols. I'll pay for them."

She then whispered to the two, "I've paid a little more since it seems there might be some trouble with business later."

Though the Scarabia student was surprised, the Octavinelle student nodded his head with a wide smile, "Thank you for helping us settle the matter. Have a great day!"

Lotus smiled with a small nod, "You too!"

She grabbed the woman and man by the hand and dragged them away from the scene. Once they made it to cafeteria, Lotus gave some madols to Grim and responded, "I saw some yakisoba on sell earlier. You remember the place, right?"

"Mn." Grim nodded his head obediently like a child, "What about it?"

"Go and purchase four of them and come back." Lotus responded, "Do not let anyone stop you or talk to people you don't know. No side trips, got it. This is very important."

"Yes, sir!" Grim nodded with a wide smirk, "Ha! I'd like to see who can stop me from getting my meal today!"

He took the money and made a mad dash towards the stalls on his little two hind legs. Seeing that he was gone, Lotus breathed a small sigh of relief and returned to the cafeteria empty of people. Lotus brought them to an empty table and seated them with a small sigh of relief, "Did you really think that currency would be the same once you crossed worlds?"

"Who are you?" The woman spoke with a frown before recalling the previous situation and apologized, "I-I mean... Thank you for helping me earlier. I..."

She grumbled, "Really was naive earlier."

The man sighed with a nod, "We apologize for making such a huge scene just then. Thank you for helping my little sister."

Lotus shook her head with a smile, "It's fine. It's been a while since I last saw decent cultivators in this world."

"There are others?" The man looked to her with eager wide eyes.

Lotus shook her head, "Like you, they traveled through the array to get here. However, they aren't really good people."

"I see..." The man grumbled before he said, "I am Zhang Yong. This is my little sister."

"I am called Zhang Li." The woman in blue responded respectfully.