Picked up by the Protagonist of a Tormented! MC Novel-Volume 4 Chapter 2

Translator: Piper Panda

Editor: Kleep

TLC: Sen

The plot no longer followed the book. With a headache Zeno thought, Xiao Wu had clearly been an aspiring warrior wholeheartedly walking the same path as Xia Zuo. This not only changed into studying magic, but she also ended up replacing Belle. It was like she was drunk.

“If I want to kill, I'll do it. I don't care if I have to use a blade or poison¹."

This was what Xi Wei said to her when she left Ye Sa City. He did not expect that Xiao Wu would actually listen to him and instead of learning martial arts, switch to learning magic.

Everyone knew that Xiao Wu had magical talent, but Zeno did not expect it to be such an amazing talent. The pure light physique was a once in a century genius, and could even be chosen as the Light Saint of the Holy Temple without going through the masses first.

Internally, Zeno was ecstatic. That change meant the position of Light Saint was now filled by the simple Xiao Wu instead of that femme fatale. The power of the temple would never stand on the opposite side of the protagonist. There was no better news than this.

So, when he applauded, he was extraordinarily sincere and enthusiastic.

His hands turned red but he was completely unaware.

On the way back, he was also very excited and could not stop talking. It was difficult for a quiet person like Xi Wei to resist the urge to glue Zeno's mouth shut.

When they returned to the rented house, the earnest maid had finished making breakfast. Zeno happily grabbed the bowl and took a sip, then with a 'pff' he spit it all out.

This was the first time he had eaten Suji's cooking. Due to his habit of not wasting food that he had developed from an early age, he used to eat the dry rations that they had before so that they would not go bad. So, the only thing they ate before were the dry rations.

For that reason, this was the first time he had ever spit out food. He did not expect it to be so 'impressive'.

Zeno coughed for a long time, he really should not have expected someone who had not cooked for thousands of years to make anything delicious. In fact, it already was no easy feat for Suji to make something that resembled food in appearance.

Unfortunately, the taste was really not suitable for feeding humans.

In addition, it was not suitable for Demons either.

Looking up at Xi Wei again, although he did not spit it out, blue veins had faintly emerged on his forehead and his face was green. If even Xi Wei with his facial paralysis looked like that, the food was obviously inedible.

Suji could become the host of a bad cooking show.

The maid's face was red. It was obvious she realized that the two masters were only like this because her cooking had been so terrible, so she slowly said, "The master of the restaurant guaranteed this to be delicious if made according to his recipe, though."

It seemed that talent was not only important when practicing martial arts and magic, but also important for cooking.

Zeno wiped his mouth and turned in to the kitchen.

Zeno had grown up as an otaku and an orphan. Although he was not a cooking genius, it was not difficult for him to make a few ordinary home-cooked meals.

There was only some rice in the kitchen, nothing else. After thinking about it, Zeno decided to cook some porridge. As the pot gurgled, the light smell of rice porridge slowly overflowed and filled the kitchen.

Suji's face was full of worship. The little master was really amazing, even knowing how to do something as difficult as cooking!

Xi Wei leaned against the kitchen door and watched as Zeno earnestly bustled about. His eyes were deep and no one knew what he was thinking.

No one had ever cooked for him so seriously before. It felt pretty good.

The rice porridge was cooked very quickly. Xi Wei took one sip from the bowl and found that it was unexpectedly delicious. That kind of homely taste was something he had never experienced before.

It was so delicious that he could not help but want to stay there, want to…monopolize.

After breakfast, Xi Wei had to continue to work. During the summer vacation he could neither get free meals nor do the work-study program that allowed Xi Wei to earn living expenses, so he had to find another way.

Suji was making alchemic medications at home every day, and sometimes she would purposefully make some defective products to sell. Also, because she had amazing beauty, the store owners would always pay her a little bit more money.

Their lives were still moving forward.

The magical prospects of the current era were highly developed, while the alchemical prospects had declined. Only some scattered and basic knowledge was left. Alchemy would normally only be learned by ordinary people without magical or martial arts talent.

Providence College also had an alchemy department. Since it was the highest institution on the entire continent, their program was nothing mediocre and could even be said to have some fame.

When school started, Suji's mood was somewhat low. The master had to go to school, and the little master had to go take the entrance test. Only she was left alone at home.

On the day of the entrance test, Suji insisted on going with him. Therefore, under the identity of Zeno’s sister, she was allowed to send him to the test site.

The maid had never asked for anything so persistently before, so Zeno had finally let her follow him.

Xi Wei went to sign up. Meanwhile, Suji and Zeno went to the place where the test was being administered.

The general manager in charge of the entrance test was still Master Clark, but this time they came early and Clark was busy, so he did not have time to personally test Zeno .

For that reason, he got an ordinary teacher. After a series of tests, Zeno successfully obtained the qualification for admission as a small genius.

As for the expensive tuition, Suji sold a bottle of fine medicine two days ago, so there was no problem at all.

High level alchemical medicines were very precious because of the decline of alchemical knowledge, and senior alchemists were becoming even more difficult to find. It was not because alchemy was not practiced by people, but ordinary alchemy was simply not of much use.

After completing the most important thing, Zeno had some free time to stroll around. Suji closely followed behind but could not help asking, “Can the college really not let me follow you inside?”

Zeno was also quite helpless in that matter. Although he still held a grudge against Suji for choosing to betray Xi Wei for the sake of her original master, he also believed that the plot could be changed. There were so many people who betrayed Xi Wei, Suji could be considered one of the simplest of them to change.

He just had to get her to understand that, even if it was a stone that could change fate, it was impossible to resurrect that demon—her previous master. She was just being fooled by Belle from start to finish.

As long as she understood this, Suji would always be the most sincere maid, so Zeno did not reject her.

However, the rules of the college were ironclad. Whoever heard of coming to school with a maid. What kind of person would do that!

Unknowingly, they had walked to a deserted section of the admissions office. Compared to the bustling areas of the magic, martial arts, and the children’s school area, with people shoulder to shoulder, this area could be described as deserted.

Only two or three kittens were squatted behind the table taking a nap, while an occasional passersby would stop by to ask a question, then walk away quickly.

Zeno looked at the banner hanging over his head that read “Providence College is Recruiting Alchemy Students.”

No wonder it was so deserted.

When Suji looked at it, her eyes lit up. She only saw the three words 'recruiting alchemy students'. She had hope that she could now officially be able to enter the college, so she lifted her skirt and ran over to wake up the student in charge.

The student did not even lift his head. His head was buried in his arms, and with his free hand he handed a piece of paper to Suji.

Suji rushed over, only taking a look before her shoulders fell down.

Zeno went over and looked at what it said on the piece of paper that served as the alchemy program’s enrollment brochure.

The first qualification requirement was that the age had to be less than 20 years old. Let alone 20, Suji's age was well over 2000 years old.

There was no point even looking at the rest of the requirements, like having a passion for alchemy, or having a healthy imagination, etc. Zeno patted Suji's shoulder sympathetically, indicating that he could not help.

The maid looked like as if she was about to cry, and she pushed awake the head student in the admissions department once again with dissatisfaction.

The student looked up impatiently and was just about to start yelling when he saw an incredibly beautiful woman with a face that was like raindrops on a pear blossom² looking at him pitifully, and suddenly all the swear words he was going to say got stuck in his throat.

Faster than flipping a page of a book, he changed his face to reveal a gentleman’s smile, “What does this lady need help with?”

Suji asked, “Do you really not accept students over 20 years old?”

The student was a bit embarrassed, Suji looked older than him. She was a mature beauty. Although he wanted such a beautiful woman to enter the alchemy department, the rules of the college could not be broken, so with immense difficulty he had to shake his head at Suji's question.

Suji still did not give up, “You can't accept me as a student, but is it possible to be accepted as a teacher?”

The eyes of the student in charge of the registration suddenly turned bright. Of course, they were not only looking for students. They wanted new teachers as well as students, so he quickly replied, “Wait for me, I will go ask the tutor.”

The guy who was overwhelmed by the beauty of Suji ran away without even asking for any of her information.

Zeno sighed, sure enough, beauty blinds people.

It did not take long for the student to come back with a white-haired old man in tow.

The old man limped, but his eyes were shining. He went to the front and asked, “Who's the one that wants to apply for the teaching position in our alchemy department?”

Suji answered, “It's me, I want to apply.”

The old man was full of doubts. What should he think about a 20-year-old little girl, did she even know what alchemy was?

So, he held his fist to his mouth and coughed, “This little girl, if you can answer my questions about alchemy, and answer them correctly, I will hire you as a teacher.”

This was a piece of cake, so Suji nodded.

"When Phoenix Feather Grass is heated up, what will different degrees of flame result in?"

“Primary flame for refining, intermediate flame for purification, and high-grade flame will degenerate Phoenix Feather Grass, becoming a poison called Phoenix Feather Poison.”

The old man looked at Suji in amazement. Phoenix Feather Grass was a very rare alchemic material. The average alchemist basically would not have even heard of it, let alone know its heating classification.

Then, the old man asked a few more questions, and Suji correctly answered all of them.

The old man who had scorned her at the beginning was extremely impressed. If Suji now said she didn't want to be a teacher, there was no way he would be willing to agree to let her go. So, once Xi Wei was finished, he was met with the excited Suji and the helpless Zeno.

Piper: Merry Christmas Everyone! Hope you all have a great holiday! Here is a bonus chapter, I am currently stocking up on chapters right now to be released in the near future, too bad I couldn't get them out for Christmas though… Look forward to them! =D

Kleep: One of my great readers, White Head Ice Prince, was kind enough to share their sketches made after reading PUP. If you happen be interested, please feel free to draw and share fan art for this novel. I love seeing it. From the TOC you can access previous submissions as well. Merry Christmas. Again. You’re all great.

1. In case you are wondering, yes I did go find this line from volume 1 just so I could use it word for word. It is in volume 1 chapter 20. PS that chapter has a really cute drawing of child Xi Wei and baby Zeno. ↩
2. Means the tear stained face of a beauty ↩