42 The Hero of the Whole City

In the Central Square, on the stage,

the City Lord, Yan Hong was personally giving an eulogy of Lu Yu’s battle achievements.

“Mr. Lu Yu made a tremendous contribution this time during the battle to defend the city.”

“Firstly, he stationed himself near the walls of the inner city and slew countless B-class Fearsome Beast, the Crimson Haired Warthogs. He single-handedly turned a battle of defense into a battle of offense, all by himself!”

“After that, Lu Yu then dashed out all alone to the walls of the outer city. Over there, he not only continued to slay numerous C-class Fearsome Beast, the Crimson Haired Warthogs, he also slaughtered the B-class elite Crimson Haired Warthogs. In fact, he even took down an A-class Fearsome Beast, the Scarlet Shaggy Mammoth!”

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“In this battle, Lu Yu’s contribution was the key in turning the situation in our favor. Without Lu Yu, our city’s outer regions would have been lost!”

“Due to the monumental contribution that Lu Yu has given as well as his massive strength, we have decided to appoint him to be the new Dojo Master. When the time comes for the dojo’s recruitment, we welcome all mighty warriors to step forward and enroll in this dojo.”

“Next, we will commence the award presentation. Please step forward to receive your award.”

Following this, the City Lord, the City Lord’s Advisor and the Dojo Masters of the 4 great dojos all stepped up to hand out the award collectively to Lu Yu.

In a nutshell, it was all just for show. Lu Yu himself wasn’t too interested in such matters concerning fame and glory.

After the award presentation ended, the whole ceremony had officially come to an end. The crowds began to disperse.

However, quite a few spectators were full of curiosity. Some even shouted out to ask him,

“Mr. Lu! When is your dojo going to start recruiting members?”

“Mr. Lu! I wish to join your dojo! What are the terms and conditions?”

“Mr. Lu! I heard you are also the captain of the 4th squadron. Are you recruiting for the 4th squadron as well?”

“I want to join the 4th squadron too!”

“…”

As the wave of raucous queries reached his ears, Lu Yu, who was on his way out, turned back with a smile and said,

“Ladies and gentlemen, the renovation of the dojo has been completed. We will start enrolling members from this afternoon onwards. For the details, everyone is welcome to come to the Central Dojo to take a look. Meanwhile, I am indeed the new captain of the 4th squadron. I will conduct the recruitment exercise for the 4th squadron concurrently!”

After hearing Lu Yu’s reply, the people down stage became very excited and began clamoring to sign up.

However, when the City Lord, Yan Hong, who was standing by the side, saw what was happening, his face instantly clouded over and he swiftly left the scene.

His actions did not escape Lu Yu’s eyes. He was very puzzled and wondered whether he had done anything to offend the City Lord.

When the City Lord’s Advisor, Qin Cheng saw Lu Yu’s puzzled look, he come over and said in a low voice,

“Dojo Master Lu, if you recruit members for both the dojo and the 4th squadron concurrently, all the powerful ones will definitely want to join the 4th squadron. Then there will not be many members left for the dojo.”

When Lu Yu heard his explanation, he became even more puzzled and asked, “How is that so? What kind of influence can it possibly have?”

When Qin Cheng heard Lu Yu’s response coupled with that baffled look, he sighed wearily.

However, when he thought about it, he realized it was not surprising that Lu Yu didn’t understand. When Lu Yu first participated in the Holy War in the early days, the Federation had not implemented that current management system of having one civilian arm and one military arm, with the city and the military zone clearly segregated.

Furthermore, Lu Yu did not get promoted step by step to this position in the usual way. He was straightaway thrown into the role of the Central Dojo Master, so there were many things that he was still unaware of.

Qin Cheng began to explain in detail patiently.

“The primary duty of the warriors of this dojo is to stay in the dojo, stay in the Lunan City. That way, they can help to nurture more warriors for the city and to protect the city.”

“Naturally, as the Central Dojo grows stronger, our Lunan City will become stronger too.”

“However, the 4th squadron is an entirely different matter. They belong to the Gamma Military Zone, they do not belong to our city. In future, they will not only leave Lunan City to go into battle, they may even have to leave Gamma Military Zone totally.”

“Thus, people who join the 4th squadron get to leave Lunan City to embark on an adventure. On top of that, the 4th squadron gets far better benefits and perks than what the dojo can provide, so it will definitely be a more attractive option to people.”

“However, if that happens, it will be equivalent to giving away the best talents of Lunan City, thereby weakening our Lunan City’s strength.”

When Lu Yu heard his explanation, he began to understand the intricacies of the whole situation. He nodded slightly and replied, “I see.”

“So you should take special note. You must try to retain the powerful experts within the Central Dojo as far as possible. Let those with lesser abilities go to the 4th squadron, otherwise you may offend the City Lord.” Qin Cheng gave a final reminder before leaving.

As Lu Yu watched Qin Cheng’s departing silhouette, he shook his head lightly in resignation.

The 4th squadron belonged to the Gamma Military Zone, but it was also a part of the Federation.

And precisely because it belonged to the Military Zone, it would be in a better position to display its full battle prowess in practice.

Take for example when the Fearsome Beasts attacked the city. Every major dojo had plenty of powerful experts, but none were willing to step forward to help the city as they all wanted to conserve their strength.

At the end of the day, the City Lord, Yan Hong’s thinking simply reflected his own selfish interest in protecting his own city, and did not take in account the needs of the whole humankind and the Federation.

And anyway, if they were really keen to retain the powerful experts in the dojos, all they had to do was to offer more attractive terms to attract them and keep them there.

Lu Yu really did not understand their thinking, but he couldn’t be bothered with them either.

After all, both the 4th squadron and the Central Dojo were under his command. The applicants could choose to join either side, as far as he was concerned.

In particular, since the 4th squadron was totally wiped out, they were in desperate need of new recruits.

At this moment, how could they still think of snatching recruits away from the 4th squadron?

After the award ceremony officially ended, Lu Yu first went to look for his own family, namely his wife Giovanna, his son Lu Shan and his daughter Lu Shui.

When the three of them saw Lu Yu approaching, their faces were filled with joy and excitement.

“Dad! You are too awesome! You have reached the level of Great Martial Master! You have also become the new dojo master as well as the big hero of our Lunan City!” Lu Shan gushed with delight.

Standing by his side, Lu Shui was also very happy and said, “Dad, when we have awakened to become Martial Arts Warrior, in the event we can’t get into any martial arts university, we can go to your dojo!”

His wife Giovanna, however, simply walked up to Lu Yu and scrutinized him from head to toe. Then she chided him in a tone of irritation, “Why didn’t you tell me you were going into battle? How dangerous! You are not hurt, are you?”

“I’m fine. It was very safe, my abilities did not let me down.” Lu Yu grabbed Giovanna’s hands firmly and smiled reassuringly.

Vigorously nodding his head, Lu Shan also chipped in at this point, “That’s right! Dad’s so powerful now. What harm could possibly come to him? He could even slay an A-class Fearsome Beast!”

Lu Yu and his family chatted happily for a while, then he asked them to go back first as he still had many things to settle on his end.

After sending off his family, Lu Yu returned to the Central Dojo.

At this moment, the newly completed Central Dojo was swarming with people, all of whom had dashed here after learning about Lu Yu’s heroics.

When they saw Lu Yu approaching, the few staff at the Central Dojo came running to him.

“Dojo Master! All of them came because of your reputation! There are too many of them! Do we still proceed with the recruitment exercise?”

“That’s right. There are so many people, and there are many powerful experts among them too.”

“Our Central Dojo will be able to get many members in an instant!”

“But there are simply too many of them, Dojo Master!”

After listening to them, Lu Yu nodded slightly and replied, “Don’t worry. I’m here specifically to take care of this matter. Don’t panic.”

With that, Lu Yu walked to the front.

When the crowd saw Lu Yu appear before them, they became very agitated. Right now, Lu Yu’s stature in the whole Lunan City was extremely exalted. He had practically turned into an idol in every citizen’s mind and a hero in their hearts!

Giddy with hero-worshiping, they rushed forward in large numbers, all clamoring to join the Central Dojo and the 4th squadron.

At this point, Lu Yu simply smiled and stepped forward, proclaiming, “Please be patient. We will recruit members for each individual position separately. We will first hire a few chefs. Those who can cook please step forward now.”