Chapter 9: Vanquishing Demons For The Little Darling.

Chapter 9: Vanquishing Demons For The Little Darling.A skinny youth held hands of a toddler doll as they walked down the sidewalk heading to the gates of the community, from where they hailed a cab and headed to Lily's school.

The young man looked at Lily and found that she did not seem to be her usual cheery self. Leo held her small hand and said, "Baby, I told you that day that you should not be overly sensible, Baba is here to take care of everything now."

Lily raised her head to look at him and nodded but she did not say much. She was just three years old, but she had developed maturity beyond her age. It was true that tragedy made people grow up quickly.

'Ping: Host please dispel the concerns in the mind of your daughter.'

Leo did not know what the reward would be but since he figured out the way the system worked, he realized that it would be something related to schooling only. He nodded as he patted the little jade hand on his thigh.

After twenty minutes, the two stood in front of the school building. There were many parents who were dropping off their children. Leo held Lily's hand and was about to go inside the school premise when a middle-aged woman walked over and said, "Lily, you are late again."

Leo frowned, he checked his watch and said, "Excuse me, who are you? How can you say that we are late when we are clearly ten minutes earlier before the class should start?"

He did not lower his voice, and many parents looked over to them. The middle-aged woman raised her gaze and asked curtly, "Who are you?"

Leo's gaze turned cold, how could he not see the rude behavior of this lady? He said calmly and indifferently, "Leo Cardinal, father of Lily Cardinal. Now, who might you be?"

The lady replied, "I am Bartha Scholes, Lily is in my class."

Leo did not bother and asked, "Why did you say that we are late?"

Bartha Scholes replied, "It is Lily's duty to clean the class today."

Leo narrowed his gaze and asked, "Since when did pre-kindergarten students need to clean the classes?"

Many parents looked over, and one of them said, "This brother, you seem to be new, this school has a practice where they teach the students to be responsible and cleaning duty is assigned to groups every week."

Leo nodded and asked Lily, "Baby, who else is in your group?"

Lily hesitated and wanted to say something when Bartha interrupted, "Sir, you are delaying everyone. Can you please ask her this later?"

Leo raised his head and cast a cold gaze over at her, which shocked Bartha. He said, "I am not stopping anyone, they are free to go inside and attend the class, also, this is pre-kindergarten. Is it necessary to impose such strong and harsh parameters to discipline children? Are you running a military organization?"

Bartha did not know how to talk to this unreasonable person. She wanted to say something when Leo asked her, "As the class teacher, are you aware that your students have been teasing my daughter, repeatedly calling her fat, and telling her that she doesn't have a father?"

Bartha's face changed and so did the other parents who were present at the place. She impatiently said, "Don't make trouble here, none of the children in my class act wild like this. It is your daughter who is lying for your attention."

Lily tightened her grip on her father's palm tightly and her tears fell down. Leo sensed this, and crouched down. He could sense that other parents had begun whispering to each other while looking at them. He wiped the tears off her cheeks and said, "Lily, we did not give up when Baba was sick, right? Then why are you crying when you did not do anything wrong? I trust that you would never lie to Baba about anything, tell me, did you tell your teacher about the teasing?"

Lily raised her head, and she found Leo looking at her with a smile, and she nodded before she started bawling and said, "She put me in a group with Wayne and Darlon, they both bully me, they also broke the chariot that you made for me. They do not help me in cleaning at all. I told her but she told me to go away. She said that they were not lying and I was abandoned by my father."

Bartha's face changed and when the parents saw Lily crying they were confused. Bartha yelled, "Little bitch, how dare you lie?"

Leo stood up from the ground and asked coldly, "What did you just call my child?"

Bartha froze, when a tiny voice sounded, "Uncle, Lily is not lying."

A young boy spoke, and beside him stood a strong man in his early thirties. He was surprised and asked, "Theo, what are you talking about?"

Theo said, "Dad, Miss Bartha favors Wayne, and does not punish him when he bullies others. He also snatched my pencils the other day but Miss Bartha did not say anything. She said it is just a pencil and I should not mind such things."

Probably infected by Theo's courage, another little girl stepped up and said, "Uncle, yesterday Lily showed us the chariot you made for her, and Wayne asked her to give it to him. Lily said that she will not give because Wayne is not her friend.

Wayne said if she gives it to him, he will be her friend. Lily then gave him the chariot and Wayne threw it on the ground. Lily complained but Miss Bartha said that it was her fault to bring such a delicate thing to school."

Leo turned to look at the teacher, and then he asked, "Where is the principal's office?"

Bartha did not have any slightest hesitation on her face, and said, "There." as she pointed at a room on the side.

Leo held Lily's hand and walked over to the Principal's office with other people in queue. They all wanted to create a drama but Leo was so calm that it shocked them. When they reached the principal's office a mature old man was sitting behind a table, Leo nodded to him and said, "I am Lily's father, I would like to withdraw her name from your school."

The principal was surprised and asked, "What is the matter?"

Leo replied calmly, "We have moved away from the area, and the commute takes a long time. I hope you can complete the process quickly."

The principal frowned and said, "Well, since it is a withdrawal from your side, the school is not bound to refund the advance and the balance amount. Is that okay?"

Leo nodded, and the old man took out a withdrawal application template and handed it to Leo. The young man filled the details in the form, and Lily was watching everything from the side. She was speechless, and after ten minutes they walked out of the room with a receipt.

Theo's father wanted to ask Leo something, when Leo took out his phone and dialed the emergency number. The call was connected quickly and the person asked, "Hello 121 what is your emergency?"

Leo spoke calmly while looking at Bartha, "My daughter has been subjected to harassment by her class teacher. The effect is so much that my daughter refuses to go to school. Several other children are subjected to the same treatment. I suspect that the school is involved in some shady business. For safety reasons I have withdrawn my child from the school. Can you tell me what I should do now?"

The surrounding people fell silent and they opened their eyes wide, they did not expect Leo to be so ruthless. In their nation, the laws for child welfare were so strict that if this school was found guilty, all the teachers and faculty members would end up in prison and their license would be revoked.

Bartha was stunned. On the other hand, the operator asked Leo about the address, and he cooperated smoothly. The operator dispatched a patrol team to come over and check the situation. The other parents also had some concerns and following Leo's example, they also withdrew the names of their children quickly.

The principal was surprised, and when he came out of his office to check what was going on, he found a police car parked at the gates. He froze in his spot. The investigation was quick and efficient. They asked Leo a few questions and the children came forward to testify as well.

Theo's father turned out to be a cop as well, so he asked that the children are not traumatized by repetitive questioning. Bartha was questioned and asked to report her teacher's license number.

The lady could not answer, and when she was forced, it was discovered that she was not registered as a teacher at all. The school was doomed and for the final nail in the coffin, Wayne and his mother came late to school, and when they were questioned, Wayne's mother accepted giving gifts to Bartha as a token of gratitude, and she was shocked to find that her son was a bully.

It turned out that Bartha had created a false image of Wayne before his mother, making him seem like a good boy. The facade fell apart and Bartha was put under arrest on the spot along with the principal.

Although it all sounded quick, the process consumed the entire morning. Lily looked at the cops taking away Bartha and the Principal, before she asked, "Baba, what would Lily do now?"

Leo smiled and with some effort he picked her up in his arms and said, "Little darling, you don't have to worry. Baba will find you a better school and you will go there. No one will bully you ever again."

That said, he pecked her cheek and Lily buried her head in his shoulder. She said, "I love you, Baba."

Leo smiled and patted her back as he replied, "I love you more, baby."

'Ping: Host, congratulations on vanquishing the demons your daughter faced. You are rewarded a trustee position in the Primus Trust, they are responsible for seventy two schools all over the country, and the students can study from pre-kindergarten to high school level in the same institute. They are one of the best institutes in the nation.'

Leo was surprised, but he asked, 'System, how did I vanquish the demons Lily was facing? I only acted out of anger.'

'Ping: Host, children are very perceptive. They are often told to behave well or they will be put in prison. Although your daughter suffered at the hands of the teacher, when she witnessed the lady being taken into custody, her belief that bad people are always punished became stronger. This is why her demons have been vanquished.'

Leo nodded and then he said, "Baby, can I put you down, Baba is not yet at the peak of his health."

Lily nodded, and when Leo put her down she wiped the sweat on his forehead with her handkerchief, and then pecked his cheek. They said goodbye to the rest of the people, took a cab and headed to the cemetery where Leo's parents were buried.


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