Days as a Spiritual Mentor in American Comics

After sending off those two troublemakers, Shiller breathed a sigh of relief. Thinking that Batman might go looking for trouble with Strange, he not only felt relieved but even laughed out loud.

It turns out choosing to be a school doctor was the right decision. Normally, you can't enter the school clinic without an injury, but Strange insisted on being the principal. Everything that happens in the school is related to the principal, so it's way too easy for Batman to find him.

Unexpectedly, he hadn't even enjoyed ten minutes of peace when the Primary Universe Batman and Arkham Batman were brought back to the school clinic exactly as they were, along with Night Owl, who had a bruised nose and swollen face, and a dejected Bruce.

The last to come in was Strange, whose face was like ice.

Shiller quickly went to check on the Primary Universe Batman and found nothing unusual about his expression, which relieved him further. Batman shouldn't sell him out, after all, they are somewhat acquaintances, and he should still be counting on getting more information about Strange from him.

"Absurd!" Strange said, standing in front of the four hospital beds they lay on. "The first night of school, you go night roaming, and on your first night out, you decide to scour the banned book section of the library; then you get into a fight there for the first time and damage two rows of shelves in the process. You're utterly absurd!"

Shiller widened his eyes slightly. The commotion caused by these four Bats was not small at all—they even fought in the library, no wonder Strange is so angry. That library isn't just for show; it truly holds the mysterious tomes accumulated by Karmatiji over the years, with the books in the banned section being all the more important.

Even though the magic realm is not lacking in money these days, they value heritage even more because of it. Those books are a precious history of the magic realm and are cherished by Strange and the Grand Mages. That these Batmen caused trouble there on just their first day, it's no wonder Strange is angry.

But what puzzled Shiller a bit was that it seemed only Night Owl was injured among the four of them, so why did Strange bring everyone to the school clinic?

"Shiller! Look at the mess you've made!" Strange turned his head and yelled at him, "Did you bring all these Batmen here just to rebel against your mentors and burn books?"

Now Shiller understood; Strange brought the Batmen over just so he could chew him out.

But Shiller didn't want to argue with someone who would soon be bombarded with Batmen troubles. He sighed and said, "By the sounds of it, there wasn't any actual loss. In that case, let them go back to rest."

Strange stood with his hands on his hips, clearly irritated. But he also knew he couldn't do anything to Batman. He's the principal now, and they are students; he can't just beat them up, can he? If the principal beats up students personally, what would happen to the magic academy's reputation?

But letting them off the hook just like that also left him frustrated. If everyone acted like them, would there even be a need for this magic academy?

So he pointed at Night Owl and said, "Except for him, the rest of you come with me to the principal's office!"

Night Owl remained on the hospital bed while the other three uninjured ones followed Strange to the principal's office.

Shiller hooked Night Owl up to an IV drip, actually just glucose. He had only a few bruises on his face, nothing serious, and didn't need treatment; stabilizing his blood sugar level was more important. Otherwise, if he fainted in class tomorrow, it wouldn't reflect well on him as the school doctor.

But he was genuinely curious about how Night Owl got beaten like this. It wasn't that his injuries were too severe, rather they were too light. Whether it's the Primary Universe Batman or Arkham Batman, if they strike, the lightest consequence should be a few broken ribs. Shiller had already prepared magic to knit bones, yet Night Owl had only some external injuries—this escaping skill of his is pretty impressive.

Night Owl seemed to read Shiller's curious gaze and understood what he was thinking. He pressed his lips together and said, "It was Bruce who hit me."

Shiller couldn't hold back a laugh, but then cleared his throat and asked, "Why did Bruce hit you?"

"He read a magic book and insisted he was controlled by black magic, then tackled me to the ground and gave me two punches on the face."

"What about the other two...?"

"As soon as they came, Bruce snapped out of it. Bruce explained it as their souls having an exorcising effect, but I'm more inclined to believe it was their fists that drove away the black magic."

Shiller tried hard to hold back his laughter, nodded, and said, "Yes, those two certainly don't seem afraid of black magic."

Night Owl snorted coldly and didn't speak further.

How could he not know that Bruce is most afraid of Arkham Batman? In front of Arkham Batman, he behaves like a shy bat egg; isn't it because as soon as Arkham Batman shows up, all his ailments vanish?

However, Night Owl was also puzzled: why is it that among all these Batmen, only Arkham Batman can handle Bruce? What's his secret?

"Are you an acquaintance of his?" Night Owl looked at Shiller and asked.

"Sort of, but there's no way I can help you leave the school. Otherwise, the principal and professors will get on my case, and the director of S.H.I.E.L.D. wouldn't let me off either."

"Alright. I heard you were his teacher."

"Oh, that's not me—maybe my counterpart from another universe. We've only had a couple of encounters at most, hardly even acquaintances."

Night Owl nodded. He too felt it likely was the case, so he said, "What do you think his relationship is like with the other Batmen?"

"Not great," Shiller replied, "He doesn't really like Batman because when he sees them all cool and collected, it reminds him of his own embarrassing, edgy phase, one he's not too fond of revisiting."

Night Owl was momentarily blocked by his words, but he soon grasped a loophole and said, "Then how does he get along with that very cold guy?"

Shiller thought for a moment. The "cold-hearted guy" Night Owl mentioned should refer to Arkham Batman. He contemplated and said, "Are you sure those two get along well? Bruce acts like a mouse seeing a cat when he sees him..."

"Ahem, I was just trying to be polite," Night Owl continued, "So why is he afraid of him?"

"Because he's scary." Shiller looked at Night Owl and said, "Don't you find him scary?"

"It's not that exaggerated, is it?"

"Then why do you avoid him?"

Night Owl was again left speechless. Lying in the hospital bed, watching Shiller adjust the drip, he suddenly understood why Bruce's words could be so harsh.

"He's indeed formidable and imposing, but I feel that's not the reason Bruce is afraid of him."

"Do you think Bruce is a strong person?"

"Why ask that?" Night Owl's first reaction was to question back, but he quickly said, "He's not. To be accurate, he deliberately makes himself very vulnerable, gets a little wronged, and wants to protest throughout the Multiverse, able to go back and complain to his parents for half a day."

"Since he stopped being Batman, he no longer has the obligation to remain strong." Shiller said, "Ordinary people are inherently fragile, fearing this and that every day, feeling like the sky is falling from a bit of harm, grumbling miserably over some hardship. So isn't it normal for him to be afraid of other Batmans?"

"Then why..."

"Why isn't he afraid of you?"

Night Owl didn't say a word, as if he tacitly agreed. Shiller looked at him with a "you don't seem too smart" expression and then said, "Of course, because you haven't given him a thrashing. He thinks you're easy to bully, why would he be afraid of you?"

"You're saying that Batman has dealt with him?" Night Owl couldn't help but widen his eyes and say, "How did he do it? Can he beat Bruce?"

"It's hard to say, they've never compared, but winning against Bruce doesn't require just physical strength."

"How did he do it?"

"When Bruce opened his mouth to taunt him for the first time, he was hit and flown 13 meters away by the Batmobile, the acceleration was too fast for even Superman to stop, and the Divine Power Chain of Wonder Woman couldn't hold the rushing Batmobile."

Night Owl's mouth opened, then closed, and then opened again: "Isn't this a bit too..."

"Too violent? This is just the beginning. As soon as Bruce hit the ground, he opened the car door, dragged him off the ground, and invited him to a two-person racing competition."

"A racing competition?"

"Yes, using the same car to run the same track, whoever reaches the finish line first wins. Since he proposed this competition, Bruce could choose the venue. They chose Bruce's Gotham."

"Being on home turf should have a major advantage, right?"

"Yes, it's just that 30 seconds out of the gate, Bruce's car got hit and flipped three times, and after flipping, it got rammed against the wall, both cars went up in flames. In the end, Superman saved both of them."

Night Owl pursed his lips tightly: "What a madman."

"You're right, and that's not all. Just because Bruce taunted him once, when Bruce was setting up the instance raid, he interfered with him six times in a row, just to ruin his tasks and make Bruce waste a night. He even threw his universe's Riddler into Bruce's Gotham, making him hide over 1600 trophies, which Bruce hasn't found all yet."

"Why does he want to find them?" Night Owl asked in incomprehension, "Those trophies aren't bombs; not finding them wouldn't be harmful, would it?"

"But wouldn't that be equivalent to admitting defeat?" Shiller spread his hands and said, "The key is, the Riddler's trophies are pure gold. Gold is always valuable; he told Bruce's universe's Joker that, and that Joker is quite short on cash. Why would anyone leave gold untouched? Bruce could choose not to find them, but if Joker found them all, where would Bruce's pride go? Even Joker finding more than him wouldn't work; he too is short on money."

"Malicious," Night Owl commented. "But looking at the current situation, isn't Bruce ultimately admitting defeat?"

"That's because he hid over 100 of those trophies in Bruce's teacher's house, causing Bruce to get scolded badly, and he could only negotiate for a temporary truce."

"Doesn't his teacher want those pure gold trophies?"

"He doesn't really want them, but Bruce and I do want them. He's almost driven crazy by us two, and we both ended up getting scolded."

Night Owl's mouth twitched a little; he couldn't help but say, "These tactics are simply too despicable."

"That's why they say you can't be too upright as a person." Shiller shook his head and sighed.

Night Owl couldn't help but cover his eyes with his hand. Having lived for so many years, combining people from this universe with others, it was the first time someone commented about him being upright. But thinking about the things Arkham Batman did, he couldn't refute it.