Dora shook his head and turned his gaze to a living object hidden behind the tree.

"Well, it doesn't matter, I'm not here for this anyway."

"Oh really? Because I feel like you're going to backstab me after my fight with the prince."

Dora's eyes widened as he realized that he had put his feet in the eye of the storm.

"Prince? Who's the prince?! Don't tell me…"

He looked at the frail boy, devastated to see his toad hiding an ox, but this misunderstanding triggered Moonra, who stepped forward.

"Are you for real… You don't know your own prince? Are you living under a rock?!"

"To be honest, I spent most of my life in the countryside… My apologies, my glorious prince, God bless you."

He curtsied to the little boy, who flinched in response while Moonra burned with rage. For the first time, Freya showed a different expression and stifled a slight laugh while coughing.

"Okay, change of rules, I'll take you first, and then I'll take care of the other idiot!"

"Why are you angry, man? Don't act like a donkey in front of Prince."

"I'M FUCKING PRINCE!!!"

Dora looked at him intrigued.

"... You are fucking prince?"

"Ye… No… W-What the…? You know what? Listen, I'm PRINCE Moonra, your future ruler, this guy is my friend, Gersey, and he's the son of the Duke of Midas, and I won't allow you near him."

"Jersey?"

Moonra struck him with his sword, Dora was standing right next to him, but the sword was only passing through the air, the next moment, he was next to Gersey and watching him attentively, the latter looked at him proudly before freezing.

"... Not a prince, but a duke's son, it's no different... But you look enough like the victim I could manipulate."

"Hey…"

Moonra stood up.

"When did you... Oh, never mind, what exactly are you doing here?"

"I'm looking for a toad."

Their faces turned pale, Moonra put away his sword.

"What are you?"

"Nothing special... But yeah, he won't, I'm leaving then, sorry to interfere."

"Are you leaving? Aren't you going to fight for Freya too?

"… Who is it?"

The 3 boys looked at the girl leaning on the tree. Dora followed their gaze and observed the girl for a moment.

"That's not the pressure of a toad, I'll pass. Sorry to have interfered in your little duel, prince."

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"You're a weird guy… But never mind, as long as you don't bother Freya."

Dora turned around and took a step forward, before stopping.

"I can tolerate the prince swinging his sword at me, but below his level, I might become really violent."

Behind them, Hope had pointed his sword in front of him.

"I'm getting sick of being ignored, you refused my challenge twice already, I won't let that happen again. Prince Moonra, Lady Freya, I'm sorry but I'll have to postpone our duel, this one is personal."

A pale light flickered in Dora's eyes, Freya and Gersey quickly noted a change in the atmosphere.

"I like being a poison in the life of people I don't like, but your situation is a real enigma for me, tell me exactly why I should fight you. I am not your rival and we have nothing against each other, so what's your deal?"

"Is this a game for you? You were my rival for a long time, I trained very hard with the sole purpose of defeating you, I put myself in situations that you could not imagine just to finally be able to fight, for me you were a real model… You were the founder of the sole party of our village, you were in rifts before being in a guild, and my own sister traveled from the capital just to enlist you... And just as our story was about to reach its climax, You made a loss on purpose... You made a fool of yourself!"

"… So? I still don't see why I have to fight you, are you feeling remorse?"

"Shut up! You are the champion of cowards so shut up. I heard recently that you were beating the students of class E, so you are deliberately hiding your true power, you are a coward and you are terrorizing our classmates, as a member of the student council, I must stop you."

The wind picked up and Dora's eyes narrowed.

"I really don't understand people... I'm trying to protect my home, someone is trying to make me leave, I'm trying to live a good life with my family, someone is threatening to make me leave, I'm trying to have a good life at the academy, someone is trying to pester me into leaving, and I'm trying to get some stupid noble to have more free time and this idiot wants to fight me!"

He walked towards Hope, and although the latter wanted a confrontation he took a step back.

"You want to fight? You want to be beaten by me so bad? You can't go on with your life if I don't crush you every day?"

"I... I want you to be the rival you were! What happened to make you change so much?!"

"Nothing compared to what's going to happen to you if you make me use my powers, I've brought doom to many worlds, and I swear on my name, if I fight you, I'll end your story right here, right now."

He took the tip of Hope's sword and placed it against his own neck.

"Go ahead, do it, commit suicide."

The tension was building quickly, or maybe it was something else. In this heavy scene, no one dared to speak or almost breathe, but it was not only because of the young man's words.

Emissaries had a "passive" attribute, depending on the type of energy they possessed. As Midgard had previously explained, one of Dora's attributes was the Dark element, and at this very moment, the latter was giving off exceptional pressure.

Hope felt an unbearable weight on his shoulders, and all his instincts told him the same message: "If I attack him, I will die."

He lowered his sword and looked at the ground, Dora released his pressure and sighed.

"You can have a good life, stop looking around and focus more on yourself. Now if you excuse me, I'll leave."

"One day..."

He stopped and looked behind him to see his old friend, but instead of the defeated face he was expecting, Hope had a determined look and smiled.

"One day, I will close the gap between us and I will surpass you. Sorry for insulting you, I doubted you but now, I know you're even stronger than before, so watch your back."

"... Yep, that's better, now I could give you the fight you want, but another time. By the way, it's forbidden to murder anyone from the academy so don't panic for threats... And I doubt that your bodyguards will let me take you down."

"Bodyguards?"

He left without another word, leaving Hope and the 3 others. Moonra looked around for a moment.

"... Hm, so it wasn't just a normal occurrence."

"What? What do you mean?"

"You're an emissary too, aren't you? Don't you see them?"

Hope, in disbelief, did not notice, hiding in every corner around them, several members of the student council. Thomas, alongside Lisa, crossed his arms.

"So? Do you still think this E-rank is not worth studying?"

The girl groaned and prepared to leave.

"An E-rank is not worth studying, this guy, if he is an E rank, I am willing to give up my place on the council."

They disappeared, as silently as they came, meanwhile next to the tree, Freya observed Dora as he disappeared in a corridor and walked near her brother.

"Interesting. What do you think about him?"

She glanced at Gersey who was shaking while clinging to the tree.

"... Dangerous... They are dangerous people... We must stay far away from them."

"Really? I didn't consider the Balder brother as a danger though."

"No... Not him... I'm talking about the people inside this other guy."