The members of the guild stood frozen in fear as a young man suddenly appeared before them. Hope, standing in the front, felt a shiver run down his spine as she unconsciously moved away from him.
Behind the young man, several others followed him, including Midgard, Iris, Candace, and two heirs accompanied by their servant.
As Dora passed by, many of the members of the guild fainted, while those who managed to keep their senses were hypnotized by the people following him.
After passing by the members, Dora joined the three young ladies, scanning the room with a sense of curiosity and intrigue.
"... I knew it was stupid to gather here, what kind of privacy can you have?"
Zuri hopped over to him and hid behind his back.
"Dora, oh my lord, if you only knew what happened to me... These people are so horrible!"
"Hm? Did someone bully you again?"
“Yeah, he called me a creature.”
Dora frowned and looked at the guild members, among whom another group had passed out.
“Give me a name and I’ll give you blood.”
Freya took a step towards him and gently pulled him by the ears.
“Before you do something stupid, your pressure!”
"What about my pressure? Who do you want me to make disappear?"
“That’s not what I meant, your aura is showing, people are falling because of you!”
He opened his eyes wide and noticed the number of people on the ground.
Iris put a hand over her mouth.
"Really?! So the people earlier who were sleeping in the street..."
Midgard shrugged and turned to him.
“Delta Beta.”
Candace's face lit up.
"Oh yes, please change. I'm so tired of seeing you."
“In the end, you will make me immortal, right?”
They argued with their group while the other council members watched from the corner. Hope seemed a little nervous while Lisa put her hand on her forehead and groaned.
"This guy... Hehe... See that... Hope?... Looks weaker than your... Hidden potential... Isn't it?"
Hope fixed his bracelet and looked away.
Later, the group gathered around two tables.
In one, all the council members and Iris, in the others, the two Avatars, the five nobles, Midgard, and Eryl.
Further away, the guild members looked at them, some envious, others full of resentment.
Candace looked carefully at the menu.
“Dora, I’m tired, massage my shoulders.”
"All right." The boy stood up and massaged the dean's shoulders happily.
She took a sip of the grape juice before spilling it on the table.
“Ah, that’s silly, Dora, go get a rag and wipe up this mess.”
"Yes, Ma'am." He walked out, everyone looked at them in confusion.
Midgard took a sip of wine and glanced at her.
“You know they’re going to ruin you for this, right?”
"Who cares? Iris will just make them sleep, and that's fair."
Stolen story; please report.
She started eating her fruit salad and looked around her table.
"Do you have any idea how much they insulted me? I didn't know I was old until I met them."
"You're not very young either, little one."
“One day they told me I looked like a museum.”
The people around her looked at each other before bursting out laughing.
"No, seriously, have you seen the inside of a museum? It's fucking old inside. They told me my last name starts with homo, they told me I don't didn't have any new ideas, they told me that the Sage Perantiquus called me big sister, do you know the Sage Perantiquus? This brat is the oldest man in the world, that's fucking old."
No one at that table could hold back their laughter and tears began to flow for some.
For their part, the council members seemed intrigued.
Seeing Freya laugh was a first, and seeing so many famous people sharing a moment around a table was amazing.
Maxim groaned as he drank a glass of water.
"Did you see how he played the good guy? Just to get their attention? This guy is such a snake."
“A snake that could rearrange your guts with a pen.” Lisa sipped lemonade. "By the way, Iris, when will he join the council? He seems very obedient."
Hope and Cid flinched. Iris glanced at their table as Dora returned.
"It's a bit complicated... He's a little ambiguous, I think there's something special about his power, I don't know the details but when he uses the power of light he becomes a completely different person... One day he healed an injury that Lady Elizabeth had inflicted on me and we talked a little bit, later he was angry, and he ordered me to forget about it."
Maxim grumbled and looked at Dora.
"We don't need someone like that among us, this guy is trouble."
“Oh, no no no, you’re so wrong about that.” Iris stirred her milkshake with a tender expression.
"Dora is very different from the others... We fought together so many times, but he never stayed down no matter how many times I hit him."
Cid groaned and drank his cup of coffee, Lisa noticed and decided to enjoy it.
"So you mean he's the best fighter you've ever met? Or just a good person?"
Iris looked at her like a child would look at her grandmother.
"Oh you wouldn't believe it, he's just amazing! I've fought him over and over again, do you know he really has mastery over all the elements? Even creation magic! I started using only one blow at a time, then several, then a little magic, and then more! Each time he got stronger and stronger... Wait until later after the Rift, you will see our afternoon training!”
She giggled like a child, right in front of her subordinates.
Hope's face twisted in a pained expression as he remembered the conversation he had with Thomas long ago. Thomas had warned him about Iris, the woman who appeared to be beautiful but was actually a terrible person. Now, Hope realized the truth of those words. Iris seemed to be completely obsessed with Dora, and her fixation had reached a point where she indirectly criticized him and Cid. Even more concerning, Hope had noticed that Iris had stopped training with Cid, the young mage who had been under her tutelage for a long time and now she mentioned his sister's name without considering him. The implications of these changes left Hope feeling uneasy and uncertain about what was to come.
All her focus was on the monster among Avatars.
The concerned was busy choosing a drink as exotic and expensive as possible.
A little later after this, Iris, Midgard, and Candace had joined the guild officials for their registration.
The group was outside, discussing their strategy of action.
"For the last time, Maxim, you're not staying near the nobles to protect them, you're a warrior, not an ass."
"Why ass? My parents forbid that kind of language! I am a knight, and I will protect them!"
He and Lisa were arguing while the others looked on.
Mercy adjusted her bag and glanced at Dora.
"Since it's a B-rank Rift, are you going to fight?"
"... Maybe with like 25% of my power, it will... Well unless this lunatic girl joins too." He frowned, thinking about Iris.
"What's about you let us do the job? I want to try those powers of mine in a real challenge." Mercy looked at her hands excited, must to Hope's displeasure.
Maxim placed himself between them, hands on hips.
"I hope You're NOT Thinking about letting the nobles fight, Mister Dora? Or else you should be unqualified of being a knight and let go of Lady Zuri."
Dora didn't even look at him but his brain processed the information he just heard.
(Am I still a knight?)
As he thought, Mercy looked at Maxim angrily."I fight if I want to, none of yer business, and the only reason yer allowed in a B-tank Rift is that Dora is among us."
"Insurance Carper." Zuri nodded.
Freya looked at Cid for a moment then at Hope and sighed.
"Maybe it was a bad idea after all, we can be confident because we are used to B-rank rifts, but what about those who couldn't even try a C-rank Rift? I don't want another undead rift situation."
Cid's furrowed brows and scowl conveyed his dissatisfaction as he gave her a withering death glare. However, Hope stretched his shoulder before leaving.
“You will see for yourself inside.”
Everyone looked at him, a little intrigued.
“Is he really that strong?” Mercy asked the council members.
Sunnah replied in a very small voice.
"He's been training for weeks... He's definitely gotten stronger... But..."
“Guys, we’re moving!” Iris, Midgard, and Candace left the building.
The purpose of their meeting was to subjugate another Rift. As Midgard had previously warned, the number of Rifts continued to increase every day, leading to an increase in demand for emissary teams.
Candace had therefore decided to involve members of her group in several of these teams to train them and make better use of their strength. Dora and Iris are mainly assigned to B-rank Rifts, while the other members take on C-rank Rifts. Elizabeth had to leave frequently due to S-rank rifts across the kingdom.
On the day of their gathering, they met in the town of Sungem to conduct a Rank B Rift Raid, which was the first for most of them. They traveled in a limousine, chatting casually as usual, and soon reached the meeting point where a team of emissaries awaited them. The introductions were brief, and finally, they found themselves facing a mass of energy in the middle of a stone quarry.