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Chapter 14: Time For Explanations

"This is your bus stop."

I snapped my finger and a dimensional hole opened beneath Erick. He fell there without even realizing what was happening, and in no time, found himself free-falling under the bridge.

"Say hello to the parents of my payment, stone and stick."

Erick felt endless, it would be fun to know what he was thinking at the time, but I had to take care of his companions first.

"W... What... Where's Erick?! What did you do??"

"On the bright side... Now you really have the harem of girls you've been dreaming about."

"Bring him back, now!"

Leon was advancing furiously towards me, his fist clenching and releasing dangerous waves of energy, his means of negotiation.

"Scary."

I snapped my fingers and another hole opened up under Leon, knocking him under the bridge.

No matter what people say, gravity has always been a formidable weapon, I took out 2 E rank emissaries with minimal effort, not a feat but still impressive.

"Are you crazy?! When... What did you..."

"Ah, I forgot you, Morgy."

"... Wait, what?... Wait- wait a second, calm down, I'm not going to fight..."

"I will."

And so, Morgiana flew too, but the bus had already crossed the bridge, she landed on the road and rolled backward.

"Triple kill, anyone else?"

Everyone present was amazed, the advantage of a surprise and well-planned move was that I could attack several times, no one would have the lucidity to stop me.

"... Dude..."

"What? Don't tell me you're shocked now, you wanted me to act."

"...Y-yeah but... This is a real attempted murder... How did you do that?"

"They are emissaries, a simple fall will not kill them, but if we stop the bus now, the blood will really flow."

The last 4 members of Shining Swords were in shock, Liliana rushed to the bus driver while Elizabeth shook my shoulders.

"Are you stupid?! What are you thinking?! Go get them already!"

"Calm down, your energy shows."

"I don't care, GET THEM BACK!!!"

"... If they come back, I won't join the academy, and I'll tell everyone about your relationship with Hope."

A powerful blow in a weakness, Elizabeth's relationship with her family has been kept secret for a long time after she passed A-rank. At that time, she was the target of many nobles for her rising status. Of course, after becoming the strongest of the Kingdom those habits stopped little by little, but it was only thanks to her power.

Hope's case was different, as an E-rank, he would probably suffer from bullying and being the target of her enemies if they happened to know he was her brother.

"...You... Fucking... Snake..."

"You mean moon, right?"

"I misjudged you so much... You're pure evil."

"And you took me out of my nest, who's the real monster?"

"Let it go, sis, he's just teasing you."

"Do you know how many times he used you to blackmail me?"

"You're exaggerating, and it was his fight anyway, we had no right to interfere... But now you're really in trouble, man."

"I'll deal with it, sooner or later."

"Guys! Something is wrong with the driver!"

Liliana came back distraught. In front, the driver had remained imperturbable despite the commotion in the back, and even after being shaken by the young girl, he had never slowed down.

"There's no point, this woman is under my control, she won't stop her course."

Everyone turned to me again, more surprised than ever.

"Mister Anesi?"

"B-bro what the fuck?"

"Like I said, I used a hypnotic spell on her when I got on the bus, wasn't that hard, she's a normal human, and now she's fully under my control."

"It's... It's impossible... You're a debuffer... You can't control people!" Sana whispered in disbelief.

"Isn't sleep another debuff skill? why do you think this is different?"

"You planned that from the beginning...''

"You can't fathom the number of things I've planned these last few days. Now like I said, they are emissaries so they're obviously alright, Morgiana went back to the bridge instead of following us, and your destination is further away, so they will join you soon. Basically, everything is fine, and if you feel uncomfortable about leaving them behind, just say I took you hostage."

They looked at each other puzzled.

"Hostages? Idiora, what the hell are you doing?"

"You wanted a good goodbye, so I'm going to explain my choices to you properly, you're not going to blame me for dismissing the other 3 like that, especially without a fight."

"That will probably happen later... But I guess that's fair, right?"

Marie turned to Sana, Lilith, and Liliana, these last 3 looked at each other for a moment then

Liliana sighed.

"My God... Why is it always so complicated?"

"Since we're hostages...then there's nothing we can do, can we? But you realize Leon is going to kill you, don't you?"

"Only if I allow it, and it won't happen again."

"That doesn't explain anything, how did you do that? It was dimensional magic, wasn't it? How long have you had it?"

Among them, Sana was the most disturbed, in a strange way. We sat down and I explained most of what happened, minus Elizabeth and our deal part. I could see eyes filled with stars at Liliana and troubles at Marie and Lilith.

"Amazing! I knew you were something special but this is beyond my imagination!"

"Now I'm not sad, I'm just disappointed. Idiora just left the party to take a shortcut."

"I wouldn't say 'left', more like kicked with extra steps."

"I'm also disappointed bro, so after all, after all these battles, you were not a hero in heart. You are just a mama boy."

Among all the fights I had with Hope, this was the only time he actually hurt me, a very little bit.

"And you have a sister complex."

Elizabeth coughed at her spot, meanwhile, Lilith couldn't hide her frustration anymore.

"Great, after all this time you finally decide to move on, but obviously you didn't want to do it with us, you did everything to get fired and now you're going to have fun with your new life and fame."

"We can't help it, I really didn't think about it at all. It really took me by surprise too."

"You don't seem to hate it..."

"I mean... Do you know the allowance for an Academy student? I could retake classes for years but I'll have enough money to live comfortably for many ye... *COUGH* But of course I will give my best."

"Well, that's very good for you, being among the students of the academy is insurance for a great future. I heard that the best students are consulted for political decisions... So, congratulations. " Sana said with a bitter smile, at least that was what I saw through her eyes.

"Yeah, I forgot about that. Maybe I'll use this to increase my future salary."

"Oh my God."

"Bro, you are pathetic!"

"Keep my financial situation out of this."

"I'm very happy for you, I thought you had completely abandoned your passion but it's good to see you so motivated again."

"Can't we talk about my motivation? Sarcasm makes me want to answer honestly but now is not the time."

"Of course, you had to work a lot to get recruited, so I'm sure you need some rest. It's good to see you looking so refreshed again."

It was probably the first time that Sana had complimented me so much, even the others seemed troubled by this change, especially after the way we broke up.

"Anyway, you're quite mature Mister Dora, I thought you'd hold a grudge after all that but in the end, you only reacted when you were attacked."

"Why hold a grudge? Getting kicked out was part of my plan, I can't blame you all for doing what I wanted. I've only dropped Leon and Erick because I hate their guts."

"... And Lady Morgiana?"

"... Just because."

"I'm really mad at you for manipulating me!"

Lilith was furious, tears shone in the corners of her eyes. I patted her little head like a kind old man with his puppy.

"There, there, that's no reason to cry. You should be happy that I'm doing my best like you wanted."

"I'm not crying!... and I wished that we... Well, you're just a selfish idiot!"

She kept pesting, but for once she didn't refuse my pats, a lot had changed in a few minutes.

"Yeah... If you had been motivated like that one day earlier, everything would have been different."

Sana whispered, but the silence that followed and the looks on her confirmed that everyone had heard her.