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A rift was a formation with the shape of a dome, or more precisely a ball buried half in the earth. It could extend over ten meters but in some cases up to more than a kilometer.

In the kingdom, three major authorities were charged with dealing with them: the Royal Knights, the Guild Association, and stray emissaries.

When a rift appeared, its level was first determined using magic devices for a whole day then from the second day it was made public.

The kingdom then assessed its ability to take care of it and if they did not have sufficient troops to deal with it in the time before the opening, they placed a sum on the rift and sent the announcement to the association of Guilds which, in turn, made the information public and the guilds purchased a subjugation license from the association.

If they managed to clear the rift, they received the prize money offered by the kingdom.

Depending on its level, a guild could use its own guild member or buy the services of a straight emissary, but if they asked the royal knights for help, they would only receive half the money.

It was very common in public guilds, also known as beginners guilds. Since they were financed by the kingdom that favored its Royal Knights, those guilds couldn't afford stronger emissaries and were regularly requesting stray emissaries for help, unlike the private guilds, financed by major sponsors, allowing them to have easily emissaries from C level onwards.

It was the current situation in the Southern Guild for Shining Sword, unable to keep a stable financial situation, and with difficulties of evolution, they were seeking a heavenly escape and had found one in the form of a D-tank rift, with abnormally high fixed prize money.

To get the authorization, Shining Sword had to pay a huge amount of money to the Southern Guild, it was a common practice, that if the party wasn't directly chosen by the guild, they had to pay a fee in case they wouldn't be able to clear the rift.

It was a huge gamble for Leon but they were in a dead end.

Shining Sword members were waiting at the meeting point, a bus stop near a forest. Leon was examining his sword, looking annoyed, which did not escape Morgiana's attention.

"I told you to rent at least one second-hand sword, what if this one gets broken in the rift?"

"And what if we can't win here either? I get in debt? Or maybe are you going to pay it for me?"

"Ksss... Now you see how important the money you used for those welcome parties for Liliana could have been useful."

"It's not important now ok? What about you going over there anyway? You're distracting me."

He growled, the tension had become very unstable between them. Erick approached Sana who was observing the road.

"Hey, maybe you should comfort him? Act a little more like a girlfriend!"

"Huh?... It's... Leon doesn't like getting bothered before a fight, I'll only be a nuisance."

"Really? Your job doesn't revolve around walking together or going to his bed... I hope you're rocking this part though."

She frowned.

"What?! What did you say?"

"Come on, just joking haha, anyway who did you guys call to pamper us? They're getting late."

A tall, sharp man carrying a bow advanced towards the group.

"They're a little late because they're coming from the capital, it's not a little walk you know? But watch your mouth when they're here okay? You don't want to offend a Royal knight."

Erick crossed his arms, annoyed.

"Why? Everyone knows they're just a bunch of pansies who rarely go to the rifts, I don't want to get lectured by someone who has never seen a monster elsewhere than in a book."

The man laughed heartily and put a hand on Erick's shoulder.

"I know, I know, but remember that those people have connections with the people who rule this kingdom, so unless you want to get rejected from every organization, you better keep it down."

Erick growled in his corner, then a large vehicle appeared from the horizon and stopped in front of the group.

The man with the bow placed his hands on his hips.

"Here we go."

The doors of the luxury car opened, revealing 4 familiar emissaries: Hope, Cid, Freya, and the young girl of whom Hope was the knight.

Leon was astonished, seeing a face that he would have wanted to forget a long time ago.

"What the...?! Him? Why is he here?!"

He turned towards Sana, who looked slightly annoyed.

"Hey, Sana what's the meaning of this??? Why is he here?!"

"... I don't know, I only requested one knight, I don't know why everyone else is here."

A young lady in a tuxedo got out of the driver's seat and walked towards them.

"It's a simple formality, for safety measures."

"... Safety? And who... Huh..."

Erick couldn't find his words when he saw a particular physical attribute of the woman, on her ears.

"An elf?"

She laughed lightly.

"Not exactly, I had been mortally wounded in a rift Times ago, and this is... Let's say, the consequence of what saved my life. But don't worry, I'm a human like you. But let's focus on why we are all here shall we?"

She turned to the group of Hope, the latter looked strangely intimidated and kept looking at the surroundings when he felt someone pulling the back of his uniform.

"Hmm? Who's... Marie?"

"Hey, long time no see."

"Ah... Y-yeah, haha, it's been like what? One month? You look very fine!" He looked nervously at his lady.

"How is the Royal Academy? If you're here it means that you've succeeded in the entrance exam?"

"Yeah... Wasn't a big deal, I'm also in the student council by the way."

"Oh? Very good, I'm sure Dora tried to take advantage of this to do his shenanigans, by the way, how is he?"

Hope was silent for a moment and looked at Leon, then at the other members of Shining Sword.

"He... Isn't here?"

It was as if a painful lightning bolt had passed through each of them's bodies at the same time.

"What?" Leon dropped his sword. "Who isn't here? What are you... Oi, Marie!"

She jumped for a moment, having a hard time processing Hope's words.

"What? I... I don't know, don't shout my name like this!... Hope, What do you mean?"

Lilith, very silent from the start, slowly turned her gaze toward Sana who remained silent.

"You... What have you done?"

They turned towards Sana, Cid, hands in his pockets sighed.

"What are those clowns doing? Hey, quit your stupid act, I don't have all the day."

The girl following Hope approached him, intrigued in her turn.

"Y'know them? What's their deal?"

"Well... You remember the guy we talked about, Dora, he was a former member of this team."

"Oh? Talk about a coincidence... Then why they're actin' up?" 𝑓𝘳𝑒𝑒𝑤𝑒𝘣𝘯ℴ𝓋𝑒𝓁.𝘤ℴ𝑚

"It's a long story, my Lady..."

In front of them, Leon walked right in front of Sana, he looked so furious that Liliana intervened between them, fearing that he would attack her.

"This is why you kept it a secret? This is why you didn't want to say who you had chosen?!"

"We... Need a good fighter for this battle, we put everything we had on this!"

"We can use everyone but him! What the hell is wrong with you?!"

Erick, as usual, quickly took his friend's part.

"Seriously what's this shit, Sana?! You requested him? And you didn't even talk about it?? I'm sure Marie was also on this!"

"Leave me out of this, will you? I didn't know as much as everyone else... sigh... But whatever, it's too late to regret."

"Fuck no! I'm the party leader and I decide who I don't want to see in this team! We're withdrawing!"

This time, Shining Sword members turned toward Leon, all of this under the eyes of the Knights dumbfounded.

"Leon, are you stupid? Are you stupid?? If we give up our spot we will have to pay additional fees, do you want to destroy this party?!"

Morgiana grabbed him by the collar, even Erick couldn't follow him this time

"Um, man, maybe we could just do it with the people here, if we give up we're screwed."

The man with the arc walked toward them, looking annoyed.

"Um, guys, could you stop this scene, please? You're giving a bad image of you in front of nobles."

"Mister Kraim, we weren't informed that one of them would be a very problematic person, we don't want to go if he's here!"

"What?!" They all exclaimed. Despite what happened between them, even the most reluctant members, Morgiana and Erick were aware of the consequences of withdrawing now but Kraim wasn't ready to let the Guild's name get tainted.

"Okay now listen, I won't repeat myself, you guys have bought the responsibility to deal with this rift right? What do you think will happen when it is made public that you refused to fulfill your own request just because you hate someone? Do you think you will go easy with that?"

Leon looked Kraim straight in the eyes, trembling with rage.

"You will be in huge debt, 10 million for the request, plus another 10 million for every day wasted, so in total it will be 30 million to pay! Do you want to be buried under a debt so young? So listen to me, I don't know what's happened between you and this guy but you're going to swallow your rage and act like professionals, are we clear?"

Leon lowered his head as the others nodded, sighing.

Kraim went to the lady with the elf ears.

"Sorry for this ridiculous show, we are ready to go now."

"Don't apologize, nothing is more painful than dealing with an unscarred injury in the mind. Let's go now then, we'll discuss the strategy."

Marie walked towards them, hesitant.

"Wait, we're not full, are we? Dora's not here yet."

The woman smiled and turned towards the forest.

"You are wrong darling, everyone is here. Sir Anesidora, I am sure you are not a coward so please don't be shy."

They were looking in the same direction as the woman, a clump of trees when a mysterious phenomenon occurred.

The wind blew and took on a black color, swirling like a vortex at the foot of a tree and when it dissipated, 2 people appeared.

One of them took a leaf out of his hair and looked at the woman.

"The audacity of this elf..."