"Hey, can I come with you guys? I feel like I\'ll end up lost if I don\'t have someone with me." "O-Of course, Clara!" Lawrence, who had been completely smitten by Clara, answered while stuttering, and Dayton turned around, giving him a glare, which made him flinch in fear.

"Yay! Thanks!" Clara said with a smile, and Dayton let out a nervous laughter. \'How do I get out of this situation?\' He thought to himself.

"W-What do you want?" All of a sudden, a trembling voice entered his ears, and Dayton Palmer turned around with a frown on his face. Confused by his sudden change in expression, both Clara and Lawrence turned to look where he was staring at, and found an overweight young man surrounded by a bunch of Royal Academy students, standing behind one of the buildings.

"What the hell is going on there?" Clara asked, her eyebrows now raised.

"Looks like that guy is being bullied." Lawrence said as he squinted his eyes in order to see more clearly. He then turned his gaze towards Dayton Palmer, who was looking at the group with cold and emotionless eyes, and a chill ran up his spine. He knew what those eyes meant.

"Remind me not to get on your bad side…" Lawrence mumbled under his breath as Dayton Palmer began walking towards the building.

"Why? Do you plan on getting on my bad side?" Dayton said without turning around, and Lawrence let out a short chuckle, before following him close behind. Although Dayton said that in an attempt to relieve the tension, Lawrence knew that Dayton was still pretty pissed off about the situation.

That was why Lawrence knew that he had to make sure Dayton doesn\'t do anything that would be considered \'problematic\' or something that could land them in serious trouble.

He had to keep him in check.

"Wait, huh?" Clara, who saw that both Dayton Palmer and Lawrence were walking towards the group of Royal Academy students, raised her eyebrows in confusion before jogging towards the two.

"Don\'t tell me that you\'re going to interfere, are you, Dayton?" Clara asked as soon as she caught up with them. Dayton Palmer, however, didn\'t answer and continued walking, and Lawrence just gave her a weak smile.

"Ugh.. Goddamn it!" Clara gritted her teeth with a frustrated expression on her face before reluctantly walking alongside the duo. "This better be worth it.." She mumbled to herself.

"Uh, c-can you just let me go now?" Meanwhile, the overweight kid, who was standing right in the middle of the Royal Academy students, began fidgeting his fingers, unable to look them in the eye. He seemed uncomfortable.

However, the seniors paid him no mind and let out a loud laughter.

"Ha ha ha… why are you keen on leaving so soon?" Harry said with a sinister smile on his face as he placed his hand over the Silver Moon student\'s shoulder, gripping him tightly. He turned his head and looked at the overweight youth\'s face. "Didn\'t you just get here, Manuel? Huh?"

"Uh.. ehm… Th- that is true, yes." The overweight student, Manuel Jameson, reluctantly nodded his head, letting out a nervous laughter as the group closed in on him.

They had him surrounded. He couldn\'t even run away even if he tried, and definitely couldn\'t beat them all.

Of course, he was completely aware of the situation and what was happening to him. He knew that he was being bullied. He also knew that it would be infinitely more painful if he tried to resist them, and so he just went along with it.

\'If I just do what they want, maybe they\'ll leave me alone.\' That was the thought that went through his mind.

Even though he knew deep down that they\'ll never leave him alone if he goes along with it. He just wanted to believe that he wouldn\'t see them again.

"Hey, Manuel," Christian, who was standing in the middle of the group, stepped forward all of a sudden, and everyone\'s attention turned to him.

Christian shifted his gaze towards Harry for a split second, who nodded his head with a smirk on his face, and then turned back to face Manuel, continuing, "We\'re all friends here, right?"

Clutch!

Christian grabbed Manuel\'s shoulder with a soft grip, causing Manuel to let out a gulp, "Y- yeah… I- I guess we are?" He replied, stuttering while he spoke.

"Good to know…" Christian nodded his head. His grip tightened a bit more, causing Manuel to let out a small groan, which just made the rest of the seniors chuckle. Christian on the other hand, still had a normal expression on his face as he continued, "So, as we are now officially your friends, wouldn\'t it be okay for you to lend us some money?"

Thud! Thud! Thud!

As soon as Christian finished speaking, Manuel could feel his heartbeat thumping hard. He had known that this would happen, but perhaps he still had hope that it wouldn\'t come so soon.

He didn\'t want to give them any money. He wanted to reply that they weren\'t, and will never be, friends. But, to his disappointment, he realised that he couldn\'t say what he really wanted. Instead, he could only say what they wanted to hear.

"S- Sure… I- I guess I wouldn\'t mind…" He said with a nervous laughter, and Harry, who was standing right next to him, covered his mouth with his hand, unable to control himself from laughing like a madman.

"So fatty!" Linguini stepped forward, and grabbed Manuel\'s chin and forcefully tilted his face up, which made him let out a surprised yelp. His face was now close to Linguini, who had an evil smirk on his face as he said, "What are you waiting for?!"

Tap! Tap!

He tapped Manuel\'s pockets and continued, "Take out the money, \'friend\'!"

"R- Right! Ah, of course.." Manuel responded almost immediately, and his hands went down to his pockets as he began searching for money, but right before he could find whatever money he had on him, they were interrupted by a loud shout!

"What\'s going on here?!" The voice was that of a young man. However, the sheer amount of spiritual energy that contained in that single shout was so enormous that the seniors had to make sure if it was really the voice of a youngster.

They turned around, only to see a young boy who looked to be about eighteen years of age walking towards them with a cold and emotionless expression on his face, followed by a muscular youth and a beautiful young lady alongside him.

\'Who on earth are these people?\' Harry stared at the group of people who were walking in their direction with furrowed eyebrows.

Looking at their attires, he had figured out that they were Silver Moon Academy disciples. However, what was even more concerning was the massive amount of spiritual energy that was present in that one shout from this young man who was in front of them.

Harry knew that to engrave spiritual energy to your speech, the cultivator had to be extremely skilled. So this boy who seemed to be younger than him was definitely not an ordinary disciple.

\'Damn it! Just when we were about to succeed!\' Harry clenched his fists and cursed his rotten luck. He really was unlucky to have garnered the attention of such an extraordinary young man at such a time.

"Ah! It seems that you have misunderstood the situation, junior brother.." Harry stepped forward and waved his hands around with a smile on his face.

"Misunderstood?" Although Dayton Palmer had whispered softly, each and every one of the seniors had heard his chilling voice echoing in their ears, sending shivers down their spines. They couldn\'t help but tremble in fear.

"Ah, y-yes!" Christian took a step back and grabbed Manuel by his shoulders once again, except this time, his grip was even more tighter, as though he was threatening Manuel. "You see, we were just chatting with Manuel over here about Silver Moon Academy." He said with a smile on his face, patting Manuel on the back of his head as he spoke. "We were just talking with him. Is that really something that\'s worth being concerned about?"

Dayton didn\'t reply, and instead, his gaze shifted to Manuel, who was fidgeting around. "Is what they\'re saying the truth?" He asked Manuel, who raised his head up, locking eyes with Dayton Palmer. "Are you simply chatting with them?"

Manuel immediately knew who he was. How could he not? It was Dayton Palmer, the cultivation genius of the Silver Moon Academy!

Perhaps he could help me, Manuel thought to himself. He was powerful, which meant that he could solve problems that Manuel could never even imagine doing himself.

Clutch!

Just then, he felt a tinge of pain from his shoulders, which only increased as time went on. He turned his gaze towards his side, and saw the terrifying eyes of Christian, looking down at him as though he was looking at a dead man.

"Uh.. y-yeah.." In the end, Manuel could only succumb to his fears, and lied to Dayton Palmer. "We\'re just chatting…"

".... I see," Dayton Palmer nodded his head, as his cold and emotionless expression turned to that of a normal one.

The seniors all breathed a sigh of relief, but right when they thought the issue was over, Dayton Palmer took another step, and the tense atmosphere returned in an instant.

"Such a shame," Dayton said as he stretched out his hand. "I really thought you would have the courage to call for help."

BZZZZ!

A bright light enveloped his palms, followed by the formation of a silver rapier in his hands. "Oh well," Dayton grabbed the rapier and shrugged his shoulders. "Coward or not, I still plan on saving you."