Israthel gave a nervous apology with a shaky breath. The entire room dropped dead silent. One could hear a pin drop from each corner—well, each corner except one. The corner where Lyrian was still feasting away.

Those in Draco's group sized up the shaken Israthel as they looked at him with threatening gazes. Draco, a boy whose short blonde hair and vibrant red eyes marked his unique look, did the same—looking down at Israthel's feet up to the top of his head.

He then looked around at everyone who had stopped their duties to look at the situation around him right now.

"No... you're fine, bud. Just watch where you're going next time," he said indifferently, lightly patting Israthel on the back. The pat seemed weak but was enough to cause the boy to lose his balance and stumble out of the way.

As Draco's group moved forward, continuing to converse and joke around with each other, Israthel simply stared at the ground in disbelief while quietly walking back to his seat.

First day of school... it was the first day of school, and he had not just been humiliated once, but now, twice. Nonetheless, he was still glad that Draco left him off the hook so easily. While in the presence of Draco, the dangerous aura he felt wasn't anything to scoff at.

Soon, Draco's group made it near Lyrian's table. Everyone's gaze, following Draco, now looked at the stupid glutton who was gorging food down his throat with concerned looks on their faces.

"What is that idiot doing!? He must be a first year, but even first years get the message of the room!" a kid whispered to his friend on another side of the room.

"Hey... isn't that Lyrian Theageld, one of the MVPs of the first year?" a few other kids began to notice him.

"Yea... that must be him." A few other kids joked about Lyrian after realizing who he was.

"He said he was going to rule the world... no wonder he isn't scared of Draco," one of this boy's friends, however, didn't think it was even worth joking over.

"If I were him, I would be smart. Fear is sometimes the intellectual thing to feel. Get past the first year first before trying to rule the world... idiot..."

As Draco walked past Lyrian's table, he slightly glanced at him. He seemed to also recognize who Lyrian was. For some reason, he abruptly stopped, causing students in the canteen to hold their breath.

Alten wasn't eating at the moment, shaking in his boots. Leon also wasn't eating, but only because he had finished his meal.

Draco looked over at Lyrian, who still didn't stop crunching down on his fried chicken leg. Tables nearby were too afraid to say anything, but they didn't need to, as Draco himself spoke.

He stepped towards Lyrian, who was staring back at him while eating. Looking left and right, Draco then faced Lyrian with his hands on his hips.

"Tsk tsk tsk... overconfident first years." He sighed, his expression and body language almost comical. All of his boys broke out into laughter as they saw this. Draco looked like an old principal scolding a child.

Lyrian raised an eyebrow. Still, it wasn't enough for him to stop eating.

'Can this fool just leave so I can eat. I don't like being disturbed while eating...'

"You should take notes from your peers. Look around, do you see anyone eating, or even making noise? It means they are doing it for a rational reason."I think you should take a look at

No one in the cafe could counter what he was saying, and there wasn't anyone who was going to speak up either, it seemed.

With this remark, Lyrian finally put down his chicken drumstick, wiped his mouth, took a swig of his cola to refresh his tongue, and then exhaled a deep sigh.

historical

"No, that's not what it means." He said nonchalantly.

A few astonished gasps sounded in the crowd, as attention was drawn over to him even more.

"Oh?" Draco said, slightly intrigued.

"It just means they are pathetic cowards who don't want their shit kicked out by you." Lyrian retorted as Draco broke out into a small laugh.

"Ha... hahaha! God damn, you really are as brazen as they say. But... what are you implying? Just because these students don't want their shit kicked out of them by me, doesn't mean they are pathetic cowards, you know. I mean... are you saying that you want your shit kicked out by me?" He said as his group broke out into a peal of laughter. He too tried to control himself.

"What? No, of course not. It's different when it comes to me because I know that if you were to fight me, the one who would get their shit kicked out of them would be you." Lyrian chuckled, as Draco's sly demeanor suddenly turned into a frown. Many students in the crowd slapped their faces with their palms in disappointment at Lyrian's supposed stupidity.

A ball of snot nearly flew out of Israthel's nose as he heard what Lyrian said, his jaw instantly dropping to the floor.

As silence spread through the canteen, Lyrian's chuckle slowly began to expand into a louder laugh. Before long, it turned into an outburst of hysterical cracking up.

Seeing Lyrian, Leon couldn't help but cackle up a little bit as well.

Draco stopped leaning forward toward Lyrian's table.

"Ah... whatever. You are protected right now for a few weeks, so there's nothing I can do to you anyway." Draco suddenly said in a disappointed tone as he turned around and began walking away from the table, leaving everyone shocked.

"If you really think you can beat me in a fair fight, however--" Draco turned his head past his shoulder, giving Lyrian a piercing gaze.

"Meet me in the Battle Forge after class." He said, a serious expression dawning on his face.

Lyrian paused for a moment, as everyone's eyes still lingered on him. First, he claimed to rule the world, and now, he was claiming to beat one of the strongest students in the entire academy. At least, in the second year. At the very least, the brat was interesting...

'Battle Forge? What the heck is that? Eh, whatever. At least I can eat now...'

*Chomp*