"I am in the ninth rank at 11 years old." The boy's smile was like someone who had made someone fall into his trap. "Not only that, but I'm Duke Ashford's direct son, and you? What trash do you come from?"
His tone was extremely sarcastic and rude. This time, Ryan couldn't say anything. He was humiliated and surpassed in every language. Meanwhile, Kayden just stayed quiet. The boy knew that this was not a person he could offend.
"Still, I prefer to remain here, thank you for the invitation." With Ryan's silence, Ingrid came to his defense, making the nobleman's eyes turn furious to the boy.
"I hope you know what you're doing." His tone was harsh. Just as they appeared discreetly, they also departed discreetly.
"Ryan, are you stupid? Ingrid too, do you two want to kill each other by chance?" Kayden was the first to speak. "Two were with him were mages and the old man seemed to be beyond the first realm." Kayden was sure of it, his mana heart-enhanced instincts were screaming at him.
The old man wasn't even noticed by the other three, just Kayden who was always alert as much as possible. Reading many novels in his past life made him smart enough to know that nobles were never a good sign. His instincts told him to run from the two wizards, but the old man gave off a more dangerous feeling.
"We're in a public place…" Ryan tried to interrupt the boy, but couldn't continue before Kayden freaked out again.
" Idai? He's a fucking nobleman, Ryan, wake up to life. He just needed to wait for you to get out of here and do whatever he wanted with you. Ingrid and Astolfo have a strong back with their family supporting them, but you and I have nothing."
Kayden never wanted to rely on Han, as he didn't know exactly what level of strength the old man still had and even his heroic deeds wouldn't be enough to stop someone who had real strength at the moment.
Seeing the facts being laid out in front of him, Ryan could only clench his fists in embarrassment. He knew Kayden was right in his words and harsh reality knocked on his door.
After that, the night only lasted a few more minutes with a strange atmosphere between them. Fortunately, the nobleman didn't do anything and everyone managed to return to the hotel calmly.
"I'll take a shower," Kayden told Ryan who was still crestfallen. His shower lasted a good twenty minutes and when he came back, he saw no sign of Ryan. Fearing that something had happened, Kayden went looking for him.
Without wasting time, he went to reception and asked them to look at the security cameras and discovered that the boy was in the hotel's training area. Kayden went down the stairs to the basement and came across a gigantic space.
There were several bubbles each measuring more than 10 meters in diameter. Some were colored to impede vision and others were completely transparent. The boy went straight to the one he saw on the recordings.
Once inside, Kayden found Ryan with his fingers bleeding as he stabbed a metal dummy with his sword. His eyes were red and it looked like the boy had been crying.
"Ryan?" Kayden's voice woke him from his stupor.
"Oh, hello, Kayden." The boy seemed to be embarrassed at being caught in this situation. "Sorry about that, I made a mistake." The boy looked like he was about to collapse. "I didn't want to be humiliated and I ended up losing my temper."
"Ryan, to err is human, just don't let it happen again," Kayden said amicably.
"NO, KAYDEN!" Ryan lost control in front of Kayden. "It was a mistake that could cost our lives and why? For nothing, simply for nothing." This was the first time Kayden had seen his friend change like this.
But on the other hand, he never spent much time with Ryan. He probably spent more time with Astolfo than with the boy.
"I once saw a very good sentence in a philosophy book." Kayden kept his tone calm, looking into Ryan's eyes. "Show me someone who has never made a mistake and I will show you someone who has never achieved anything."
His sentence hit Ryan deeply and neither of them said anything for the next few seconds.
"Take this experience as motivation in your life, Ryan. We were not born with a silver spoon. Everything we want we must conquer with blood and a lot of struggle. I'll leave you alone now to sort yourself out mentally."
Kayden didn't have much else to say. He knew this was something Ryan would have to overcome on his own. The boy returned to his room. He would go to bed early, as the next day would be the start of the state championship.
The next day, Kayden woke up early as usual and saw Ryan lying dead in bed. Kayden gently woke his friend with a pillow hit to the face. For a few seconds, Ryan was confused.
"Kayden!" As soon as he regained consciousness decently, he screamed. "I have advanced to the ninth rank, thank you for yesterday!" The boy even bowed.
"It was nothing, Ryan," Kayden was happy for his friend and also surprised. It seemed like it was just a trigger he needed to move forward.
Then, the two went to have coffee at the hotel restaurant. It was very common in this kingdom for establishments to only offer coffee included in their plans and, if the customer wanted lunch or dinner, they would have to pay.
When they got there, they saw Astolfo sleeping in the chair and Ingrid calmly drinking coffee. A few minutes later, everyone on your team gathered there, including the director who was unable to attend yesterday due to certain commitments.
A few hours later, everyone left in the same limousine that would take them to the event location. The championship was held outside the city, as it brought together an absurd amount of people.
As soon as they left the city, they were able to see the huge tents that were set up for the event. Some were over a hundred wide. There were different colors, making the environment extremely cheerful.
Along the way, there were street vendors selling food and other things, such as clothes and lottery cards. The number of tents was incalculable and stretched out for miles.
As they went further, Kayden noticed that the tents formed a circle around something, but because of how far away he was, he couldn't tell exactly what it was.
A few minutes later, they were dropped off at a white tent with a sign identifying their team's location. The tent was spacious and contained several sofas and tables distributed throughout the place.
Furthermore, there was a huge television on one of the walls of the place. As they still had some time until the competition started, everyone just sat down and enjoyed the free good quality food.