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Chapter 55: The Worst Rift

The sun had risen, a new day in the best of all possible worlds, where some people's nightmares were revealed and others' suffering deepened.After breakfast, the group prepared to return to their routine, this time including Freya and Gersey, but something unexpected took place.

In the inn's living room, they were gathered for an announcement from Marie. Intrigued, everyone sat in their chairs while the young girl, with a dark look, took a letter out of her pocket.

"So... I requested this meeting because something happened. Something that may affect all of us."

"What? The army finally decided to intern Sana?"

Lilith giggled nonchalantly, to everyone's sighs and groans of boredom, but Dora, next to her, patted her head.

"Come on, it's not every day that Marie gives a speech, let's honor her by listening to her. You also have an announcement to make, don't you?"

Lilith flinched a little and crossed her arms, looking just a little worried. Marie sighed for a moment and continued her speech.

"So, a few days ago, when we returned from one of our expeditions, I received this letter from someone... Special..."

She looked increasingly pained, trying to muster up enough courage to formulate her sentence, and looked at Dora who simply nodded.

"This... This is an invitation from the Silver Space Emissary Guild to recruit me."

This announcement surprised everyone and almost everyone jumped. Hope stood up from his seat.

"S-Silver Space? The Silver Space in Lyrapolis?! One of the major guilds in the kingdom with several A-rank members and one S-rank?! How???"

"How did they... Wait, they came to personally recruit you?" Morgiana asked.

Marie nodded slightly and passed her the letter. It was indeed an invitation with the guarantee of having a good contract.

In the world of emissaries, it was a common practice, that each professional emissary has data recorded on a website.

All information about an emissary was recorded, from their ability to rank, their raid results, and even their performance judged by examiners.

This allowed different instances to choose an emissary for a raid or recruitment, previously Sana had done the same to hire Dora during their first rift.

"That's amazing! Good job! That means you'll get stronger teammates, right? That solves Dora's dependence problem!" Mercy jumped in her chair while Dora shook his head in confusion.

Freya glanced at the Shining Sword members and smiled mockingly.

"Actually, I don't think it's good news for them."

"Huh? Why? There are so many benefits... Wait..."

"Do you understand now? She's the one who's recruited, not the others."

A silence settled in the room. All the members looked confused, Leon, in his chair, was almost trembling even though his face hid all emotion.

Freya got up and walked towards Marie.

"It's not very surprising, in this industry, once you cross the C-rank border, you are considered a valuable asset to the big guilds, but not everyone has talent. There can be millions of people with the same rank, so the more unique you are, the more valuable you become. Puppeteers are very rare and they are a powerful and balanced class, you are supposed to be a mage, but compared to the majority who throw the same fireball or the same freezing wind, you create an army with all types of classes. This is indeed a great talent."

She stood next to Marie who looked away.

"So, your friend worked so hard that she got the opportunity to shine more, are you all going to stop her for your own sake?"

"Wait, I haven't accepted yet! I just wanted to..."

"And what? If you weren't interested, you wouldn't have kept it, or maybe you want to continue playing adventurers with your friends in a minor guild among the newbies?"

Marie lowered her head. She felt like she was betraying her friends and didn't know what to say anymore.

She understood Freya's words and knew that the best decision for her was to accept the offer, but her departure would be a big blow to the future of Shining Sword.

She glanced at her friends, searching for an answer, but the looks she met were filled with confusion.

"Isn't this also a good time to confess?" Dora broke the silence by speaking to Lilith.

The girl tensed, legs together, looking at the ground.

"L-Lilith?" Mary whispered.

Lilith trembled a little and spoke in a very low voice, without raising her head.

"I... I've received an invitation too... from the Crimson Rhapsody Guild."

Morgiana looked at her in disbelief, everyone was stunned by these revelations, and the young girl, no longer able to stand this pressure, raised her head, with tears in her eyes.

"I didn't want to accept it either! I never asked for anything! I told them we were a team and they should take you too but... they said they were looking for only a warrior to fill the spot of a berserker who retired... I don't know what to do..."

"You replied?!" Leon got up from his seat.

Lilith, startled, tried to hide behind Dora. The latter patted her head and raised his hand slightly to ask for silence.

"Is there anyone else here who has received a request?"

They looked at each other, panic was visible on Leon's face. He looked at Sana, but the girl was speechless, Erick was also very confused and Morgiana was stunned, then he set his gaze on the last member.

"...Oh, you little..."

Liliana looked at the ground, a sad smile on her lips.

"... Mr. Dora, you can't keep secrets."

"Are you kidding me?!" Leon roared. "You three were invited and you kept it a secret?! What the fuck are you doing??"

"I didn't... I got a lot of letters actually, but I've already rejected them all." Liliana arched her back, she seemed a little scared by Leon but was instead scolded by Freya.

"Okay, you are very stupid... You have received a lot of invitations? And you rejected them all? What is wrong with you?! Do you understand the meaning of your power?"

"I... I know, it's just like... sorry..."

Freya sat down mentally exhausted. She had criticized them the day before for not taking the world of emissaries seriously and now she had three examples of selfishness rather than global interest.

"You haven't learned anything, have you? Do you think being an emissary is some kind of game? Having power means you have a responsibility to use it to protect those who haven't been blessed, why did you all even become emissaries in the first place?!"

The three girls were looking at the ground, Morgiana's gaze was fixed on the wall but she was only seeing darkness and Dora was seriously thinking about why he had become an emissary himself without laughing.

This moment displeased everyone, except Zuri. She was having a blast, the last two days were an exciting scene for her. She looked at Marie's face, then at Leon's rage, she took a sip of grape juice, then glanced at Hope who was looking at Dora, she took another sip and admired Sana's confusion, hoping to see Erick open his mouth too. She was in the front row of the largest theater in the world, she wouldn't have traded her place for anything.

"You... Who do you think you are?! Who are you to talk about our team? That's enough! All of you, go back to your shitty capital and leave us alone! I'm the leader and I won't let don't you destroy our bond!"

Freya looked at Leon indifferently and sighed.

"What a surprise, you haven't even changed at all, I understand why you're afraid to see them leave."

"I said shut up!"

He walked towards her angrily, but perhaps because of his anger or his high-pitched voice, Hope lunged at him and tackled him to the ground.

"Stop it, you idiot!"

"Get off... Get off me!"

"Of course not! What do you think you're doing?!"

He struggled but was unable to escape, much to Freya's amusement.

"See? That's what it takes to stop you, know your place, and stop being a nuisance to their evolution."

Leon did not calm down and Morgiana had to intervene to keep him in control. She looked at her friends, a little less shocked than before.

"Maybe... Maybe it's for the best?... Freya... Freya's right, what if we move up to C-rank and get stuck again? We can't always count on Dora... at least in a big guild, you will have a more balanced team... you will grow faster."

She seemed very defeated, Leon looked at her like a traitor and the three lowered their heads. Marie was a big blow, but losing Lilith and Liliana was a death sentence.

"Why not? After all, what's the harm in that?" Dora asked nonchalantly, drawing attention to him again.

"Mr. Dora?"

"I mean, Freya's right, I'm not even sure you can crush any D-rank rift, what are the odds you won't get pounded on your first C-rank rift? What future do you have? This team was too unbalanced from the beginning."

They looked at him very confused, Leon was burning with rage.

"You..."

"We can have a future if we work together! Like before..." Sana finally collapsed.

She looked very desperate and at that moment, ignored Leon's confused look.

"We made a promise to each other when we started this team, we had been through so much together, we were all together before it all started, why should we separate now? D-Dora you're amazing, you're stronger than anyone, if it's you who asks, no guild will refuse to recruit all of us!... We had to take a different path because you had other plans, but now you want to fight, don't you? So what could stop you from joining us again? Don't you think, everyone? Let's start over again!"

Tears started to flow, she had never looked so pitiful, it was the worst thing she could imagine and she didn't hesitate to make a fool of herself in front of everyone else, because she knew that everything could end there.

But Dora's expression did not change, like a snake on its way, he turned to Morgiana without worrying about anything.

"Is this the kind of life you wanted? To be a useless pawn deferring to the strong leader who would do all the work?"

"Dora please!" Sana begged.

"I refuse. Think about what you want, not just the three of you but you too, Morgy, because there are two things I never doubt: my instinct and my power. I can't say what you want now, but I remember what you wanted before. It's difficult for generic classes to be recruited at a low level, and that's why I'm training you to have a huge attack as a priority."

Morgiana, despite her firm stance, was already broken inside. Dora's words reached her, but she had too much to digest. Dora glanced at Freya in help who noticed and looked up.

"Dragon Killers, that's what the best spearmen are called. As a C rank, your chances of immediately joining a large guild are quite low, but not impossible, if you focus on your attack and can learn draconic skills, I don't know where you'll find it, but you'll increase your chances."

Morgiana looked at her, very moved, she wiped away a tear. Marie, Lilith, and Liliana sighed.

Sana abruptly got up and left the room while Leon and Erick looked at Dora, paralyzed.

The latter got up and walked towards the door too.

"Take some time to think about it, like I said, I'm not you, you know what you want. If you choose to accept this path, then that should be the end of Shining Sword. I will personally train Morgiana so you won't have to worry about her, but I won't lie to you, I don't care about the others. Take the whole day, rest, and think carefully. Think as if the lives of your friends and the world's future depended on your choice."

He left the room in turn, followed by a very satisfied Zuri, Freya also headed towards the door but stopped before going out.

"There comes a time in your life when you must choose between living in a happy past or betting everything on an uncertain future. This choice is what separates those who change the world and those who experience changes, and this choice has come to YOU."

She left, living in a room full of collapsing dreams.