Doug’s sudden declaration turned the crowd noisy.

“Oioi, he just challenged him…”

“Heath?”

“Isn’t this guy crazy strong? Is Heath gunna be alright?”

“Don’t tell me he transferred here for Heath’s spot in the 18th?”

Doug and Fii stared at each other.
His grey eyes were locked onto Fii from behind his blonde hair.

“If you’re really a knight, then you won’t run,” challenged Doug.

“Oi. Not so fast,” interrupted Gorm. “Don’t you think you’re being pretty selfish?”

“Gorms from the Zalsik Dojo, huh.”

“Oh? You’ve heard of me?” smirked Gorms as he looked downwards at Doug.

“This is really none of your business,” argued Doug. “Mind not interrupting me?”

“No can do.”

Pointing his thumb behind him at Fii, Gorms continued,

“This kid is like my underling.”

(Underling…!)

Fii had no recollection of becoming anything like that though.

“Ya think I can sit around if you pick a fight with him?”

“So what are you saying.”

The two boys glared at each other.
Watching them, Fii joined the conversation as well.

“Gorms! Friends are equal! It’s weird to have those higher and lower! I’m completely opposed to this!” she complained with her hand up.

“Slad,” said Gorms, “could you shut this r.e.t.a.r.d up?”

Gorms decided to just remove Fii from the conversation.

“Yeah. Heath, I think it’s better if you stay quiet for the moment.”

“Yeah, Heath. I think it’d be better if you didn’t talk right now.”

“That’s right. I don’t think you should say anything…”

All three of his dormmates agreed, and Slad reached out to cover Fii’s mouth.

“MmMmMmnggmngg!”

Although they had no idea what Heath was saying, they all reached a wordless agreement to pretend she wasn’t there.
After appropriately dealing with her because she was failing to read the atmosphere, Gorms turned back to Doug.

“Heath is… Well, we’re pretending he’s not here right now, but if you want to challenge him, I think I’ll have you go through me first.”

With those words, Gorms turned his wooden sword towards Doug with a grin.
Unfazed by the provocation, Doug nodded seriously in return.

“I’ll accept your challenge.”

“Oi, you lot! You’re in the middle of my training right now!”

Although for a moment it seemed like the two would begin duelling, Hislo put a stop to that.
But the fact that he didn’t interrupt until they agreed to a challenge just showed that he was reading the mood.

“I understand. Gorms. We’ll do it after training.”

“Aye. Ya’d better not run.”

“I wouldn’t.”

As the two stared at each other, the adult Hislo seemed to let out a nostalgic sigh even as he muttered complaints.
With that, the afternoon training finally began.