Rodriguez

"You must be the son of that loose mouthed Spaniard, right?" Paul said with a sneer.

"Spaniard?" Dante spoke, perplexed, watching what was happening before him. The students in canteen heard Paul's reply and giggled, covering their faces. Whereas Rodriquez face became red due to anger.

"Ah! You don't know who it is, right? His father's name is Miguel Rodriguez. What does your family do again? Yes. They are the trash collectors of Xuzhou city," Paul spoke neither slowly nor fast.

"We own the recycling company which converts the trash generated in the Xuzhou city. Our work in extremely important for the sustainability of this city," Rodriquez replied with his beet-red face.

"Then I am sorry. I must have got confused," Paul responded, looking towards Rodriquez. But before Rodriguez can even speak, Paul spoke again, facing Dante.

"You see. I have made a mistake before. It is not the Rodriguez company but the Miguel Rodriguez himself is a trash," he said but instead of laughing like before he said coldly while looking right into the eyes of Rodriguez.

"That's it" shouted Rodriguez and punched towards Paul angrily.

The students nearby got stunned when they heard Paul's comments, and before they could realize what happened, Rodriquez already threw a punch at the Marchetti heir, but surprisingly, he didn't dodge the punch. Rather, the blow never landed on Paul. It was stopped midway.

It shocked Rodriquez to see that his punch got blocked so easily, and glanced at the person who is clasping his hand.

"I apologize on the behalf of him. Please let this matter go," Dante said gently while holding Rodriguez' fist tightly. Because of his large hands, it looked like Dante is blocking a child's fist to everyone.

Rodriguez snorted at Paul and said,

"You better hide from me next time," said Rodriguez and left the canteen followed by his gang, who were in confusion. Not only them the students in the canteen watching the fight were also confused with what transpired before them.

"Isn't that Carlos Rodriguez a Tier-3 ability user?" one guy said to his friend beside him.

"He is top grade attack type fighter in our academy. After all, his ability is extreme strength. Even some sergeants from the 23rd division came to draw when fighting with him. This newbie seems to be a lot stronger than him," replied his friend.

"No. Maybe Rodriguez has used less power in his punch. I heard that Marchetti heir is a support type. If Rodriguez harmed him, later the whole Rodriguez clan will burn in the wrath of the Italians," another guy joined their conversation.

"That's true. That must what have happened. Though that black-haired guy looks tough, he can't possibly block a full-fledged punch of Carlos"

Just like the conversations went around the canteen. As the actual fight never happened, the army staff overseeing the canteen saw this matter with one eye closed.

Meanwhile, the word about Dante resisting Carlos' punch already got spread around the campus. As there are only some students who saw what happened, they explained it clearly to their friends, and they explained with a bit of exaggeration to their friends and just like that in the end, different stories spread which are nowhere close to the facts.

"Do you know that bully from the fourth year? Yes, yes. That Rodriguez guy. He bullied our new senior Paolo Marchetti at the canteen, but do you know know what happened? The other senior Dante, saved him by beating that bully into pulp," one first year girl said to her friend.

"What do you mean by Dante saved him? It is Paolo who saved Dante from Carlos. Though our Dante looked strong, he is weak inside. You know I even heard that Dante hugged Paolo and cried in the canteen," this is another story that is spreading in the fourth years.

Right at this moment at the firing range in the 23rd division military camp. A group of fourth years are practicing shooting with the newly issued Gauss pistols.

"The velocity of the projectile is less than the old model Gauss rifle but in the close quarters this would be enough to take down a Tier-1 beast easily," one guy said, firing the handgun. Fourth year is the last year of the Military academy. Right after their graduation, they will enlist the students in the military and assign them to departments, depending on their abilities.

For example, the fighting type ability users will get enlisted into the infantry units, whereas they will assign the stealth and agility type to the scouts and the reconnaissance units. There are also logistics and command departments and they are filled with support or normals.

"By the way, have you heard the thing about Carlos?" a thin person asked while firing the weapon.

"That canteen thing," replied a stout person who explained about the Gauss rifles before.

"Yes"

"Carlos lost the image of our strength type ability users. If he is going to throw a honey punch why even acting tough before those third years. He could have started with the punch right?" that thin person said.

"Well, his opposition has a higher status than him. So if he punched harder it will become a disaster and if he didn't react to the provocation, he will lose face for the Rodriguez clan and also their supporters, Fernandez clan. His judgment is correct but that Dante guy is the variable that changed everything," that stout guy explained.

"Shall we show Dante what a true Tier-3 punch feels like?" a fat guy entered their conversation with a grin on his face.

"Yo fatso. Looks like you already came with a plan," replied the thin fourth year.

"Of course" responded that fatso loudly.

Though they are in the military camp, these fourth years talked and laughed loudly with the army personnel around them. The soldiers too did not involve even though they heard these teenagers are going to bully third years.

That group of three in that camp are the strongest Tier-3s of the current batch in Xuzhou Military Academy. These young men will get appointed as the Lieutenants directly after there enlistment into the army, making them a rank higher than the surrounding soldiers.

"You guys should stop involving in this matter. We have a new assignment" a girl arrived at that firing range wearing a sleeveless T-shirt and a green camouflage pants.

"What is it?" that stout guy asked.

"There are some Tier-3 mutated animals breaking havoc on the North-west road. The mission is high priority, so we should leave ASAP," she replied.

"Well then, we can take care of our precious juniors after coming back," that fatso said and went into the tent behind him.

Meanwhile, the lectures for that day completed, and soon the students left the classes.

"So Paolo, I heard you are not staying at the dormitories like us," asked Uli, one of Paul's classmates. Not all the boys are jealous of Paul, there are even some who made friends with him and Uli is one of them.

"Yes. I am staying at the Badamis," replied Paul casually. Generally, the students at the military academy should stay in the military dormitories, and only on Sundays and on holidays can they go outside the military camp. Paul is the only person who got the privilege to leave the camp every day.

"What about you, Dante?" asked Uli to Dante, who is about to leave the class.

"Dormitory, of course," responded Dante.

"You are staying at a dormitory?" asked Paul suddenly.

"Yeah. Do you have any problem with that?"

The girls who are staring at them both have imagined a lot of stuff looking at Paul and Dante speaking with each other.

"No. I am just asking," Paul said dejectedly. Dante just nodded and left the classroom, followed by his fans.

"Dude, do you love Dante?" Uli asked suddenly instantly as the minds of the girls went into overdrive.

"No! I am straight. He seems interesting, so I wanted to know about his more" Paul bellowed. The girls woke up from their daze, as if it splashed them with a bucket of water.

"Anyway, I am leaving too," said Paul and soon he reached the academy gate where his bodyguards are waiting for him.

"Where is Salman?" he asked getting on the vehicle.

"He left after dropping you," replied Sanchez, one of Paul's two bodyguards.

"Let's get to the actual business we are here for" suddenly the cheerful personality and gleaming eyes changed into cold and piercing expression.

"He must be eager to know what we can find," he mumbled.