Chapter 4 – My Childhood Friend is a Royal Princess and a Total Psychopath?!

The royal knights stared at me like I was a piece of rotting garbage. The incredibly lavish SSS Rank classroom was completely dead silent, and Dantalion was still totally unconscious on the expensive Persian rug.

My brain was entirely broken by the recent insane revelations. My highly annoying childhood friend was the Crown Princess of Tharnys.

She used to throw loose flour at me in my dad’s bakery, but now she had a personal army of heavily armored guards.

“You guys can leave now.”

The serious military commander bowed deeply toward her velvet throne.

“We must protect you from the dangerous lower classes.”

Sakura tilted her head and smiled a very strange smile as her bright red hair fell perfectly over her left shoulder.

“I said you can leave immediately.”

The commander visibly shivered in his fancy blue uniform. The temperature in the luxurious room dropped by ten degrees.

“Yes, your royal highness.”

He gestured quickly to the dozen armored knights, and they marched out of the heavy iron door in perfect unison.

The door slammed shut with a massive, echoing metallic boom. I let out a very long and shaky breath.

“You are a literal princess.”

Sakura kicked her feet back and forth on the plush throne.

“I am still just your best friend, Dylan.”

I rubbed my sweating forehead with the back of my hand.

“You have a personal military commander.”

She waved her hand dismissively in the warm air.

“My parents are just super overprotective.”

I looked down at the unconscious dark lord on the rug.

“You knocked a guy out with a solid silver candlestick.”

Sakura stared deeply into my eyes without blinking at all. Her gaze felt incredibly heavy and weirdly possessive.

“Nobody is allowed to bother my precious Dylan.”

I shifted very uncomfortably in my soft velvet seat. That sentence sounded way too intense for a normal friendship.

“I can take care of myself.”

Sakura leaned very close to my totally average face.

“You belong entirely to me.”

My heart did a very fast and uncomfortable nervous flip.

“I am not a piece of property.”

She reached out and gently stroked my messy brown hair.

“You are my absolute favorite person in the entire world.”

I pulled my head back quickly to escape her weird hand.

“You are acting super creepy right now.”

The heavy iron door suddenly burst wide open with a crash. A guy with literally glowing blond hair stepped into the room, wearing ridiculously thick golden armor that reflected the chandelier light straight into my tired eyes.

“The Golden Lion has finally arrived to claim his throne.”

I groaned loudly and covered my face with both hands. It was the crazy lunatic from the front courtyard.

Leo struck a heroic pose with his hands on his hips.

“Destiny has brought us together once again.”

I did not want any part of this stupid magical destiny.

“Please just sit down quietly.”

Leo marched across the expensive marble floor with heavy steps. His metallic boots clanked loudly, echoing off the high ceiling before he stopped right in front of my velvet throne.

“I knew you were a secret grandmaster.”

I crossed my arms tightly over my cheap cotton pants.

“I am just a baker.”

Leo pointed a shiny metal finger directly at my chest.

“You are in the absolute highest rank in the academy.”

I looked over at Sakura for any kind of help, but she was glaring violently at Leo with pure murderous intent.

“Get away from him.”

Leo turned his head and noticed the red-haired princess.

“A fiery maiden joins our legendary party.”

Sakura stood up slowly from her incredibly comfortable throne and grabbed the second silver candlestick from the nearby table.

“He is not joining your stupid party.”

Leo placed a heavy metal gauntlet over his heart.

“I am Leo, the son of the High Duke.”

Sakura took one step toward the glowing blond hero.

“I am going to smash your stupid face.”

I quickly jumped up and grabbed her raised arm.

“We cannot murder another student on the first day.”

Sakura looked at me with totally blank and empty eyes.

“Why not?”

I struggled to find a perfectly logical reason for her.

“The janitor is already going to be super salty.”

A loud and painful groan came from the cold marble floor as Dantalion rolled over onto his back very slowly. His face was still completely covered in thick white bandages.

“My dark soul is filled with immense agonizing pain.”

Leo drew his glowing silver sword with a sharp metallic ring.

“A foul demon lurks in the shadows.”

I pushed Sakura back into her velvet seat gently.

“He is not a demon.”

Dantalion sat up and rubbed his badly bruised eyes.

He looked up at the glowing blond hero standing above him.

“Your blinding light disgusts my tortured soul.”

Leo pointed the tip of his glowing blade at Dantalion’s chest.

“I will purge your evil from this holy academy.”

Dantalion struggled to his feet with shaking skinny legs, sweeping his heavy black cape dramatically over his shoulder.

“I am the supreme descendant of the Demon Lord.”

Leo gasped loudly and took a defensive step backward.

“My eternal sworn enemy.”

I fell back heavily into my own velvet throne in total defeat. This classroom was a literal nightmare of epic proportions.

“You guys need to seriously chill out right now.”

Dantalion ignored me completely and glared fiercely at Leo.

“I will rule this pathetic kingdom with an iron fist.”

Leo raised his glowing sword higher into the air.

“I will ascend the golden throne and bring lasting peace.”

Dantalion laughed his totally classic evil villain laugh.

“I will crush your bright optimism into dark dust.”

Leo smiled a very heroic and highly confident smile.

“The Sacred Blade of Dawn will shatter your darkness.”

They were literally acting out a cheap fantasy novel, and I wanted to crawl under the Persian rug and sleep forever.

Dantalion finally turned his bruised face toward me.

“And you.”

I pointed an innocent finger at my own chest.

“Me?”

He pointed a pale and violently trembling finger at me.

“I will utterly surpass your terrifying raw physical strength.”

I did not use magic at all. I just punched him right in the face.

“It was just a totally normal punch.”

Dantalion shook his head with pure violent intensity.

“You are the ultimate boss waiting at the end of my dark journey.”

Leo walked over and placed a heavy hand on my left shoulder.

“He is my destined rival.”

I tried to shake his heavy metal gauntlet off my shoulder.

“I am nobody’s rival.”

Leo looked at me with deep and intense admiration.

“We will clash on the mountain peak of destiny.”

Dantalion cracked his pale knuckles extremely loudly.

“I will defeat him first and claim the title of strongest.”

Leo stepped entirely in front of my velvet throne defensively.

“I will not let you harm my noble rival.”

They pressed their foreheads together in a very intense standoff as blue hero lightning clashed violently with red dark magic sparks. The air in the fancy room grew incredibly heavy and hard to breathe.

I really wished I was back home kneading fresh bread dough. Baking was a simple and extremely peaceful activity where you measured the exact amounts of flour and warm water. You never had to worry about glowing magical swords or deal with evil demon lords.

Sakura suddenly stood up again and grabbed both silver candlesticks. A terrifying dark shadow fell perfectly over her beautiful face, and her red eyes glowed with a truly unhinged and crazy light.

“You are both breathing the air that belongs to Dylan.”

Leo and Dantalion stopped fighting and looked at her in confusion.

“What did you say?”

Sakura walked slowly toward them with heavy, terrifying steps.

“Dylan is my perfectly innocent and precious treasure.”

I felt a cold sweat break out on the back of my neck.

“Sakura, you need to put the heavy metal weapons down.”

She ignored my totally reasonable request completely.

“If you look at him again, I will remove your stupid eyes.”

Dantalion took a very cautious step backward away from her.

“This crazy woman possesses a terrifying dark aura.”

Leo raised his glowing silver shield to protect himself.

“She is corrupted by a highly dangerous madness.”

Sakura laughed a very low and deeply unsettling laugh.

“I will bury you both in the academy gardens.”

I jumped out of my seat and ran over to her.

“We are not burying anyone in the school gardens.”

She turned her head and smiled beautifully at me.

“I would do absolutely anything to keep you safe, Dylan.”

She reached out and traced my jawline with her cold finger.

“Nobody else is allowed to touch you ever.”

I swallowed very hard and tried not to panic completely. My childhood friend was a totally massive yandere who was completely obsessed with me in a very scary way.

“I am perfectly safe.”

Sakura turned her terrifying glare back to the two boys.

“Then tell these annoying bugs to back away from my property.”

Leo puffed out his golden chest bravely.

“A hero never backs down from an evil witch.”

Dantalion started gathering black smoke around his heavy boots.

“I will turn your fragile bones into absolute dust.”

Sakura raised the solid silver candlesticks high into the air, swinging them down toward their heads with brutal force.

The heavy iron door creaked open very slowly and quietly, causing everyone to freeze completely in place like ridiculous statues.

A man walked into the incredibly luxurious classroom. He wore a heavily stained grey trench coat over torn clothes, and his messy black hair stuck out in twenty different weird directions.

He wore completely mismatched socks and cheap dirty sandals, carrying a half-empty bottle of cheap dark soda in one hand. He looked exactly like a vagrant who wandered in from the streets.

The man scratched his unkempt beard with long dirty fingernails. He looked at Sakura holding the weapons over the two idiots, then looked at me standing completely terrified near the thrones, before taking a very long and slow sip from his soda bottle.

“Put the totally lethal bludgeoning weapons away, kid.”

Sakura slowly lowered her arms and hid the candlesticks behind her back.

“We were just having a friendly introductory chat.”

The strange man walked over to the teacher’s massive mahogany desk. He did not sit in the fancy leather chair behind the desk, but instead climbed directly onto the polished wooden surface and sat cross-legged.

He let out a huge and extremely tired yawn.

“I really do not care if you murder each other.”

Leo lowered his glowing sword and looked highly offended.

“A true instructor must guide his students toward the light.”

The man picked at a piece of lint on his stained coat.

“I am just here to collect my regular paycheck.”

Dantalion sneered, revealing his perfectly white teeth.

“You are clearly a weak and totally pathetic peasant.”

The man did not even look up from his dirty coat.

“Sure.”

I raised my hand slowly into the air like a good student.

“Are you the actual homeroom teacher for the God Tier class?”

The man finished his cheap soda and tossed the bottle onto the floor. It rolled across the expensive Persian rug with a soft thud.

“Unfortunately, yes.”

Leo marched up to the mahogany desk with total heroic confidence.

“State your name and your legendary lineage, old man.”

The man laid down completely flat on his back on the desk, placing his dirty hands comfortably behind his messy head. He closed his eyes and looked totally ready to take a nap.

“I am Professor Arthur.”