Four Split Personalities

"Whew..."

Just as the massive mushroom cloud, with its explosive force mostly confined to a single small point, rose up, Frank Hughes, standing behind Double Leaf and covered in seven or eight layers of elemental shields, exhaled a sigh of relief and dizzily said, "Are we... safe now?"

Double Leaf glanced back at this guy who seemed clueless about the situation, and sneered, "Which dog’s eye of yours sees that we’re safe?"

Motan rubbed the tip of his nose, raised his hand to point at the mushroom cloud in the distance, which hadn’t dissipated yet, and the violence of the elemental flow in the air, hesitatingly said, "Because your attack just now was very..."

"Very strong, I know it was very strong, but the opponent isn’t weak either."

Double Leaf impatiently glanced at him again and cast two more Arcane Shields on him, casually asking, "Have you ever heard of the ’Smoke Without Harm’ law?"

Frank instinctively shook his head, then uncertainly said, "But if I had to guess, it might mean something like... if there’s a lot of smoke, the enemy might not be harmed?"

The girl nodded vigorously, playing with her magic wand absentmindedly as she replied, "Yeah, yeah, your comprehension isn’t bad."

"This shouldn’t... be possible, right."

Frank replied in a somewhat unsure tone, taking a couple of steps forward, "Even though I’m not very clear on it, Double Leaf, your move just now should be formidable, to say it had no effect..."

"Get back here!"

Double Leaf, exasperated, summoned an Earth Elemental Hand to grab Frank’s collar and yanked him back behind her, angrily saying, "Are you courting death? Can’t understand human language? Didn’t I say we’re not safe yet!!"

Frank instinctively wanting to stand in front of Double Leaf, scratched his head and awkwardly smiled, then softly said, "I think, Double Leaf, you should just leave."

"Huh?"

Double Leaf tugged at the corner of her mouth, looking at Frank up and down as if observing someone born without a brain, "Are you sick? If I could leave, wouldn’t I have left ages ago? You think I’d leave you here to die?"

Frank averted his gaze, his tone inexplicably calm and reassuring, "Their target can’t be me, right?"

"Obviously."

The girl rolled her eyes in frustration, mocking, "Do you think you qualify?"

"I don’t qualify, of course I can’t handle such a big scene."

Frank shook his head, shrugged, "I recall you telling me before, there was a man who loved and hated you, should be called ’Tan Mo’, right? He’s always trying to harm you, and you even suspected I was him."

Double Leaf was stunned for a moment, then squinted her eyes, turning to glance at the seemingly harmless, gentle glasses-wearing man behind her, "To be precise, it’s not ’previously suspected you’, it’s ’still suspect you now’."

"Reasonable."

Frank nodded briskly, smiling, "Given that, you have two hypotheses; first, I am indeed Tan Mo, who’s been trying to harm you all along. Whether by getting close to Diana, or going to the library with you to trade with Mr. Tower Spirit, the purpose was all to lower your guard, and based on that, gain deeper understanding of you, in order to... set up a perfect trap at this opportune moment."

With a mocking smile, Double Leaf lazily nodded, playfully asking, "Great, your first hypothesis is quite constructive, then what?"

"Then there’s the second hypothesis."

Frank, unchanging in expression, stated calmly, "That is, just as you’re starting to believe, I am simply a man named Frank Hughes, deeply in love with Diana, incidentally met you, Double Leaf, by chance, and got caught in this accident purely by unfortunate coincidence."

Double Leaf sneered, "I’m really sorry, should I apologize to you?"

"If the nature of things aligns with the first hypothesis."

Frank ignored the mockery in Double Leaf’s tone and spoke matter-of-factly, "Then you can just leave me behind, because assuming I’m Mr. Tan Mo, my life or death isn’t important to you. In other words, even if it were important, I wouldn’t die in a trap I set, right?"

Double Leaf, while shifting her attention to the gradually dissipating elemental storm, absently said, "Honestly, Frank, I’ve always been curious, why do you, clearly a very smart person, always act like a silly lovestruck fool?"

"If we consider Diana, then perhaps ’lovestruck fool’ really is a crucial part of who I am."

𝒇𝓻𝓮𝓮𝙬𝙚𝒃𝒏𝓸𝙫𝒆𝙡.𝓬𝓸𝒎

Frank laughed lightly, then continued, "So, if it’s the second possibility, and the Frank beside you has no ill intentions? You should still leave here immediately, because their target is you, not someone like me who’s irrelevant. Of course, even if they mistakenly think we’re very close, I can completely explain everything after you leave, tell them I’m Diana’s lover, and you’re Diana’s apprentice, and we don’t hold each other in high regard."