The girl standing right next to Kori immediately felt a massive wave of relief when she saw Kahn confidently approaching.
As a fellow classmate, she knew perfectly well that Kahn was a genuine Firebender.
No matter the specific situation, an active Firebender absolutely had to be significantly stronger than an ordinary, non-bending student, right?
"What exactly are we doing?"
The three older boys aggressively confronting Kori immediately looked over at him.
The leading boy confidently strutted up to Kahn, literally looked down at him, and spoke with intense pride.
"We are bravely fighting the enemy and aggressively defending the glory of the Fire Nation!"
This belligerent boy was an entire head taller than Kahn.
His robust body was incredibly strong and heavily burly, almost exactly like a young platypus bear.
Standing directly in front of Kahn, he was built like a small, intimidating mountain, almost entirely engulfing Kahn in his heavy shadow.
Kahn didn't care about this massive physical difference in the slightest and simply let out a short, scoffing laugh.
"So you seriously mean to tell me that the mighty Fire Nation's deadliest enemy is just a new little transfer girl?"
The burly boy frowned unhappily and growled.
"Don't you dare play dumb with me!"
"You are her classmate, so don't you know perfectly well that she is actively from the Earth Kingdom?"
Ty Lee and Mai, who honestly didn't know the truth of the situation, both looked over at Kori in genuine surprise.
"You're completely full of crap, I'm a true, loyal Fire Nation citizen!"
Hearing the boy's blatant accusations, Kori immediately cursed at him, looking even more ferocious than the boys.
"That's absolutely right."
"Kori's family home is located directly on Yu Dao, so she is indeed from the Fire Nation."
The terrified girl standing next to her also frantically tried to explain.
The leading boy simply scoffed loudly at this weak defense.
"Isn't that specific island physically located in the Earth Kingdom?"
"And yet you still try to say she's not actually from the Earth Kingdom."
"You...!"
Kahn finally fully understood the tense situation now.
He also clearly knew exactly why the ignorant boy had just said that.
Yu Dao originally belonged entirely to the Earth Kingdom, and it was actually the very first major colony successfully captured by the Fire Nation army.
It had a long, complex colonial history spanning well over a hundred years.
When it was first occupied by the Fire Nation, Yu Dao was nothing more than a small, insignificant agricultural village nestled deep between vast mountains.
But after several generations of relentless operation and development over a hundred years, Yu Dao was now undoubtedly one of the most highly prosperous, advanced cities in the entire world.
So Kahn simply smiled coldly at the burly boy and spoke in a clear, carrying voice.
"So you genuinely mean to publicly declare that Yu Dao doesn't actually belong to the Fire Nation?"
"Believe me when I say this, if that highly treasonous statement ever gets out..."
"Not only will you be immediately expelled from this academy, but even your noble parents might be imprisoned in boiling rock as treasonous captives, or perhaps even summarily executed directly on the spot."
"You... don't try to scare me!"
"How could it possibly be that serious?!"
The boy blustered aggressively, but he entirely couldn't hide the sudden, stark panic rapidly spreading across his flushed expression.
Apparently, Kahn's half-true, half-false political threat had indeed deeply intimidated him.
Heh, what a gullible little brat.
Kahn mercilessly continued to scare him.
"Do you really want to try me?"
"I'll loudly repeat your exact treasonous words right now, and then you can see if you will still be able to see the sun tomorrow morning."
As Kahn spoke, he made a highly deliberate gesture as if he was about to shout at the top of his lungs.
The boy finally caved completely, hurriedly and frantically trying to explain himself.
"Don't shout!"
"I... I seriously didn't mean that at all..."
"Given that it's your very first major offense, I can generously let you off this one time."
"Disperse immediately, and don't you ever let me catch you bullying people again."
"Yes, yes, of course!"
Kahn waved his hand 'generously' to signal them to leave.
They immediately turned and fled in a terrified hurry, looking as if they had just been granted a massive reprieve.
"They certainly ran away quite fast."
Ty Lee looked at the rapidly retreating figures of the group and spoke with genuine regret.
"I really thought there was actually going to be a fun fight."
It sounded exactly like she was far more eager to see a violent brawl than anything else.
"This is perfectly fine."
"I certainly don't want to get all sweaty from fighting useless thugs."
Mai stood silently to the side with her arms casually crossed, speaking dismissively.
She also seemed entirely like someone who wasn't afraid of a little trouble in the slightest.
You're seriously just enjoying the show, aren't you?
Kahn also finally spoke up.
"Exactly."
"You shouldn't always think about immediately solving complex problems with your fists."
"Even that highly violent girl, Azula, actually knows how to use her brain sometimes."
"Pfft! Highly violent girl..."
Hearing Kahn casually describe the fearsome Azula exactly like that, Ty Lee couldn't help but laugh out loud.
Then she suddenly realized exactly what she was doing and spoke up highly nervously.
"Kahn, you absolutely won't tell Azula that I just laughed at her, will you?"
Kahn smiled reassuringly and quickly winked at her.
"Don't worry about it, absolutely not."
"Thank you so much, Kahn; you're entirely too kind!"
Ty Lee cheered happily.
"...Cough cough!"
At this exact moment, a highly deliberate cough came directly from the side.
It came from the two little bullied girls who had been completely ignored by them during their entire conversation.
"Ah, I'm so sorry, we completely left you out."
"It's totally fine, thank you so much for driving away those highly annoying guys."
"My name is Kori, and as you can probably already see, I'm entirely new here."
Kori politely introduced herself with a bright smile, then spoke with intense confidence.
"Although it genuinely sounds a bit arrogant, even if you hadn't come over to help, I easily could have handled them all by myself."
"Oh, really?"
Kahn raised a skeptical eyebrow.
It sounded exactly like he had been pointlessly meddling in a situation that didn't require him.
Then he casually asked a follow-up question.
"Exactly how would you have solved it?"
"Like this!"
Kori forcefully stomped her right foot directly into the solid ground.
With a loud "bang," a solid stone pillar suddenly aggressively rose up from the ground, then rapidly retracted back down in perfect time with Kori's fluid movement.
But even such an incredibly simple, rudimentary bending move gave the surrounding people a massive shock.
Even Kahn absolutely could not hide his genuine, profound surprise.
"Earthbending?!"
"You are an actual Earthbender!"
"That's exactly right!"
Seeing her new companions' incredibly surprised eyes, Kori spoke with somewhat intense pride.
Kahn couldn't help but immediately ask her a deeply curious question.
"Aren't you supposed to be from the Fire Nation?"
"Why exactly can you actively use Earthbending?"
Only true Fire Nation citizens can naturally awaken Firebending.
And Earthbending is entirely exclusive to true Earth Kingdom citizens.
This has been an absolute, unchanging, fundamental truth for literally thousands of years.
At least, that's exactly what all the dense history books he had read explicitly stated.
Kori immediately explained her unique situation.
"Because my mother is a native Earthbender, I naturally also awakened Earthbending exactly like my mother."
"But our entire family are definitely all loyal Fire Nation citizens, and my father is actually the official governor of Yu Dao!"
So she was also a powerful, second-generation official.
But right now, compared directly to Kori's political status as a second-generation colonial official, the incredible Bending she actually possessed interested him far, far more.
He still vividly remembered his grand, initial dream of perfectly adapting the "Nine Swords of Dugu" into a true Bending combat style.
"Can I spar directly with you, perhaps a simple bending practice match?"
"Exactly like you, I am also an active bender."
So he casually raised a small, intensely hot ball of flame right in his palm and asked Kori with some intense anticipation.
Kori agreed almost without hesitation.
"Okay!"
To her active mind, there was absolutely nothing to hesitate about at all.
First of all, Kahn had just actively helped her.
And second, they were also direct classmates.
This simple sparring request was really no big deal at all.
Besides—
A Firebender versus an Earthbender battle.
Didn't that just sound incredibly cool!?
Of course, the current situation and location were entirely not suitable for a fight.
So they easily made a firm agreement for Kahn to directly visit Kori's home on the upcoming weekend.
And through this completely unexpected incident, they also successfully formed a small, budding friendship.
On the agreed-upon weekend, Kahn arrived precisely at Kori's large house exactly as agreed.
He also successfully met Kori's actual Earthbender mother.
And right before his highly anticipated battle with Kori could begin, there was, of course, an entirely unavoidable, highly polite friendly chat mandated by the parents.
"You absolutely must be the Kahn that little Kori mentioned."
"Thank you so much for taking good care of Kori at the academy."
Kori's mother formally thanked Kahn for his actions.
She was slightly plump, but her round face was incredibly gentle, and she overall seemed highly friendly.
"You flatter me too much; anyone would naturally lend a helping hand in such a blatant situation."
Kahn spoke highly modestly.
After some brief, polite conversation, Kori's mother was clearly very satisfied with Kahn.
He was a highly upright and deeply sensible young man.
She explicitly said that with a boy like Kahn as a close friend, she was completely at ease about Kori's safety.
At the exact same time, during the polite chat, he also learned a great deal about her current situation.
Kori's father was the acting governor of Yu Dao, a position highly similar to a major city lord.
Their entire family had originally lived permanently on Yu Dao.
However, recently, with intense border wars actively breaking out, Yu Dao seemed to be not very peaceful at all.
To guarantee Kori's safety, Kori's father had strictly ordered Kori's mother to bring her back to the capital to live here temporarily.
They would eventually return when the military situation there significantly improved.
Yu Dao, huh...
Recalling exactly what he had extensively read in the royal library books, Kahn felt that the colony was also a rather subtle, highly complex existence.