“Don’t put yourself in harm’s way like that. If you died, I would be sad, too,” Arwin scolded April while giving her a bear hug. “But you were very brave.”
There was a quiver in her voice. She caressed April’s head and turned to me.
“I’m sorry it took so long.”
“Any longer and this man would have taken my chastity,” I said.
“…You seem like you’re fine, then.”
“Y-you…!”
Harrison struggled to get to his feet. The lightning bolt could have killed him, but he was still in a battle mindset. Whether out of sheer tenacity or fear of being judged by the powers that be, he glared at Arwin with pure hatred.
“I don’t care if you’re a hero; if you try to stop me, I’ll show you no mercy,” he spat.
“I’d say the same to you,” Arwin stated. “I won’t overlook your lawless behavior anymore. If you want to fight, then you’ll get a fight.”
By the time she drew her sword, Harrison had seemingly lost the physical and mental will to fight back, and he fell to his knees. But he still refused to be arrested, swinging a knife around to keep the Paladins at bay.
Arwin cast one last at glance at him, then unfurled a piece of paper and addressed the rioters.
“His Lordship has rescinded his order! It was a mistake. There is no official reason for April to be under pursuit!”
The negotiations had been a success. Since the lord couldn’t admit he was swayed by greed, his only option to save face was to simply claim it was a mistake. No longer was there any justification to kidnap her by claiming they were apprehending a criminal. But there was one problem remaining: the bounty on April’s head.
“Who cares?!” someone screamed from the mob, predictably. “As long as I get some money, I can escape this shit life!”
“My son is sick!”
Everyone had their own issues. Some were so indebted that their families were on the verge of breaking apart. Some had family members suffering from debilitating illness. Some had starving wives and children. It was a cheap cliché, but a true one: Justice existed in as many forms as there were people.
“Still! It is gravely wrong to blame April for crimes she did not commit.”
“I don’t care if it’s wrong, I’m gonna die if I don’t get money!”
Beseeching one’s better judgment wasn’t going to change the facts of life. No amount of praying to gods led to showers of coins from the sky. People still died for unfair reasons.
“Aren’t you supposed to be on our side?!” someone shouted from the crowd. “Can you really hold your head high and claim what you’re doing is right?”
But despite being faced with the cruel reality of the situation, Arwin did not waver.
“April and I have our own circumstances, just as all of you do. You are attempting to abuse an innocent girl for money. No matter how many millions of words you expend justifying your behavior, it does not change this simple fact. Are you willing to bear the price of this sin?”
It was as if a bucket of ice water had been dumped over the hotheads in the crowd. They asked themselves, Are we willing to become sinners for this?
Bit by bit, the madness subsided. Once they’d had a moment to reflect, they realized the hideousness of what they were doing. And critically, if they seized the hidden treasure anyway or tried to kidnap April, they were the ones who’d be thrown in jail. But some fools would not back down.
“Shaddup!”
A man brandished a kitchen knife and hurtled forward.
“If you don’t shut up and hand over that brat…”
“Take one step closer to her and I will run my sword through your heart!”
It was like a clap of thunder that stopped the man in his tracks. He dropped the knife and fell to the ground on his bottom. Arwin’s intimidation spread fear through the greed-crazed crowd.
Now.
I turned my back and pinched my nose.
“All of you, disperse ad once! Or I’ll hab you all thrown indo jail!”
My accurate imitation of the tanned guard’s voice had the desired effect. They had just been given a reason to feel guilty about their actions, and once the fervor wore off, their will was brittle. Plus, there were more than a few idiots in the crowd. Some of them had been on the wrong side of the town guard before, I guessed.
While a rioting mob was unmanageable once they got going, they were also weak when they felt fear. One after another, they threw down their weapons and scattered to the wind. Even the man on the ground crawled toward a nearby alley.
“Cease this pointless resistance. You’re the only one left.”
His subordinates were either on the run or captured already. Harrison was the only one left.
“Give up. You don’t stand a chance.”
“Screw you!”
He thrust out the white scroll from earlier—he still had it on him. All he had to do was open it up and chant the spell, and it would create a blast of heat and wind.
“This scroll was specially made. You won’t make off with Heather’s hidden fortune. You’re the ones who will die now!”
He used his teeth to open the scroll, allowing him to keep brandishing the knife.
“Seize him!” Vincent commanded. The Paladins burst into motion. Arwin raced forward with her sword up. The Maretto sisters began chanting spells.
But none of them would be in time. A magic symbol appeared on the blank paper. That was bad—once that happened, there was no stopping it. The spell was going to execute.
Harrison crowed with a howl of madness and mirth, until a pale hand reached out from the side and snatched the scroll from him.
“This stupid thing!”
April threw the scroll as far as she could. It flapped in the breeze as it soared, still wrapped around the rod, and vanished into the hole in the midden pile.
“Run for it!” I shouted, ducking. A massive pillar of flame shot upward. The red flames roared into the sky, showering everything with sparks. When the skin-prickling wind died down, there was black smoke billowing from the hole. Occasionally there was the sound of something bursting down there, along with sounds of physical collapse.