“Why does the person who worked the hardest have to be locked up just so things are easier for you? That doesn’t make any sense. It’s not a question of what’s easiest.” This time, Sara made sure not to let her mana get out of control, no matter how angry she was. “I don’t care if it’s the prime minister or the king or the former knight commander or an Invited or whoever. If you can’t do it, then just find someone who can. Stop trying to take the easy way out and get that order rescinded right now!” She glared at Liam fiercely. “If you know your superior’s in the wrong, then it’s your job to fix it as a subordinate, isn’t it?! Stop making excuses and go do it already!”
She didn’t know if it was just the shock of having a younger girl say all that to him or if she’d truly hurt his pride, but Liam went white and then slowly turned red, tightly clenched fists trembling at his sides.
But he remained silent, simply spinning around and signaling the knights before striding off. Aside from two lookouts, the rest of the knights hurried after him.
“Phew...” Sara sank into the chair. “I’m more tired today than I was yesterday...”
“Sara! Allen!”
Noel leaped into the room, looking rather flustered. He’d managed to get dressed, but from his messy hair, it was clear that he’d rushed here right after waking up. It had only been a few days since they’d last seen him, but it seemed like a long time.
Sara glanced at the knights standing near the door, who were frozen with their hands stretched out. They must have been surprised that Noel had passed so easily through the barrier that had repelled Liam earlier.
“I saw the whole thing! The paralysis agent only worked for a short time, and while the rest of the knights and Hunters just panicked, Allen was the only one... Allen was the only one who was able to calmly get on top of the continental tortoise. He was on the shell, and the tortoise started moving, but he jumped up to the head and stabbed his sword into its eye... Allen is without a doubt an incredible Hunter! He’s a hero!”
Noel was always calm and collected, but he was shouting now, his face wet with tears.
“Even when the continental tortoise went berserk, he clung to the sword and didn’t let go! It started moving so fast I couldn’t keep up with it and didn’t see it myself, but I heard that he clung to it the whole time until it was right in front of the capital! How could he... How could he be arrested like a criminal?!”
Sara had never seen Noel get so emotional before, so she was starting to panic herself, unsure of how to comfort him.
“I’ll testify as a witness! First I’ll go to my father. Then... Then...” Noel rubbed his eyes with his sleeve. “They can’t arrest someone who worked so hard! They just can’t! I’ll go talk to them!”
Just like he’d entered, Noel left the room like the wind.
“Err, huh?”
“Well... I guess I’m kinda happy about that.”
The Hills brothers made quite the contrast, but Allen had always treated Noel kindly, so it was nice to see how angry he got on Allen’s behalf. Allen looked a little bashful at the intensity of the emotions Noel had just shown them, and he looked at Sara like he wanted to say something. It was a little strange, though, since he didn’t actually look her in the eye.
“Sara, umm... Thank you.”
“Yeah. You’re welcome.” She folded her arms and puffed her chest out. “You always think things’ll work out if you just put up with stuff, Allen.”
“Yeah, I guess I do, don’t I?” he agreed easily.
“That’s why people look down on you and take advantage of you... Huh?” Even as she said the words, Sara felt as though she’d heard them somewhere before.
“That’s what I said to you.”
“Oh, that’s why it sounded so familiar.”
It was kind of embarrassing to think that they both thought the same thing about each other and were always frustrated about it.
“Want some tea?” Sara said, perhaps to avoid dwelling on that feeling.
Over the tea, she told him about what had happened when he was unconscious and how Nelly and Kuntz had saved him.
“I only remember bits and pieces of it. I remember feeling really relieved when Nelly put her hands over mine and pulled the sword out of the continental tortoise. I can sort of remember jumping down from the shell and how it got farther and farther away after that too.”
“It’s too bad you didn’t see how hard Kuntz was working just after that.”
Sara told him all about it to fill in the gaps in his memory.
Something finally happened right around when they were finishing their second cup. There was a quiet knock on the door.
“Can I open it?” Sara asked Allen.
“Your call,” he said resignedly, leaning back in his chair.
“Come in.”
When the door opened, Liam was standing behind it, so Sara was pretty sure she made a super annoyed face when she saw him.
“Pardon the intrusion.”
Still, he was being polite, unlike earlier, so Sara invited him inside. “Please come in.”
Of course, she still had her barrier around her and Allen so that he couldn’t touch them.
Liam cleared his throat and clasped his hands behind his back. “I came to clear up a misunderstanding.”
“Did you?” Sara responded coldly.
“I believe some knights arrived earlier to arrest Mr. Allen.”
“You ‘believe’? You were there yourself.” Sara was without mercy.
Liam cleared his throat again. “That order has been rescinded. It became clear that it was a misunderstanding based on unclear reports.”