She hadn’t been expecting to be asked to accompany Ann to the capital, but she didn’t hate the idea or anything, and no one was taking advantage of her to get her to do it. First, there was the fact that she’d interacted with Ann enough while staying in Gardenia that they’d become friends. Then there was the fact that she didn’t find the capital unpleasant anymore, despite having had nothing but negative feelings toward it originally. The Apothecary’s Guild in the capital was practically her second workplace, and her research buddy Noel was there, as well as her friends Mona and Heather. Even Josef was little more than a slightly nasty superior to her at this point. She wasn’t particularly close to Elm, but she knew that he was a good person, and she was used to staying at the townhouse in the capital now. Liam had gotten married last year, so he had no reason to bother Sara anymore.
Then were there any negatives to accepting? Well, she would have to leave the Apothecary’s Guild in Hydrangea, which was a very comfortable place for her now. She wouldn’t be able to continue providing a regular supply of supreme healing herbs anymore. And more than anything else, she would be leaving Nelly’s side.
Sara looked over at Nelly. Nelly smiled warmly at her and nodded slightly. A sign to do what she wanted to do.
Then, Sara looked to Allen. Allen gave her a firm nod as well. If she went, he would come with.
In the past, Sara might feel too bad to get Allen involved in her own circumstances, but she knew better now. If he didn’t want to do something, he would make his feelings clear. If he told her he would go with her, it was because he sincerely wanted to do so.
So what did she want to do? Sara looked down at her hands where they sat on her lap and thought. She had no complaints about her life right now, but maybe that meant it was the perfect time to try something new. The only thing that pricked at her heart was leaving Nelly, but she always knew they would have to part eventually, so she was somewhat prepared for it.
Sara looked up at Elm. “Even if I do go with you, the most I can do is serve as a friendly face for Ann. During the day, I’ll have to work at the Apothecary’s Guild in the capital. Is that okay?”
“Of course. But just like Chris said, I’m being selfish here, so I’m not expecting you to accept. If you want to stay here in Hydrangea, feel free to say no.”
“That’s right,” Ri added. “Don’t forget that I’ll be lonely if you leave!”
Their warmth almost brought a tear to Sara’s eye.
“Let me give it some thought.”
Ann’s decision to join the knights was looking like it would affect a lot more people’s lives than she might have thought it would.
“Allen, Kuntz, I know it’s late, but can we talk a bit?”
They were having their after-dinner tea, so it was already pretty late in the day.
“Of course.”
“You don’t even need to ask.”
“I’m here too!”
Haruto was still there as well. He had listened quietly to the whole conversation earlier.
Sara had decided to talk things over with Allen, Kuntz, and Haruto before going to Nelly. She’d traveled with Nelly all this time because she wanted to be with her forever, but this felt a bit like becoming independent, and she felt a little guilty about it.
“That was sudden, huh?”
“Yeah.”
The Wolveriés dispersed, leaving the young adults to their conversation. It was their way of being considerate.
“Do you want to go, Sara? Or do you want to stay?” Allen asked without wasting any time, so Sara answered without wasting time either.
“I want to go.”
“Okay. I’ll go with you.”
It wasn’t “Can I come with” or “I’m not sure if I want to come with;” it was “I’m coming with.”
And so just like that, Sara and Allen had decided what they were doing, without even having a discussion about it.
“I’m coming too. It is my hometown, after all.” Kuntz immediately announced his intent to accompany them.
“Guess I’ll go too, then.” Haruto was also coming for some reason.
“What do you mean, you guess?” Allen jabbed.
Haruto grinned but quickly wiped the smile off of his face. “If there’s a new Invited, I obviously want to meet her.”
“I don’t remember you being that eager to meet me.”
Part of that was because Sara hadn’t been publicly announced as an Invited, but even after he learned that she was one, she didn’t remember him having any particular interest in her.
“I think I probably felt like a Japanese person going to a foreign country for the first time back then.”
Sara had never been to a foreign country herself, but she immediately understood what he meant.
“There’s people who are happy to see other Japanese people and people who’d rather avoid them since they came all the way to another country, right?”
“Yeah. It was only after that I realized. We were the only two people in this world from the same place, so why didn’t I try to get to know you more? I regretted it for a long time. Also, I was probably just nervous to talk to a girl.”
Allen nodded emphatically. “You were pretty unfriendly back then.”
“Lay off it.”
If he could laugh about it now, he must have processed it enough.
“We could talk normally after that, come to think of it.”
“Right? We were already friends at that point, but I did some real maturing too.” Only Haruto could be so self-aggrandizing. “I thought it would be a bit awkward to go all the way to Gardenia by myself just to meet her, so if I’ve got an excuse, why wouldn’t I go with you?”
“I’m an excuse, eh?”
Of course, she had no complaints about Haruto coming along. It was rather convenient in her mind actually, since she wanted to introduce Ann to Haruto and Bradley as soon as she could.
After having a good laugh with everyone, she got them all back on track.
“So we’re going to Gardenia to pick her up?”
“You think we should?”
In their earlier conversation, they’d only decided that Elm would go to get her as her guardian, and he would prefer it if Sara came with him.
“Well, let’s go, then.”
“Even though we’re still deciding if we’re even gonna go to the capital?”
Haruto was being a bit hasty in Sara’s opinion.
“Well, I was planning on going to Gardenia after Hydrangea, even without all this Invited stuff.”
“So it’s just convenient for you!” Sara exclaimed. She was so exasperated that she couldn’t help it.
“I’ll have seen pretty much all of Trilgaia then.”
“Would you listen to me?!” she couldn’t help exclaiming again, but it was just like Haruto not to listen, and she had to admit, she was having fun.
Unlike Sara, Kuntz didn’t let Haruto distract him and asked, “Haruto, you keep talking about what you’re going to do next, but do you not need to go back to the Dark Mountain first? I’ve been wondering for a while now if Bradley might be worried about you.”
“He’s not.” Haruto turned his face to the side with a pout that did not look like the expression of a person over the age of twenty. “No, seriously, he’s not. He was even impressed when I left, saying he was surprised I stayed cooped up in such a boring place for so many years. Especially since I was so restless before.”
True, Haruto had been a restless kid, and not one to listen to others. He still didn’t listen, but from how quiet he’d been during tea earlier, Sara had to admit he had matured.
“We’re not fighting or anything. I’ll go see him at some point, but whether I go to Gardenia or not, it’s true that I was thinking about settling down in the capital for a bit, so this is perfect.”
“Perfect, eh? No, wait a second. Now that I think about it, it’s not like there’s anything wrong with going to Gardenia to get her.”
This stuff with Ann had been so sudden that Sara’s head was full with it. There hadn’t been any room for Haruto’s suggestion in there, but now that she got a chance to think about it, she realized it wasn’t a bad suggestion at all.
“The only real issue would be that it’ll cost money and time to go all the way there before heading to the capital...”
But was that really an issue? Sara looked up and saw three boys who couldn’t hide their excitement, just the same as they were when they were kids. Why not let momentum make the decision for them?
Sara sucked in a breath. “Does everyone have money?”
“Yep!” came a chorus of three.
“Do we have time?”
“Yep!”
“Any problems?”
“Nope!”
Sara had to wonder what the people in the mansion thought when they all erupted into laughter together.