Elm looked truly relieved. He was dressed like a townsperson and wearing a hat for some reason. Sara realized something.
“I don’t suppose you’ve been disguising yourself every day and going out to watch Ann?”
“Well, I was worried. I mean, working on her own all of a sudden?”
He was probably greeting people like he said as well, but apparently he’d been out peeking in on Ann’s job every day too.
“There was no time for crooks to catch up to Ann with how fast she made those deliveries. I came here too, to see what you guys were doing. It was much more work than you said it was, huh?”
Sara hadn’t noticed at all. She thought about saying something to him, but seeing him watching Ann so happily, in a hat that didn’t suit him at all, she lost the motivation to do so. Maybe it was because his flaming red hair and green eyes like fresh verdure were so much like Nelly’s.
She found herself wondering what it would have been like if Nelly hadn’t been dragged off to the capital and they’d gone down to Rosa together. She was sure Nelly would have snuck out to watch her work in the Hunter’s Guild every day just like this. She couldn’t suppress her mana at that point, so it would have been completely obvious where she was, but she’d look totally innocent as she said...
“I got out of the dungeon a little early today. Can I have one of those potions?”
She’d smile happily as Sara rang her up.
Elm was the same. Now that Ann was in his care, he treasured her dearly.
Sara’s heart warmed. She was truly grateful that she’d been taken in by Nelly’s family, the Wolveriés.
Ann finally returned, face flushed.
“You’re here, Elm!”
“Yeah. I wanted to see how you were all doing.”
He was really here to see how Ann was doing, Sara thought with amusement.
“Well, since you’ve finally got your Hunter’s license, should we go to the central dungeon tomorrow to celebrate?”
Ann’s eyes sparkled at Haruto’s suggestion.
“Can we?”
“Yeah. Our lessons are over today, so we were thinking we’d take the group into the dungeon tomorrow anyway.”
Next it was Rod and the newbie Hunters whose eyes started sparkling.
“We can come too?”
“Yeah. We can keep you company for the next few days,” Haruto said proudly. He was actually a pretty caring guy.
“Well, I guess I’ll go with you, then.”
Elm was in a good mood, relaxed after his subterfuge was exposed, so he planned to come with them openly from now on.
“How extravagant.”
“It’s more extravagant for Invited to come, isn’t it?”
The day was about to end peacefully, everyone smiling as everything seemed to be going right.
That was when a Hunter hanging back in a corner of the training room and not participating in the revelry stepped forward. Actually, Sara had just assumed he was a Hunter, but he was wearing a hat like Elm, and his clothes were simple but well tailored, like he was a noble out in disguise.
“Sorry, but could you postpone those plans to go into the dungeon?”
The voice that came from this newcomer was familiar to Sara. She felt a cold sweat drip down her back at the sound of it.
“Ann, didn’t you come to the capital to join the knights?”
The man removed his hat, revealing the face of Liam, vice commander of the capital’s knights.