Even though they were underground, his blond hair and blue eyes shone as though in sunlight. Every time she saw him, Sara had to admit that he was handsome. It was a rather unpleasant feeling.
“Umm, yes. I’m sorry.”
Ann was surprised, but she apologized meekly. Liam had come to Gardenia the year before during the green grass locust incident, so Ann knew who he was.
Elm stepped in between Ann and Liam to mediate.
“Yeah, sorry. We were able to leave Gardenia sooner than we thought, so I wanted her to get some different experiences. I believe there should still be a few days until the date when she originally planned to enlist...”
Though the atmosphere grew more and more tense, Sara was still managing to find some amusement in the situation. She’d only known Liam clothed in his knight’s uniform or the sort of fancy garb you wore to a party, but here he was dressed like a commoner, even wearing a hat. It was probably a disguise so that he wouldn’t reveal his identity.
Elm and Liam, two different people in very different positions, were both hiding in the guild’s underground training room, in disguise. That alone was funny enough.
“Maybe that was your intent, but I received a letter from House Greif that you left early, meaning that you would most likely arrive early.”
“Oh, Lati...” Ann pouted as Liam scolded her.
“They’ve let their twelve-year-old daughter leave their side. It’s only natural for them to worry. Especially with the mountains between us being closed to travel. Think about how they feel.”
He was only being reasonable. Everything he said was completely correct. Sara understood that, and she felt a bit of chagrin at hearing this. But she also felt a little annoyed for some reason.
“What are you all doing not stopping her either? A noble girl running errands around town? As her guardian, you should never have let her do so. Can you really say you’re a fitting guardian for her when you’re like this, Elm?”
“Err, well...”
“Did you have any idea that there were rumors flying all around the capital that an Invited was running around the capital doing errands and that other Invited were holding special classes in the guildhall?”
“Uhh...were there? I’m not really interested in rumors, so...”
Liam was lecturing Elm, his elder, like it was completely natural.
“Was this something you had to do to the point of causing trouble for the Marta Company, whom we had to inquire with, and the Hunter’s Guild, which has been overcrowded every day?”
“The Marta Company...”
Ann hung her head when she heard that she might have inconvenienced the store she was working for.
“Okay, but...”
Elm tried to defend Ann, but Allen stepped forward, stopping him.
“Liam. This isn’t a conversation we need to have here.”
“Allen. If you were here in the capital, don’t you think you should have come to greet the knights as well?”
Liam’s lecturing turned to Allen now. He really must have been furious.
“We can talk about all of that somewhere else.”
Allen wrapped things up briskly and turned to the rookie Hunters they’d been looking after.
“We’ll meet up in the Hunter’s Guild at the same time tomorrow, okay?” Allen smiled at them to reassure them, seeing how nervous they were looking. “Kuntz and Haruto and I will be there for sure. Not sure about the others yet. Get some rest for today. Dismissed!”
With that simple and easy to understand message, the rookie Hunters said their thanks for today’s lesson and left swiftly, as if fleeing Liam.
The Hunters who had been watching Ann and Liam with interest all dispersed as well.
“It’ll take too long to go back to the knight barracks or the townhouse, so let’s ask the guildmaster if we can borrow a room here. Or we could go to Kuntz’s house. It’s nearby.”
“No way, this group won’t fit in my house.”
Liam had nothing in his head but lectures, and Elm was stuck making nothing but excuses, yet Allen had wrapped everything up and moved things along in no time at all.
He said nothing after that until he’d pulled Sara upstairs by the hand and went to one of the receptionists’ desks.
“We have something we’d like to ask the guildmaster. Can you get him?”
“My, Allen the hero and Plant Hunter Sara. Of course.”
The big scene the guildmaster Konrad had made that first day was at least useful in that all the receptionists recognized Allen and Sara now. She could do without the nicknames, though.
While the receptionist went to go get the guildmaster, Ann, Elm, Kuntz, Haruto, Liam, and even Rod gathered behind Sara and Allen in a big group.
“Hey, Allen and Sara! Good work these last ten days. Personally, it was a real help—waugh!”
She didn’t know who that “waugh” was in response to, but at this rate he would cause another scene. As Sara stood there nervously, Allen swept his hand back at the group behind them.
“Guildmaster, we’d like to borrow a room. You can see the situation here.”
“R-Right. Come this way.”
Just like before, Konrad led them to his office in the back.
“Man, everyone’s been on pins and needles getting to learn not just from Allen and Kuntz but from Invited like Haruto and Sara too. It’s been crazy. Probably pretty rough for you guys too, huh?”
Konrad laughed, evidently not picking up on the strained atmosphere among the group. And they weren’t supposed to be holding classes, they were just supposed to be teaching some rookie Hunters some things as thanks for introducing Ann to her job. All those extra students had just joined in on their own.
“Uhh...should I step out for this, or...?”
Liam must have given him a look.
Elm shook his head. “No, you can stay. You’ve helped everyone here out, not just Sara and Ann.”
“Hey, long time no see, Elm. I saw you popping into the training room a couple times. You should have said hello sooner.”
“Sorry. I was busy watching over Ann. Also, I thought you’d make a scene if you spotted me.”
Elm finally came out and admitted that he’d been watching over Ann. These two seemed pretty close despite Konrad being so much older than Elm.
“You can catch up later. Ann here wants to join the knights, so I need her and her guardian to understand exactly what that means.”
Liam spoke with such vigor that he might as well have been slamming his hands on the desk. Sara assumed he’d already said what he wanted to say in the training room, so he would just be repeating himself now, but she could sympathize at least a little with him. She had figured that Elm had already reported to them that they’d arrived and told them when Ann would be joining. If the Greifs had contacted Liam to say they should be arriving soon but they hadn’t shown up and then strange rumors started flying around town, it was only natural the knights would be annoyed. But she wasn’t sure why she had to be included as part of this lecture.
“Umm...” Sara raised her hand to cut Liam off since it looked like he was going to keep going. It was their first time making eye contact that day, which made Sara a bit uncomfortable.
“I’m just here accompanying Ann so she has someone to talk to. It’s been a while, Liam.”
“Since last year, I suppose. It’s hard to believe less than a full year has passed since then. You’re more beautiful than ever.”
Did he have some disease that made him unable to talk to a woman without complimenting her? At least he was able to get his anger under control somewhat by engaging in this etiquette. She could take the compliment at face value as well, since she knew he was already married.
“Thank you. First of all, let me apologize as well, as one of Ann’s guardians. You must have worried, not hearing from us even though we arrived in the capital early.”