CH 102

I guess what I did during the Blue Flames incident was that shocking to him. Still, what was I, a baby left by a riverbank…? I cast a tired look at Mayer, and August and Vegan did the same as they listened to the captain’s cautioning. August swallowed back a groan as he answered, “…Do not worry.”

Pressured by the intense glint in Mayer’s eye, Vegan reluctantly nodded in understanding. Then, he turned around to whisper in my ear. “I thought it was bad at first, but now His Excellency’s acting even worse. Did something happen lately?”

Unable to bring myself to confess that I had cut my arm in front of Mayer, I didn’t reply, only letting out a sigh. Mayer eyed the two of us whispering with disapproval and, of course, he had to say something about this. “Vegan. Do not stick too close to the vice-captain. How could you act so thoughtlessly? What will you do if a strange rumor starts because of your old self hanging around her?”

No, the rumors start because of you… was what I wanted to say to him. I wished Mayer would look back on his own actions, but that was too much to expect of him. He shot daggers at Vegan, who had no option but to smile awkwardly and slowly distance himself from me in the end. The forced smile on the spearman’s face made him look like some crushed sweet persimmon.

The members of the special unit, on the other hand, casually dismissed Mayer’s attitude. It wasn’t the first time they were seeing the man find fault for ridiculous reasons. In fact, they seemed to think it was only natural he was acting like this. The young Sevi and Julieta whispered to each other. “I didn’t expect Vegan to be so dull, showing off his closeness with the vice-captain when His Excellency’s right there watching.”

“Brother Vegan must be like me… I struggled a lot because I’m not that perceptive myself…”

They were murmuring in low voices, but Vegan was certainly able to hear them with his sharp ears. The spearman wore an anguished look on his face.

“Now, enough of the chatter.” I clapped my hands to change the atmosphere. We couldn’t keep talking in front of the dungeon gate forever. “We’re going in now.”

“…Is it truly fine for me not to go with you?”

“It is! It’s fine!” I emphasized, barely managing to smile through gritted teeth and shake off the persistent Mayer. Deciding we’d be going nowhere at this rate, I made a beeline for the rippling dungeon gate. With one foot in the gate, I made one last entreaty to Mayer. “Don’t think of following us in, Captain. Just quietly deal with your overdue paperwork, alright? I’ll be checking in with you after I’m back!”

With that said, I hopped inside the gate. Mayer’s bewildered face lingered in the rippling and blurring boundary between dimensions. It looked a bit silly, unlike his usual eminent self, so much so that I laughed out loud, forgetting for a moment the danger of entering a dungeon.