Chapter 15

A Discovery

After running for several minutes, I finally arrived at the guardhouse at the southern gate. Seeing as there were a number of guards hurriedly running in and out, it seemed that Daniela too had arrived safely. And just as I was thinking about going inside, Daniela came out of the door with a guard in tow. A moment later, Russell followed.

“Asagi!”

“Daniela, I see you made it here safely.”

“Aye, I explained the situation to Captain Russell.”

Russell nodded and said that he was now leaving to arrest the adventurers.

“To be honest, I was getting quite angry with this trend of making you out to be a fool. I don’t appreciate them speaking ill of a man I rescued. But just leave it to me, I’ll have them thrown into prison, even for the smallest of crimes if I have to!”

“Russell, I’m grateful for the thought. But you shouldn’t abuse your power.”

“Hahaha!”

“Hey, Russell.”

He looked away from me and began to walk on. No, I really was happy for the thought, but.

“Asagi. The captain did listen to what I said with a serious ear. I think it should be fine.”

“Well, I do trust him…”

I mumbled as we watched the group of guards running, their armor clanking as they set off. There was something suffocating about being in the center of such an uproar, when I had rarely been anywhere but the sidelines all of my life.

As I and Daniela stood there watching, a young guard came and guided us into the building.

The inside of the house was overflowing with stuff. From doc.u.ments to mysterious boxes… Contraband, they later told me. It was a bit unsettling. I tried to avoid touching anything as we went further in towards the back and into a small room. There were two chairs, a desk, and a bed. And while there was a window in the room, it was set with iron bars. Wasn’t this a room to put villains in?

“I’m terribly sorry, but you must rest here today.”

“It makes me feel as if I were guilty of something…”

“Hahaha. Rooms that are difficult to escape from are also the safest.”

It’s not what you say, but how you say it, right? It was what it was. I didn’t care to get involved with anyone else out there now. But there was still one problem.

“There’s only a single bed here.”

“I’m very sorry, but that’s all we have at this time. Please share it.”

The h.e.l.l was he talking about? …Is he stupid? I looked at him with as much exasperation as I could muster, before slumping down into the chair.

“If it’s all you have, then I’ll just rest here. Daniela, you can use the bed.”

“Are you sure? You won’t get much rest sitting on that chair.”

“No, I’m actually used to it.”

“Are you…”

Yes. What can I say? I’m used to sleeping over a desk. I would sometimes get so tired during my night s.h.i.+ft at work, that I once fell asleep in the office. The manager was nice enough to let me sleep then. And ever since that time, I would sleep there right after work. And that was how I became accustomed to sleeping on desks.

“Well, that solves the problem. I shall return to my guarding duties!”

He gave a sharp salute and left the room. No, it’s not solved! I just compromised! I shouted inwardly, but only allowed a sigh to escape me. I should just rest for now. It’s been a while since I’ve run this much. I had been so tired when leaving the park, but I wasn’t sleepy at all anymore. I was bored.

“By the way, Daniela. You’re pretty fast, huh. I went after you only seconds later, but you were nowhere in sight. I was quite surprised.”

I had nothing better to do, so I tried talking to her. Also, I was curious. Maybe she was a fellow AGI h.o.a.rder.

Daniela sat down on the bed and looked at me as she began to speak.

“Ahh. Then, of course, you would not have seen me. I was running on the rooftops.”

“You what?”

Rooftops? Was there a ladder there that I didn’t see?”

“With wind magic. I can make my body lighter and add a boost when I jump. That height is really not that difficult at all.”

“Wind magic…”

I was reminded of how close the presence of magic actually was. Who would have thought she was a magician? She looked so much like a knight-type.