Chapter 10

「Why are brats in here!」

---

A loud voice echoes around the Guild .

That voice gathers the attention of the other people around .

「They are my company, is there a problem?」

「This is not a place for brats to play!」

「No… they are obediently behaving, right? I don’t think they are being a nuisance to you, but?」

「There are nuisance just by being here!」

「Just by being here, you say…… give me a break…」

This is the type of person who would pick up a fight no matter what I say . I’m certain my words won’t connect with him .

I would like to settle this peacefully, but…… now then, how to deal with this……

I wanted to sigh, but I forcibly suppressed it . The opponent seems to be the type that would get even more agitated by it .

Nevertheless, to think that there would actually be person who would pick a quarrel for no reason…… I thought this would happen only in novels .

「Oi! Don’t ignore me!」

「No, I told you…」

「Aan!? Are you defying me right now?」

The opponent suddenly extends his hand in order to grab me by the collar without a thought .

Ah, it’s no use no matter what I say . Talking is impossible .

Now then…… what to do……

While thinking so, the hand that was grabbing to seize me was suddenly repelled .

「Ah…」

When I let the voice, it was already too late .

Allen and Elena kicked the bald adventurer’s hand away . Then, they proceed to kick him in the abdomen just like that .

The adventurer let’s out『Gu!』a suffering groan while his upper body bent . He then fell back right on his backside .

「Uwa! Stop, stop! Allen, Elena . Wait!」

I shout in panic .

---

I stop Allen and Elena a second before they can both land ax kick on the collapsed adventurer’s head .

The kicks that were going to land directly on his head just barely swept beside him .

That was dangerous… seriously dangerous…

He would definitely die if those ax kicks landed .

His upper body fall down with a thud and he stopped moving . He must have already fainted after suffering the hit to his abdomen .

A silence drifts in the Guild which was noisy just a minute ago .

The adventurers and the Guild staff stiffened in shock .

Even if they are used to fighting, witnessing small children KO’ing a grown man must have been really surprising .

Well then…… what do I do now?

「Ou . Excuse me……… N? What?」

A person walks into the guild and looks around the frozen stiff guild dumbfoundedly .

「What, what? Did something happen?」

A familiar voice . If I’m not mistaken, it should be one of the west gate Knight-samas .

He is not wearing armor today, but a dark blue knight uniform .

Thanks to him, the stopped time in the Guild started moving again .

First of all, I turn to the Guild staff behind the counter and timidly ask .

「Ah~…… Is there a punishment in a case like this?」

I can’t leave without asking that, right?

◇ ◇ ◇

There was no punishment .

This time, we were not at fault because the other party one-sidedly picked a quarrel with us and we only defended ourselves .

I’m glad…

---

The fallen adventurer was dragged to the guild’s sick bay by other adventures on the guild staff instructions, he started moving again normally after a while .

「This~ Takumi-san…」

「Yes?」

「See…… the children……」

「He?」

Luna-san reservedly calls out to me . Prompted by those words, I turn around to look at Allen and Ellen…… they were crying .

There were shedding tears without a voice .

「Waa!? Why are you crying!?」

I rush up to the two children in panic and crouch to match their line of sight .

「Injuries… none, right? What’s wrong?」

「…… Don’t… leave us……」

They cling to me with a fragile voice .

Leave? Why?

Perhaps, is it because I raised my voice a little while ago? Are those two uneasy because of that?

They thought I was angry at them…

「I won’t leave you . It’s all right, okay?」

I embrace the crying children while repeating『It’s all right』『We are together』 in a gentle voice .

It took about ten minutes for those two to calm down .

「Here, you must be thirsty, right?」

Still sobbing a little, I hand the two a fruit juice .

They cried a lot, I must let them rehydrate properly .

「In the end, what has happened?」

Ah, Knight-sama, you are still here…

---

The Knight-sama from the west gate is the second commanding officer of Shirin Knight’s, a noble named Grunwald Ruven .

A captain of one of five Shirin’s divisions . The second most important person in the Shirin Knights . It seems he came today to talk to the Guild Master .

＝＝＝＝＝

Status

【Name】Grunwald Ruven

【Race】Human

【Occupation】Knight

【Age】26

【Level】32

【Skills】

Swordsmanship | Spearmanship | Throwing | Fire Magic

Horseback Riding | Dismantling | Commanding

Etiquette | Dancing

Physical Attack Resistance

【Titles】

Count Ruven’s Second Son

Knight of the Flaming Sword

＝＝＝＝＝

Un, he has the skills appropriate of a noble knight-sama .

Indeed, a knight should be about riding a horse and swinging weapons around . Besides,【Commanding】 . Un, I feel like it’s necessary for a captain .

【Etiquette】and【Dancing】is noble-ish .

The title【Knight of the Flaming Sword】sounds cool~ Looking at the name, is it about using a sword enhanced with Fire Magic?

…… Oops, he asked a question .

「They probably thought I would abandon them」

「Haa? What’s that about? You, would you do such a thing?」

「I won’t do anything like that! Please don’t such something so disgraceful」

「Then, why are they thinking so?」

「No~ I didn’t perfectly grasp the understanding yet, I still don’t understand well~」

That’s the truth . I don’t know their circumstances before meeting me at that place .

「They are your children…… probably not, they are your sibling, aren’t they?」

「Unfortunately, they are not . I have just met these children recently . To be precise, a week ago? They were in the Gaya Forest」

「Haa?」

「If they were discarded or just lost, I do not know, though」

「Seriously?」

「Yeah . Wasn’t there recently a carriage attacked near the Gaya Forest or something? They were most likely slaves」

Weren’t they sold as slaves because they don’t have parents? Is what I think . After all, if they were in the orphanage, I wouldn’t meet them in a place like that .

「…… There certainly was . A Slave Trader from the Argo was attacked by monsters in the Gaya Forest while heading to this town」

Luna-san immediately recalls the information .

「Ah, as expected . They were probably made into a decoy」

「Children like these…」

「It doesn’t look like they were the ones to become the decoy in the end, though . In this case, how are these children going to be treated? There won’t be problems if I take them in, right? Fortunately, they don’t have any proof of being slaves」

「In that case, they are simply treated as orphans . There won’t be problems to put them into orphanage or raise them yourself . 。Besides, it looks like these children completely recognize you as their guardian . If you’d like, I will guarantee you」

「Ruven-sama, thank you very much」

I was worried about the interference from the merchant, but it doesn’t seem like there will be problems .

It seems like Ruven-sama will become the guarantee .

「Wald is all right . Apart from that――」

「Rather than that, Takumi-san! You went into the Gaya Forest!」

Luna-san interrupts Ruven-sama who said it’s okay to call him Wald-sama, and she bends forward over the counter .