At the Northern Fort

"Bwanch Captaaaaain!"

"Cromwell!?"

Captain Sarrell-san and I shouted at the same time. Nild-san immediately stepped back from the door and stood together with the other four people to defend Captain Sarrell.

However, everyone's eyes were widened with surprise and were obviously shaken.

"Are you done with your tricks?"

Branch Captain-san quietly said.

He did not appear to be happy at having reached the mastermind. Rather, he appeared to be disappointed at the fact that Captain Sarrell-san was here.

"What trick are you talking about?"

Seeing Captain Sarrell-san raise his chin as he spoke in attempts to put on airs, Branch Captain-san calmly responded, without exposing a single emotion on his face.

"You want to kick me down from my position, do you not? Captain Sarrell."

"……saying that I want to kick you down sounds far too disreputable. You simply failed to protect the child spirits, and made the blunder of allowing them to be kidnapped on your own."

"They were not kidnapped."

Branch Captain-san interrupted him with a frightening expression.

Branch Captain-san once again appeared to rage at the fact that Captain Sarrell-san was here and that the black-cloaked men were all knights. He seemed to be bitterly disappointed.

Behind Branch Captain-san and Commander-san was Tina-san, who was standing at the ready. I didn't see the One-Eyed Knight's nor Kix's figures.

"The child spirits chose to become bait of their own wills and followed the five people here. Even though we had expected that the black-cloaked men were actually knights, that they truly were knights is rather disappointing."

Commander-san glared at them, causing Winst-san and the other four knights to shrink back.

"Bait……?"

"It was a trap?"

The five of them murmured, appearing to be in complete disbelief. Perhaps there was the unbelievable situation where Kugalg and I were allowed to walk around town unattended, they ground their teeth in frustration upon hearing the word [bait].

It was then that Jorg-san gave this rebuttal.

"Commander, I don't know what sort of misunderstanding you have, but those black-cloaked men were completely different people from us. We were unable to capture them, but we did manage to safely bring the child spirits under our protection. That is all that happened."

"But, I saw the three of you change out of your black clothes."

"I saw that too."

If they need even more proof, there's probably still some evidence remaining in the rooms further in.

When Kugalg and I spoke in turns, Jorg-san glared at us with a demonic expression on his face.

Sorry.

But no matter what kind of excuses you try to make, it won't work.

Kugalg and I had seen and heard everything that they did.

"Hahaha……it seems like the young spirits have misunderstood a number of things. They must be confused after having experienced the fear of being kidnapped by the black-cloaked men."

Winst-san said, implying that our words could not be trusted.

However, at that moment Hyllis inserted herself into the conversation from behind him.

"Then, what about my testimony? Are you saying that it cannot be trusted?"

Unnoticed, Hyllis had returned to her originally colourful body colours and was sitting on top of the fireplace that was positioned in the depths of the room.

Just when in the world did she come in?

Both Captain Sarrell-san's group and Branch Captain-san's group, who had been facing each other near the door, turned their gazes towards Hyllis.

"……the wind spirit? Why are you in a place like this?"

Captain Sarrell-san's brow furrowed as though he couldn't believe his eyes.

Hyllis gave a light wink.

"It's been a bit, Sarrell! I'm so sad that you plotted to kidnap spirits."

Winst-san also appeared bewildered as he spoke.

"The wind spirit……? Why is the wind spirit……"

"It's not strange for me to lend my powers to my cute spirit juniors, right? Since I've been tailing you guys this entire time, I know that you're lying. You should just honestly confess to your sins."

Waiting for Hyllis to finish speaking, Branch Captain-san also opened his mouth.

"We still have more witnesses. The five people that you hired with gold. Since they attacked us as soon as we tried to leave Chedas, we managed to capture them. While you did hide half of your faces, they saw the black-cloaked men close up, and they also heard their voices. If we bring them here to see you, then they'll probably be able to identify your faces and voices. Right now Grail and Kix have taken those five into their custody and are bringing them here. They'll be arriving here soon. Do you plan on continuing this farce until then?"

The five people bit their lips and fell silent. They probably couldn't say anything in return.

Speaking up amongst them with a bewildered voice was Captain Sarrell-san.

"Wait a second, Cromwell. What are you saying? My brilliant subordinates kidnapped these child spirits? You mean to say that I was framed by my subordinates in this matter? That's impossible……"

Branch Captain-san raised an eyebrow.

"……why would that surprise you so much? Wasn't the ringleader of this plot you?"

"I'm the ringleader!? What a misunderstanding! That makes no sense at all."

"But—"

"Cromwell! Don't tell me that you're trying to frame me!? Is it because you heard that I was aiming to be your replacement!?"

"You're wrong."

As the agitated Captain Sarrell-san spoke in turns with the calm Branch Captain-san, I also turned my gaze to each of them in turn.

Though I thought that Captain Sarrell-san was feigning ignorance in an attempt to get out of taking responsibility for his crimes, seeing him act so confused made me think that perhaps that wasn't the case.

Branch Captain-san also seemed to be a little perplexed.

"However, without permission from you, Captain Sarrell, as their superior, these five people would have been unable to leave the Capital, considering their positions as knights of the Knight's Order here."

"Allow me to straighten things out. I certainly did give these five permission to leave the Capital. However, that was so that they could go meet up with Cromwell and the Commander."

Captain Sarrell-san fixed the position of his glasses and said.

"Us? Why would you give such an order?"

"Why, you ask?"

There, Captain Sarrell-san raised his voice while giving Commander-san a sharp glare.

"It is because of this alcoholic of a Commander! I was sure that he'd pass by each town and give the excuse of giving an inspection to walk around drinking! It is because I expected that he would dilly dally on his way back despite the fact that his work has been piling up! Despite the fact that it's a distance that he should be able to travel within 4 days, he's certain to take from five to six days instead."

After being glanced at by Captain Sarrell-san, Commander-san wiped away a cold sweat as he looked the other way. If Kugalg and I hadn't been with him, he might've actually been planning to walk around drinking.

"I see, so that is why."

While listening to Branch Captain-san and Captain Sarrell-san's conversation, Commander-san's large frame shrivelled up as he muttered, "Isn't it fine to have a breather every now and then……".

"And just earlier today, Jorg and Gordon both rushed into my office. They said that the child spirits that were travelling with your group had been abducted. But then, they reported this. They had tracked the culprits in your group's stead and safely retrieved the child spirits. Then, I was guided here."

Captain Sarrell explained as he spread his arms out widely.

"While the culprits may have escaped, is this not their hideout? Were the child spirits not being confined here?"

Captain Sarrell-san turned towards Branch Captain-san and said, but Branch Captain-san silently pointed his gaze towards Winst-san and the other four.

Captain Sarrell-san followed his gaze and looked towards his subordinates.

"You five, what do you mean by this? I thought that all of you were my brilliant subordinates. There is no way that you would do such a foolish thing. Isn't that right? If you deny it, then I will do everything in my power to protect you. Now, how about it……?"

Deny it, Captain Sarrell-san's eyes said.

However, the five of them silently hung their heads.

Seeing Captain Sarrell-san's quivering fist, I felt that he truly didn't know anything about this.

He hadn't participated at all in this fabricated kidnapping incident. Everything was done by these five people without any of his consent.

I had thought that the intelligent Captain Sarrell-san had purposely told Hyllis of Kugalg and my existence, acting while calculating each and every one of his actions. However, that seemed to have just been a misunderstanding on my part. It was just a coincidence that Hyllis had been involved.

Although we had been thinking of somehow trying to catch the mastermind behind this incident, there wasn't a mastermind to begin with.

"You guys……"

Captain Sarrell-san pushed me towards Branch Captain-san, and then speechlessly approached the five people before suddenly yelling angrily.

"What the hell have you done! Just what the hell were you thinking!? With this, my reputation will be the one to fall into the mud! It's all your fault!"