Chapter 30
Chapter 30: Cataloma
***
When Charles asked this question, he was nervous.
He had certainly seen it, this girl had just descended from the sky, and her mastery of the Frost Order was extremely skillful, subduing two formidable Workshop Hunters in just the blink of an eye.
At that moment, Charles had a brief panic, thinking she was coming after him, and almost ran away.
But unexpectedly, Sir Carlos knew this young girl, and seemed quite nervous around her. As soon as she came down, he started scolding her, and then they began arguing.
The form of their argument was quite childish and laughable, like children competing to see who could be louder. But regardless, there was no doubt that their relationship was very close.
Carlos was a Pontifical Knight, this he knew for certain, but he couldn’t figure out his relationship with this young girl. However, looking at her black hair and black eyes that clearly symbolized the nobility of the Valen Empire, it wasn’t hard to judge her wealthy or noble status.
He remembered her name was something like Syl… Syl-something? Anyway, it sounded somewhat familiar. Was she a child of Duke Scalliger?
At this moment, the young girl had an angry expression, her whole body radiating a “I’m very angry” demeanor, which somehow made Charles’s heart flutter.
But she didn’t seem to like him much… Charles secretly cursed Carlos for being meddlesome. Why did he have to provoke her?
You made her angry, and then just left it alone, making me come up to ask her?
His heart was filled with mixed emotions.
Charles didn’t want to take on this burden at all, but he had no choice.
He could only put on a forced smile and repeat his previous question.
“Um, excuse me, miss, you……”
Not letting the foreign man finish his words, I glared at him.
Why are you asking me!
Can’t you see I’m still angry? You have no sense of timing at all.
I turned my face away, refusing to speak with him, but happened to see the hunter whom I had blocked with the ice wall. He was now walking out from behind, swaying unsteadily with one hand covering his cheek.
I immediately pointed at him.
“Let him speak.”
Then I crossed my arms and stood aside by myself, silently fuming.
“…What?”
The hunter had probably charged too hard earlier, and when the ice wall came up, he couldn’t stop in time and ran straight into it face-first. He was still shaking his head continuously, obviously somewhat confused about the situation.
“I don’t believe I have offended anyone from Shanter Castle, yet you suddenly rushed over to attack us. Don’t you owe us an explanation?”
“Tell us what’s going on. I believe there must be some misunderstanding here.”
Carlos spoke with a calm gaze, as if nothing had happened, and that indifferent attitude made me increasingly angry as I looked at him.
But now the children’s matter hadn’t been resolved, and this indeed wasn’t the time to quibble, so I could only throw him a resentful glare.
After thinking for a moment, I deliberately moved a few steps to the side, creating some distance from him.
Don’t think you can stand so close to me!
“Let me explain,” the other hunter had recovered from his dazed state and, having apparently figured out some things, gave me a complex look before bowing his head to Carlos. “I apologize for my presumption. May I ask… are you Sir Carlos of the Silver Flash?”
“Ah, that’s right.” Carlos nodded, the corner of his mouth curling up slightly, his azure eyes gleaming with mockery. “You’re hunters from the Workshop, aren’t you? What’s this, did the Duke think I ate too much breakfast today and was worried about my digestion, so he sent you two to help me work it off?”
Cold sweat appeared on the hunter’s forehead.
“No……”
“Actually, you know, you should be looking for this girl.” Carlos pointed his index finger at me twice. “This morning, she ate way more than I did.”
“Carlos! You dare, provoke me!” My emotions that had just calmed down surged up again like a stormy sea. I ran back in front of him in three quick steps, grabbed his pointing hand, and with a fierce expression, opened my mouth to bite.
This is absolutely infuriating!
I had decided not to argue with him anymore, yet he dares to talk about me!
Seeing my fierce appearance, Carlos’s eyebrows shot up in fright, and he quickly pressed down on my head and struggled to pull his hand away.
“Are you a puppy?!”
“Who told you to, talk about me again!!”
I was breathing heavily, feeling like my lungs were about to explode with anger. I glared at him, grinding my teeth in fury.
Is bullying me really that fun?!
“Uh, sorry. It’s a habit, I accidentally……”
Carlos also realized he had really angered me this time and wanted to quickly make peace, but his words nearly choked me.
“What do you mean, it’s a habit!”
I continued glaring at him.
Carlos, from today on, I’ve decided not to speak to you anymore.
Carlos felt uneasy under my fierce gaze and awkwardly averted his eyes, ignoring the strange looks from others, then quickly changed the subject.
“Ahem, so Workshop Hunters, tell us what exactly you wanted to do? I’m quite curious.”
His tone was rather teasing, and the hunter’s face showed an embarrassed expression as he somewhat sheepishly began to speak.
“Perhaps, we made a mistake……” he said while walking over to his companion, his words carrying a hint of relief. “Had we known you were Sir Carlos, we wouldn’t have acted no matter what. That sword of yours…… before this, I thought the rumors were somewhat exaggerated.”
“It’s like this—”
The hunter supported his dizzy companion and explained the situation we had encountered.
After hearing it, the director showed an expression caught between laughter and tears.
“This is really.” He straightened his hat, “Haha, what should I say? I’ve actually been seen as a villain by the children……”
“Uncle, the director isn’t bad, he wasn’t trying to sell us!”
A watermelon-headed boy looked angrily at the hunter, obviously seeing them as the bad guys now.
Even the children are saying this, so it’s clearly a misunderstanding.
But I don’t understand, if you’re a good person, why couldn’t you just say things openly, why did you have to act so mysteriously?
If it weren’t for seeing Carlos, I might have come down with the hunters and beaten you all up first before asking questions.
However, as long as the children are safe, that’s what matters.
By now, that explosive anger in my chest had somewhat subsided, so I might as well listen to what he has to say.
“Seems there were some misunderstandings on your side, Director.”
The director smiled helplessly and was about to say something when suddenly a somewhat childish shout came through.
“David——!!”
I turned my head toward the source of the voice and saw Elle and Lucas running quickly, soon rushing in front of the watermelon-headed boy, hugging him with faces full of joy.
“Thank goodness you’re safe.”
“Lucas, and little Elle, why did you all come?”
“We came to save you!”
The watermelon-headed boy immediately became confused.
“Why would you need to save me?”
“Weren’t you…” Lucas raised his head, looking vigilantly at the director, then lowered his voice and said, “The director was going to sell you to bad people!”
At such a close distance, even a lowered voice could be heard, and the director showed a helpless bitter smile.
“Lucas, who told you I was going to sell David?”
“We saw it earlier!”
“That’s right!”
“You took that weird person’s gold coins, and then wanted to hand David and the others over to him!”
Lucas glared righteously at Charles, and that indignant appearance immediately amused him.
“Ah haha, to be seen as a weird person by such adorable children, it really makes one troubled—”
Charles flicked his hair, and his affected manner made me roll my eyes.
“Director! Why do you want to sell David!”
Looking at the children’s vigilant expressions, the director let out a light sigh.
“You all…… Ah, I originally didn’t want you to know about these things, well, nevermind. To clear up any suspicion, let me introduce everyone first. This is the Grand Director of Cataloma, Mr. Charles.”
Cataloma? A place I’ve never heard of.
“Ah!”
“Cataloma! What should we do Lucas, he’s the director of Cataloma!”
“I told you before he didn’t seem like a bad person, but you all never listened to me……”
After hearing the word Cataloma, Lucas and the others’ wariness disappeared instantly, changing from anger to incredible amazement, and some even started speaking with hindsight wisdom, which left me quite puzzled.
“Hello everyone.” Charles smiled and greeted the children.
“Hello, uncle!”
Even Elle, who had been anxious and worried just moments ago, suddenly became well-behaved and shyly greeted Charles.
“Um, Cataloma? Are you from the Cataloma Orphanage?” The two hunters asked with startled expressions.
“Indeed.”
Charles gave the hunters a deep bow.
“Then, is the director planning to send David and the others to Cataloma?”
“Yes, Mr. Charles came all the way from Isenbell specifically to take these children.”
“Going to Cataloma!”
“Ah, I’m so envious—”
“I want to go to Cataloma too……”
“The director has really worried himself sick over this matter. He finally managed to secure a one-year quota to give you all a chance to go to Cataloma, but ended up being thought of as a bad person, haha, he’s about to cry, you know.”
“Lucas, do I really look like a bad person who would traffic you all?”
The director’s chubby cheeks pulled into a smile, his eyes narrowing into lines.
“But, but why didn’t the director tell us?”
“Yes director, and you accepted gold coins earlier!”
“Gold coins? You mean these—” The director pulled out a small pouch from his chest upon hearing this, “These are the renovation funds that Sister Theresa raised for our institution.”
“It’s Sister Theresa!”
“Then director, why did you sneak around to come here?”
“Well… adults have adult worries too. Anyway, you little ones have really hurt my feelings.”
“Sorry, director……”
The director smiled and patted Lucas’s head.
“You bold little ones, running away without a word, what if something had happened? Don’t cry when it’s time for punishment later.”