“How you doing, Arneau?” Sora asked, entering my hospital room.

“Good enough,” I replied. I’d been healed so thoroughly that most of my wounds were gone.

“Nice to hear.”

“They treated me so well here. And I even got all this stuff.” I pointed to the snacks, flowers, and other get-well-soon gifts I’d received during my stay.

Sora looked at them and laughed. “You probably know who chose most of these. Don’t worry about it. If anything, I’m sorry if she’s been bothering you.”

“…Not at all.” It really wasn’t a bother at all. I actually appreciated it.

These gifts were from Katarina, who, after saving me along with that Maria girl, came to visit me at the hospital. As soon as I told her that I was fine, she started describing all the things she’d brought there for me like she was trying to sell them. Delicious dessert this, fluffiest pastry that. She then told me to eat a lot and get well, leaving me with more snacks than I could ever eat. Maybe she thought that eating could cure all wounds? That…almost made sense, in a way.

“You’re done with the questions from the Sorcié people, right?” Sora asked. When I’d recovered enough to be questioned, one of the kingdom’s officials came in to ask me details about this incident.

“Yeah. They just questioned me and that was it. The other guys were arrested, but they let me go because I collaborated. I was just told to leave the country as soon as I was fully recovered. And all because I betrayed the organization and provided them with a little info.”

The Golden-eyed Wolf, who was working for Ethenell, and I had helped Sorcié’s investigation, and so they’d let me go free. I actually felt bad about this. I was a traitor to the organization and I was no less of a criminal than the others who’d been arrested.

“Yeah, sure,” Sora smirked, “you really think they let you off the hook that easily just because you talked?”

“Of course. That’s all I’ve done,” I repeated, and he sighed.

“Sorcié’s people are kind, I’ll give you that, but you can’t really think that’s all it’d take for them to ignore your crimes.”

“Huh? So I guess they’ll arrest me, too, after all?” I wondered, thinking that that’d make more sense, and Sora sighed again.

“You aren’t getting arrested. Your crimes aren’t as bad as those other guys’ to begin with.”

“What are you talking about? I worked with those kidnappers to catch and sell children,” I pointed out how what Sora was saying made no sense.

“You didn’t kidnap any children yourself, and it turns out that you were actually looking after them, right? The other thugs didn’t have anything pretty to say about you. ‘He doesn’t get anything done and just acts as if he’s in charge, that kind of thing.’ But on the other hand, the children were all for you. ‘That mister was the only kind one, please save him,’ they said.”

I had no idea. I didn’t know what to say.

“That’s why they didn’t arrest you and just asked that you leave Sorcié,” Sora concluded. “You haven’t changed one bit.” He laughed at me. “You’re that ‘sweet mister’ who looks after children. You’re not cut for crime. Find something else to do.”

I stared blankly. “Like what? I’ve never been through school, and I don’t have a single day of honest work to my name…” I admitted, and then the door opened and an unexpected person walked in.

“Sorry there. I wasn’t eavesdropping or anything, but I was waiting for the timing to walk in and just happened to catch what you two were talking about,” that person announced, showing his teeth in a large grin. It was the Golden-eyed Wolf, who I hadn’t seen since that day. “You’re looking for a job, right? There’s an open spot in your home country of Ethenell. How does that sound?”

I had revealed that I was an orphan from Ethenell when I was being questioned, and this mercenary had probably heard it then.

“…I could never be a mercenary,” I told him. I wasn’t that strong, and wars weren’t really my thing, even if someone did hire me to fight in one.

“Hahaha, that’s not what I’m talking about. What they need is someone to look after children.”

“What?” I croaked, surprised that a wild-looking mercenary would say something like that.

“You know the state Ethenell’s been in until recently, don’t you? You can imagine that there are a lot of orphans there. Now there’s an orphanage in the works, but these are all rowdy brats from the streets, and it’s not easy to look after them. Can’t ever have enough people doing it, let me tell you. I heard you used to take care of younger kids in the slums. Sounds like your kind of job. So, what do you say?”

It sounded lovely, but…

“…But I’m uneducated, and I have nobody to vouch for me,” I objected.

I couldn’t teach anything to the children, and what’s more, I was also an orphan who had no one to confirm his identity or trustworthiness. Who’d ever hire me?

“Don’t worry about the schooling, there’s a teacher hired for that. What the orphanage needs is someone that the kids will listen to. And I’ll vouch for you.”

“You? Be a guarantor for me?”

He’s a mercenary working for Ethenell. I know that much. But who is he? He couldn’t just be an ordinary mercenary… He’s probably connected to someone important, I reasoned, but what he said next blew me away.

“Yeah. Me. That’s right, I never properly introduced myself. You’ll be hired on Cezar Dahl’s good word.”

“Cezar… Dahl? Wait, Dahl?!” Sora gasped, shocked. I was just as stunned.

“Could it be… Could you be… The honorable…?” I sputtered, and Cezar grinned.

“Nothing honorable about me. I’m just a mercenary right now. But I still want to apologize to you two. It was people with that same surname who let Ethenell turn into a mess, making your childhood so difficult. I’m really sorry,” he spoke soberly.

Dahl. That surname belonged to the royal family. Nobody else could bear it in Ethenell. And now a member of the royal family was lowering his head in front of us, apologizing. I felt dizzy.

“I promise I’ll do my best to turn Ethenell into a better country. So, won’t you help me?” he invited, giving me his hand.

This time, I took it of my own accord. I stretched my hand toward Cezar Dahl’s—toward a proper life and a place to call home. Toward everything I’d ever wanted.

“What about you? You’re from Ethenell too. Now you’re living here, but I could let you come back if you wanted to,” Cezar then looked to Sora.

“I…have something I need to protect right here, in this country,” Sora replied, looking straight into the royal eyes.

“Good. I wish you all the best,” Cezar grinned, before hurrying out of the room, promising he’d come back with the paperwork as soon as it was ready.

Sora and I were left alone in the room.

“…Find happiness, all right?” I murmured to him.

He smiled coolly. “You too.”

Through the window, I heard the bustling sound of the people walking down the street. And for the first time, I thought it was a pleasant sound.

★★★★★

The incident was over, but we still had the aftermath to deal with, so we couldn’t go back to the Ministry quite yet. By the time we finished questioning the people involved and doing all the necessary paperwork, plus visiting Arneau in the hospital when we had a chance, it had already been more than a week since we’d come to Ocean Harbor. Arneau’s wounds had gotten better, and he was discharged from the hospital. I went to tell him that we were going back to the capital, and he said that he’d be going back to Ethenell.

“So we won’t be able to see each other again,” I lamented, feeling a bit lonely about it.

“When Ethenell is safer, come and visit,” Arneau suggested.

“Write us a letter once you’ve settled in, okay?” Sora told him, giving him the Ministry’s address.

I was worried that Sora was going to follow his friend and go back to Ethenell, so I asked him.

“…I have to stay at the Ministry. They’re the ones who gave me this identity,” he said casually.

Sora, who had Dark Magic forced onto him, was now in the Ministry’s care. They had given him a new identity, including a surname. He wasn’t staying here out of his own free will.

“…So, given the choice, you’d go back,” I reasoned. I felt sad at the idea, but after all, it was normal for him to want to return to his home country.

“…Not really,” he answered, ruffling my hair.

I could have done without the hair-ruffling, but his answer had made me smile.

After saying goodbye to Arneau, it was time to say goodbye to this town we’d grown accustomed to so quickly. When we were ready to leave, a huge crowd of people, including the restaurant’s regulars and some of those who lived close by, came to see us off. Of course they didn’t know that we worked for the Ministry, so we told everyone that we just had to go back to our respective homes. They all seemed sad to see us go.

“You’re going already? You should’ve stayed a bit longer!”

“I won’t be able to eat Maria’s desserts anymore? What a shame…”

“It just won’t be the same without Katarina around!”

Along with these heartfelt farewells, they gave us lots of souvenirs, like fruit, all kinds of snacks, and even some local trinkets.

Larna, Sora, Maria, and I, drowning under all those presents, boarded the carriage that would bring us home.

“Come again!”

“We’re waiting for you!”

“I’m looking forward to the next time you visit!”

Everyone was shouting in our direction.

“Goodbye, see you again!” I called back from the window, waving my hand, as we left Ocean Harbor.

I’d gotten used to the salty breeze coming in from the sea that was brushing against my face one last time.

★★★★★

I, Susanna Randall, also known as Larna Smith, had just finished reporting to the Magical Ministry. Now I had to report to the man who had helped us throughout this incident, Jeffrey Stuart, the eldest prince and the fiancé of my public alias.

“Lately I’ve been so busy that I can’t even go take a look at them. It’s really stressful,” he grumbled as soon as we met. He was talking about his younger brothers, whom he loved to the point of obsession. I stared at him coldly.

“Is that why you’re collecting things like these? I’ll let you know that stealing is a crime.”

On his desk there were a variety of items labeled as “Alan’s towel,” “Jeord’s pen,” “Ian’s book,” and so on. I hadn’t been that creeped out in a while. This maniac, not content with staring at his brothers’ portraits and spying on them, had resorted to stealing their stuff. I felt he’d gone way too far.

“Susanna, please, you misunderstand. I would never steal from my beloved brothers. These are old things that they had thrown out,” he answered with a smile.

“That actually…doesn’t make it any less creepy.”

Discussing this wasn’t going to change anything, so I decided to ignore that topic and move on.

“Anyway… I think you already read what I wrote to you, but as we suspected, Dark Magic was being used. Everything points to Sarah, the girl we’re looking for,” I explained.

“Just as I thought. Always busy, that girl. I really wonder what her intentions are.”

“Once again, we found no clue as to that. The nobles involved were being controlled so much that asking them was pretty much useless.”

“Hm… It’s incredible that we can’t even find out how she approached them. That would be very difficult if she was working alone. There must be someone powerful backing her up,” Jeffrey hypothesized.

“That’s probably the case.”

“I wish they’d stop trying to ruin the peaceful country I want my brothers to live in!” He sounded as if he was joking, but he had a dead serious look on his face. He could be a brother-obsessed pervert, yes, but he really cared for them and for his country.

“And, as I stated in the letter, Ethenell’s prince, Cezar, was involved too. He was a huge help to us, but since people from his country were in the wrong too, he said that we didn’t really owe him anything,” I tried to get the conversation back on track.

“Haha, lucky for us! Debts to foreign royalty are the last thing we’d want to make.”

“I’ll have to agree with you there. Anyway, I’ve written all the details that didn’t fit on the letter in this report right here. Read it when you’ve got the time,” I concluded, handing him a stack of documents.

“Thank you,” he replied with his usual smile, “I know how busy you are. I really appreciate you coming all the way here.”

“Don’t mention it. And you try not to work too hard, okay?” I advised, noticing the dark circles under his eyes. He looked surprised but then started laughing.

“You too, Susanna,” he told me, still smiling.

I waved and left his room. As I walked past the castle’s gate, the sky was already tinged with the sunset’s colors. It had been a week since I’d last seen the capital’s sky. It was beautiful.

★★★★★

“…And so our mission was completed successfully.”

After the long carriage trip, my friends, who already knew that we were going to be back, were waiting for us at the Ministry.

They all greeted me as soon as I stepped off, and then I was brought to one of the Ministry’s parlors to be bombarded with questions.

“How was it?” “Are you all right?” “Are you hurt anywhere?” and so on.

As always, I tried to reassure everyone by telling everything I’d done.

“I worked as a waitress! And then Sora and I were captured by kidnappers, but thanks to him, Pochi, and Maria we managed to escape and arrest them.”

However…far from being reassured, everyone looked even more worried. But…everything turned out fine! What’s the problem?

“Big Sis, wait. You said that this was going to be a safe mission. Nothing more than an investigation. Why in the world were you captured?” Keith asked me sternly.

“W-Well, there was a little…accident, let’s say. A coincidence. Nothing more than a coincidence. I just happened to walk up to the kidnappers’ hideout.”

“Pray tell, Katarina, how could such a thing ever happen by coincidence?” Jeord asked, sighing.

“I-I was chasing after Sora, and…”

“That would be your colleague, correct? And may I ask why you were chasing after him, and if you were alone at the time?” Jeord continued.

“I saw him while walking through the street and just went after him… And, well, I was alone…”

“Why would you do that, Big Sis? Haven’t I told you not to do things like that?” Keith said, his eyebrows rising higher and higher.

Things like these?! What’s that even supposed to mean?! Sigh. I know how this is going to end. Whatever I say, Jeord and Keith are going to get mad at me. I glanced over in Mary and Sophia’s direction, hoping for some help.

“And when you were captured, they…didn’t do anything to you, did they?” Mary, whose face had turned completely pale, asked.

“Hm? Nothing, no. I was just closed up in a room for a while.”

“But that’s terrible! Was it a dark, filthy underground cellar?!” Sophia queried, letting her usual unstoppable imagination run wild.

“No, it really was just a normal room. It wasn’t comfortable or anything, but it wasn’t a proper jail either. And I just walked out without any trouble, eventually.”

“And how did you manage that, anyway?” Alan wondered, suspicious.

“Oh, that. Sora and Pochi fought their way through the thugs, one at a time, and we made a path for ourselves through their unconscious bodies.”

“You don’t call that walking out without any trouble, you call that forcing your way through with violence…” Alan groaned, exasperated.

“Well…hm, if you put it that way…”

“How one puts it has absolutely no bearing on the matter,” Jeord interrupted. “You had to fight to go back to safety. I hope you understand how dangerous that was. Now, are you wounded?”

H-He’s so scary!

“I-I’m fine. I got out scot-free,” I promised, waving his worries off, and then Nicol, who’d been quiet all along, took his shot at me.

“That makes it sound like it was dangerous,” he spoke flatly, with his usual emotionless expression.

“…Huh?!”

As he stared at me, I felt as if he could almost read my mind. I figured I’d say what I’d been hiding all along.

“While we were running away…I tried to protect one of the children and I kind of got grabbed…”

“Grabbed?! Were you not hurt then?!” Mary, somehow even paler than before, shouted.

“No, really, I was just choked for a bit…” I assured her, immediately regretting that admission.

“You were grabbed and choked. Big Sis… That’s terribly dangerous!”

“Is your neck wounded?!”

Everyone gathered closer to me to check my neck.

I made everyone worry again…

I waved my hands again, clarifying, “It was just for a second. It wasn’t anything major, really,” trying to make my point clear. “Look, not even a scratch, right?” I added, showing everyone my neck and causing a collective sigh of relief.

They seemed to have calmed down, but they followed up with murmuring and sighing.

“…In what world does this not count as dangerous?”

“This whole thing was the definition of danger…”

I have to lighten things up here.

“B-But you see, Maria saved me with her Light Magic, so it really was fine. Maria even learned a new spell! You should’ve seen it…” I tried changing the topic to her new spell, but nobody seemed to even hear that part.

“Big Sis probably doesn’t understand what we mean by danger…” Keith fretted.

“She most certainly does not. Her threshold for considering a situation dangerous is considerably higher than ours,” Jeord replied.

The two of them were giving me scary looks.

“M-Maybe that could be, but I’m really fine, so…”

“Perhaps our safest choice is to keep her imprisoned, so that she may not run into danger,” Jeord mused.

“…That seems a bit too much,” I gasped, terrified by his proposal… But Keith agreed with him!

“Indeed. Setting up strict limits regarding what she can do would be sure to keep her safe. But of course I wouldn’t want you to worry about it, Prince Jeord, so my family will take that burden.”

You usually never agree with Jeord! What are you doing?!

“Why, I will gladly spare you the trouble. Katarina is my fiancée, and it is after all my responsibility to see to her safety. She shall reside in the castle, with me.”

“Not at all. Our family will take care of Big Sis. She will stay in the Claes mansion.”

“We are more than eager to help too. She is a friend, after all. Right, Prince Alan?”

“Y-Yeah.”

“Big brother and I will help too, of course.”

“We definitely will.”

“None of you should be involved in this. This matter only concerns me and my future wife.”

“We are not talking about marriage here, Prince Jeord.”

All of my friends were busy discussing where and how to lock me up. The worst part is that nobody disagreed with the idea at its core. Seeing that things had gotten even worse, I tried to sneak out, but they immediately found out when I opened the door.

“Big Sister, we’re not quite done here.”

“Katarina, where might you be going?”

They tried to keep me there, but thankfully, I saw Maria coming back from reporting to higher ups.

“I must go to report too,” I excused myself, since I was actually told to do that right after Maria.

The most prominent members of the Katarina-scolding club, Keith chief among them, were probably still going to complain to me later, but that was still better than having everyone do it at once.

I walked through the Ministry’s hallways for the first time in a while, thinking of how to convince my friends not to lock me up. Maybe I’ll have to ask Sora and Maria to tell them how awesome and safe I was throughout, I thought, not yet knowing that Maria would eventually tell them that I went back into the hideout to look for an acquaintance, pouring fuel on the “Let’s imprison Katarina for her own good!” fire.

In any event, the case of the baron’s kidnapped daughter was finally over.

Bonus Short Story

I was born and raised in Ocean Harbor. My father owns a fruit shop that has been operating for four generations. We mostly just sell fruit to the nearby restaurants, but there are enough of them to make our business do relatively well.

Right now I’m a busy student. One day, I want to make our fruit shop much bigger.

By the way, I love sweets. With my father owning a fruit shop, we’ve always had fruit for dessert. I never had any sweets when I was little. I remember the first time I ate one. It was so delicious… I fell in love with that taste. Some people can bake them themselves, but I’m too clumsy for that. I just wait for my allowance to buy them. Going through stores eating all kinds of sweet delicacies is kind of my hobby.

Recently, I found a place that has the most delicious desserts: the Harbor Restaurant. It’s very close to my home, but I never went there before because it was known for just serving meals made by other shops. However, a few days ago, they hired a new cook, and the food they started serving is amazing.

After hearing about it I immediately tried to go there, but it was too late for desserts. Dad brought some home though, and that was the start of it all.

It was so good that I’ve started going there whenever I have the chance. I can’t go every day, since I can’t afford it, but I go as soon as I have my allowance.

The waitress, a girl named Katarina, is very beautiful and kind. She even lets me try desserts that they aren’t selling yet. Everyone who goes to the Harbor Restaurant for lunch loves her, but Dad told me that she’s even more popular at dinner time. He even said that some people go there just to meet her, including the son of the greengrocer in front of our house, who’s so in love that he goes there every day.

But a girl that pretty and kind can’t be single, right? One day, coming back from school, I happened to run into Katarina. She was walking together with a handsome young man with blue hair. She was smiling, and he was looking at her with so much love in his eyes. I was pretty sure they were dating. Too bad for the greengrocer’s son. They looked so good together too. Those two beautiful people could be in an illustration of a romance novel. I decided I’d ask her about it next time I was at the restaurant.

But then, when I asked her about it…her reply really surprised me. I realized that she was completely oblivious when it came to romance and, what’s worse, she didn’t even realize that the blue-haired man likes her. Poor guy.