Roman soon went downstairs. As soon as he opened the mansion door and went outside, he heard a voice shouting from beyond the entrance gate some distance away.
“Just, just a moment is fine, hic, open up. Open it while I’m asking nicely!”
Though he’d been in the bedroom, it would be strange not to have heard this level of noise. Roman, who reached the entrance gate, reached for the firmly fastened latch.
“Master!”
Beyond the door, Allen was really standing there. Unlike him, whose face was full of delight, Roman ended up frowning. His clothes were a mess as if he’d been rolling around somewhere, and he reeked of alcohol.
“I don’t recall inviting you to my house.”
Allen, who approached staggering, sat down as if collapsing and grabbed Roman’s legs.
“I was wrong. So, hic, please, just one more, just one more time, give me a chance.”
“……”
“My mother still, ugh, doesn’t know I quit my job yet. If she finds out I was fired, she’ll be greatly, hic, greatly disappointed.”
Finally, words bringing up even his mother followed, but unfortunately, Roman didn’t feel even a little moved. It wasn’t just a day or two but over two years that this guy had been under him. So his thoughts were transparent.
Though he’d been fired, Allen was someone with the skills to join other guilds or mercenary groups as much as he wanted. He himself would know that fact, and perhaps he’d already nested somewhere else.
Yet the reason he came all the way to his house and caused a disturbance was obvious. He must have been drinking somewhere and remembered being fired recently, and in his drunkenness became angry and impulsively came here.
Even if he really came wanting reinstatement, the method was wrong from the start. It would be questionable whether he’d change his mind even if he clung with sincerity, but coming to his house in such a drunken mess would only make him frown.
“Go back.”
“…!”
“It’s already finished, and regrettably, I have no intention of changing my mind. You know well enough that I don’t go back on words I’ve spoken…”
Roman suddenly closed his mouth with a hardened expression. Allen, grinding his teeth with a crunching sound, brought his hand to his waist. A blue blade revealed itself. A voice spitting as if chewing followed.
“Are you so great? I, ugh, I’m discarding my pride and speaking like this, and you refuse until the end?”
Unlike the excited Allen, Roman quickly regained his composure. Though pulling out a weapon was unexpected, he didn’t particularly think it was threatening. At the thought that a guy who was drunk and couldn’t even control his own body would stab properly, he was rather at the point of sighing.
‘…Should I just let him stab me appropriately? Then he’ll never come near again.’
Allen, who couldn’t know his thoughts, still grumbled and vented his resentment.
“Apologize for doing wrong. Then I’ll let it go.”
Another sigh flowed out. He could trample him to the ground with harsher words, but Roman decided to just settle the situation at this point. To speak coldly, it wasn’t even worth that. Ending this meaningless standoff quickly and going to bed would be much more productive.
“Is that really all it takes?”
“Y-yeah.”
“Fine. I was wrong.”
But Allen didn’t put away the sword. Rather, he glared at Roman as if to kill him with an even more flushed face.
“I don’t like that arrogant expression. Kneel properly and…”
“Roman!”
That’s when it happened. Following the sound of hoofbeats shaking the ground, a voice suddenly calling his name was heard. When he turned his head in surprise, he saw Diego riding a horse and rushing over.
Why on earth? —he’d barely had that thought when, taking advantage of Allen’s gaze also turning that way, Roman swiftly kicked his wrist.
“Agh!”
With a sharp sound, the knife fell. In the meantime, Diego, who had reached right beside them, jumped down from the horse and blocked the front as if protecting Roman. Soon a surprised look appeared on his face. The man groaning while holding his wrist was someone Diego knew very well too.
“What brings you here?”
“I had something to say, so I came. But why is Allen…”
The scene he’d just witnessed came to Diego’s mind. Allen had definitely been holding a knife toward Roman. It wasn’t an atmosphere of returning it or anything like that. The moment he realized it, Diego unconsciously called out Roman’s name, and the sight of Roman kicking Allen’s wrist taking advantage of that gap entered his eyes clearly.
That Allen would point a blade at Roman, the guild Master, was truly difficult to understand. As he watched Allen without lowering his guard, he belatedly heard an answering voice.
“He seems to have a lot of complaints about me.”
“Complaints?”
“There were some things worth complaining about. Move aside a bit.”
Though he said that, the person who actually moved was Roman. Allen was still holding his wrist while breathing heavily. Looking at his distorted face, Roman slowly opened his mouth.
“If your pride is hurt, I apologize. I’ll let today’s incident go, but there won’t be a second time.”
It was considerable generosity for him. If it had been some stranger who did the same thing, he would have picked up the fallen knife and slashed his face right away. Or stabbed it into his right arm.
“Let’s go.”
Roman turned around first. Diego’s gaze was still directed at Allen. The small knife lying to the side bothered him a bit, but it felt wrong to arbitrarily take someone else’s property.
In the end, Diego bowed his head once instead of saying anything and followed Roman. How many steps had they walked like that? Just before entering the mansion gate, sensing a strange sound, he turned around.
“…!”
The moment his eyes met Allen’s, he reflexively moved his body and embraced Roman’s body from behind. A dizzying pain came to his shoulder next.
“…Diego?”
“Uh, uh…”
Clatter—
Another sound of something falling to the ground rang out. Allen, who had been stammering with a surprised expression, stepped backward and then ran away.
Roman belatedly escaped from Diego’s arms at the thought that flashed through his mind. As soon as he checked behind him, he saw bloodstains spreading on his right shoulder.
“Hold on, Roman!”
Diego, who sensed the sign of him trying to run after Allen, embraced Roman’s body tightly again. Though the cut wound opened and blood gushed out, Diego didn’t let Roman go. He had the intuition that something serious would happen if he released these arms now.
“I’m fine. It only grazed me.”
“Let go.”
“Roman…!”
“…I won’t chase him. Let me see how bad the wound is.”
It was a calmer voice than expected. Nevertheless, only after extracting one more promise that he ‘wouldn’t chase after him’ did Diego slowly release the strength from his arms and reluctantly turn around to show his back.
In the meantime, the traces soaked in blood down to his waist area were vivid. Roman urgently took off his own top, then bit it with his teeth and tore it, pressing it against Diego’s shoulder and wrapping it tightly like a bandage.
“Come inside quickly.”
Then he grabbed Diego’s left hand and moved his steps almost as if leading him. As soon as he opened the mansion door, the butler appeared, and soon a shocked voice flowed from his mouth. It was because he saw Roman’s hands stained red with blood.
“Wh-what on earth happened?”
“Diego is hurt. Bring medicinal herbs and bandages for hemostasis to the bedroom. Quickly.”
The butler, who received the order, hurriedly moved his steps. Roman went up to the second-floor bedroom with Diego, sat him in a chair, then cut his top with scissors and slowly removed it.
Blood slowly seeped from the wound cut long like a line. Fortunately, it was only a scrape on the skin rather than a deep stab. Soon the bedroom door opened and the butler came in.
“Here it is.”
Roman’s hands moved busily. After placing a piece of cloth wrapped with crushed medicinal herbs on the wound, he wrapped it round and round with a bandage. After firmly tying a knot so it wouldn’t come loose, Roman said while keeping his gaze fixed on the affected area.
“Arm, raise it up once. Slowly.”
“Yes.”
Watching him slowly move his arm as instructed, Roman could finally be more at ease. Of course it would hurt since he was stabbed with a knife, but still, seeing it move smoothly, fortunately it seemed the muscles hadn’t been damaged.
Only then did he let out a sigh and plop down in the opposite chair. Soon, raising his head slightly, he asked the question he’d asked before once more.
“Why on earth did you come here?”
It was fortunate it wasn’t a severe injury, but thinking that he could have been stabbed deeper or injured his muscles made his head spin. Whether he knew such feelings or not, Diego looked directly at his face and answered in a calm voice.
“Maybe because it’s the end of the month, I couldn’t sleep.”
“……”
Roman quickly understood the meaning and pressed his brow firmly. Come to think of it, tomorrow would already be the 30th, but thinking that he came at this time and got hurt, good words wouldn’t come out.
