"Why the hell did you have to say that before we go?" Charles cried as he bashed Roland's shoulder.
"What do you mean? I thought that it was like a love letter or something? Maybe a verse or something!" Roland replied.
"Man, I was irked as well…" Melvin butted in before he and Maya shared an awkward smile.
Charles shrugged and pointed at the bag on Melvin's side. He looked him in the eye and after giving him a sarcastic nod, he said, "I don't want to hear that from someone who looked like he was gonna try to bash a goddamn green knight with a decapitated head."
"I mean, really, Roland, everything in there was dead. If it was a love letter, it would leave a bad taste not just for him, but for us too," Melvin replied without even minding Charles' remark and at that moment, both of them fell silent and just looked at him confused as if they had found a rare gem inside a trash can.
"That's…" Charles felt his heart stir at this sudden feeling. "That's actually a valid point. Thank you, Melvin…"
"He… the commander did say that it was intended for the commander of the vanguard though…" Maya said, with her voice still sounding small.
"Nevertheless, I'm just glad that we've got ourselves home safe," Charles added, he looked away embarrassed as if he was thinking something over. "Now what do we do now..."
"Well, I'm going back in there to ask for money," Melvin said with a smile.
"No…" Charles said the moment he stopped speaking. "Except that."
"But we need to have funds for the Tea-" Melvin paused as soon as he saw Charles face that reeked of disappointment. He gazed back at him as if he was begging through his eyes but in the end, he sighed and followed, "fine, I'll try asking Mister Breen first then, I'll pay a visit to my Agatha."
"You-" Roland's eyes widened.
"Agatha?" Charles interrupted Roland and looked at Melvin. "You didn't mention her to us before…"
"That's…" Roland placed his hand over Charles' shoulder and whispered, "That's my mother…"
"Oh…" Charles pressed his palm over his lips as he stepped back, not knowing how to react.
Maya did the same thing, feeling a little disconnected from the conversation of these three men in front of him. The awkward silence that they all shared as they all walked out from the governor's keep was something that she had appreciated, but now that they've taken a break under the shade of the nearby walls from the warm gaze of the sun, she found herself looking down as she waited for someone to call her. It didn't take long for her to try to escape from their circle as they talked with each other, but at the moment she planted her feet on the ground at her third step, she was caught by Roland's eyes along with Melvin's.
"Oh, you don't have to be scared. She's a sweet woman and she's pretty nice too, I'm pretty sure that she'll like you too when you guys meet," Melvin said with a smile.
"Re...really...?"
"Oh yeah, you don't live around here do you?" Roland asked with kindness coloring his eyes.
Maya gave him a nod. "I don't feel like reporting myself back to the barracks with the investigation still going underway… I don't want to get branded as a deserter and get myself punished."
"Well, technically you are, so cheers, another criminal added to the bunch," Charles added. "I wanted to invite her to go serve at the church, but you guys inviting her over to Mama Roland's care would be the best for every one of us. I'm okay either way so yeah, it still depends on what you want though…"
"Do you guys really think that I'd be worth helping…" She took a deep breath with her face now turning red and with a high pitched voice full of doubt, she shouted, "you-you guys aren't slave traders aren't you?"
Charles scoffed and gave her an awkward smile as Melvin and Roland looked at the other guards looking at them. "Hell no, but then again it's not your problem to think about if you're really worthy or not. I mean, you might think that your only worth would be selling your body but in the end, it's us who decided to help you didn't we?"
"Real smooth," Roland whistled. "But sure, we're not doing anything bad, Charles is a sucky priest that I'm sure that doesn't touch orphan boys and I'm just a simple knight in charge of cleaning the streets and the stables sometimes."
"The only crimes I've committed are acts of passion and love…" Melvin added.
"Oh yeah, this guy is an escaped prisoner who got convicted because of sexual harassment, a lot of attempted ones too so stay away from him," Charles replied with a smug tone.
"Don't worry about it. I and Roland can sleep outside and for now, you can sleep together with his mom."
"You're really kicking me out of my house huh?" Roland said as he turned to look at Melvin. "Also, if you harass her, I'm gonna stab you and fry your body inside and out."
"I see." Maya, whos face had turned beet red, clasped both of her hands together behind her as she looked away. "I guess, if you guys went as far as kicking someone out of his home, then It would be rude not to oblige…"
"Alright, that's the plan then, we still have like a few days before the play so… I guess… we'll have plenty of time to rest." Charles looked at them and glanced at his side before their eyes could even meet. He tightened his jaws to keep his mouth from saying something but after a moment of deep breaths and failed attempts, he cleared his throat and followed, "If you guy's aren't busy and all, like not reaaally busy, but it is okay if you don't want to…"
"Oh… this is the type of confessions that I would like to see in our future tea shop Roland," Melvin whispered as he glanced at him with a smile.
"Hey, he might hear you while he's mumbling…" Roland smirked.
"...so really… I mean… what I want to say… is that, would you… would you mind to have like…. I mean, I'm so sorry for this, so yeah, would you like to go to the nearby inn and celebrate by sharing a few drinks together?"
"Oh… with that so long of a confession, I thought that you're gonna tell me that you've been in love with me ever since we were kids. Man, I almost thought that you were cute too," Melvin exclaimed as he and Roland shared the same beaming expression while Charles remained in his spot with Maya doing her best to prevent her from drawing his sword. "Only meant that as a joke, of course, but damn, it's almost as if you could read our minds."
Roland laughed. "Sure, I mean, we're both planning on inviting you too, on Mister Breen's place though, and also the drinks would be cheap as hell…"
"I-I see, then, that's the plan then…" Charles said as he covered his face to hide his smile. "So yeah, I'll meet you later on that shitty place, after dark."
They gave their goodbyes and they all parted ways with Charles heading back to the church and with the rest heading towards Mister Breen's shop. As if in a daze, Charles continued on his usual path without minding the people around him. He tried to relive their moments; he placed his mind over the things that happened, to his mistakes, to the things that he did great and to the things that he should have done, but in the end, with his chest feeling a bit warm, he admitted to himself that he indeed had a bit of fun.
He went through the side of the main chapel that had walls as white as pearl and was decorated by an array of stained glass as windows that shared a colorful motif of the shining sun gracing the sun below it. After letting the old sisters and the other priests now that he's back from his journey, he found himself jumping onto his bed a few minutes later, where he swam through all of the books and papers that he left sitting right beside his pillow.
He placed his sword onto the little table at his side with a groan to let the little early afternoon light lull him to sleep, but then, he heard a knock on his door even before he could let out a sigh of relief. The hand bashing his door got stronger over time as Charles sat there, waiting for him to give up and that's what happened, he ended up smiling over that little victory, that is, until the door got kicked open.
"Hello…" The voice came from a man just as he had expected. "I was looking for a young lad named Charles, so I asked the lady in front and she told me that you're here."
"Hi, this is Charles, and thank you for knocking," Charles replied with a condescending tone, taking the sword at his side as he watched the silhouette of an armored man entering his small dusty room. "Who the hell are you and why are you here?"
The shadow then replied, with his voice loud yet smug and calming, "well, I could say a lot of things that would really sound good to your ear like, you have a specular untapped potential, a pair of massive balls, or a sharp tongue but for conveniencies sake, I'm just gonna say I now want your ass too."