Sarah's appearance was as unexpected. And in the situation that she clearly came up with in her own head, it was likely not to be welcomed at all.
And yet, to the girl's surprise, after the initial shock caused by her appearance passed, the soldiers didn't fly in rage. They didn't decide to ignore her nor did they suddenly appear to change their mind.
Instead, all the men started to laugh at once.
"Silly girl," Leynel uttered through the tears of joy, shaking his head in disbelief. "No one was going to take him away. And we already know he isn't a bandit," he explained, to the dismay of both the soldiers and the two villagers present on the scene.
After all, given such an opportunity, how could be cold-hearted enough to properly explain the situation instead of dragging it on and giving everyone even more reasons to laugh?
"Still, man," Leynel continued to shake his head, struggling to get over his amusement. "Now you have to come to visit. You said that you appeared in the village in the middle of the raid, didn't you?" the officer suddenly came up with a question that didn't appear to make any logical sense when compared to the rest of his words.
"I... did?" Leon replied slowly, suspicion raging in his eyes.
'What does he want to achieve by asking that?' he questioned himself. 'I don't understand,' he thought, gritting his teeth light enough for his expression to stay the same. 'And that means, it's a potential threat.'
This world was clearly different from the one that Leon hailed. As such, it would be of utmost stupidity to assume that common sense would be the same between those two worlds.
"That's like," Leynel nearly choked on his laughter, "a day tops?" he came up with a more or less correct period of time. "Just what did you do to her to make her so devoted?" he asked, staring down at the bloodmancer with admiration all over his face. "Man, I won't let you go away without revealing that even if I will have to abuse my authority and detain you to learn it!"
'So that's what he is all about,' Leon thought, forcefully holding back a sigh of relief. He then relaxed a fair bit, holding up just enough guard to be ready if anyone were to suddenly decide to attack him. 'I guess that part I can understand after all.'
"It might come as a surprise, but I have no clue," Leon then said, shaking his head only to then lower his eyes and look at the girl.
Sarah continued to tightly wrap herself around Leon's thighs. There was no confusion on her face, proving that she already understood the situation... and yet, she continued to ward Leon's feet like some sort of a loyal dog.
"Seeing how she is, she doesn't appear to like soldiers like you in general," Leon then said, heaving the sigh of relief from before by masking it as one of helplessness. "And if that's the case, how about we all go back to where we belong?"
Leynel raised his head and wiped the tears of joy that dirtied his otherwise handsome face. "Where do we belong?" he then paraphrased Leon's words. "So you intend to stay at Gleenwood?" he then suggested, proving that despite his huge, nearly barbaric appearance, his brain did pack some punch as well.
"A slip of a tongue," Leon countered, refusing to give up any more ground than he already did, even if it would be limited to just a duel of words. "Or rather, it's hard to describe you going back to your camp and me going back to the place where I'm temporarily staying in a single phrase."
Leon turned his eyes from the officer and brought them down, towards the girl that still refused to let go of his legs.
"Sarah..." he muttered, not sure what sort of tone he was supposed to use.
The contrast between how hard and challenging it was to talk with this soldier and how easy it was to converse with this girl made him somewhat unable to find the correct words to order her to stand up. After all, if he were to suddenly change his persona when talking to the girl only because the soldiers were watching, that officer would be bound to notice a such change. And the reverse scenario, where he would act as he did back at the village would also mean the soldiers noticing the disparity anyway.
"Yeah, I understand," the girl muttered, slowly raising to her feet only to instantly move behind Leon's back as she only dared to peek at the soldiers from beyond the cover. "Can we go back, now?" she then requested.
"You've heard her," Leon said. "Let this be our farewell," he then proclaimed, turning around on the spot.
"I will await your visit in our camp," Leynel shouted before Leon could escape from the range of his voice. "We will be staying there for three more days. Be sure to pay us a visit before that!" he called, only to turn around himself and raise his hand. He then rolled one of his fingers in the air, giving his men the order to roll back to the camp.
"Is it over?" Sarah asked after she, Leon, the two villagers, and their prisoner moved several steps away from the soldiers.
"It appears so," Leon confirmed the girl's hopes. He then took a moment to sort out what the hell just happened only to end up shaking his head and heaving a sigh of disbelief.
"I'm sorry for interrupting you," Sarah then apologized, lowering her head despite not daring to leave any further than a single step away from Leon. Yet, rather than keeping her head low, she suddenly shot up, climbing on her tiptoes only to reach Leon's ear. "The villagers wanted to push all the blame on you," she whispered, clearly hoping for the village elder and guide not to hear those words.
"You flatter me," Leon then said out loud, coming up with some random sentence that would somehow explain why the girl would suddenly try to speak to him in private. This kind of quick wits was something he cultivated before even reaching adulthood back in his original world. "But there is no need for you to lick my ass like that," he then added, just to reinforce the fake story he implied. "Rather than coming up with more compliments, you should think about what to prepare for the dinner," he then said, only to set his eyes straight, right in the direction of the village.
'It seems I'm already overstaying my welcome at the village,' he thought, ignoring his innate desire to look over at the villager to his side. 'I guess visiting that camp, for how bad of an idea it is, might be the next best thing I will have to do.'