Nolan slowly opened his eyes and raised in a sitting position.
"Yawn!" He yawned, stretching his body.
After sitting on the bed for a few minutes, he stood up.
He walked to the window on his left and looked outside.
It was early morning, and the sun just started to rise.
"One, two, three..." He counted on his fingers. "I have slept for more than nineteen hours," He exclaimed, shocked. "Well, I did deprive myself of sleep lately."
"Growl!" The sound of Nolan's stomach growling in protest filled the chamber.
Nolan felt like someone had drilled a hole into his stomach. The feeling was unbearable, so he left the chamber and headed downstairs.
The restaurant was still closed, and this early in the morning, even an early bird like Layla was still sleeping. Nolan had no choice but to cook himself, so he entered the kitchen.
The first thing he did was light the stove and put water to boil.
As he waited for the water to boil, he started preparing the noodles.
...
An hour later.
An hour later, Nolan had finally finished making his meal. He had made five bowls of noodles.
While he waited for the noodles to cool down, he smacked a few tomatoes and spiced them, making tomato sauce.
He brought the bowls of noodles to the dining hall and finally sat down to eat.
"Shuulrpp!" Noise filled the restaurant as Nolan greedily devoured the noodles.
"Good morning," Coming down the stairs, Layla greeted. Her untied brown hair was messy, but it only added to her beauty.
Nolan looked at her, his mouth stuffed with noodles. "Gwood Morwning." He greeted back and returned to his food.
Soon, the women Nolan and Harley brought back from the village started coming down the stairs one by one. The bruises on their faces had started healing, but they were still visible.
"Good morning,"
"Good morning,"
They all greeted Nolan.
Creaeakk!
The front door of the restaurant opened, and Nara and Harley entered.
"Good morning Nolan," Harley greeted with a smile.
He and Nara walked over to his table and sat.
"When did they leave?" Nolan asked, finishing his last bowl of noodles.
"They left yesterday night," Harley replied. "Henry liked Gilbert."
"That's good," Nolan nodded. "Did Guard No.1 say anything about Black Rose organization?"
Harley shook his head. "Since Brutus was here, I did not have a chance to ask him anything."
BANG! BANG! BANG!
A loud banging on the front door of the restaurant interrupted Nolan's and Harley's conversation.
"Open the door. I know you are inside." A male voice sounded from outside.
Nolan and Harley frowned and nodded at each other. They both stood up simultaneously and walked over to the front door.
They opened the door.
In front of the door stood a man at most in his middle forties. He wore silver armor with a silver sword attached to his waist.
Behind him were ten people wearing light silver armor with ordinary steel swords attached to their waists. They all stood in front of three carriages.
"Sir, may I ask what is the problem?" Harley asked politely.
"I am the captain of the city guards." The man introduced himself. "You two are under arrest, and we must close the restaurant."
Hearing this, the frown on Nolan's and Harley's faces deepened.
"Sir. There must be some misunderstanding. We are law-abiding citizens." Harley said.
"People have reported that yesterday, early in the morning, there were dozens of dead bodies before your restaurant!" The captain of the city guards roared. "From a reliable source, we have information that you are a part of the underground organization Black Rose!" The man pointed at Nolan. "And if he is part of the underground organization, you must be too!" He roared at Harley.
"This..."
Nolan secretly took Harley by the hand, stopping his attempt to complain.
Nolan slightly shook his head.
This was enough for Harley to understand his message. Act.
Harley's expression changed. He took a step back while staring at Nolan with terror.
"This...This!" He tripped, falling with his butt on the ground.
"AHHHHHHHHH!" Harley screamed. "You-You are a member of an underground organization."
Swoosh!
Using all his speed, Nolan grabbed the captain's sword, taking it out of its sheath. Being the captain of the city guards, his were way above Nolan's, but he was caught unprepared by Nolan.
"Since my cover has been blown away, you should die!" Nolan said with a crazed smile, raising the sword above his head, ready to slash Harley.
"AGHHHHHH!" Harley screamed in terror.
Swoosh!
Nolan swung down the sword.
Thud!
Clang!
A strong leg kick landed at the side of his stomach, making Nolan drop the sword.
The captain of the guards had struck Nolan with his leg, blowing him a few meters away from Harley.
"Immobilize him, and take him to the carriage." He ordered. "We are leaving."
Two of the ten men standing behind him immediately rushed to Nolan. They took him by the hands and started dragging him toward one of the carriages.
"What about him?" A man pointed at Harley.
"Don't you see how terrified he is after hearing that his trusted partner was a member of an underground organization? Obviously, he was tricked." The captain of the guards said.
"But what if they are just acting?" Another man asked.
"No. That swing of the sword was meant to kill. Had I been just a few seconds later in kicking the member of the underground organization away, he would have killed his partner. " The captain explained. "Enough chatting. We are leaving."
"YES, SIR!" All the men said simultaneously.
They all entered the carriages, and the coachmen started the carriages.
...
In front of the restaurant.
Harley stood up from the ground and entered the restaurant, closing the door behind him.
"Did he have to go that far?" Nara asked worriedly. She and the other women in the restaurant had witnessed everything. They also witnessed Nolan swinging the sword at Harley.
"He can not afford to lose the restaurant. Otherwise, he would lose the funding to build the village. Swinging the sword at me was the only way to make them believe I was tricked. We saved the restaurant."
"But he swung the sword at you for real."
"He must have been sure that the captain of the guards would save me,"
"Sighh," Nara sighed helplessly. She understood no matter what she says, Harley would justify Nolan's actions. "That aside. What do we do now?"
"You would open the restaurant and let it operate as normal. And I will go to the Transport Agency and hire a carriage. I need to meet with Gilbert."
A/N: The Transport Agency is the street with carriages where you can hire a coachman and carriage to transport you from one place to another. This street was mentioned in Chapter 26: Golden Horse Hut (1)
"What do you need Gilbert's help for?" Nara asked, curious about Harley's plan.
"When the fifty men of the Black Rose organization cleared the street, it was still very early in the morning. There was no one on the streets. And even if there was, he would not have gone unnoticed by so many eyes.
I am afraid there is something more to this. Nolan's life may be in danger. Whoever planned this may try to assassinate Nolan in his cell."
Harley walked over to the front door of the restaurant.
"I need to discuss this with Gilbert," Harley opened the door. "We will break into the prison and take Nolan out."
Saying this, Harley left the restaurant and headed straight toward the Transport Agency.
It took Harley half-hour to arrive at the street full of carriages.
After hiring a coachman and a carriage, the coachman started the carriage. Their destination was east, the tavern belonging to the Black Rose organization. The tavern where previously they captured Nolan and Harley.
...
At the same time.
The South Prison, underground.
"GO!" A guard pushed Nolan into his cell and closed the iron bars behind him.
As the cell had iron bars instead of walls on all four sides, it was more appropriate to call it a cage.
The cell was empty and had only a concrete bed.
As they were underground, there was not much light. The only light in this underground prison came from the weak lamps hung from the ceiling of each cage.
"Yoo!" A young voice came from Nolan's right. "A new prison mate? Well, I was getting pretty lonely down here. I finally have someone to chat with."
Nolan turned to his right. There was another cage stuck close to Nolan's.
"Who are you?" Nolan asked, straining his eyes to see the person in the other cage.
Tap! Tap!
The person in the other cage took a few steps and stood right under the weak lamp hung from the ceiling, lighting himself for Nolan to see him better.
He smiled widely.
"They call me the Mad Scientist."