"Commissar-"
"Headcommissar." Floy arrogantly corrected Yu's misspelled title.
"Headcommissar, there must be some mistake. What does kidnapping mean?"
They were in Floy's office, in the same room where they had been interrogated by Floy earlier. Unlike the first time, he had come here in handcuffs, not of his own accord.
But Yu was not the only one handcuffed. Yurine's wrists were handcuffed with wooden cuffs that would be useless if she tried to break free.
Yu, charged with the crime of Deprivation of Liberty, was apparently handcuffed.
But Yurine, the person deprived of her liberty, was handcuffed because she was facing a very different and more serious charge.
The reason for the handcuffs on Yurine's wrists is that she used magic to attack the guards while they were handcuffing Yu.
The crime of Assaulting an Officer in the Line of Duty was the main problem they had to worry about.
It was just a suspicion on Yu's part, Yurine's single statement could have been enough to exonerate Yu, and even if it wasn't, there were a few people who could provide a defense on Yu's behalf.
But after Yurine's action, there was nothing that could be done to exonerate her. It could also be decided that Yu had made Yurine attack the guards and Yurine could be sent to the orphanage while Yu was arrested.
"Worse, what if we are declared terrorists and executed?"
"That's the tip," Floy said.
"Okay, that's the denunciation, but did you have to choose such a noisy method? Didn't we come here voluntarily before? Haven't you spoken to Yurine before? You know I didn't detain her. What was the need for such an outrage?"
Yu's arrest might have reflected badly on Lucia's inn, but right now Yu was thinking about his own reputation, not Lucia's.
"Besides, Yurine is officially my daughter. Am I going to be charged with kidnapping my own child? And what kind of kidnapping is that? If there was a problem, wouldn't she have told you during your interrogation? And above all, is it possible for me to keep Yurine, for God's sake? She is strong enough to kill me in one move."
"I understand your complaints," Floy said calmly in response to Yu's long speech.
"So?"
Floy didn't say anything else, he was going to follow protocol even though he knew Yu was innocent.
"Who is this whistleblower? Can we get his name?"
"The person he's claiming to be is someone of some importance, Sharley von Bishory. It's hard to know for sure if it's him."
Yu bit his lip and tried to suppress his anger, but he couldn't relax until he said it. He looked at Yurine.
"Yurine."
"What happened?"
"Is Sharley's mom single?"
While he was sad about Sharley's mother, Stella's son was causing trouble for them.
"Why?"
"Because I'll fu-"
Everyone knew the rest of the sentence, Floy slammed his hand hard on the table and stopped Yu.
"Don't forget you're at the police station!"
Floy was angry at Yu's seemingly disrespectful words. Yu, angry at being brought here like this.
"I can do it if I want to, the Wizarding Academy is right there. I could really do it, it would only take two wooings. What woman could refuse me? I'm gorgeous, I'm so handsome."
He was sure he could seduce Sharley's mother by taking advantage of her emotional breakdown. He could if he wanted to, but he wasn't going to because he was trying to be a good dad for Yurine.
"I leave you for two hours and in two hours you've got us in the police station."
"When I leave you for two hours, you become mortingen straße."
"Are you selling me the words you learned from me?"
It was nice that Yurine was attracted to him, but it was not nice to be hit by his own words.
"Sharley von Bishory will be here soon," Floy said. It bothered him that Yu and Yurine were suddenly acting like they were the only ones here.
A few minutes of waiting on his word was enough. Sharley von Bishory entered the room accompanied by four guards.
"Are you Yu Valarfin?" he said as soon as he entered the room. Anger and hatred dripped from his low voice.
"Ungrateful pimp, I wish I'd never carried you on my back."
His only regret about Sharley that day was leaving him in the tunnel under the tower. He wanted to leave him somewhere inside the tower to ensure his death.
"I am Yu Valarfin," Yu said comfortably.
As soon as Sharley got the answer, he threw his hands in the air and started shouting.
"THAT'S THE GUY! THAT'S THE GUY WHO KEPT NEKO AND MADE HER ATTACK ME!"
After he finished his sentence, he started coughing, and after a few coughs he coughed up blood. He did nothing but pain himself.
"He's not keeping me." Yurine, unlike Sharley, spoke quietly and calmly. "The only problem here is this bastard," she said, pointing at Sharley.
Sharley kept coughing and everyone looked at her.
"Sharley von Bishory was your mother Rie's apprentice, if I remember correctly."
"Yes!" Sharley shouted, spitting blood again. One of the four city guards who had brought Sharley here left the room to fetch a healer.
"Why you didn't tell anything about him?" Floy asked but Sharley continued to speak.
"I... I was my master's apprentice." His voice was hoarse, unlike before. "This man must be responsible for her death too!" He raised his voice again, and pointed his crooked fingers at Yu.
"No, it wasn't him..."
"Did Yurine just defend me?"
Yurine had blamed Yu for her mother's death and called him a murderer. Now she was defending him against Sharley.
"You've been brainwashed..."
"No, you disgusting creature. I cannot be brainwashed because of my superior nature."
"You've been brainwashed! Kill this guy and let's go!"
"Don't be ridiculous, you disgusting creature. He'll come with me, that's the deal."
"What de-al-!" Sharley had just started when he broke into a coughing fit.
When a healer arrived with the guard who had just left, he sat Sharley in a chair and began to cast a healing spell. Sharley could breathe easier with the spell.
"You had a fight in the park, tell me about it, Yurine." Floy gave Yurine the first word.
"I was in the park with Nerissa when this creature came and tried to kidnap me."
"Tried to kidnap-!" Sharley broke into another coughing fit. Yu was amused that he couldn't finish his sentence.
"When Nerissa and I were trying to get away from him, he used magic against us, and we used magic after that. People must have seen it too."
"That fairy was trying to kidnap you..." Sharley looked at Yurine as if betrayed.
"You're out of your mind," Yurine said.
Yu could see that Sharley had gone crazy. The pain of his body burning had taken its toll on his sanity.
He had no idea of the extent of his love for Rie, but Rie's death must have taken its toll on Sharley's sanity. In short, the events overlapped.
"We haven't found the girl Nerissa, but two people who saw the incident will come here as eyewitnesses. After listening to them, we will decide what to do."
"Stupid Sharley, he's really out of his mind. He will be found guilty at the end of this."
"Headcommissar," another city guard called through the open door and greeted Floy. "Witnesses."
In the afternoon, two people who had been in the park and witnessed the incident were taken into the office. One was a young man and the other an old woman.
"Can you tell us what happened?"
The old woman took the floor and began to describe what she had seen.
"This child and the black-haired girl were about to leave the park when this man came. I didn't hear the conversation between them. What I saw was that when the black-haired girl tried to take this child away, this man here used magic to stop them from leaving. Then he reached out his hand to the child and the black-haired girl pushed him away."
"Did she do it using magic?"
"Yes."
Floy took note of what she said and then looked at young man. "I'm listening."
"It was as aunt said, when this man reached out his hand again, this time the girl here used magic."
The young man took a step back, saying he had nothing more to add.
"What do you say?" Sharley looked around the room with reddened eyes. Her voice was a little better. "This man, this man... Enough is enough! Why doesn't anyone understand? This bastard standing here tricked Neko!"
"Calm down, please."
"I won't calm down!"
Sharley shouted at Floy and tried with all his might to stand up, but the guards next to him grabbed him and put him back down. Sharley flailed his arms and legs, struggling to get up.
"I'll kill you, bastard!" he shouted at Yu.
Yu was scared. To hide his fear, he turned to Floy and asked her in a mocking tone.
"Are death threats criminalized?"
"Yes, put him in the holding cell. We'll contact Mr. Bishory at the academy."
"Then we should get up now..." Yu said and stood up as one of the guards uncuffed him and Yurine.
"We haven't talked about Yurine's action yet."
"Wasn't that a misunderstanding?"
Floy wasn't going to let Yu just brush it off and leave.
"You are forbidden to leave the city until the trial takes place, we will send notices to the city gates to that effect."
"Oh, no. We are adventurers and we need to get back to our friends in Redchapel."
"Being an adventurer gives you no privileges outside the guilds. Be thankful that Yurine did not injure them, or you would have faced harsher conditions."
"Got it..."
There would be no point in fighting back. For now, all they could do was calmly accept the situation and be grateful that they would not see Sharley for a while.