Jogrin cast his gaze toward the dim alleyway, where the bullies went into. In the meantime, he was still in the clutches of Zanphia and Suzannia, who were nowhere close to calming down. Zenover, despite aching all over his body, mustered up all his strength and looked after Garty, who was still in a daze.
None of them noticed what Jogrin had.
In the next moment, just as he perceived, the bullies returned. One by one, they made their back. Their countenances were pale and dull, and it definitely wasn't because of the feelings of disgust earlier, since it should've subsided.
Zanphia and the others, upon witnessing this scene, also went pale. They had no idea why they all came back in unison. Was it that Jogrin's threat wasn't enough to push them away? Did they still more... fun?
Those kinds of thought went through their minds, as they were clueless about the bullies' complexion.
Just as those four were poised yet in a dither, the last person came out of the dim alleyway. It was one that had donned a full set of armor that was clad in silver. The armor, made to not reflect any lights, looked even drabber in this place. It made small clanking noises as the person inside it moved. It sounded exactly like when someone was marching.
At this point, it was unequivocal who it was. It was none other than a Knight, from the Second Order of the Royal Knights. It appeared that he managed to find the bullies fleeing from the scene.
As for the bullies, it'd be reasonable to say that they were in consternation because they'd been caught by someone authorized to conduct arrest. Even though the Knight didn't personally witness the bullying in action, the bruises on Zenover, plus testimonies from Zanphia and the others would suffice.
While the four who just went through the bullying felt relieved upon seeing the Knight, they still had yet to truly calm down, as evident by how tightly Zanphia and SUzannia were still holding Jogrin.
Speaking of Jogrin, he stared at the Knight with quietly, observing his movements.
"I will contact my Captain, and you guys had better stay put." The Knight warned, before turning to face Zanphia and the others. "It's going to be fine now. Just relax."
The Knight had his helmet on, and normally, it wouldn't pose a problem for "emotional perception" to identify who it was if Jogrin had directly seen his face just once. However, he couldn't identify this Knight at all.
There was only one Knight who had never shown his face to Jogrin.
Kron Urta. The Knight who was still highly hostile to Jogrin to this day. It appeared other than being hostile, he was also an efficient worker.
That... was what anyone would think about the current situation.
Kron walked close to Jogrin and whispered to him, while ignoring Zanphia and Suzannia who for some reason were still clinging to him.
"Jogrin. You disobeyed the orders of your supervisors. That's why, prepare for severe punishments."
While Jogrin didn't react to those words, as this was to be expected, Zanphia suddenly let go of Jogrin and faced Kron. Her expression indicated that she was infuriated.
"Ms. Zanphia, while you may think that his action benefited you, he still went against orders, and needs to be chastised, and punished. He deserves at least this much, it'd be better if he got more."
Though his voice sounded composed, Kron couldn't have said this impartially, especially with that last sentence.
Albeit what Kron said wasn't wrong, Zanphia still believed it was unfair for Jogrin, but the latter simply tugged at her sleeve and shook his head. Because of that, Zanphia stood down begrudgingly.
"I'm fine. Zenover..."
Garty, still leaning against the wall, told Zenover as the latter continued to bombard her with questions worriedly. Of course, despite Garty's dismissive tone, Zenover didn't intend to leave her side until he ensured that she was actually fine.
Jogrin glanced at them before staring at Kron again. At the same time, he pushed Zanphia and Suzannia behind him. The two of them were confounded by his sudden action and turned to look at him with bewildered eyes. Zenover and Garty also noticed this strange behavior and shot Jogrin the same look.
The bullies, who were all standing still while in a daze, didn't dare to make a single noise.
That... was what anyone would think about their current states.
"... Who are you?"
Then, Jogrin threw that question at Kron, who kept exchanging stares with Jogrin. He remained silent for a moment, his body not moving an inch.
"Who am I? What are you playing at? Trying to feign ignorance in hopes of getting away?"
"I'll only ask this one more time: who are you?"
"Jogrin...? What's wrong?" Zenover had no clue why Jogrin asked such an abrupt question, and asked on of his own.
"Not now, Zenover." But Jogrin dismissed him curtly.
"Trying to confuse everyone here? That's a lame tactic."
"Then, I shall lay out the three reasons why I'm asking this."
"Stalling for time now? That's fine. I need more Knights to mobilize anyway. Go ahead."
"When I said three reasons, I'm talking about three points of doubt. Tell me, how did you get here so quickly?"
"What are you saying?"
"According to 'emotional perception,' even Kapel, who's driving to get here, only just arrived at the high school, while you're able to find us so quickly."
"Have you ever thought of the possibility that I, along with other Knights, had come with Gran Commander Kapel by car together, and we split up?"
"That leads me to the next point of doubt. If you came here with Kapel, he'd have given you a means of communication for when any of you found us. The fact that he and the other Knights are currently wandering around with no destination in mind means that you clearly didn't report that you did."
"I was just about to when you suddenly asked who I am to distract me, and now you're shifting the blame on me??"
"Furthermore... you said you came here with Kapel and some other Knights. Other than you, I've seen every single one of the appearance of all the Knights, except yours. You're the only Knight whom it hasn't registered..."
"And?"
"Even if you came with a group of Knights, I can still assume that that single unrecognizable presence among the entire cluster of presences, to be you. However, there was no 'unrecognizable presence' among the group of Knights that came before they scattered."
"..."
"Meanwhile, one such presence suddenly appeared in the alleyway, blocking the bullies' escape. How would you explain this?"
Jogrin's stare became more and more intense as he interrogated Kron, the Royal Knight. While he was able to tell the reasons behind the first two points of doubt, the last point counteracted everything Kron spoke of.
That was why Jogrin saved this for last.
"Now you're making stuff up with your proclaimed 'emotional perception?' That's really heinous of you! Besides, you're speaking of that ability of yours under the presence of all these people??"
"That's of no concern. Leaving aside Garty, they wouldn't remember anything both you and I just said. Isn't that right?"
"That makes the fourth point of doubt, you fool."
"No, there are still only three, because that last one is a point of certainty. After all... that's a part of what 'mind tampering' does, isn't it?"