"You'll be imprisoned here for a while."
Lynda stared at them sullenly as she opened the door to a medium-sized apartment on the second floor of an apartment complex. The group entered before hearing the door gently close behind them.
Patrick stepped forward and glanced at the apartment a few times before collapsing on the couch in the living room. His entire body takes up the entirety of it.
Jack had already begun to explore the couple of rooms the apartment had to offer before coming back to the living room. He approached Patrick, who was slouching across the entire couch, before asking him to make room.
Patrick gave him a look before sitting up properly and making some room on the couch that could fit three people. His arms spread outwards from behind the couch after stretching his back.
Patrick could feel the popping sensation in his back, followed by a relieving feeling, which caused him to moan out in satisfaction. "Ah~... This wouldn't be too bad if our leader weren't knocked out." His head tilted towards the rest of the gang.
Everette walked in with the unconscious Ada in his arms. He was flanked on both sides by Amelia and Alice, who gazed at her with worry.
Alice wanted to use her skill on Ada before being stopped by Everette, which was the reason that they should get somewhere safe first.
Everette stared towards Jack before receiving directions towards the bedroom.
The bed was king-sized and seemed to be quite comfortable. After softly tucking her into bed and letting Alice do her thing, he walked into the living room before finding a separate chair to sit on.
He slumped his back against it before tilting his head up and crossing his arms. The others realised he must've fallen into a sort of deep thought and decided not to wake him up from it.
They're, after all, trapped in the room until Crow decides what to do with them.
***
*Flashback*
BAM!
He anxiously opened his eyes to see the waist of someone wearing black shorts and their bare, slender legs directed at the right side of Crow's face.
Crow's entire arm was covered in a translucent yet solid blue object that resembled a gauntlet. His hand gripped the foot of the assailant with a surprised look.
'Such strength!' His gaze met the unconscious face of his attacker - it was Ada. Even after exhausting her will, she continued to try to protect Everette in her sleep.
'This girl has potential!' In the corner of Crow's eye, he noticed the gathering of mana before forming the shape of a short sword.
Everette decided that while Crow was distracted, he should try and get a cheap shot in. He imbued the surface of his skin with mana and caused it to shine with a hint of blue.
His sword vibrated at the feeling of mana coursing through it.
Before his attack could even reach the man, he caught a glimpse of Crow's other hand being directed at him. At the centre of Crow's palm was a blue ball that continued to get even bigger before—
FWOOP!
"PUAH! Argh...!"
—Getting blasted into the centre of his chest. Time seemed to slow down for him as he felt his body fold before being slammed into the wall behind him.
Everette rebounded off the wall before collapsing to the ground, which was followed by a THUMP sound. He tightly gripped his chest before watching Crow push Ada over.
Crow walked calmly over to Everette before pushing out his hand.
"Huh...?"
"What? Do you think I'm going to kill some kid right off the bat? Hahahaha!" He grabbed Everette by the collar before pulling him up to his feet and patting away the dust on him.
Everette's face went through different fazes as it wrinkled and shifted under the man's boisterous laughter. 'W-What is going on?'
Crow noticed that Everette seemed to have some questions. He turned his back on him before walking over to Ada and chucking her at him.
Everette's eyes shook before immediately raising his hands to catch Ada. After catching her, he noticed how soft she really was and gazed at her sleeping face. He held her in a princess carry.
He turned his attention back to Crow, who just gestured with a wave of his arm to follow him. Crow turned to everyone else unrelated to the situation and passed off the duty of getting everyone settled to Raven, who seemed to have rolled his eyes at that.
They began to slowly make their way through the mall.
Everette walked a couple of feet behind Crow while tightly holding onto Ada. His heart tightened as he continued to look at Ada before suddenly hearing Crow's voice resound in front of him.
"Do you care for her?" Everette looked up to notice Crow staring back at him and gazing at Ada. He nodded his head almost instantly.
A sympathetic smile spread across Crow's face before he turned around, "Good. Keep her always near you so you can protect her. That's especially true for an attendant."
Everette's eyebrow raised at the last part, "What do you mean by that?"
"Hm? All I am saying is that attendants shouldn't stray too far away from their masters, y'know? Or else something bad might happen."
At that, Everette's face began to turn a dark red before falling into a state of denial, "S-She is not! I refuse that!" And at that came yet another loud laughter:
"Hahahaha! Did you or did you not have to say something along the lines of "May you be the lord and my master" blah blah blah?" Crow shaped his hand into the beak of a duck before mimicking the phrase.
Steam seemed to rise from Everette's head as he began to recall what he said, 'And I just buried that memory as well!'
"Hahaha! I still mock and tease my attendant, Raven, about that!"
Everette wasn't feeling any better, knowing that Ada would do the same to him.
"So, what's your name?" Crow asked him with a curious pitch in his voice.
"It's Everette."
"Everette, huh? It's not a name you hear every day. The name's Crow." He turned around and held out his hand with an approachable smile. Everette eyed him suspiciously. Crow gave a wry smile at the look.
"Just... Trying to be polite..."