### Chapter 30: Cataloma
When Charles asked that question, he was a bundle of nerves.
Of course, he noticed that the girl had literally just descended from the heavens, and she was wielding the Frost Order’s power as if she was born to it, taking down two tough Workshop Hunters in the blink of an eye.
In that moment, Charles panicked, thinking she was coming for him, and he nearly bolted in a full sprint.
But to his surprise, Mr. Carlos actually knew this girl and seemed quite flustered by her appearance. She arrived and was immediately met with a good old-fashioned verbal lashing from him, followed by a rather immature argument.
Their bickering was the kind of childish shouting match where each was trying to out-volume the other. Still, there was no denying that their relationship was unusually close.
Carlos was a Pope Knight, that much Charles understood, but he couldn’t quite grasp the nature of his connection with this girl. Looking at her obviously noble features—those black hair and black eyes typical of the Valen Empire—made it startingly apparent that she came from a wealthy background.
Her name was something like Hil… Hilda? Anyway, it sounded familiar. Is she a kid from the Duke Skarlick’s family?
At this point, the girl had a sulky expression, radiating an attitude of “I’m furious,” which oddly made Charles’ heart skip a beat.
But she didn’t seem very fond of him… Charles couldn’t help but mentally berate Carlos for causing this mess. Why did he have to rile her up?
You made her angry, and then just left me to figure out what to do?
He was a whirlpool of confusion inside.
He really didn’t want this pot of trouble to fall into his hands, but he couldn’t ignore it.
So, with a forced smile, he asked once more, “Um, may I ask, Miss, you…”
Before the foreign guy could finish, I shot him a glare.
What’re you asking me for?!
Can’t you see I’m still mad? Do you have no sense of timing?
I turned my face away, pretending to ignore him, only to spot the Hunter I had blocked with an ice wall, staggering out from behind, one hand on his face.
I quickly pointed at him.
“Let him speak!”
Then I crossed my arms, sulking in the corner.
“… What?”
That Hunter had evidently rushed in too aggressively, crashing face-first into the ice wall and now swaying as if he were trying to get his bearings.
“I don’t think I’ve offended anyone from Shanter Castle, yet you all suddenly charged at us. Can’t you at least explain what’s happening here?”
“Let’s hear your side of the story; there must be some misunderstanding here.”
Carlos stared blankly, as if nothing had happened, casually speaking his mind, and that casual nonchalance only made me angrier.
But the children’s affair hadn’t been settled, and this certainly wasn’t a place to bicker further, so I shot him a spiteful glance instead.
After pondering for a moment, I deliberately took a few steps away from him to create distance.
Don’t think you can stand this close to me!
“Let me handle this,” another Hunter had finally snapped out of his daze. He seemed to have come to a better understanding of the situation, glancing at me with complex eyes before bowing slightly to Carlos, “I apologize for my rudeness. May I ask if you are… Mr. Carlos, the Silver Flash?”
“Ah, indeed.” Carlos nodded, a smirk tugging at his lips, his bright blue eyes glimmering with mischief. “You’re Workshop Hunters, right? What’s the matter? Did the Duke think I had one too many lunches this morning and sent you two to help me digest?”
The Hunter’s forehead glistened with cold sweat.
“Not…”
“Honestly, you should be addressing this girl,” Carlos pointed at me with his finger, “She eats way more than I do.”
“Carlos! You dare mock me!” Just as my earlier anger had simmered down, it suddenly erupted again. I stormed back to him, grabbing his hand that was pointing at me, ready to take a bite out of him.
That was just too infuriating!
I had already decided not to hold this against him, and yet he still dared to provoke me!
Seeing my fierce demeanor, Carlos’ eyebrows shot up in fear, and he hurriedly pressed down on my head, striving to pull his hand away.
“Are you a little puppy?!”
“Who told you to say that about me!!”
I panted heavily, feeling like my lungs were about to explode, my teeth grinding in anger, glaring at him.
Is it really that fun to bully me?!
“Uh, I’m sorry. I’m just used to it, you know…”
Carlos realized he had pushed me too far and tried to calm the situation, but the words that slipped out almost made me choke.
“What do you mean, you’re used to it?!”
I continued to glare at him.
Carlos, from today onward, I’ve decided not to speak to you.
Carlos was unnerved by my fierce gaze and awkwardly looked away, ignoring the strange looks from everyone else before swiftly changing the topic.
“Ahem, so Workshop Hunters, let’s hear what you really want to do. I’m pretty curious.”
His tone was downright mocking, making the Hunter’s face flush as he awkwardly spoke up.
“Maybe we misjudged the situation…” he replied while slowly inching his way back to his friend, relief lacing his tone, “If we’d known you were Mr. Carlos, we wouldn’t have made a move. That sword of yours… I thought the rumors were exaggerated before meeting you.”
“So here’s the deal—”
The Hunter supported his dizzy companion as he recounted what had transpired.
After listening, the Dean wore an amused yet bewildered expression.
“Well, isn’t this something?” he adjusted his hat, “Haha, what can I say? I’ve been mistaken for the bad guy by a bunch of kids…”
“Uncle, the Dean isn’t a bad guy; he didn’t want to sell us!”
A watermelon-haired boy glared at the Hunter, clearly viewing them as the villains.
Even the kids recognized this misunderstanding.
But I didn’t understand—if you were a good person, why not just come out and say it? Why the need for all this mysterious cloak-and-dagger nonsense?
If it weren’t for seeing Carlos, I might’ve come down and given the Hunters a proper beating first!
But as long as the children were fine, that was what mattered.
Just then, the explosive fury in my chest waned a bit. Let’s hear what the Hunter has to say.
“Looks like there’s been some misunderstanding on your end, Mr. Dean.”
The Dean sighed helplessly as he was about to say something, only to be interrupted by a rather childish shout.
“David—!!”
I turned to the source of the voice to see Aili and Lucas dashing over, quickly wrapping their arms around the watermelon-haired boy, faces alight with joy.
“Great, you’re okay!”
“Lucas, Aili, how did you both get here?”
“We came to save you!”
The watermelon-haired boy instantly looked puzzled.
“Why did you need to save me?”
“Didn’t you hear…?” Lucas looked up and cautiously glanced at the Dean, then lowered his voice, “The Dean wanted to sell you to bad people!”
At that distance, even the lowest whisper could be heard, and the Dean put on a helpless smile.
“Lucas, who told you I was going to sell David?”
“We saw it all just now!”
“Yeah!”
“You took that creepy guy’s coins and planned to hand over David to him!”
Lucas shot a righteous glare at Charles, his indignant expression stunning everyone into laughter.
“Ahahaha, being seen as a creepy bad guy by these adorable kids is really causing me some distress—”
Charles styled his hair dramatically, though it only made me roll my eyes.
“Dean! Why would you want to sell David?!”
Watching the kids’ wary expressions, the Dean sighed again.
“Honestly, I didn’t want you to know about any of this. Well, it’s too late now. To clear up any suspicions, let me introduce everyone. This is Mr. Charles from the orphanage in Cataloma.”
Cataloma? Never heard of it.
“Ah!”
“Cataloma! What do we do, Lucas, he’s from Cataloma’s orphanage!”
“I told you he didn’t look like a bad guy, but you all wouldn’t listen to me…”
Upon hearing “Cataloma,” Lucas and the others’ defensiveness melted instantly. Their rage transformed into disbelief, and it was almost as if some even wanted to say “I told you so,” which left me baffled.
“Hello!” Charles smiled and greeted the kids.
“Hello, Uncle!”
Even Aili, who had been so worried just a moment ago, suddenly became friendly and shyly waved at Charles.
“Uh, Cataloma? Are you one of those from the Cataloma orphanage?” the two Hunters asked, looking utterly flabbergasted.
“Indeed.”
Charles bowed deeply to the Hunters.
“So, are you planning to send David and the others to Cataloma?”
“Yeah, Mr. Charles came all the way from Ethanbel just to take these kids over.”
“To Cataloma?!”
“Ugh, I’m so jealous—”
“I also want to go to Cataloma…”
“The Dean really went through a lot to arrange this. He fought very hard to secure a spot for you kids to go to Cataloma, and now he’s being labeled as the bad guy. Haha, he’s about to cry!”
“Lucas, do I really look like someone who abducts kids?”
The Dean’s chubby cheeks broke into a beaming smile, his eyes squinting into little slits.
“But, but, why didn’t you tell us about it beforehand, Dean?”
“Yeah, Dean, and you took the coins earlier!”
“Coins? Is this what you mean—” the Dean pulled out a small bag from his robe, “This is the renovation fund Sister Teresa prepared for us.”
“It’s Sister Teresa!”
“Then why, Dean, were you sneaking around here?”
“Well, adults have their own troubles, you know. Anyway, you little rascals made me quite sad.”
“Sorry, Dean…”
The Dean chuckled and patted Lucas on the head.
“You cheeky kids sneaking out without a word—what if something happened? Just remember, no crying when it’s time for punishment!”
