I Reject Quests

"Hey, wait--- beep!" (Rewen)

The call recording ended.

It silenced everyone in the room for a while.

Rewen had a neutral expression on his face while Michi was visibly shocked.

The red-haired Death Knight looked towards the other Death Knights. "We've now got sufficient evidence to conclude that Hase Shichiro… and Reza Terio are the prime suspects of the homicide of the eldest son of the respected City Lord governing over the Rover City, Mitsuo Sugiwara, "

A male Death Knight approached her. "Should we initiate the search?"

"Right away." The red-haired Death Knight replied with no hesitation. Immediately, shadows of the Death Knights vanished within a fraction of seconds, making the others present in the room gasp in bewilderment.

At this moment, the City Lord stood up from his chair and walked to her. "Do you know where that ungrateful bastard is?"

"It's impossible to know exactly where he is. However, you don't need to worry. We, the Death Knights, know how to work. This kind of criminal case is beneath us and normally, we would reject it but since Lord Goya had requested the case, we will get the job done as fast as possible."

The City Lord didn't look satisfied. He has lost his son. How could he begin to feel satisfied? Even if he tortures the murderer of his son, he wouldn't feel satisfied. Because at the end of the day, his son isn't going to come back. He then turned to look at two friends of his son's murderer and felt rage boiling. However, he calmed himself down.

"What are we going to do with them?"

"Let them go? You can do whatever you want but I wouldn't encourage you to take action against them because there is justice in this nation. Even if you are a strong political figure, you don't get a pass to go against the law." The red-haired Death Knight warned him.

The City Lord snorted. "When have I ever suggested that?"

"You didn't. I just warned you." The red-haired Death Knight paid no more attention to him and walked towards Rewen.

'Hm?' Rewen thought of possible things she was going to say and organized the answers in his mind.

When she was at a distance of half a meter from him, she looked down at his eyes. For a woman, she was tall. About 6 feet 5 inches.

Rewen raised his head to look at her. "I'm not related to this. At this point, I only want to safely exit this mansion."

"I understand but before that, I'm sure both you and I know that there are things unresolved. It's nothing more than a wild guess but why do I think that Reza Terio, the cousin of Hase Shichiro, is somehow related to this? Could it be that she is the reason Mitsuo got murdered? Not that it matters anyway. What really matters is…" A dark smile appeared on the red-haired Death Knight's originally solemn face.

"Are you sure you didn't fake the recordings? Can you tell me  with one hundred percent certainty that this whole recording thing isn't a deflecting ploy on your part?"

"No, it isn't," Rewen answered with a straight face. 

"I see. In that case, will you take the blame if Hase Shichiro is found to be in Masalton?"

"..."

The surroundings' gazes went to him.

Michi had the same nervous look on her face.

The City Lord and his wife also turned their attention towards him.

Under everyone's gaze, Rewen strangely felt empowered. If he wasn't in a critical situation, he would have burst out laughing. 'It's obvious that this weirdly tall woman is trying to put pressure on me and doesn't actually believe that I faked the recording. She is probably doing so to break my last line of defense. It seems that my confidence had somehow overwhelmed her. Is this some sort of challenge to my intelligence? I'll give her props for arriving at the correct conclusion though.'

He sighed with a bitter face. "Would it have been better for me had I not revealed the recording?"

"Not really. I would have suspected you more in that case." The red-haired Death Knight said.

"How can I prove it's not a ploy and that I'm not related to this?" Rewen directly asked with a difficult face.

"Answer some questions." 

For the next half-an-hour, she asked questions after questions. Contrary to everyone's expectations, the questions were not about the recording. They were normal questions about Hase and Reza. 

"Okay, that's all I need to ask." The red-haired Death Knight turned to the City Lord after getting the answer to her last question. "They are out of suspicion."

The City Lord gave them (Rewen and Michi) a single glance and said. "This should be your last day in this mansion." Saying that, he along with his wife and the servants exited the room. 

*Swish*

*Swish*

The red-haired Death Knight cut off the ropes that restrained Rewen and Hase and proceeded to leave the room without a word.

Michi heaved a sigh of relief and walked up to Rewen. "This was… really something."

Rewen slightly nodded and looked at the three slaves silently.

***

Sitting in the car Hase left behind, Rewen looked out of the window to see Michi carrying a small bag. With the small bag in hand, she opened the door of the car and sat beside him.

"Did you get everything?" Rewen asked.

Michi nodded. " To begin with, I didn't bring in anything much."

"Should we just book an inn for a month?" With them being kicked out of the mansion, they had to stay at an inn for shelter. 

Michi hesitated to answer. "Um, you can stay at my place… Don't we have enough to renovate the house and…"

"Okay, so your house would be the shelter. What about income? You do know that Rover City isn't doesn't have a guild and wouldn't take in underaged people no matter what the profession."

"I have a grocery store…" After all this, Michi wanted to return to her normal lifestyle. She figured that she isn't cut out for adventures.

Rewen didn't answer for a long time which made Michi feel guilty.

"You don't have to---"

"Okay. Your suggestion is reasonable. I'll provide funds to renovate your house and restore your store."

Michi's eyes lit up. "Thank yo---"

"However." Rewen looked straight at her eyes. "I have to go on a road different from yours so… you are on your own."

"Ah…" Michi lowered her head, saying nothing. For her, this works as well. But she was hesitant in expressing her opinion.

Rewen shook his head when he saw her expression. "It's fine. I understand. I don't blame you for thinking for yourself. We are friends, not lovers. I enjoyed your company but someday or the other, we have to part. I don't blame you for not wanting to go on a stressful journey. But think about what you really want to do. The moment you return to your usual lifestyle, your life would center around 'contentment' and not about the 'dreams' you cherish."

He gave her a minute to think, then asked again. "What do you want to do?"

"I... take me to my place." 

"Alright. Tighten your seatbelts." Rewen started the car.

***

Rover City.

The city was in shambles. Houses and markets were destroyed. More than a thousand people had died. Currently, after a week, the city has started its restoration. Despite the start of the restoration, it would take some years to fully go back to the state it was a week ago.

Amidst all this, a good-looking car entered the city through the main route. The car naturally belonged to Hase and the ones sitting inside were Rewen and Hase. The journey was peaceful. It took about two hours for them to reach the city.

"Looks like your colony is one of the less affected," Rewen commented as he drove past the damaged houses.

Michi was looking out of the car window in search of her house.

"There it is!" Michi pointed her finger.

Rewen followed her finger and saw a small one-storey house. Compared to the rest of the houses in the locality, it was in fairly good condition. It only has some large holes in the walls. Nothing much.

"Wait for a second," Michi said, before exiting the car and walking to her house.

Rewen had no idea why he was told to wait. He looked out of the window and saw some familiar people leaving the city on a large bus. 'Such is life. A single man-made disaster is enough to make thousands homeless and lose their livelihood. It's unknown if they can even survive for long but here the government is. Restoring the infrastructure? How about restoring the livelihood of the people first?'

He complained in his mind.

By the time he was finished complaining, he saw Michi exit her house with two luggage bags in both of her hands. She walked to the car, put the luggage bags on the trunk of the car, and sat beside him. 

Looking at Rewen's dumbfounded face, she flashed a bright smile "Let's go!"