As I came out of the duke's manor, I couldn't help giving a sneeze.
I looked around myself before asking, "Is someone talking about me?"
Shaka looked at me with a strange look because they didn't have this superstition in this world, but that look quickly faded since he knew that I was a strange person. He had seen all the strange quirks that I had, so he slowly got used to them.
When we left the duke's manor, Shaka went off on his own a bit before coming back with a carriage for us.
This was the same carriage that we had taken into this city and we were using it now to leave. During this time, the carriage had been put aside to prevent anything from happening to it, so the driver was very relieved to see that we were safe.
After all, the driver had been staying with the carriage the entire time and hadn't heard any news about us.
Shaka gave the driver a few instructions before sitting down with me in the carriage.
As we sat there, I let out a sigh of relief as I finally relaxed.
This had been a long mission with many twists and turns. There were many times where I thought I would lose my life, but I had survived in the end and had even captured the demon.
This was without a doubt the best ending.
I just relaxed as the carriage headed towards the gate of the city. When we arrived, we didn't have to wait at all since we still had the pass that the duke had given us, so we were able to easily leave the city without even being checked.
But after leaving the city, I realized that something was off.
We were going in a completely different direction from the way home.
I immediately stood up and walked over to the window to question the driver, but before I could do anything, Shaka raised his hand to stop me.
I looked at Shaka with a confused look, but he said, "I changed our destination."
"Huh?" I was even more confused when I heard this and I couldn't help feeling a bit wary.
Could it be that something had happened in the past three days and something had caused Shaka to betray me?
Or could it be that something had happened in the Shadow Garden organization that had caused this change?
Shaka could see the look on my face, so he said, "It's not what you think. It's just that I received an order to bring you in."
"Bring me in?" I repeated before suddenly asking, "Could it be that I've done something wrong that I need to be brought in?"
Shaka shook his head and said, "It's nothing like that."
Without explaining any further, he took out a piece of paper that he handed over to me.
I looked at this piece of paper with a skeptical look, but seeing that Shaka wasn't saying anything, I had no choice but to take it.
As I read what was written, I couldn't help knitting my brows.
That was because on this piece of paper was an order from our superior ordering us to come to the capital. With that, I now knew where this carriage was going.
But why were we being called in like this?
Shaka saw the way that I looked at him after reading the note, so he said, "We're being called in to report to the king."
"The king?!" I said in a shocked voice.
Shaka gave a nod as he continued, "That's right, the king." Then his tone changed as he said, "It isn't a strange thing that we need to report to the king. The Shadow Garden Organization is one that is directly under the king, so it's normal that we report to him. Not to mention, this was a large event that even involved a duke, so of course we would be called in."
I couldn't help revealing a bitter look on my face as I said, "And you couldn't tell me all of this earlier?"
Shaka took off his hood and revealed a bitter smile too as he said, "Would you have come with me if I did?"
I firmly shook my head in response to this.
Shaka gave a sigh as he said, "I knew that would be your response. I've been with you long enough to know that you don't want to get involved with Shadow Garden and the royal family at all. While I don't know why you have this kind of aversion, you really should just accept it at this point."
The bitter look on my face became even stronger as I thought to myself, "I know that Shadow Garden is about to collapse soon, so why would I accept it? I'm still trying to find a way out before anything happens."
But it wasn't as if I could say this right to Shaka's face.
So I answered the other question, "There's nothing good in getting involved with the royal family. You should know how dangerous it is to be around the royal family since you've been around them before, so how can I accept this?"
Shaka shook his head before saying, "This isn't a bad thing. You have caught a demon and saved one of the major cities from being destroyed. No matter how you look at it, you will be rewarded by the royal family."
The bitter smile kept growing on my face as I said, "You might think so, but there will always be a catch."
"Catch?" Shaka asked with a confused look.
I nodded as I said, "Everything in life comes with a price and that is also the case with things given by the royal family. There is no doubt that there will be some kind of special order that comes with this reward…That's why I didn't want to go. I would rather let someone else take the merit than go by myself."
Shaka couldn't help looking at me with a strange look, but I didn't bother explaining.
I couldn't run away from Shaka in the first place and even if I did, I wouldn't have a way to get back to the town.
So all I could do for now was…think of ways to reject whatever was going to be awarded to me and find a way to avoid catching the eyes of the royal family.
Only then would I be able to live a peaceful and long life.