“You-!”

Yasuwaki turned malevolent and he squirmed in order to get to his feet. However, with what seemed like a mountain’s weight on his back, it’s just impossible to get up. His face turned purple from trying too hard and probably oxygen deficiency.

Noah pressed down on the poor fellow. He lowered his posture, turning Yasuwaki into a human stool for him to step on. He chuckled out loud, making sure he can hear him.

“I thought the first one to point his gun at me would be Kikunojou, never did I expect it would be someone like you, a nobody.”

Yasuwaki and the other guards were stunned and they came to their senses.

Since it’s their jobs to protect Seitenshi, they came into contact with Kikunojou on multiple occasions. It’s more accurate to say that they are Kikunojou’s subordinates.

Finally, it dawned on them.

The man before them is not just a simple leader of an organization. It’s someone who wants to go against Kikunojou, and he had the power to do so.

He wants to go after THE Kikunojou of the Tendo clan.

Yasuwaki finally showed a bit of trepidation. The other guards also looked at each other as they slowly backed away.

“Wh-what are you going to do?”

Yasuwaki used the last of his courage to scream at him.

“This is the holy palace and we are the bodyguard team, do anything stupid and we will sue you!”

“Eh?”

Noah gasped, any self-respecting actor would scold him for displaying such poor acting skill.

“Aren’t you the future ruler of the Tokyo Area? You can just go ahead with the prosecution and pass your judgment immediately, right? Why go through the hoops of the courthouse?”

“I…”

Yasuwaki was stumped for words, he secretly felt regret.

It’s not regret over picking on Noah. No, he still hated the guy to the bones.

He’s sorry that he didn’t immediately break Noah’s arms and legs when he subdued him. He should have gloated after doing that.

According to his simulation, if that happened then he would be the one who is stepping on Noah right now.

Should an honorable guard of the premier resort to such despicable means? Nah, that thought never crossed their minds.

They also never considered the realistic probability of what would have actually happened if they tried to pull a sneak attack on Noah.

Too bad for them, in this world and even in Noah’s original world of magic, there are no cure for repentance.

Lo and hold, Yasuwaki got his ass handed to him and he can’t do anything about it, nor can his friends bail him out.

Yasuwaki can only swallow his pride and blurt his thought out.

“What do you want?”

“I don’t want anything.”

He looked around him and he saw Yasuwaki who is still under him, he sighed.

“I just wanted to see what you guys could do. I adopted a stance where I would personally experience the finesse of the bodyguard team. The result, sigh, are all the bodyguards in the holy palace this lacking?”

Even the other guards are frustrated when they heard him, not just Yasuwaki.

“What good does it do for me to waste so many words with you people?”

Noah lost his interest and he removed his foot from Yasuwaki’s back.

“If you know where you stood, if you conducted yourself properly, this wouldn’t have happened. To put it simply, there are people you can pick on and there are people you can’t pick on, your choice reflected on you poorly in that regard.”

He stepped over Yasuwaki and he walked towards the exit.

The guards that surrounded him immediately gave way to him, they stood as close to the walls on the sides as humanely possible, lest they provoke him further.

“Damn! Damn! Damn it all!”

Yasuwaki grumbled and yelled in utter hatred, he wanted to tear his shirt open in anger. He stared in the direction where Noah disappeared to.

“Don’t let me get the chance or I will…”

===

When Noah made his way out of the Holy Palace, the sun is already setting and the sky was dyed in a somber dark-red hue.

Noah stretched his back and his bones popped and cracked in response. He sighed for the nth time today.

Noah thought they would not be smart enough to just bugger off. He thought they would bitch and moan, gathering almost every soul in the palace. Of course, he expected them to pin it on him.

Anyone who saw the scene of Noah stepping on guards would choose to believe their side of the story, interrogating Noah in the process, even Seitenshi would probably doubt Noah as well.

Noah made preparations and thought up defenses just in case.

Yasuwaki & co didn’t do anything in the end. They licked their wounds and quietly backed off. Even they didn’t think they would schooled so hard when they tried to bully someone.

Noah saw through their thoughts.

It’s not that Yasuwaki & co are above doing that. It’s just that they are too stupid to actually think of an idea like that, using their own tragedy to spin a sad story that would mound a successful attack on Noah’s reputation.

It looks like Yasuwaki & co are very incompetent in that department.

Maybe they put all their skill points into day-to-day security detail, that when crap hits the fan, they just lost the ability to react properly. At this point, they are just glorified security guards with no substance to back it up.

“Princess-sama actually hired those monkeys? How did she survive with such a bunch of dumbos?”

Noah can’t help but wonder as he moved along.

But, a bicycle entered his sight as it circled around the fountain just outside of the palace. Noah stopped walking.

He stopped for a simple reason.

There’s a petite figure cycling around the fountain on top of her bike. She’s someone who looks like she’s about Enju and Kayo’s age. Her platinum-blonde hair glistened in the sunset, dancing in the air as she cycled around the fountain.

Due to her eye-catching hair, Noah noticed her.

She’s wearing pajamas and the slippers she had on are a poor pair to cycle on. Judging from her messy hair, a yawning mouth, half-opened eyes, it’s not hard to imagine that she’s cycling while wobbling like she would fall over anytime soon.

Her unusual state made Noah hearken to her.

Noah can’t help but worry for the young girl as she went around in circles.

“She won’t suddenly fall down, right?”

He sealed her fate with that sentence. She suddenly sneezed from a passing breeze. She stepped too hard on the pedal and she accelerated out of nowhere.

Noah stood in her path. He flinched and evaded her. As she passed by, he grabbed her even as the concerned person looked like she’s not aware of what is going on. He hugged her as the bicycle crashed into a nearby handrail.

Bam

Due to the velocity of the bicycle, the bicycle flew into the air and dropped in a rather exaggerated parabola, falling heavily some distance away.

Bang

The poor bicycle broke into pieces of scrap metal.

“Ah…”

Noah didn’t say anything, the girl in his arms opened her mouth first.

“My ride…’

“You’re worried about your bicycle?”

He wanted to yell at her for being so irresponsible with her own safety.

“If I didn’t yoink grab you, you would have been part of that ghastly accident.”

The young girl raised her head in a dazed manner. She stared at him although she looked very out-of-it. Then, she beamed at him.

“A hero who saved the hero in distress…”

Noah didn’t know what to say right now.