"City guards? Really?" Saphandra asked.
Ning nodded to her. He was sure that was who these people were. During his walk around the city, he had seen multiple people wearing such uniforms walking around.
There were even some in the Summoning Circle building.
"Why are they here though? The man looks fine, and all I did was shove him a bit," Saphandra said.
"Is something wrong, sir?" Ning walked forward and spoke.
"This gentleman here says that your lady friend attacked him, is that correct?" one of the city guards asked.
"That… would be correct, yes," Ning said as he looked around the room. No one here was going to let him get away with a lie, so he decided to tell the truth.
"Well, your friend is going to have to come with us then," the guard said and moved towards them.
"Wait, wait, wait," Ning said. "This is not her fault. That guy harassed her. He came to our table and started asking her to give him her hair. She refused many times but he didn't listen."
"In the end, she screamed at him not to bother her, but he still did, that's when she attacked him," Ning said.
The city guards all looked at each other and they turned around to the green-haired man.
"No, that's a lie. I didn't harass her. I was being polite and asked her to… " the man trailed off as he understood how wrong it would sound if he told them that he just wanted her hair.
"What happened here?" the city guard looked to the other men for an answer.
"It's true," one of them spoke. "The lady told him to not bother her and he still tried to go after her. She had only attacked then."
"Right, right, I was looking at the entire thing," another one spoke.
As the people explained and told the city guard what happened, Saphandra was getting annoyed due to the lack of understanding.
"What are they saying?" Saphandra said.
"Just wait, I'm trying to get you out of going to jail," Ning said.
"Why am I going to jail? I did nothing wrong," Saphandra said.
"That's why I'm getting you out of going to jail. Just shut up and let me do my thing," Ning said.
He then turned around and looked at the city guard. "See brother, it's that man who was at fault. My friend here only retaliated as a last resort in self-defense. Her intention wasn't to hurt him," he said.
"Yes, it does seem that way," the city guard said. "Alright, take him into cuffs."
The other guards suddenly pulled out some chains and put them around the man's hands.
"Wait, why are you taking me?" he shouted.
Saphandra sighed at last after seeing the man get apprehended. "Finally, he's gone," she thought and turned around.
"You!" the city guard shouted at her just as she turned. Saphandra turned back and gave a quizzing look.
"You are going to jail as well," the city guard said.
"What?" Ning said in surprise.
"What?" Saphandra asked in confusion as she still didn't understand the language.
"They are taking you to jail," Ning said.
"Why?" Saphandra asked.
Ning quickly turned around. "I thought it was clear that she was not at fault," Ning said.
"It is, and she will not be charged with assault," the city guard said. "But she did use summoning within public space and that is not allowed. So she will have to come to the jail as well."
While Ning tried to explain what was happening, the guards started handcuffing her.
"What are they doing? Tell them to get these off of me or I will kill them all," Saphandra said.
Ning tried to think of what to do. He wondered if he should just grab her and disappear to another island.
However, as he thought of that, the green-haired man started shouting.
"Do you know who I am? I am a delegate from the Infinite Beasts school, a Rank 5 Summoner. My school has more people in it than your entire town. Do you want to anger me? Do you want to face my summons?" the man shouted.
The city guards didn't take his threat into account at first, but once they saw his hair, they started to fear him a bit.
The city guards were Rank 2 summoners, rank 3 at best. There was no way they could handle something like a Rank 5 summoner, not to mention one with green hair.
The city guard that was giving all the orders previously didn't know what to do.
"Uh…" he mulled for a while.
"Maybe let us go?" Ning said.
"No!" the man finished mulling. "I don't feel right making a judgment on these matters. So I will bring the two of you to the City lord. You can make your case there and see what happens."
The guard was silently pushing away his responsibility and making it the City Lord's matter now.
"Get their cuffs off," the guard said and the handcuffs came off.
"Alright, let's go," the city guard said and started walking away.
"Let's go," Ning said and pulled Saphandra.
"No, you don't need to go. You can stay," the guard said.
Ning quickly shook his head. "She speaks a language that none of you can understand. I need to be there to translate what you say to her. Otherwise, it would be unfair for her to not even be able to make her case and get punished for something she did not do," Ning said.
The guard thought for a bit and said, "Fine, you can come along," he said.
Then, the group started walking.
The green-haired man stared at them from time to time, but for some reason, Ning thought he was being angry at him, rather than Saphandra.
'I wasn't the one who attacked you though,' he said.
After 15 or so minutes of walking, they reached a massive house built on the side of the mountain.
This was the City lord's mansion.
