Two hours had passed since the knight arrested Rowan.
Rowan sat on the cold floor while still hugging Cardin as if the broken sword were the last warm pillow on earth. Tram was snoring loudly on the corner while Lucky was glaring at the wall like he wanted to poison it.
Then Rowan sighed for the nth time.
"The funeral must be done by now..." Rowan mumbled. "I wonder where dad is..."
Cardin's voice dryly echoed in his mind.
"Does your father even know you're here?"
Rowan blinked his eyes. Then he blinked again.
"...Probably not."
Cardin let out a groan.
"Then why are you sitting here and waiting for him like a lost puppy?!"
Rowan whimpered.
"I thought he would... Well... Feel it?"
"Feel what?!" Cardin snapped. "That 'My son fell on a knight and got arrested!' aura?"
Rowan's shoulders drooped in realization. Even the broken sword was judging him now.
But before Rowan could cry again, Tram stirred on the bench and stretched his arms like a bear waking up from his very short hibernation. Then he squinted his eyes at Rowan.
"Hey kid." Tram said in a sleepy thick voice. "You're talking to your broken sword again?"
Rowan proudly nodded his head.
"Yes! His name is Cardin. He is my friend!"
Tram and Lucky stared at him. Tram blinked his eyes while Lucky blinked harder.
"Oh, wow. Wonderful. Introduce me to your prison inmates. Just what I needed." Cardin sarcastically said.
But Rowan ignored it and held Cardin up.
"Say hello, Cardin! They are Tram and Lucky!"
After a moment, Tram gave Rowan a sympathetic look.
"Oh, kid..."
Lucky rolled his eyes so hard it looked like a dice rolling.
"That's it. He's gone insane." Lucky declared.
Rowan gasped.
"That's not true! He really talks!"
Lucky leaned back and crossed his arms.
"Sure. And I'm secretly the Emperor."
Tram scratched his beard while looking at Rowan with pitiful eyes as if he had three days left to live.
"Poor thing. I know very well that hunger does strange things to a young mind." Tram said.
Then he opened his tiny bag and rummaged inside. Rowan perked up at that. After some digging and muttering, Tram triumphantly pulled out a slightly squished bread. Then he offered it solemnly to Rowan like he was blessing him.
"Here, kid. Take this. At least you will hallucinate happier things when you eat something. Maybe a talking spoon instead of a sword."
Rowan accepted the bread with both hands like it was treasure.
"Thank you... But Cardin really talks."
Tram patted him on the head.
"Hmm. Of course he does."
Lucky snorted at them.
"Maybe next he will say the bread talks too."
Rowan nervously stared at the bread.
"...You don't talk too, right?"
Cardin sighed so loudly that Rowan felt a gentle vibration through the blade.
"Rowan, please don't talk to the bread."
"...I'm just double checking it."
Lucky threw his head back and let out a groan.
"I can't survive this jail and this stupid child."
Meanwhile, Tram grinned and happy to have eased Rowan's sorrow even if for the wrong reason.
Soon, Rowan was slowly struggling with the so-called bread that Tram gave him. To be honest, he was not sure if it was really a bread or a rock pretending to be bread. Rowan could feel his teeth grinding while chewing it.
"If you swallow that whole, we might need to operate you. Unfortunately, my tools were confiscated." Lucky muttered while looking at Rowan with crossed arms.
Rowan's eyes widened in horror before he quickly swallowed the piece in his mouth like a terrified squirrel. But before he could comment on the bread's questionable hardness, a loud commotion echoed outside.
The knights ran back and forth while shouting things to each other.
Rowan, Tram and Lucky instantly pressed themselves against the prison bars like gossip-loving pigeons. Tram's massive head blocked half of Rowan's view so he just ducked under his arm.
That was when someone walked by. That person paused and stared straight at Rowan. The man's face lit up with a strange combination of confusion and disappointment.
"...Why are you here?"
It was Lark.
Rowan, despite being behind bars and covered in prison dust, straightened up and politely smiled at him.
"Good afternoon, Sir Lark."
Lark narrowed his eyes at him.
"You did not answer my question."
"I was wrongly accused of beating a knight, sir." Rowan pitifully said.
Tram burst into laughter so loud that the prison walls trembled.
"That's actually the funniest thing I've heard today!"
Lucky rolled his eyes.
"Who would believe that? Just look at him. He looks like he can't even beat a pillow."
"To be fair, the pillow would probably win." Cardin commented too.
Rowan tightly hugged the broken sword.
"...Are you sure you didn't do anything?" Lark asked while rubbing his temple.
Rowan vigorously nodded his head.
"I swear! I only tripped a little. The knights tripped on their own. Everything happened by itself!"
Lark stared at him like he was trying to process five different kinds of nonsense news at the same time.
"...Right." Lark slowly said.
Cardin would also rolled his eyes if he could.
"He definitely thinks you're weak, lad."
"Cardin!" Rowan quietly hissed.
Lark raised a brow.
"Excuse me?"
"O-Oh! It's nothing! I'm just talking to myself!" Rowan said with a panicked smile on his face.
Then Lark let out a deep sigh.
"Alright. I'll release you."
Rowan's face lit up in excitement.
"Really?!" Rowan asked.
"Yes. You're clearly not dangerous." Lark said while looking at him from head to toe.
"Oh! Thank you, sir!"
Rowan practically bounced in his place. Then he remembered something and paused before pointing behind him.
"Uhmm... Can Tram and Lucky come out too?"
"...Who?"
"These two people with me!"
Tram immediately flashed a huge smile at Lark that showed all thirty perfectly solid teeth.
"Hello, good sir!"
Sensing an opportunity, Lucky attempted a friendly smile on his face. But it ended up looking like he was in pain.
Lark stared at those two. Then at Rowan. Then back at them.
"...Are you telling me they are your friends?"
Rowan cheerfully nodded his head.
"Yes! They are also very nice!" Rowan said with a smile.
Cardin, who was still in Rowan's arms, let out an exhausted sigh.
'This kid is going to die because he befriends literally everyone. Hah...'
All of a sudden, Tram placed a hand on his own chest.
"Good sir, I believe in second chances!" Tram proudly said.
"And I did not poison that patient!" Lucky added. "He poisoned himself by not following my instructions! That's different, right?"
Lark looked at them before he took a deep breath.
"Your name is Rowan, right?" Lark calmly asked.
"Huh? Yes, sir." Rowan innocently replied.
"Do you know why they are here?"
Rowan opened his mouth but Tram suddenly answered the question.
"I beat up a knight."
Then Lucky flipped his hair.
"And again, I was wrongly accused. Very wrongly. I need justice!"
Rowan nodded to Lark as if that perfectly explained everything. Cardin suddenly pitied his former student. Lark looked like he aged a lot in just a few seconds. Lark pinched the bridge of his nose before looking back at Rowan.
"Kid, I said I would release you and not your new criminal prison friends."
"But they're good people!" Rowan said while waving his hands. "Tram even gave me food!"
"What food?"
Rowan showed him the half-eaten bread. Lark looked at the bread in Rowan's hand with a frown. Then he looked at Tram after that.
"...You fed him prison bread?" Lark asked.
"Yes!" Tram replied with a proud smile.
"But that stuff can chip stone..." Lark murmured although all of them heard it too.
"It could probably build a character too." Lucky added with a shrug.
With a sigh, Lark stared at Rowan before he gently turned him around toward the cell door.
"Let's get you out before you permanently join them."
When Lark unlocked the gate, Rowan smiled and waved his arm in excitement.
"I will visit! Don't worry! And I'll bring better food next time!"
Tram gave him a thumbs-up while Lucky scoffed but secretly looked pleased. Before Rowan could step out, the knight who arrested him earlier suddenly appeared with wide eyes.
"Wait! You are escaping!" the knight said.
"Huh?! I am not escaping!" Rowan exclaimed.
The knight lunged forward to bring him back inside the prison cell. But before it could happen, Lark blocked him with one arm to stop his movement.
"I am releasing him." Lark said.
The knight froze.
"S-Sir? Really!?"
"Yes."
"But sir, he attacked—"
"He tripped on his own." Lark firmly said. "And you arrested him without any solid evidence."
"That..."
"You will give me twenty pages of report this afternoon about this incident. If you don't, then I am expecting to see you surrendering badge in my office tomorrow morning."
Rowan smiled in triumph when he saw the knight shiver in fear while Cardin almost whistled seeing his former student teaching those imbecile knights a lesson.
"Now then."
Lark grabbed Rowan by his collar and dragged him out.
"You should get out of this place now."
"H-Huh? Oh..."
Then Rowan looked at the prison cell.
"Goodbye Tram! Goodbye Lucky! I will come back with fruits and cookies soon!"
"Alright. Be strong, my young friend!" Tram said while exaggeratingly waving his hand.
"Don't come back here anymore!" Lucky yelled.
But Rowan continued shouting while Lark pulled him away.
"I will miss you two! See you later again!"
His voice echoed down the hallway until they finally disappeared around the corner.