"Mr. Amagi..."

Crepes·Clair suddenly turned his head and looked at Ryuto with a surprised expression, who was holding his arm firmly.

"Anyway, you can't go now," Ryuto said coldly.

“Why?” Crepes·Clair's eyes widened in astonishment upon hearing this.

Nevertheless, Ryuto did not let go.

"Regardless, we are already at the entrance to our destination. Any reckless actions may alert the terrorists, and everything will be ruined."

"Although that may be true, but..."

"And why do you want to go?"

"To stop them, of course. Their actions are undoubtedly wrong."

"In what capacity do you plan to stop them? As the captain of the special guard? Or as Crepes·Clair, a regular person?"

"Does it really make a difference?"

"Of course, it does. If you act as Crepes·Clair, then you have no authority to stop them."

"What?"

Crepes·Clair responded with a "What" instead of a "Why," indicating her surprise not at the logic of Ryuto's statement, but at the statement itself.

Nevertheless, Ryuto remained unfazed, his tone still calm.

"While I'm not sure about the laws of this country, in my opinion, they haven't broken any laws. You should know better that they just transferred small stones from the ground to that iron bowl. Ultimately, it was a voluntary donation. Just that... others give money, and they give small stones, that's all. No one has mandated giving money; hence, from your standpoint as a regular person, you have no right to stop them, because... as long as they haven't broken any laws, they are free to do as they please."

Realizing that her identity as a regular person won't suffice, Crepes·Clair declared, "As the captain of the special guard, I cannot tolerate this."

"Even that won't work. As I said before, we are already at our destination. If you act as the captain of the special guard, not only those two but others around will know your identity. In this way, terrorists might also get wind of your identity since we cannot guarantee they are not nearby. Besides, time is running out, and the likelihood of terrorists being around is high."

"..."

Perhaps understanding what Ryuto meant, Crepes·Clair didn't insist on rushing forward but simply lowered her head in resignation.

"Moreover, even if you stop them this time, it won't prevent the next time. As I mentioned earlier, they haven't broken any laws. So, even if you, as the captain of the special guard, condemn them, you won't be able to do anything to them. Even if you stop them this time, you can't stop the next. Your actions will only make her future more difficult, despite your intentions being good, in essence, you will harm her."

"What do you mean?"

Perhaps realizing that Ryuto was not lying, Crepes·Clair, faced with Ryuto's indifferent and unsympathetic words, neither ignored nor rebuked him but asked him the reason with a puzzled expression.