“Uncle!?”
“My lady!!”
When the men stepped on the asphalt road, Kii and the elderly man shouted out at the same time. The elderly man then panicked and ran towards Koutarou and the others.
“I finally found you, my lady!!”
Upon seeing Kii, the elderly man showed a big smile and ran as fast as he could. He didn't seem to care who Koutarou and Clan were at all.
“Kouma-sama, please wait! We don't know who the others are yet!”
“As if I care!! My ladyyy!!”
The three behind him seemed cautious who Koutarou and Clan were, so they hurriedly tried to stop the elderly man. However, he completely ignored them. The three men looked at each other and reluctantly chased after him.
“Kii-chan, do you know them?”
Based on the elderly mans and Kii's reaction, Koutarou vaguely understood that they weren't enemies. But since Kii's life had been targeted he remained cautious.
“Yes. It's uncle Kouma who works in my house.”
“Like I thought, she seems to be the daughter of an influential family.”
At the same time as Koutarou learned of the other's identity, the elderly man called Kouma reached Kii. He then squatted down in front of her and matched her eye level.
They seem okay...
Seeing Kouma squat down and match Kii's eye level, Koutarou decided that Kouma wasn't a dangerous person, and the tension built up inside of him released.
“Just where have you been these three days!? I was very worried and looked for you all over!!”
“I'm sorry, uncle...”
Kii apologized to Kouma who was in tears. It was now that she understood what her selfishness had caused.
“Of course, the master also worried for you. I desperately stopped him when he said that he would go look for you himself, and that's why I came here looking.”
“Dad did...?”
“The master heard that someone was after your life, and he had to use everything at his disposal to keep his enemies at bay. He was in no way not worried about you.”
Kii's father noticed that his political adversaries would try to use the fact that Kii had run away from home to sway the public opinion. Kii's father hadn't found out that Tayuma was the mastermind and that he was using Maya to target Kii, but he used everything he could to keep his political adversaries at bay. Because of that, nobody could move except for Tayuma and Maya.
And in exchange for Kii's father who couldn't move as he held his adversaries back, Kouma, his trusted vassal, was sent to look for Kii. This was Kii's father's best efforts to protect her.
“Uhm, about that.”
Koutarou who had been watching over the two, opened his mouth. There was something he had to tell Kouma.
“This girl, Kii-chan, was just attacked by some stranger. So please take her somewhere safe as fast as possible.”
“Onii-chan!?”
Kii's eyes opened wide from Koutarou's words. However, Kouma's reaction was even more exaggerated.
“I-Is that true!? We can't stay here!! You guys, secure our surroundings!! And contact the master!!”
“Understood!”
Kouma gave out orders and the men behind him sprung into action at once. One of them used some kind of device to survey his surroundings, and pulled out a small gun. The third used a communication device and contacted somebody. They were preparing for an ambush and at the same time planning their retreat.
“I somehow managed to protect her, but she might come back again... so please hurry.”
Koutarou and Clan didn't know who Maya was. All they could imagine was that she was an assassin that Kii's father's political adversary had sent. They didn't know what was going on behind the scenes or if they might still be under pursuit. There was a limit to how well Koutarou and Clan could protect Kii. So they wanted to hurry to take Kii somewhere safe.