"Younger Brother Xu, just what kind of mess is this?!"
Luo Yu's departure did nothing to calm Pan Cheng down. On the way back, he was still beating his chest in frustration. "I was supposed to let you and Xiao Yu have a proper talk, but instead this happened..."
Who could have expected things to turn out like this? A conflict was one thing, but blood had been spilled too. Caught in the middle, he had ended up offending both sides.
He really was stuck between a rock and a hard place. As the island lord, he was nominally the highest-ranking leader here, but it was obvious that he held little standing before these knights. No one listened when he spoke.
On the other side was his own lifesaver, not to mention a guest who had come from far away. That only made things more awkward for him.
If anything went wrong on either side, he would have no way to explain himself... He had nearly been unable to save face.
As the saying went, don't stand watch between two sides, and don't be the guy managing the mess. There might not be such a saying here, but his situation was about the same.
"Don't take it to heart, Brother Pan. I wasn't really hurt."
Xu Shi took it rather well, casually stretching his limbs. "But the Church... they won't blow this up into something bigger, will they?"
"Um... probably not?"
Pan Cheng thought it over. "At least Xiao Yu is here. Things should end here."
Thinking of it that way put him a little more at ease. It seemed Younger Brother Xu did not mind, and Luo Yu could handle the Church's side too. It was a blessing amid misfortune.
"That's wonderful."
Xu Shi also put on an act