"You!" the man exclaimed, pointing a finger at me. "What are you doing here?"
I knew what he was talking about, more likely than not this was about me being her ex and what she had accused me of rather than why I was here specifically. But, I had no real desire to answer directly, after all, why bring that up?
It had nothing to do with why I was here, after all.
"I am Fohl's legal guardian," I said plainly. "That's why I'm here."
He had not been expecting that kind of answer, and his face froze as he processed what I was saying, before nearly yelling out, "Nonsense!"
"Now here, here," Erhard said. He was slightly flustered, up till now things had been progressing in a relatively cordial manner, though he had decided to raise his voice in response to the other party.
He seemed to calm down when he realized where he was, and then cleared his throat. "My apologies," he said, turning to Erhard. "How well do you know the man sitting beside you?"
"Pretty well, my name is Erhard by the way," Erhard said, trying to steer the conversation back onto track, not realizing who this person was. I leaned over and whispered into his ear, "This is her father..."
"Apologies, my colleague wants to say something," Erhard said, not hearing what I was saying, though I didn't really need to elaborate, as the guy decided to explain himself.
"I know exactly what he's saying," the man said. "My name is Aultcray Melromarc, pleasure to meet you, that man over there is a one of foul and low disposition, we should have him thrown out, and let's get this meeting back underway."
Atla slammed her fists on the table. "How dare you speak about Mr. Naofumi like that! He is-"
I waved her down and asked her to take a seat.
"I'm sorry, I don't follow," Erhard said. "How are you and my colleague over here acquainted again?"
"He..." Aultcray said, before hesitating. This was a personal matter involving his family, after all, and there was a general rule against airing your dirty laundry in public. And he didn't know that Erhard already knew, though the kids were still in the dark about it.
I muttered to Erhard, "He's that woman's father..."
"That woman..." Erhard frowned. "Wait... you don't mean?"
"Yes I do..."
Despite himself, and despite the seriousness of the situation, Erhard couldn't help but burst into laughter.
That caught everyone off guard.
Aultcray didn't come alone, he had what I could only assume were his lackeys with him.
No doubt they found the turn of events to be very odd, starting with his oddly irate behavior, though Erhard's laughter was just the icing on the cake.
To his credit he stopped almost immediately. "Ah, sorry, no... I just hadn't been expecting something like that to appear out of nowhere..." Erhard said. I could tell he was still trying to restrain his laughter, but was able to put on a reasonable poker face. He then turned to Aultcray. "I think there's been some sort of misunderstanding here, given that he is necessary for the proceedings, and kicking out Fohl's legal guardian will not look good." He said this to one of Aultcray's workers who had picked up a phone and who looked like he was in the middle of calling for security. "I know about your little... spate with him, but let's put that aside as that has nothing to do with why we're here today."
Aultcray looked like he deeply wanted to protest, and if there were no witnesses probably would've loved to throw me out of the window. Unfortunately for him, I wouldn't fit out the window... I mean, there were witnesses.
The guy got off the phone.
"Did you say... legal guardian?" Aultcray asked, as if this had not been said three times already in this conversation and this was only now being brought up.
"Yes," Ehrard said. "You'll find the relevant paperwork here."
He handed Aultcray a copy of the same, as well as two of his assistants.
Aultcray took out a pair of reading glasses and went over the document twice before finally ripping it into two pieces and saying, "Nonsense!"
Behavior unfitting of his rank, not like it mattered though given those were all photocopies and this was being recorded.
"You'll find that it is quite valid," Erhard said.
"Fohl is still a minor," one of Aultcray's workers said, trying to bring a sense of calm and decorum to the proceedings. "Meaning that he couldn't sign this document... at least, not in a way that is legally binding."
"He can if he is sixteen, which you'll find that he is," Erhard said.
That invited a bit of pause.
Atla and Fohl didn't know what was going on, or what my relationship to Aultcray was, but they were sitting patiently by the sidelines, so to speak.
Fohl did steal a glance at me, wondering if it was the right time for him to say something. I shook my head- not now, was my answer.
"I think everything is in order,' Erhard said. "Given such, that means that ultimate rights go to-"
Aultcray held up his hand. "I don't know what manner of scheme the two of you are brewing, but I would recommend that you put a stop to it." He had been treating Erhard with some modicum of respect beforehand, likely thinking that Erhard wasn't privy to what had happened to me, or simply because Erhard looked like he could punch his lights out. However, that was gone now, and there was an underlying threatening tone that accompanied his words that neither I nor Erhard failed to pick up on.
"There is not scheme going on here-"
"Fohl's father," Aultcray said with disdain that he would've otherwise reserved for me. The fact that he refused to speak the man's name told me that Fohl had indeed been telling the truth about their being bad blood between his uncle and "left behind quite a fortune. I had oftentimes worried that it would attract the attention of thieves and charlatans, though I hadn't expected them to stand before me like this."
Erhard's expression hardened. It was impossible not to pick up on the fact that he was insulting us.