Author's Note:
The serious tone ended with last chapter. w
As I swung my arm back to take my anger out on the toad man, Eleanorsan appeared at the entrance.
「Yunchan, wait!」
Just because she told me to wait didn't mean I was going to stop.
「Ugh!」
I sunk a Bear Punch into the toad man's stomach.
「I was too late.」
No, she made it in time. Because she had suddenly cried out to me, I only used half the usual strength.
As proof, the toad man didn't fly off after getting hit. His internal organs didn't burst out, either. Instead, he just passed out on the spot, foaming at the mouth.
「Eleanorsan? Why are you here?」
「I was on my way back from the Commerce Guild and saw you riding Swaying Bear with a crazed look on your face, so I decided to run after you. There was no way I could not follow you after seeing you in such a state.」
A crazed look? Had I really been making such a scary face?
I thought about it for a second. Yup, I probably had been.
The girls had just gotten attacked, so it would have been more strange for me not to look mad.
「Please don't make the elderly run so much, okay?」
She wasn't out of breath or anything, though.
Also, what did she mean by elderly? She looked like she was in her mid-twenties. At the very least, she didn't look like she was 33 years old.
How mysterious.
Just about then, three more people came up to the entrance, completely out of breath.
Oh, I remembered seeing one of them before. It was Ranzel-san, the man who had helped us get rid of the thieves at the capital.
I had never seen the other two before, though. Maybe they were knights like Ranzel-san?
Still, these three knights were completely out of breath while Eleanorsan was fine.
Really, just who was Eleanorsan?
「Okay, Yunchan. Can you please explain the situation to me?」
Eleanorsan asked me while looking around.
The door had been blown off, a part of the wall had crumbled, and there were two people with faces covered in blood lying on the ground. There was also a toad man, foaming at the mouth. Oh, and all of his servants were just standing there, shaking in fear. It was a terrible scene no matter how we looked at it.
If I had to describe it, it looked like a wild bear had gone on a rampage.
Still, I had no regrets. In fact, I probably hadn't rampaged enough.
I proceeded to explain to Eleanorsan that Misa had been kidnapped and that I had come here to get her back.
「Kidnapped?!」
Eleanorsan was completely taken aback by what I said and turned to Misa.
「That's right, that person over there kidnapped me, and Big Sis Yuna came here to my rescue.」
Misa said and pointed at the black-clothed man who was collapsed on the ground.
I then began to explain the situation, starting from what had happened at Gran-san's mansion.
I included what had happened to Fina and Noa, of course.
「Are the two of them okay?!」
「I think so. They both lost consciousness, but other than that, they were okay.」
Eleanorsan glared at the toad man, who was also on the floor.
I couldn't blame her; any mother would have been mad to hear that their beloved daughter had been injured.
「So, Yunchan, you got mad and went on a rampage then.」
I suppose that would be true.
Eleanorsan was lost in thought for a bit then turned to the guards and servants.
「My name is Eleanora Foschuroze. Under His Majesty’s orders, I am putting Gerardo Salbert under arrest. We will be questioning all of you concerning this event. If you speak the truth, I promise you that your punishments will be reduced.」
The guards and servants looked at each other.
「Is that possible?」
「As long as none of you did any inhumane things, I will see to it.」
When she said that, half of the guards looked down while the other half seemed relieved.
The servants appeared to be conflicted as well.
「Also, running away will just make your crime worse. If you intend to follow our orders, take out your guild and citizenship cards.」
Eleanorsan ordered them to give her their identification cards.
Without their cards, they couldn't leave this town, so it was almost like they were stripped of their citizenships for the time being.
They could always get a new card reissued, of course, but not if they were marked as criminals.
The guards and servants all obediently handed over their identification cards to Ranzel-san.
Trying to resist Eleanorsan would be pointless now.
「Ranzel, Vorz, question every person in this residence, but do it gently. Also, even though I think it's unlikely, make sure that these three on the floor don't try to escape.」
「Understood.」
The two of them quickly ran up to the three unconscious people and tied them up.
「Michel, go to the Faren Gramm family and request for Cliff and Gran-san to come here. Make sure they bring their guards with them as well, of course.」
「Understood.」
The man named Michel quickly left the residence.
「Eleanorsan, is what I did considered a crime?」
I asked her just in case.
I had attacked a noble family after all.
I honestly didn't know what happened to people who attacked noble families in this world.
「You don't have to worry about it, Yunchan. You saved a noble's daughter. I will explain what happened here to the king, and I'm sure he will understand.」
It seemed like I had nothing to worry about.
「Also, I should probably tell you that Misa wasn't the only one abducted. A merchant came to me and told the that their children also taken. It happened when I was at the Commerce Guild today. I actually spotted you just as I was in the middle of discussing the situation with them.」
「Where are those children then?」
「It's possible that they are being held at a different place.」
Still, that was close.
If I had unleashed my wrath fully, I could have destroyed this place and buried the children with it.
Good thing Eleanorsan came here and stopped me from doing so.
I really wouldn't want to hear about dead bodies of abducted children being found afterwards.
「Well, I was planning on asking Gerardo where he kept the children, but…」
The toad man was currently passed out on the floor and still foaming at his mouth. Yep, she couldn't really interrogate him with the way he was.
Wait, wouldn't toads wake up after getting splashed by water?
Well, we didn't really need to wake him up though. I could just use detection magic or have my Bears sniff the children out. We could find them as long as they were in this building.
As I was about to decide on how to go about it, Ranzel-san came back after putting the three unconscious people in a nice pile and also making sure the servants were gathered far enough away from them.
「Yunsan, it's been a while!」
「Yes, Ranzel-san, it has. I'm surprised to see you've accompanied Eleanorsan.」
「I was slightly rattled by it as well. As I was practicing at the castle's training grounds, Eleanorsama suddenly approached me and said we were leaving so I had to pack up my things. Before I knew it, we were on our way to Sheelin.」
He answered with a smile.
I could totally see that happening with Eleanorsan involved…
「Ranzel, does Gerardo look like he will wake up anytime soon?」
「No, he doesn't. He is completely out cold while I could say that the other two are quite close to a critical condition.」
「It will be a problem if we let them die, so please give them some first aid treatment. We do need to talk to Gerardo, however, so we should wake him up.」
Water sprayed out from Eleanorsan's hand and hit the toad man's face. So, Eleanorsan could use magic, huh. Well, since her daughter Shia could use it, I had figured Eleanorsan would be able to use it as well.
「W-what?」
The toad man burst to consciousness.
Yup, using water against toads worked best.
「Why am I tied up?!」
He yelled when he noticed his predicament and started to struggle.
「Gerardo, it's been a while.」
「You… You're Eleanora. Why are you here?」
「I came to do an inspection of Sheelin on His Majesty's orders. We've heard some dark rumors about this town recently. We had no idea they would lead to the lord's granddaughter being kidnapped, however.」
「Well, I know nothing about that. My son kidnapped her on his own. So, I didn't do anything.」
The toad man glanced at his son next to him while still claiming innocence.
「If you're going to arrest someone, take him. Also, I'm cutting off all ties with him. He is my son no longer; he is just a stranger now!」
「A parent is responsible for the actions of their children. He kidnapped a noble's daughter and even injured my own daughter in the process. Do you seriously think that you're going to get away with that excuse?!」
Eleanorsan's words were heavy with rage.
「You can say what you want, but I had nothing to do with this, so hurry up and untie me! You can't treat a noble like this!」
How noisy. Maybe I should hit him again to silence him.
Still, Eleanorsan was holding back even though she must want to hit him as well, so I had to hold back, too.
「It's embarrassing to see someone like you call himself a noble, so can you please stop it. If Yunchan thinks I'm just like you since we are both nobles, I would be so embarrassed that I wouldn't be able to live anymore. Besides, even if your son was the one who kidnapped Misa, didn't you kidnap a lot of merchants' children as well?」
「What? I don't know what you're talking about.」
「If you're going to play dumb, that's fine. I honestly don't care if you end up like the two next to you.」
Did that mean I could hit him now?
Or, was she saying she would hit him?
「Well, even if they are here, that means I'm just taking care of them. I've got their parents to sign a contract as well, so it isn't like I kidnapped them.」
That was a crazy excuse.
「Didn't you threaten the merchants to sign the contract after you kidnapped their children?」
「You've got no evidence to back that up. I'm taking care of the children with the proper approval of their parents. As proof, those children are not injured in any way.」
The tied up toad man responded with a smile.
I didn't know what kind of contracts had been signed, but it looked like it had worked because Eleanorsan seemed to be troubled.
In my former world, I had heard of people who signed shady contracts and ended up being extorted into giving money to the other party.
「You're right… However, the kidnapping of Misana Faren Gramm is still a big issue, and I will have to investigate this residence. Of course, that means I will have to go through your room as well. I can't wait to see what I will find there.」
Eleanorsan said with an evil look on her face.
「Don't mess with me! I won't permit that!」
「Oh, but I have permission from His Majesty.」
「His Majesty…」
Eleanorsan took out a piece of parchment from her item bag and showed it to the toad man.
「As you can see, I have permission to come here and investigate your belongings in the case you've committed a crime, which you have.」
The toad man's expression changed once he saw what the parchment said.
「But, it's my son who…」
「It's the same thing. Your son kidnapped Misana Faren Gramm. Even you yourself admitted that. Therefore, we have all the reason to search through every corner of this residence.」
「Stop messing with me!」
「If you haven't done anything His Majesty wouldn't approve of then you have no reason to worry, right?」
Yep, Eleanorsan was completely pissed off.
「No way in hell is this fair! Somebody help me! I will pay you!」
All the servants ignored the toad man and completely avoided making eye contact with him.
Yeah, in this sort of situation, nobody in their right mind would even consider helping out the toad man.
Chapter 195 – Bear-san Saves the Other Children
When we asked the toad man where the other children were being held, he just told us to look for them ourselves.
Eleanorsan was mad that he refused to cooperate, but we had plenty of ways to look for them.
I could use detection magic or have Swaying Bear and Hugging Bear sniff them out. Just as I was about to tell that to Eleanorsan, a short-haired maid in her early twenties raised her hand.
「I know where the children are.」
「Ruufa!」
The toad man scowled at the maid, but Eleanorsan just doused him with some more water to make him shut up.
「You know where they are being held?」
「Yes, because I prepare their meals for them.」
「Ruufa, you know what will happen if you betray me, don't you?」
「Please, stop making your crime worse. I will properly atone for mine.」
「Don't you dare. Who do you think is paying off your parents' debt after they ran off and left you with it?」
「You, Gerardo-sama…」
「What do you think you are doing, then?!」
As the toad man cried out, Eleanorsan summoned a big tide of water and completely soaked the toad man with it.
「Ranzel, would you mind covering up his mouth with something? His breath stinks, and I can't stand it anymore.」
「Eleanora, you…!」
Ranzel-san covered up the toad man's mouth with some cloth as instructed. The toad man groaned for a while but eventually went quiet.
「Emm, Ruufa, right? Just ignore what Gerardo said. You're saying you can take us to where the children are?」
「Yes, I can.」
Eleanorsan took a quick glance around her before turning to Ranzel-san.
「Ranzel, ask the servants how many of them are missing and their names. Then, once Cliff arrives, leave this place to him and go search the residence for those remaining servants.」
Once Eleanorsan finished giving orders to Ranzel-san, she turned to me.
「Sorry, Yunchan, but could you come with me?」
I didn't mind, so I nodded.
「Also, it would be really helpful if you could leave one of your bears behind to act as a guard.」
「Sure. Swaying Bear, please stay here and make sure they don't try to escape.」
Swaying Bear cried softly in reply.
「What about you, Misa?」
「I will go with you, Big Sis Yuna.」
Misa said, grabbing onto me.
「That's fine, I guess… but promise me that you won't stray from Yunchan's side, okay?」
Eleanorsan pushed Misa onto me, but it wasn't like I really minded.
I lifted Misa up and put her onto Hugging Bear's back.
「You'll be safe here.」
Misa nodded and grabbed onto Hugging Bear tightly.
「What a gentle bear.」
Ruufsan was surprised to see Hugging Bear letting Misa ride on it, but there was clearly some fright in her expression.
「It won't do anything as long as you don't try to harm it.」
「I wouldn't do something scary like that.」
Still, it was okay to be less nervous about it.
Ruufsan then started to lead us down a hallway.
Both Cliff's and Gran-san's mansions were quite big, and this one was no different. There was no way all of these rooms were being used.
「Eleanorsan, is the kidnapping of these children not going to be considered a crime?」
「The problem is that their parents have signed a contract that allowed Gerardo to keep their children.」
「So, he'll be considered innocent?」
「Hmm, not quite. It's a difficult situation. Of course, from my point of view, he committed a crime. However, if he really does have a contract in place, he might legally be in the clear. Sometimes, merchants do hand over their children as collateral when they are loaned large sums of money. Still, in this case, it's obvious that they were threatened to do it.」
「So, this should be considered as a crime, then.」
That was all I needed to know.
「Yes, the possibility of it being considered a crime is quite high. We have yet to get a full statement from the parents. It's still possible that they indeed made an agreement with Gerardo and did pass their children to him willingly. I don't really mean this, but before you came along, it was better to side with the Salbert family rather than the Faren Gramm family. Even now, it all depends on the contents of that contract.」
She was right. If they sided with the toad man rather than Gran-san, it was possible for them to earn a lot more money; more than enough to change their minds.
Still, what did she mean by 'before I came along'?
The way she put it, it sounded like I was responsible for the downfall of the toad man's noble family.
「Your expression is telling me that you don't quite understand why. If you didn't go to the capital and bring Zelef here, Gran-san's party would have failed. Then, they wouldn't have resorted to kidnapping Misa, and you wouldn't have raided the mansion, meaning we wouldn't be in this situation. Not to mention, if you didn't drop by the capital, I wouldn't be here right now. You’re the cause of all of this.」
When she put it that way, it really did seem like everything had happened because of me.
「If so, then it's all thanks to Misa for sending me an invitation to her party.」
I praised Misa, who was comfortably riding on Hugging Bear.
If Misa hadn't sent me an invitation, I would never have come here.
Going out in the world and meeting people had quite the impact on things. I would have never experienced something like this in my former world where I would surely still be a hikikomori.
「Ruufsan, why are you working here?」
Ruufsan seemed like an upright person, so I found it weird that she would work for someone like the toad man.
「My father left me with a big debt, and I'm trying to work it off.」
「A big debt?」
「Yes. My father was a merchant and needed money to run his trade. Gerardo-sama lent him the money he needed, but the business ended up failing, making him lose all the money as a result. To prevent my father from running away, Gerardo-sama took away my citizenship card and made me his hostage. My father worked as hard as he could, but it was not an amount that could easily be repaid. Then, one day, my father went to buy some things from another town and never returned. So, I had to start working for Gerardo myself in order to pay off the debt my father had left me with.」
What she just told us was inexcusable.
「Eleanorsan, couldn't she just have the card reissued?」
「Well, if this was a normal case of where the card was lost or stolen, she would just have to pay a fee and get it reissued. However, her card was taken by a lord of the town, so things aren't that simple.」
Eleanorsan said with a slightly surprised expression.
「I think you should already know this, Yunchan, but you need a citizenship card or guild card to go in or out of a town. If you get your card taken away by the authorities, you will be unable to leave the town you're in.」
「So, getting the card reissued is not an option for her because of her debt?」
「Yes. Gerardo most likely made it so that she cannot get it reissued to make her unable to flee the town without repaying it.」
「It couldn't be helped. My father borrowed money he couldn't return and then ran away, so there's no way Gerardo-sama would just let me go.」
「Still, that's not…」
「My father was just a terrible businessman.」
Ruufsan answered bluntly, making everyone go quiet. All we could hear were the footsteps of Eleanorsan and Ruufsan.
My Bear Shoes made no sound, of course.
Hmm, I couldn't hear Hugging Bear's footsteps, either. Were its feet as soft as mine?
We headed into what appeared to be a secret garden area where Ruufsan took us to a building that looked like a small storage shed.
「From inside this shed, there are stairs that lead underground. The children are down there.」
Ruufsan used a key to open the door and led us into a small room.
There were many tools inside the room, ranging from cleaning supplies to pots as well as random things I had never seen before.
Ruufsan proceeded to pull a rug off the floor and revealed a hatch.
She then opened the hatch, revealing stairs that led underground.
「The room is underground to prevent sounds from leaking out.」
Since there was enough space for even Hugging Bear to pass through, we all went down together.
「Is this a dungeon?」
「Yes. I myself have been held down here when my father was still in town.」
There was a hallway at the bottom of the stairs, with about five doors on each side.
Ruufsan finally stopped at one of the doors.
「This is the room.」
She unlocked the door and opened it wide so we could see inside.
There were three children: two boys and one girl. They all looked like they were in the early years of elementary school.
「Ruufsan?」
The eldest of the group, the girl, spoke up.
「Everyone, someone is here to take you away, so you can come out now.」
「We can leave?」
「Yes.」
「Is nobody going to hit us when we try to leave?」
「Yes, you don't have to worry about that anymore.」
Eleanorsan and I both flinched at what the children said.
That toad man had told us that the children hadn't been harmed in any way.
「My name is Eleanora. Your father asked me to bring all of you back home. You don't have to worry about getting hurt anymore.」
Eleanorsan kindly explained the situation to them.
However, the children weren't looking at Eleanorsan but rather at me, who was standing behind her.
「Bear-san?」
The children approached me but noticed Hugging Bear behind me when they reached the door.
「…?!」
They fell on their butts in shock, but the girl didn't waste any time and stood in front to protect the boys.
Only then did they notice Misa on top of Hugging Bear.
「There's a girl on top of the bear…」
「It's not scary. Hugging Bear is really nice.」
Misa tried to reassure the children and hugged Hugging Bear.
「This bear will not harm you so you can feel at ease around it.」
Thanks to Misa and Ruufsan, the three of them calmed down a bit.
「Okay, you three. Please join Misa on the Bear-san and we'll get you out of here.」
I gently spoke to the children to get them to ride the Hugging Bear.
However, four children turned out to be a bit too much for the size of its back, so we had the girl walk instead.
The children were afraid at first but calmed down with the help of Misa. In no time, smiles appeared on their faces, and we embarked with Hugging Bear leading the way.
Following behind everyone, I overheard Ruufsan whisper something to Eleanorsan.
「Please check the other rooms afterwards. I believe the keys should be in Gerardo-sama's room, so please search there first. However, please, please, don’t bring the children with you as you search.」
Author's Note:
Okay, we should be able finish up with the next chapter.
We'll just leave everything to Eleanorsan, Cliff and Gran-san. w