kuma Kuma Kuma Bear

chapter 195

"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.

Ruufa-san 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.

"Eleanora-san, 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.

"Ruufa-san, why are you working here?"

Ruufa-san 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."