Seeker 179

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Chapter 179. Strategy Meeting

After tailing the moneylenders, Wind and I returned to the orphanage.

"Ah, senpais, you're finally back. You're late!"

Kupi, Kupi

"See, Grif-chan is saying the same thing. Hey, Grif-chan."

Kupi

In the bedroom of the orphanage, Yumizuki and Griffin greeted us this way. 

It seemed like Yumizuki and Griffin had formed a bond and were reprimanding us for excluding them.

On the other hand, Yumizuki seemed to have grown quite fond of the children in our absence.

"Hotaruuu, let's play some more!"

"Yeah, Hotaru-nee-chan. We can't win at 'Ogre Tag,' so let's play hide and seek."

"Hey, Hotaru-neechan doesn't have a lot of boobs even though she's an adult."

Funyon, funyon.

"Ah, where are you touching me!? Stop it pererted brat!"

"I-it hurts! Did Hotaru-neechan really hit me!?"

"N-No, it wasn't her. If an adventurer had seriously hit me, my head would have split open."

"Alright, Yuzuki, move aside. I'll take over and punch that kid's head until it cracks."

"C-Calm down, Daichi-kun. It's just something kids do."

Once again, I was being restrained by Kazane-san. 

Don't stop me, Kazane-san. What are you doing to my Yuzuki? 

I'll kill this brat.

After calming down, we ushered the children out of the room, closed the door, and began a serious discussion. 

The ones left in the room were me, Kazane-san, Yuzuki, Director Karen, and the military police officer Gilbert. 

Gilbert should have been on duty. But he seemed nonchalant, saying, "Well, I'll get scolded later for skipping work.", with a resigned look.

I had my doubts about whether that was okay.

But I wanted him to hear this story, so it was just as well.

Kazane-san and I recounted what we had seen and heard, specifically about the moneylenders seemingly being responsible for the orphanage's debt issues and their plan to sneak into the orphanage tonight to swap out the contract. 

Upon hearing this, Director Karen was in shock, and Gilbert trembled with anger.

"Those bastards, I can't believe they'd do such wicked deeds...! Even if they're decent citizens in appearance, their actions are pure crimes, completely black-hearted."

"So, the exchange we had earlier was to confirm the location of the contract, right?" 

Kazane-san asked, and I nodded in agreement. 

"And if they manage to swap the contract, they probably believed they could push through their agenda forcefully."

"Indeed, if they adopted that approach, we military police wouldn't be able to intervene unless Damon was caught lying, and it would devolve into a he-said-she-said situation. Having concrete evidence on their side would make them much stronger." 

Gilbert added, clenching his fists tightly. 

Despite his carefree appearance, he seemed to possess a strong sense of justice.

"Senpai, Gilbert-san has been visiting this orphanage since a long time ago, and it seems he's quite popular with the children." 

Yuzuki whispered to me. 

He seemed to have a good rapport with the kids, and I had assumed as much.

"Is the reason for the debt issues as they mentioned?" 

Kazane-san asked, and Director Karen nodded slowly.

"Yes. There was a child named Dennis who grew up here and started working. Initially, when he first started working, he provided some money for the orphanage. However, it eventually stopped. He came to me one day, saying he wanted to be a co-guarantor for the debt. He promised it wouldn't cause any trouble for the orphanage, and I believed him. I might have been naive, but I couldn't deny his request."

"But I don't want Karen-san to bear all the blame for this. Saying she's at fault because she got deceived is just the logic of a villain. Besides, if that's their story, then it's likely those guys orchestrated Dennis's debt in the first place. Dennis disappeared after that, but there might be something even worse that could've happened."

Upon hearing Gilbert-san's words, Director Karen lowered her head with a troubled expression. 

Seeing that, Gilbert-san looked apologetic.

"I'm sorry, Karen-san. I didn't consider your feelings."

"No, it's okay. Please continue."

Karen-san shook her head and offered a faint smile, her frailty showing through her demeanor.

Gilbert-san, with gritted teeth, continued.

"But the problem is, there's no 'evidence' that they're up to no good. We military police have heard numerous dark rumors about Damon and his lackeys, but we haven't found any conclusive evidence. We could start investigating from there if we had even one piece of evidence. But..."

"When you say 'conclusive evidence,' do you mean catching Damon's underlings breaking into someone's home and replacing the contract illegally in the act?" 

I interjected, and Gilbert-san agreed with a grim expression.

"Yeah. But if the opposition has the power of adventurers or the like, we, the military police, won't be able to subdue them by ourselves. Even if we request assistance from knights or adventurers now, it might not arrive in time."

Gilbert-san then looked at the three of us and made an earnest plea.

"Hey, I know it's unreasonable to ask travelers like you, who just happened to be here by chance, to get involved in something like this. But please, can you lend us your strength tonight? I'll try to negotiate a reward with the higher-ups... but at this point, I can't guarantee anything. I wish I could say that I'd even take out a loan to pay you, but circumstances are preventing that."

With a genuinely frustrated and apologetic expression, Gilbert-san appealed to us. 

At that moment, a notification sound chimed in my mind, and a message board appeared.

On one side, we had this extraordinary but mundane scene unfolding, and on the other, Yuzuki leaned in to whisper to me again.

"It seems like Gilbert-san has been secretly leaving money for this orphanage every month. All the kids know about it, but Gilbert-san makes them promise not to tell Director Karen."

I see. 

He appears carefree on the surface but seems to be quite complex himself.

I whispered back to Yuzuki. 

"You know, Gilbert-san and Karen-san seem like a good match. They should get together soon. Yuzuki, why don't you create a little mischievous atmosphere?"

"Right now? And you're saying that, Senpai? Isn't that a boomerang coming back at you? Isn't it a bit too big?"

Gilbert-san and Director Karen gave us uneasy looks. 

Oh, I see. 

They probably think we're secretly discussing whether to accept this offer or not. 

Well, it's an assignment where we don't know if we'll receive the reward properly. 

Professional adventurers wouldn't just offer their skills for free, and it's a reasonable decision to hesitate in this case.

And so, with that in mind, what will we decide?