Chapter 54: Off I Go to Get Kidnapped!

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

I couldn’t believe my ears after I heard his story in detail. 

The people of Count Lyran, including my stepsister, Sistana, had been cursed by someone, making her appearance look extremely grotesque. Perhaps because of the effect of the curse… Both my stepsister and stepmother started giving extreme and weird orders to the servant. 

His daughter was taken as a hostage and if he refused to comply with their unreasonable demand, they threatened to kill his daughter. 

Still, such a cruel thing like that…

I was about to add “they’d never do that” but when I remembered what kind of life I had to go through while living at my parents’ house, those words didn’t sound quite right. 

When I took a closer look at Hyatoi-san, both his arms and legs were covered in mud. There was this weird, sticky substance on his back and he clearly looked exhausted. Physically speaking, Bhadra-sama looked so much younger than him. The anxiety inside Hyatoi-san’s heart must be tremendous for him to look this exhausted. 

“Hyatoi-san, right-pe? Since they’ve treated you horribly like this, shouldn’t you raise this case to the templar knight-san in the church-pe?”

Soncho-san gently spoke to Hyatoi-san who was still kneeling on the ground. By the way, this country really had a strong local autonomy. Which meant, the words of the lord = the law in the area itself. With that said, under normal circumstances, there was no merit for a feudal lord to abuse the people in their fief by using that loophole. If the feudal lord abused their people, the farmland would be left in ruin. In other words, abusing their own people was like stabbing yourself in the heart with a sword. 

But even with this strong local autonomy, when the lord was being downright tyrannical, would the people in their fief listened to all of their unreasonable demands with open arms? …. Of course not. Things never end up in that way. There was an organization that served as a refuge for powerless people. It was the ‘church’…. The church had their own military power, which was the templar knight. 

“But I won’t be able to get to them in time!! I don’t have the luxury of having spare time to raise an appeal to the church!!”

The church’s biggest problem was the amount of work they had….There were simply too many cases in their hands. For starters, the problem between the people and their feudal lord, the water problem in a village that was left unattended by their lord, an affair between married couples and even the children’s educational problem…. They had to respond to all sorts of problems. There were simply too many problems and not only that, each problem would require quite a long time to solve. 

“Uuuuh… Kiddie… Kiddie…. Kiddie is the only memento of my deceased wife…. That child… She just turned 3 this spring….”

“Mmhmm… But… I do pity you but I just can’t let our madam go to a place like that on her own-pe.”

Upon hearing that, Hyatoi-san’s expression became weird. He looked like he was both laughing and crying at the same time as he stared absent-mindedly at the ground. 

“Huuu…. I understand…. I already knew… There’s no way things are going to go smoothly…. No young lady would be willing to get kidnapped by a shady-looking guy like me…”

Then in the end, he started to slam his fist on the ground repeatedly. 

“DAMN IT!! Why are we stuck in a situation like this…. Just… JUST WHAT HAVE MY LITTLE KIDDIE DO TO DESERVE THIS?! All these time…. All these time I’ve been working diligently… Honestly… So why!! Damn it!! If only… If only I’m stronger then I can….!!”

And then, when Hyatoi-san was about to scream once more… 

SLITHER SLITHER SLITHER!!!

From the mud sticking on his back, tentacles that resembled squid legs began to burst forth. But those cloudy white legs, it looked like those squid legs had already died and rotted a long time ago. The thick stench of rotting flesh permeated in the air. 

“UWAHHHH!! W-WHAT IS THIS?!”

Feeling frightened at the squid legs that suddenly wriggled out from his back, Hyatoi-san immediately threw off the coat he had been wearing. Fortunately, it seemed the squid legs weren’t growing from Hyatoi-san’s skin but they were growing from the mud that had been sticking on his coat. The rotting squid legs kept on wriggling and squirming, growing forth from the mud. 

“!! Madam!! Watch out-pe!!”

Suddenly, one of the legs came after me. Soncho-san grabbed the limestone powder that had been laying nearby and threw the powder at the incoming squid legs. 

GYUGYOOOOOO!!!

A scream… No, to be precise, it was more like the sound of something cracking in space around the squid legs. With sizzling sound and smoke, the squid legs shrunk until it became so small. 

“Huh….. It shrinks like a slug being poured with salt….”

Even though the squid legs had made such a big entrance, it left the stage quite easily…This squid monster-san… Huh? Now that I have taken a closer look… Between the lime-covered sludge on Hyatoi-san’s coat… I saw a tiny squid squirming around.

“Huh? Could it be… This small guy is the one that summoned those legs?”

Poor guy… I’m sure he must’ve been suffering, being stuck in that mud…

I quickly scooped up this tiny squid hatchling that resembled a firefly squid and released it into our fish pond. The tiny squid just floated there for a moment before suddenly it regained its spirit and started emitting pale blue light. The tiny squid was now swimming energetically inside the fish pond. 

Maybe… With the help of this limestone powder…Even I might be able to do something to help Hyatoi-san’s daughter…. 

“I understand… In the first place, all of this happened because of my family’s unreasonable order. Besides, once I come back to my parents’ house, Kiddie will be safe… I’ll let myself be kidnapped for a bit.”

“!! Uuuuh!! T-THANK YOU VERY MUCH!! THANK YOU VERY MUCH!!!!”

The moment I uttered those words, Hyatoi-san’s face regained its bright colour. On the other hand, Soncho-san looked so surprised, it was as if his eyeballs would pop out of its socket at any moment. 

“M-Madam?! A-At least we need to talk with the young master and Bhadra-sama first!!!”

“That’s right. We mustn’t inconvenience Maricle-sama….”

I quickly wrote a letter to Maricle-sama and asked Soncho-san to hand the letter in my stead. At first, Soncho-san still showed his disapproval but after Hyatoi-san tearfully begged him along with me persuading him, albeit reluctant, Soncho-san finally agreed to deliver the letter to Maricle-sama. 

“I get it-pe! We have a packhorse in our village, although that thing is just a sorry excuse of a horse, I will take that packhorse for a run to our young master’s place-pe!!~”

“Yes.Please, Soncho-san!”

And so, I boarded a carriage along with Hyatoi-san… Back to my dearest abominable parents’ house. 

ーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーーー

T/N: Firefly squid are local animals in Japan. They can glow in the dark! No meme this time because firefly squid is so pretty, I just have to share it with you guys!