The child looked back at Jurim, who for some reason seemed completely dazed, then even pointed an accusing finger at Reiji as she said,
“Daddy! This mister is a bad person! He’s handshome, but don’t get fooled!”
“Did little baby-chan just call me handsome?”
Jurim thought it was an extraordinary ability in itself that he had somehow managed to understand only that part.
Reiji tilted his head.
“I suppose in Korea, there’s a culture of putting handsome people in handcuffs?”
Leaving Reiji to spout nonsense, Jurim pondered for a moment.
Because it seemed Geuru was unaware of something very important.
“Mm, but you know. That bad person.”
“Yes. Geuru caught him. Don’t worry.”
Now Geuru’s crime would be taken into consideration thanks to her achievement in catching a major criminal!
A laugh burst out of her on its own, and just as she was about to throw her head back and guffaw, mwahaha! Jurim said,
“That man is your Master’s dad.”
“……Um?”
Master’s dad? All of a sudden?
Just as Geuru’s face began to fill with confusion at the completely unexpected words,
Reiji followed up with another blow.
“My introductions are late. I am Amakusa Reiji.”
“Amakusa?”
No way…….
Amakusa Reiji…….
Amakusa Kazuki…….
“……!”
Gyaaaaaaaah!
Geuru screamed inwardly.
‘That’s right, Master said before that his dad was a bad person!’
So his bad dad really was a baaad dad.
There were so many different kinds of dads in the world!
In Geuru’s Dad Encyclopedia—
A lazy dad.
A dad stabbed by his son.
And now, a criminal dad had been newly added.
No, then if Potato Friend was Master’s dad…….
Did that mean Geuru had been trying to sell out Master’s dad to get her own crime forgiven?
‘……!’
That was beyond vicious. It was the worst.
Just then, Reiji approached Geuru, knelt on one knee in front of her, and said,
“By any chance, does baby-chan have a red bell?”
Thud—
Geuru went deathly pale and looked back and forth between Jurim and Reiji.
If he was looking for the bell, that was practically the same as finding out Geuru was a fake cop.
“A bell?”
“Wh-why?”
Jurim and Geuru spoke at the same time.
While Reiji turned his gaze toward Jurim, Geuru sidled up to Jurim, clutched his pants tightly, and hid herself.
“I received a commission. Without knowing the target was my adorable little friend, that is. My mistake.”
Reiji smiled gently and held out his hand.
“So, would you give me that bell?”
When she asked Jurim with her eyes whether it was all right to give it to him, Jurim nodded.
Geuru handed over the bell.
Receiving it, Reiji clenched the bell in his hand and crushed it.
Pop! At the bursting sound, Geuru cried out in surprise.
“Th-they said you’d be cursed if you broke that!”
“Hahaha, don’t worry. I already have plenty on me.”
“Pwenty?!”
So did that mean one more didn’t matter?!
When she stared blankly at Jurim, he nodded as if telling her not to worry.
Potato Friend was even scarier than she’d thought.
Geuru shuddered.
“No, but how did you suddenly know and try to arrest him?”
“I saw it in Ser Oppa’s office…….”
“Why did you arrest him instead of telling Dad?”
“Uh, that’s because I’m exercising my wight to shilence…….”
“The suspect is supposed to exercise the right to remain silent, not you.”
“Huuung……?”
Judging by her vacant expression, it was obvious she had picked it up somewhere without knowing what it meant and just blurted it out.
“The handcuff key?”
“In the toy section…….”
“Lead the way.”
“Uuung…….”
Geuru grabbed the two long dangling hands attached to her hat and trudged ahead.
Beillakeu, who had been watching, scurried over, put up a barrier, and whispered,
“Are you just going to let that man go? He knows your identity. Who knows what might happen from now on!”
“Pipi—!”
“But he got rid of the bell…… and he’s Master’s dad…….”
“It’s better not to have a dangerous dad like that.”
“Pipi—!”
“……?”
Geuru stared blankly at Beillakeu.
He and Mephisto had fought plenty over Mephisto stabbing his father, yet when it came to someone else’s dad, he was quick to say he was a bad guy and they should get rid of him.
“Even if he’s a dangerous dad, he’s still a dad.”
“Not all parents can be good parents. If something is bad, it’s better to cut it off.”
At that, Geuru stopped dead and said,
“Then! Was Mephi’s dad actually a bad dad, and that’s why?”
Beillakeu flinched.
Mephisto quietly blinked, as if something were about to come back to him.
“Perhaps. From a human perspective, he must have been an evil being.”
When Beillakeu answered calmly, Geuru’s shoulders twitched. He was agreeing here?!
“Do you think every family relationship is affectionate? There are some relationships that are better off not existing.”
“Pi—!”
When Mephisto chimed in with Beillakeu’s words, Geuru began walking again and furrowed her brow.
Beillakeu and Mephisto, who knew their own fathers, might think that way.
But Geuru knew neither her mother nor her father.
A relationship better off not existing? She’d never even had one to feel that way about in the first place.
‘But.’
Geuru recalled the expression Kazuki made when he spoke of his father.
What Geuru had read in that inscrutable expression that only ended in a silly hehe smile was longing. A face Geuru herself had worn countless times.
It might be a relationship someone else didn’t need, but Geuru knew very well that it wasn’t that way for Master.
“Be quiet, and just follow me before I turn you into a hamster.”
“Such a vile threat……!”
“Pip pip pip!”
When Beillakeu trembled, Mephisto covered his mouth with his wing and laughed mockingly.
“Whose side are you even on!”
“Pip pip pip!”
While the three of them bickered like that, Jurim rubbed a hand over his face as if dizzy and followed after them, while Reiji examined the handcuffs this way and that before letting out an exclamation.
They weren’t just toy handcuffs.
At a glance, they looked like they were made of plastic, but they had a density and strength similar to metal.
This was different from simple reinforcement.
It wasn’t that the plastic itself had become stronger; it was closer to having undergone a conversion into something like metal.
The child had casually transformed material that wasn’t even a dungeon byproduct, right there in the toy section.
It was no wonder Prime Minister Takahashi Norio and competitors from other countries were desperately searching for the child.
The child was a genius who would succeed On Ijo.
“My little friend will become an even more outstanding Hunter than my son.”
Startled by his plain praise, Geuru pressed the hand on her hat and beep! raised its ears.
“R-really?”
“I can state it with one hundred percent certainty. By the way, that hat is terribly cute. May I press it too?”
“Yes!”
Geuru trotted over and handed him the hat’s hand.
At that, Reiji pressed the paw pad with his handcuffed hands.
Beep beep!
The hat’s ears flopped up and down, making Geuru giggle, and Reiji smiled gently as well.
Beep beep! Beep beep beep!
While they were doing that, the lady standing at the nearby tasting stand said she was too adorable and handed her a fried dumpling.
“Oh my, how cute. Your daughter’s so pretty, you must feel full even without eating~”
“I thank you for your kindness, madam.”
When Reiji greeted her elegantly, the lady smiled in satisfaction and held out one more fried dumpling.
“I have already received enough of your goodwill.”
Reiji politely declined, then blew on the hot dumpling and gave it to Geuru.
Geuru bit into the fried dumpling and chewed it down while going, “Hot, hot.”
Only Jurim stared at the two of them with a dumbfounded expression.
It was still vivid in his mind how, until just a moment ago, she had been declaring with a determined face that she had arrested a bad person and warning him not to be fooled by his handsome face.
He simply could not understand why she had suddenly become best friends with him this time.
Just as he was wondering whether he should separate them so others wouldn’t mistake his daughter for that criminal’s daughter,
Jurim abruptly turned his head.
Then a man who had been watching them smoothly hid himself behind a counter.
Jurim narrowed his eyes.
[“Looks like he followed you.”]
[“To be precise, not me, but your daughter.”]
[“…….”]
[“Don’t concern yourself. I’ll clean up my little friend’s tail.”]
Smiling brightly, Reiji suddenly drew up his mana.
In that instant, a black shape appeared in front of the man hiding behind the counter, as if slime were dripping down from it.
Something twisted opened its mouth toward him.
Grrrrr—
Before long, the man slumped against the counter, empty as if his soul had been sucked out.
[“Who’s the client?”]
[“Don’t worry. We’ll know soon enough.”]
It likely meant he would handle it himself.
Jurim nodded.
“Someone’s collapsed over here!”
“Over here!”
Having reached the front of the toy section, Geuru poked her head out when a commotion rose behind them.
“Um?”
“It’s nothing. Where’s the key, the key.”
Jurim blocked her view, grabbed Geuru by the shoulders, and spun her body around.
“The keyyy…….”
Geuru found the handcuff key on the display stand where the “Kids Cops” kits were lined up.
Beillakeu and Mephisto still looked displeased, but Geuru hummed and held out the key.
At that, Reiji reached out to take it—
Yoink! Geuru pulled the key back into her arms.
“……?”
“This. Before I unlock them…… I have one favor to ask.”
Reiji smiled.
“I had already decided to grant your request anyway.”
“……?”
When?
Geuru opened her mouth blankly. Had there been such a thing?
But no matter how much she thought about it, an answer would not come.
As she always had until now, Geuru answered words she didn’t understand with the usual, “Yes.”
“I’ll grant any request. Tell me.”