Chapter 18

Humans have various emotions, but "fear" is an important one. I think it's one of the necessary survival instincts for living.

Stay away from what scares you. Don't do what scares you.

Because of this emotion, you can avoid danger.

So, if the debt collectors think I'm a ghost, it's convenient.

Let's dye myself from the tips of my toes to the top of my head with fear!

So, here goes.

"I won't forgive you."

After muttering, I tossed a piece of rubble.

"Ah!"

At the same time as the rubble hit the wall, the man screamed.

It was very satisfying.

I chuckled, then tightened my expression.

Then, trying to make my voice as scary as possible, I changed the tempo, speed, and direction, and kept tossing rubble.

"I won't forgive you."

Thud, ah

"I won't forgive you."

Bang, ah

"I won't forgive you."

Clatter, ah

"I won't forgive you."

Crash, ah

"I won't forgive you, I won't forgive you, I won't forgive you, I won't forgive you!"

"Ahhh!"

As expected of me, the strongest 3-year-old. Not bad ghost role-play.

The men were very scared, and even those who woke up in the middle were scared.

If they are this scared, I don't think these men will attack my house again...

"It's not our fault, we were just following orders..."

"Yeah, ... we were just ... please forgive us..."

Huddling together, they begged for their lives in fear.

There was no room for leniency, but it was exactly what I wanted to hear.

I was thinking of asking the leader, but he didn't wake up, and these men seemed to know something, so I might as well ask them.

Yeah, let's ask.

"Who gave the order?"

"Uh... it's..."

"Who?"

I threw a piece of rubble at the men who were hesitating.

The glass shard narrowly missed the men and stuck firmly into the wall.

"Ah..."

The men turned pale at the sight of the glass shard embedded in the wall.

Then, they moaned and spoke.

"The mayor of this town...!"

"--- Mayor Schultem..."

The scared men, with their hands clasped in front of their faces, pleaded and spoke.

It was the name of the mayor, the most powerful person in the town.

...I see.

A pretty high-up person was trying to get my mother.

I thought about it, standing in front of the trembling men.

"Lie?"

"N-no, it's not a lie...!"

"It's true, there's... there's evidence...!"

"Evidence?"

"W-we don't know the details, but it's true, it's true...!"

"Safe... in the safe..."

The men might be lying out of fear, but it could be a reasonable explanation for why the gatekeeper let the suspicious men through without checking.

"Hmm."

The person who gave the order turned out to be a big catch, and I couldn't help but sigh.

If someone like that had their eye on my mother, it would be a big problem.

The country I live in is a monarchy, ruled by a hereditary royal family.

Supporting them are the nobles, who are also hereditary and have not changed since the founding of the country.

The country is divided, and each area is governed, which is called a domain. The domains are further divided into cities.

The lords appoint the heads of the cities, called mayors.

Mayors are appointed from the lord's children, siblings, relatives, or meritorious subordinates. This is not hereditary, but they are granted a title for one generation by the king. These are the lower nobles.

If there is a large town in a city, the mayor appoints a town mayor. These are usually wealthy merchants or civil servants.

The town mayor not only governs the town but also oversees the surrounding towns and villages.

There are town mayors and village mayors in the towns and villages, but they are decided by consensus and act as coordinators.

So, the top person in my village is the mayor of Slanita—

"There you are!!!"

While I was thinking, a knife whizzed past my head.

It was quite high, so it didn't hit me at all, but if I were an adult, it might have hit me.

Hmm. So, you do that kind of thing.

"...What?"

I thought it would be fine as long as they were properly scared.

It seems they still had the strength to fight back.

"It's not me...! It's him, it's him...!"

"Lie... I threw it in the direction of the voice, why didn't it hit... Could it really be...?"

"Idiot! What do we do now!! You take responsibility...!"

The man who threw the knife was pushed to the front by the others.

In the end, twelve people, excluding the leader, dug up the information.

One of them apparently threw a knife at me.

While listening to the conversation between me and the debt collectors, he seemed to have pinpointed my location. The height was different, but the direction was roughly correct.

Fear is scary because it's unpredictable, but it wasn't good to have a conversation for questioning. Yeah, fear decreases when you sense rationality.

So, here goes.

"I won't forgive you."

Let's just blow them away.

"Claw of the cat!"

I extended my right claw and raised my hand from bottom to top.

Then, an updraft was generated, forming a small tornado.

The tornado, sweeping up everything around it, headed towards the debt collectors. And—

"Be stars!"

Whether conscious or not, everyone was blown up from the atrium and flew into the sky.

"Aaaaah!"

—Today, there is a very beautiful meteor shower.