Chapter 564:
The Bear Does as Asked
THE MAN IN THE HOOD walked over to us. Based on what he said to Seleiyu and the direction he had come from, he could be the man who had kidnapped her brother.
I could tell it was a guy based on his voice, but I felt like he looked familiar with that hood. Where had I seen him before? He was ringing all sorts of bells, but I just couldn’t remember.
“So who is this young lady with the bear? I believe I had asked you to come alone in my letter. This isn’t part of our agreement.”
The man looked at me.
“Well...”
Seleiyu looked at me like she had no idea what to do.
“I suppose this means I don’t have to hold up my end of the bargain.”
The man laughed. Seleiyu seemed like she was about to object, but she stopped herself. So I answered the man in her place.
“I’m Seleiyu’s friend. I saw her rush out of town alone, so I followed her. I had no idea why she left alone or came here, or that she was going to meet someone. She didn’t break your agreement.”
It wasn’t a lie. I hadn’t known anything when I left town. I’d just found out what was actually going on a few seconds ago.
“I guess it can’t be helped. Another student shouldn’t change things. It’s been a whole decade since we last saw each other, Seleiyu. As a token of how much I missed you, I’ll forgive you.”
He was wearing the hood, but I could see that he was smiling. It wasn’t just us two—Kumayuru was here too—but I decided not to bring that up.
“Ten years. Then you really are my mother’s murderer.”
Seleiyu seemed like she could hardly get the words out.
“Yes, I am the man who killed your mother,” the man said, pulling off his hood as he spoke. He was in his mid-thirties. His face was gaunt. “You likely don’t remember what I look like, considering how young you were.”
“I don’t remember your face, but I remember that grin. I remember the terrible sensation of you touching me as your hands were covered in the blood of my own mother.”
“Ha ha. I’m honored you remember me.”
The man smiled in the face of Seleiyu’s indignation. I could see Seleiyu’s hand clench.
“Is Keith safe?”
“He is alive for now. What happens next will depend on you.” The man laughed.
I could sucker punch him, hold him down, and force him to tell us where Keith was, but we couldn’t be sure he didn’t have cronies. If we acted rashly, it could endanger Keith. Seleiyu seemed to understand this too. She was restraining herself. It was obvious from her face and from her clenched fists.
“Where is Keith? I came just as you asked. Please give him back.”
“As I asked, hmm...?”
The man looked over at me.
“You said she wasn’t an issue.”
“I kid. Of course, I’ll take you to your brother now so I can return him to you. But the young lady will need to come too.”
If he would have let me go, I would’ve changed into my bear onesie and cut them off, but now that plan was a no-go. If I had the acting chops, I could have cried and started saying stuff like, “Please spare me!” “I’m not part of this.” “I won’t tell anyone! Please let me go back!”
Unfortunately, I was no actor, and besides, I didn’t really want to say stuff that made me seem so weak. It would be embarrassing.
“She’s not involved in this! You just need me, don’t you?!”
She was trying to protect me.
“Unfortunately, the young miss became involved the moment she came here. If you want to blame someone, blame yourself. If she reports back to the town, then I’ll have all sorts of trouble on my hands. Or would you abandon Seleiyu and run? Friend of Seleiyu?”
The man emphasized the words “abandon” and “friend” as he turned his unpleasant smile toward me. By now, I felt like I’d figured out what was going on. The man who had killed Seleiyu’s mother had reappeared, kidnapped Keith, and called Seleiyu here. The one missing piece was why he wanted Seleiyu.
Based on what Seleiyu had said, it seemed like she had been present during her mom’s murder. She would have been a young girl ten years ago. I doubted she’d done anything to make the man to hold a decade-long grudge against her at such a young age. Why had he waited ten years to do this? I didn’t have enough information.
Either way, it didn’t change what I needed to do. Regardless of the reason, I’d protect Seleiyu, pummel this guy, and rescue Keith. That was all there was to it. At the same time, making the man angry now wasn’t a good move.
“Okay, okay. I’ll go with you.”
“Yuna?!” Seleiyu was shocked.
I had Kumayuru and Kumakyu, so if I wanted to escape, I could. But if I did, I’d be leaving Seleiyu and Keith to this creep’s mercy. It was better to stick with them. Once we knew where Keith was, we could figure the rest out. The one thing on my mind was that I didn’t have my bear onesie on.
I guess if things really got dicey, I could pull it on whenever I needed to.
“You’re a very smart young lady. That’s good.”
“Yuna...”
“Don’t worry about it, Seleiyu. I’ll come with you. We don’t know what he’ll do to Keith if we run, right?”
If he was going to let me tag along, then I would.
“Yes. I’m very glad you understand the situation—it makes things easy. If you try to run away, I’ll have no choice but to kill the little boy.”
He talked about killing so casually. If he were Seleiyu’s mother’s murderer, it made sense. But if the man was telling the truth, Keith was still alive. If he was only slightly injured, we could heal him. As long as he was alive, there was a chance we could save him. So long as we weren’t in danger, I’d do as the man told us.
“So where is Keith?”
“A short distance from here. As I said earlier, he is safe for now, but depending on what you do, who knows what could happen to him...” The unpleasant smile crept across the man’s face once again.
Gosh, I just really wanted to punch his lights out. The way he was smiling while toying with us irked me, not to mention his attitude. He was clearly acting this way because he knew he held the advantage.
I wanted to punch him, but I needed to hold back. People are infinitely capable of patience. I balled my hands into fists to try to keep myself calm.
“Though I’m quite impressed you have a bear with you, young lady.”
He was staring in curiosity at Kumayuru by my side. I was probably the only one who rode bears like a horse.
“They’re my precious family.”
“Well, you’ll be bidding your family a fond goodbye here.”
“You’re not going to kill them?”
I glared at the man.
“I am a gentleman. I wouldn’t do something so terrible in front of you. Not yet...”
The insinuation was clear.
“It will be a problem if you get on that bear and try to escape, so we’ll proceed on foot from here. You may tie your horse and the bear to a tree around here if you would like. If you refuse, then we’ll have to deal with them here.”
The man created some fire in his right hand using magic. Kumayuru would be fine, but not Seleiyu’s horse.
“All right,” I said.
“I’m so sorry, Yuna,” Seleiyu apologized, even though none of this was her fault.
She hitched her horse to a tree so it couldn’t escape, and I did something similar with Kumayuru. Or at least, I pretended to.
“Kumayuru, I’m sorry, it’ll just be for a bit.”
“Cwoon.”
Kumayuru gave a sad cry in response, but we really would be back soon.
“Is this okay?”
“What a very well-behaved bear. If only I had more time, I would research it, but we have a schedule to keep. Well, I’ll take you to your brother, so come with me.”
The man seemed satisfied. He turned his back to us and started to walk.
“Oh, and please don’t attack me from behind. If anything happens to me, you won’t find your brother alive.”
“We understand, please just bring us over to him.”
Seleiyu seemed chagrined, but she still followed the man. I followed behind them both, and I recalled Kumayuru instantly as if nothing had happened. Since it happened so fast, the two in front of me didn’t notice and just kept walking.
Well, what to do... If I used my detection skill, I could figure out Keith’s location, but I couldn’t do that in my school uniform. There was always a chance monsters were nearby too, so we had to be careful.
This really made me appreciate my bear onesie and bear summons. But let me reiterate: Why did my skills have to be tied to those clothes? If they weren’t, this would be much easier.
I made sure not to do anything suspicious so that we could make sure Keith remained safe.