Chapter 99 - Breaking Through the Neighborhood Labyrinth (7) (1/2)

“Hina! Why are you here!”

Kusaka raised his voice while propping the door open with one hand.

“O-nii-chan?”

The biggest girl among the children looked at Kusaka with tears in her eyes.

“Oh! Onii-chan! Onii-chan!”

She stood up and clung to Kusaka.

“You were okay… thank god.”

Kusaka embraced the child tightly.

“Kusaka’s sister?”

“Didn’t you say she was at school?”

Gasaraio and I were standing next to them and looking at Kusaka.

“Let’s talk about that later. It looks like there are some small children. Hello everyone, I’m a police officer, everything is okay now.”

Police Officer Doggy passed by Kusaka and his sister and bent over to enter the dome slide.

“Furball, I’ll scare them, so calm the kids down.”

“Not to brag, but kids don’t like me either. Let’s just leave it to the her.”

We’re no help.

Gasaraio and I clearly look like bad people.

As Gasaraio says, I am aware that I have a very villainous face, and Gasaraio is a lion.

If two such people go inside, we’ll frighten the crying children even further.

“… A police officer?”

“Mama… I’m scared.”

“Everyone is going to be okay. The police officers came.”

The children each had their own reactions and stopped crying a little.

“Yes, it’s not scared anymore. You guys did well. See those guys over there? They look really strong, right?”

Officer Doggy smiled gently and hugged the cowering children in front of her.

“Uuueeeeeeeeh.”

“Scary… scary…”

“Hina nee-chan, it’s dangerous outside, so let’s hide here… uuuu”

The children started crying all at once.

“Oi, furball! I’m wondering! They’re crying!”

“Don’t say that to me! Um, look, Gaaaa!”

What was he thinking? Gasaraio suddenly let out an intimidating roar and made the children cry even louder.

“You idiot!”

“But, but…”

“It’s okay, it’s okay.”

‌Officer Doggy spread out her arms.

A total of six small children clung to Officer Doggy.

2 boys and 4 girls?

“Hina, why are you here? You said you were going to go to the library.”

The Kusaka siblings who were still hugging separated from each other, and the brother wiped her sister’s tears.

“U-un, I was looking for a book to read next time at the child welfare facility and I was going to bring it after I found it. At that time, these children were playing in the park and suddenly a lot of trees attacked. So I came here without thinking.”

What a remarkable child.

Was she protecting the younger children?

“Then the doors wouldn’t open and I tried to calm down these kids so they won’t cry. Uuueeeeeh!”

“Yeah! Good job Hina, you’re amazing. Everything’s okay now!”

I wonder if Hina is now afraid, and once again she buried her face into her brother’s chest.

“Ah, so they were able to run away, but couldn’t get out after the growing trees entangled this slide? How unlucky.”

“Idiot. Read the atmosphere, furball.”

You should praise their hard work first.

“Guoooooooooo!!”

“Hiii!”

Hina let out a short scream because of the sudden strange sound and her shoulders stiffened.

It’s Ruten!

It seems that that guy can’t read the atmosphere either!

“Let’s go inside for now! We’ll think of a plan later!”

Gasaraio and Kusaka nodded at my voice, and dived through the entrance in order.

“I’m sorry everyone, it’s a bit cramped.”

There were now seven children and four adults, so it became cramped.

Kusaka still had a stature of an elementary school student, but Gasaraio was too big.

“Hey furball! Don’t you have some sort of shrinking magic tool? You’re way too big!”

“Stop saying stupid stuff! Of course, there’s no such thing!”

With a stampede of footsteps, we managed to squeeze everyone inside.

Two boys and one girl was on Gasaraio’s lap. Kusaka was holding his sister, Officer Doggy was hugging two girls and there was one little girl on my lap.

We were arranged so that the adults were against the outside wall and the children were on the inside so they could move easier. But it doesn’t change the fact that it was cramped.

At any rate, it was eleven people. Normal playground equipment aren’t made to be that spacious.

When I closed the door, the inside became pitch black.

Did these children endure by huddling with each other in such a dark place?

Really great.

I inadvertently stroked the head of the girl sitting on my lap.

The girl raised her neck and seemed to be looking at me strangely.

I took out the smartphone from my chest pocket, a little light returns inside due to the screen.

Because moving the arm in such a narrow space was an obstacle, I switched to speakers.

“Mikuma, are you there?”

I called out to the smartphone that has been connected since earlier.

“Yup, I’m here. I was listening to the situation. Everyone is amazing, this person is very strong so please don’t worry.”

A woman who can remember her lip service. That is Mikuma Yunno. Smiles have returned to the faces of the children.

Unfortunately, I’m not really strong.

“How about it? Did you learn anything?”

“Not much about Ruten. As Gasaraio-san said, it’s standard practice to ignore the boss of Tusk Crag, so even the professional people on the Underground Hunter bulletin board don’t talk about it much. I mean, maybe there aren’t any hunters who’ve fought it other than the initial ones.”

I wonder if that bird has been ignored for a while and that’s why it’s holding a grudge.

“Furball, do you not know?”

“To speak frankly, even without any weaknesses, my big brother and sister can beat it at their level. It can’t do anything if you pay attention to its lunge and wind breath. So I didn’t worry about its weaknesses. That was the first time we went there, but when I looked it up, I came to the conclusion that it wasn’t a big deal, so I stopped doing it halfway.”

What kind of monsters are your siblings?

“Ah, just to tell you, I’m not as strong as my siblings, so it’s impossible, ya know?”