Chapter 400: Retribution
Nina’s treatment was completed swiftly. It seemed she had taken a strong blow to her abdomen, and had we left it untreated, it could have been dangerous.
“You’re all right now.”
“Nina!”
“Nina-chan!”
As I removed my hand from over Nina, Phonia burst into tears, perhaps out of relief. The other orphans had gathered around, peering at Nina with worried expressions.
“Phew, I was worried for a moment there… I’m glad you’re better.”
“Ivan-nii… sniff“
As Ivan sighed in relief and gently patted her head, Phonia pressed her forehead against him, seeking comfort.
“So, what happened?”
Cradling Nina in her arms, Rio began to inquire about the situation from the gathered orphans. It turned out that while they were returning from an errand, they had the misfortune of being kicked by a passing adventurer. However, this was right in the middle of the street. We couldn’t linger long to discuss it while carrying Nina, so we decided to head back to the orphanage for now.
I thought the orphans were usually well-behaved, but perhaps something had upset them. Or maybe the adventurer was just in a bad mood.
“What kind of adventurer was it?”
Once we returned to the orphanage and laid Nina down on a bed, I asked the orphans for more details.
“He was scary.”
“He was angry.”
“He was mumbling something, right?”
“He said something like ‘What the hell?'”
With that last remark, I had a pretty good idea of who we were dealing with.
“All right, I’m going to take them down.”
It seemed safe to declare all those who spoke in that dialect as enemies.
“Indeed. Perhaps we should sink them all into the sea.”
Rio was likely referring to the ships anchored offshore.
“Wait a minute!”
Ivan stopped us just as we were about to set off for our revenge.
“What is it?”
I shot back, narrowing my eyes as I looked up at Ivan. There was no way we could just stay silent after what had happened.
“Are you sure it’s okay to retaliate based on such vague testimonies?”
I wondered if he had some reason for his caution, but his response was surprisingly sensible. Still…
“Of course it’s fine.”
Rio stated matter-of-factly.
“Huh?”
“No one would dare complain to an S Rank Adventurer, so we’re fine.”
I answered confidently, seeing Ivan’s bewildered expression. There might be plenty of people who wanted to complain, but that was irrelevant.
“…Really?”
“And besides, they made Phonia cry. There’s no way we can let that slide.”
“…I agree with that.”
He hesitated, but it seemed that the fact that Phonia had cried weighed heavily on him.
“Then there’s no problem.”
“…I suppose not.”
Though he still looked unconvinced, if he couldn’t stop us, that was good enough. With Ivan wearing a conflicted expression, we stepped out of the orphanage and into the dimly lit alley.
We arrived at a tavern located away from the harbor. This was where the two suspicious individuals had shown up at our under-construction base entrance. They were wearing Insect TYPE gear, making them the most likely culprits, so we came here first.
The tavern was a low-cost establishment nestled in a bustling alley. The cramped interior was about eighty percent full, indicating it was doing decent business.
Perhaps because we didn’t quite fit the tavern’s atmosphere, the patrons’ gazes lingered on us. The staff seemed uninterested in welcoming us, which was fine since it meant no one would impede our progress.
“Huh?”
“What is it?”
Standing imposingly in front of the two men seated at a table in the back, their expressions sharpened as they realized we were not just passing by.
“Are you the ones who kicked a girl named Nina in front of the orphanage?”
I asked the man directly while using Telepathic Communication to confirm with Ivan. Since they were wearing Insect TYPE gear, Ivan was showing the orphans the Tablet he had. I certainly didn’t intend to make judgments based solely on hearsay from small children.
“What did you say?”
“Nina?”
The two men exchanged glances, but when they turned back to us, their faces had twisted into scowls.
“So what if we did?”
“You came all the way here for some brat?”
Looks like these guys are the ones.
They seemed to want to dismiss us over something so trivial, but just then, Ivan sent me a response.
“For now, just send them flying.”
Once I had confirmed their identities, there was no reason to hold back.
“Hey, if you’re going to fight, take it outside—”
A voice from the side tried to interject, but I ignored it and stepped forward, delivering a palm strike with both hands. At the same time, Rio unleashed a shockwave of magic at the other man.
“Guboberah!“
Both men let out a pained cry as they were sent flying, crashing through the wooden wall and rolling out into the alley.
Behind us, the sounds of chairs clattering and screams echoed. It seemed some of the other patrons who had been drinking were gearing up for a fight.
After waiting a moment, it became clear that the men we had sent flying were not getting back up. It appeared they had fainted from that alone. How pathetic to kick a girl and then go down so easily. Well, even if they were strong, kicking someone was still unacceptable.
“…Is it over?”
“Looks like it.”
Rio seemed taken aback, but perhaps that only helped us remain calm.
“…Shall we head back?”
“Yeah.”
We walked back to the entrance of the tavern in silence, just as we had arrived. No one inside seemed inclined to complain, and we reached the exit without incident. I thought I heard a brief scream behind us, but I ignored it and spoke up.
“Sorry for the interruption. If you have any complaints, tell them to S Rank Adventurer Shuu at the Guild.”
I pulled a gold coin from the Dimensional Box and tossed it to what appeared to be the tavern manager behind the counter.
“See you.”
Without waiting to see if he caught it, we left the tavern.