Chapter 164 – Family Quarrel!?
“Hoho. The colors are quite nice!”
Ymir said as she looked at the finished bracelet. We had removed the cracked gems and replaced them with the stones that Liza had found. And so it was more colorful than before.
“It really is! Your father will surely be happy now.”
Enna praised it as well.
Riisa smiled happily and nodded.
“Thank you! It’s all thanks to you.”
“I’m glad. Do you think that your father and sister will stop fighting now?”
“Yes… I hope…”
Riise looked a little uncertain, but then she brightened up.
“Alright. Then we shall take you back to your father.”
“Really? But I don’t want to bother you for any longer…”
“Don’t worry about it. We were actually searching for your father. It would be a great help if you could guide us to him.”
“If that’s the case, I will do it gladly!”
And so we paid the tea house and decided to go and meet Beyron.
We then headed to the entertainment district. It was a dangerous area with inns and pubs.
“It’s the inn up ahead! Over there!”
Riise pointed to a relatively luxurious-looking inn.
And at the gate, there were weretigers of the Grank Mercenaries standing guard. As it was so big, perhaps they had booked the entire inn for the mercenaries.
The gatekeepers then noticed Riise.
“Young lady!! Where have you been!?”
“A search party was sent out! …And who are you people!?”
The gatekeepers unsheathed their blades
However, Riise shouted at them angrily.
“Stop! These people helped me!”
“B-but…”
On further inspection, I saw that these were the weretigers who we had fought in slave merchant Cobis’s fortress.
Iria had struck, forcing them to back off. Perhaps that was why they saw us as being dangerous. They looked very scared.
As they did not lower their weapons, I stood next to Riise and said,
“We don’t mean any harm. We just wanted to thank Beyron. And give him some of what we harvested.”
The gatekeepers looked at each other and started to whisper to each other.
“…Per-perhaps you people can put a stop to it.”
“Yes, since they are outside guests, those two might calm down. Especially Lady Neia.”
Put a stop to it… Apparently, something was happening inside of the inn.
It was likely that Beyron and Neia were fighting.
If I could go and mediate between them, then that was fine.
Eventually, the guards nodded and turned back to us.
“We will take you there then. Come with us.”
“Thank you.”
And so the guards led us to them.
Riise walked ahead of us.
We were then led, not inside of the inn…but to the yard behind it.
There, many tigerfolk were gathered together.
And all of them were looking at the same spot. They seemed afraid, and could not raise their voices.
Finally, I heard a high-pitched shout.
“Meow! Meow!! It happens today! I shall defeat you and become leader!! Die, you bastard father!”
“You’ve gotten carried away ever since you matured! But I was fighting while you were still wetting the bed! Do you really think you can defeat me!?”
“How dare you suddenly act like you’re my father! You practically abandoned mother, me and Riise!! You are a terrible father!”
“Well, why don’t you leave if you hate me so much! Probably because you wouldn’t survive out there on your own!”
They shouted at each other angrily.
It was Beyron and Neia’s voices.
Neia had not talked like this before, but… And Beyon had not been so emotional when I met him.
“Shut up! Meow! I am tired of the way that you do things-meow!! At your age, you should retire somewhere and play with catnip!”
“Eh!? At my age, you say!? I will not forgive you for that!!”
As we frantically rushed towards them, it became clear what they were doing.
With bare hands…their claws were out, and they were arguing. And it had all the intensity of beasts fighting.
“Stop it! Both of you!!”
Riise said as she ran to them.
However, one of the tigerfolk stopped her.
“Let-let go of me!”
“Those two can’t see anything but each other! It is dangerous!”
In fact, Beyron and Neia really did seem like they couldn’t hear Riise.
“Father! Sister! I fixed the bracelet! So stop fighting!!”
Riise shouted tearfully.
But still, neither of their heads turned.
“They continue to fight, even as she is crying… Everyone.”
I said, and Ecleshia and the others nodded.
“We shall stop them.”
“Mmm. They shall be the target of my wrath.”
“Enna will cool them off with water.”
And then I turned to the gatekeeper.
“Please allow us to stop them.”
“Be-be careful. No one has ever been able to stop them when they fight.”
They bowed and asked us to help them.
“Don’t worry, leave it to us… Ecleshia!”
“Aye!”
First, Ecleshia made plant roots grow at their feet. And like this, she bound their arms and legs.
“What!?”
“Do not get in our way!”
The two tried to slash the roots with their claws.
In the meantime, I built a circular stone wall around them.
“Enna!”
“Leave it to me!”
Enna thrust both of her hands in front of her, and then water rained down inside of the stone wall.
“Bah! Buha!? What!?”
“He-hey!? What is this?”
Now only their heads were sticking out of the water. And since their arms and legs were tired, they could not move around freely.
And then Ymir started to bash them over the head with a hammer. However, the hammer head was made of slime jelly, and so it shouldn’t hurt.
“Stop this, both of you. You have made Riise cry.”
“Shu-shut up!! You’re just an outsider… Huh!?”
Neia saw us and then turned pale.
The other weretigers also looked at us and shook.
“Huh?”
They were all looking…behind me.
And so I also slowly turned around.
And what I saw…or I thought I saw, was the most horrifying demon in the world.
Only, it was really just a smiling Iria.
“It’s been too long since I last saw all of you.”
Iria said with a polite bow, and the tigerfolk blinked their eyes.
Neia quickly raised her voice.
“Wh-what are you…doing here, meow!? Do not interfere! This is a duel to decide the new leader!”
“Should you really be doing that while Riise is crying?”
I said, and then Neia finally realized that Riise was on her knees and crying.
“Ri-Riise…”
“Damn it… I won’t be able to fight well like this. Hey, Neia. The duel will have to be delayed…”
Beyron said. He had somehow managed to free himself. However, he would not look at Riise or the rest of us, and he just walked back to the inn, soaking wet.
“Beyron…”
And so with a loud sneeze, Beyron disappeared into the inn.
