"......"

  Bars looked at the maid, then at Mirei, who he was holding in his hand.

  The boy still had an innocent look on his face, as if he didn’t know he’d done anything wrong.

  Boom!

  Bars flicked Mirei’s forehead with his finger, leaving a red mark.

  "You! You’re not going anywhere—come with us to the mansion!"

  "But......"

  Mirei rubbed his forehead, wanting to protest, but Bars handed him directly to the maid beside him.

  "Keep an eye on him. Don’t let him run off."

  "Yes, King Bars!"

  The maid hugged Mirei tightly, as if determined not to let go.

  Having dealt with Mirei casually, Bars turned to Miko and Hulim:

  "Off you go. Enjoy yourselves."

  "But...... Is he okay? Really no need to take him along?"

  Hulim glanced at Mirei, looking hesitant.

  "Don’t worry about him—I’ll find a way to make him behave later!"

  "Alright...... Then let’s go......"

  So Hulim and Miko left the White Cat Clan’s group, walking into the huge crowd on the street, under the eager gaze of a certain young boy. The White Cat Clan’s carriage train, after a short pause, set off again.

  But no one noticed that in the noisy crowd, several pairs of eyes followed them as they left.

  ......

  "The White Cat Clan has arrived. I hope you don’t mess this up again."

  Clang!

  A box was thrown onto the table.

  "Inside are some magic potions—you should know how to use them...... In short, if you make a mistake this time, it won’t be that we don’t want to pay you."

  James picked up the box, opened it for a glance, then closed it again.

  "Don’t worry. Even if you hadn’t come to us, we’d still do it. That kid made us suffer such a big loss—we’re not going to let it slide!"

  "Hmph, I hope so...... I’ll wait for your news."

  After the contact left, Odo looked at the box in James’ hand and asked:

  "Even though we want revenge, what do we do now? We can’t get into the White Cat Clan’s mansion."

  "No need to worry about that."

  James said calmly.

  "Not everyone in that mansion is from the White Cat Clan. There are also people from this city working there—those are our breakthroughs."

  The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

  "Breakthroughs? How?"

  "Hehe...... Everyone has weaknesses. Either bribe or threaten—there’s no other choice."

  "Let’s go. Now that the White Cat Clan has arrived, we’ll take action."

  James stood up, holding the box.

  "I want to see how the White Cat Clan will handle it if they can’t even get their people out?"

  ......

  Shiri was just one of countless ordinary people in Helinks. The only thing that set her apart was that she worked in the mansion owned by the White Cat Clan. Calling it a mansion, it was actually a large noble residence—every tribe with a seat in the Federal Council had such a mansion in Helinks.

  Of course, these council members rarely visited, so the mansion was mostly empty most of the time, with only a small number of maintenance staff staying to take care of daily upkeep.

  When council members arrived, additional hands were needed to handle various tasks. Unlike the nobles of northern neighboring countries, beastmen from the federation didn’t travel with a full retinue—mostly just armed guards, with only a handful of stewards and servants.

  But the various chores of the mansion still needed to be done, so the council entrusted this to the residents of Helinks.

  Shiri had entered the White Cat Clan’s mansion kitchen as a maid. However, she wasn’t allowed to handle cooking or even food preparation. Her main responsibility was to purchase ingredients according to the head chef’s requirements.

  Since she was familiar with various ingredients and had lived in Helinks for years, the job wasn’t too difficult for her—in fact, it was quite easy. Plus, the salary was paid by the council, which was quite generous. For a single mother like her who had a child to raise, it was hard to find a better job.

  Today, Shiri went to purchase ingredients as usual.

  "......Alright, everything checks out. Please deliver it directly to the White Cat Clan’s mansion today."

  "Of course—don’t worry, it’ll be there within an hour!"

  The supervisor assured her, patting his chest. The ingredients Shiri had purchased were then packed into special boxes and sealed in front of her.

  These sealed boxes wouldn’t be opened until they reached the mansion’s kitchen. If there were any signs of being opened in advance, everything would be returned.

  After purchasing the ingredients, Shiri prepared to head back to the mansion. When the ingredients arrived, she would need to confirm that the seals were intact and that nothing had been tampered with.

  On her way to the mansion, she passed through a relatively secluded street. Only a few people were walking around, and there was even a robed figure with a hood leaning against the wall, looking idle.

  ...... Could that be a dangerous person?

  Shiri thought to herself, unconsciously quickening her pace as she passed. But the figure suddenly called out to her.

  "Your name is Shiri, right?"

  Shiri jumped in shock, hesitating for a moment before stopping and turning to look at the figure.

  "W-Who are you? How do you know my name?"

  "Hehe, who I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that I know who you are."

  The hooded man left the wall and approached Shiri.

  Shiri took a few steps back instinctively.

  "Stay away! Don’t come any closer—otherwise, I’ll scream for help!"

  The hooded man stopped in his tracks.

  Shiri calmed down a little.

  It seemed that even though this person didn’t look like a good guy, he didn’t dare to do anything in such a place.

  However, what the hooded man said next chilled her to the bone.

  "You have a child, don’t you~? Let me think—how old is he now? Eight, nine, or ten? He doesn’t look that old, so probably eight or nine. He’s wearing a grayish-white coat at the preparatory school today—it’s a bit small for him. I suggest you buy him a bigger one. Kids grow up so fast......"

  Shiri’s eyes widened as she stared fiercely at the hooded man, who spoke as if chatting casually, revealing a terrifying truth.

  "W-What have you done to my son!?"

  Shiri grabbed the front of the hooded man’s robe excitedly.

  "Who are you! What do you want? Why are you doing this!?"

  "Calm down—we haven’t done anything yet."

  "Let him go! Let my child go immediately!"

  "Hehe, if you keep holding onto me, I can’t guarantee we won’t do something."

  Shiri’s expression froze. She slowly let go of his robe.

  "Hmph, that’s better."

  The hooded man straightened his clothes.

  "Now it seems we can talk properly."

  "......What do you want? I’m just an ordinary person!"

  Shiri stared at him with a gaze that seemed ready to tear him apart.

  "That’s right—you’re an ordinary person. If you weren’t, we wouldn’t have found it so easy to make a move."

  "You——!"

  "Hehe, just a joke~!"

  Shiri continued to stare at him intensely.

  Their actions were no joke.

  "Alright, what I want you to do is simple."

  The hooded man took out a bottle and handed it to Shiri.

  "Pour this into some of the ingredients the White Cat Clan will use. If everything goes smoothly, you’ll get to see your son."

  Ps:Thanks for Jack Black’s support! Adding an extra chapter for Jack Black today!!