Chapter 109 : Chapter 109
Chapter 109: Homecoming (2)
As Ibi had said, it was a space completely different from the other glamorous parts of Tiaria.
So much so that I wondered if it was the same city.
If the city center of Tiaria was filled with people, this place was filled with buildings.
With shabby, worn-out houses that looked like they could collapse at any moment.
And in the alleys that were barely there between the densely packed houses, which were suffocating just to look at, there were people.
They were in the narrow alleys, sitting leaning against the walls as if drunk on something, or lying on the ground altogether.
Among them were children.
Every time we passed through an alley, I could feel their glares.
“Hey, ladies!”
“Come here. I’ve got something good.”
Sometimes, there were even those who spoke to us directly.
“Don’t look.”
Ibi, who was striding along without even glancing at them, said firmly to us to do the same.
“They’re the kind of guys who will stick to you even more if you look.”
But even if she said that, it was true that it wasn't easy to look away.
Especially Miki and Lily, who were seeing this kind of scene for the first time, seemed to be quite shocked.
They, both because of their duty as a knight and a cleric, and because of their nature, kept looking at them and seemed restless.
“Put your pity away.”
Ibi, who had glanced at the two, said firmly again.
“It won't do anyone any good anyway.”
At that, although the two still looked as if they were concerned, they eventually followed Ibi quietly.
However, no matter how much they tried not to look, there was no way to stop what was coming to us on its own.
The smell, that is.
Every time a musty smell similar to when we were in the sewer wafted, I couldn't help but turn my head to find its source.
Even so, in the end, I would only realize that there was no particular source.
It was just, a smell that had seeped in.
For a very long time.
“I told you, it’s a garbage can.”
Ibi said with a sneer, as if she knew everything even if I tried not to say it.
“The noble bastards threw away everything they didn't want to keep near their grand houses, so what do you think it would smell like?”
For a moment, Miki's expression darkened.
“Ah, I wasn’t talking about you, kid. Really.”
Ibi, who had glanced at this, quickly added.
Her tone was not her usual sarcasm.
In fact, it should be said that the Irons family had almost no part in the formation of this slum.
The history of this slum was so long that it would not be an exaggeration to say that it had been with the history of Tiaria from the beginning.
And the Irons family was actually a family of outsiders who had come here recently, a generation ago.
Even before they came to Tiaria, this slum had always existed.
“…….”
But, despite that, Miki bowed his head even further.
As if he couldn't shake off the guilt no matter what.
He must be feeling some shock and shame at the fact that he, who had lived in the same Tiaria as one of the ‘noble bastards’, had no idea that the slum, which he had only known by name through stories, was actually like this.
“This is why diligent guys are no good.”
Ibi teased Miki, who was like that, as if to lighten the mood, but Miki still had a stern expression.
Because as Ibi had said, he was very diligent.
“Heidi too…”
Miki finally opened his mouth, but he trailed off, as if it were hard to continue.
“Before she started working at our mansion… she said she had lived here, with her younger siblings.”
“Yeah? That’s lucky.”
“…What?”
“I mean, those younger siblings. Usually, the young ones go to another place.”
You’ll see. Ibi, who added with a nod, quickened her pace.
The place Ibi guided us to had a visual that made it seem like she would never have come here on her own.
Because it was a place with a crest symbolizing the city's main god── Tia── clearly engraved on the roof and entrance, although it was not as large as the one we had seen at the checkpoint.
In other words, it was a place like a church.
But it was not a church.
When Ibi opened the door and entered, the place was filled with children, not clerics.
They all flinched in surprise when they saw Ibi.
It was a similar reaction to when they were wary of a stranger they were seeing for the first time.
“……!”
But, one woman who was surrounded by those children was different.
The middle-aged woman, dressed in a cleric's uniform, froze on the spot as soon as she saw Ibi.
“Yo.”
Ibi, who smiled at the woman's reaction, soon raised her hand slightly.
“Long time no see, grandma.”
At these words, the woman, as if she had snapped out of it, put down the basket in her hand on a nearby shelf and immediately strode towards Ibi, and then.
“I told you not to call me that!”
Instead of a greeting, she gave her a light knock on the head.
“What are you talking about, you’re probably past eighty.”
But Ibi, who had been hit, rubbed her head without any sign of being offended and teased her.
“C-Call me, Director!”
The director seemed a little flustered by the counterattack, but she must have had a side that was a bit unfair.
In fact, although the director was in her 80s, she looked to be in her mid-40s at most.
“And, I’ve told you so many times that the time of us half-breeds is different.”
“Even so, you’re a person who has lived for more than 80 years. It’s time to accept reality, grandma.”
“You little!”
This time, the director grabbed Ibi's right ear, and Ibi, who readily accepted the touch, gestured towards us.
“These are… well, guys I’m traveling with for some reason.”
As Ibi introduced us, the director let go of Ibi's ear as if nothing had happened and gave a polite greeting.
“My name is Laira, the director of this orphanage.”
At that, we also bowed our heads.
“You must have a lot of trouble because of our Ibi.”
“Yes, I really do.”
“Who’s the one having a hard time?”
When I answered with a light smile, Ibi immediately retorted as if in disbelief.
“A-Are you a sister she knows? Director?”
At that moment, a child who had been watching, approached and asked Laira.
At that, Laira smiled as if to reassure the child, stroking her head.
“Yes. She used to live here until a while ago.”
“This sister…?”
“Look at this. Calling something that happened more than ten years ago ‘a while ago’. Isn’t that a grandma thing?”
“Ibi…”
This time, perhaps because it was in front of a child, she didn't give her a ‘punishment’, but Ibi just laughed off the glaring look without a care.
“I was indebted to this grandma here until I found a job.”
As soon as the word job came out, Laira flinched.
And then she made a slightly sad expression, but in the end, she didn't mention that part.
“Does the fact that you’re with these people mean that you’ve also become an adventurer?”
Instead, she asked as if to change the subject.
“Something like that.”
“That’s… a relief.”
In this world, the ‘job’ of an adventurer was not a very stable one, even if there were guilds that guaranteed their rights.
Not only the problem of income, but the better the income, the higher the probability of losing one's life at any time.
But Laira was genuinely relieved to hear Ibi's answer.
Well, because she must have known what kind of job Ibi had had before, even if she didn't show it.
“Then are you an orphan too, sister?”
Suddenly, another child approached and asked.
It was a truly pure question unique to a child, without any malice or hostility.
Perhaps that's why, unlike Laira and the other companions who flinched as soon as they heard the question, Ibi just smiled as if she didn't care at all.
“Yeah. I’m an orphan.”
Then, as if she found the child cute, she gently pinched one of her cheeks and looked back at Laira.
“More than that, grandma. You’re still keeping my gift well, right?”
“Huh? A gift…?”
“Ah, you don’t have to pretend you don’t know. It’s okay for these guys to hear.”
Ibi seemed to think that Laira was being cautious because of us, but Laira really had an expression of hearing it for the first time.
“A gift…? There’s no way you’d do such a commendable thing…”
“……What? Don’t tell me, you didn’t get it?”
Laira nodded her head.
At that, Ibi's expression, which had been mixed with a smile at first, gradually hardened.
“That bastard Allen, didn't he come here?”
“You mean Allen?”
This time, Laira shook her head.
“Come to think of it, it’s been a while since I’ve seen Allen.”
“…When was the last time he came?”
“Around the same time as you, Ibi… no, Allen came to visit from time to time, so was it about 3 years ago…?”
Laira began to reminisce about that time as if she missed it, but Ibi, who had brought it up first, gritted her teeth.
“That son of a bitch…”
Then, before long, she got up and left.
“Wait, Ibi! Are you leaving already?”
Laira, who was flustered to see her leave without even a goodbye, tried to stop Ibi, but in the end, she made a slightly lonely expression, looking at the back of Ibi, who had left without listening.
“Don’t worry.”
I showed Laira a reassuring smile once more and gave a light bow.
Likewise, a few of the other companions also bowed their heads again, and we quickly followed Ibi out.
***
Ibi's ‘gift’ was the jewels she had stolen from Don Paulo's safe.
Ibi herself had said that since she couldn't carry all of them, she had temporarily ‘stored’ them at the orphanage we had just visited.
Of course, it was ‘Ibi-ese’, and it meant that she had just given them.
But at that time, she was being chased by the cartel's members, so she couldn't deliver them herself, and therefore, she had asked a guy named ‘Allen’, who had grown up in the orphanage with her, to deliver them instead.
But, it hadn't been delivered.
In other words.
“This son of a bitch. He took all of it for himself, didn't he?”
It was highly likely that Allen had ignored Ibi's request and had taken all of it for himself.
“It really is a f*cking town.”
Ibi, who had realized this, repeatedly let out a hollow laugh and shook her head.
“Even the guy I thought I could trust because we were from the same orphanage, just backstabs me like this whenever he gets a chance.”
It was a voice mixed with anger and a sense of futility.
“Are you going to look for him?”
“Of course, I have to. And, in the first place, whether I like it or not, I need that bastard to get into that damn old geezer's house.”
Ibi, who had clicked her tongue, then added.
“I have a rough idea of where that son of a bitch is.”
And Allen was, indeed, in the ‘place Ibi had a rough idea of’.
As evening came and it got dark, people began to gather in the ‘real garbage dump’ of the slum, a place where trash was literally gathered.
They gathered among the piles of trash, lit a fire with trash and branches, and smoked cigarettes.
Among them, was Allen.
“I-Ibi──”
“──I’m glad to see you too, you son of a bitch.”
Ibi, who had instantly subdued Allen, who was startled to see her and was trying to grab anything nearby, immediately put him on the ground and pressed his arm with her knee to immobilize him.
“H-How… why, why are you back……?”
“Why, you f*cking bastard.”
Then she quickly held a dagger to his neck.
“I was tired of running away, so I just came to kill him.”
“Th-What is that… don’t tell me, Don Paulo……?!”
“Correct.”