Chapter 52 – Wizard Versus Spud Scammer
We came to the front of the store where Cruz was scammed.
It was in a back alley of the eighth sector.
「Here it is.」
「This is the place that scammed you?」
「Yes. We have to roast this guy alive so that he doesn’t do this to other farmers.」
Cruz was starting to huff through her nose in anger.
No matter how you looked at the place, it wasn’t one where any agricultural stuff was sold…in fact, it didn’t look like a store.
It was just a house. I don’t think any farmer would be fooled by a place like this.
However, there’s no doubt that whoever lives here makes their money off of fooling others.
Even if by chance this time it was just with fake potatoes.
「Cruz, go on in and ask for your money back first.」
「Sure.」
「Wait a second. Cruz can’t do that ALONE!」
「Maybe not, but she can handle herself if something bad happens.」
If she was just fooled on a whim, she might be able to get her money back.
But if the fellow was trying to fool her from the beginning, there was no way he was going to return it.
「If he gives it back, we’ll just report him and tell him off. If he doesn’t, we’ll send him to jail.」
「Hmph. I see.」
「Hm? So I guess either way we’re going to make him give it back.」
Vi-Vi seemed to understand, but Cruz still looked a little lost.
「Yeah, go get him Cruz.」
「Sure.」
Cruz knocked politely at the door. She went to open the door, but it wouldn’t.
It seemed the door was locked.
「Excuse me. Excuuuuuse me.」
Cruz called out again and again with no response.
「Huh? That’s weird.」
Cruz pulled the doorknob strongly.
–CRACK
「Ah, it opened.」
She looked at me, smiling.
It didn’t just open. It was opened. No, it was forced open…and broken.
「Helloooo.」
「Eeek!」「She came in!」「Stop that! Don’t come in here!」
As soon as Cruz went in, I heard people inside screaming.
Seems that there were people inside. Quite a few men, actually.
As far as I could hear, they had locked the door after seeing a wolf, cow, and a couple of weirdos dressed in some masks.
However, since they saw that the kid they fooled showed up with them, they were a little relieved.
「What? Do you want more of those potatoes to plant.」
「I heard this isn’t potato but burdock.」
「…」
The guys were suddenly silent.
「Gah hah hah hah!」
「There’s no way that’s burdock! Burdock is a long and thin vegetable.」
「Someone fooled you.」
These guys were still trying to fool Cruz.
They knew that Cruz was an easy one to fool.
「Whatever! You can’t fool me any more!」
「Hey, if you say that, then how can you prove this AIN’T potatoes, huh?!」
「Proof?」
「We’re the specialists and WE’RE sayin’ that they’re POTATOES! What basis do you have for callin’ it BURDOCK!?」
「Um, well Al here said it was burdock.」
「So, who’s this Al guy? Some doctor? Huh? Some specialist on potatoes and burdock!?」
「…not really.」
Cruz said, and the men laughed at her.
「If that’s so, then trust us and plant it. See what happens! It’ll grow quickly!」
「No, Al said that it’s burdock! Give me my money back!」
「Are you asshats trying to pick a fight?!」
「No, not really…」
「Then get the hell outta here before we hafta stop bein’ nice!」
Seems like they weren’t going to give us out money back.
「Vi-Vi, let’s go.」
「Sure.」
We muscled our way through the door.
Even though Cruz sounded tough, she was about to cry.
She was holding the bag of burdock with tears welling up in her eyes.
「Don’t come in here!」「Are you guys with her?!」
There were three men.
When we walked in, the three guys looked totally shocked.
It seemed that they thought we were completely separate from Cruz. Now they were scared out of their minds.
「It would be okay if you actually sold some crappy potatoes, low lifes, but I can’t let you sell off some rotten, cut up burdock!」
「So YOU’RE goin’ to try to punish US?!」
「Shut up! You’ve got some nerve comin’ into OUR HOUSE!」
「No pets allowed! Get out!」
There was no way to ignore that we had barged in with pets.
But we ignored them. The only thing important now was that Cruz got the money she was fooled out of back.
「Hey, just shut up and return the money.」
「Who’s gonna do that?」「Show us the proof that we sold you burdock!」
It was quite hard to prove that it was burdock.
If someone told me to prove that it’s burdock, the only thing I could do is just show it to them.
「You can figure it out by looking at it!」
「And we’re sayin’ we’re not givin’ you money until you can prove it’s burdock!」
For a bunch of scared guys, they had a lot of nerve. They were sticking to their stupid argument.
They had a real attachment to their money.
It would be easy to beat the hell out of them and take the money, but I wanted to save that for last.
As I was thinking about what to do, Vi-Vi shouted,
「SHUT UP! GET THEM, MOOFY!」
「Mooomoooo!」
Moofy bit onto on of them and started swinging them around.
「S, stop it!」
「Eeek!」
「Get that cow away from us!」
The men were freaking out.
「Ruff!」
「Moomooo!」
Maybe touched off by Moofy, Femm also started running around and biting the men!
「Damn you!」
Then Cruz started beating one guy over the head.
No way to stop it…well…I let it go a little longer, and then stopped it.
「Okay, everyone STOP!」
「Moo」「Ruff」「Sure.」
The guys were practically spinning from all the attacks.
I waited until everyone was calm again.
「So, do we get our money back?」
「No way!」
「Moofy, Femm, Cruz, give them what they deserve.」
「Moomoo」「Ruff Ruff」「Damn you!」
All three of them jumped on the men again.
Seeing them get beaten like this was starting to become fun. It was getting faster and faster.
After a while I stopped them again.
「That’s enough.」
「Moo」「Ruff」「Sure.」
The guys were spinning so badly that they started throwing up.
After they were finished, I silently faced them.
「So, are you paying up?」
「Sure! We got the message.」
「If you got it then pay up now!」
They stumbled around and gathered up the money.
Then I faced them again.
「Don’t think this is the end of it either, okay?」
「What?」
「Fraud is a crime. You will be punished.」
「We gave you your money…」
「Giving it back doesn’t make you innocent.」
I put them each in a magic net.
I then had Cruz, Moofy, and Femm carry one each.
「Where should we take them?」
「To the capital barracks.」
「Okay.」
There were a lot of guards in the capital. Their main purpose was to stop crime.
Quite the opposite of my eventless post in the village of Mulg.
I warned Cruz, just in case.
「We’re your helpers, okay?」
「You’re not my helpers!」
「Just say that we are. Because I need to be in this city secretly.」
「Oh, yeaaaaah, that’s right.」
Cruz finally understood. I was glad I warned her.
If we were just her helpers, then no one would ask any questions.
Because she alone was a baron for her adventures.
After getting to the barracks, several soldiers came out.
They were obviously cautious after seeing a wolf and cow holding a magic bag with a guy each in their mouths.
But when they noticed that we were with Cruz, they calmed down.
「Baron Conradine. Is something wrong?」
「I found these fraudsters, my friends here helped carry them here.」
The soldiers took the criminals over without asking one questions about the two beasts and two others with beast-like masks.
Cruz really had some reputation.
While I was filling out her documents, Cruz explained how she came across these grifters.
Since she explained that they had given back the money, I guessed their sentences would be light.
「Cruz…the hero Cruz…」
One of the fraudsters said to himself. I seemed he didn’t realize who she was.
Even though she was really famous, no one in the sector eight slum knew about her.
「Let’s get some real potatoes now.」
Leaving the rest to the soldiers, we went off to buy the real potatoes.
Of course, this time we went to the place Luka told us about.