Chapter 208: Randle Kidnaps Misa

Chapter 208:
Randle Kidnaps Misa

 

WE HAD ARRIVED HOME from the party. That chef’s abrupt appearance had ruined whole everything.

It was truly getting on my nerves.

I couldn’t believe it. My father just backed down! That wasn’t like him. Normally, he’d buckle down and corner whomever he was up against. Why would he flee with his tail between his legs over some chef? He could have simply done what he always had: watch them disobey before making them bend to his will. Wasn’t that our way? Bribery, intimidation, violence—there were always so many options.

We already had all those children in the basement—the ones he’d already kidnapped, that is. Father had kidnapped them to prevent their parents from going to the birthday party of that old sourpuss, Misana’s grandfather. They hadn’t listened to my father’s threats, so he took their children to keep them from attending the party.

Well, you can’t argue with results. I called for Brad and instructed him to kidnap Misana.

“Are those your father’s orders?”

“This is my order. You’d do well to listen,” I told him.

“Sure, as long as you’re paying.”

“Yes, yes,” I said. “I’ll pay you. Just keep it inconspicuous. I don’t want to deal with the fallout if they realize I was behind the kidnapping.”

Immediately afterward, Brad made the arrangements to snatch Misana. According to his report, she’d been helping some adventurers with mole extermination outside of town, but the adventurers accompanying her made it far too risky to make our move. But…mole extermination? How perfectly blithe of her. Well, we’d give her something to worry about soon enough...

I had instructed Brad to kidnap her whenever the chance presented itself, but he failed to do so, even after several days. Was he really such an incompetent person, or just incredibly unlucky?

As for my father, he had yet to do anything even after suffering such disgrace. I saw him speaking with a merchant on occasion, and the parents of the children he had kidnapped would drop by, but it seemed that he wanted to keep them until the chef returned home.

Finally, at last, I got the report that Brad had kidnapped Misana. When I went to receive him, I found that he’d come with Misana, blindfolded and gagged. This was it…this would spell the end of the Fahrengram family!

I had Misana taken to a room next door so she wouldn’t be able to hear my voice.

“No one noticed that you were the one who grabbed her, correct?” I asked him.

“I wore a mask and got her blindfolded and gagged right away, so that shouldn’t be an issue.”

“Yes…Yes, that should suffice.”

I pondered my next move until my father arrived, looking rather upset.

“Randle!” he blustered. “You sniveling whelp! Did you truly kidnap Misana?!”

“Of course I did! I simply followed your example, Father. We can use her to threaten the old man now. We can make him step down from his fiefdom!”

“You buffoon! It’s not that simple. Nobles aren’t the same as merchants. A noble would abandon a little girl to keep their status. If it were me, I would...”

I didn’t catch the last part but got the gist.

I would abandon you—that was what he meant. Well, I wouldn’t blink an eye abandoning him either. But I doubted pushovers like the Fahrengrams would abandon one of their own, as we would. If they abandoned anything, it might well be their feudal claim in exchange for their little girl.

My father scowled at me and opened his mouth to say something else…

And then, suddenly, there was a dreadful noise at the front door.