The Darkness Was Comfortable for Me

TLN: 2 chapters today! Make sure you didn’t miss the previous one!

—-

“What’s the meaning of this? Explain it in a way that I can understand.”

He asked with sharp eyes.

Karen grabbed my sleeve.

It is not the kind of pressure you bring out with innocent middle schoolers, but well, that must be how he is.

I explained the situation.

Grandfather should obviously know about the isekai transfers. But it seems like the people at his age don’t have much interest in a world of swords and magic, he doesn’t seem to be that excited about it like the people of our generation.

People who have no interest in it are thoroughly uninterested about it, and they are mainly interested in the changes the arrival of God has caused to the world.

“There were no signs of struggle at the crime scene, and I think our brother was stabbed without his notice too. Him being chosen to be transferred was truly a coincidence, and if not, I think he would have died just like that.” (Celica)

These are just my speculations from the situation.

But if his grandchild had been stabbed, it wouldn’t be an unrelated matter to him.

The chances of him helping out get higher.

After I explained the situation for a while, grandfather placed a hand on his chin and made a gesture as if he were thinking, and then…

“…In other words, you need me to get his head? Is that your request, Celica?”

“No, that’s not it. I want you to capture him and keep custody of him for a while -faster than the police.” (Celica)

I say this while zooming at the man in the security camera footage.

If he were to be killed, there would be no point.

“In custody?”

“Yeah. If we do that, the culprit will stay unknown, and Onii-chan would most likely be considered the culprit, so I was thinking about having it burn just like that.” (Celica)

“Burn, you say, Celica… You…just what kind of picture are you painting here?”

Can’t really call it painting.

If I don’t do anything here, there’s no doubt Brother will die.

In order to reduce the chances of that happening, we have to increase the viewership and get points.

And the most efficient and fastest way to achieve that is to make Brother famous.

In the current state of things, Brother is simply a ‘mysterious Chosen’.

That sudden mysterious Chosen grabbing the attention of the limited resource of people within the 1,000 Chosen isn’t easy.

There’s most likely no method to gain points and crystals unless you get attention. If he doesn’t get attention, Brother will be dying in that forest unable to escape from it.

…But…

If there were a story like ‘the culprit killed his childhood friend because of his desire to go to an isekai, and has now run away to an isekai where no one can put a hand on him’, and if we were to go around starting the fire in the net around the whole world with me and Karen…

—And if that were to gather the attention of the world…

“See, the viewership is showing here, right? The higher this is, the more benefits you can get from God. The boots that Onii-chan got are also something he got with points.” (Celica)

“What connection does that have with having Hikaru be treated as the culprit?”

“If the story turns into Onii-chan being the culprit, the people of the whole world will hate him, right? Unable to be judged, he would be a killer that killed his childhood friend and ran away to an isekai. Hating him, despising him, wishing for him to die quickly… That’s why they would be more interested in his state, more than any other Chosen, and everyone will be watching. It would even be news on the TV. The truth is that Onii-chan was caught up in this and is no killer, so this is horrible, but…we need to go this far to get viewers, or he won’t be able to get out of that forest. That’s why…the true culprit is a nuisance.” (Celica)

“Celica…you…”

Grandfather doesn’t know me well, so my proposal…no, he was looking at me with eyes as if looking at a strange creature, seeing that I am saying this straight out without changing my expression.

At the time when Brother brought me here, I was acting the innocent little sister, and I have made a lot of requests before, but I always did so with Brother as the intermediary.

Now that Brother has gone to an isekai, me…and Karen too have no need to be reserved for anything. Also, if we don’t do this seriously, I am sure this could turn into an irreversible situation.

I will definitely get Brother back.

In order to do that, we first need him to get out of that forest.

“……If we do that, will Hikaru be saved? Any means to get back here?”

“I can’t say for sure he will be saved. I don’t think it will be easy to get out of a dangerous zone stretching for 370km. Right now there’s no means to return from that world, Grandfather.” (Celica)

“I see… Why did Hikaru get chosen…”

“I don’t know either… We are also surprised. But…now that it has turned out this way, this is our reality.” (Celica)

God swore that it was random, but it must have been a lie.

I don’t think they have investigated the details of all 1,000 Chosen, but there have been common points found to a certain degree. Well, those are also just on the level of rumors though.

“Of course I am not thinking of doing this for free just because we are relatives. I have an account with our money in it, so you can take out as much as needed.” (Celica)

“What will you do if I refuse?”

“I would have no choice but to hire an assassin on the net. I actually want to clean the honor of Brother as well, so I don’t want to kill him though. But I don’t have connections with an establishment to confine people… If it seems like I can’t get help anywhere…at worst, I will have to do it myself.” (Celica)

Maybe because I used the word ‘kill’ in a light manner, or maybe because I said I would do it myself, my seasoned grandfather’s face showed slight surprise.

I don’t have connections to assassins either.

However, for someone like me who can understand a variety of languages, it is also easy to find places where I can make those kinds of requests.

If it is just requesting for a kidnapping anonymously, it shouldn’t be that difficult.

However, in that scenario, it would be more difficult to make it…faster than the police, and honestly, it would be pretty rough.

In that case, there really might be the need for me to do it myself… it could even serve to clear my grudge, making it two birds with one stone. Even if I were to go inside the walls, I should be able to get out after a while, and there’s no substitute for the life of Brother.

I am pretty uneasy about leaving things here to Karen, but…it should be okay. Probably.

I was thinking that, but I showed no signs of it and was looking straight at Grandfather.

“…A middle schooler shouldn’t be saying something like killing in such a light manner. What kind of education are they giving you.”

“Fufu, there’s no way father and mother would be able to do something like educate, right? Karen and I were raised by Onii-chan, you know.” (Celica)

“Then, it was the education of Hikaru?”

“…That’s wrong too, but…it is like we were originally like this. Maybe it is the blood!” (Celica)

“Blood, huh. It can’t be helped then…”

Because of our bitch mother, we have done an analysis of our DNA, but Karen and I are unfortunately the children of father and mother. Brother is without doubt the child of father too.

I was hoping for the fantasy of us siblings not being related by blood at all though.

“Also…I wouldn’t normally say such dangerous things. My plan has been almost completely destroyed because of this, you see. I’ll have you know I am super pissed about this despite appearances.” (Celica)

“…I don’t mind accepting this, but…how much money do you have? We may be family, but I can’t just go lightheartedly jumping into such a dangerous mountain of trouble.”

He lights up a cigarette as he says this.

This might be an excuse to refuse us. He probably doesn’t even think we have the money to pay for something like this as middle schoolers.

But I myself didn’t come here to ask on a joke.

I plan on paying the amount fitting the risk.

Also, gangs these days have trouble with getting funding. Grandfather’s…company, isn’t excluded in this, and their financial situation isn’t good. This is most likely risky for Grandfather as well.

“Here. You can use everything if you want. It wouldn’t take me long to earn that much anyways.” (Celica)

I took out a bankbook and stamp from my bag, and left it in front of Grandfather.

This bankbook is one that my parents don’t know of.

It is just the share from a part of the virtual currency that I sold, but it should be plenty enough.

Having it be known that I can earn money is in a way a risk, but different from my parents who only know how to use money without having any power at all, our connection with Grandfather has worth that can’t be bought with money, so there’s no problem… At the very least, for me and Karen.

Grandfather flipped the bankbook that I gave him, and when he confirmed the latest deposit number, his eyes opened wide.

“Hm…? Huh…? Is this real…?”

“There’s no way I would bring a fake bankbook here.” (Celica)

“But you…this has more than 200 million, you know?”

“I am asking for a criminal act here, so this much is a given.” (Celica)

“…How did you get this money?”

“The virtual currency I bought when I was young exploded, you see. This is the one I cashed out recently. It is not dangerous money. We have been retaining it because of issues with tax, but with the isekai matter, Karen and I won’t be able to escape from money because of the increase in earnings, so I readied it since it would be handy to have actual cash on the ready. I didn’t know it would be of use so soon though.” (Celica)

At that time, I used the money we earned from programming and translation to buy 400 thousand worth of virtual currency.

It has been 5 years since then, and it has gone up around 500 times more. I used the chance of the sudden price jump of the virtual currency because of the appearance of God, and sold them. That was most likely not its peak, but it was technically easy money in the first place.

“Celica…just what in the world are you? …No, I heard you were a genius, so I thought I knew it all already, but 200 million is an amount of money that a whole ton of people wouldn’t be able to earn even if they were to work their whole lives, you know? And yet, a middle school child is…”

“I know, but that money was from us being lucky, and also a bit of smarts about the timing. It didn’t have much to do with brains.” (Celica)

“But…”

Grandfather most likely actually wants to refuse.

A middle school girl is asking to kidnap and confine a high schooler -even if he is a criminal. Even if it is for a relative and he is a person from a somewhat criminal organization, it is not like he can just go yes here.

If this were about a matter of the culprit that killed Brother, it would have been a different story, but Brother is alive and in an isekai. Nanami-neesan is important for us, but for Grandfather, she is nothing but a stranger.

“You are the only one we can ask this of, Grandfather! In reality, even while we are taking our time here, Onii-chan might die; the culprit might surrender himself; before any of that can happen, we have to act or things could get into an irreversible state. Please…I beg of you…!” (Celica)

I get off the sofa and lower my head to the floor. Karen hurriedly does the same.

Grandfather accepting here is pivotal. We first have to capture the culprit or it will be impossible for us to set the fire on our side.

‘The culprit has been arrested, but maybe it is actually Hikaru?’, is possible to do, but that would just be a conspiracy theory.

It would be hard to see an effect in the whole world with this.

“So…you are serious then.”

“Yes. This is to save Onii-chan after all.” (Celica)

Grandfather looks at me with a sharp gaze, and I look back straight at him without averting my gaze.

I can’t stumble in a place like this.

“…Fuh, got it. Can’t refuse the request of my grandchild. Also, this guy has killed 3 people already, so he is most definitely getting the death penalty. He is simply going to get inside the walls a bit faster.”

“Thanks, Grandfather.” (Celica)

“T-Thank you very much.” (Karen)

Karen, who was silent all the time, had finally spoken and lowered her head. Grandfather smiled at this.

What’s left is a match against time. It is still 11 o’clock.

We will gather the heads and move to the house of the culprit. Call him through LINE or by cellphone, and kidnap him. And then, all that would be left is to present him with his confinement room.

If the police show up at that time, we won’t be able to do anything, but that’s the gamble here.