A drop of sweat flowed down Carole's temple. "What kind of job are we talking about here?"
"Maid," I replied, before Looking at Tizmilly, who was staring at us from the side. "Work as a maid in our restaurant. Right, Tizmilly?"
Tizmilly flinched before she nodded. "Y-yes."
Tizmilly clutched her upper arm before approaching us hesitantly. What was the matter? I stared at her, feeling like something was strange with the way she looked at me and Carole.
Anyway, let's continue.
I shifted my attention back to the girl I pushed to the wall.
I smiled. "Then? How's that? If you want it, I can even become your guarantor and helps you convince your victims that you will repay what you have stolen from them slowly, to avoid a scenario where they escalated the matter with reporting it to the guards."
Carole opened her lips, her eyes looked at Tizmilly and me like she was looking a glimmer of hope in the dark, but then she closed her lips again, frowned, and sighed.
'Hm? That's not the reaction I expected...'
While I was confused, for the situation suddenly changed from very optimistic to uncertain, Carole looked up at me, her eyes had dimmed down considerably when compared to previously.
"I refuse. Just hand me over to the guards," Carole muttered, before she threw her face away.
I narrowed my eyes at her, scanning her appearance.
Untidy hair, dishelved clothes, dirty boots...
I moved to Tizmilly's side. Tizmilly flinched as I grabbed her shoulder, made me wondering why our Miss Villainess had become so sensitive lately, before I positioned my mouth beside her ear.
"What do you think about this girl, Tizmilly?" I whispered to her.
With a vague blush on her cheeks, she whispered back: "I am not really sure. But she looks like she was troubled with something."
'Troubled, huh?'
I looked back at Carole while rubbing my chin.
She also looked at us, but from the way she fidgeting with her skirt, and the way she kept moving her feet, it was clear that she was feeling uneasy or unrest about something.
It was at that moment that we suddenly heard footsteps approaching us. There were a lot of them, maybe about ten to twenty people.
Carole's face turned as pale as a corpse. She looked around frantically. "T-they were here!" She stuttered.
While Tizmilly and I looked at her confusedly.
"Run, quickly!" Carole yelled at us panickedly before she ran into the deeper part of the alley.
'What happened?'
We still didn't understand the situation, but since the footsteps were getting closer by the second, we decided to follow Carole for now.
However, as we were following Carole, Carole suddenly halted her steps, then she collapsed to the ground. Before us, a group of men with rough looks blocked the path. Then, from our rear, more came. They blocked both our front and rear, leaving no way to escape.
"Who are those people?" Tizmilly's face turned back to her usual sharp expression as she muttered that question.
I shook my head in response. "I don't know much."
"Maybe she know something about them," I said, gesturing toward Carole.
More and more people who looked like a typical ruffians showed up as they blocked our paths. Then, after their number has reached about 40, a small man, who didn't even reached the height of Tizmilly's chest, with his crooked smile and pursed mouth like a rat, approached us.
With Tizmilly and me here, the man didn't dare to get too close, but he still approached Carole and stopped about 10 meters away from her.
"Long time no see, Carole," said the short man, his smile widened. "Finally tired of running around?"
Carole could only lower her head even further. She didn't even have the gut to utter anything.
Tizmilly looked at that scene and frowned. For some reason, she glanced at me first, before looking at Carole, before looking at me again, before she finally made her mind. She stepped forward and stood between Carole and the short man, her crimson eyes glared the man like an eagle. Even if she had lose her status, she was still Tizmilly, the Villainess of this world. Being faced with her fierce glare, the short man, who seemingly was those people's leader or Boss, suddenly felt like he had just swallowed a block of ice.
"Who are you all? What kind of relationship do you have with Miss Carole here?" She barked.
I could even still feel her aura from behind her. If it was somewhere else, I would've give her a clap of appreciation or two, but not here. From the trend of our group, we would highly likely fighting them. Hmm, what do I do? Should I use my Levitation?
The option to abandon Carole was not even an option for me. Not after Tizmilly took an action, and I already see her compatibility with our restaurant.
He was sweating when facing Tizmilly, clearly sensed danger from her, but he responded with a grin, showed the world his dirty, yellow teeth.
"Are you two Carole's friend?" The short man faked his calmness. "You two better leave her. Don't worry, we wouldn't do any harm. We just wanted to collect her debt. Timmy would also like to meet his big sister again, right, Carole?"
Despite what he said, from the way those people looking at us—judging from their chuckle, and the weapons in their hands—they clearly didn't as harmless as the short man claimed.
Carole's face turned even paler after she heard the name the man just mentioned. She immediately pushed herself up, her expression told desperation.
"Please, don't do anything to Timmy! He didn't have anything to do with this matter!"
But the short dismissed her plea without showing much reaction.
"What are you talking about? Aren't him your little brother? He is your family... Isn't he? So it was perfectly normal that we also had him working to pay what your father owed us, right?" The short man laughed, which followed by the other's chuckle.
"No, b-because of me... Timmy was..."
As Carole broke down, Tizmilly's frown went even deeper.
"You! What have you done to Carole's little brother? This is Dungeon City! Do you think the guards will not do anything if I reported this to them?"
In response, they only laughed even louder, which confusing and agitating Tizmilly even more. If the Villainess we had here was the Villainess in the game, they would have already dead by now. Fortunately for them, our Villainess was the good kind-type of Villainess, so they wouldn't lose their like so suddenly.
"The guards?"
"Bwahah! Do they even dare to touch us?"
"They would've piss their pants after received a dismissal letter the moment they trying to attack us!"
Tizmilly gritted her teeth in frustation. Why didn't they listen to her? Her expression told everything. However, if what they said was all true, then we couldn't just fight them here, rescue Carole's little brother from where ever those people coming from, and call it a day. They might've a way to sue us later, and that would be too bad and troublesome.
From the look of it, Carole and her little brother were children of someone who was indebted to those people. I didn't know what happened to their father after that which resulted in they became the ones who were forced to repay it in his place, but I at least know that Carole and her little brother were innocent. Under The Dungeon City's laws, it would normally be considered as illegal practic and minor exploitation, and we could forced those people into a trial.
Normally. And their situation were clearly not normal.
'Should we really abandon Carole?'
As I began considering that option, Tizmilly looked at me.
"Mister Roost!"
'I want to save her!' her expression begged me.
I scratched my cheek.
And sighed.
'As expected of our Miss Villainess. She really is so soft-hearted.'