"It was only the cost of four ice creams to begin with."
"If the staff member asks you to pay for lost work time or something later, that'll be a much bigger sum."
The crowd's sympathies quickly shifted from blaming the staff member for being rude to urging the children's older brother to hurry up and pay for the four ice creams.
They also felt that, although the staff member didn't seem to have a very good attitude... and his choice of words had been a little rude...
He wasn't actually a bad person.
At least he hadn't demanded an exorbitant amount.
He'd chased after them all this way and spent so much time, yet all he wanted was to get back the cost of the four ice creams the child had knocked down.
"Hey, why should Lord Xiao Xiao have to pay?"
The balloon beneath Du turned in a different direction.
It glared angrily at the crowd.
It wasn't a monster that lived deep in the mountains.
In fact, it had lived with Grandpa for quite a long time.
From Grandpa, it had learned a lot about humans.
Including...
That money was very important to humans.
Since it was so important...
Those two children clearly hadn't knocked over the four ice creams.
So why should Lord Xiao Xiao pay for them?
That wasn't fair.
"B-Big Brother..."
Unease and fear appeared on the little girl's face.
Children were often the most sensitive.
She could feel the gazes coming from every direction.
She saw so many uncles and aunties, big brothers and big sisters, opening and closing their mouths.
Her ears buzzed.
None of them were smiling at her.
They all looked so fierce.
The little girl curled up like a frightened little animal.
At a loss.
Her