I Was Kidnapped By The Strongest Guild
Chapter 206: Don't Mock Me

Yeoreum and Saebyeok started chatting.

I couldn't understand much of what they were saying, so I left them to talk and wandered around nearby.

Despite the sunset, people were still setting up promotional booths.

Unlike our paper decorations, their quality was impressive.

They must've used mana stones, as tiny magical fireworks were popping constantly.

"Wow."

I'd heard this spot was the cheapest.

Is this the quality for the cheapest spot?

I glanced back at our booth involuntarily.

I wanted to think ours was the most impressive, but the realistic differences were apparent.

"Hmm..."

Is there anything else we could use to attract people's attention?

As I stood with my arms crossed, looking up at the "Cat-shaped fish-shaped bread" sign, I heard a groan.

"Ugh..."

The sound came from somewhere nearby.

I naturally looked towards its source.

Several people were gathered, moving heavy luggage.

"Whew, this is tough."

"Seriously, I wish we could borrow a cat's paw or something."

A cat's paw?

They mentioned cat paws right next to me, a feline.

Are they asking for help?

I looked down at my hands reflexively.

'Should I help them?'

Moving the luggage seemed quite difficult.

Since they were our neighboring booth, I decided to lend a hand.

"I'll help you."

I immediately ran towards the truck piled with luggage.

I hugged the package at the very front.

"...!"

Though small enough to fit in my arms, its weight was something else entirely.

I managed to lift it, but it was so heavy I couldn't move at all.

"W-whoa..."

My body wobbled back and forth due to the center of gravity.

People nearby started rushing over urgently.

"W-wait a second!"

"Oh no, that's heavy!"

Someone approached and took the luggage from me.

It was the man who'd said he wanted to borrow a cat's paw.

"I'll take that. Were you trying to help us move the luggage?"

"Y-yes..."

"I appreciate the thought, but we can manage on our own."

Manage?

Didn't he just say he wished he could borrow a cat's paw?

I looked up at him with confused eyes.

"But you asked for help earlier..."

"Did I say that?"

"Yes, about a cat's paw..."

"That..."

His gaze shifted to my ears on top of my head.

After placing the luggage down in the truck bed, he started scratching the back of his head.

"I didn't mean it like that..."

"You weren't talking to me?"

"No. It's just a saying from a neighboring country."

So there was such a saying in a neighboring country.

That was news to me.

But what did it mean?

Curious about its meaning, I stared blankly at his face.

"What does 'wanting to borrow a cat's paw' mean?"

"It just means we're so short-handed we'd even borrow a cat's paw if we could."

"I see. I didn't know there was such a saying."

That was an interesting expression.

As a feline beast-kin, I might be able to use it often.

"You ended up lifting something heavy because of me. I feel bad about that."

"It's fine. It was interesting."

"Still, um... This is something we're selling at our booth. Would you like to have it?"

He handed me a mana stone about the size of a pebble.

It seemed to contain some kind of magic.

"What is this?"

"It's a shooting mana stone. You see those fireworks over there?"

So it was a mana stone that shot something like fireworks.

It wasn't a bad idea to be friendly with neighboring booths.

I decided to accept it and give them some of our tea and fish-shaped bread later.

"Thank you. I'll bring you some of our stuff later."

"Sure, let's get along well during the event."

After exchanging brief greetings with him, I wandered around some more.

I looked at what other booths were doing.

With so much to see, it was quite a fun day.

---

---

The next day.

And the day after that.

A few more days passed, and the main competition began.

An astonishing number of people visited the arena as soon as the main event started.

Over a hundred people participated in the main competition, and our guild had fifteen qualifiers.

This was despite several from our guild not participating.

'Amazing.'

I bought tickets for the matches I wanted to watch, and when there were matches I wasn't interested in, I wandered around the nearby booths.

My job, along with the kids, was to target those spectators.

"Eat delicious fish-shaped bread. Levinas will praise you."

"Buy some fish-shaped bread."

We stood behind the fish-shaped bread machine, waiting for people to visit.

Unfortunately, not many people passed by our location.

It was because we were in such a secluded spot.

"Uuu..."

Levinas made a sad face looking at the cooled cat-shaped fish-shaped bread.

We couldn't reuse cooled food.

It meant we had to throw it all away.

"Our fish-shaped bread is so tasty..."

Saebyeok, who rarely expressed emotions, showed her disappointment.

We had prepared so hard, but there were no customers. It was bound to be disappointing.

Here, I had to take action myself, if only for the kids' sake.

I looked back at those inside as I stepped out of the booth.

"I'll go out and promote."

"You, Gyeoul?"

Yoo Sang-ah looked at me worriedly.

Levinas and Saebyeok had trusting looks.

"I'll bring lots of people."

"Hmm... Alright. But if you meet any scary people, you have to run back here, okay?"

"Yes."

After getting Yoo Sang-ah's permission, I moved to the busy area where many people were walking around.

I grabbed passersby while holding the [Delicious Cat fish-shaped bread] sign Levinas had made.

"Excuse me..."

"Hm...? Gyeoul, are you participating here too?"

"Yes. We have cat-shaped fish-shaped bread and dandelion tea over there. Would you like some?"

I pointed with my fingertip towards our booth, which wasn't visible from here.

The person showed a troubled expression.

"I heard buffs are expensive."

"They're super cheap during the festival. Not even a quarter of a quarter of the usual price."

"Huh? Really?"

"Yes. We prepared it so everyone could try it."

"...Well, it wouldn't be bad to try then. The shop was that way, right?"

He started moving towards our booth.

A few others who had been listening to our conversation also began walking.

'How many went?'

I hoped it was a lot.

I couldn't help feeling excited for my first promotion.

Just as I was about to return to our booth to check on the customers, I spotted someone holding a smartphone.

Many people were glancing at him.

Curious, I lingered nearby.

"Guys! There aren't many people on this side! Is it because the location is bad?!"

He spoke towards his smartphone.

Ah, he was a streamer.

He had thousands of viewers.

The chat was scrolling by quickly, but I could read it all with my unique dynamic vision.

[This spot is f*cking terrible lol]

[Probably a spot for small guilds with no money?]

[For real? There's hardly anyone coming here, why even set up shop?]

[Better than nothing. Even just exchanging greetings with other participating guilds is a gain.]

The chat mostly discussed the desolate marketplace.

Occasionally, mocking comments popped up.

"Right? It's really deserted here."

He spun around once with his smartphone camera.

In that brief moment, our shop appeared on camera.

Though it looked small due to the distance, it caught people's attention.

[?? Did you see that?? The shop with the paper sign.]

Our booth was exposed on the stream.

I wondered if it served as promotion.

I watched the screen with anticipation, but the chat was full of mockery.

[Paper lol These f*ckers don't seem to care about business huh? lol]

[Even the spelling is all wrong lol]

[Like "We can't be bothered, let's half-ass it~~"]

[Wait, isn't the rent pretty high even for a corner spot? Why are they half-assing it like that? lol]

The booth we worked hard to make with the kids was being ridiculed by strangers.

I hoped the streamer would stop them, but he only agreed with the chat.

"Guys! I wonder what that booth is selling?! They've got paper cut-outs pasted on the shop?!"

He turned his smartphone camera towards our booth like a reporter who'd found a scoop.

Being far away, only the sign was clearly visible.

[Delicious Cat fish-shaped bread lol]

[Looks like they even pasted paper hearts lol]

[But the hearts are huge lol]

[Aw lol They tried their best~ lol]

Was the booth we worked so hard on with the kids just a joke to these people?

If it were just me, I might have endured it, but I didn't want to just watch the kids' efforts being mocked.

"Um, excuse me..."

Tap tap.

I tapped the streamer's waist.

His shoulders were too high for me to reach.

"Yes?"

"Please don't do that..."

"Huh...?"

"We worked really hard on it..."

Even though I hadn't done anything wrong, I felt scared for some reason.

I fidgeted with my fingers, head bowed low.

'Will he get angry?'

The viewers' chat was vicious.

Would the streamer be vicious too?

I cautiously took a step back while watching his reaction.

"I-I'm sorry..."

Before he could say anything, I quickly apologized and ran towards our booth.

His face had turned cold from the brief glimpse I caught.

Was he angry?

Even though I didn't do anything wrong.

My heart felt uneasy on what should have been a joyful first day of the festival.

"Gyeoul, did something happen?"

When I returned to the booth, Yoo Sang-ah hurriedly came to my side.

She put her hand on my forehead, probably noticing something off about my expression.

"N-no. Nothing happened."

"That doesn't look like nothing's wrong?"

"I-I was just a little surprised..."

"Is that so?"

Yoo Sang-ah's gaze shifted behind me.

There, the streamer was running towards our booth with his camera.

"W-wait a moment!"

He looked somewhat frantic.

---

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