The middle-aged man remained calm and composed in the face of Ryuto and his companions' threatening coercion. He confidently retorted, "If you want to sue me, go ahead. I am neither abusing nor kidnapping anyone, so no matter where you take this, it won't make a difference."

Ryuto knew that the middle-aged man wasn't lying, so he wasn't surprised by his response. He continued to inquire insincerely, "Oh, then what exactly is it? I happen to know. If you don't tell me, I might spread your actions everywhere."

The middle-aged man sneered, "Young man, your threats are useless. Even if you spread it everywhere, it won't make a difference."

Ryuto could only helplessly shake his head. "No, you may not have understood my meaning."

"What?"

"What I will spread everywhere are not your recent actions, but rumors about you."

"Rumors?"

"That's right, because you can't satisfy my curiosity, I will have to make up some rumors about you. Just take a picture of you, post it online, and add a caption. Then you will instantly become famous. Well, you don't need to thank me, after all, I never leave my name when helping others."

Upon hearing this, the middle-aged man became angry. "Do you really think that people will believe the things you say online?"

"Well, sir, it seems like you don't know the terrifying nature of rumors. Rumors, even if they are false, still have an impact. And as long as there is a bit of truth mixed in, the credibility will skyrocket. If you don't believe me, do you want to try it out? Isn't there a saying that goes 'practice is the sole criterion for testing truth'? If you insist on trying it out, I won't mind."

Ryuto looked at the middle-aged man with an unfathomable smile.

...

After a long silence, the middle-aged man finally spoke. "Since... you want to know, I'll tell you."

He said in a somewhat resigned tone, "This girl is my property."

Although Ryuto had already anticipated the answer, he couldn't help but be surprised. "Property?"

Damn, what an outrageous answer.

"That's right, she is my property, so whatever I do to her is allowed and she cannot resist. If you want to know why, it's because she is a slave."

"A slave?"

"That's right, in our country, slaves have no rights. Therefore, what I did to her earlier was both reasonable and legal."

Oh... I never thought something that only exists in the 2D world would actually exist in reality.

Thinking about this, Ryuto revealed a satisfied smile.

"Well, in that case, I have another question."

"What?"

"Since you say that whatever you do to her is reasonable and legal, what if, and I say what if, one day you accidentally injure her, or even kill her? What would be the result?"

Upon Ryuto's inquiry, the middle-aged man smiled triumphantly. "Like I said earlier, since she is my property, I won't be guilty of any crime. Even if I were to kill her, it wouldn't matter, because she was bought by me."

Oh...

I've actually heard something interesting.

So Ryuto asked further.

"Then, according to what you said, if you were to kill my slave, what would you do? After all, I own everyone."

"Hmph, even if it's yours, it's almost the same. Even if you sue me, it would just be for 'property damage'. Since it's considered a property, I'll just compensate you for the money you spent on buying the slave. It's the same as with other items, isn't it? If you break someone else's thing, either you replace it with an identical one or compensate based on the original price. Got it? Don't meddle in other people's affairs, you outsider."

"......"

"Hmph, since there's nothing else, I'll leave first. After all, I'm in a hurry."

Seeing no reaction from Ryuto, the middle-aged man seemed to finally feel relieved and left with a smug expression on his face.