Chapter 244 – Thieves

000

“Kuh… Ha… Whoa…”

Alvein, who was finally able to return to Lord Setos’s mansion, wiped the sweat from his forehead in a breathless state.

And when he enters the house, Belili greets him at the front door as if he had been waiting for him.

Albain glared at her with her ferocious expression her, then thumped, raising her voice as she stamped her foot her.

“What happened!”

“Even if you say that, I’m not sure what you’re talking about. Master Alvein.”

“This body…! It’s not just the appearance that has changed, but the strength has also weakened…And the mana… Seems to have weakened!”

The reason why she couldn’t shake off Iona’s hand and didn’t even notice Io and Sasha’s attack in advance must be that she thought it was because she was weak.

From Belili-Ishtal’s point of view, the difference between a human youth and a little girl by her standards of being half human and half demon was not that big.

“That’s right. It’s a drug that transforms the body itself. It’s not like putting illusions on it, it’s that it changes your body itself, which belongs to the physical world.”

“Kuh… Say that kind of thing first…! Hurry up and make the next medicine. Next time, I’ll have to transform into a stronger figure!”

Hearing Albein’s story, Belle Lily crossed her arms and tilted her head as she replied.

“Oops… That’s an impossible story. This drug fixes the transformation body in the way it looked when you first took it. Didn’t I tell you?”

“What…?”

The answer that came back was something Albain hadn’t expected at all.

It was said that she had no choice but to take the form of a girl this time, but she was eager to transform into a figure strong enough to break the cheeky Sasha’s wrists in an instant.

Her answer was to completely destroy Alvein’s plan.

“Now, wait. Then… Any other medicines? Are there any other medicines that can transform?”

As Albein’s face turned pale, Belle Lily covered her mouth and pretended to smile.

As if she was laughing at herself, Albein got angry at once and approached her and grabbed her arm her, but-

Knock! Rather, his wrist her caught in reverse.

“Ugh…! Wait, ah, fah…!”

It was surprising that he couldn’t hear a groan. The strong grip was on Alvein’s weak wrist his.

Recalling the time when she was captured by Iona earlier, Alvein begins to feel the horror of the fact that she is not an ordinary human being in front of her at the same time as her dislike of her.

However, Belle Lily, as if pleased to see such a weak girl struggling, licked her tongue, licked her own lips, and looked at her Alban her while talking.

“Being so weak… But, don’t worry. There are infinite ways to become stronger as Master Alvein wants. That’s it… If you sign a contract with me.”

“Contract?”

Alban tries her best to shake off her arm, but until she hears her answer from Albain, she just looks with her twinkling eyes as if she has no intention of letting go of it. Looking at him

The next moment, she lightly snaps the fingers of her other hand.

Then – as if dancing in the sky. Something like parchment appeared from the flames and thrust it in front of Alvein.

A net made of magical power, blue flames, a goat’s head pattern engraved, a line of black letters that could not be known whether it was blood or ink.

Some of the senses as a hero that Alvein had in the past continued to send warnings to see if they had revived, even a little, while seeing what was called this contract.

“This, this is-“

“Oath. It’s called Gears. Alvein-sama has heard of it too, right?`

Hearing her say her, what comes to mind is that when she was in Elesia, she was the guild master she had been blackmailing.

The Wind of Happiness Luti.

Because of her oaths she has made her, she cannot preemptively attack humans, and she is forced to protect her former Imperial staff her under her command her, Albane herself.

And the magician in the red uniform who was cooperating with Alvein and brought that information.

When she made a pact, she knew very well what a huge chain it would return to her, because Alban herself had experienced the position of an assailant.

“I-I hate it…! There’s no way I can make a contract that’s no different from a slave contract…!”

“Whoops. You’re talking harshly about slavery contracts. Fair, fair, and… So that you can get the outcome you want. You want to make sure that the deal is looking into the future?”

No matter how you look at it, the characters written on it were not the common language of the continent.

“Is that the ending I… Want?”

“Yes. What you want after all… Is to get rid of Cleon and get back the women he stole, right?”

Belle Lily said that and slowly released her power her from her hand her holding her wrist her, and Albain stepped back and walked away from her.

However, what she said was definitely what Albain wanted.

“To achieve that, you’ll need strength. Not to mention the women that surround Cleon… The strength to beat even Cleon. Lord Setos seemed to have his own plan his… But you’re just his chess piece his . Is.”

Alvein is the concentration of magical power that gradually grows thicker around her.

And she – she recalled her story of ‘dark magic’, which she had been talking about when Iona caught herself.

So, she couldn’t hold back her curiosity and had no choice but to speak.

“Are you… A devil? Why is a devil, his attendant…”

Verili, who heard Albein’s words, raised the corner of her mouth and covered her mouth with her index finger.

“Obviously, I’m half devil, but I’m half human. So… The devil’s mind can understand the human mind. And from now on, I’m going to make you an offer you can’t refuse.”

“It’s an offer I can’t refuse… Me, I’m a warrior! There’s no way I’ll accept a garbage devil’s offer, no matter how half-baked it is!”

With his pupils open, Albein raised his voice of refusal with all his might, but his trembling body his seemed to feel the fear he was feeling as it was.

The fact that the existence in front of me is not human. And, obviously, that her offer to herself was attractive.

Alvein felt it instinctively.

“Ahahaha! A hero, a hero? I don’t have a holy sword, and I took the form of a girl by taking a shape-changing drug. You can well call yourself a hero!”

At the words of Belle Lily, who seemed to be laughing as hard as she could, Albein said`Ugh…`And seemed unable to refute, she only raised her voice in her.

“The fact that you can’t act like that. The fact that you can’t refute what I’m saying… Everyone, you know very well that it’s because you don’t have the strength, right?”

“I-I…”

Of course, if Alban had been in his original form, he would have been able to ignore these words to some extent.

But now he is a little girl.

The soul was eroded by the curse of magic, and it was deprived of judgment, patience, and even willpower.

To say that the transaction itself was unfair, it would be more accurate to say that Belili set the stage so that unfair transactions could not be accepted from the beginning.

Therefore, Alvein exhaled rapidly with a feeling of being short of breath.

“Haha…!”

Then, slowly moving her hand, she accepted the contract she handed over-

Even a single piece, the ‘pride as a warrior’ that was left behind, was to be placed on the balance.

001

“Ugh… Ugh…?”

The boy who opened his eyes while groaning, he wondered what he was doing.

It took me a while to figure out the situation.

His hands and feet are bound, and his eyes are covered with a black cloth.

His mouth his could move freely, but on the contrary, the inside of his mouth his was dry.

And—the vulgar laughter of the men that comes in.

“That’s right… Suddenly some men came in…”

And what comes to mind is the sights I saw before I lost my mind.

That day, while talking to the maid in her room, the door suddenly opened and …

“… Oops…!”

As if in a flashback, a maid appears in front of her and falls down in front of her after cutting her throat.

She almost vomited, but after somehow holding it back, only anxious anticipation of what she would become in the future ran through her head.

When I felt anxiety as my teeth clashed, I felt like I wanted to vomit her insides her, and my body temperature dropped and I felt a chill.

The boy looked like he was about to fall into a panic, but then a voice sounded in his ear.

“I understand your anxiety, but take a deep breath now. The adults are moving to rescue the boy.”

She couldn’t tell if she was male or female, but she seemed to be the voice of a child her own age.

“…Who, who…? Maybe. Have you been arrested too?”

“No. I’m… I’m here to help the boy. It’s called Gray.”

“Grey… Then, first, release the hand and eyepatch… I can’t see…”

At the boy’s request, Gray shut her mouth for a moment, then-

“Sorry, but that’s not a very good idea. If possible… I’d like to take the boy out of here, but I can’t do it alone. Until the adults come, don’t let them know I’ m here.”

“…That, that’s right…”

The boy nodded her head at Gray’s words her.

Then, as she felt a little relieved that a child of her age was here and that there were people trying to rescue her, she felt her rapidly beating heart her slowly settle down.

“How did Gray get here… “

“I’m a detective. I used a secret passage that only I can pass through.”

“…Detective…?”

At Gray’s words, the boy twitched his ears as if interested.

“Whoa. That’s right. The famous detective of justice fighting the darkness in the royal capital. It’s Grayim.”

“Well, really? Then, did you find out that I’m here by reasoning?”

To the boy’s words, Gray replied with a laugh as if he was in a good mood.

“Exactly so. With a little clue, it’s simply a possible deduction.”

“Awesome… Then, did you tell the adults where I am?”

At those words, Gray became quiet for a moment.

“No. Even among the adults, there are investigators who are as good as I am… They figured out the boy’s location on their own. That’s why you can trust their skills.”

After a moment of silence, Gray answered, and the boy felt a little uncomfortable, but he still decided to trust her elders as she said.

“I see.”

“Yeah. Are you feeling a little relieved?”

Hearing Gray’s gentle voice her, the boy nodded slowly to her.

“Okay. I’ll stay with you until the adults arrive. I’m glad the boy is calmer than I thought. You shouldn’t provoke the thieves by shouting.”

“Yes…”

002

“Captain! The guys who were watching are back!”

“What? There’s still a little time left before shift!”

A short, sloppy-looking man who jumped in with a gasp.

He approached the most seasoned-looking man, pointed his finger outward and raised his voice hastily.

And, when the man called the captain heard it, he put down the glass he was holding with a thump as if he was talking about something, and got angry.

“That, that’s… Something like a light exploded in that noble mansion…”

“What…?”

He makes a stern expression as if he does n’t know what bullshit his subordinate his is talking about.

Even the subordinates seem to be frightened by the captain’s attitude and try to back away.

The captain stretched out his hand, grabbed his man by the collar, and pulled him towards himself, blinding him.

“Say it right, you asshole! What happened!”

“That’s it. Just like I said. I was monitoring the mansion where the kid was kidnapped, and suddenly a pillar of light the size of a man’s forearm burst out…”

The other thieves who were sitting around and drinking were only tilting their heads or laughing at the words of the subordinate.

“Be quite!”

However, the captain shouted once as if his subordinates’ reaction his was annoying, making all the subordinates around him quiet.

Then, he lowered his voice as he slowly glered at his subordinate his.

“…Have you figured out the cause?”

“That’s…”

“Did you figure out the cause, you bastard!”

“Sorry, sorry! Those who were watching, were shocked to see the light and immediately ran away…!”

As soon as he finished speaking, the captain seized the body of his subordinate thief and threw him against the wall.

The subordinate, who was blown away powerlessly by the monstrous force, fell right into the wall and fainted while showing whites as if the place he hit was not good.

“You assholes! Get ready to move with the little ones! It looks like the rats are stuck!”

“Ha, but the captain. If the tail gets attached, wouldn’t it just be enough to kill the kid…?”

When another subordinate says so, the captain punches the man in the jaw and blows it off.

“You trash bastard! That kid is the only way for us to be safe! If even a fluff is damaged, the nobles will retaliate!”

“But where should I go…?! If the other hiding places are found to have been kidnapped and murdered…”

The new ancestor of the thieves’ guild, except when the hideout is invaded, harming a person’s body is out of pure stealing.

It was one of the old thieves’ guild rules.

Young thieves who had recently risen to prominence often grew weary of those old laws and rejected them.

Perhaps thanks to that, it was only recently that I learned that the guild’s hideout managed by old thieves was no longer available.

At least it was possible to hide here because a man named Captain had used his skills to murder one of the old thieves and made the lair his own.

If you go somewhere else, you won’t be able to avoid a collision with another old thief.

“Don’t throw up and prepare quickly!?”

The man named Captain must have known that, but he stood up as if he couldn’t help it and pointed to the room where the boy was locked up.

003

Seeing such a commotion outside, the boy flinched and shuddered.

“Muh, what’s going on…? It seems like they’re going somewhere.”

“Anyway, it seems that things have become urgent… But don’t worry, sword. I’ll delay them and prevent them from escaping from this place.”

“Go, is it possible?”

He didn’t doubt Gray’s words, but the boy raised a voice of concern.

However, Gray smiles and replies, “Huh.”

“Of course. I am a great detective.

“Ha, grandpa…?”

“I just did it.”

And- that’s the end. Gray’s voice, as well as his presence, disappeared in an instant.

The boy felt a little uneasy about the sensation, but he clenched his fists to calm him down.

The fact that a child of the same age as him was trying to save him was a relief to the boy.

And just as the door opened and one of the men was about to approach him, another voice came from outside.

“What! The door won’t open! Someone broke the secret device!”

“What!?”

When he heard such a panicked voice, he unconsciously raised the corners of his mouth.