Chapter 48
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 48
Chapter Title: Enemy's Enemy's Enemy
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Stealing without effort is the thief's mentality, right?
But thieving isn't easy.
It takes tremendous effort.
Of course, there were guys who really tried to get it for free.
─Kill and loot the corpse─.
That's the work of the "Desperados" who kill people.
It was the easiest and most vulgar form of theft.
That's why Desperados were usually despised among the thieves beyond the Great Wall.
"Trickster Yor."
That Desperado had targeted me.
"Just die already."
Belzer was an oddball with daggers stuffed into every belt.
And he seemed to harbor deep resentment toward me.
I had my own side to the story.
"Hey, Belzer! Is this about getting trapped in that secret room on the volcano last time?"
I was pissed too.
Because Belzer was pinning his own mistake on me.
"You screw up and then take it out on me?"
"I'm taking it out on you?"
"You're no innocent virgin. Among pros who know the score, the one who gets duped is the idiot. You mess up like that and then have the nerve to turn it around on me? Aren't you ashamed?"
"I'll tear that mouth of yours if you say one more word."
Shing-.
Belzer drew a dagger from his chest harness and gripped it in reverse.
At that moment, I checked Mentor Estelle's expression.
"An uninvited guest barging into my lab with filthy boots... How unpleasant."
Mentor's face was fiercely grim.
That vicious Belzer wasn't charging at me right away probably because of Estelle.
"Die!"
Whish-.
Belzer swung his arm and hurled the dagger.
The motion was so big I ducked my head to dodge.
Thud-.
The dagger embedded itself behind me.
At that instant, I felt a strange sensation.
"─Huh?"
There had clearly been about 20 meters between me and Belzer.
Yet somehow, he was slashing down at me from behind.
"It's over."
How?
I couldn't detect the speed at all.
'I have to dodge!'
I leaned back with all my might somehow.
The dagger grazed my left thigh.
"Aaack!"
My clothes tore, skin peeled back.
It hurts!
"You cheating bastard! How did you do that! Why are you suddenly behind me...!?"
"The one who falls for it is at fault. Didn't you say that?"
Whish-.
Belzer shook the blood off his drawn dagger.
His eyes were so cold it sent chills down my spine.
"Oh man, Mentor! Your disciple's gonna die!"
I hid behind Estelle.
"[Strange Arrow]."
Mentor chanted the spell.
A silver-white arrow of magic floated before her face.
It pursued Belzer.
Pew-pew-.
"─Magic arrow?"
Belzer leaped around the cramped lab, dodging the arrows.
His speed was so incredible it was hard to track with the eyes.
But the amazing part was that the magic arrows bent their path to chase him.
"Tracking magic?"
"It won't stop until you're dead-."
A magic arrow that pursues its target until death!
Damn, magic is the best.
"Mentor, you're the greatest!"
Belzer.
This rotten grudge with that guy ends here!
As I thought that, Belzer placed a hand on his chest.
He yanked out all the daggers from his belt, fanned them out, and scattered them everywhere.
Pew-pew-pew-.
Thud-thud-thud-.
Daggers embedding wildly.
"Idiot! You missed them all!"
What a pathetic last struggle!
As I thought that─.
"Huh?"
Belzer vanished from my sight?
Swish-. Swish-swish-.
He was appearing like a ghost at the positions of the daggers stuck in the walls.
'Damn, teleportation!'
Teleporting or super-speed movement to the daggers' locations.
That was the secret behind his trick appearing behind me earlier.
He nimbly moved using the daggers scattered everywhere.
Even the magic arrows couldn't keep up.
"Urk."
"Huff! Mentor!"
Worse, he was using the daggers spread around for super-speed movement to slash at Estelle.
It was too fast to see.
Slash, swish-. Slash-!
The sight of her being carved up alive was horrific.
Blood spraying everywhere.
"Graaah-."
Thud-.
Estelle finally collapsed.
"Damn it! Mentor Estelle!"
"Killing the caster stops the magic, as expected."
Shing-.
Belzer sheathed the dagger at his waist.
Now I saw that the daggers he'd randomly fired earlier were neatly stowed back in his belts.
'He recovered his weapons in the meantime too!'
'No wonder Hammer said to avoid fighting him!'
The situation was utterly desperate.
But it seemed I still had some luck left.
Puke-!
"Graaack!"
Belzer screamed.
Roll, roll—an arm tumbled across the floor.
A magic arrow had flown from behind Belzer, severing his left arm!
Belzer looked flustered at the still-zipping magic arrows.
"...Urk, why?"
"Ah-. This body I finally liked-."
In the corner of the lab.
A woman wrapped head to toe in bandages appeared.
It was a familiar sight to me.
"Mentor! You're alive!"
"...Mentor? Ha! Two bodies? Can magic do anything?"
Belzer wrapped his gushing arm with his belt, then tied it tight with his teeth and remaining hand.
The bandaged version of Mentor laughed uneasily, heh heh heh-.
"What can be done, can be-. What can't, can't-."
"Finding one person...?"
"Why, looking for someone─?"
"......"
Mentor narrowed her eyes thinly, and Belzer shut his mouth.
She'd clearly hit the nail on the head.
'This is my chance to step in!'
Ahem-.
I cleared my throat and shouted.
"Belzer! Mentor's so amazing that finding one person is nothing to her! But if you kill me, she'll never deal with you!"
No idea who, but Belzer seemed to be looking for someone too.
Useful info to exploit.
"......"
Belzer dodged the incoming arrows while seemingly pondering.
Then he placed a hand on the pouch at his waist and pulled out a scroll.
"Trickster Yor, you're one lucky guy."
Rip-.
The moment he tore the scroll, Belzer vanished.
He'd used a 'Return Scroll' to escape.
Desperado Belzer.
A guy so horrific I hated running into him.
'With an arm lopped off, he'll be quiet for a while!'
'Lucky!'
"Ahh-. This body-. It's broken-."
The bandaged Estelle looked at 'her body collapsed on the floor.'
Two bodies.
"Mentor, this one's you, and that one's you, right?"
"Everyone thinks that sometimes-, right? 'It'd be nice if I had two bodies.' So I made a 'shell'-."
What was that?
Probably some theory beyond me.
"Can I make two bodies like that too?"
"Probably not-. It's extremely difficult even for me-. And it takes massive Ether."
Anyway, the important thing was we survived.
Estelle pointed at her own corpse with her hand.
"Then, disciple, pick up this 'shell' and place it on the operating table-."
"Uh... Yes!"
I carefully lifted the dead Mentor's body.
So frail.
And still warm.
This is a 'shell'...?
"...Ngh...uh...."
"W-whoa!"
I jumped.
She's still breathing!
"Oh? Not dead yet-? Perfect-. I needed a sacrifice-."
"A sacrifice?"
"Yeah-. The Mother of Stars only accepts living things, which is a hassle-."
Mentor chuckled.
As my head grew complicated in various ways, the bandaged Mentor asked me.
"What's the name of the person you want to find?"
"Uh.... Thief Dvora, who fled to the Night Land?"
"It's best to give detailed personal info if possible-. Lots of people share names-."
"She made something called the 'Night Thieves' Guild.' Age roughly late twenties to early thirties? Appearance: blonde hair, blue eyes...."
"That should do-. Mother of Stars-."
Estelle began chanting.
Soon, something amazing happened.
A dark blue fog-like mist enveloped everything.
"Nghaa-!"
The 'shell' on the operating table screamed.
When the suspicious mist cleared, the already skinny 'shell's stomach was even more gaunt.
"......"
The 'shell' on the table gaped its mouth.
The bandaged Mentor chuckled at the sight.
"Vocal cords and over half the large intestine, both kidneys and the entire stomach. Even the tongue-. She took quite a lot as payment-."
"...Uh, it looks like it hurts a ton. Is this really okay?"
"If it looks suffering, you can close its eyes yourself, disciple-."
"Y-yes-?"
"It's just an empty shell now-. It won't resent or curse you-."
She wants me to kill it?
Even so, it's 'what was once Mentor Estelle.'
I couldn't bring myself to end its breath.
'I'll use that then.'
I pulled out the "Anesthetic Gas Potion" from my pocket.
Something I'd taken from thieves back when I was with the Ishtar party.
I dabbed a bit on my hand and applied it around the 'shell's nose and lips.
"Hoo...."
Finally, the tension in its shoulders eased.
The bandaged Mentor poked my side.
"Did you like that body that much-?"
"Uh..., well, something like that! Heh heh heh...."
"Then-, consider the payment for this job paid by your little act of devotion just now-."
Mentor held out a fingernail-sized black stone.
"What's this?"
"Dvora's location-."
"Isn't it just a rock?"
"Who knows─. The Mother of Stars' knowledge is like that. Sometimes the answer is a question-. Sometimes the question is the answer-?"
Felt like I got scammed.
But I achieved my goal, so time to get out of here.
"Hmm, then, Mentor. This is the food I promised. You said last time there's no food here and it's a hassle, right? Heh heh...."
I pulled jerky from the Black Satchel and offered it to her.
Then I bolted from the place toward the return magic circle!
For some reason, no idols appeared during this escape.
So I quickly returned to the strategy room beyond the Great Wall.
"Hermit!"
I immediately sought out Hermit.
To tell her about the bizarre things I'd been through!
Hermit, who was looking at the familiar egg, tore at her hair in amazement.
"Two bodies? That's definitely the Spirit Transfer Technique! A magic banned since the Empire's Golden Age!"
Spirit-what?
The complicated term already made me sleepy.
"So, Hermit, what is this?"
I pulled out the pitch-black stone and showed it to her.
Hermit might know something since she's pretty smart.
Hermit shook her head.
"I have no idea either."
"You're either super smart or a total idiot, I swear."
"What!"
We went to Hammer and explained everything, showing him the stone.
Hammer, who was training, stopped when he saw the black stone.
"Remember Colonel Raiden's Black Citadel? The walls there have the same material as this stone."
Hammer unrolled the map and pointed to a spot.
"And this black stone only comes from this mine. An abandoned mine. Perfect spot for thieves to hide."
The mine was inside the Empire, not beyond the Great Wall.
And close to it.
"Hammer, can I go check it out first alone?"
If we all went, it'd raise suspicion.
So I'd sneak in alone and run the 'romance scam' operation.
The next day.
I rode the horse 'Moltma' and galloped hard to the mine.
A place called 「Black Rock Mine」.
As I approached, thieves were swarming the entrance.
"Whoa, look at those menacing mugs."
"Who the hell are you?"
"What do you want!"
"I'm here to join the 'Night Thieves' Guild'!"
This was a new thief gang, right?
They must be recruiting talent.
Especially since they're opposing Germain's Thieves' Guild—they need manpower.
I was a prime catch arriving in that situation.
'I might seem suspicious.'
'But thief gangs are bound by profit, not trust.'
'They won't refuse for sure.'
The men eyed each other.
Then they nodded.
"Come inside for now!"
Great!
They took the bait!
"You too, wench!"
"Huh? What wench?"
I turned, and a woman stood behind me.
Face covered with a mask, but that pointed hat was familiar.
'Hermit!'
'When did this guy follow me?'