Chapter 72
-----------------------------------------------------------------
Translator: penny
Chapter: 72
Chapter Title: Yor Holds an Engagement Ceremony!?
-----------------------------------------------------------------
“—You stinking bitches, hand over everything you’ve got!”
“Hah-!?”
“W-What did you just say…!?”
The twin thieves from D.S.’s party flipped their lids and went berserk.
But my mind was comparatively calm.
‘Compared to Brigadier General Ezekiel, these girls are as flat as sticks.’
Thanks to various experiences, my eye for women had gotten a bit sharper.
Is this the leisure of an experienced man?
I took advantage of this leisure to examine the twin girls in front of me more closely.
They were wearing skin-tight leather outfits like Sister Germain’s, but they were flat in every way.
Their faces were covered in soft fuzz.
‘Compared to Sister Germain, they’re total kids.’
Pfft. I couldn’t help but snicker.
The twins went even more berserk at me.
“You bastard, you mocking us?”
“Let’s see if you laugh after we gut you!”
Shing-.
The twins flanked me from front and back.
They each drew daggers, and their form looked decent enough.
““Beat him down!””
I’d heard twins could read each other’s minds. Was it true?
They shouted in unison and charged at me.
Daggers thrusting from front and back.
It looked like there’d be no escaping this.
If I were a civilian, I’d have been stabbed right here.
Pop-!
But I leaped into the air.
Their blades grazed each other’s shoulders.
“Argh!”
“Ow!”
The twin thieves tumbled to the ground.
I seized the opening and kicked one in the gut—thwack!
“Guuuek!”
“S-Sis!”
So that one was the sister?
They looked completely identical, so I hadn’t known.
Then I’d give the little sister the same treatment.
“Cowardly kick!”
Thud-!
I kicked the little sister’s gut fair and square.
“Gwaaak!”
In the end, the twins collapsed with pathetic screams.
They started screeching at the top of their lungs.
“Ugh…you’ll regret messing with us like this!”
“Do you even know who’s backing us?!”
“You might be hot shit in the back alleys, but this is the Great Wall. There are plenty of hardened folks tougher than you, so loosen up those shoulders.”
Crazy bitches who drew blades at the slightest provocation.
If they’d run into Felix?
Heads would’ve definitely rolled across the floor.
Their backing wouldn’t mean a damn thing then.
“…Hm? Why’s it so noisy?”
That’s when Ishtar poked her head out of her room, sensing the commotion.
She looked back and forth between the twins clutching their stomachs on the floor and me.
“What happened?”
“Hehe, it’s nothing much!”
“U-Uh… Sis! Save us!”
“This creep’s trying to rape us!”
My heart sank when the twins started bawling.
Rape? What nonsense was this false accusation?
“What? Rape?”
Ishtar’s eyes narrowed menacingly.
If I got dragged off to the guards and thrown in jail like this, it’d be the worst—
That’s what I was thinking when Ishtar snapped.
“Don’t you lie! Little Yor’s a thief, but he doesn’t do stuff that bad—! Little one, looks like you need more education after all….”
Ooooh-!
Ooooh-!
I clenched my fist tight.
It’d been so long since I’d been cleared of a false charge!
Someone believing me made my nose itch for no reason.
As I rubbed it, the twins looked at each other.
“Yor? The one who took down One-Eye?”
“The guy who beat Narakje…!?”
“Yor oppa, did you really take down One-Eye?”
“Can we get as strong as you if we level up too?”
The strong prey on the weak.
That’s the basic stance of sleazy criminals.
But these twins were so blatant about it that it was almost disconcerting.
‘Better than when they were pointing knives at me, I guess?’
“We told you to hand over everything you’ve got!”
“Take our money!”
They even handed all their money over to me.
‘Goblin Persuasion’ effect?
Clink-.
Together, it was 50,000 Ether.
Enough for two chickens.
I pocketed it neatly and asked the twins.
“Am I pretty famous in the back alleys?”
“Oppa’s the one who took down One-Eye!”
“We heard you even beat Narakje in a gamble—rumors are everywhere!”
“Well, the Narakje match was a close call.”
“Wooow!”
“It’s true!”
The twins stuck to my side like cats that’d gotten treats.
Lord Saxen chuckled as he watched.
“The twins are following Yor around like he’s their big bro!”
Hammer laughed as he passed by in the hall.
“Looks like our Yor’s super popular!”
This was pretty embarrassing.
The twins seemed intrigued by my reaction.
“Yor oppa, everyone seems to trust you a ton. What’s your secret?”
“Thieves get suspected first thing.”
It felt like I’d gained some loyal juniors who looked up to me.
I rubbed my itchy nose and said gravely.
“Why do I get trusted? Because I’m a thief who steals hearts.”
Even I felt embarrassed saying it.
But the twins’ eyes sparkled even more.
“Steals hearts—?”
“What’s that?!”
“You need patience and skill. Start by earning your party’s trust.”
“How do you earn trust?”
“Tell us!”
“First off, stop pointing knives at strangers right away.”
“Then we’ll get ignored!”
“Back alleys, getting ignored means you’re done!”
That was true enough.
These girls were about middle-school age.
They’d probably been ignored a lot.
Were those porcupine quills a defense mechanism to survive?
“That works in the back alleys, but not here at the Great Wall.”
“Ooh.”
“Ooh.”
The Blasset twins nodded in unison.
They really were identical.
“Which one’s the big sis and little sis?”
“Take a good look—I’m the big sis Blasset.”
“I’m the little sis Blasset.”
I still couldn’t tell.
It was like cloning magic.
I frowned, and the twins giggled.
“Our boobs are different sizes.”
“If you touch, you’ll feel the difference right away.”
The girls thrust their chests out at me.
“Touch ’em.”
“They’re totally different, I swear.”
Touch them—!?
My mind felt like it was frying.
This must be how people felt when bewitched by a fox spirit!
“Hey, you’re the Blasset twins.”
That’s when it happened.
Sister Germain spotted us while walking the hall.
She grabbed the twins by the ears.
“You two, quit harassing Yor.”
“Ow ow!”
“Germaaaain!”
“Sister Germain, you know these kids?”
“They’re from the same ‘orphanage’ as me.”
Orphanage?
I suddenly recalled hearing that some facility in Kunning Town trained orphans as thieves.
Were these brats from there?
“With dragons showing up in Kunning Town lately and beastkin too, it’s total chaos. Looks like they escaped the orphanage in the mess.”
Sister Germain tucked one twin under each arm.
“Yor little bro, want me to take these off your hands?”
“Then bye, Yor oppa! See you later!”
“Kekeke, bye-bye!”
…What just happened?
I was sure I’d been the one educating them.
Why did it feel like I’d been the one schooled?
But a day later.
D.S. approached me, greatly impressed, and handed over a pedestal stone.
“Those rude twins are suddenly listening well and cooperating. Here’s the promised reward.”
“Hehe, glad it worked.”
“They were talking about some ‘thief who steals hearts’ nonsense. What the hell does that even mean?”
“Well….”
I opened my mouth to explain, but my throat suddenly clogged up.
I felt ridiculously embarrassed.
“Anyway, that’s the gist of it!”
That evening.
A rundown warehouse.
“Hermit, mind reinforcing this for me?”
I asked Hermit to reinforce the pedestal stone.
It was for throwing knives.
“I’m not responsible if it breaks!”
Hermit didn’t skimp on warnings this time either.
The throwing knife reinforcement began.
“O Goddess of the Anvil—!”
Flash-!
Zzzap-.
“Kyaa, success again!”
“T-This succeeded too?!”
Even Hermit was shocked.
Soon she poked my side and slyly said.
“How ’bout that? Aren’t I amazing?”
Hermit seemed to love praise.
“Nimble can’t do this stuff!”
“True that.”
“100% success rate on pedestal stone reinforcements so far!”
Hermit’s skills were indeed impressive.
But her desperate bid to prove her worth was kinda funny.
“Hermit, you don’t need to say it—you’re plenty amazing already.”
“Amazing?”
“I’ve never seen a mage as amazing as you!”
“…Well, yeah.”
Hermit’s face looked like she’d swallowed bitter chocolate.
Even though I’d gone out of my way to praise her.
‘Some people in the world hate getting praised, huh.’
How much time passed like that?
Hermit came looking for me while I was training hard.
“Hey, newbie. You know the Blasset twins?”
The twin thieves I’d educated?
Hermit mentioning their name was unexpected.
“What about the twins?”
“They want to introduce me to some noble sponsor for gear reinforcements. Come with!”
“Do I have to go too?”
“They insisted you come along. No idea why.”
No idea why?
Me tagging along?
Suspicious.
The Blasset twins reaching out also felt off.
Come to think of it, they’d mentioned their ‘backing.’
A noble backing the twins?
I pondered deeply, and Hermit yelled like she was plotting something shady.
“What’s to think about? It’s someone from the House of Dantes!”
Dantes—
The noble house that tried to hang me!
“They’ve got connections to the Imperial Council too—could rake in a ton of Ether!”
So those twins had connections like that.
No wonder they strutted around with shoulders squared.
“…I’m in?”
Hermit asked me.
I let out a deep sigh.
“Hehehe, lead the way!”
“Ooh! Newbie, knew you had the brains!”
“Stop copying my speech!”
“Pfthehe!”
We headed to the Great Wall’s reception room together.
Before entering, Hermit warned me several times.
“Staring straight at an unmarried noble lady is rude, so remember that.”
A woman so high-status that even looking at her was a crime.
Meeting someone like that had me seriously tense.
“…And no loud noises, period!”
Creak-.
Hermit took a deep breath and opened the door.
In the antique-furnished reception room, a woman was seated.
The black-dressed woman stood and introduced herself.
“I’m Karma Dantes.”
“I’m Hermit. This here’s Yor.”
“Yor…? The thief the twins keep talking about…?”
Karma Dantes was a striking woman with long navy-blue hair.
She seemed a bit younger than me.
‘…What a beauty!’
If a haughty, elegant purebred cat turned human, it’d look just like her.
But I bowed my head deeply.
A criminal like me staring straight at an unmarried high noblewoman was taboo.
Then, an excited voice from Miss Dantes tickled the back of my head.
“…Ahh, just like the twins said!”
The cool touch of white-gloved fingers met my cheek.
A soft but irresistible force lifted my chin.
“The very man I’ve been searching for! Born under the stars of heavenly fortune!”