The Thief's Own Feet Tremble
In the deep darkness where even the moon had yet to rise, a massive ogre wearing a mask over his face crept forward with careful steps.
I am a thief right now. Should I knock? No, the important thing here is to sneak in like a proper thief.
He thoroughly brainwashed himself as he moved through the shadows. Drawing on his past experience as an assassin, the ogre who had turned to thievery stepped silently across the darkness and arrived in front of the mansion.
A mansion that had stood on this hill for a very long time. Rumors said a slender and beautiful elf woman lived here. But that didn't matter to him. What mattered was that anyone living in a place like this had to be incredibly wealthy. And in a house like this, there would be plenty of valuable items. Missing out on such good prey? That wasn't something a thief would do.
At that moment, the ogre thief carefully scaled the wall and landed inside. Even that was utterly silent.
"Heh, what a kind-hearted lady. I got over the wall without any trouble and I'm moving toward the mansion. No one around to watch for me."
With skilled hands, the thief opened a window without making a sound and slipped into the living room. The moment he saw the luxurious sofa, his eyes widened.
"The owner's sofa. Of course I'll sit on the guest sofa. In a few minutes, the owner will be breathing their last on this floor."
At that moment, his brow furrowed.
"No, I'm not taking action yet. Where is the elf? Right, she's not in this living room yet. She must still be sleeping in her room."
He continued moving as stealthily as a cat. Using concealment to perfectly hide his presence, he quickly found the elf's room. He drew a knife and aimed it at the foolishly sleeping elf who had no idea what was coming.
"Slurp."
A thrilling moment. Living alone in a mansion like this. What an idiot. This place was practically begging to be targeted by criminals, wasn't it?
Taking down one frail little elf should be as easy as eating cold porridge.
Elves in this era were generally perceived that way. They were lazy, full of complaints, and didn't take care of their bodies, so their health was poor. Creatures who should have lived much longer often died early because of their laziness. On top of that, they had no sex drive, so their population was small. In their prime it might have been different, but modern elves were mostly rich and weak.
"The owner won't even open her eyes before she gets stabbed by my blade and—!"
Right at that instant, he felt a presence behind him.
"Hey, dumbass. What the hell are you doing there?"
What?! I've been followed?!
He spun around in a panic. There stood a delicate-looking girl staring at him. She was short with a flat chest... a loli demon who looked quite young. But the moment the loli demon saw him, she instantly understood the situation and broke into a wicked grin.
"Aha, I see? So you're a thief, huh?"
"..."
He didn't answer. He simply gripped his knife tighter and stared at the frail-looking loli demon before him.
"I'm in a really shitty mood because I had to work overtime late and sleep here, you know? So stop with the fucking nonsense and just get lost. I'll let you off quietly out of demon solidarity."
Then it's time for me to take action!
He immediately charged at the loli demon with his knife raised. As a former professional assassin, he shone in the darkness.
—Shaaak!!
His movement was fast and precise. In the blink of an eye, he closed the distance and mercilessly slashed at the loli demon's throat.
—Ting!!!!
"?!?!"
But his knife simply sparked and bounced off the moment it touched her neck. This can't be! It's a skill infused with my mana!!
While he was shocked, the loli demon in front of him yawned, smacked her lips, and spoke.
"You pathetic fucking loser. Is that all you've got?"
She was endlessly timid in front of the elf, but when dealing with anyone other than her boss, she was always merciless. Because of this unpleasant attitude, she rarely lasted long at any job and ended up quitting. It was clearly a fatal flaw in her social life that needed fixing, but she had no intention of changing it.
Why? The reason was simple.
Because I used to be the Demon King.
That was the last shred of pride she held in her heart. So while she might be weak before the strong, she was endlessly strong before the weak.
"Y-you wench!"
"I'll warn you one more time, so just leave quietly. I won't even call the police, so don't worry."
"Don't make me laugh...!"
His pride wounded, the thief gritted his teeth and swung his knife mercilessly at the loli demon. To outsiders, swinging a blade at such a small and delicate girl might have looked ugly, but the situation unfolding was the complete opposite.
"Damn it!! W-why isn't my knife working?!"
"Your weak power can't break through my barrier. So just shut up and get out of here quickly. If you don't want to die, that is. You pathetic piece of shit."
"Heh, hehehe... The man who once made a name for himself in the assassination guild, unable to use his strength against a girl like this. I can't believe it. What the hell are you?!"
"You look young, so I'll tell you out of concern. It's good to listen to your elders, kid."
"Hmph! A brat who still has milk on her lips acting like an adult!!"
"The fuck did you just say?"
—Clang! Clang-clang! Clang-clang-clang-clang-clang!!
"Sigh, this is why young people these days are a problem. They have no respect for their elders at all. Judging someone's age just by their appearance when they're not even human but a demon? How lacking in basic common sense can you be?"
As a former professional assassin, his fierce assault was utterly deadly. Even an A-rank hunter would have no chance of subduing him; they'd be the ones getting taken down instead. The ogre thief was that strong. His large build only made his agility even more powerful. All sorts of assassination skills flew wildly. Every single one was a high-rank skill with tremendous lethality.
"Hah... hah... hah...! Damn it!"
He realized it. It was impossible... Defeating the unidentified girl before him was nearly impossible.
"Just what kind of trick are you using?!"
"Shh! Be quiet...! You'll wake up Miss Elf!"
"You bastard! Reveal your identity! Who are you?!"
In response to his question, Yog answered honestly without hiding anything.
"Me? I'm the Demon King."
"The D-Demon King?"
"Now do you get it? No matter how pathetically you dance around, you can't beat me."
"Hahaha!! What a ridiculous lie!!"
But the thief didn't believe her. Of course he wouldn't. The Demon King had been defeated in the war long ago and died. That's how the stories had been passed down. In truth, she had simply gone missing after her defeat, but as time passed, the tale had become distorted.
"Sigh, I guess I have no choice. In that case, I'll use magic for legitimate self-defense and—"
At that exact moment, Yog froze in place.
"A-ahaha. I need to use the bathroom, so... I'll be going..."
"What?"
And just like that, the girl suddenly vanished. But that was fine. In that case, he quickly decided it was time to escape the mansion. Without that girl around, getting out would be easy.
"Wait, what is this? The window won't break?"
To be precise, it seemed like a transparent wall had appeared in front of it.
"Damn it, somewhere else then—UWAAAAAAAAAAH?!!!!"
The moment he turned around, a disheveled blonde elf was standing right in front of him. She was still half-asleep, staring at him with a strange murderous intent in her eyes.
"Who the hell are you?"
"..............."
"I said, who are you?"
"........."
"Hmm. You're not Yog, are you?"
Why...? A question arose in his mind. Because his body wouldn't move. At first he couldn't understand it, but later he realized. This was nothing other than fear.
"Hmm, it's a male. Fuck, that clumsy idiot actually dared to crawl into my room?"
"DIIIIIIEEEE!!"
But he was a professional. It was time to overcome his fear and counterattack. Before his opponent could move first, he swung his knife at the speed of light. The blade flashed like a beast's fang as it flew toward the elf woman's vital point.
—Kwaaaaang!
But the moment the elf lightly flicked her finger, the colliding blade shattered miserably like a cookie.
"What?! My top-grade ultra-vibration assassination knife reinforced by dwarves that I bought on the black market?!"
He was a professional. When you lose your weapon, you always prepare a spare in advance. The thief quickly took a backstep to create distance and simultaneously threw a poison pouch from his pocket onto the floor.
—Poof!!
Toxic smoke spread out and instantly filled the room. It was a deadly poison that could kill an elephant in three seconds.
"Whoa, it tingles. What a strange feeling."
"N-no way! This lethal poison doesn't work?!"
"First, get the hell out of my room, you fucking bastard."
The moment the elf woman spread her hand—
—BWOOOOOOOOOM!!
Suddenly, something invisible struck the thief's abdomen hard.
I couldn't see it! This is... what the—!
Air Strike. It was magic that condensed air and fired it all at once. The elf even gave this spell the cute name "Air Bang." Normally it was just basic magic, but with high mana output, it possessed considerable lethality.
The thief who had rolled across the floor coughed up blood. His eyes, filled with shock, trembled miserably as he stared at his own blood spilled on the floor.
"What the hell is this!"
Step...
Before he knew it, a small white foot had approached right in front of him. Trembling, he lifted his head, and there stood a noble blonde beauty of an elf, her golden hair reflecting the moonlight as she coldly looked down at him.
And in that moment, the elf before him was beautiful.
"From the looks of it, you seem like a brat who hasn't even lived a hundred years yet. You should have picked your fights more carefully."
"H-heuuuuuuuuuuuuu!!"
Having lost his mind, the thief frantically hurled concealed weapons at the elf woman. It was his desperate, pathetic struggle not to die. But contrary to his wishes, the weapons were all blocked by an invisible wall in front of her, lost their power, and simply fell to the floor.
"You dare disturb my sleep, and a male bastard who isn't even a beautiful girl comes crawling into my room with his pathetic little dick swinging around? You're dead."
"S-s-spare meeeeeee!"
Watching this scene secretly from afar, Yog shook her head.
What an idiot... He doesn't even know how terrifying that elf is and still tries to fight her.
She possessed vast mana, and the fact that she was even hiding it to this degree was already incredible. But what was even more chilling was that her concealment was so precise and clever that only someone on the level of a Demon King could notice it.
Her power was, without a doubt...
Either equal to mine, or perhaps even greater.
Honestly, even Yog, the former Demon King, wasn't confident she could win against her. That was why she had been so obedient and timid during the interview on her first day. She didn't want to offend her in any way.
She knew the thief before her was quite skilled too. By today's standards, even special police forces would be annihilated if they tried to capture that ogre. But the elf before them...
She's an ancient elf who's lived for at least a thousand years.
Elves who had grown lazy and biologically degenerated no longer lived as long as they did in their prime. Their weakened health caused their bodies to age quickly. Plus, they had no sex drive, so their population was naturally small. As a result, elves had become so rare that it was difficult to even see one nowadays.
Of course, an elf living over a thousand years doesn't make sense in the first place...
Their lifespan was only about five hundred years at most. Yet the elf before them had lived more than twice that. Moreover, she showed no signs of aging. Therefore, her innate elven physical abilities and mana transcended imagination. She must have been born with the constitution of an incredibly powerful mage. And with every year she lived, her power grew stronger. At this point, no one could even begin to guess who could possibly handle her.
She's practically a living nuclear weapon.
That night, the mansion was filled with the pitiful screams of a man slowly being turned into a lump of meat, echoing across the night sky.
The next morning, as the sun rose, Yog carried a plastic bag filled with the lump of meat and dumped it into the food waste bin outside the front gate.
"Sigh, having to do chores like this first thing in the morning..."
After throwing away the dirty plastic bag, she went back inside the mansion. After finishing various tasks, she prepared breakfast and entered the elf's bedroom.
"Miss Elf, it's morning. Time to wake up."
"Mmm, uuuuuh, hmmnya..."
"Wake up. It's breakfast time."
"Huuuung? Yog?"
"Yes, it's me. Yog here."
"Hehehehe♡ It's a cute loli demon♡"
"Ack, aaaaaack!! Miss Elf! You're hugging me again?! Let go! Let go of me! I'm getting crushed!!"
"Hehet♡ You smell so good...♡ Sniff sniff!"
"Aoooooo!! Miss Elfffffff!!"
The elf was endlessly generous and affectionate toward pretty and cute girls.