Chapter 162: Chloe Stole Something Incredible (1)[R-18]
Translator: RaidenTL
Chapter 162: Chloe Stole Something Incredible (1)[R-18]
Spin—!
A woman clad in a pure white suit cut through the dark night sky like a whale breaching the surface of the water.
“Hehehe! This is it! This is the one! This is what being the Nine Tail is all about!”
The legendary graduate student of the Sacred Academy.
Chloe Robelia leaped from rooftop to rooftop, seemingly savoring her liberation from her professor.
Tap! Tap! Tap!
“Now then, for today...”
Lightly—
Landing gracefully atop a tree, Chloe looked up at the mansion surrounded by high walls.
“The Marigold family, is it?”
What distinguishes a phantom thief from an ordinary burglar?
From the perspective of the victim, it might feel the same, but Chloe believed the difference lay in the existence of ‘aesthetics.’
Never acting against one's own ‘aesthetics,’ no matter what.
That distinction allowed the Nine Tail to exist as a phantom thief rather than a third-rate crook.
“Lady Ellis, please allow me to be a righteous phantom thief again today.”
Dash!
After finishing her customary pre-job prayer, Chloe kicked off the wall vertically, reaching the top floor of the mansion in a single bound.
Click—
The moment Chloe touched the keyhole, the locked door swung open instantly.
She slipped into the Marigold residence as if dissolving into the shadows.
“Now, I wonder where the treasure vault is. Judging by the construction period and layout, would it be under the central staircase?”
The Marigold family was a high-ranking noble house, even if they didn't quite reach the level of the Three Primary Colors Families.
Naturally, there were quite a few servants working even in the middle of the night.
However...
Chloe didn't hide or avoid them.
Sway— Slide—
With just a slight twist of her body or a tilt of her waist, Chloe walked down the hallway alongside the servants.
From a distance, it would seem unnatural that they didn't notice her passing right by them, but for Chloe, it was only natural.
[Fox Night Stride]
One of the secret techniques created by the first Nine Tail, it was a skill that used a special breathing method to suppress one's presence to the limit and slip into the ‘Blind Spot of Perception.’
‘That was Grandmother’s technique.’
If the first Nine Tail’s Fox Night Stride was at the level of identifying the blind spots of perception...
Chloe, the third Nine Tail, had evolved it one step further.
Tap, tap—
"Hmm...?"
Swish—!
Even when a ‘Blind Spot of Perception’ didn't exist, she could create a flicker in the field of perception to force one into existence!
Of course, since it interfered with the target's perception, there was a higher chance of them feeling a sense of incongruity, making it a dangerous technique to use against professionally trained guards...
Step, step—
Against ordinary servants like these, she could use it as casually as if she were out for a stroll.
"Hmm... is it this way?"
Chloe moved toward where her accumulated experience and intuition suggested the treasure vault would be.
“Bingo!”
A short while later, she found the vault located at the end of a seemingly ordinary basement hallway.
Slide—
When Chloe put on her monocle, which allowed her to see the flow of mana, she saw the hallway filled with what looked like spiderwebs.
‘Hehehe... the moment someone touches those, the whole mansion will be turned upside down.’
In truth, the safe way would be to dismantle the mana threads one by one, but...
“Shall we go?”
Hop! Step, step! Jump!
After a quick stretch, Chloe showed off her flexible body—sometimes bending her waist back nearly vertically, sometimes stretching her legs out in a straight line—as she squeezed through the gaps and reached the front of the vault.
Click, click—
“Hehehe... this much is easy. Now, shall we see what’s inside?”
The vault’s dial turned a few times following Chloe’s fingertips...
Clunk—!
The firmly locked vault swung open.
“Woah! The Rabbit Princess's Staff was here?”
As expected of the Marigold family... or should I say, a branch of the Yellow Pansy?
While it couldn't compare to the Three Primary Colors Families, it was packed with precious treasures.
To be honest, she felt like taking at least one for herself, but...
Unfortunately, that would go against the Nine Tail’s ‘aesthetics.’
To steal only items of a value equal to the magnitude of the target's sins.
This was the Nine Tail’s aesthetic.
That was why she would strip the warehouses of corrupt nobles down to the floorboards, but she couldn't take a single gold coin from the Marigold family.
After all, no matter how hard she looked, the Marigold family hadn't accumulated any ‘wickedness.’
Then why did the Nine Tail come to a territory where she couldn't steal anything?
Chloe opening this treasure vault was strictly a ‘hobby’ and a ‘proof’ of her ability.
To put it simply, it was the feeling of: ‘I opened this treasure vault! I have dominion over these treasures!’
“I should take a verification photo, too.”
And more than anything, the sweet attention pouring in from the Gallery was addictive.
At first, the Gallery treated her like a Nine Tail impersonator, but after she posted a few verification shots from inside various vaults, they finally started to acknowledge her as the real deal.
[Author: ㅇㅇ(39.919)
[Guess what today’s vault is~~~?][0]
(A heavily pixelated image of a vault.jpg)
The hint is 4 syllables~
If the photo was a verification for the Gallery, there was a separate verification for reality.
“Now, shall I leave my card and head back?”
It was a card featuring the number 9, symbolizing the Nine Tail, and two ears, Chloe’s personal mark indicating she was the third generation.
[^9^]
“Hmm... now, where should I stick this?... Huh?”
While looking for a suitable spot, something suspicious caught Chloe’s eye.
An old box that didn't look like it belonged in a treasure vault at all.
Of course, there were items that looked like old boxes but held immense value, but Chloe could swear on her grandmother’s honor that this was absolutely not one of those.
“Did they put it here by mistake?”
However, in a place as well-managed as this, it was more rational to assume it had been placed there intentionally.
“Hmm... is it a trap then?”
She knew it was dangerous, but she wouldn't be a phantom thief if she held back now.
Slide—
After perfectly simulating an escape route in case it was a trap, Chloe carefully opened the box.
“Huh?”
Contrary to Chloe’s worries, the box wasn't a trap.
The box itself was truly worthless, and its contents were the same.
But...
“Pfft!! ...Aha! ...Hahahaha! They... they put this in the treasure vault? Ahahahaha!”
Chloe burst into laughter the moment she saw what was inside the box.
“Ha... haa... seriously... I laughed too much... my stomach hurts... haa... how cute, really.”
According to her aesthetics, Chloe shouldn't have taken even a single gold coin from the Marigold family, but...
‘Surely this much is fine?’
Objectively speaking, it was a worthless item.
Moreover, seeing as it was tucked away in a corner like this, the person who put it there had probably forgotten all about it.
“Yeah, I’ll take this as a souvenir... Hehe.”
Chloe folded the item from the box neatly, tucked it into her pocket, and vanished into the darkness.
The Nine Tail had broken into the Marigold treasure vault.
When she saw the household thrown into an uproar by this news, Evelyn’s reaction was merely ‘surprised.’
She knew quite a few defenses had been in place.
However, the moment she realized ‘that thing’ had been taken by the Nine Tail while checking the vault, Evelyn’s hands were posting a comment faster than her brain could think.
ㄴChildhoodFriendRapist■: Hey, you crazy bitch, fuck, there are so many places to rob, why the hell did you hit the Marigold family?
ㄴㅇㅇ(39.919): Why are you so triggered? Are you a Marigold affiliate or something?? Before, you were posting comments like "lol get rekt," this is so ridiculous lol
“YOU!! PIECE!! OF!! SHIT!! BITCH!!!”
She was an affiliate.
As the heiress of the Marigold family, there was no one more closely related than Evelyn.
However, she couldn't reveal her identity.
—Ah~ Fuck, I want to rape my childhood friend.
If she ever revealed her identity and Ian found out about the posts she wrote in the Gallery as ‘ChildhoodFriendRapist■’?
...At that point, her only options would be to kill Ian and then herself.
Still, since she had already flared up so spectacularly, trying to claim she wasn't involved would only arouse suspicion.
“Fuck... since it’s come to this, I’m going for a frontal breakthrough.”
ㄴChildhoodFriendRapist■: Yeah, I’m an affiliate, you bitch. I live in the Marigold territory, and do you know how well the Lord treats us? How dare you rob the vault of someone like that, you son of a bitch?
It was no different from painting gold over her own face, but extreme rage had a way of paralyzing one's sense of shame.
ㄴㅇㅇ(39.919): No, I mean, why are you so mad? The Nine Tail didn't take a single ‘treasure’ from the Marigold family.
“The hell she didn't, you bitch!! I, I saw what she took with my own two eyes!”
Slam—!!
Evelyn slammed her desk violently.
Right, objectively speaking, the Nine Tail wasn't wrong.
Certainly, nothing among the ‘treasures’ had disappeared.
But for Evelyn, something more precious than any treasure in that vault had been stolen.
“F-fuck... why did that bitch take that..! Hmph...”
She couldn't even ask for it back.
Because Evelyn was likely the only person in the world who knew what the Nine Tail had stolen.
In the end, Evelyn’s aimless rage turned toward an innocent teddy bear.
Thump! Thwack! Thwack!
“Ian, you bastard! You prick! Is the Imperial Palace that great? Huh?! To the point where you can't even contact me for a week!!”
He promised to contact her whenever he had time, but it had already been a week without a single ‘Crystal Ball Communication.’
Sure, Evelyn knew that the mana stones used for ‘Crystal Ball Communication’ were quite expensive.
But...
He was at the Imperial Palace, of all places!
How could a guy who went there as a guest of the Imperial Family not call even once?
“Ian, you piece of shit! You jerk!! You total asshole!! If you’re my childhood friend, shouldn't you be by my side comforting me at a time like this?!”
Thump! Thump!
As Evelyn was venting her rage by pummeling the teddy bear that somehow resembled Ian...
—Knock, knock
“My Lady, a Crystal Ball Communication has arrived from Lord Ian.”
“Ah!”
The moment she heard that Ian had contacted her, Evelyn’s face brightened instantly, as if her previous anger had been a lie.
“No... wait! This bastard thinks he can just settle this with a call?”
She had waited as long as she could.
In a little while, it would be three weeks since she last saw Ian’s face.
“Tell him I can't take it because I’m sick!!”
“...Pardon? My Lady?”
“Tell Ian I’m sick and dying!! Tell him if he doesn't want to see me dead, he better get here fast!!”