Chapter 93
Chapter 93
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 93
Chapter Title: Escape
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“You persistent bastard!”
“What kind of madman digs a tunnel to rob a bank-!”
I wasn’t sure who was calling whom persistent. Well, I guess I was being a bit persistent here.
I kicked out the support beams with my back foot, starting to collapse the tunnel.
“Ugh-!”
“Damn it-! Stop! We’ll all die!”
“Sorry, but I won’t.”
This was the middle of the long tunnel. The knights following me couldn’t turn back. The tunnel behind them had already collapsed, leaving not a speck of light.
When I’d almost reached the end, I kicked another pile of dirt.
“Sa-Save me-!”
“Sorry. Can’t do that.”
As the dirt sealed the tunnel entrance, the knights’ screams faded into the distance.
The city was probably on high alert. I’d dug a tunnel and robbed a bank, after all.
All that was left was to escape the city quickly.
When I emerged into the house, the sun had already set. Luckily, even the moon was hidden behind clouds, unable to do its job, so I moved quickly toward the spot I’d scouted earlier.
“Even better.”
Night always has more openings than day, after all.
Despite the night, the city was brightly lit with magic lamps and torches. I could feel a commotion in the distance.
Alarms and bells signaling an emergency filled the city with noise, while the citizens stayed indoors, doors shut, waiting for the situation outside to resolve itself.
This was even more true in the slums. Get caught up in something, and you wouldn’t just get a warning—you could lose your head on the spot.
By now, they’d surely have confirmed how much was stolen, so of course it was an emergency. Or maybe it had been an emergency since the moment I broke into the bank.
I headed for the thin section of the city wall I’d spotted earlier.
The closer I got to the wall and the deeper I went into the slums, the fewer lights there were, until only the hushed sounds of people trembling in fear could be heard.
I felt the texture of plywood overlaid with thin stones. I pushed hard, and a door made of wooden planks toppled over, revealing a very small tunnel.
Inside the walls, it was still chaotic and bright, but the moment I stepped outside, a deep darkness greeted me. Finding me in this darkness would be anything but easy….
“He’s here-! Over here!”
“What the-!”
The moment I left the city walls, soldiers’ shouts erupted from above, and a flare shot into the sky.
*Fweee-!*
No, these crazy bastards-!
They must have cast a detection spell over the entire city just to find one person. That meant there was a mage stationed in every sector.
What a waste of manpower.
*Ahem…* I may have stolen some nobles’ belongings, but to track someone down like this.
It felt like I was the one being hunted.
I picked up a rock from the ground and hurled it at the enemies chasing me from behind.
“Gah-!”
It wasn’t just one or two of them. Even a careless throw would hit someone.
“Whoa, shit-!”
The moment I threw the rock, sharp arrows, magic, and even sword auras flew at me from behind.
“A full-course meal of attacks.”
Our friends seemed pretty angry. The way they were chasing me like rabid dogs proved it. Just in case, I changed direction, heading toward the Ashar Desert instead of south.
It was better to take a detour and throw them off my trail before continuing.
This incident would surely raise security levels not just in Lubeck, but across the entire continent.
The Central Bank, which everyone was certain could never be robbed, had been hit.
I revealed my identity when I robbed Sejanus’s mansion before joining the mercenary corps, but only people like Mike Hoare, Peri Batoni, Lando, and Seamus knew who I was.
That I, Arsène Lupin, am also Kratos?
It didn’t matter if they knew. There was no proof. I was officially on a mission. Besides, neither the Holy Kingdom, Rzhev, nor the mercenary corps had any obligation to confirm it.
Iscario was a slight concern, but we were enemies with them, weren’t we?
The state of this continent was a mess to begin with. This just added another spoonful of chaos.
But chaos for our enemies, not for us, was a good thing. A very good thing.
“Hmm. Looks like there’s someone with a brain among them. That means there’ll be pursuit teams outside Lubeck too.”
I could feel numerous presences in the distance, swarming to surround me.
“Just as I thought.”
It wouldn’t have been easy to set up such a thorough perimeter outside Lubeck in this situation.
One of them must be pretty sharp. I thought my escape would be easy, assuming they were all idiots.
But there was something even that sharp one failed to grasp.
My strength. Robbers and thieves aren’t usually known for their combat prowess.
I slowed down. There was no point in running any further. Besides, it’s not like I was running because I couldn’t wipe them all out.
It was just that if I started a fight inside Lubeck, I’d probably have to fight endlessly until they were all dead, and I couldn’t afford to get tied down and delay my journey to the Southern Mountains.
But this changed things.
I mean, they were laying the groundwork to get themselves killed. Shouldn’t I help them out?
I hurled another rock at the men charging from behind.
I heard screams and felt the enemies scatter.
“It seems you’re all under some kind of misunderstanding….”
They quickly tightened the encirclement. It seemed they wanted to capture me quickly before I could pick them off one by one.
“I’m the predator here. Not you. You idiots.”
I leaped into the center of the clustered enemies.
It was them, not me, who were taken aback.
Their reactions slowed for a moment, and I seized that opening, swinging my crowbar and smashing their skulls.
In a chaotic melee like this, it’s hard for them to attack. It would be different with cold steel, but stray arrows or magic could hit their own allies.
“These crazy bastards.”
However, as if they’d already been ordered, they attacked without hesitation, taking a stance that showed they didn’t care if their allies died.
“Hmm….”
The vault being robbed was one thing, but that alone didn’t explain such a tight defensive line and these reckless attacks.
Even if I did steal from nobles, this response was definitely excessive. Besides, it was obvious I wasn’t carrying the stolen goods.
“And they aren’t even saying anything like, ‘Hand over the goods.’”
They should be trying to find out about accomplices or something, but there was no semblance of procedure.
Are they planning to kill me and pull memories from my corpse? It wouldn’t be that difficult for those who deal in black magic.
“So that’s it. It has to be.”
That massive vault I robbed last. And the documents with Prometheus’s name on them.
They were definitely after this.
“The last vault.”
A few of the knights flinched.
“Hand it over.”
Wow, after all this chasing, the first thing I heard was “Hand it over.” I’m deeply moved. Not even a ‘please’ or anything. A bit blunt, aren’t we?
“You guys… you don’t know what was in that vault, do you?”
This was my conclusion.
***
As soon as Hattie Shaw heard the news from Lubeck, she mobilized all her resources to uncover the truth. She was also curious about just how much he had managed to steal.
“That madman…! Pwahahaha-! To think he actually robbed the Lubeck Central Bank’s underground vault. He’s truly insane. Absolutely out of his mind!”
Of course, she could have waited for Kratos to contact her, but as the head of an intelligence organization, she had to demonstrate her capabilities, didn’t she?
She didn’t know how much Kratos had stolen, but a portion of those assets would surely flow to the intelligence organization she ran.
“Hmm… I suppose I’ll have to start dealing in stolen goods.”
Besides, there would undoubtedly be a mountain of loot that couldn’t be easily converted to cash.
With the White Mercenary Corps, the Holy Kingdom, and Rzhev already by Kratos’s side, expanding her business domain to secure a firm position was the natural next step, wasn’t it?
“We have intel.”
At her subordinate’s urgent report, Hattie Shaw snatched the fluttering paper and began to read.
“Hee hee….”
Barely suppressing her laughter, she handed the paper back.
“Spread it across the entire continent. Arsène Lupin has returned, and he’s made a massive score at the Lubeck Central Bank’s underground vault. The nobles’ vaults, at that.”
It seemed some nobles were already aware the bank had been robbed, but many more were not.
In that case, shouldn’t she kindly inform them? Inform all the nobles of the continent that their assets had been completely cleaned out.
Good news should always be spread far and wide, and quickly.
***
“Do something to fix this-! The nobles are calling day and night; our work is grinding to a halt!”
“Why in the world would an Arsène Lupin from decades ago suddenly reappear now!”
In the Imperial Palace’s conference room, all sorts of people who ran the Empire’s affairs had gathered, shouting at the top of their lungs.
“What was the Central Intelligence Bureau doing! Failing to detect such an important matter beforehand!”
“…”
These were not your average nobles. They were the so-called pillars of the Empire. From the Chancellor to the ministers of the interior and finance, to Ludwig Brandt, who held sway over the military and the Central Intelligence Bureau.
“The Lubeck Central Bank, robbed! What in the world was the bank doing! That important underground vault!”
“Damn it! We never should have entrusted the bank entirely to those mere moneylenders!”
“Hmph-! Mere moneylending! Are you unaware that this Empire runs on that money?”
Rough words flew back and forth chaotically. The ashen looks on their faces suggested their own assets had been stolen as well.
Of course, he understood, as even the high-ranking nobles were facing immense resentment from their subordinates. Still, Ludwig found the current situation quite disagreeable.
“We are barely managing to stop the nobles from reporting this to His Majesty the Emperor.”
“Everyone is on pins and needles. It’s not just a few coins; the entire underground vault was cleaned out in such a short time. Does that even make sense?!”
Ludwig slammed his fist on the table and roared.
“How dare you even consider reporting such a trivial matter to Him!”
His Majesty the Emperor had ascended to godhood, yet the mental state of these nobles beneath him was still rotten to the core.
There was so much to be done, yet they were obsessed with their own trinkets.
This rendered meaningless the Emperor’s sacrifice of ascending to godhood to lead the Empire down the path of eternity.
“Without the nobility, there is no Empire! It is also important to guide those who are still unenlightened.”
“Then will the Minister of the Interior inform the god of this matter himself?”
At those words, looks of difficulty and awkwardness appeared on several faces, and the room fell silent.
They didn’t want to say it themselves, so they were asking him to do it for them.
It was enough to make him sigh, how pathetic these men who had accepted the demonic energy of the Seven Deadly Sins, like Ivan Pons, had become.
“We will certainly catch him. For the crime of throwing the Empire into chaos. However, are there not one or two matters just as important as catching him right now?”
Solidifying public sentiment through the monster waves spreading into the interior. The issues with Rzhev, the mercenary corps, and the Holy Kingdom, not to mention the spy within the Central Intelligence Bureau.
There wasn’t just one or two things to worry about.
Besides, the most important matter for the Central Intelligence Bureau right now was in the Southern Mountains.
“Please focus on your own duties. There’s the antenna problem, and none of you are unaware of what the Holy Kingdom, Rzhev, and the mercenary corps bastards have conspired to do.”
Ludwig sighed and admonished the people before him.
“Furthermore, with the Demonic Realm in its current state, let’s think about our future. The trinkets before your eyes are not what’s important now. Coax and soothe them by any means necessary. If that doesn’t work, threaten them or use other methods.”
Then, the conference room door opened, and an aide entered and whispered to him.
“The last underground vault has been breached.”
Ludwig Brandt’s expression hardened for a moment before he relaxed it and rose from his seat.
“What?! That door?”
He had never imagined that vault could be breached. It was a door that wouldn’t even budge, let alone open, by any ordinary means.
If it were possible, they would have opened it themselves long ago, but the door was far too sturdy.
How could one open that ridiculously strong door, which could block even a Sword Master’s aura with nothing more than a small scratch? That’s why he had been complacent.
Strange incidents beyond his control were erupting everywhere.
“And the culprit?”
“The pursuit team was annihilated. Meion Decker is in pursuit.”
“Useless bastard. And I put him in charge because I thought he was competent.”
Of course, Meion Decker had only just been appointed as the bank’s director today, but there was no one to speak up for him.
“Capture him, no matter what. And find what was inside that vault. Dig into the mercenary corps and the Holy Kingdom.”
“I’ll get on it immediately.”
For the rosy future of this Empire, there was nothing he wouldn’t do. If anyone stood in the Empire’s way.
He would eliminate them without hesitation. People like that could simply be replaced with new parts.