The Twilight Wing's Weakness
I'd been pulling all-night watch for a week straight. I knew well enough that waiting on a guest who might never show was tedious work, but this was genuinely miserable. A homeowner sitting up for a night visitor. If Arme didn't drop by our house, the whole thing would be a colossal waste.
Knowing the strategy guide didn't mean I knew the future. I was already an irregular who'd twisted fate badly out of shape, so whether Arme would rob my house or not was still an open question.
Am I just putting myself through hell for nothing?
I'd gone to considerable trouble to get a surprise gift ready for her. It would be a shame if all of this simply... passed us by. I checked the time. Sera was already nodding off. A week of this had worn her down too — a more brutal grind than dungeon crawling. Luna, on the other hand, held her watch in the same impeccable posture as on day one.
Nights were probably easier on Luna than days. Her title was Hated Moon — a modest boost to every stat except Intelligence after dark. A power worthy of the Moon Tribe.
All stats except Intelligence receive a modest increase at night.
"...I believe I heard something."
Luna frowned as she said it, still holding her post. It was just about to turn eight. Far too early for a night visitor — but this was precisely when Arme began her work in earnest. Dusk, with the sun gone and twilight settling in: that was her showtime. If she was going to appear, it would be around now.
"It doesn't sound like insects... though I can't be certain. I'll go outside and check."
"Do that. Be careful. Arme isn't the kind of thief who hurts people, but you never know."
"I do hope the one making that sound is our thief."
Every previous "sound" had turned out to be crickets or a stray cat, so she didn't seem to be getting her hopes up. Luna went out to look around, and I shook Sera awake as she sat there drooping.
"Hwaaah~! So sleepy... Master, this is way too boring."
"Can't be helped. We've no idea when that cute little cat might pay our house a visit."
"There's already a cute kitty right here~"
Sera lifted both hands to face height and mimed a cat throwing little paw-punches. The cute act was enough to get me hard. If the situation had been even slightly different, I'd have buried myself in her on the spot.
"Huh? Was that footsteps...? Ah! Master!"
Sera pointed at the stand where the dual blades were supposed to be. The pair of swords that should have been sitting there was gone. In the brief span of our conversation, Arme had paid us a visit. At the same instant, the front door of the house slammed shut with a heavy thud.
"Master! I believe the intruder has entered!"
Luna, just coming back in, bolted the front door tight.
"Over there!"
Sera pointed at the ceiling. A human-shaped figure, dark from head to toe like a culprit from Detective Conan, clung to it — a small sack slung across its back.
"That's the thief!"
The black figure vanished from sight at staggering speed. Every door leading out of the house was locked down tight, but for Arme, picking them would take less than ten seconds.
"Buhihit! Welcome to my home. This is a gift I prepared especially for you! Catch!"
I hurled a wooden box with everything I had at the fast-moving black shape. The figure dodged it with insulting ease. Not that I'd thrown it to hit her.
"So it was a trap after all. But this is amateur hour. You really thought you could catch me with a stupid trap like this? Give me a break."
A strange voice spilled out of her — impossible to tell if it belonged to a man or a woman. A skill for concealing her voice. Essential kit for a thief like Arme.
"Ah! Master! That's—!"
Sera pointed at the wooden box I'd thrown and cried out. Something black was writhing out of it, just as dark as Arme herself. The shape of it looked like a rippling shadow.
"Hn?"
Arme saw the black something crawling from the box. Then she sprang into the air as if she'd bounced off a pogo stick.
"KYAAAAAAAH! Cockroaches! KYAAAAAAAAAH!"
She screamed loud enough to shake the house and foamed at the mouth. They were cockroaches I'd paid the city's vagrants to collect. A swarm of them, clustered so densely they'd looked like a writhing shadow. In moments they scattered to every corner of the house.
"KRAAAAAAH~!"
Arme twisted her body like a pretzel and promptly fainted. The skill she'd been using released on its own, and the black darkness cloaking her vanished.
Underneath was a purple-haired girl in a skin-tight stealth bodysuit. She stood maybe 154 centimeters, small in frame as she was in height — an adorably petite little thing. It was a look that hardly matched the title of master thief. And yet this was the very thief who had made the wealthy of Coulon tremble in their beds.
"Huh? What's with this one? She freaked out over some cockroaches?"
Sera poked at Arme, looking genuinely curious. Apparently cockroaches didn't bother her in the slightest. Luna didn't look particularly startled either. Frankly, I was a little disgusted myself. It had been necessary to catch Arme, but releasing a swarm of cockroaches in my own house had still been a significant personal sacrifice.
"We won't be able to stay here until this place is cleaned up. We're moving. I've already reserved rooms at an inn."
Arme's weakness was cockroaches. It was a gimmick the game never let you forget. Talk to her at any point and you learned all about her phobia. She'd even claimed she hadn't fled the slums because of poverty — she'd fled because of the cockroaches. If she could ask a god for one wish, she'd wish for every cockroach on earth to go extinct.
Even the setting materials listed cockroaches, in no uncertain terms, as the thing Arme hated most.
The gimmick cropped up in dungeons now and then, too. Run into a cockroach-type monster and she became completely unable to act. Of course, cockroach-type monsters barely existed in dungeons to begin with, so the whole thing had the feel of an Easter egg. For the record, Arme was indifferent to every other kind of insect. Cockroaches alone made her lose her mind. Something must have happened when she was a child.
Capturing her with cockroaches had been the right call. We bound her tight and brought her to the inn I'd reserved. I'd booked three rather expensive rooms — not because Luna, Sera, and I wanted our own, but because it would be a problem if Arme's screams reached anyone else. Three adjoining rooms, reserved together. What I was about to do to her was very likely to involve a great deal of loud screaming.
"Sera. The moment dawn breaks, go to Mr. Cesco's alchemical general store on East Street. He sells a lot of chemicals that are excellent for pest extermination. Use those and clean the house until it's spotless."
"Yes, sir~! Leave it to me!"
I'd just finished telling Luna and Sera what to do in the morning when Arme stirred, swallowing a groan, and came around.
"Nnngh... Where... is this...?"
She looked around with a dazed expression, then realized she was bound and started thrashing. But even a thief as skilled as Arme couldn't move in a situation this thoroughly locked down. Both hands were tied behind her back, both feet bound tight, and she was sitting in a chair — with a rope wrapping her torso to the chair on top of that. A binding so complete it would take me ages to undo even if I wanted to.
"Nngh! Shit! What the hell is this!?"
"Buhihit! Sleep well? You've got a filthy mouth for a young lady."
"Damn it! What kind of bastard ties up a lady this roughly?"
"You want to call yourself a lady after slithering in through someone's back door in a skintight bodysuit? What an amusing little kitten. Buhihit!"
After a few attempts at escape, Arme seemed to realize it was hopeless and gave up resisting. But the light in those glittering purple eyes hadn't died. She looked at me with venom in her gaze.
"How did you know I was weak to cockroaches?"
"Who knows. I don't see any reason to tell you that. And you're not the one asking questions right now. I am."
I stood and walked toward her. Perhaps the approach of an ugly, fat man was enough to intimidate her — her face twisted and she tried to shrink back. Of course, bound as she was, the chair just scraped against the floor with a dull rattle.
Fear, contempt, and despair, mixed in just the right proportions. A truly appetizing expression. The kind that woke the sadist sleeping in me. A face like that would turn even a Buddha into a sadist.
"What's your name?"
"...Cora."
I slapped her across the cheek. Not a full-power swing — a blow of moderate force. That didn't mean it was playful. Arme's head snapped to the side, a vivid red handprint blooming on her skin.
"Tsk...!"
Arme glared at me, eyes full of poison.
"Lies won't do you any favors. I'd like you to take this situation a little more seriously. I'll ask again. What is your name?"
"Fuck, I'm serious! It's Cora!"
This time it was a double slap — one on the way out, one on the way back. Both her cheeks flushed a burning red.
"Don't test my patience. Your name?"
"Fine! Fine! Dolores. It's Dolores!"
"Interesting. A slap or two isn't enough to make you tuck your tail, is it? Luna!"
"Yes!"
Luna walked around behind Arme and brought her hands to the girl's chest. In that skintight bodysuit, Arme's chest barely protruded at all — almost like a man's.
"Hey... what are you..."
Luna drew a knife across the chest of the bodysuit and sliced it open. Even fabric with excellent elasticity was helpless in front of a blade. She grabbed the cut edges and tore them apart, exposing Arme's chest wrapped in bandages.
A washboard chest, befitting a thief who slipped through tight passages for a living. A pathetic empty field compared to Sera's ample bust. Sending Sera on that errand had been a wise choice.
"Eek! What the hell are you doing!?"
Luna cut the bandages without a hint of hesitation. There was no dramatic reveal of swaying D-cups. Arme glared at me, her face burning with shame.
"Ohohoho! What a magnificent chest."
At my sarcasm, she ground her teeth, trembling with rage.