Chapter 106
Chapter 106
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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 106
Chapter Title: 33. Phantom Thief Phantom (2)
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3.
Phantom Thief Phantom.
Stories about him were so plentiful that they could wear out the throats of Maple World storytellers.
“Phantom Thief Phantom is the ultimate romantic thief. He knows what romance is, and he knows what justice is.”
And most of those tales brimmed with praise for Phantom Thief Phantom.
They were all good stories.
That was only natural.
Thieves were usually the ones pointed at with disdain.
“The greatest thief who stole Maple World from the Black Mage’s grasp!”
But as one of the six heroes who saved the world from the Black Mage, the people of Maple World had no right to criticize anything he did.
“Maple World’s finest heartthrob. Overflowing with humor and charm.”
On top of that, Phantom Thief Phantom was laid-back, humorous, and slyly cheeky.
That was why so many people said it.
“If you had a chance to meet one of the six heroes, nine out of ten would pick Phantom Thief Phantom.”
That he was the hero they most wanted to meet.
And now, that very Phantom Thief Phantom stood before El Pam’s eyes.
“El Pam, huh? Nice to meet you. But let’s get one thing straight first. I’m not Phantom Thief Phantom.”
Phantom Thief Phantom denied it outright.
Of course, anyone could see it was a joke. The sly grin peeking from beneath his mask was proof.
“Looks like you’ve got the wrong guy. Well, see you around.”
With that grin, Phantom Thief Phantom waved.
He made a gesture as if he were about to leave the place.
All the while expecting something.
‘He’s messing with me.’
He expected El Pam to feel flustered.
But El Pam didn’t feel flustered in the slightest.
If anything, a chill ran down his spine.
He knew why.
He knew that Phantom Thief Phantom was a nightmare to the Black Mage’s followers.
And El Pam knew.
He knew just how vicious the Black Mage’s followers were, and that their nightmares had to be far more cold-blooded and chilling than anyone could imagine.
It was exactly like that right now.
‘To gauge me.’
Phantom Thief Phantom wasn’t joking around simply because of his playful nature.
He was testing the waters, measuring his opponent by their reaction to his antics.
And if he judged that El Pam was up to no good, Phantom Thief Phantom would kill him without hesitation in that instant.
‘He hasn’t regained his former power yet.’
The one stroke of luck for El Pam was that Phantom Thief Phantom had lost his power.
It wasn’t just Phantom Thief Phantom, either.
Of the six heroes who sealed the Black Mage, all but the deceased Fried had lost their powers.
‘Because of the Black Mage’s curse.’
Before being sealed, the Black Mage had cursed them all to lose every ounce of their strength.
That was why Phantom Thief Phantom was running this test now.
If he still had his full power, he wouldn’t need to test anyone—he’d handle it himself.
Even accounting for that, though, Phantom Thief Phantom was a monster.
‘If we were on the same circle level, my odds of survival would be about thirty percent.’
Even El Pam found it hard to calculate his chances.
That was no small thing.
El Pam was the Last Adventurer.
Even at his peak, his skills and survival instincts surpassed any other adventurer.
Yet even he couldn’t dare boast of his exploits before the six heroes.
Above all, El Pam knew.
‘You can’t hide from Phantom Thief Phantom’s eyes.’
He knew that Phantom Thief Phantom saw a different world in his gaze.
Lies didn’t work in front of those eyes.
“You’re not as flustered as I expected.”
That was why Phantom Thief Phantom kept prodding.
“Do you know me, by any chance?”
The longer the conversation dragged on, the higher the chance of a lie slipping through.
“I know you well. There isn’t an adventurer in the world who doesn’t know Phantom Thief Phantom.”
“Really? We’ve never met before? I feel like we have.”
“I’ve never had that honor.”
“By the way, how did you know there was trouble outside? That I’d pulled something like this?”
“I didn’t.”
“You didn’t?”
“I was just fully prepared.”
“I see.”
El Pam wasn’t lying, of course, and a smile crept into Phantom Thief Phantom’s eyes at the fact.
“Wow, you’re thorough. I like that.”
His lips curved into a smile as he showed his goodwill toward El Pam.
“Alright, you pass. An adventurer like you can handle anything I throw at you. Oh, one more thing I want to ask.”
It was goodwill that felt good just to hear.
“What’s your connection to the Black Mage’s followers?”
Then that goodwill flipped to hostility in an instant.
Hostility sharp as a dagger to the heart the moment their eyes met.
That was the final test.
But it was no issue for El Pam.
“I hate them.”
He had no need to lie.
“More than anyone else in the world.”
At El Pam’s words, Phantom Thief Phantom’s violet eyes cooled.
In that moment, Phantom was a bit surprised.
‘It’s the truth.’
Surprised that what El Pam said was true.
Of course, it wasn’t just surprise at him hating the Black Mage and his followers.
Plenty of people in Maple World gnashed their teeth at the mention of the Black Mage.
To be more precise, there were far more who didn’t follow the Black Mage than those who did.
No reason to be shocked.
‘More than anyone else in the world.’
But El Pam had said he hated the Black Mage more than anyone in the world.
‘Right in front of me.’
In front of none other than Phantom Thief Phantom, one of the six heroes who had sealed the Black Mage.
‘Whoever this guy is.’
That was why Phantom was convinced El Pam was hiding something.
But he didn’t ask.
‘An adventurer like this is worth doing business with.’
What mattered most to Phantom was that a adventurer who confidently claimed to hate the Black Mage even more than he did stood before him.
“That’s an answer I like. Mind if I ask one more question, in that spirit?”
That was when Phantom Thief Phantom posed the question.
“Do you know Sung Wol?”
El Pam tilted his head at the question.
“Isn’t he one of the six heroes?”
It was a name impossible not to know.
“Yeah, that’s right. You know him well. Very well.”
Phantom Thief Phantom nodded at the reply before speaking.
“Alright, you’ve passed the test. Time for the real talk?”
With that, Phantom cut straight to the chase.
“Let’s make a deal. Do me a favor, and I’ll reward you.”
He proposed a deal.
“You know I’ve got plenty to offer, right? So the reward will be satisfying.”
The sweetest, most valuable deal in the world.
An offer impossible to refuse.
El Pam’s response to the proposal was this.
“There’s an item I want.”
“Oh?”
Phantom brightened at the answer.
“Good thing. Makes this easy. So, what item do you want? Name it. If I don’t have it, I’ll steal it for you.”
“I need fragments of Astrafe.”
“Fragments?”
“All three, if possible.”
The moment he heard the proposal, Phantom flashed a sly smile.
“Well, well. Don’t tell me you found one? Even I couldn’t track them down after searching everywhere.”
“It was good luck.”
“Fine.”
In that instant, Phantom accepted El Pam’s proposal.
“Three it is. What do I care? I couldn’t use them anyway.”
It was outrageous.
Each fragment of Astrafe that El Pam mentioned was an incredibly powerful item.
Possessing just one maximized the power of lightning-attribute magic—every single one was a legendary-grade item.
And he was handing over three at once?
An enormous reward.
An offer only someone like Phantom Thief Phantom in Maple World could make.
But El Pam didn’t react with surprise to the proposal.
He knew.
“As long as I deliver what you want.”
That it wasn’t free—it was a trade.
“And what I want is…”
4.
The secret chamber within the Mysterious Pyramid.
“Ugh.”
Among the adventurers sprawled out in that space, the first to regain consciousness was none other than Pyr.
The moment he came to, he jolted upright in shock.
He looked around.
“Ah.”
Seeing the sight before him—everyone still asleep—Pyr let out a long sigh.
‘We missed it.’
He had no choice.
‘The chance to meet Phantom Thief Phantom.’
He had let a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity—one he had longed for so desperately—slip through his fingers right in front of him.
‘I failed the final test.’
And at that fact, Pyr grew furious with himself.
‘I should have stayed alert. Until the very end.’
Phantom Thief Phantom hadn’t been wrong.
An adventurer should never let their guard down until the absolute last moment.
In the worst case, if Phantom Thief Phantom had used a poison that threatened their lives instead of sleep gas, they would all be dead.
That was when he noticed it.
Pyr spotted a letter at his feet and quickly read it.
The moment he saw the contents, he gritted his teeth.
Around then.
“Ugh!”
The others began waking up one by one.
“Damn it, what the hell happened?”
“Everyone okay?”
“Hey, wake up! Get up!”
“You all alright?”
Dibo, Kiri, Miner, and Ralph woke from their slumber.
And they all wore the same expression.
“We’re all alive, right?”
“There was definitely smoke.”
“This is insane. Who the hell pulls a stunt like this?”
They had just conquered the Mystic Gate, and now they were ambushed here of all places?
It was a situation where they might as well be in the afterlife.
They had every reason to panic.
There was one exception.
“Good thing.”
“Good? What’s good about it, Ralph?”
“At least we weren’t robbed. All our items are still intact.”
Ralph checked his belongings and regained his composure.
At his demeanor, Dibo and the others didn’t scoff.
Instead, they harbored doubts.
If someone put them all to sleep like this, there had to be an ulterior motive.
‘Our items are fine?’
But not only were their lives spared, even their possessions were untouched?
Then what was the point of knocking them all out?
The answer to that doubt came from Pyr’s mouth.
He spoke to the group, filled with questions.
“The one who released the gas was Phantom Thief Phantom.”
“What?”
“Phantom Thief Phantom?”
“Ah!”
The moment they heard it, everyone understood.
No one else but Phantom Thief Phantom could pull something like this and not raise an eyebrow.
“Ah…”
And soon, they all let out deep sighs.
“Right, Phantom Thief Phantom tested us with that final trial.”
Everyone falling asleep like this meant they had blown their chance to meet him.
“And we failed.”
It meant the connection to one of the six heroes they had so desperately wanted was severed.
For those who had come solely for that, the emptiness was beyond words.
“But Phantom Thief Phantom left compensation. A check for ten billion meso.”
Even an astronomical sum like that offered little consolation.
“You sure?”
Everyone but Ralph, that was.
In any case, they were all downcast.
“Ah, damn it. Who does this kind of crap?”
El Pam’s party was no different.
“Huh? We clear the Mystic Gate, and now we’re supposed to prepare for an ambush after? What a trash move from that thief guy. Total trash!”
Dibo and the rest had hardened expressions.
“Isn’t that right, Boss?”
And El Pam was among them.
“Boss looks shaken too, from that face. Of course he is—this is Phantom Thief Phantom going nuts!”
Of course, the reason for El Pam’s hardened expression was different from his comrades’.
‘What Phantom Thief Phantom wants.’
The deal’s contents were what had tightened El Pam’s face.
He had said he’d gladly give what was wanted.
‘Queen Areda’s death.’
If El Pam brought him the death he desired.
It wouldn’t be easy.
‘The moment she dies, the world falls into chaos.’
Killing her was one thing, but the instant she was assassinated, the Ariant Kingdom would plunge into unimaginable turmoil.
Normally, it would be an offer to walk away from.
But El Pam was different.
If anything, he was more obsessed with this proposal than ever.
‘If even he wants her life, there must be a damn good reason.’
When one of the six heroes wanted something, it had to be done without question.
That was why El Pam was lost in heavy thought.
That was when the news reached El Pam.
The moment Pyr and the others stepped out of the Mysterious Pyramid, a black camel approached them.
Cheryl rode atop it.
“Breaking news.”
She spoke.
“The Cygnus Knights have mobilized. To capture Queen Areda.”