[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
Chapter 247: The Great Thief Kreutzel
I laid the unconscious Diamando and Gilbert neatly on the floor.
"They're sleeping soundly."
I looked at Gilbert's face and recalled the techniques he had used.
'He was just like a wildcat or leopard.'
An extremely agile and sharp assassination sword style.
Like my own special techniques, the Shadow Flowing Phantom Sword or Moon Dance, it was the kind of sword technique that would catch you off guard if you didn't know about it.
"But to my eyes, it's so familiar it's nauseating."
Bringing out a special technique right from the start - that complacency determined your defeat.
'It also means he has no hesitation when it comes to killing people.'
I remembered my past life's final moments, suffering while being chased by bastards like this.
"Suddenly I'm getting pissed off at this fucker."
Slap!
I smacked Gilbert's cheek for no reason, then crossed my arms.
"...Hmm." seaʀᴄh thё NovelZone.fun website on Google to access chapters of novels early and in the highest quality.
It wasn't to suddenly create atmosphere.
After numerous experiments, I found this posture was most efficient when using my enhanced perception. You could call it a posture that aids concentration.
Of course, I don't know what Kreutzel's aura feels like. However...
"Good, they're moving."
I confirmed that Reinholdt, Knut, and Siena had started moving in one direction.
'Then it must be that the thief called Kreutzel or whatever has been watching this entire scene from somewhere, realized the situation isn't looking good, and is now fleeing.'
If so, this was exactly the moment I had been waiting for.
"Shall we begin?"
Bang!
I fired Gilbert's signal flare into the sky, then quietly erased my presence.
'It would be good if they exhaust their strength fighting each other.'
But judging from the fact that during all this chaos, not a single person had entered this office...
The rabble that Diamando hired with money would have trouble handling the underworld organization members.
The only useful ones were already dealt with by Siena and me earlier.
'You only knew how to throw tantrums and collect money, but couldn't properly train your own people.'
A man like you isn't called a great merchant, Diamando.
* * *
The man known as the kingdom's greatest thief.
Kreutzel was now making a desperate escape across Gruenewald's underworld.
'Damn it, they're right on my tail.'
And that pursuer was a master who ranked among the top twenty in the entire kingdom.
'This is getting tiresome, damn it.'
It wasn't enough that someone of Valkenhain's Grand Commander's caliber was chasing him across this great distance just to catch him - now the person was right behind him, unleashing demonic fighting spirit and delivering deadly slashes.
Screech!
As slashes swift as a diving hawk flew toward him, Kreutzel mixed illusion magic with high-speed movement magic to shake off the deadly pursuit of the sword eagles.
'And here I change direction at a right angle.'
Kreutzel used his intuition, experience, and imagination to modify his escape route on the spot.
Crash!
The slashes he barely avoided by a hair's breadth shattered walls and floors.
'Wow, that was really close.'
Kreutzel performed acrobatic flips and used magic to change his position, then hooked a rope to a spire and pulled himself up.
"There he is!"
But following Siena's voice, another slash flew toward him.
Swoosh!
Kreutzel's body, sliced by the attack, disappeared like mist.
"Damn it, another illusion!"
Siena cried out in frustration, but Reinholdt remained unshaken and checked the pendulum's direction again.
"...Behind us."
There was a seagull flying through the night sky to escape.
"Wow, that slippery bastard."
Siena clicked her tongue.
"We continue the chase, Siena."
"Yes sir!"
Siena had reached the limits of her stamina just from assisting beside a master whose level was so high she couldn't even comprehend it.
"Huff, huff!"
Siena exhaled roughly.
'Damn it, I’m about to collapse from running.'
"Are you alright?"
"I'm fine."
"Don't overdo it."
"...I can't afford to."
As Siena caught her breath again, Reinholdt nodded and shot toward the seagull with his movement technique.
"Just maintain enough distance so you don't lose sight of me."
His gaze was fixed on the seagull's form flying low across the black sky before diving down into the alleys below.
"Deception, decoys, illusions... In the realm of escape alone, he's truly first-rate."
The seagull-shaped Kreutzel flew low to avoid the slashes, then returned to his original form and disappeared into the alleys.
'Phew, it's complex here, good for escaping.'
Kreutzel cast concealment magic and hid among the crowds.
'These maze-like tangled alleys are truly a thief's paradise.'
However, the intruders in this labyrinth were no pushovers either.
'Reinholdt is one thing, but who the hell is that other guy?'
The 'other guy' he was referring to was certainly not Siena.
'His presence feels just like a beast.'
Knut was pursuing him quietly and persistently like a cunning predator hunting prey.
While Reinholdt drew attention by launching slashes, Knut blocked Kreutzel's escape routes and surrounded him.
'Just like a deer bleeding as it runs across snowy fields, and the wolves chasing such a deer.'
He had tried escaping using all sorts of skills, acrobatics, and magic, but shaking off those wolves wasn't proving easy.
'It's because of that damn tracking scent.'
No matter what he did, he couldn't erase the tracking scent.
'How the hell did they make it? I'd like to learn that too.'
That wasn't the only problem.
In the distance, underworld lackeys were also tightening their encirclement.
There truly seemed to be no hole through which to survive.
'...I'm completely cornered like a trapped rat.'
Kreutzel thought as he struggled to suppress his labored breathing.
'How did it come to this?'
He fingered the pouch in his coat.
It was a type of spatial pouch - an artifact that could store fairly large objects when unfolded.
Inside it, of course, was Valkenhain's secret treasure, the Ebony Oath.
'This is why I didn't want to steal something like this...'
But he had no choice.
The reason he took this commission, and the reason he caused all this trouble to raise the price after taking it, was only one thing.
'I need money.'
An enormous amount of money at that.
* * *
Because of the signal flare Allen shot up, Diamando's subordinates had to face an attack from the underworld without understanding why.
"Attack! It's an attack!"
"What the hell are you bastards doing out of nowhere!"
"Draw your swords!"
However, the capabilities of both sides were incomparable from the start.
"Damn it, wait a minute!"
Diamando's guards, who were being helplessly overwhelmed, threw down their swords and shouted.
"Even if we're going to get beaten, let us at least know why! Why are you all suddenly going crazy?"
The men in black paused their swords momentarily.
"...Are you really asking because you don't know?"
"Fuck, I'm telling you we don't know!"
They too had sense enough to realize something was strange.
"Take us to Diamando. We need to know Master Gilbert's whereabouts."
The man who stepped forward as the underworld's representative spoke in a cold voice.
"Damn it, fine. We've been confused about what's going on ourselves."
Shortly after, they discovered Diamando and Gilbert lying unconscious side by side.
"D-Diamando sir!"
"Master Gilbert has been defeated? That's impossible..."
The representatives from both sides, who had been flustered, made eye contact.
"...Listen, do you know whose work this is?"
"How would we know what happened in your own stronghold?"
The man in black spoke in a chilly voice.
"It's not for us to judge. Of course, it's also not something people of your level could accomplish."
"Right. So for now..."
"Until we get to the bottom of this, you'll need to immediately disarm and follow our control."
"What? Listen, that's ridiculous..."
Shing!
The man in black who instantly drew his sword informed Diamando's guard.
"Drop your weapons. Next time won't end with just words."
"!!"
The guards, who had already felt the difference in skill to their bones, obediently put down their weapons.
"Pathetic bastards."
As Allen had worried, Diamando's faction was suppressed with ridiculous ease.
"...This is no ordinary matter. Whether it was Kreutzel or a third force that took down Master Gilbert, I don't know."
The man in black muttered.
"We need to secure things quickly before more rats smelling opportunity gather."
The problem was just how many people in this underworld could so easily subdue Gilbert.
'...Could Gruenewald have intervened?'
In this situation, that was the most reasonable suspicion.
* * *
Kreutzel's oldest memory was of himself learning tightrope walking in the cramped, worn tent of a traveling circus that wandered throughout the kingdom.
"This kid has a natural sense of balance, doesn't he?"
"Seems fearless too. Usually they're busy crying when they fall, but this one gets more stubborn instead."
Among the women who managed the circus's livelihood and the elders who had grown too old, Kreutzel grew up learning all kinds of acrobatics and skills.
"Now that you're eight years old, it's time you started earning your keep."
"Just leave anything to me, ringmaster."
"Hehe. Sharp kid."
The circus master made Kreutzel the new face of the circus.
"Did you hear that story? This circus has an amazingly agile kid who's great at acrobatics?"
"Oh really? Shall we go take a look?"
Kreutzel, who could spin several times in the air with just a rope and fearlessly perform thrilling and daring moves that would make spectators' hearts skip a beat, quickly became the face of the circus.
"Sisters, please have some of this."
"How can our Kreutzel be so thoughtful?"
"Hehe."
Moreover, thanks to his caring nature toward everyone, there was no one who disliked Kreutzel.
That caring nature and meddling brought Kreutzel an opportunity.
"But grandfather, what's that shimmering thing like a mirage?"
"What? Kreutzel, you can see this?"
"I can see it."
"...Come here and sit down for a moment."
That day, Kreutzel became a mage's apprentice.
"Well, this is the finest talent I've seen among apprentices."
And he also learned that he had considerable talent.
"It's unfortunate. If you had been born into a prestigious family or clan, or even just an ordinary household, you would already be part of a magic tower walking the proper path of magic."
"What's the point of regretting something that can't be undone? I think I'm lucky enough as it is."
"Kid, you've got some nerve."
"More importantly, master, I've been thinking of an acrobatic magic..."
"Hmm? Haha! All you have in your head is acrobatics."
Young Kreutzel incorporated the magic he learned into acrobatics and grew into the most famous acrobat in the region.
"Sir knight over there? Is this perhaps the wallet you had in your coat?"
"Ah? When did you..."
"Hahaha! I'll return it to you. If you close your eyes and hold out your palm like this, the wallet will magically..."
"Wooooah!"
Performances where he would steal spectators' belongings with incredible skill, hide them, then return them while playing tricks were especially popular.
...However, childhood happiness didn't last long.
Traveling circuses fundamentally belonged to the bottom of society.
The harassment from those who claimed to offer protection while extorting money, and from passersby who would get drunk, cause trouble, and pick fights, gradually became too severe for Kreutzel to bear.
And that day was particularly unlucky.
"Those clown bastards have been noisy. Make them shut up since they're ruining the taste of my drink."
"Please sir, please understand. We're just trying to make a living, so we have no choice but to..."
"Fuck, where do these trash clown bastards get off talking back?"
"Aaaaah! They stabbed someone! Someone help!"
"Haha, who's going to help bottom-feeder trash like you? Just kill them all!"
The ringmaster died meaninglessly. Countless people were massacred.
"Run away, Kreutzel. With your skills, you won't starve anywhere you go."
"But master!"
"Though I may be an old, talentless mage, I still have the strength left to drag all those bastards to hell with me. So you take care of the people who are left."
"Master, no!"
"Shut up! Go quickly!"
That day, Kreutzel learned how efficiently a mage's killing intent, prepared for mutual destruction, could slaughter humans.
...And what kind of power had awakened within himself.
"Kreutzel, what do we do now?"
"We have some money saved up, so first we'll use it to buy a carriage and hire mercenaries. Let's take this opportunity to go to a quiet village and establish our base there."
"But what if those guys suddenly turn on us?"
"That won't happen. ...I've already become stronger than master."
Kreutzel, who suddenly found himself responsible for feeding a dozen or so women and children, hardened his resolve like a sharp blade.
"I won't do circus work ever again."
"Then what should we do? Should you become a mercenary?"
"...There's a better profession."
They say you are what you learn to be. Kreutzel made use of the skill he was most confident in.
"Have you heard of a man named Kreutzel? They say there's nothing he can't obtain if you just commission him."
Kreutzel became a thief. And not just any thief, but the kingdom's finest first-rate thief.
[Translator - Pot ]
[Proofreader - Kawaii ]
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