episode_0076

“Sepia-nim, what should we do now?”

“Wouldn’t it be better to just walk around and ask the villagers?”

Sepia took a bite of the sandwich she had picked up earlier and said.

“That’s too inefficient. How about we do this?”

“Huh? How?”

“Like this.”

To attract people’s attention, I created an illusion of a giant teddy bear several times taller than me.

[Anyone who knows anything about Phantom Thief Cardinal, please come this way!]

A cute voice repeatedly emanated from the teddy bear.

When a giant teddy bear appeared in the middle of the village, nearby people stared at it with surprised eyes.

“This way, won’t people come to us even if we just walk around the village, instead of having to go around asking?”

“It’s embarrassing, walk away!”

As everyone around them stared, Sepia seemed embarrassed. She shouted at me and started running to get away from me.

“Let’s go together! Sepia-nim~!”

I called out Sepia’s name as she ran away and chased after her.

“Don’t shout my name!”

“If I don’t call Sepia-nim ‘Sepia-nim,’ what should I call you?!”

[Anyone who knows anything about Phantom Thief Cardinal, please come this way!]

And the giant teddy bear waddled after the two of us as we ran.

“It’s a teddy bear, isn’t it cute?”

“It’s only cute if it’s moderately sized! That’s too big!”

Perhaps because people they’d never seen before were shouting and running around the village, or because the giant teddy bear was waddling along.

The more we ran, the more gazes were directed our way.

Sepia, perhaps realizing that continuously running away would only draw more attention from the villagers, grabbed my hand and pulled me to a corner.

“Quickly, get rid of that first!”

Sepia pointed a finger at the waddling teddy bear.

“I worked quite hard to make that, you know.”

“Hurry!”

[Anyone who knows anything about Phantom Thief Cardinal…]

I stopped the illusion, and the teddy bear made a sound before disappearing.

“Seriously, because of you!”

“Still, now that we’ve said that, won’t at least one person come?”

“If it were you, would you go talk to someone dragging around such a suspicious teddy bear?”

“Won’t they come out of curiosity, at least?”

“Haaah…”

Sepia sighed, seemingly frustrated, but honestly, from my perspective, it wasn’t good for someone who had seen Phantom Thief Cardinal to come.

“…They went in here, right?”

“That’s right, but are you really going to talk to them? They look suspicious at first glance.”

Someone walked toward me and Sepia. Judging by their voices, they seemed to be children.

“There they are.”

“I saw Phantom Thief Cardinal!”

A child looked at me and Sepia and said.

But there weren’t any children among the people who saw me back then.

“Could you tell me when you saw him?”

“A week before Cardinal infiltrated the Baron’s estate, I clearly saw him sneak into the estate with my own two eyes!”

A week ago, you say…

I first came here on the day I stole the drugs from Baron Ashro.

It seems this child mistook someone else for Phantom Thief Cardinal.

Just as I was about to give them something to eat and send them away.

“Are you even sure the person you saw was Phantom Thief Cardinal?”

“Not exactly… but they were definitely wearing black clothes with a strange symbol on them!”

I paused, hearing the child’s words.

Black clothes with a strange symbol.

Could it be…

“It looks suspicious at first glance. If that person wasn’t Phantom Thief Cardinal, there’d be no reason for them to sneak into the estate.”

I wanted to ask about the symbol the child saw in more detail, but since Sepia was next to me, I didn’t.

Few in the Empire knew that the Necromancer was still alive.

Sepia would eventually fight the Necromancer for revenge, but with Sepia’s current power, knowing more about the Necromancer could actually be more dangerous.

So, I casually agreed with the child, gave them something to eat, and sent them away.

After parting with the child, Sepia and I went around asking other villagers, but we didn’t get any particularly useful information.

The time we arranged to meet the special class students would be soon.

“Should we start heading back now?”

“Yes, ah!”

To Sepia, who was suggesting we go back, I spoke as if something had suddenly come to mind.

“Why?”

“When I was eating the sandwich with Sepia-nim earlier, I think I left something behind. I’ll go get it quickly. Sepia-nim, please go on ahead.”

“Should I wait here?”

“It’s fine. Others might be waiting, so please go ahead and tell them, Sepia-nim.”

I told Sepia and immediately ran further into the village.

Running through the village and looking around, I found the child from earlier.

It seemed they had parted ways with the other child, as this one was walking alone.

“Huh?”

“I’ve come back to ask you something quickly.”

I got straight to the point with the surprised child.

“Was the symbol on the clothes perhaps this kind of symbol?”

Hoping it wasn’t, I created an illusion of the skull symbol that represents Death Heaven and showed it to them.

“Oh? That’s right.”

“…I see.”

The person the child saw probably wasn’t the Necromancer.

It was probably a subordinate of the Necromancer.

If the person the child saw was truly the Necromancer, this child would already be dead.

After admonishing the child not to tell anyone else, I walked towards where the special class students were waiting.

“Why are you so late?”

“I was a bit late because I was looking for something. Did you find out anything about Phantom Thief Cardinal?”

“No, we didn’t find anything particularly useful. What about you?”

“I also didn’t get any particularly helpful information.”

As we were debating what to do next.

Baron Ashro himself came to tell us that dinner was ready.

Normally, such tasks would be assigned to servants, but since there was a Marquis, a Duke, and even royalty present, Baron Ashro acted personally.

“I’m fine, I already had a sandwich earlier.”

Naturally excusing myself from the dining table, I entered the room assigned to me.

-Swoosh.

Confirming that no one was around, I took out my communication device.

And made the call.

After a short while, the face of the person I called appeared on the communication device.

“Your Majesty.”

[I believe you are currently on a mission. Has something happened?]

Normally, I would exchange simple greetings before starting a conversation, but as it was a serious matter, I immediately got straight to the point.

“I think I know who provided the drugs to Baron Ashro.”

[Who is it?]

The Emperor said, his eyes chilling, after hearing my words.

“The Necromancer. It seems they were the ones who supplied the drugs to Baron Ashro.”

[Is that accurate information?]

When the word ‘Necromancer’ left my lips, the Emperor furrowed his brow.

“One of the villagers saw someone wearing clothes symbolizing the Necromancer entering the estate.”

[Is there a possibility that information is false?]

“No. The person who saw it was a young child, an ordinary child born and raised in this village.”

[…………………]

The Emperor seemed lost in thought for a moment.

He said nothing.

He was probably pondering how to handle it.

If he were to capture Baron Ashro right now, he might completely miss the Necromancer.

Not capturing him also posed its own dangers.

“Your Majesty, I have a good idea.”

However, for the idea I just had to translate into action, several conditions were needed.

“Does Professor Alicia-nim know that what Phantom Thief Cardinal stole from Baron Ashro were drugs?”

[She knows.]

With this, almost all the conditions were as good as met.

Because Professor Alicia was the most important part of my plan.

“Your Majesty, the Necromancer themselves might not be near Baron Ashro, but a subordinate certainly will be.”

There’s no way the Necromancer would remain still after having their drugs taken.

There’s also a possibility they’re hiding nearby without Baron Ashro’s knowledge.

[…Surely not.]

Perhaps guessing my plan, the Emperor looked at me, his eyes slightly widened.

“If Phantom Thief Cardinal, who stole the drugs, reappears, do you think they’ll be able to stay still?”

* * *

I don’t know how long the mission will last, but for now, we all decided to sleep at Baron Ashro’s estate today.

Even if he was a noble in a remote region, a noble was still a noble.

He had an estate large enough to provide each special class student with their own room.

‘I’ve already told Professor Alicia. It’s about time to make my move.’

Having just finished talking with Professor Alicia, I secretly slipped outside.

Now all the conditions required for the plan were met.

“You’re watching from there, aren’t you?”

As I murmured to myself into the air, two figures cloaked in shadows appeared before me in the empty space.

Before ending the call with the Emperor earlier, I told him that I might need his shadows who were monitoring Baron Ashro, and the Emperor readily agreed.

“I’m counting on you.”

“”………………””

They bowed their heads without a word.

Just like last time when I stole the drugs from Baron Ashro, I disguised myself as Phantom Thief Cardinal.

“Shall we go see what kind of reaction Baron Ashro will have if I reappear with the drugs?”