Ch.11Chapter 11. Operation: Hourglass Heist (1)

Gently stroking her silver hair that seemed to glow even under the dark night sky, Erika looked up at the heavens.

It was that time when the sun had set, the sky had darkened, and the moon was about to take the sun’s place.

Erika was waiting for someone on a high rooftop, feeling the increasingly cold wind.

Someone who was her superior, her friend, and a person who absolutely could not miss today’s operation.

And someone who was habitually late.

‘Why is he so late…’

Erika slowly closed her eyes and checked for any presence around her.

She could clearly sense her subordinates positioned within a 1km radius around her, each holding their positions and preparing for the operation.

However, she could only sense her subordinates.

Wondering if she had given the wrong location information and he had ended up somewhere else, she checked again for any other presence besides her subordinates, but there was indeed no one else.

And when Erika opened her eyes again.

“Phew. I’m not late, am I?”

“… I told you to make some noise when you approach, seriously.”

“Wow, it’s been so long!”

“…”

Erika inwardly sighed at the man who seemed to pay no attention to her words, and began tying her hair.

Her friend, superior, and the key figure in today’s operation.

It was Ryuyeong, the leader of the Black Shadow Corps.

He was late as usual, but not so seriously late as to jeopardize the operation.

Though it annoyed her that he was always like this, what could she do? He was her superior and the leader.

Despite seeing the leader after a long time, Erika immediately got into operation preparations, thinking that he was still exactly the same as before.

“…Did you say it’s been a long time?”

“Let’s just finish the job first, okay? This is important.”

“Yeah, that’s true, but… hey. You’ve become so cold after not seeing me for a few months. You’re the captain, and I’m the leader?”

“Just cover your face already.”

“Sigh. You’re really heartless, truly heartless. If you heard where I just came from and what I was doing, even someone like you would be really surprised. Or maybe just dumbfounded?”

Erika naturally ignored Ryuyeong chattering beside her and pulled on the thin mana threads connecting her to her subordinates, giving them a signal.

The signal to start the operation.

“You know you’re late, right?”

“Was I really late? Hmm. I tried to get here as fast as I could.”

“So let’s do this properly, okay? Do you know how much I struggled to find this?”

“That’s why you spent so much money?”

“… But this one’s worth that much. You know the operation details, right?”

“Of course. So, starting with an explosion sound from the northwest…”

BOOM-

Before Ryuyeong could finish his sentence, a massive explosion sound came exactly from the northwest.

Erika and Ryuyeong looked at each other at the same time as the explosion, nodded, and then launched themselves in different directions—Erika toward the explosion and Ryuyeong in the opposite direction.

The operation had officially begun.

‘I was worried when I heard he was taking a break from work… but it was unnecessary concern.’

Erika thought as she leaped into the air.

Erika, the captain of the Black Shadow Corps’ First Division and known as the “Silver Tracker.”

As one of the founding members of the Black Shadow Corps, Erika had been worried when she heard that Ryuyeong, the leader, was taking a break from accepting jobs.

If she had had the time, she would have visited Ryuyeong in person, but she couldn’t leave her post as she was finally seeing the end of a job she had been working on for over a year.

And the Ryuyeong she saw after nearly half a year didn’t seem to need any worrying.

He was exactly as she remembered—full of mischief, instantly transforming the tense and heavy atmosphere with just his presence.

Erika had been feeling tense due to the importance of the operation, but the moment she saw Ryuyeong’s face, she felt her tension dissolve and her heart lighten.

Though his light-hearted demeanor sometimes made him seem frivolous, ironically, it made Ryuyeong very reassuring during operations.

Whoosh-

“Ah, I forgot to tell you. I came specially because of your request, you know?!”

“Hey, what are you—!”

Whoosh-

“…Oh come on!”

Erika tried to shout at Ryuyeong to focus when he suddenly appeared in front of her to say something, but he had already disappeared.

Snicker-

“Seriously.”

Though she complained verbally, there was a smile on Erika’s face.

Both from her intuition that today’s operation would succeed and thanks to Ryuyeong who brought a smile to her face in the field after a long time.

**

The reason I created an organization with the unusual name Black Shadow Corps in Arcaria was simple.

The most important reason was that it sounded “cool.”

Black Shadow Corps.

Just hearing it sounds impressive and meaningful, doesn’t it?

At first, it was a name I came up with without much thought, but the more I considered it, the more it matched the nature of the organization I wanted to create, making it a name I quite liked in many ways.

Also, “Black Shadow” somehow gives off the impression of something dark and inconspicuous, evoking the feeling of a “secret organization.”

Of course, when I first created the Black Shadow Corps, I wasn’t considering making a “shadow organization” or a “secret organization.”

In its early days, the Black Shadow Corps was closer to a typical mercenary group.

A very ordinary mercenary group that received requests from the Adventurer’s Guild or individual clients, solved them, and earned money.

The catalyst that transformed the Black Shadow Corps from an ordinary mercenary group to a somewhat “special” one was actually quite trivial.

It was because we completed a request that no one else wanted to take—”stealing a jewel from a ducal family”—too cleanly.

It was then that I first realized my ability to teleport without leaving any trace was very suitable for stealing things, and coincidentally, the skills of the early members were perfect for supporting me.

After this incident, gradually only secretive and confidential requests started coming to us, and as word spread, the Black Shadow Corps became known as a mercenary group that “handles matters too difficult to speak about openly.”

Since I didn’t particularly mind that direction, I just went with the flow, and before I knew it, the Black Shadow Corps had grown this large.

‘Erika is still the same.’

Erika, one of the founding members who created the Black Shadow Corps with me and the captain of the First Division.

Erika, whom I hadn’t seen in a long time, hadn’t changed much from when I last saw her.

Her cold voice grumbling while secretly caring and seeming glad to see me.

She was exactly as I remembered her.

If there was any change, it might be that she had lost weight or exercised, as her curved figure now drew even softer lines…

BOOM- BOOM-

My thoughts, which had briefly wandered elsewhere, began to focus as explosion sounds came from all around.

The reason I, who had officially announced through Addy that I was taking a break, came to the field in person was because this job was quite important.

The good news Addy had delivered recently.

It was news that we had found a clue to a request that no adventure guild had been able to solve, and that Erika had been working on for over a year, saying it was something she absolutely had to complete.

However, at the end of the report, it stated that the leader’s—my—help was needed to finish the job, which was why Addy had come to my office that night, wanting to show me the documents as soon as possible.

‘Finally, I get to see what this hourglass looks like.’

The request that had provoked the competitive spirit of the Silver Tracker Erika was relatively easy compared to other types of requests.

At least by my standards.

Compared to combat or raids, a request to find an hourglass containing what was supposedly either demon bones or angel bones seemed much safer, and once the location was identified, secretly retrieving it was easier than eating for me.

The item we needed to find was an hourglass filled with bone powder instead of sand.

I don’t know exactly what this hourglass is used for, but the client said it was a very important item that absolutely must not be damaged when retrieved.

With a request fee of 5 million gold, no less.

‘Okay. There’s one.’

And the reason I was needed for today’s operation was because even Erika couldn’t determine exactly where the hourglass was.

Simply put, our plan today was a diversion operation.

While Erika and the First Division drew attention in this space so large it could be called a “village,” I would search suspicious buildings to find the hourglass.

There were a total of two suspicious buildings that Erika couldn’t infiltrate on her own, and I had memorized their exteriors.

“What’s going on?”

“Someone’s attacking! Everyone, battle positions!”

“Who could it be…! Could the church people have noticed…?!”

“We don’t know yet. Just get ready!”

‘Hmm.’

Hiding on the roof, I eavesdropped on the urgent voices of people below.

Judging by their mention of the church, they definitely seemed to be some kind of shady organization.

‘Doesn’t seem to be here.’

Even without going inside, I could tell that no valuable item was hidden in this building.

If the 5 million gold hourglass were in this building, those guys wouldn’t have abandoned it so easily to run elsewhere.

‘So it’s not here…’

Whoosh-

As soon as I determined this wasn’t the place, I teleported to the rooftop of the central building where I had met Erika earlier.

There was only one building left.

The problem was that I didn’t know exactly where that building was.

“Over there!”

“Eliminate the intruders!”

“Charge!”

Unlike the silence from earlier, the area around the building where Erika and I had been standing was now in complete chaos.

Soldiers armed with various weapons were chasing our members dressed in black uniforms, and thanks to the earlier explosions, fires had broken out everywhere, turning this “village” into a complete mess.

Zap-

While hiding on the building and surveying the surroundings, I felt an intense mana wave from behind.

A mana movement much larger and more powerful than any of the battles taking place throughout the village.

About 350 meters away from here.

‘That’s it.’

I instinctively knew.

The place where the 5 million gold hourglass was located.