Ch.131Chapter 131 – Strange Decisive Battle (5)

“Who’s there?”

“………”

“Why isn’t there an answer?”

Gil the Reaper, who was about to move while carrying Adler in a princess carry, looks the figure blocking his path up and down before speaking.

“Judging by your unusual attire, you don’t seem to be from the knighthood…”

“…Ah.”

At that moment, the intruder raises the corner of their mouth and quietly speaks.

“Well, well, if it isn’t the princess of the British Empire~”

“…..Hmm?”

“My, I’ve blocked the path of such an esteemed person without recognizing you…”

As she raises her voice to shout, murmuring voices begin to be heard from behind.

“Was that just now… deliberate…?”

“But you know, Princess.”

As Gil the Reaper asks with a slightly displeased expression in this situation, the girl touches the monocle she’s wearing while giving a sweet eye-smile.

“The item you’re currently holding actually belongs to me.”

“That’s an interesting statement you just made.”

Hearing those words, Gil the Reaper’s eyes begin to shine with interest.

“…I’m not an item.”

“Why would this be yours?”

“The two of us have a bit of history. And I prefer treasures with stories rather than expensive ones.”

Adler’s dissatisfied voice echoed between them, but the conversation continued, completely ignoring him.

“I have a story with him too.”

“…I don’t think this jewel should be wasted on the impulsive luxury of a childish princess.”

At that voice mixed with laughter, Gil the Reaper began to stare at the intruder with a menacing gaze that ordinary people wouldn’t dare to meet directly.

“You really have an interesting way of talking.”

“Ah, that’s the second most common thing people say to me right before I take their treasures.”

“Then what’s the first?”

But without backing down, the girl looks at her with a playful smile and answers in a low voice.

“…Are you Arsène Lupin?”

“Ha, I thought so.”

Finally realizing the identity of the intruder before her, Gil the Reaper lets out a cold laugh and shifts her gaze to Adler in her arms.

“Did you seduce the infamous lady thief in advance too?”

“No. I really didn’t do anything.”

“…Really?”

“Well, um…”

Adler, who was protesting with a genuinely wronged expression, falls into thought for a moment after hearing Gil the Reaper’s cold questioning.

“I just gave her a ring she was trying to steal, wrapped as a gift with a cute doodle letter, nothing else.”

“What?”

“Oh, and I did take her first kiss too… but that was more like something done to me…?”

After a moment, Adler, who had been speaking with a bright expression, eventually seemed to sense something odd himself and began to trail off slightly.

“Why are you leaving out the part where you beat me so badly I still have bruises?”

Lupin slightly lifts the gentleman’s suit she was wearing to show the blood bruise still on her stomach, giving a cold smile.

“…Didn’t you say you didn’t do anything?”

“…..Hehehe.”

“So giving a ring as a gift and stealing a first kiss, then beating her until she’s bruised is nothing to you?”

Gil the Reaper, who had been muttering to Adler in her arms with a serious expression for a moment, soon looks ahead with a puzzled expression.

“But why is she here to rescue you?”

“Um…”

“Shouldn’t normal people dislike someone who hit them?”

Then, Adler whispers in a low voice while looking at her.

“Actually, she’s not here to rescue me, she’s here to kidnap me too.”

“Ah.”

At that, Gil the Reaper nods as if finally understanding to some extent.

“But I still don’t quite understand something.”

“What is it?”

“…Do French people refer to someone who beat them up as a ‘jewel’?”

But as she becomes confused again, Adler answers in a kind voice.

“Oh, that. It’s because she’s a masochist.”

“Maso… chist? What’s that?”

“…How do you feel when you stab someone with your knife?”

Gil the Reaper tilts her head for a moment, lost in thought at that gentle appearance.

“A tingling sensation runs through my body and my breathing gets rough. Afterwards, I’m filled with the desire to stab again and again.”

“A masochist feels that way when they’re being hit.”

“What? That’s a lie.”

Hearing those words, Gil the Reaper trembles as if she’s seen a disgusting insect and mutters.

“How can someone feel that way while being hit? Isn’t that mental illness?”

“…That’s rich coming from you.”

“That’s harsh.”

While Adler timidly protests at that reaction, Lupin continues to step forward with a still relaxed expression.

“I never said with my own mouth that I get sexually excited from being beaten like a dog by a man, so such slander…”

She trails off and begins to look dazed.

“…What’s going on?”

“Huh? What?”

“What are you doing right now?”

Only then did she see the blood flowing from Adler’s chest and Gil the Reaper twisting the knife she had stabbed into Adler’s chest.

“I’m killing Adler.”

“……..”

“This is actually quite fun despite appearances. No matter how much I kill him, he doesn’t die.”

Meanwhile, Gil the Reaper begins to calmly explain the situation.

“…But can you see this?”

Her pupils glow darkly.

“I’ve covered the surroundings with shadows so most people shouldn’t be able to see…”

“I was wondering why a princess would appear in such a dangerous place…”

Similarly, Lupin’s eyes become serious, all playfulness gone.

“…Looks like you didn’t come here just relying on your power?”

“Hehe.”

A cold silence begins to linger in the walkway for a moment.

“But, whatever your identity is, isn’t it dangerous to reveal yourself like this here?”

“Yes, it’s dangerous. I don’t want to throw away the identity I’ve maintained for decades.”

In that silence, Gil the Reaper quietly begins to emit killing intent.

“I don’t like killing girls…”

“Do you like magic shows?”

– Chrrrrk…

As her knife is pulled out of Adler’s chest, gleaming in the moonlight, a deck of cards begins to emerge from Lupin’s arms.

“…Um.”

Adler, who was sweating nervously watching the tense situation, uttered one sentence.

“Could you let me go first…”

But before those words were finished, a thunderous sound began to echo through the walkway.

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“Hmm…”

A few minutes after the battle between Gil the Reaper and Arsène Lupin broke out.

“…I wonder how the situation turned out.”

Adler, who had been crouching and hiding in a bush located in the outskirts far from the entrance to the walkway where the fight took place, was looking around with his head slightly poking out while muttering.

“Since my vision has gone dark, it seems the avatar has already reached its durability limit…”

That’s right.

Surprisingly, what had been entering the park without escorts and making the gathered monsters drool from all directions was actually an avatar controlled by Adler.

“…But it’s too risky to go check in person.”

It was the main contributor that had brought Adler’s plan to make the monsters across England enchanted and destroy each other to the brink of success.

“The radio communication with Moran seems to have been cut off because of the royal knights…”

However, that didn’t mean everything was over.

“I wonder if there’s a safe way to check the battle situation…”

Because there was one more plan that was just as important as making the monsters fight each other and self-destruct.

[Thief’s Treasure: Get Kidnapped by Arsène Lupin]

“If Lupin loses, the situation will get complicated…”

That plan was to make progress on the only main quest among those received at the beginning that hadn’t advanced.

More precisely, it was to make Lupin victorious in this monster battle royale and get kidnapped by her.

‘…I guess I should go to the scene quietly even now.’

Therefore, Issac Adler decided to move himself, not his avatar which takes quite some time to create, despite the risk.

– Rustle…

“………?”

Just as he was quietly trying to get up, he hears someone approaching from behind.

“Wh-who…?”

“………”

As a result, Adler turned around with a frightened expression, wondering if there was a monster that had found his hiding place.

“Huh….?”

He soon quietly begins to tilt his head.

“M-master.”

Because there was a being who shouldn’t be here standing in front of him.

“What are you doing here?”

“…Miss Blaze?”

It was Silver Blaze, one of Adler’s three loyal servants, who was excluded from this mission because she was the only one with the height and build that Lupin could perfectly transform into.

“No…”

If that was the case, there was only one possibility.

“Miss Thief, you’ve already finished the fight, I see?”

“…What?”

Adler, who had quietly made his judgment internally, began to wag his tail, revealing cute canine teeth.

“Then will you kidnap me now?”

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‘…What did Master just say?’

Adler’s plan, which had been flowing almost perfectly despite the variable of Gil the Reaper’s appearance, began to go slightly awry from that point.

‘…Kidnap him?’

What was in front of him was not Arsène Lupin who had won the fight and come to him in disguise.

‘Kidnap… kidnap Master…..?’

It was Silver Blaze herself, who had been guarding the hideout alone and had come out for a night walk in the park where no one would be, to cool down her body which had heated up due to being in heat.

“…You won’t do it?”

‘……. ♡’

And her brain, which had momentarily frozen, was rapidly filling with hearts after hearing Adler’s timid voice.

“…D-don’t regret this, okay?”