Ch.223223 – A Heart Not Taken Lightly

<223 – Not a Light Heart>

The slush fund of the Ceviche Duchy wasn’t hidden in an abandoned warehouse on the docks or in the middle of a deserted island.

What if a typhoon came and washed away the assets, or if the slush fund was stolen without anyone knowing?

It’s better to entrust valuables to a place guarded by trustworthy people or organizations.

“That’s the place. We just need to enter the guild, give the password, go into the vault, and retrieve the items.”

Arcadia pointed to the guild from the corner of a nearby building.

Giselle nodded, thinking it was a clever storage method, but she also harbored some doubts.

“Why are we watching from here? Why not just go in and retrieve it?”

“Because there are watchers. They don’t know the password, but they’re positioned to monitor when any family member comes to withdraw the slush fund.”

“Hmm. That’s troublesome.”

“There’s one more problem. I only know part of the password.”

“What? Then why did we come here without a plan?”

Arcadia wasn’t a fool either.

She had a plan.

“Do you see them? Those two pot-bellied men sitting in the restaurant in front of the guild.”

“I see them.”

“They’re watchers too. And where the watchers return to, there’s a Ceviche family retainer who carries part of the password, ready to move the assets stored in the guild elsewhere in case of emergency.”

“So we need to grill that retainer, I see.”

“That’s right. If he tries to attack me with any strange ideas, please help me.”

She was using Oknodie and Giselle as bodyguards to accompany her to the negotiation.

Giselle the merchant and Oknodie the top student.

Not a bad combination for achieving her goal.

Giselle could help with persuasion.

If things went south, Oknodie could help with force.

But Oknodie didn’t seem to like this plan.

“There’s no need for that. There’s a much simpler way!”

Arcadia and Giselle’s eyes filled with bewilderment as they heard Oknodie’s plan.

* *

Oknodie asked, looking at the tin cans lined up making clanking noises in their armor.

“How do I look? Do I look like a holy knight now?”

“Not at all. The armor is too rusty, and your posture is sloppy.”

Giselle critically pointed out the flaws.

She had no choice.

Those tin cans were the core of the operation.

“Did you hear that? Bank robbery is all about angles and polish. Quickly clean up your armor and fix your posture!”

“…Wasn’t the little lady’s plan to lead a fake holy knight unit, attach heresy charges, and use evidence confiscation as an excuse to extort the slush fund and escape?”

“That’s right.”

“Since when were holy knights bank robbers?”

For some reason, Oknodie was extremely angry, waving her arms around and shouting wildly.

“Holy knights are thugs! Even if you do chain quests for them, they slash your compensation in the name of faith, they have so many taboos that they’re always saying you can’t do this or that, and if you want to learn any skills, they charge you like highway robbers!”

This child, has she actually met real holy knights somewhere?

The question lingered only briefly.

If it’s the Wiheomhae Foundation, it’s possible.

She found herself accepting this explanation.

“Do it properly. Whatever Oknodie’s anger toward holy knights might be, you’re the ones going into the field. If you actors fail in your performance, you’ll be attacked in the middle of the guild.”

“Ah, don’t worry about that.”

“That’s right. We have our pride too.”

“Even if those bastards catch on… gack!”

Oknodie struck the helmet of one of the tin cans who was showing inexplicable confidence, making it ring.

“You mean you’re confident you won’t get caught at all, right?”

Just try saying no.

I’ll lay you down next to the guy who just passed out.

The tin cans trembled and nodded at the glaring Bulnoknodie’s threat.

“Who are these people anyway?”

“Does it matter? The operation is already about to begin.”

“Sigh. You’re right. Let’s just pray we get through this safely.”

“I’ll go to the bathroom one last time.”

Giselle calmed Arcadia in front and encouraged her to focus on the operation, but in the bathroom, she asked her informant who had entered earlier:

“Are they from the Foundation?”

“Yes.”

“What’s their level?”

“They’ve tasted steel. They have decent skills and are somewhat dirty-handed. Most have 3rd-tier level skills, and their leader is at 4th-tier level.”

“I understand. Please continue monitoring and stand by for reinforcement in case of unexpected incidents.”

4th-tier. A measure of strength.

This comparison might sound vague in numerical terms, but it’s actually simple.

The “Garden of Gods” at an altitude of 12,500m.

Commonly known as Mount Shinjung.

It means they have the skill to routinely navigate up to the 4th layer, where survival conditions become more challenging every 1,000m.

Giselle knew someone with 4th-tier level skills.

Son Ocheon had reached that level around the time of the Academy entrance qualification exam.

Oknodie had achieved 5th-tier level performance at that time, one level higher than Son Ocheon.

It might sound insignificant compared to Oknodie at enrollment, but that’s only because Oknodie was too strong from the beginning. Usually, being at Son Ocheon’s level is already impressive.

Adventurer’s Guild.

Cooperatives.

Mercenary groups.

It’s the level of skill and career that would qualify one to aim for positions like new manager, high-ranking executive, or senior employee in various organizations.

“Which religious order will you be impersonating?”

“The Full Body Mark Order!”

“The order that teaches ‘How to Use Holy Magic Without Faith’?”

“That’s right! They’re all bad guys.”

“Hehe. Indeed. Lord Andersen condemns the viciousness of that lecture every time.”

“How should we imitate the holy knights who believe in the Full Body Mark?”

The one who appeared to be the leader among the tin cans asked.

Oknodie’s answer was simple and clear.

“Act like you have anger management issues!”

“……”

* *

Until they stormed the guild, Arcadia, Giselle, and the tin can helpers all had their doubts.

“The knights of the Full Body Mark have arrived! Evil heretics, are you prepared to end your lives?”

“Gasp!”

“No, we’re not heretics!”

“Silence! We know full well that heretical sacred objects are hidden in this building, how dare you play dumb!”

Is this right?

Is this really right?

Half-doubting, they shouted like section chiefs, broke things, and intimidated people, and before they knew it, the storage room was opened.

The tin cans’ anger management disorder acting also played a significant role in the theft.

“Did this bastard say he’d open the vault or not? You want to come with us? Want to try jumping onto a burning ring?”

“Yeah, yeah, keep moving slowly. By the time you finish a 720-degree aerial swing, we’ll have put you through 720 hours of training, and then you’ll move real quick.”

“Oh? You’re putting your hand on the external communication device? Play with your hands and you’ll experience the full course of putting your hand in an alligator’s mouth with pepper powder, chili powder, and magic stone powder exploding!”

Strangely circus-focused but specific and realistic threats!

The guild employees who were stalling for time until support arrived from the domain had their morale thoroughly crushed by these circus threats.

“Why are these holy knight guys so desperate to make us do circus acts?”

“I don’t know. They’re crazy.”

“That’s just how the Mark warriors are.”

Due to their notorious reputation, even when they only chose to do outrageous things, it was attributed to their order. Meanwhile, Arcadia signaled from the storage room.

“I’ve retrieved everything. Let’s go now.”

“Please wait a moment. This guild seems to store slush funds from other families besides the Ceviche family. How about taking those as well?”

“We don’t have time to linger. Even as we speak, soldiers from the lord’s castle will be rushing here.”

Giselle used her merchant’s eye to quickly sort out the valuable items.

“Let’s go.”

They successfully escaped from the guild, but tails began to follow them from a distance.

One group was the Ceviche family’s watchers, and the other was trackers sent by the guild that had lost its items.

“They don’t seem willing to let us go easily. If we can’t shake them off now, we won’t be able to change clothes and use the teleportation magic circle.”

“It’s fine. These people will take care of it somehow. Right?”

When Oknodie tapped her foot and urged an answer, the tin cans sighed deeply and nodded.

As they scattered in all directions, the trackers split up, allowing the three to leisurely increase their distance.

* *

The tin cans were, of course, the Pierrot Mask Gang.

Oknodie.

The Foundation’s top scholarship student.

The one who slaughtered the branch manager in an instant.

A person receiving teachings from the former hero Destroyer.

The circus members didn’t dare to disappear or rebel against her call.

Who knows if they might face Destroyer’s subordinates next time and be swiftly disposed of if they defied her?

“Did you all discard the armor?”

“Running in that stuff drains all your stamina.”

“Those Ceviche family trackers, unnecessarily agile. Even harder to shake off than the guild’s security personnel.”

The Pierrots decided to flee in different directions to disperse the enemy’s pursuit as much as possible.

Oknodie had made a somewhat reasonable distribution.

She gave each fleeing person one item stolen from the storage room.

If they escaped safely, they could make a big profit.

With hope for the future, they became that much more desperate in their escape.

“Arghh!”

“Aaaah!”

Hearing the screams of their comrades, those who hadn’t been caught felt relieved.

They’re not chasing after me.

However, as time passed, the screams kept increasing.

One clever masked man, just in case, threw his loot under a nearby tree and climbed to the top of a nearby tree to watch below.

“It’s here.”

“Under the tree.”

“Did he hide the loot and run away?”

“Search later. Find the others first.”

“Lucky guy.”

The guild security officers threw out a few words and moved away.

The Pierrot mask realized.

Oknodie hadn’t given them the loot for nothing.

She had intended to use them as sacrificial lambs.

Her vicious skill made his teeth chatter.

The previous branch manager was better.

Whenever he indulged his greed, he gave them a small compensation as hush money.

Oknodie didn’t even do that—she just scattered tracking-spelled loot for them all to die with.

‘If I want to live, I need to follow those people.’

Thanks to running with all his might, the Pierrot mask was able to reach the teleportation station where the spatial movement magic circle was placed.

Trudging along, trying to gather his tattered clothes, he was about to enter when Giselle, who had come out of the building first, called him into an alley.

After hesitating briefly, the Pierrot mask followed him.

“Oknodie used us as disposable pawns. Did you know?”

He thought it was a needless thing to say.

But he couldn’t hold back.

If they were in cahoots, he was a dead man anyway.

But what if they didn’t know about the true nature of Oknodie, that despicable new master?

Then he could get back at Oknodie.

If he could plant distrust in these people who were close enough to go on such secret adventures together, it would be a way to make them pay for their hard work.

Burning with revenge, he blurted it out, and Giselle showed a surprised expression.

“I had no idea.”

“Don’t be fooled. That child’s true nature is far more vicious than what you’ve seen at the Academy.”

“Lower your voice. This way.”

Giselle beckoned to the Pierrot mask.

Thinking she wanted to whisper, he approached, and a wire wrapped around his nape.

Surprised, he grabbed his neck and struggled, but it was already impossible to remove the wire wrapped around his neck.

“When I said I had no idea, I meant I didn’t think you would assume I didn’t know that fact.”

The discernment of a black market merchant is not so light.

Similarly, Giselle’s affection for Oknodie was not light enough to be shaken by such a fact.