Interlude) Dawn Before Infiltration, The Phantom Thief and The Magical Girl’s Meeting (1)

─The rumor that she was on a team with a Magical Girl was true… Let’s just pretend to search and leave. How are we supposed to catch someone that even the Sawblade Evil Eye can’t catch?

─The Seven Stars restricted the nobles’ authority, so they treat us like emotional trash cans. Fucking bastards… What are we supposed to do?

─Haa… Because of that fucking bitch Lupin, the employer is going to throw a fit again… Just you wait until you’re caught, I’ll cut off your limbs and just keep you pregnant until…!

─I really wish Seri Seri was Lupin. Then I think I could forgive her… Kikik… I wish she’d produce breast milk too. So I could squeeze it out like livestock while she’s lying down.

─Ugh, you idiot… Do you even know what you’re talking about? I heard Cafe Lapin is closing for over a month starting tomorrow?

…..

…

.

“…..Hwoo… They finally gave up…”

So persistent, so persistent…

The evening before the Black Rose Infiltration Operation, a considerable amount of time had passed since the prison raid incident, so the deadline for the Human Rights Fee payment for the people in the city’s outskirts must be approaching.

Ciel said that Magical Power would only be supplied to the Rebel Army, so I don’t know if other team members also share their Magical Power, but seeing several people being dragged to prison, it seems that’s not the case.

Cafe work has been so busy lately… Especially today, when Miweol announced a few days of closure, so many people flocked in that it might have been the day with the highest sales since opening.

“It’s really gotten strict…”

Even if I’m not used to it, I survived thanks to the new equipment…

As I sat perched on a rooftop and imagined a gun, a handgun appeared in my hand. It was Ciel’s invention.

The functions of the wire gun I used in the past were built-in, and the magic bullets were more than enough to deal with small monsters.

I haven’t been able to try the equipment I received recently… but I don’t really want to use it. How am I supposed to put something like that in my eye…?

“Miweol is going to scold me terribly…”

Although my hoobae-nim was against it… I helped some people who were going to join the Klaus Rebel Army and also regained my senses, so I robbed a noble’s mansion for the first time in a while and escaped.

I knew it was dangerous since the laws regarding Magical Girls had become aggressive… but it’s super tough…!

The Magical Phantom Thief Suit… If it weren’t for the armor coated with my Magical Power, I might have ended up like the guard said, an onahole with severed limbs.

And that’s only if I was lucky; a barrage of bullets was a given, they’d shoot fireballs, and they’d even modify an entire room into a trap just to catch me…

Moreover, an Evil Eye with rotating sawblades instead of wings… It was almost enough to make the docile perverted individual that used to enter my cleavage seem somewhat endearing.

Swoosh-

“Is there no mirror function…? Ah, as expected, it’s on my face…”

I had no injuries, but bumping into debris while escaping the flames was the problem. When I rubbed my cheek, which had been hit by burning wood, black charcoal dust came off.

My suit automatically repairs itself with my Magical Power, but scorched marks don’t get repaired, so if I go home, I might have to kneel and beg for forgiveness for an hour…

I want to wash off the sweat too… The pursuers seem to have gone back, so I’ll just drop off the items and head straight back.

“Hoo-tcha…!”

As I climbed down from the roof and placed the Magical Power cylinders and money envelopes at each house, my shoulder didn’t ache like last time.

The Transformation Bracelet can store other materials besides suits and equipment, so it’s possible to move at the same speed as before stealing without feeling the weight of the stolen items.

…How did my past self not get caught? Miweol helped me, but I always seemed to escape by the skin of my teeth… Dying was still the same, but the fact that I broke through security alone was amazing.

It was a crazy thing to do… My hoobae-nim has every right to worry.

…….

“Eutcha… This is the last one.”

As I placed the money envelope at the wooden house at the very edge of the outskirts, dawn slowly broke.

The wealth gap really is severe… It’s quite something that a cafe located in front of the station in the city center and a wooden building, however slightly built, exist in the same country.

I brought a lot, so there won’t be any worries for a while… Would it be impossible to go back quickly and wash secretly? I have a feeling they’ll be awake before I get back…

Kiiik-

“…Phantom Thief unnie?”

“Ah… Long time no see. Did I wake you??”

“N-no, I didn’t. I wanted to wake up early today.”

As I turned to leave, a small girl opened the door and came out, seemingly woken by my presence.

I had put a bit more money and a Magic Cylinder into the child’s house, so a blue light peeked out from the opening of the money pouch.

“Wow… It’s so pretty… Can I really take all of this?”

“Yeah, it’s fine. I brought it by telling the Monster ahjussis my name.”

…Stealing isn’t exactly “fine,” but I can’t let even these children be dragged off to prison, can I?

Guld… that purple bald man. He claims to be somewhat humane, but looking at his actions, he seems no different from the other Seven Stars.

Hmm… I don’t remember seeing any children when I went to prison… Are they being kept separately? Raising them until they’re adults and then extracting their Magical Power-

‘If that’s the case… it’s no different from livestock.’

They talk about eight hours of Magic Extraction work as if it’s a normal routine, but they have to follow it regardless of their will. It’s no different from a hen in a poultry farm.

Just like Miweol saved me… I can’t let the people in the outskirts be dragged into such a hell.

“Thank you… Phantom Thief unnie. I want to give you something… Oh, eat this.”

The child, dragging the money envelope, went inside and came out with a chocolate bun.

“The Monster ahjussis gave it to me to eat. Unnie, please have some.”

“I’m fine. I ate a hearty meal before work. You or your parents should eat it.”

“I already ate… It’s for Mom and Dad, but they haven’t come back yet… I think it might spoil if it sits any longer, so I’ll give it to you.”

“Ah… When did they leave?”

“About… four days ago.”

The child’s smiling face quickly turned gloomy.

Left? When I secretly came last time, they seemed to have a good relationship… They didn’t seem like people who would abandon their child just because they couldn’t pay the Human Rights Fee.

They were a couple who were arguing, saying that one of them would go to prison first and asking the other to take care of the child… And they left?

It must be one of two things.

Either they have a side to them that isn’t what I saw as parental.

Or they were victims of the Black Rose Kidnapping Incident that I heard about during the strategy meeting… Personally, I hope it’s the latter.

“…Let’s share the bread.”

I leaned against the door, sat down, cut the bread I received from the child in half, and handed it back to her.

The child squatted beside me, savoring the taste as if it were delicious… Had she been very hungry?

People in the outskirts are too busy looking after themselves to have the luxury of helping others… Every time I realize this is the reality for invaded humans, it leaves a bitter taste.

Even if I’m a target of public ridicule on community posts or an idol-level prospect, even if I’m a Phantom Thief who strikes fear into the hearts of nobles.

Klaus… I tried to ignore the reality that human life wouldn’t change unless we won against the Monsters, and handed the rest of the bread in my hand to the child who was looking at it with sparkling eyes.

“What are your parents’ names?”

“It’s ■■■ and… ■■■…”

“What did they look like the last time you saw them?”

“Ahjussis in black suits came to our house, took pictures of Mom and Dad who were angry, and then they all left together.”

“…A camera?”

“Yes… I was in my room so I didn’t see it, but I definitely heard the shutter sound, and a light flashed inside the house. It must have been a camera.”

Three days, though it might be a short time, would feel like an eternity to a child longing for their parents’ embrace.

“Mom… Dad… They didn’t abandon me, did they… unnie?”

Seeing the child with empty hands, as if bread alone wasn’t enough for her growing age, I stood up.

The Human Rights Fee given to this house was for three people… Now there’s only one child, so there will be money left over, but if a child carried a large sum of money in the outskirts, where the public safety level rivals that of London during the Industrial Revolution, it would surely be taken by others.

“…You’re very hungry, aren’t you? Hide the envelope well in the house until the ahjussis who came for the money arrive, and just wait a little. I’ll buy you something delicious.”

…

“It’s really too far…”

Even the nearest supermarket is a thirty-minute run… Would spaghetti be enough?

There’s an Interview for the Black Rose Infiltration in the evening, so it should be fine as long as I get back before then… I also contacted Miweol, so I’ll probably get less nagging… For now, I’ll just focus on feeding her until she’s full.

Knock-knock-

“I’m here~”

………?

Why is there no answer?

The child’s house. The child who would quickly come out at the slightest sign of presence, wasn’t coming out.

A momentary puzzlement turned into anxiety, and as I realized what kind of place this was again, I found myself grabbing the doorknob and rattling it.

At the same time, the window… My gaze was caught by a flash of light that spread like lightning from inside the dark house.

‘Ahjussis in black suits came to our house, took pictures of Mom and Dad who were angry, and then they all left together.’

Did Black Rose come for her? To take the child too?

“Those bastards… No matter the times, you don’t do something like that to a child…!”

Before I knew it, I was holding my handgun and had fired a magic bullet at the doorknob, and with the thought that it might be irreversible, I aimed the muzzle forward and rushed into the house.

Towards where the hot air was felt, and the red light was spreading…

…Heat? Red light?

More than that, there’s a delicious smell too…

“Seriously… Are you trying to starve to death? Didn’t I tell you to call me anytime you’re hungry?”

“Unnie, you’re having a hard time these days… People are desperate to catch Magical Girl-nim, you know.”

“Anyway, those ungrateful idiots… Now, kids who are still growing shouldn’t worry about such things and just eat. I’ll never lose, so don’t worry about useless things.”

Delicious, golden-hued egg fried rice was placed on the plate.

The person who was making it was none other than…

“Uh… Mera?”

“You… Why are you… here?”

It was Mera, the Scarlet Magical Girl, wearing an apron, with her fiery red ponytail as her charm.

True to her epithet, ‘Scarlet Flame,’ her face was flushed red.