<..Hassan and the Nine-Headed Thief..>
153 – Hassan and the Nine Headed Thief #4
A sand girl, probably named Dorthea, screams softly.
“You are the last ninth thief!”
“What?”
“That’s the same scroll as mine. You shouldn’t be saying that here. Follow me…!”
Soon, Sand Girl Dorthea quickly disappeared somewhere. I don’t know what it was, but I thought it would be a good idea to follow her.
We left the store through the back door behind the employee break room.
“The moon is bright.”
She looked up at the night sky and then started climbing up the building, holding onto the walls, pipes, and railings.
Slurp, thump, thump.
Soon, a woman who had climbed up to the roof of the building looked down and spoke.
“What are you doing? You come up here too. No one will know here.”
Climbing up to the top of a two-story building with bare hands.
I would say he has great strength, or rather, he’s quite talented. There are things sticking out here and there that you can grab onto, but still, climbing up a building wall isn’t something that just anyone can do.
“Come on! If my brother finds out, I’ll get in trouble…!”
But she kept urging me on, so I followed her, feeling a bit lost, and reached out here and there to climb up to the roof of the building.
Thump, thump-.
There are many places to step and grab onto, so it’s easier to get onto the roof than you might think.
“It’s a bit slow, but it still looks like it has good strength.”
Sandgirl Dorthea looks at me like that and speaks to me as if evaluating me.
“What on earth are you telling me to come up to a place like this?”
This strange moonlit night ascent seemed to have completely washed away the intoxication I had felt just now. Did I come up to this rooftop just to see the moon? Are we going to do something good?
The sand girl’s slender belly, dangling jewelry, and slender, firm-looking arms and legs are so sexy that they seem to instantly tighten Juji’s muscles.
Of course, I know full well that what I imagine will not happen.
But my Juji is always hopeful, and it becomes stiff whenever there’s a chance. If being too healthy is a problem, then it’s a problem.
Anyway, I turned my gaze to the surrounding scenery to calm my stiff lower body. The western slums of Sodomora seen from the high rooftop were quite strange.
Buildings covered in tiles and plaster under the moonlight. Surprisingly, there are many structures with open ceilings, as they don’t even have proper roofs.
Still, my heart felt refreshed because my view was clear, and I felt better. Then Sand Girl Dorthea said.
“If you have a face you’ve never seen before that bears the symbols of the executives, does that mean you passed Big Joe’s test?”
The symbol of executives? Big Joe’s test? Keywords I didn’t know came into my ears one after another. I used my brain to the max to try to infer the context and meaning of the words.
“By Big Joe, you mean the masked man in the underground market? He’s quite large.”
“Yeah, the Titanium Lock Picking Test.”
“Aha. So are you by any chance an executive of the Thieves’ Guild or something?”
“That’s right. The eight scrolls are scattered all over the city, but somehow they ended up in my direction. What bad luck. Training new recruits is not my style.”
New employee training?
I don’t know what you’re talking about. Dorthea looked around and continued.
“Well, you’ve made it this far up onto the roof, so I guess you can do some simple wall climbing, and you’ve picked locks, so you’re probably pretty handy, too. Is there anything else I should know?
“
“Are you asking me now?”
“Okay, if you tell me what you don’t know, I’ll tell you. Actually, I’m not very good at teaching. I don’t know where to start teaching you.”
“I don’t know if I know less.”
“…That’s a bit. Serious. Why did Big Joe let this guy pass? Was he a thief in the first place?”
“I just had an interview with the Thieves Guild. Is this an interview for an executive or something?”
A woman who chuckles at my question and hits her forehead with her palm.
“No, what is it? Didn’t that guy Big Joe explain that to you? That guy hasn’t even tried to do his job properly since the leader changed.”
At my question, the veiled female dancer Dorthea growled angrily, as if she were grumbling to herself.
“You are now an officer of the Thieves Guild! Opening the iron bars was the test!”
“What the hell.”
“what?”
“No, I like it too much.”
Will there ever come a day in my life when I will have experienced all the high-ranking positions, such as executive positions?
The only high positions I’ve ever held were group task leader and bronze adventurer party leader.
Can we say that Hassan, who has always been a slave and a slave gladiator, has achieved success by becoming an executive?
But, of all people, I was chosen as an executive of the Thieves Guild, which is supposed to be destroyed soon after becoming an executive. What good would come of becoming an executive? So I decided to ask.
“Do being an officer in the Thieves Guild have any benefits?”
“Yes. Once you hand over that scroll, you can use many information dealers in the underground market for free!”
“okay.”
“Why is this reaction like that? This is so amazing!”
“okay!”
It seems like a really great thing to be able to use the information brokers in the underground market for free. So I decided to be purely happy. I don’t know what it is, but it must be good!!
While I was so obviously happy, Dorthea glanced at me. It was amazing to see a woman staring intently at my face and appearance.
Did he happen to notice that the gauntlets I was wearing were some amazing item worth 4 gold each?
“You’re quite large. Being large will be a disadvantage when working.”
“Is that so?”
“These days, high-ranking adventurers up here are making a fuss about capturing us. They’re even inviting high-ranking adventurers from other regions to come and help us, but we’re not the type of people who can be captured. But you’re so big, I think you’ll be captured.”
I’m being caught. If I had to be picky, I’d be the one who has to catch thieves.
But when I listened to the story, it seemed that the rumor was that Sodomora was going to crack down on the thieves’ guild on a large scale, and that the specific details were still kept secret.
Well, if you had known the details of that, you would have been very wary of me going to subjugate the Thieves’ Guild.
The fact that we live in a world where the Internet is not developed and the level of communication networks is backwards is also helpful in a way.
I decided to take advantage of the situation.
Dorthea then adds one more word.
“It’s hard to imagine you stealing something with your size. A Samaritan thief? Have you ever stolen something?”
Have you ever stolen anything? When I was in elementary school, I stole a lot of coins from my mom or dad’s wallets.
After I became a middle school student, I would sometimes take out large ten-thousand won bills and stuff. I got caught and got beaten up a lot. Anyway, if you have experience, you have it.
“Yes, there is.”
“…Hmm, I can’t believe it. I can’t imagine it at all. Alright. Then follow me. I need to see what you’re capable of.”
* * *
Sandgirl Dorthea jumped from roof to roof like a naughty cat burglar.
Whether it is because of his light build or his flexible body, he can easily move across the irregular roof without slipping a single foot.
But as I was running after that thief dancer, I felt like I was going to die. My feet would slip and fall between the roofs, and the roof tiles would break and it would be chaos.
I’m causing noise between floors. I feel bad for the people who are sleeping, but this is part of an undercover investigation, so there’s nothing I can do.
After running for a long time, Dorthea arrived near the guard office located near the west gate of Sodomora.
Due to the nature of the security guards working 24 hours a day, the office is quite bright with the flickering lights even though it is late at night.
Knock knock.
Sandgirl Dorthea, who came down lightly from the roof. She spoke as she looked around the corner of the alley with only her face slightly sticking out.
“The guards at the West Gate always carry a rope tied to their back pockets. I’ll steal it, so watch carefully.”
Dorthea’s eyes seemed to be constantly fixed on one armed guard who was yawning as he walked back and forth in front of the guard post. I also watched from the side.
Thud thud.
The pattern of guarding was as regular as a set one.
Dorthea must have noticed it too, because she took advantage of the guard’s turning around to approach the man while bending down at the waist and lower body.
She must have been wearing some kind of accessory that made a lot of noise, but strangely enough, we couldn’t even hear the usual footsteps as she moved in a low posture.
This is really amazing.
Is he really a leader of the Thieves Guild?
More importantly, Dorgo’s younger brother is a leader of the Thieves’ Guild. Dorgo, you bastard, you didn’t educate your younger sister properly.
While I was lost in such thoughts, Dorthea, the leader of the thieves, grabbed the rope tied behind the guard’s waist and snatched it away. Then, didn’t she slowly crawl back towards me?
Dorthea stretches out a long rope in front of me and drops it. The coiled rope looks like a curled snake.
“How about this? You should be able to do this at least to a basic level. Can you do this?”
Can I do something like that? To be honest, I don’t think I can.
But then, as if reading my thoughts, Dorthea added a few more words.
“If you fail to do this, I will expel you from the executive team at my discretion. I will also take away that scroll, and you will not be able to attend the executive team meeting tomorrow.”
“Is this the executive meeting place?”
“Yeah. This time, that old Hydra is going to get involved too, right? We’re going to do something really big tomorrow. Let’s steal something big and then stay low for the time being.”
I don’t know what it is, but it seems like the leaders of the thieves are going to gather together tomorrow.
If you know the place and its location well and inform Hippolyte, wouldn’t it be possible to wipe out their leaders in one go?
A raid on thieves.
A reward from the Count of Sodomora.
Health center.
A lot of points and a lot of leveling up.
Gold Tier Adventurer.
My happy married life with Luna, and Hippolyte who is proud of me. And Elfriede who looks up to me and gets angry.
In an instant, several pictures flashed before my eyes.
Starting out as an illegal alien, he became a successful man with a job, house, and wife that everyone envies. He could be called the dream of the Gaia continent.
Shit, I can’t miss this opportunity.
“Let’s just give it a try.”
“It’s nice to see you so confident. I wonder if you can hide that big body of yours so cleverly. Anyway, here, tie this rope back around that guy’s waist so he doesn’t get caught.”
I was told to return the stolen goods without being caught again. It was indeed quite a difficult task. However, I had a secret plan of my own.
Because I had the strange grace of Lord Knox that compensated for the probability of detection of my secret acts!
“I’ll give you five minutes. That’s the time the guards will be deployed.”
“Then I’ll be back soon, so just wait.”
Swish.
I took hold of the rope in my hand and lowered my posture like Dorthea had done earlier.
Then he slowly approaches the guard, one step at a time. Since he had already seen the guy’s movement patterns before, it shouldn’t be difficult.
“Mr. Nox -.”
I called out the name of the Protogenoi who ruled the power of the night. Then I took a deep breath and familiar letters came to mind.
『Silver Gun Night’s Cloak』 is activated.』
『Consume task values to adjust the detection probability of covert actions.』
『Current task value: 97.』
96.
95.
94…
Okay, it’s working properly.
The task value decreases by 1 every second. The total time given to me is about 90 seconds.
You don’t have to use up all 5 minutes, so if possible, you should finish the work before those precious numbers decrease further.
Sweep, sweep.
I was able to follow right behind the guard man.
“Sval, time flies so fast. When are you going to change shifts, you little shits?”
He was so close that even the man’s quiet mutterings could be heard loudly. I put the rope around his waist. But, how do I tie this without being noticed?
When I actually tried to tie the rope around my waist, I felt hesitant.
If I were to tie a knot in the rope, I would inevitably have to put my hands on my waist. Then I would feel a presence, and the grace I was activating might be released.
But if I were to add to my dexterity, which has become more precise and agile with the grace of the sun god, wouldn’t it be possible for me to do it?
Gold tier adventurer.
Hero Hassan.
If you give up here, you’ll just get further and further away.
Thinking back to my successful self, I finally reached out to the man’s waist.
Swish, swish.
Tying knots while pitching a tent wasn’t that difficult since I’ve done it so many times.
Kwaaak.
Okay. F*ck!
Finally, after tying it up tightly so that it wouldn’t come loose, I returned to the corner of the alley where Sandgirl Dorthea was waiting.
“Huh.. is it okay now?”
As I let out a sigh and let out the breath I had been holding, the words came to mind again.
『Silver Gun Night’s Cloak』 is released.
『Current remaining task value: 60.』
When I first activated the grace, the value was 97. It took me roughly 40 seconds to go and come back.
Thinking back now, I think I could have done it faster, but I feel like I lost about 10 seconds because of the hesitation.
Blowing the task value by 10. What a shame.
Anyway, I did my job well without getting caught. I wondered what the veteran leader of the Thieves Guild would think of this. The guy just blinked his brown eyes under the black shadows and didn’t say anything.
“Is there a problem?”
“…Ah, no. You’re faster than me. What the heck? What is it? What did you do to the ball? Was it because your body and hair were dark that you didn’t get caught?”
Soon, Dorthea began to ask me many questions as if she had seen something unbelievable. It seemed that what I had just done was quite an impressive feat, even in the eyes of the Thieves Guild leader.
Sval, I never thought those days of searching through Mom and Dad’s pockets would come in handy like this.
“Do you have any grace? A follower of thieves and messengers? Have you been given the grace of thieving by Mercury?”
“No.”
“Then, who is this god who helps with theft? Oh, who is it? There was one. Oh… Is it the Goddess of the Night? Right? Of course, receiving grace from the Goddess of the Night is absurd.”
“Well, it’s kind of similar-.”
It was when I was trying to blurt out my words. Sandgirl Dorthea, who had forgotten that she had been trying to hide her presence until just a moment ago, started screaming.
“My goodness, you are such an orthodox person! To receive grace from the Goddess of the Night! You are a natural born thief! A vile and filthy thief! The scum of the earth! A true bastard!”
Shit, I don’t know if you’re praising or insulting me. But judging by the way your pupils are dilated above the veil, and the way your dancing and speaking have become rougher, I think you’re praising me.
So, there are also unpleasant compliments, and as I was feeling strange, Sand Girl Dorthea added one more unbelievable word.
“If it’s you, if it’s you, you can defeat those damned 8 and become the new leader! No, it’s you…!”
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