As the figure continued down the road, a moment later, a person of similar height completely enveloped in a black robe stepped out from the alleyway and silently followed behind.
About ten minutes passed.
“Hmm—?”
Shulim stopped of her own accord, immediately finding a spot to conceal herself.
A few seconds later, the person being followed ahead also seemed to notice something. She halted in her tracks, reaching a hand toward the dagger hanging at her waist.
“Yo~ you bastard actually dare to show up on our turf~!”
“Looking to die, are you!?”
Over a dozen weapon-wielding men emerged from all directions, surrounding her in the middle of the street.
Seeing this, the few pedestrians remaining on the street instantly scattered.
“Who are you people?”
The crowd went silent.
Then, a man with a mohawk who looked like their leader bellowed in fury:
“You bastard—!!! Are you serious!? You barged into our stronghold and robbed the money we just collected! And now you have the nerve to claim you don't know us!? You damn—what bullshit Chivalrous Thief, I'm definitely going to tear you limb from limb today!!!”
“Eh~ tear limb from limb?”
After glancing around at the crowd surrounding her, her gaze settled provocatively on the mohawked man.
“With just you guys?”
The moment those words were spoken, the crowd blew their tops.
“Hah—? What is this petty thief babbling about?!”
“Do you even realize what kind of situation you're in?”
“You think you can beat so many of us all by yourself?!”
“If all of us rush you together, we'll chop you down in seconds!”
“...”
While the crowd shouted insults, the surrounded Chivalrous Thief seemed to be racking her brains over something.
“Ah—I remember now!”
“You're that bunch who bully commoners all day long, running extortion rackets and loan shark operations... that bunch of... Iron Head punks?”
The crowd instantly fell dead silent.
Then, the punks glared daggers at the Chivalrous Thief.
“I-I... Iron Head punks—??!”
The mohawked leader was so enraged that veins popped on his forehead, his eyes bloodshot.
“Bastard, how dare you belittle our Iron Axe Gang like that!!! Don't think just tearing you limb from limb will be enough!”
“Boys! Get 'em, chop them to pieces—!!!”
“Yeah—!!!”
Over a dozen thugs swarmed forward at once.
“Hmph!”
Calmly watching the thugs rushing in from all sides, the Chivalrous Thief softly chanted an incantation.
“Reinforce!”
A faint white light shone forth.
Whoosh!
Only an afterimage of the Chivalrous Thief remained in the air. Before the thugs could even react, that figure had already appeared in their midst.
Thud! Thud! Thud!
Accompanied by several dull thuds, several thugs flew backward through the air, their teeth scattering mid-flight.
“Ah, this bastard dares to take out our—”
Bang—!
A fist slammed into the man's face, deforming it while instantly shutting him up.
“Die!”
A spiked club smashed down from behind.
However, the Chivalrous Thief's body suddenly dropped toward the ground ahead. With all four limbs grazing the dirt, she twisted nimbly to evade the strike. Then, as if loaded on springs, she launched upward instantly, driving a knee strike square into the attacker's face.
“Gah—”
As nosebleeds splattered, the man rolled his eyes back and collapsed backward, the spiked club slipping from his grip.
“...Damn you!”
“...Don't get cocky!”
The remaining thugs shouted frantically as they swung their weapons wildly at the Chivalrous Thief, but she effortlessly dodged every single blow. Her sheer agility threw the thugs into complete disarray, and one by one, they were knocked to the ground.
“Get out of my way! Let yours truly slaughter them personally—!” the mohawked leader roared.
A faint white light also emanated from his body. Gripping a two-handed greataxe with both hands, he brought it crashing down toward the Chivalrous Thief.
Boom!
The ground shattered, but the axe struck empty air. The Chivalrous Thief had already jumped away a split second before it landed.
Leaping into midair, the Chivalrous Thief performed a backflip and actually landed atop the back of the greataxe's head, stepping on it.
“What—!”
The mohawked man tried to heave the axe upward to throw her off, but she was faster.
In the blink of an eye, the knee of the Chivalrous Thief—who had just been standing on the axe head—rapidly enlarged in the mohawked man's vision.
Bang—!
“Aargh—”
In that instant, the mohawked man's face contorted just like the others before him.
“Boss—!”
“Boss—!!”
“B-Boss got taken down!?”
The other thugs panicked on the spot.
“Ugh... who... who are you saying got taken down!? Huh—?!”
Staggering back several steps, the mohawked man actually managed to keep his footing. Although nosebleeds smeared his entire face, he still hadn't gone down.
“Ohh~! As expected of the Boss!”
“Way to go, Boss!”
“Go get 'em, Boss! Take them down just like that—!”
“Oooaaah—!!!”
Amid the cheers of his underlings, the mohawked man charged forward once more.
Bang—!
“...”
The crowd abruptly fell silent.
Lying flat on the ground, the mohawked man looked at the dagger pressed against his throat, his eyes clearing up considerably.
“...Want to keep going?”
...
Watching the thugs scurry away in disgrace while carrying and dragging their unconscious comrades, the Chivalrous Thief slowly sheathed her dagger.
“Nice moves~.”
“Waaah—!!?”
The sudden voice from behind startled the Chivalrous Thief so badly that she launched backward on the spot, putting a considerable distance between them.
“Who's there, meow?!!”
“Your voice disguise slipped.”
“What—!?”
The Chivalrous Thief quickly clapped a hand over her mouth. Sensing something was wrong, she immediately looked up vigilantly at the person who had suddenly appeared. Then, beneath the black hood opposite her, a familiar face entered her view.
“Shulim—!!? Ah, wait, no—”
Realizing her slip of the tongue, she frantically covered her mouth again.
Then, pinching her vocal cords, she said in a strained voice, “...I was just talking nonsense earlier. I definitely wasn't calling your name, so don't get the wrong idea!”
“...”
“No, your cover is completely blown, okay? How could you possibly gloss over it at this point?”
“Eh? It won't work—?”
“...”
“...No wonder you've been leaving early and returning late all the time. Turns out you've been running off to places like this to play the Chivalrous Thief, Mico~.”
“Eh?! I'm not Mico! I've never heard of any Mico!”
With that, the white-furred cat girl actually covered her face and turned to run.
“Ah—”
However, before she could even take two steps, the back of her collar was firmly grabbed.
“Didn't I say your cover is already blown...? Did you think running away now would let you wriggle out of this?”
“I-Is that not okay...?”
“Of course it's not.”
Shulim dragged Mico into a dead-end alley out of sight.
With a swift motion, she flipped off the hood over Mico's head, revealing a pair of fluffy cat ears.
“Eek—”
Mico hurriedly covered her ears.
“...”
Meeting Shulim's gaze, Mico laughed awkwardly, lowered her hands, and took off her face mask.
“Now then, care to explain why you're that Chivalrous Thief, Mico?”
Rate on N.U.
