༺ All Thieves Are Bad People! (1) ༻
Midnight, 12 am.
To be exact, it was 23 minutes after 12.
In this dark and ambiguous time of night, someone slid open the window to my study.
Creeeeak—
Tak—
I closed the thick cover of the book I was reading and rubbed my eyes, then addressed the visitor.
“There’s an entrance on the first floor. Why are you climbing through the second-story windows?”
“Judas, you of all people are saying that?”
Land—
The female thief made no sound as she stepped lightly into the study.
I’ve seen cats that jump down from high places before, and it was a silent and fluid movement as such.
Float— Float—
I calmly watched the translucent veil covering the woman’s face swaying in the wind.
The woman, Salome, then dragged over a nearby chair and sat down leaning on the backrest.
Because of that, she was sitting inelegantly with her legs spread, but she didn’t seem to care and spoke.
“Judas, I’ll ask nicely this once, give me back my wallet.”
“…….”
I see.
She came to get her money back.
I took Salome’s coin pouch out of my pocket and handed it out.
Jingle— Jangle—
She tilted her head in confusion after counting out the gold coins within.
“There’s a few missing. About 1.5 million arcs.”
“Yeah, obviously. I used it. Bought this instead.”
Clack—
I pulled out a high-quality metal case.
When opened, there was charcoal the size of my kids’ thumbs wrapped in fine handmade paper.
12-color charcoal made with magical flame.
Seeing it, Salome’s eyes sparked with interest.
“This is?”
“Drawing tools. Because it was manufactured with magic, it can be used on dirt or sand, wooden surfaces, walls, and the like.”
Swoosh—
I passed the case of charcoal to Salome.
Salome took and closed the case with a tap—.
“If I resell this, it should get me about a million arcs.”
“No, don’t sell it and give it to Hina. I bought it for her. Have you seen how she listens in on classes from outside because she can’t attend school? It was a bit sad but commendable.”
In my mind, children generally hated to study so they would run away or just screw around. I had been that way, and so had most of my friends, and even my own kids were like that.
But it was admirable that Hina was studying so passionately by herself.
She wasn’t like my younger self.
She probably took after her mom, Salome.
I recalled that Salome once boasted about her desire to learn so she would gain knowledge by reading the book collections that the thieves stole.
“Hina seemed to like drawing. She’ll appreciate the crayons. And if she’s okay with it, I want her to come live here. Also, I’ll register her for Graham Academy.”
Of course, Graham Academy wasn’t open to everyone.
I wasn’t sure if admission would be possible past the admission period, but there was Salome who was there as a teacher, and also Brigitte working as a post-secondary professor, so there should be some kind of backdoor we could get her through.
And how many times have I saved the citizens of Freesia from danger?
Not that it was any intentional act of kindness, of course, but they could do at least this much in return.
“… There’s no point.”
Just then, Salome muttered something while shaking.
Though not as good as Cariote’s, my enhanced hearing had a hard time catching those quiet words.
I paused and looked at Salome.
Salome’s expression was solemn… like she was angry but also detached.
“What did you say?”
“There’s no point. Sending the child to school, giving her this charcoal. It’s not going to go anywhere.”
“There’s no point?”
“Judas, do you know what happens to the kids who came from the future? I heard from Hina. If we intervene and change the future, they could disappear.”
I see.
I thought she just wanted to get her wallet back, but this seemed to be Salome’s real reason for coming to see me.
It was similar to what I found out while talking together with Cariote and Brigitte.
That upon changing the course of the future, Naru, Cecily, and Hina might disappear.
Salome continued.
“Hina said she returned to remove as many variables as possible that can cause the future to change. That’s why she wrote down as many events that could act as turning points in the picture diary.”
“That so?”
So the diary was that kind of object.
I remembered that she used to work under the name of ‘Priestess of Gluttony’ and tell people their fortune.
Did she join the evil organization of Tenebris to try and control people and reduce the variables that could become turning points?
“But now too many things have changed already. The future is shifting. The probability of the children not being born is increasing.”
“I know.”
“Judas, you know?”
Salome’s expression was confused.
I calmly told her.
“Salome, though no one would believe it, I know that you’re softer than anyone else. Once you get involved, you can’t let go. Whether that someone is a sewer rat or some mysterious guy.”
“…….”
“Furthermore, you learned that the daughter you just met might vanish so it’s a given that you’d be upset. That’s probably why Hina also kept avoiding us. She would be like you, so she didn’t want to get attached.”
From what I saw, Hina’s memories were the most intact.
Which was likely why she kept evading me or Salome and ran away.
She knew full well that we might have to part ways eventually, and so she was trying to stop us from getting close to her.
Of course, it was only my speculation.
What the children actually thought, I couldn’t know.
I was only a lowly thief.
But of course—
A thief had a thief’s ways.
“Salome, despite your concerns, there is a way to solve this situation. Once the sun rises, you go and contact all branches of the 「Shadow Council」 in Pangaea.”
“… All the branches?”
“Not only the branches but put up official notices in the alleys and on all the walls in Pangaea. I’m summoning the Bandit Lords.”
Salome seemed surprised at my words.
She shifted her eyes nervously from side to side as if there might be someone listening in, then asked carefully.
“If you mean the Bandit Lords… they didn’t gather even when the demons of Pandemonium were wreaking havoc. You’re calling those individuals to Freesia?”
“It doesn’t have to be all eight of them. It’d be preferable to have at least two, though. If possible, having all eight would be best.”
“I mean, even so, that’s impossib—”
“Salome, there’s no such thing as impossible. And this isn’t a request, it’s a command as Judas. You know best what this means. I’ll leave the methods up to you.”
“…….”
Salome seemed to have a lot to say but kept quiet in the end.
And then she left the way she came, through the window.
“Impossible, hm.”
For sure.
It would be impossible to gather a bunch of self-serving scum in one place.
Normally I would’ve thought that way, too.
But, now it was time to attempt the impossible.
* * *
“Naru, did you see? The drawings on the school field and gate. There were a bunch of pictures drawn in the hallways and other places!”
Morning.
Elizabeth called out to Naru who entered the class.
Naru also saw.
There were pictures drawn all over the school field and class walls–butterflies, kittens, flowers, and such in many colors.
“They say it’s hard to erase them because they’re drawn in some kind of magic charcoal. What’s going on? Naru, do you know anything?”
Elizabeth’s eyes were full of intrigue.
If anything happened in Freesia, then the fastest way to know was to ask Naru.
Because chances were, Naru caused it.
“My dad said that there were mysterious, black fliers going up in the alleys and on the walls. Do you think it’s related to the drawings in the school field? Hm?”
Black fliers, he said.
An all-black paper with nothing drawn, nothing written was appearing all over the city.
It was suspicious.
Elizabeth imagined that it might be related to the mysterious ‘thieves’, but Naru just tilted her head.
“…Naru doesn’t know?”
Nnnaaaaahm—
Naru then yawned big, which Elizabeth watched curiously.
“Naru, did you not sleep well last night? You said that the Back Alley Princess always needs to sleep well.”
“Ung, ung! I couldn’t sleep because of science homework. Tywin said Naru couldn’t sleep until the homework was done, so…! Me and Cecily stayed up like that…Nnnaaahm.”
“Really? More than that you guys played with Tywin yesterday? I’m jealous.”
Elizabeth was slightly envious that Tywin got to play with friends like Naru and Cecily rather than her.
Elizabeth also wanted to sleep over at a friend’s house.
What if Tywin becomes best friends with Naru and Cecily before she does?
‘What should I do? I want to be better friends with Naru! Should I buy her better bread during recess?’
Elizabeth mulled over a few things.
At that time, Naru was also thinking.
‘The drawing all over the school, I feel like I’ve seen them somewhere. What was it? I saw it before. Someone’s drawing…. Black fliers…?’
Something was at the edge of her mind, but she couldn’t remember at the moment.
Would Cecily know if I asked?
But Cecily was already snoring at her desk.
Sliiiide—
Just then, the classroom door opened.
They expected Teacher Salome to come in as it was time for the morning assembly, but no one yelled “Be quiet, I can hear you from down the hall.”
And so all the students turned to the doorway and saw the elderly professor of theology, Pelagius, entering the class while clearing his throat.
“Today, your homeroom teacher, Miss Salome, will be absent due to other business. As such, I, Pelagius will be your temporary substitute. You may call me Teacher. Also, this one here—”
Swoosh—
Pelagius nudged forward the child fidgeting behind him in front of the class.
“This child is a new student who has transferred to this school today. Unusual that we have a transfer student at this Graham Academy, no? But I hope that you will all get along. Now, go ahead and introduce yourself to the class.”
“…….”
It was a pink-haired girl.
Seeing her fidget, they showed interest like, “How cute,” or “So pretty…. But doesn’t she look like someone…?” but the person herself blushed and couldn’t say anything.
“Oh, holy shh…! Hina…!”
Right then, Naru raised her arms abruptly.
When the children started murmuring after hearing the name ‘Hina’, Hina gazed at Naru.
Then with her fists clenched, she spoke.
“I am… Hina. Hina Barjudas…. Nice to meet you…!”
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