CH 59

[Coincidence is Coincidence]

After leaving the opera house, I join up with the members of the Thieves Guild, my collaborators in this time’s case, and run through the city at night.

The biggest purpose of them, who are uniformly dressed in black, is the capture or purge of the one who had betrayed them, Yang Lan, and all of them are cladded in dangerous atmosphere.

I’m taking these people to the base of the ‘Black Sword’.

I had known about the location from my knowledge of the original game, but the Thieves Guild was only half-confident in my information, thus I had to let Yang go and made him be a guide like this.

Additionally, they shared with me the fact that they’ve also obtained information of the base from other sources, so they no longer have a doubt and are following me obediently.

“Youngster, Yang is trying to escape to that place. Exactly as you had said.”

“That means Uncle is properly keeping his promise, huh. I was a little worried because he told me he’d drink and wait at the bar.” (Sakurai)

“To be a well-known adventurer, you need trust and achievements. Even if he’s drunk, he’d keep his words.”

The leader of the men dispatched by the Thieves Guild is a man with a skinhead, he looks ahead and makes a stop hand sign to everyone.

It seems that we who went straight from the opera house have arrived at the enemy’s base earlier than Uncle and co who moved while following after Yang, and we can’t see Yang who is escaping here yet.

I feel like rushing in immediately and take what I want to take, however, for the sake of ‘justifiability’, I have to wait until Yang comes and Uncle rushes in after him.

“Have they arrive~, have they arrive~, I wonder if they’ve arrive~.” (Sakurai)

I sing a little tune while peeking at the base of the ‘Black Sword’ from the back alley where I’ve hid myself.

Beyond my line of sight is a majestic two-story building.

Large, inset-type windows are installed on the left and right sides of pristine and glossy wooden doors.

In the store interior that is visible from the windows, counters that divides the space into two is placed, and I can see that some information boards are installed at the entrance side of the store interior which also function as a waiting room.

On the other hand, beyond the counters is further separated by a wooden lattice inlaid with frosted glass, it is made so that people wouldn’t know what the staff in the inside is doing.

This is ‘Obsius Co.’.

It grew by handling luxury goods mainly for aristocrats, and is now one of the financial institutions that mainly deals with individual merchants as one of the pillars supporting the Merchants Guild.

That’s right, the base of the ‘Black Sword’ is one of the regional banks in this world.

(If you want to collect money and camouflage the flow so as not to be suspicious, there is no better place than a bank, huh… I don’t know how it was in reality, but making a bank to be your base in fiction is quite unheard of, isn’t it?)

While absentmindedly thinking about such a thing, the members of the Thieves Guild and I ready our equipment in preparation of the assault. That said, except for me, everyone already wear theirs under their black clothes, so they just take their black clothes off, though.

It is ‘a place where I can get tons of money’, that’s why I attack ‘Obsius Co.’, the enemy’s base which outwardly is operating as a bank.

In the end, ain’t you gonna rob a bank too! Or so you might think, but I want you to rest assured.

After all, the enemy is an antisocial force that uses the money they’ve collected from the people for human experimentation and illegal activities.

It is no exaggeration to say that I’m doing this for a just cause.

Donning the knight order equipment obtained with the help of the Thieves Guild, we’ve decided on a setting to capture Yang Lan who will be trespassing the ‘Obsius Co.’ at midnight.

Iyaa~, to think we will have to get into the bank because we see a man trespass into it while we’re on patrol.

Moreover, the trespasser is one of the criminals who caused the turmoil at the opera house, and that the ‘Sword Saint’, who happened to be there is chasing him, what a surprise!

In addition, the fact that we will end up finding the secret accounts of ‘Obsius Co.’, research technology for demonization, records of outrageous human experimentation, and evidences of the dignitaries of the nation providing them financial support and humans for human experimentation is nothing more than a fortunate coincidence.

Even if the super-precious and expensive monster materials prepared for the experiments and the gold bars stored in the bank vault are gone in the process, it is surely because the people of the ‘Black Sword’ have used them for bad things, no doubt!!

(Well, since I’ll leave the evidences gathering and bookkeeping to the Thieves Guild, in a sense, I’ll be letting them have a hold of my weakness, but… I also have some ‘knowledge (weakness)’ about the Thieves Guild, so I’ll cut our ties at an appropriate time.)

After all, I’m just an ordinary person, so I can’t help but be afraid of being involved with people from the underworld.

To begin with, what is the value of such a connection compared to leveling?

So, when this case is over, I will cut my ties with the Thieves Guild and return to a peaceful leveling life.

(Iyaa, this sure is kinda exciting. I wonder if Yang will come soon~.)

I feel that my tension that was on the decline at the opera house is rising slightly.

After all, in the original game, the upper limit of the amount of money you could have was 9.99 million, but in the real world there is no upper limit of the amount of money you have.

In this fever time, I intend to step into the untrodden monetary territory that no player could reach in the past.

Fufu, would this make me the only one able to get this platinum trophy in this world? After all, it could be said to be unobtainable unless the game becomes a reality, it’s an unreasonable difficulty, don’t ya think!!

Well, it is totally unreasonable. And, to begin with, there’s no trophy system here.

Anyway, my goal is to collect and sell various things that I’d get at ‘Obsius Co.’ and repay my debt.

Of course, if possible I would like to get ‘over 100 million’, rather than just enough to repay my debt.

For the time being, I’ve been promised a certain amount of reward for providing information about Yang Lan, but it’s only a paltry amount compared to my debt.

Therefore, I’m doing this believing in the potential of ‘Obesius Co.’, their secretly stashed gold and silver treasures.

The Thieves Guild who will do various things including cleaning up after the operation built from such a rough idea, though they’re doing this for their own purpose, they sure are extremely generous.

The setting data only revealed them to be ‘an intelligence agency under the direct control of the royal family that is allowed to take extrajudicial measures’.

However, there appeared inconsistencies to that setting in the story, but…well, it’s a normal thing for a game setting, and honestly, it no longer matters now.

“He~y, he~y.”

“Hm?” (Sakurai)

At that time, I heard a voice from the back of the back alley where we hide.

When I turn to look for the owner of the voice, I see Uncle who should be driving Yang.

“Oh, boy. You’re here, huh.” (Sanuki)

“Erm, Uncle. That is?” (Sakurai)

“That’s…you know. For those at my age, the effect of alcohol would last longer, so I made a little mistake, see?” (Sanuki)

At the feet of Uncle, who makes a poor excuse, there is the figure of Yang Lan, whose limbs are bent in the wrong direction.

Although he’s beaten up all over, including his face, I know he’s still alive, for he continues to breathe weirdly, “Kohyuu, Kohyuu.”

“I didn’t kill him, he’s just passed out from shock. In my defense, I was just trying to surprise him a bit, but then he fell from the air for some reason.” (Sanuki)

The smell of booze drifts over from Uncle.

I silently move my gaze to the skinhead man, but he looks away, feigning ignorance.

Un, well, I don’t know what had happened, but I know that he ended up catching Yang Lan who was supposed to had been let go to be a guide.

The problem is, with Yang Lan having been incapacitated, we have to reconsider about the means to enter the bank.

“Well, calm down, Boy. Before it ended up like this, I had heard about what we need from this guy.” (Sanuki)

“Do you mean the way to the underground facility?” (Sakurai)

“You got that right.” (Sanuki)

Then, there’s problem, ain’t it? He’s a hassle, so let’s just throw him in.

So, after sharing information, I make an impromptu human slingshot by making use of thread and the back alley, then I load Yang Lan after rolling and binding him up with a rope.

With the help of the people from the Thieves Guild, I pull the slingshot to the limit and release it.

“――――Nh!?!?!?!?” (Yang)

Yang, who seems to have regained consciousness in the air, makes a loud noise, destroying the window glass, and rolls inside the ‘Obsius Co.’.

Having confirmed that, we head for the bank following after Uncle who get inside ‘as though pursuing Yang Lan’ at a short distance.

“Oraa! Don’t you run away, you damn criminal! The knights are heeeeeere!” (Sakurai)

We’re just shams though, but well, don’t mind the small details!

Attack, attack! All members, raid ‘Obsius Co.’.

I get in through the broken window, jump over the counters, kick through the wooden lattice, rush down the hidden stairs leading to the basement, and-!

“Uwaaaaaa!?” (Sakurai)

“That brat fell down!”

“It’s fine as long as he’s still alive, continue the search as planned!”

Getting overexcited, I end up falling down the stairs. It hurts.

However, without being discouraged with such a thing, we divide ourselves and suppress the inside of the underground facility one after another.

Particularly noteworthy is at the center of the facility, the Central Laboratory, where the ‘Sword Saint’ Uncle and the ‘Black Swords’ who are in this facility are battling it out. The sounds of sword clashing and explosion from there are audible even from this place, which is at quite a distance away.

To sum up, Uncle is dealing with the strong enemies, so I can devote myself to the search calmly.

Remembering the map of this facility from the original game in my mind, I go around the places that seem to contain things that have monetary value.

The amassed precious materials, the gold coins created by manipulating the flow of money.

As I unintentionally leak a grin at the lineup of selectable items, I sort out the ones to take out.

“If only I have the item box, then I’d be able to take out all the materials here…” (Sakurai)

While putting various items in the backpack I brought, I complain, finding not being able to take everything out painful.