If You Tell a Pickpocket to Save the Male Lead

Ciello fiddled with the magical tool in her pocket as he left Reposa’s lab and entered a secluded alley known only to her.

After checking her surroundings, Ciello took out the magical tool that she hadn’t properly examined due to her absent-mindedness. At first glance, it was an ordinary necklace. However, a strange turquoise light swirled around the pendant, where two scales overlapped in the shape of a sprout.

“It does look expensive…”

Ciello fiddled with the scales. She had never had any affection for her race. She grew up in an orphanage where most of the children were from the empire, learning only the history of the empire. Being of colonial descent was a disadvantage, it had never benefited her.

“Hmm, is this how you use it?”

The two scales clicked together. Suddenly, with a whooshing sound, Ciello’s body began to rise.

“Wait a minute. Was this supposed to work right away?”

A flustered Ciello floundered. In an instant, Ciello’s body began to disappear into the shadows.

“No, there should be something like, ‘Do you want to teleport?’… Ahhh!”

When she came to her senses, Ciello was falling onto a magic circle.

“Uh… What is this!”

Her surroundings were obscured by boxes, trees, and cloth. Shortly after, a scruffy young man with faint wheat-colored hair rushed over with a surprised look on his face. It was the young man who had handed her the magical tool.

“What, what? You really came?”

“No, I was just trying to touch it and it suddenly…”

“Never mind, get up.”

The young man reached out to Ciello. Ciello stared at his hand and retorted sullenly.

“Don’t pretend to be nice. I know you don’t like me.”

Ignoring him, Ciello grunted and got up on her own. The young man clicked his tongue.

“Wow, you really…”

“Unlucky? I know. So where’s the old lady?”

“…It would be better not to call her that.”

“Then what?”

The young man ignored Ciello and shouted loudly.

“Elder! Uh…she’s here!”

“Ciello?”

“Ciello is here?”

“Noah, is that true? Ciello is here?”

People inside the hideout began to come out one by one and started to murmur. Ciello took a step back and scratched the back of her head.

“Well, I didn’t come very seriously, just out of curiosity…”

“Everyone, please go away. She’s feeling uncomfortable.”

Noah waved his hand and moved into the hideout. Ciello hesitated for a moment and then followed him. If she played her cards right, she could extract information. It could be helpful to Estribal, or it could be helpful to her.

<Noah, try talking.>

<How about it? Do you think it will work?>

People whispered towards Noah.

<Really, why is it always to me…!>

“What?”

Ciello looked at Noah with a frown. Noah, who was overwhelmed by the momentum, fluttered his hands and asked.

“…Aren’t you scared? Just coming in because you’re told to?”

“What? You called me. Do you have a complaint?”

Ciello’s eyes narrowed menacingly. Noah stuttered.

“No, that’s not it! So what I mean is that you’re very brave…!”

<Oh dear. Noah!>

<That’s not it!>

People’s sighs were heard. Ciello narrowed his eyes and felt the atmosphere around her.

‘…Oh?’

Ciello chuckled, pulled Noah’s shoulder close, and whispered softly.

“Hey, you have to woo me.”

“Nooooo!”

Noah, who was startled, shook off Ciello’s arm and stepped back. Ciello chuckled.

“Well, whatever, try your best.”

Ciello patted Noah’s shoulder as if it was someone else’s business. Noah opened his mouth wide with a dumbfounded face.

“Hey, you really…!”

“Here?”

Ciello ignored the blushing Noah and opened the door.

There sat the information merchant, no, the leader of the Peregrine Independence Liberation Force.

“Ahem, Elder, I brought Ciello.”

Noah coughed and bowed his head in front of the elder. Ciello also awkwardly greeted the elder and examined her face. The elder smiled.

“We meet again, Cello. Now we should call you Ciello, right?”

“Yes… Please call me whatever you like.”

“Right. Ciello. I should introduce myself again as well.”

The elder gestured for Ciello to sit as he spoke.

“Daniela Perez. Known as an information merchant, but here, in the Peregrine Liberation Group, we are nurturing our people.”

Elder Perez pointed at Noah as she spoke.

“Noah here is your age. He’s young, even among the young, but his skills are outstanding. I’m raising him as my successor. He’s also serving as my bodyguard and secretary.”

“Uh, hello.”

Seeing Noah awkwardly dripping with awkwardness, Ciello chuckled and patted his back.

“Right. You’re having a hard time.”

“Stop joking around all the time!”

Noah scowled with a flushed face, but Ciello didn’t care.

“This is Renata, the magician who made the magical tool you used.”

“Hello, Ciello? How is it, Noah must have explained how to use it?”

“No.”

At Ciello’s answer, Renata clicked her tongue.

“The power held by the dragon’s scales is infinite. We can come to our hideout, and we can convey voices. To those who are not Peregrine, it will look like an ordinary necklace, so the duke will not doubt it.”

The elder took over the conversation.

“Right. Learn the details next time. Slowly greet the other people as well. Everyone will welcome you.”

“You mean welcoming the spirit, right?”

At Ciello’s retort, the elder slowly nodded.

“…That’s not wrong. But you are also a Peregrine, so there’s no reason you can’t be welcomed.”

“We thought you…completely sided with the empire.”

Noah mumbled awkwardly.

“So…that’s why. Sorry.”

Ciello shrugged and replied.

“It’s okay. I still don’t think about taking this side.”

“Oh my, you didn’t seem to be very close with the duke at that time. Was it all acting, whether it was a lover or something?”

“Huh? Was it? That’s good!”

At Renata’s words, Noah blushed without realizing it.

“Well done…”

Ciello pouted her lips. Anyone could see that her face was sullen. Noah quickly tried to recover.

“No, I was sorry for you! He’s a total madman!”

“I think he’s crazy, but I don’t know if I’m sorry.”

Ciello chuckled and replied. Noah stared at Ciello and mumbled.

“That…not. Really.”

At the awkward atmosphere, Ciello waved her hands and spoke.

“Anyway, I’m curious. Why do you need the power of the spirit?”

“How much do you know about spirits?”

The elder asked. Ciello hummed, stroked her chin, and told the information she knew.

“Just, it can move time, and it was originally the treasure of the empire’s emperor…”

“I have to correct it from there.”

The elder cut off Ciello’s words.

“I don’t know what the duke said, but Serpiente is originally a spirit that protects Peregrine. In the invasion war 300 years ago, the second prince tortured the last prince of Peregrine and plundered the spirit.”

“Ah…”

Ciello nodded. The snake-shaped Serpiente, the dragon resembling the snake, the symbol of Peregrine, fit together like a puzzle.

“Everything is going according to the prophecy. Now that Serpiente has escaped from the emperor and hidden in you, if we free Serpiente, we can swallow the emperor.”

The magician carefully interjected.

“However, if the duke succeeds first, on the contrary, the emperor will perfectly control Serpiente again. Then we have to wait for the day of Serpiente again for 300 years.”

A dark silence fell. The elder spoke in a serious voice.

“Ciello, we will investigate the duke. We will also let you know the results. Of course, without any reward.”

“Why?”

Ciello looked at the elder with suspicious eyes.

“If you come to know his hideous true nature, I believe you will join us.”

Ciello closed her mouth with an uncomfortable expression. Of course, she was really curious about the information about the duke, but their words didn’t sound good. The elder spoke softly.

“Let’s end the boring talk here, and why don’t you go to the market with Noah? There’s something we need to buy.”

The elder handed a bag to Noah. Noah looked at the elder and Ciello alternately with a flustered face.

“Me, with her?”

But Ciello chuckled with a thought of ‘this is it’.

“Hey, be aware. You have to look like you’re close to me so you can get compliments from the elders, right?”

“That’s true, but…”

“Then it’s okay. We’re going!”

Ciello lightly dragged Noah and left the hideout. Noah, who had entered the alley unexpectedly, grumbled and opened the bag.

“Anyway, it’s a mess. Let’s see. What we need to buy…”

In the bag, there was a playful note along with some change.

[Noah, I trust only you! Do well and come back!]

“Ah, really…”

Noah touched his forehead and groaned.

****

The errand, which was just an excuse, was naturally put off. The two were tilting their beer glasses at a cheap tavern.

“Hey, hey. But why is the Duke Trepe safer than us?”

Noah grumbled in a crooked voice.

“We’re really nice. Really, everyone is nice.”

Ciello chuckled and drank her beer.

“Being nice is useless. The fact that the duke! Can’t hurt me! Is important.”

“Why?”

Noah looked at Ciello with a dull face. Ciello’s voice was also louder than usual, perhaps because of the alcohol.

“Well? Because I’m dedicating power to the spirit?”

“It’s amazing…how about the royal guys?”

“I don’t know either. Huh…”

“Can it… not…”

Noah dropped his head heavily. His thin hair, like a straw, was stuck in the beer glass. Ciello was startled and shook his shoulder.

“Hey. Get a hold of yourself.”

“Uh…”

“Ah, really…”

Ciello, with a frown on her face, almost pushed him out of the tavern.

“I have to send him home for now…”

Ciello muttered and took out the dragon’s scale. Ciello forcibly put the scale in her hand and tried to turn it. At that moment, Noah staggered and fell.

“Hey! Are you not sober?”

Ciello, who was startled, caught him. Then a bright light popped, facing towards the two.

“What?”

Ciello looked around with a puzzled face, but there was no one around.

“Ah. I don’t know. Just go in tomorrow morning. First find a room.”

Ciello grumbled and dragged Noah into the alley. Then she confirmed that there was no one around and turned the scale. The bodies of the two disappeared into the shadows.

****

The next afternoon.

“Duke, so this is…”

The employee opened their mouth, watching Estribal’s mood.

Estribal, sitting straight at his office desk, had a colorful gossip paper in his hand that didn’t suit him.

[The Devil Maid, Was The Duke Not Enough?]