“X’s death has been confirmed.”
“What about Camilla?”
“She was found stabbed at the entrance of the palace.”
“No way…Valeria must be alive.”
“…”
“All of them…are they all dead? All of them?”
“We’ve lost both the opportunity of 300 years and the young souls of Peregrine. What on earth should we do?”
The ones having this conversation were the executives of the Peregrine independence force, the Liberation Squad. As one executive sighed in a deep voice, a silence deeper than the dark-colored cloth covering the windows of the conference room flowed. Then, one person raised their head.
“No. There’s still one person left.”
The executives sitting at the round table buzzed.
“Are you saying there’s a survivor?”
“Oh, Lord…who exactly is that precious young fellow?”
“Ciello.”
“Ciello…? Who was that kid?”
The executives who couldn’t remember who Ciello was looked at each other with puzzled faces. Another executive explained.
“She was a key member of this plan. Her role was to go into the treasury and find the treasure. This kid’s life or death has not been confirmed yet.”
“But not being found yet means she’s dead, doesn’t it?”
“Don’t speak so negatively!”
“But even if she’s alive…what if she changes her mind? How much was the reward for mission success?”
“It was a debt of 30 million gold, with the condition of full reduction.”
The executives nodded with somewhat relieved expressions.
“That’s not a small reward, so she’ll try to come back somehow.”
“But if she’s unlucky, she might be trapped in the palace. In the worst case… she might have been swayed by the emperor’s forces.”
The faces of the executives became serious.
“Does she know our plan?”
“No, she only knows it as a simple theft.”
“That’s a relief. She shouldn’t leak any information.”
“If she has already turned to the empire…”
“No way!”
The surprised executives shook their heads, but one executive spoke coldly.
“Have you forgotten? 300 years ago, that noble prince also…”
At those words, all the executives closed their mouths with heavy expressions. After a long silence, one executive opened his mouth.
“Let’s end today’s meeting here. The goal is to find Ciello and bring her back. She must not be taken away by the empire.”
“We can’t miss this moment when the emperor has just ascended the throne.”
“Right. Rather than handing her over to the empire…”
The executives fell silent. They were prepared for death. Not only their own deaths but also the deaths of others.
“For the liberation of Peregrine.”
“For liberation.”
****
At that time, Ciello, who had long forgotten about the 30 million gold, was excitedly preparing to go out.
“Miss Ciello, the carriage! It’s ready.”
“Yes, what’s happening today?”
“It’s time to go find 600 million gold! Kyaa, what to do, I’m so happy.”
Ciello raised and lowered her voice, rolling her feet, a single person playing two roles by herself. Although she was still in shabby clothes, Ciello in her imagination was already a rich person with 600 million gold. The coachman waiting for Ciello raised his voice in front of the mansion.
“…Miss Ciello?”
“I’m going now!”
The carriage that Ciello got on started to move slowly. The rich people live like this, where they can go where they want without walking themselves. So that’s why they all wear expensive and fragile shoes. Ciello hummed a song and looked at the scenery outside the carriage.
“You have to walk from here. Will you be okay?”
The carriage that had been running without hesitation stopped at the entrance of the magician’s street. Ciello got off the carriage, nodding her head cheerfully.
“Then, should I come back here when I’m done?”
“Yes. I’ll be waiting.”
Ciello went into the empty street. The space twisted and Ciello’s figure disappeared.
“Five steps to the left from the streetlight, then kick the beer barrel once…”
Ciello moved, muttering with the paper in her hand.
The magician’s street was a kind of giant barrier, and the address of the magician’s mansion was the way to move in that street itself. Therefore, if you don’t move exactly as the magician told you in advance, you will be bounced out of the street immediately. So naturally, there was no chance to meet anyone in the magician’s street.
“Is this the place…”
Ciello hesitated for a moment before knocking on the door. What if this magician is someone I’ve robbed? She was worried. There was also a record of Duke Trepe.
“Aii, no way. He wouldn’t dare.”
Ciello shook her head. She was so unnoticeable that she often heard, “Who was that again?” even at the inn she frequented daily. Besides, she often disguised herself with wigs and had her hair cut, so no one would recognize her.
“Is anyone home? I was introduced here.”
As Ciello knocked, a petite magician with pink hair, a hat pressed down hard, and glasses opened the door.
“Yes, I was waiting…huh?”
“Wha-what? You…”
Ciello’s eyes widened. The magician was equally flustered.
“Cie-Cie-Ciello sister? How did you get here? Don’t tell me you were the client?”
The magician rolled her eyes and slowly backed away. Ciello strode into the room and shouted.
“Hey! Reposa! You owe me money!!”
The magician, Reposa, quickly waved her finger to close the door and glanced at Ciello.
“Sister, be quiet! I’ve always asked you to speak below 35 decibels. It’s embarrassing…”
“Is that the problem now? What happened to your hair color? Do you know how much I’ve suffered because of you?”
Ciello fired back. The magician in front of her, Reposa, was from the same orphanage as her. Her hair, which had been a deep brown until then, had turned a bright pink, as if she had used magic.
Ciello had cherished Reposa, who was a year younger than her, like a younger sister. My smart little sister. The future great magician. That’s what Ciello used to call Reposa.
Ciello had helped Reposa study magic with the money she had earned from odd jobs at the orphanage. Reposa, who knew nothing but numbers and formulas, had opened her heart to Ciello alone.
Until Reposa stole all the money Ciello had saved and ran away from the orphanage.
[Right. Reposa. The Peregrine girl you used to hang out with. She came to borrow money instead of you?]
At first, Ciello didn’t believe that Reposa had betrayed her. But when she found out that Reposa had even borrowed a good amount of money from a dealer in her name, she couldn’t deny it.
“How could you do that to people…”
Ciello clenched her fist with a choked-up face. Reposa quickly retorted.
“I was going to pay you back if I succeeded. But you left the orphanage and I couldn’t find you! You should have told me where you were going!”
“Where would I have gone? I am…”
Ciello bit her lip. The debt she couldn’t pay back on time had gradually increased. Because of this, Ciello was kicked out of the orphanage and naturally drifted into the back alleys.
“Anyway, look here. The client is anonymous. Break the contract with the spirit…What, did you touch something wrong while working as a maid?”
Reposa shook the request form in her hand and looked Ciello up and down, then down to up again. Ciello, who didn’t want to admit that she had been living by petty theft and fraud, kept her mouth shut.
“…Similar.”
“What kind of accident did you have? That’s so like you.”
Reposa shook her head back and forth. Magic is borrowing the power of spirits temporarily. It was a rare and unusual event historically to contract directly with a spirit.
“Anyway, I’ll help you. That’s it, right?”
“Yeah. That…no. Hey, it’s not helping, it’s a request! The…the client must have paid you!”
Ciello, who was about to nod her head in surprise at the brazen Reposa, came to her senses and snapped back. But Reposa crossed her arms and held her nose high.
“Do you think anyone can take such a complicated request? To find a magician with this level of skill, you have to go to the palace.”
“The palace?”
“Of course! Palace magicians don’t take requests from just any nobles. I don’t know who your master is…but they must be a noble, right?”
Reposa spoke sarcastically, but Ciello, holding back her anger, responded with the most aristocratic expression she knew.
“…It’s a top-secret matter.”
She wanted to immediately reveal that her client was a duke, but if she did, Reposa would only laugh upon learning that the duke was the scoundrel Trepe.
‘But something’s strange.’
Agent Estribal, the true identity of Duke Trepe, was affiliated with the royal court, so he could have easily requested this job from a palace magician.
But why did he specifically choose Reposa?
“Top-secret, what…Anyway, go up there and check first.”
Reposa pointed to the magic circle drawn on the floor. Ciello, about to move at once, hesitated.
“Wait a minute.”
“Why?”
“You, pay me back first!”
Ciello glared at Reposa. Reposa, as if she had just remembered, twirled her curly pink hair with her index finger.
“Ah… really. How much was it? 634 million gold and 65 silver in coins. Right?”
Reposa stuck her hand into thin air and rummaged around.
“You, you borrowed an additional 3 million gold in my name!”
“Ah, did I forget that? Here. Done?”
Reposa pulled out a thick purse of gold coins and flung it onto the desk. At her indifferent attitude, Ciello, holding back her tears welling up, asked.
“Hey, aren’t you sorry to me?”
“I was going to pay you back, wasn’t I?”
“Is that all? Is that all?”
“Ah, I’ve paid you back now. Stop it! Really, it’s embarrassing over such a trivial thing…”
Reposa looked at Ciello with a contemptuous expression, annoyed. Ciello’s voice trembled, unable to contain her anger.
“Trivial thing, how can you say that? How much I’ve…”
“Ah, the interest? Yes, if you calculate the interest based on now for 9 years and 8 months…”
Reposa, with a bored expression, pulled another purse of gold coins out of thin air and dropped it onto the desk.
“811,300 gold, 573 silver coins. Now it’s really done, right?”
Ciello clenched the purse tightly. Ciello, who had been glaring at Reposa with eyes filled with sorrow and anger, finally turned around and harshly swung the door open.
“Ah, sister!”
Reposa shouted something from behind her, but Ciello didn’t hear it. A tear dropped from Ciello’s eyes as she ran out of Reposa’s house.
dang what a heartless b*tch