Somehow, I felt quite fortunate today.
The morning was more refreshing than usual. Even though my head was pounding as if it was going to burst like a bomb from a hangover, what could be better than having your favourite beverage with someone else’s money? After having a good meal in a long while, I felt like I could live again.
Not only that. When I arrived at work and opened the door to the knights’ office, a surprising but friendly face greeted me.
“Sir Sein!”
“Good morning, Captain.”
A man in his mid-30s, who had a face that always seemed tired with dark circles under his eyes. His light brown hair was roughly brushed back with some hair poking out from here and there.
It was none other than Sir Sein, one of our resident knights in shining armor, who appeared at work in the early hours of the morning.
“I have transferred the processed documents to Captain’s desk.”
“Thank you. Did you come to work early in the morning?”
“Yes. I believe I’ve left quite a bit of unattended work. Would it be okay if I left work around lunchtime instead?”
“Please do.”
Sir Sein was someone who highly valued his time and had strict punctuality. Once his work is done, he would quietly disappear without any of us knowing. I thought it was rather polite of him to ask my permission before leaving work.
However, I couldn’t help but wonder why he was so strict with his working time, it was a mystery I couldn’t solve. Perhaps he had a side job that he attended after leaving this job?
As I sat down and lifted the documents that had been handed over, Sir Sein asked me in a gloomy voice.
“Nevertheless…… Is it true that the case Phantom Thief Heilbroner has been transferred to our knights’ squad?”
“Although surprising, it is the truth.”
“….”
Sir Sein gave me a blank stare as if he had lost his speech in astonishment hearing the news.
“I couldn’t believe it when I first read the report on my desk… I guess it is true.”
“Yes…… I also showed a somewhat similar reaction. However, the decision was taken quite suddenly and it was yesterday afternoon.”
“……That, Captain.”
“Yes.”
“As far as I’m aware, most of the time Heilbroner is passive at night……”
“You know very well. Usually, the notification reaches the knights after 10 p.m.”
The Phantom Thief Heilbroner was not only a thief that loved to ruin people’s, especially the nobles of the empire, peace, he also preferred to work mostly at night, like your typical thief, ruining work-life balance of the knights.
When I confirmed the information, the complexion of Sir Sein turned pale.
Although he was not an intermediate knight and was only responsible for doing necessary paperwork, he was also a member of our knights’ faction. However, since he has an iron rule of not working overtime, it was worth getting serious about.
“Unfortunately, I cannot help you with this matter, Sir Sein. As you know, we are already short on personnel, right?”
“May…… Would it be alright if I handle the paperwork instead….”
“The opponent is not an innocent drunkard on rampant, but the Heilbroner, Sir Sein. For now, our primary responsibility is to be on guard until any kind of information reaches our ears. However, I would also need to have on-site backup in case of emergency. Could you imagine leaving such a crucial task to Sir Billy?”
Sir Sein’s face, which already looked on the verge of collapse, became as dark as mud. It was as if he was imagining Sir Billy being sent to investigate but he ran into a terrible accident instead, causing more mess than clearing.
After thinking for who knows what for a while, Sir Sein finally nodded with a determined expression as if he had made the biggest decision of his life.
“Okay… I understand. Then instead…would it be possible for me to come to work late on days when I have to be on patrol duty scheduled to work at night…?”
“Yes, it is possible.”
“Thank you….”
With a somewhat moved face, Sir Sein showed gratitude. But perhaps because of his always tired and almost death-like mannerism, it lacked actual feeling. After thanking me, he buried his head into the pile of papers again.
‘Yoohoo!’
Clenching my fists under the table, I rejoiced inwardly at the sense of victory.
I had prepared myself for a situation where he would refuse to listen to my request and go on a strike again. However, he cooperated more readily than I had expected him to.
‘Well, I guess it’s a bit surprising that he is responsible toward his job.’
Sir Sein always completed his work like a sword on edge. However, I couldn’t even find any faults in his work to dissuade him. He was quite skilled in the ability of knowing ‘when it’s okay to leave’ and then truly vanishes without any of us knowing. If it was anyone else, this simple habit of his was enough to make them kick their tongue in disapproval.
However… If I have to be honest, he was someone who did more than three times the work as Billy. Therefore, even if I were to cut off Sir Sein’s salary because of his poor attendance, or fire him for not showing up everyday and leaving without notice right away, there was no guarantee that I would be able to appoint someone new who was better than him.
Because of that, I also had no choice but to comfort myself saying, ‘That person has a flexible work system that is ahead of its time.’
‘I can’t believe he agreed to work with me in the Heilbroner case. That’s a surprise.’
As the morning passed by rather pleasantly, I couldn’t help but feel the rest of the day would pass away like a breeze, without any hassle.
Certainly, it was nothing but wishful thinking that was nipped in the bud….
***
“… Warning letter?”
“Yes!”
Sir Thane, who was working on paperwork on the left, showed an astonished expression. While Lionel was laughing heartily on the other side. It seemed he was so surprised that he lost his composure.
Among us, Billy was the only one who had a bright and excited face. This kid must have a lion’s liver, he didn’t show even the littlest sign of fear and anxiety at the news.
“I got it on my way to work! They said they had received a warning letter this morning. So they transferred the contents and passed it on to us.”
“… Please read it.”
“Yep!”
[February 3rd, at 10:30 PM. I’m going to steal the precious treasure of Count Schlermann.]
The content of the letter was simple. Clearly indicating the date and time of the crime and the target.
Even if we wanted to confirm the writer of the original letter, we couldn’t. It was because the original letter was not handwritten but rather cut and pasted words from books or newspapers.
In other words, the criminal thoroughly removed any traces that could identify him as an individual.
‘If he didn’t want to get caught in the first place, there was no reason to send an advance warning.’
The psychology of someone whose hobby was to steal from rich people was out of my comprehension. Not to mention, I had no intention of knowing the reason either.
The problem was that ‘February 3rd’ was tomorrow.
‘How can he be so mannerless and uncivilized?’
Based on the original pattern, Heilbronner’s activity cycle was roughly once a month, not more or less than that.
The last newspaper article that reported Heilbroner’s crime was two weeks ago, which meant this time the notice of the crime was sent earlier than expected.
‘I guess this is his way of challenging my ability….’
Sending a notice as soon as the responsibility was transferred from the Security Forces to the Ruby Knights, how obvious could it be.
‘So the reason he went home earlier yesterday after seeing me was just to plan this?’
Even in magical girl comics or anime, the villains wait for the transformation to complete before attacking. It wasn’t in the rules of villains to attack while their enemies were transforming. However, this villain was extremely vicious. He didn’t give a chance for his opponent to breathe, and sent a warning even before the transfer was properly completed.
“Will he really appear there on time tomorrow? Should we bring our swords?”
“Billy, organize the materials on Heilbroner that were transferred to your desk and write a thorough report on his appearance frequency.”
“Umm….”
The face of Billy, which was excited a moment ago, turned dark visibly as if disappointed for appointing him to paperwork, which was completely different than what he expected. However, I had neither time nor the intention to pay attention to that.
“Sir Sein, please hand over the documents you have to Lionel. We’re leaving right away.”
“You mean, we’re going to the place mentioned in the letter…?”
“Yes. We need to listen to the situation before evaluating, and figure out the structure of the building in advance.”
“I… Then lunch….”
“You can leave work after we gather necessary information. However, you have to come to work on time tomorrow.”
“All right!”
I placed Sir Sein’s and my share of documents on Lionel’s desk.
When I gave him an apologetic look that said, ‘I apologize for leaving you with all the remaining paperwork, but that’s the way it has to be.’ he returned a look that said, ‘I curse the Leuke Empire. Let lightning strike down and destroy everyone.’
With that thought, I also couldn’t help but agree.
***
Before leaving, I sent a message requesting that the Security Forces be dispatched for this case only. Certainly, it didn’t seem like the person we were sending the message to would help us, but for now, we were grasping at our last straw. It felt like scratching a lottery ticket that I knew wasn’t going to win.
Nevertheless, Sir Sein and I left the knights’ office as soon as we got the official documents since none of us wanted to waste time. Count Schlermann’s town house was about 30 minutes away by horseback. Feeling fortunate that it wasn’t very far, I left the horse to the attendant at the entrance before entering the mansion.
When I was guided into the reception room, a bald man in his 50s, with a face that seemed red in anxiety appeared in my vision.
“Greetings, Count Schlermann. I’m Clara Weyburn, Captain of the Ruby Knights. I was the one who contacted you earlier. This is my subordinate knight, Sein Forte.”
“Gree, greetings! Is this true! He, Heilbroner is targeting me?”
“Unfortunately, this is true.”
I presented the official letter of cooperation with the mayor’s seal to the Count. Count Schlermann’s large body trembled in fear and anxiety. After reading the official document roughly, he returned it.
“Heilbroner used the expression ‘precious treasures’. We don’t know what it is but can you guess what it could be?”
“I have no idea!”
Count Schlermann desperately shook his head and denied strongly.
“A cherished piece of art or a precious accessory… Doesn’t the Count possess anything similar to this?”
“Well, there are a few jewels like other ordinary nobles… But, but, there is no special object that is precious enough for Heilbroner to target!”
“Hmm, then…”
While I continued speaking to gather information, Sir Sein was taking notes on the details of the hearing.
“Then let’s take the opposite approach. Are there any items you don’t want to be stolen, regardless of their value?”
“….!”
As soon as he heard what I said, Count Schlermann looked astonished as if he couldn’t comprehend what I was trying to imply, or rather he pretended to.
Rolling his eyes around for a while, he barely answered.
“Oh, perhaps the treasure chest in the main house? That could be.”
“Okay.”
Although I answered politely, I understood that things wouldn’t be as easy as I expected them to be. The Count seemed to be deliberately hiding crucial information.
“Then, can I take a look at the whole townhouse? To see if there are any things worthy….”
“There’s no need for that!”
A stubborn denial returned from the Count at my polite and earnest request.
“I would feel uncomfortable if you roam around my house thoughtlessly! This townhouse is no different than your ordinary mansion. So you are allowed to look for what you want from the outside, not inside.”
“However, we have to thoroughly confirm the intrusion passage….”
“Hmph!”
At the stubborn attitude, I suppressed the urge to sigh. I should have expected that no nobles were cooperative.
“Okay, then….”
As I was about to continue my interrogation, the head butler burst into the room, looking quite flustered.
“Cou, Count!”
“How careless of you, entering without permission?”
“I, I apologize. However, a guest arrived just now…”
“A guest?”
“Yes… And it’s none other than the Duke Ludger Kassen.”
‘What?’
I was so startled that I almost choked on my spit.
What the hell is happening? The criminal showing up at the scene of crime in advance is not something normal, right?
T/N: Sorry for the late update. I was a bit busy. I have recently opened a Kofi account so if you like my work and want to support me, do check my page. I might also start posting advance chapters there 😉
Happy reading ❤️❤️
