The slush fund of the Sebiche Ducal House was not hidden in an abandoned wharf’s dilapidated warehouse or at the center of an uninhabited island.
What if a typhoon hit and their property got washed away, or worse, if the funds were stolen without anyone knowing?
It’s better to leave items in a place guarded by trustworthy people or organizations.
“This is the place. We just need to enter the trading company, say the password, go to the vault, and retrieve the stored items. Simple as that.”
Arcadia pointed at the trading company from behind a nearby building.
Jezel nodded, thinking it was an ingenious way to store items, but there was a flicker of doubt in her mind.
“Then why are we watching from here instead of just going inside to retrieve it?”
“Well, there are watchers. I don’t know the password, but there are watchers stationed just in case a family member decides to take out the funds.”
“Ah, that’s a bit problematic.”
“There’s another issue as well. I only know part of the password.”
“Wait, then why did we come here without a plan?”
Arcadia wasn’t foolish.
She had a plan of her own.
“Do you see those two chubby guys just hanging out in front of the trading company?”
“I see them.”
“They’re watchers too. And where the watchers are stationed, there’s a retainer from the Sebiche family who has parts of the password on hand, ready to move the stored property in case of emergencies.”
“So, we need to roast that retainer?”
“Seems so. If those two happen to have any funny ideas and try to attack me, please help me.”
She was using Oknodie and Jezel as a bodyguard in the negotiations.
A merchant in Jezel and the top student Oknodie.
It was not a bad combination for achieving their goals.
Jezel could help with persuasion.
And if things went south, Oknodie could lend his strength.
However, it seemed Oknodie wasn’t fond of this operation.
“There’s no need for that. There’s an easier way right from the start!”
Upon hearing Oknodie’s plan, both Arcadia and Jezel wore faces full of confusion.
Clanking noisily in their armor, Oknodie asked,
“How does it look? Do I look like a paladin now?”
“Not at all. The armor is too rusty, and your posture is sloppy.”
Jezel scrutinized him thoroughly.
She had to; those tin cans were the crux of their operation.
“Did you hear? Bank robbers swear by posture!” clang clang “Get that armor cleaned and stand straight!”
“…Didn’t the little lady suggest leading a fake paladin unit, accusing them of heresy to use the evidence to make off with the funds?”
“That’s correct?”
“When did paladins become bank robbers?!”
For some reason, Oknodie was absolutely furious, flailing his arms as he shouted wildly.
“Paladins are just thugs! Even when they do cooperative quests, they take the reward in the name of faith, and they have so many taboos that you can’t do anything without running into a wall, and if you want to learn any skills, they charge you like a robber!”
This child… Has she met a real paladin somewhere?
For a moment, the question crossed his mind.
But then again, at the Wahyhiemhai Foundation, it made some sense.
And he found himself reluctantly accepting it.
“Get it together! Regardless of Oknodie’s fury towards paladins, you’re going in there, not me. If you fail, you’ll be attacked right in the middle of the trading company.”
“Oh, don’t worry about that.”
“Right, we have our pride too.”
“Even if those jerks see us… cough!”
Oknodie suddenly whacked one of the tin cans in a way that made a loud thud.
“It’s not that we might be caught, it’s that we have absolute confidence in not getting caught, right?”
Just try saying otherwise.
I’ll send the one who faints over to the next one.
The tin cans trembled in fear as they nodded their heads vigorously to Oknodie’s fierce glare.
“Just who are these people?”
“Who cares? The operation is on the verge of being executed.”
“Whew, that’s true. We can only hope we get through this safely.”
“I’ll make a quick bathroom run.”
Jezel urged Arcadia to focus on the operation, calming her down, but in the back, she asked her informant who had sneaked into the restroom earlier.
“Are they from the foundation?”
“Correct.”
“What’s their level?”
“They are experienced enough to have a few tricks up their sleeves. Most have the skills of 3rd place, while the leaders are 4th place-level competent individuals.”
“Got it. Please keep an eye out and be ready for anything unexpected.”
4th place, a marker of strength.
Comparably, it might sound daunting, but it’s simple in another light.
The high mountain God’s Garden, also known as Shinjung Mountain, with its 12,500m elevation is a common enough area that individuals of 4th place caliber can navigate through.
Jezel knew what a 4th place competent person was.
Son Ohchun, the hero from around the time of the Academy entrance survival test, was of that level (4th place).
Even at that time, Oknodie had achieved a rank higher than Son Ohchun, 5th place.
Saying that he had less skill than Oknodie might seem ridiculous, but it was simply because from the start, Oknodie was too strong, and even hitting Son Ohchun level would typically be considered impressive.
From the Adventurer’s Guild to the cooperative, mercenary bands, those nestled in high-ranking positions had careers fit to target the new bosses or high-ranking executives.
“Which church will we disguise ourselves as?”
“The Full Mark Church!”
“That church that teaches ‘How to use sacred magic without faith’?”
“Exactly! Purely bad guys, those.”
“Indeed. Duke Andersen denounces the wickedness of their teachings every time.”
“How do we even imitate paladins who believe in the Full Mark?”
The presumed leader among the tin cans asked.
Oknodie’s answer was straightforward.
“Act like you have anger management issues!”
“……”
When they barged into the trading company, both Arcadia and Jezel, along with their tin-can helpers, were feeling a mix of uncertainty.
“The order of the Full Mark has arrived here! Prepare yourself, wicked heretics, for your demise!”
“Huh?!”
“No, we’re not heretics!”
“Shut it! I know there are heretic artifacts hidden in this building, so don’t try anything funny!”
Is this right?
Is this really happening?
Doubting every bit of it, they roared like madmen while smashing things and frightening people, and the storage room was opened before they knew it.
The tin cans’ performances, pretending to each have their mental breakdown, played a crucial role in this heist.
“Did this guy say to open the vault or not?! Do you want to come out with us? Want to jump into the Burning Ring for a spin?!”
“Yeah, just keep moving slowly! If you drag this out for 720 hours, by the time the swing returns 720-degrees, you’ll see how fast we can move!”
“Ooh, you putting your hand on the external comms? If you mess around, you’ll experience an all-inclusive trip with your hands in a crocodile’s mouth while a sprinkle of hot pepper dust is thrown all over you!”
Weirdly specific but eerily convincing threats grounded in circus themes!
As they wasted time and prepared for whatever help from the territory would arrive, the company employees were pretty well deflated by their circus threats.
“Why the heck are these paladins so eager to perform circus acts on us?”
“No clue. They’re just crazy.”
“The Mark warriors always do that.”
Due to their infamous reputation, it seemed like they could do any lunatic antics, and it would still be attributed to the organization. Just then, Arcadia signaled from the storage room.
“I got everything. Let’s leave.”
“Wait! This place doesn’t just seem to store the Sebiche family’s slush fund, it also looks like a hiding spot for other families’ funds. Shouldn’t we take those too?”
“We don’t have much time. Even now, soldiers are probably rushing in from the Lord’s Castle.”
Jezel swiftly highlighted valuable items with her keen merchant’s insight.
“Let’s go!”
They managed to get out of the trading company smoothly, but suddenly tails started to follow them from a distance.
One group was the Sebiche family’s watchers, and the other was the trackers sent by the company they had just robbed.
“They don’t seem like they’ll let us go easily. If we don’t get away now, we won’t be able to change clothes and use the transfer magic circle.”
“It’s okay. They’ll figure something out. Right?”
As Oknodie tapped his feet, urging a response, the tin cans sighed deeply and nodded.
As they scattered in every direction, the trackers lost their focus, and the three comfortably widened the distance between themselves.
The tin cans’ true identity was, of course, the Pierrot Masked Group.
Oknodie.
Chief Scholarship Student of the Foundation.
The one who had swiftly taken down the branch leader.
A disciple of the previous hero, the Destroyer.
The circus members dared not refuse her call, nor did they think of rebelling.
Who knew if resisting would bring them face-to-face with the Destroyer’s subordinates next and leave them in a bad spot?
“Did you all ditch the armor?”
“Wearing that tires me out.”
“The Sebiche family trackers are just going to fly around uselessly. They’re harder to shake off than the company guards.”
The Pierrots decided to escape in different directions to somewhat dilute the enemy’s pursuit.
Oknodie made a rational distribution as they fled.
He handed over a piece of the loot from the storage room to everyone running away.
If they made it out, they’d have come across a small fortune.
With hope for the future, they charged with determination in their escape.
“Ahhh!”
“Ahhh!”
Hearing their comrades’ screams, the ones who hadn’t been caught felt relief.
Looks like nobody is chasing after me.
But as time went on, the cries were only growing louder.
One clever masked performer, suspecting something, tossed the loot under a nearby tree and climbed to its top to keep watch from above.
“Here it is.”
“Under the tree.”
“Did they hide the loot there and run?”
“We’ll search later. We need to find the others first.”
“Luck be with those guys.”
Muttering as they drifted away, the company’s security personnel began to comprehend.
The Pierrot Group realized.
Oknodie hadn’t given them the loot for nothing.
He had planned to use them as scapegoats.
The cruel scheme made their teeth chatter.
The previous branch leader had been better off, at least.
When he was greedy, he’d throw them a little reward to keep them quiet.
But Oknodie was just tossing the items, putting a tracking spell on them, commanding them to throw it away and run.
“To survive, we must chase after those people.”
Thanks to their desperate sprint, the Pierrot Masked Group reached the Transfer Station with a magic circle for spatial movement.
thud thud.
The ragged clothes he struggled to fix when one of the masked performers stumbled out ahead of them, calling him into the alley.
After hesitating for a moment, the Pierrot followed.
“Did you know Oknodie used us as disposable pawns?”
He thought it was a pointless remark.
But he couldn’t hold himself back.
If they were in alliance, they were all as good as dead anyway.
But what if these people didn’t realize Oknodie’s sinister nature?
Then he would have his chance to hit back at her.
If he instilled enough distrust in them over this secret mission they had shared, they would pay the price for the pain they had endured.
Fueled by revenge, he blurted it out, and Jezel looked startled.
“I didn’t expect that.”
“Don’t be fooled! That girl is far more wicked than you’ve seen at the Academy.”
“Lower your voice. Over here.”
Jezel motioned the Pierrot closer.
Thinking they were about to engage in a whispering conversation, he leaned in just as the wire coiled around his neck.
As he grabbed his throat in shock and struggled, it was already too late to get rid of the wire clinging to him.
“What I meant by you didn’t expect it is that you misunderstood that I wasn’t aware of it.”
The insight of a dark merchant is not something to be taken lightly.
Likewise, Jezel’s affection for Oknodie wouldn’t crumble at something that petty either.
