Heroes and Machine Girls Looking at Profiles

21 – You look like a thief

Inside the dark alleys of the Imperial Capital.

In the shadowy part of the continent, it is an area that can be said to be the back world of the ecliptic, commonly known as Black Eum Street.

Overall, it is a city where public security is not bad, but this black house is different.

A place where violence, crime, and various illegal activities occur almost naturally.

However, there are no guards dispatched to protect the security of this place.

Of course.

In the first place, this place is no different from a place that the empire has deliberately neglected.

The purpose is to create an area that is a hotbed of crime and relatively reduce the crime rate in other areas.

“It’s here.”

“…Yes, here is Daegeum.”

“Oh my, thank you every time. Be sure to pass this on to the owner as well.”

“Yes, I will make sure to tell you.”

Two girls are handed something by a middle-aged man with a hood pulled down.

They are none other than Ortrinde and Rossweisse, who were moving separately from their owner.

What the two people handed over was none other than a status card.

However, it is an illegal card whose contents can be forged to suit your taste.

Status cards are used in place of ID cards in this world.

Originally, status cards are commonly issued in all countries on the continent.

In the first place, the characteristic of a status card is that the person’s information is reflected as is.

So, as long as you have a status card, you cannot lie about your identity.

Therefore, there are also illegal cards created for those who want to lie about their identity.

It is an item traded in the back world for those who want to hide their information such as name, class, and skills they possess.

Illegal cards, which were made with considerable effort, had to be purchased for a large amount of money, but they were made so elaborately that it was difficult to detect them even with a reasonable amount of skill.

This middle-aged man who did business with her is a broker of a big name in the behind-the-scenes world.

The warrior Hans has become a regular customer since he started dealing with his fake identity and various background investigations.

Furthermore, after Ortrinde and Rossweisse joined, his face was filled with a big smile, as if he had been chosen as a huge customer by purchasing illegal cards for the two people.

“Rossweisse, use this card. You will understand how to operate it… Without explaining it, right?”

“Yes, the design itself is very elaborate, but the magic used is ordinary.”

Although this was something he had never seen before, Ortrinde took his eyes off Rossweisse, who was skillfully beginning to forge a card, and looked around.

When I arrived in the Imperial Capital once, I followed the owner to this place to purchase his own illegal card.

Compared to the ecliptic where people smile brightly and lively, this dark song seems to harbor deep darkness.

Ortrinde lowered his head at the sight of his master Hans.

The new owner, Hans, treats them brightly and kindly, but he harbors deep darkness in his heart.

It wasn’t something he showed often, but he sometimes expressed hatred with a very dark expression.

I learned the identity of that darkness only recently, when the owner revealed everything along with his purpose.

Vengeance.

A desire for revenge on someone who has been betrayed.

Although he understood the conceptual meaning of it, Ortlinde was ignorant about revenge.

It has to be that way.

The desire for revenge is difficult to understand unless you experience it yourself.

Perhaps her younger sister, Ross Weisse, who is more emotional than she is, also lacks understanding of her desire for revenge.

But I guess it didn’t matter.

They just act for their master.

Unless his desire for revenge meant destroying his master, he had no intention of stopping the action.

The owner was worried.

Will they, who fought against demons for humans in the distant past, be able to ignore demons attacking humans?

But it still didn’t matter.

The reason humans were protected in the past was because the creator Erda wanted it.

You can attack it, but it really doesn’t matter if you just leave it alone.

Even if Master Hans gives the order to attack humans.

Ortlinde was able to point his sword at the humans he had protected in the past without any hesitation.

“It’s over, sister.”

“…That’s perfect. Then, let’s go to the agreed upon place and wait.”

Rossweisse put a perfectly counterfeit card into his pocket.

Then, he looked around again and opened his mouth.

“But this is a very bloody place. I can feel eyes on me from everywhere.”

“…Don’t worry, they won’t touch anyone they judge to be dangerous.”

As she said that, Ortrinde slightly released the ether and magic power within her.

…Immediately, I felt the gaze that had been paying attention to them slowly disappear.

Heukumga, a hotbed of crime where imperial laws do not apply.

A place where it is taken for granted that the powerless are eaten by the powerful.

That is why it is a comfortable place for powerful people to live.

Rather, it is more troublesome to deal with idiots who cannot estimate the abilities of their opponents.

“…It’s spacious.”

「Okay, how do I find the book I want here?」

Walking around the spacious mansion, I somehow managed to find the study.

Well, since the study itself was originally built using a large space, it was not as difficult to find as I thought.

The problem is that it is such a large space…

“There are so many.”

There are a ton of books.

Of course, there are not as many books as there are in the main library, but the problem is that unlike libraries that categorize books, the books are just arranged according to the owner.

In the end, the conclusion I came to was this.

We don’t have time to look, so let’s just take everything that looks good.

「You look like a thief」

“It’s noisy”

As I was cosplaying as a merchant, I even used dimensional storage that I don’t usually use, and I scavenged as many decent books as I could find.

…He justified himself by saying that since the original owner of the book was the Duke of Vallière anyway, it wouldn’t matter if he returned it to Lucien later.

After shaking out about half of the books in the study, I moved to leave the mansion.

As I was going back the way I came, Reinforce suddenly spoke to me.

「Huh? Hero, warrior!! Look over there」

“What’s wrong? I have to leave soon…”

「Look at that room」

It was rare for Rein Force to do this, so he stopped for a moment.

A place that appears to be the room where Reinforce speaks.

It seemed like something like light could be seen through the gap in the door.

The door was tightly locked, but I just opened it with force.

…The doorknob flew off with a crunching sound, but I’ll apologize later.

「Wow…This is so…」

“…Well, it’s definitely the family that amassed the greatest wealth in the empire…”

It was a treasure trove.

A place filled with mountains of sparkling gold coins, various jewels, swords, and treasures.

I had heard from Luciena that the mansion contained personal assets that the Duke of Vallière had inherited from his distant ancestors.

In other words, this is the extent of the duke’s personal wealth, not the family’s wealth…

“I really hate it, but I can understand the crown prince’s feelings a little.”

If it was just a paving stone for the throne, it would have been a matter of just amicably canceling the marriage, but this is the reason why they went so far as to exterminate the ducal family.

I vaguely thought it was to eliminate future anxiety, but my thoughts changed when I saw this treasure trove.

You did it because you were obsessed with money, that golden monkey bastard.

“……”

「Huh…? What are you doing?”

I began to sweep up everything I could find in the treasure chest into dimensional storage.

「Huh? Hey? Hero? Anyway, isn’t this a bit unreasonable for a hero? Are you really planning to change your career to a thief?”

“No, Reinforce. Think about it.”

The Duke’s personal assets are now in the form of the Crown Prince exterminating the Duke’s family and reclaiming them from the state.

Well, on the surface it seems like that’s what the crown prince is doing to get rid of this, but…

“…If the crown prince takes over these properties, who will they be used for?”

「Huh? That’s right, with the crown prince…Ah…”

Yes.

If the Crown Prince takes over this property, the Crown Prince himself…

…It will be used for those traitorous b*tches.

As my thoughts reached that point, I didn’t want to leave this treasure unattended.

「Let’s take everything with us」

“This is why I like you”

I grabbed every single gold coin that was in the corner of the treasure chest and leisurely left the mansion.

Ecliptic Shale Ark, a busy area.

There is a tea house called Montmartre here that serves fragrant tea and sweet desserts.

This is a famous teahouse frequented mainly by young ladies of the imperial capital, regardless of whether they are commoners or nobles.

But today, the atmosphere in the teahouse was different.

Where young ladies would normally sit and drink tea, young men were sitting there holding appropriate drinks.

And, they were all glancing at one spot in common.

“The gaze is too explicit.”

“Don’t worry, Rossweisse. It’s not a malicious look.”

“Still, I can feel the dark side… I wonder when the master will come…”

There, two beautiful girls with silver-gray hair were sitting drinking tea.

A girl wearing skin-tight leather greaves and a girl dressed like a noble lady out on an outing.

Two girls who look exactly like sisters, but also look like a noble lady and her guard.

But the beauty was that it had a beautiful appearance, like a doll that a craftsman worked hard to bring to shine.

Even when compared to the peerless beauties from the warrior party who are said to have been married to the crown prince, she has an appearance that makes one wonder if she would surpass them… No, in fact, she would surpass them.

They had been sitting in this teahouse for about an hour as if waiting for someone.

Some people passing by saw it, and before they knew it, word spread, and so many male customers came to see them.

The tea shop manager was looking at this with a strange feeling, wondering if he should be happy about this.

It was that time.

Some loud noise was heard from the entrance of the teahouse.

There were certainly young men at the entrance of the teahouse to see these beautiful girls.

However, the gentlemen decided not to disturb the girls drinking tea and stayed quiet…

The doubts of the young people in the teahouse were answered as soon as the door was powerfully opened.

“I came here after hearing a rumor that there were beautiful women here…”

Slick blonde hair and tanned skin as if tanned by the sun.

And she is a handsome man who can only be described as very handsome.

The man appeared on her face with a refreshing smile that seemed to attract many women.

If female customers had flocked to this teahouse as usual, he would have fainted from being so fascinated by his presence.

However, unlike usual, the male customers at the teahouse seemed to faint at his presence in a different way.

“Wow, you’re definitely very beautiful. They’re both completely my taste.”

He smiled at the two girls who were the focus of attention inside the tea shop.