NOVEL NEXT C8
C8: The Way of the Phantom Thief (1)
Spring has come to the Slayer Kingdom in the center of the continent. Warm sunshine pours down from the sky, enveloping the people living in the royal capital in a gentle glow.
“Huh!”
Sipping tea leisurely in a cafeteria, Kurono Kagehiko yawned loudly. The man who was once known as the [Sage] had no trace of his former self, and looked like just another carefree young man.
“Why does spring make me sleepy like this?”
I looked at the clock on the wall and saw that it was already three o’clock in the afternoon. Two hours had already passed since I finished my lunch. The man who owned the restaurant came out of the kitchen and called out to Kagehiko, who hadn’t gotten up from his chair even though he had finished eating.
“What the hell are you doing lounging around, not working?”
“As you can see, I’m having a cup of tea. I don’t know how you can talk to a customer like this.”
“A man who stays for two hours for a cup of tea is not a customer! If you’ve finished your meal, get the hell out of here!”
“Ah, it’s good. Tea is good. The tea is so good, I can’t believe it was made by this bald guy with a beard.”
“You can either praise me or humiliate me! Do you want to get kicked out?”
The owner of the diner yelled at him, but Kagehiko just brushed it off and poured the tea down his throat.
“Oh, please don’t fight, both of you. Kagehiko-san here’s a little something for you.”
“Oh, thank you.”
A waitress girl offered me a plate of scones. I took a bite of it and the sweet taste of jam filled my mouth.
“Hey! Sana, don’t spoil Kagehiko!”
“Oh, come on. Kagehiko-san is cute like a cat.”
“What’s cute about a guy who’s almost 30? You’ve fallen for the wrong guy!”
The waitress called Sana stuck out her tongue adorably at the manager who complained. While the two were arguing, Kagehiko carried the sweets to his mouth at his own pace.
“Scones, yum. Sweet, sweet.”
While chewing on a scone, Kagehiko plopped down on the dining room table and stretched his body. The owner of the restaurant looked down with white eyes at the young man who seemed to have reached the peak of laziness.
“What’s so great about this lazy bastard who doesn’t even work? Hey, Kagehiko, if you lay a hand on one of my employees, you’re out of luck!”
“What do you mean?”
Kagehiko looked at Sana’s figure from top to bottom. The waitress, with her purplish silver hair in twin tails, was only about as tall as Kagehiko’s waist. Her breasts and hips had very little flesh on them, and she was, to put it bluntly, an infant.
“I wouldn’t go so far as to call her Fujiko Mine, but she’d have to have a bit bigger boobs for me to even consider messing with her.”
“Who’s Fujiko Mine?”
“That’s terrible, Kagehiko-san! I’m still growing!”
Sana protested against Kagehiko’s words. She threw out her chest. As she did so, her hair, which was tied up on both sides, bounced up and down.
“Hmm, is that so?”
“Huh?”
Kagehiko touched Sana’s breasts. The young waitress’s breasts were only about as full as a banana peel, and to be frank, their hardness was more noticeable than their softness.
“Hmm, I knew you were a kid……”
“I told you to keep your hands to yourself!”
“No! Oh my god, Kagehiko……it’s only noon.”
The shopkeeper hits Kagehiko on the head with a tray. After being sexually harassed, Sana writhes her body.
“That hurt…….You really hit me.”
“You got what you deserved! Eat that and leave! Sana, go wash the dishes instead of dealing with that idiot.”
“Yes, sir. Come again, Kagehiko-san.”
“Hey.”
He waved his hand and sent the waitress away, while Kagehiko nibbled on a scone.
“……”
As he finished his scone, he noticed a folded piece of paper in the bottom of his plate.
“Eyes of the Holy Dragon, Marquis Trajan’s Residence.”
“It’s a good idea. I’ll do as the owner says and work diligently.”
He rolled up the paper, threw it in his mouth, and swallowed it with a gulp. He casually exchanged glances with Sana, who was washing the dishes at the back of the kitchen, and left the cafeteria.