Chapter 98: Hot Afternoon (2)

Thus, Ibi began to pick the safe's lock with [Finesse].

At the same time, I changed the tune and played the 「Song of Swiftness」.

A special, vocals-free performance, for Ibi who complains whenever I just sing.

And a few minutes later.

“──!”

Ibi, who had been picking the lock with a serious expression all along, suddenly straightened her back.

──Click!

Along with a sound like a heavy piece of metal being put together.

--

Evie

[Finesse] Success

--

With that, Ibi turned the ship's wheel-like handle in the center of the safe with all her might, and.

Kugugugung──

With a vibration that felt like the ground was shaking, the safe finally opened.

“──Crazy, f*ck.”

And then, a mountain of gold coins, so brilliant that even Rine's two eyes widened for a moment, revealed itself before us.

From that unrealistic scene that made us lose our minds──

──Clang! Clang! Clang! Clang!

The moment Ibi, who had swallowed hard, took her first step inside, an alarm that began to ring loud enough to shake the basement, pulled us back to reality.

“B-Bag it!”

Ibi, who had snapped out of it, took out several large sacks she had brought and spread them open.

Then, she began to sweep the piled-up gold coins into the sacks.

The sacks, filled to the brim with gold coins and heavy, were not a weight that a mere strength 2 could quickly carry.

In other words, I was no longer of any use in this basement.

Rine, who was weak though not as much as me, was in a similar situation.

“Pink! It's open!”

Therefore, Rine and I quickly went back up and switched roles with Toric, who had been in charge of the crowd.

As Toric, who was also carrying a 「Magical Travel Bag」 on his back like Ibi, went down to the basement.

“Everyone! It’s almost over! If you just stay quiet like now, nothing will happen!”

I jumped onto a nearby desk and shouted.

At the same time, Rine, just as she had done when she first came in here, quietly threatened them by drawing a magic circle at the tip of her raised staff.

As if to say that if they moved even a little, she would shoot immediately.

It was then.

“Kehek… it’s you guys who are finished!”

Said one of the two knights, who were tied up in chains.

“Take a look outside! You’re all dead now──”

Unlike the guy who had become a little quiet after Ibi had knocked his front teeth out, this guy still seemed to be able to open his mouth.

『Shut your mouth.』

“──Ugh!?”

So I shut it with 「Word Command」.

Thanks to that, no one else opened their mouth.

A moment later, I heard the sound of stomping footsteps, as if to bury the still loudly ringing alarm.

Then, before long, Ibi and Toric—with 「Magical Travel Bags」 on their backs, probably stuffed with heavy money bags—came running out of the basement.

It was then.

“──You are already surrounded!”

From somewhere, a booming shout was heard.

Naturally, it was outside the bank.

As the knight had said.

“Surrender and drop your weapons! Bank robbers!”

In front of the bank, the city guards had already set up a perimeter.

“──Wait. Hold on.”

Yesterday, as soon as Ibi had received the codename ‘Blonde’, she had suddenly raised her hand and said.

So I thought she had an objection to the codename, but she didn't.

“We can manage inside the bank, but what about the guys outside?”

“Outside?”

“The alarm will go off as soon as the safe opens, so by the time we’ve packed all the money and come up from that long basement, every city guard near the bank will have gathered to watch us.”

Ibi, who had said this, let out a bitter smile and added.

“And those guards. They’re probably all on the take. I’m not being sarcastic, it’s true. It’s a bank where they stash their black money, so of course they’d have guys they can boss around.”

At that, Logan chimed in, saying that unfortunately, Miss Evie was right.

“They’ll pretend to be ordinary guards in front of others, but if we go into a secluded place, they’ll probably try to kill us right away? Or send us to that damn old geezer or the damn great noble bastards.”

“Then we have to somehow not get caught.”

“How? How are we going to break through those guys who are all over the place and get out of the middle of the city?”

Ibi's point was valid.

That's why I nodded in agreement.

“Well──”

So, I approached the person who had just received the codename ‘Brown’,

“We'll have to take a hostage.”

“──?!”

And as I wrapped my arm around his shoulder as if to pull him in, I made a gesture of holding a knife to his neck.

“Hey, you! Come here!”

“Kya, kyaa─”

As soon as she saw the guards who were all over the outside of the bank, Ibi immediately grabbed a ‘customer’ to use as a hostage and pulled her up.

Then, she held a dagger to her neck and shouted.

“Hey!”

At the city guards, who were startled to see this.

“If you move even a little! This nun is dead!”

That nun, by a strange coincidence, was not a poor customer who had happened to come to this bank and gotten caught up in a robbery… but ‘Brown’.

“Watch your step!”

Lily.

Probably the most kind, harmless, and innocent-looking person in this bank── no, in this city.

“C-Calm down…!”

“Back off! Back off! You really want to see her get stabbed! Huh!?”

“Heeik─”

Seeing Ibi, who had taken such a being as a hostage, the guards began to tremble with anger and helplessness, as if they were witnessing an unforgivable act of patricide in real time.

“H-How dare you take a nun who serves God as a hostage…!”

“Th-Those devil-like bastards…!”

“Do you want to be divinely punished! How, how dare you… to a nun…!”

And although they probably didn't notice, Lily naturally exuded something like a pheromone… that made it easy for her to gain the favor of others.

Because of that, to them, it would not feel like a nun they were seeing for the first time today, but as if the nun of our neighborhood church, with whom they had known for a long time and had built up an (internal) intimacy, had been taken hostage.

“H-Help meeeee─”

Seeing that nun, who was very frightened (?), asking for help, they.

“……?”

All, without anyone having to go first, tilted their heads.

“…No.”

Even Ibi, who was holding her hostage, showed a slightly flustered reaction.

We, who were cautiously following the two of them out, were the same.

‘Lily……’

Because that’s how much… Lily's acting was so terrible.

--

Lily

[Deception] Critical Failure

--

I was aware that Lily was not good at lying… but still, I thought she would be able to get by somehow.

Sure enough, as soon as the hostage Lily's [Deception] failed spectacularly, the guards began to notice something strange, one by one.

“Wh-What is it…?”

“Something… she doesn't seem scared at all, like…?”

“D-Don't tell me, that nun… is hiding her power…?”

“She got caught on purpose…?”

“Or, don't tell me… they’re in on it…”

At that, Ibi, who saw the guards who had become calm as if they had been released from a hypnosis and had relaxed their tension and started to whisper.

“Ah, f*ck──”

Seemed to have taken extreme measures.

…Honestly, I don't know what Ibi did.

As soon as I saw her expression, I had a bad feeling, so I happened to look away.

But what I do know is.

“──!? Kya, kyaaaaaak──?!?!”

The scream that Lily started to let out from that moment was very… very realistic.

“H-H-Help me──!!”

Like a person who was really… feeling a serious threat.

“Next is the neck, you bastards!”

I don't know.

It's not my business.

I don't want to know, and I don't want to see it.

Thanks to that, even the guards who had been suspicious of Lily for a moment.

“Sister──!”

“Th-Those, profane people…!”

“H-How dare you, what are you doing to the Sister…!?”

Soon cast aside their doubts and started to worry about Lily's safety again, becoming restless.

“Hey! Get out of the way! F*ck, get out of the way!”

The guards eventually, one by one, began to back away slowly with their weapons aimed.

Thus, Ibi, who had once again opened a path like the miracle that parted the sea, slowly headed towards a nearby secluded alley.

“W-We can’t move, right…?”

“R-Right…? The Sister is also, in danger…”

The guards were looking at the three of us who were following Ibi, like a dog that had been chasing a chicken and was now looking at the roof.

Before long, we, with Lily as a hostage, all entered a nearby alley, and.

“Everyone! You’re here!”

There was ‘Blue’── Miki.

“Let’s go, Blue!”

Sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage that had been waiting in advance.

“Understood!”

He was the ‘driver’ of this operation.

We immediately jumped onto the carriage as if throwing ourselves.

“Hiyah!”

At Miki's signal, the carriage began to run.

“Ch-Chase them!”

“But the hostage…”

“Then let them go!? Just chase them!”

At that, the guards who saw this hurriedly got on their horses and began to chase after us.

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

The sound of horse hooves echoed throughout the road.

Rumble-rumble!

As if in rhythm with this, the luggage compartment behind us swayed continuously.

『Bellbottoms!』

Along with my 「Song of Swiftness」 to encourage my allies.

As you can see from many ‘caper movies’, no matter how elaborate a plan you make, it’s all for nothing if you don't have a driver to safely get you out of the scene through a pre-secured escape route.

In other words, the driver was the cherry on top of the cake that completed the bank robbery.

“H-Hey! Ki── B-Blue! We’re going to crash! We’re going to craaaash!”

And Miki, although he had almost no chance to show it until now, was actually very skilled in horsemanship.

Well, he's a ‘knight’, isn't he?

“Woah, woah, woah, woah, woah!?”

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

“Hiyah!”

Instead of stopping, Miki quickly turned.

At that, the luggage compartment slid to the side as if drifting, and we were able to narrowly avoid a cart that had suddenly appeared in the middle of the road.

But the guards who were chasing us, couldn't.

“W-Woah──!?”

Hee-hee-hing!

Because the horse had suddenly reared up and stopped in front of the obstacle, they either fell down.

Crash!

Or eventually collided with the cart and fell to the floor along with the wooden barrels that were loaded on it.

“There they are!”

But when we came out of the alley and onto the open main road again.

“Suspects found!”

Other guards, who had come running after receiving a request for support, began to chase after us on horseback.

“Chase── Ugh!?”

One of them, was hit by Rine's 「Water Bomb」 and fell along with his slipping horse.

“Blue! That way!”

Then, Ibi, who had crossed over the luggage compartment, sat next to Miki and pointed the way.

Even without checking the map, Ibi knew every nook and cranny of Tiaria.

“Yes! Hiyah!”

That's why Miki also trusted Ibi and quickly turned the carriage.

Shwaaaak──!

The wheels of the carriage slid on the road, and we entered a narrow alley again.

“Uh, uhh!?”

“Get out of the way, get out of the way!”

Behind us, the guards who were trying to quickly turn to follow us, ended up colliding with each other and getting tangled up.

“You’re cornered rats!”

But, there were also guys who were riding towards us from the opposite direction.

“Surrender quietly──”

──Kugugugung!

As if to block them, an 「Ice Wall」 rose high.

“Wh-What is this!?”

“Nice job, Orange!”

“Left!”

“Yes!”

Clip-clop, clip-clop!

The carriage quickly turned again.

The path we had entered was so narrow that even one carriage could barely fit.

Thanks to that, we couldn't see the guards chasing us, but our carriage also had to slow down and couldn't run as fast as before.

And before long, when a wide road appeared again.

Hee-hee-hing!

Miki turned the carriage and quickly stopped the horse.

After stopping the carriage, as if to block the path we had just passed.

“Get out!”

At Ibi's signal, we all quickly got out of the carriage.

“Here! Quickly!”

And then we headed to the manhole in the narrow alley we had just passed.

To the sewer.