I opened my eyes; I was propped up on the bed of my room.
Beside me, Stella looked at me with a worried face, somehow, it wasn't like her to be this gloomy. Her hair was disheveled, her dress was a mess now.
"Hey, Ash…" Captain called out, she was on the other side of the bed. "How are you feeling?"
"Some memories came back"
I used my arm to cover my head.
"I'm not from this world…"
Silence. They didn't answer, I guess that means they knew about it.
"Is that why you said I should prepare myself, Captain?"
"…Sorry, Ash, I wanted to tell you sooner"
I peered over to Hime, her eyes were downcast, she was really regretting it.
I got out of the bed and started dressing.
"Hey, Ash, you shouldn't be getting up yet" Stella warned.
"We don't have time" I said "This is our only chance, and I blew it, if I move now, I can still go and steal it"
"But…" Hime tried to protest, but she also knew, if we try to infiltrate the castle any other day, we'd be caught.
"There's no time to be worrying about my health, the world is in danger, I'm just a tiny momentary spec within an indifferent universe"
"Okay, you should lead this mission, Ash"
"Stella, you're with me, Captain, you'll be our eye, use the drone to scan the Palace of the Treasure Vault."
In the capital shrouded by darkness, Stella and I headed towards the castle. Infiltrating the castle after the party would be the best course of action at this point, everyone would be tired and security would be laxed.
"Hey, what do you have in there, that looks cool, I want one too"
Stella who covered her mouth with a black cloth said with her eyes on me.
"This is something I made; it will give me access on the drone scanning the building"
I put over the special mask, it was designed to look like a phantom thief, this was also to avoid exposing my identity, with my memories back, those fifteen idiots aren't the only in there, but also the rest of my classmates, and they all have insane powers.
Since I was born, I had only committed minor violations such as jaywalking and public urination. Aside from that, I've never done something criminal, this was the first time, and dare do I say, I'm getting excited.
I didn't want to hurt or kill anyone so; I didn't bring anything lethal with me. To lessen the load whenever I needed to run, I left Vulcan at the Inn with Captain.
Stella and I both wore dark clothes, except that mine was really eye catching, it was designed with elegance and fit for any situation.
"Why are you wearing something so extravagant?" Stella asked.
"If I'm gonna steal something, I might as well make a name for myself"
[You two, focus on the mission]
Captain's voice rang on our communicator, the device was made by yours truly, it could only work at a certain range, well it would pretty much work anywhere in the capital anyway, but it was made with the use of magic leylines under the ground, think of it like a telepathy magic or something like that.
"Alright, boss, what do we do now?"
"Don't call me boss"
"You're in the lead here, what do you want me to call you"
We hid in the shadows of the castle wall as we argued. We can't address each other by our name either, whatever fits now.
"Call me boss man"
"Whatever"
Avoiding the guarded main gate, we went to the side walls of the castle.
"Hey, Boss man, how are we going to break through here?"
Before she even finished, I pressed my palm with my finger as a string shoot out of my wrist and attached itself into the wall.
"Use your Divine Key moron" I said to her as I started my ascent to the wall.
[Couldn't you just transmute the wall and make a hole?]
"Don't be a kill joy, Captain! We're master thieves here! No Master Thief would pick an easy way in"
That's how Lupin does it, that's how I'll do it.
"Wow, you're good at this Boss Man, shall we rob a few more places after this?"
"If we didn't get caught and die a horrible death, I'll think about it!"
The time should be about one or two hours after midnight. The castle lights were off and everyone seemed fast asleep.
"Now, we move slow, just follow me"
"Understood, Boss man"
We were in the courtyard of the castle right now, where I almost collapsed earlier, yes
[Okay, Ash, or should I also call you Boss man, the target is in the third floor of the castle, in the northwest room]
"Understood, Cap'n"
Walking towards the door within the castle from the courtyard, I met the first obstacle.
A locked door.
I used my synergist skills and picked the lock. With a little fiddling in the keyhole, it clicked and the door was effortlessly opened.
"H-hey, boss man, I can't see anything in here…" Stella complained, this is gonna be troublesome.
"I get it, alright!" I have my perception skill, it pretty much helps me see clear as day here, so it's not a problem for me, but Stella didn't have a skill like that.
I handed her a mask enchanted with night vision.
With me leading the way, Stella followed closely behind.
We've yet to run into any patrolling guards so far.
To think that things would actually go smoothly.
"Oh, someone is coming. My Spider sense is tingling"
I called it spider sense, but it was just an enemy detection skill.
"Hide in that corner, don't forget to activate 'Stealth'."
We hid in the shadows as the footsteps of a guard drew near. Probably the guard doing patrols.
"Neh, Boss man, do you have to stick so close? We already used to 'Stealth', you won't be discovered and don't need to work so hard right?"
"It's not good to underestimate the enemy, Assistant-kun. Here, stick closer, quick!"
"Boss man, this is too close!"
"Assistant-kun, this is for the sake of getting the divine treasure back and world peace. Please bear with it!"
While we were arguing softly, the patrolling guard stopped.
"… Is someone there?"
He asked and shone his light this way, but thanks to 'Stealth', we were not discovered.
"Just my imagination…"
After seeing the guard leave, we sighed in relief.
"Really, that's why I'm telling you underestimating the enemy isn't good. If I didn't handle it carefully, we would have been in trouble."
"No no no, it is all because you that I made some noise, which attracted the guard's attention! You were just trying to sexually harass me, if you want it that badly, just say so, Ash-kun~"
"Shh."
I put my finger up in alert
"What?" she whispered
"Shh."
"There's no one there, is it?"
"Maybe…"
She caught on, damn it.
Moving through the vast castle, we reached the stairs leading to the third floor.
The Treasure vault was at the northwest room
The Vault was shrouded with a powerful barrier. I took out a certain magic item at this moment.
"Barrier killer?"
"Yeah, I had it just in case, even with my Synergist skills, it won't do anything"
I meddled with the magic item for a while and with a pop, the barrier was dispelled easily.
"Amazing, now we just need to watch out for traps"
"Yeah, thankfully, I have my 'Spider Sense' to detect the traps, this is a piece of cake" I boasted.
With our night vision, we saw the surrounding with ease.
The vault was filled with all sorts of neatly arranged treasures before us, there are also Artifacts that line up in the far wall.
Before Stella could step in, I stopped her.
"Oops, there is a trap here. The alarm will ring if you take this treasure with you. If the target divine relic isn't here, don't touch the goods here."
She nodded after hearing my words, we started searching together for the Treasure, it wouldn't be that hard, it's a pile of armor after all.
"Boss Man, I found it!"
I went over to her location, the armor was displayed over the wall like an Iron Man suit, the problem was it had traps, fortunately, I disabled it with ease by disrupting the mana flow that powered the trap.
I started picking up the Hollow Armor, and into our magic bag enchanted with the Key of Void.
Yes, we still haven't found the original Key of Void, but with the Void Archives enchanting stuff with the power of the Key of Void was easy.
Just as I finished getting the armor, I pulled up an extravagant letter and plastered it on the armor stand.
"— Over there, the intruders went that way!"
"There are two of them! We don't know what their goal is, but we can't let them do as they wish!"
A trap activated?!
"Assistant-kun-!"
Just as I turned to my partner in crime, there she was, her hands grabbing a golden plate.
The Guards' shouting became much closer, Stella and I ran with all our might.
"Damn, what a formidable trap! It even got me…!"
"You dare say that!" I yelled at her "We could've finished this without any problem if you just keep your hand to yourself"
"The plate looked like it wants to be taken away!!"
[You two, now's not the time for banter! You need to get out of there now!]
The captain was right, with the trap set off, the whole castle was now in high alert, it's only a matter of time, before the Heroes come and stop us.
"Create Water! Freeze!"
I used a basic Water and Ice magic.
The corridor we ran past was covered in ice now. Screams and curses came from behind.
"As expected from Boss Man!"
Stella who was chiding me as she ran by my side showed a thumbs up.
"Watch this!"
I switched up the mode on my shooter and shot the wall beside me.
Soon after the web exploded and touched the other side of the wall and became a large spider web.
"Let's go!"
"Why am I even here?" Stella asked "I'm doing nothing here?"
"Yeah, I'm starting to wonder why I made you tag along"
"Ah!! Meanie!! I'm gonna cry!!"
We need to find an escape route, but where?
Stella drew her Star of Eden, "— We cut through the web! The thieves are… they are still here, they didn't escape!"
The guards blocking the way cut through the web, leaving us with no cover from them.
"Thieves, I will make you all regret breaking into the royal castle! Just leave one of them alive to interrogate their motive!"
A man who looked like their captain drew the sword on his waist and said some scary words.
The guard blocking our way and watching our every move said:
"Captain, one of them has a weird weapon, the other is unarmed. Let's capture the weaker looking one who doesn't have any weapons!"
The man who was addressed as captain nodded. I looked weak?! I went to all that trouble making my clothes looked like a Phantom Thief and they're just gonna call me weak!?
"Hmm, the Blonde haired one does seem stronger. Alright, don't hold back against the white hair! Two of us would be enough to take on that masked weakling!"
Now I'm pissed!
"The opponent is a suspicious thief, don't show any mercy!"
Adrenaline rushed through me. I waited for them to come close.
"The two of them are not moving… Hey, intruders! This is your chance to surrender! You might get to keep your life! Now, just give up…"
The man known as captain took a stance with his sword against me.
"…"
Seeing me stretch out my hand quietly, he lowered his sword.
"Oh? You want to surrender? Okay, that blonde haired girl over there, put down your weapon too! Then you can keep your ahhhhh—!?"
The moment he touched my hand, the captain screamed and he fell to the ground trembling.
"What—!" x3
Everyone present…
Gasped in shock, including Stella, the one known as the captain did have great stamina.
No one could withstand my 'Mana Drain' when I'm mad
"W-what did this guy do—!?"
Seeing their captain down on the floor, all the guards took a step back. At this moment, I—!
"Hahahaha! Great! This feels awesome! My Assistant, I will let you witness my prowess tonight! We'll trash the castle tonight!!"
"B-Boss man!? You are acting really strange! What happened!?"
I charged at the guards—!
"Assistant-kun! Just turn right around that corner and we will see the stairs to the topmost level!"
"Alright, I-I got it! B-by the way Boss Man, you feel different from usual… even your tone is weird, what happened!?"
I ran side by side with Stella, with curses coming from behind just like before. However, the content was a bit different than earlier…
"Thieves! Strong thieves have infiltrated the castle! Get those elite adventurers up, quickly!"
"Listen up! Don't attack recklessly! The opponent is skilled, but it seems that he didn't plan to kill anyone yet! Even so, don't act rashly!"
"Knight commander! Please evacuate this way to a safe zone!!"
"B-but we can't let that masked man go any further…!"
As I started getting into my groove, the guards showed incredible fear.
Ohh, enemy ahead!
"Get out of the way, I am the Dark Corsair, coming through! If you don't want to get hurt, make way!"
"Boss man, when did you decide that name?! this have blown up, why are you like this?!"
"This is how a Phantom Thief works, my cute assistant!" I cheered happily as I knocked down the guard running towards us.
"Captain! Boss man's gone mad!" Stella cried
[I-I don't know why, when did Ash became this excited?]
"Oh! Sorcerer, My Cute Assistant, I leaveth thee thy care!"
Shakespearean accent started to manifest in me as I portray myself as a phantom thief.
"What the hell happened, Boss man!"
The guards who looked as if they just got up from bed blocked our path. Two of them wore armor, and one of them had a robe.
"Leave it to me! I will take care of that one…! 'Gravity'!"
Stella used her Star of Eden faster than the robed mage.
"'Lightning'! …Hmm? Ah!?"
The mage crushed by the gravity and failed to activate the spell.
I jumped up the wall and shot the two guards with my shooter tying them up. The sticky web would probably dissolve in two hours, and that's more than enough time, besides it has tensile strength.
"Another one of our guys is down! What is with that guy! And he is unarmed!"
"Where are the adventurers!? Haven't the powerful adventurers arrived yet!?"
The guards' shouts were now no different from screams.
"B-because… The alcohol content was higher for the feast, they are all dead drunk…"
"Adventurers are not reliable after all!"
I sighed in relief after hearing that shout from behind me.
When facing high level adventurers, my disadvantage would be too obvious.
"Knights and guards are a terrible matchup against opponents with thieving skills! Can't we do anything about this!?"
"It is impossible to use the mana intensive 'Bind' repeatedly…! Does this guy have plenty of manatite on him…!?"
"But I didn't see him taking any manatite out! Which means…"
"That thief has enough mana to rival the Azure Magic Clan…!?"
I heard the conversation from the guards behind me.
Their evaluation of me was rising a lot, even though I wasn't really using magic. And so…
"Ahhh! Oh no, don't let them get to the top most level! I don't know what their goal is, but Her Highness Aria is there…!?"
Oh, that be a great idea! We'll bust through the Princess's room and escape from there.
I shot off dozens of web grenade on the hallway, it will take some time for the guards to cut through that.
"— I just need to arrest the both of you and ask what your objectives are… Who are the two of you? Are you the rumored phantom thief?"
Turning back, I saw the Hero Hayato Atsushi, that fucking bastard standing there fully armed. And…
"To cut off your own retreat path. Intruders, you can't escape."
The ones who announced this were his friends Murasame and Kirishima who had serious expressions. And watching from afar were our classmates and a bunch of knights.
Shit! I've been really looking forward to this, I've always wanted to bash Atsushi's face.
"Indeed, it is I, Dark Corsair! Hear ye, O Brave one, I declare to o're-raughot this predicament, and knap thy zany face"
"W-Why are you talking in a Shakespearean accent?"
Well, they probably did not understand what I said, even I didn't
"What should we do, Boss Man. With that many of them, we are trapped"
Stella said quietly in a slightly hoarse voice.
After taking a look, there wasn't any other mage aside from Suzuya and Nakamura, also aside from the Five in front of us, the others were scared to even join the fight.
With Atsushi leading the way, they drew closer, Murasame drew her sword and edged closer.
They others probably thought the match was already set and amusedly watching the show of the heroes shooting fishes in the barrel.
"Mei, I heard that the Masked man is very strong. He might be unarmed, but who knows what he'll do if we push him. I will take him on, please deal with the Blond-haired young woman with the others"
"Boss man, what do we do?"
"Fie! Quell thy coil, thou hast yet to fear thee"
I tried for a pep talk, but the way I'm talking, I don't know if she could even understand me.
"Hear me, my cute assistant, one only needs to knap the strongest one, and fear shalt spread among others. Allow thee to snuff out the good for nothing cool guy in an instant, Yare for it is that moment thou shalt breakthrough"
"Hey, I understand that. The good for nothing cool guy you mentioned is me, right? Defeat me in an instant…"
I saw Murasame trying not to laugh at my words, but it was true that that bastard is a good for nothing.
"I am really being looked down by an unarmed man. Alright, I will show you my true…"
Before Atsushi even finished, I raised my hand towards his holy sword.
As a high-level hero, Atsushi should be able to withstand Mana Drain for quite a while even if I managed to steal his weapon.
"This movement, are you planning to use steal? Unfortunately, I have learned to guard against that skill. Just give up now and…:"
"Freeze"
I cut off Atsushi's words and used freezing magic.
It was just beginner magic, so Atsushi thought it was just a move to keep him in check. He continued to move cautiously against me.
I walked towards him openly…
"What are you scheming? Take this…!?"
He wanted to perform a sword drawing strike, but was surprised when the holy sword wouldn't budge because the sheath had been frozen.
I used the chance to cover Atsushi's mouth and nose with my hand…!
"Create Water!"
"Guuguu!?"
Water filled Atsushi's mouth and he grabbed my hand in a panic as he drowned.
"Admit thy defeat and retreat"
When he heard what I said, he shut his mouth to resist and clenched his fists.
"Freeze!"
"Kah!"
One instant before his fist hit me, the water in his nose and mouth froze into ice. He shivered violently.
"Hayato!"
Murasame screamed. I let go of Atsushi, he won't die from suffocation if they help him defrost, but I'm not gonna tell them that, I really want him dead.
"My assistant, charge forth! To the Princess's chambers we go!"
"I can't figure you out, seriously"
Atsushi was defeated in an instant as I predicted, making the students around me back away in fear. Stella who was still making sarcastic comments broke through the encirclement of the knights together with me.
"Haru, being a little rough would be fine too, thaw Hayato's throat quick! And what is the lot of you doing! Attack them! Even if Hayato is defeated, we can't just let them get away!"
"But from their high evasion rate, the two of them probably have the Escape skill! If they are determined to run, we can't do anything…! Hey! Split into two groups! The thieves wouldn't know the layout of the castle as well as we do! You lot, flank them!"
"Calm down everyone, we can capture them in no time, so stay calm!"
The students in front of us started fleeing in all directions, getting in the way of the knight's pursuit.
Taking this chance during the chaos, I used my webs on the knights.
They assumed we were not familiar with the layout of the castle. Unfortunately for them, we have our bird's eye.
[Ash, pass through there]
"Boss Man, behind you! An attack is coming!"
Turning back, I saw Nakamura and Suzuya who healed Atsushi pointing their staff my way as they chanted.
"Aria is right in front! Instead of letting them through, we should kill them off! We can use resurrection on them after the fact! Haru, do it!"
While Murasame was shouting frantically, the gem at the tip of Suzuya's staff started glowing eerily.
I called up the Void Archives into mimicking the Vulcan gun and shot the tip of the staff.
"Boom'
'Hyaa!?"
The tip of the staff shattered and Suzuya let out a soft cry. She was too scared to move.
Murasame, the hero party and the knights who saw this looked shocked.
"Who is that guy?! Why is such a skilled person resorting to theft!?"
Murasame groaned vexingly as she watched us escape.
[Listen Ash, the room of the princess is just ahead, one you go through, jump to the window, there's a lake below that]
"I'm getting tired Boss man" Stella complained.
Thanks to my Spider Sense and Captain giving us a feed on where the guards are, we had a huge lead.
Standing before the entrance to the Princess's room, we opened the door…!
The Princess met eyes with eyes of determination, she's not willing to bend down, she had a rapier decorated elegantly in her right hand and her left hand stretched out our way.
The bracelets on her wrist sparkled, it's white light increasing in intensity.
"Intruders, I am a member of the powerful royal family and inherited the bloodlines of heroes! Don't think you can… easily…"
The Princess was ready for battle opened her eyes wide after seeing Nishimiya step forward.
The light in the Princess's bracelets dimmed and faded.
"…Asher"
Ah! Shit are we exposed?! No no no, we can still salvage this.
I walked towards the window, the Princess was only watching up unable to do anything, Nishimiya kept her eyes on me.
"Oh, beautiful priestess, please, don't hold back."
I went back to my phantom thief acting. The girl Nishimiya was after all, the only girl who was kind enough to treat me kindly.
"If you want to love, then do it while you're still young. Otherwise you will end up like this treasure, stolen by me. I should have brought a gift to you, Priestess, it is the first time we've met, after all."
Stella jumped over the window, the guards were already closing in and cutting through the Webs I set up.
The Princess had no idea what was going on, Nishimiya was staring at me in disbelief and I was acting like a Shakespearean actor.
"But, please forgive me, the power within the armor is too dangerous"
On that word, both of them got the idea of what I stole.
"You stole the Divine Relic!" the Princess yelled.
"Please, Princess" I turned to her "let me have this armor and hide somewhere safe"
"This voice… Asher, it's you right?!"
"Huh, you seem to be quite familiar yourself, Priestess, almost as if I've seen you somewhere. This may very well be the fabled "love at first sight"
I lied, she knows me, I know her, still I need to act.
"Princess Aria! Are you alright!?"
At the same time, the voice of Murasame came from the door.
"I understand your obsession, but I must be leaving now!"
"Wait, don't go!" Nishimiya cried as she reached out her hand to me. I took out a katana from my bag and dropped it on the ground, Murasame was a bit kind to me so I'll leave her a parting gift.
Before Murasame and the others could even catch me, I jumped out of the window saluting them
"Farewell, gentlemen, it's been fun!"
I fell into the lake below.
The Next Morning
The Capital was in upheaval after what happened last night.
That was expected since a Phantom Thief named Dark Corsair stormed the castle and robbed the Divine Relic stored on the Treasure Vault.
And there were many powerful adventurers and not to mention even the Heroes of Ouranos in the castle that night.
Legend about the exploits of the Dark Corsair and his assistant exploded within the capital in an instant.
And right now.
Something incredible was happening in the room I was in.
"AH!!! C-C-Captain, please calm down! I-It's not my fault! It's cracking, it's cracking! My skull is going to explode!"
Stella and I were called to the Captain's room in the hotel and now, Stella was caught in an iron claw.
"If you hadn't tried to take a treasure, we wouldn't be in such deep mess!"
"Yeah, because of your greed, we're now in a deep mess, you're such a problem child, Stella"
"Hah!? Whose idea was it to trash the castle and escape from the Princess's room?!"
Stella broke free from the Captain's iron claw and pushed her knuckles in my temples
"AH! I wouldn't have that idea if you didn't steal that treasure!"
"How dare you! I just slipped up! We could've escape immediately after that! But your idea was to ran for the princess just so you could give some cringy speech!!"
"Hey"
"!?"
Captain said coldly while we were bickering.
"Sorry…"
We both apologized and sat quietly. Captain sighed and she rubbed her temples.
"You two… you were capable operators, but you always cause trouble whenever, honestly, I can't keep up. I'm starting to understand what the Major felt back then… before I knew it, I'm an auntie now"
The Captain was just a few years older than us; I don't exactly know her age, but my guess is about 22 or 23, I just learned the other day that her sister gave birth to her first child, and the Captain was bummed out because it reminded her of growing old.
"What are you talking about, Captain? You're still young, if I could, I would want to marry you"
"Hey! Weren't you in-love with me?!" Stella grabbed my hands in panic "You were madly in-love with me the other day weren't you!?"
"What are you talking about?" I said coldly "you tried to pretend to be my girlfriend the moment I woke up from my amnesia, doesn't that indicate that it's the other way around?"
Stella's face went sour, she's about to cry.
"You two, stop it" Captain lovingly said "Ash, I appreciate your admiration, but I want to keep it professional between us three"
Ow! It's hurts! It's cold!! I haven't even tried yet and the Captain crushed my feelings for her!!
"Yes…"
"Now, we should go back to HQ, with the Identity of the Dark Corsair spread through the capital, it's only a matter of time, before they found out it's Ash"
Yeah, that was a great idea, even though I was wearing a mask, my hair was exposed, and my hair color doesn't exactly blend in with the common folk.