Along the way, due to the burning monster-repelling incense held by Jofre, we were not attacked by monsters.
When we arrived at the first floor, the sensation on my back moved.
"Hmm … eh? Where is this?"
"Norn, you're awake?"
"Eh? Huh? Oniisan, what exactly happened? Eh?"
Somehow, Norn was not aware that she was captured by thieves, lowering her down, I described the situation in order, starting from when I began staying at Margaret-san's shop.
Then, by the time I explained everything to her, her complexion turned bad but she was relieved that the thieves undressed her but did not mess about with her.
"Here, Norn-san's spear. Sorry, I did not see your armor."
I retrieved the spear from my item bag and passed it to her.
"Thank you Oniisan. … Ah, I'm so embarrassed to be caught by the very thieves that I warned Oniisan about."
Norn rubbed her head in shame as she took the spear.
Well then, since Norn has woken up, I guess it's fine?
I called out to the 2 people walking in front to stop.
"By the way, Elise and Jofre, you guys are the thieves newcomers right."
I asked the 2 people walking ahead.
Upon hearing that, the 2 of them looked at me,
"Wha wha wha what are you talking about? Rookie, there's no way I would do something so appalling."
"Tha tha tha that's right, rookie-kun, there's no way such beautiful man and woman like us are thieves right?"
Nope, that shaken voice is more than enough proof.
Rather, there's no reason why the 2 of them aren't thieves.
The boss said that the newcomers were a male and a female and furthermore, liquor bottles are visible inside the rucksack he's carrying on his back.
Haru naturally noticed as well, but as long as I was carrying Norn, Haru could not carry the bandit on her own so we were using them.
With their levels, even if we are caught off guard, it is unlikely that they could defeat us, but to be safe we had them walk ahead.
Even if the bandit regain consciousness and it becomes 2 versus 3, the bandit's tendons in his arms were cut so he would not be able to bolster their combat power.
"Tha tha tha that's right, rookie, as evidence, we were actually planning to split the bounty for carrying this bandit to the Adventurers Guild but we'll give you 80%. How about it? I'm saying that I will pass 80% to you even though we planned to split it evenly. Are there thieves that are so generous?"
"Kya, indeed Jofre, so generous!"
The 2 of them were animated.
" ... "
We stared at the 2 of them.
"Ar are you not convinced? Okay, 90% then! We are fine with just 10% and 90% for you. So don't you think you can stay your hand?"
"Nnn, mou, Jofre are you a god? God? I'm feeling numb and tingly down there."
The 2 people's excitement was reaching a climax.
" ... "
We stared at the 2 of them.
"Ok okay. 95%, no, we'll give you everything so please forgive us."
"Jofre, don't do it! Don't apologize! Didn't you become an apprentice to thieves so that you can save many people by becoming a gentleman thief!"
Jofre was prostrating on the ground and Elise was snuggling up to him.
They had begun confessing just from our silent stares. As expected, they are slightly, no, considerably annoying but they are interesting fellows.
Is it fine that the bandit's head slammed onto the ground when you prostrated on the ground?
"Norn-san, what should we do?"
Norn was holding her head looking at the 2 of them.
"Erm, there's nobody in the town who don't know about Jofre and Elise, the 2 small scoundrels."
"What did they do to be deemed small scoundrels?"
"For example, 3 counts of apple thief.
"We didn't steal, we waited for them to fall and got them when they did. We only took what that was dropped."
"That's right, robbers are the lowest!"
If you are going to ridicule robbers as the lowest then don't join a band of thieves.
Also, so there are apples in this world as well. I want to eat something like an apple pie.
"The unauthorized sale of mud dumplings."
"We didn't know that you need to get authorisation from the Alchemy Guild to sell mud dumplings."
"We sold them to children for 1 sense right. The shiny shiny dumplings."
Hmm, I certainly also didn't know that you need authorisation for that.
But you hardly hear about ideas to sell mud dumplings to children.
"Drawing graffiti on the walls."
"It wasn't graffiti! That's my sign!"
"Jofre's sign would absolutely become a future attraction for this town!"
Ah … I'm convinced.
In other words, these guys are …
"Aren't they just idiots?"
"Yes …"
Norn replied with a sigh mingled in.
Well yeah, you would lose the desire to capture them. Listening to the charges, they were all merely on the reprimanding level.
Furthermore, they were also newcomers that became subordinate of thieves but did not even know the face of their boss.
"But I had never imagined that you 2 would become thief subordinates … For the time being, I believe they should spend a night in the lockup."
Okay, I'll leave that to her.
"For now, if you want to leave the lockup earlier, help to carry this man."
"Understood, it's fine until the Adventurers Guild right?"
"No, just until the labyrinth entrance guard station."
"Okay. Let's go, Elise!"
"Yes, Jofre."
The 2 of them carried the still fainted bandit with vigor.
"Norn-san, you're used to it huh."
" … Yeah. Since I was assigned, their cases happen once every 3 days. Turning them into prisoners would be a waste of the taxpayer's money, nobody would buy them even if we turn them into criminal slaves, and there are insufficient charges to deal capital punishment, so it's a triple way dead-end. For the time being, we forced them to search the labyrinth to stabilize labyrinth but we didn't imagine that they would become friends with the thieves."
" … Thank you for your work."
Then, with Jofre and Elise ahead, we finally exited the labyrinth.
There was a spear-wielding man waiting at the labyrinth entrance.
"Norn, you're alright?"
"Yes, sorry, I was caught by the thieves and they saved me. This man is the thief boss."
"Hn … Oh is that so! Hey! Carry this guy to the guard station! Come and help! By the way, what's the deal with Jofreli?"
The man seems to be familiar with Jofre and Elise so he had already shortened their names together into Jofreli.
"It seems like they had hit it off with the thieves. For now, I believe we should drag them to the lockup."
"I see, then leave that to us. Norn, you can return home, Margaret-san is worried. You can tell us the details tomorrow."
Then, the man looked in my direction.
"You, thank you for helping Norn. I thank you on behalf of the vigilante group. If this man has a bounty, we will provide the payment. Tomorrow, please come to the Adventurers Guild."
" … Well then, we will first stop by Margaret-san's shop before returning to the Matthias-san."
"No, Matthias-sama's shop should be closed now so we can go back tomorrow."
Ah, we will certainly be a nuisance if we go now.
I thought that he would be worried so I wanted to go to report but what she said was certainly true.
"Is that so … If that's the case, then I'll borrow a room at Margaret-san's place."
There should be available rooms.