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Translator: Ryuma
Chapter: 7
Chapter Title: Arsène Lupin (1)
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If this reality were a game, what kind of game would it be?
Maybe something like Diablo's Hell Mode, where your character gets deleted after one death?
In other words, a game with only one life.
This thought crossed my mind the moment I entered Libria and saw the building before me.
To be honest, I had considered that something like this might happen.
"Why has the place where my house used to be turned into a grand mansion? And one that looks even bigger than the lord's castle?"
It was absurd.
"Hah. At this point, isn't this just unfair? I mean, it could have been a general store or a blacksmith. Something like that."
I had buried the related items deep in the basement of my private home, but now a grand mansion stood on top of it. A mansion with incredibly tight security.
Literally, one wrong step inside, and I'd be killed for nothing.
Look at the sharp gazes of those guards. Even for a mansion within the castle walls, their alertness was on a knife's edge.
As if they were staring down their mortal enemy.
But I had to get through. In my current situation, the identity of Arsène Lupin and his items would be a very, very big help.
More than a help, they were a necessity.
The more identities one has, the better, isn't that right? Especially in a situation like this.
Kratos first circled the massive mansion. It was quite large.
The walls were about three meters high. I touched the wall lightly, but I didn't feel any magical energy from my fingertips.
Nor did any guards come running.
It was only natural. What kind of ballsy madman would think of robbing a mansion like this inside Libria?
Either that, or the owner was confident in his position or his ability to catch any would-be thief.
Based on my memories and the location of the surrounding buildings, the spot where I buried the box was in the mansion's basement.
That was actually for the best. A building's basement was better than some ambiguous place like a garden.
Who knew what level of soldiers or knights, and how many of them, would stand in my way?
'Surely no one has taken it, right? I buried it pretty deep, after all.'
For now, I headed to a nearby inn. I needed to make a plan.
"Cheap prices, come get 'em! The Lazette Company!"
"We have lots of goods trending in the capital! Stop by and take a look!"
"Chicken skewers, only 3 coppers a piece!"
As if the war in Rzhev was happening in another country, Libria was bright and full of life.
Merchants haggled, and children ran around, laughing innocently.
As the northern territories expanded, Libria was no longer just a pass-through city right below the front lines, but had become a northern logistics hub.
Ah, how times have changed.
The markets and merchant guilds, in particular, were significantly larger than I remembered. And with them, the population had grown.
'Tsk. If they have this much to spare, they should be sending support to Rzhev.'
The armor of the Rzhev soldiers was scarred with the marks of battle, and their faces were worn with fatigue.
Countless people had died, losing their homes.
If they had received proper support from the rear, Rzhev would never have fallen into such a state.
That meant there was a problem here.
I didn't like it. Not one bit.
***
*Ting-a-ling—*
"Welcome!"
As I entered the inn, all eyes turned to me for a moment, but since my head and face were covered, I didn't draw too much attention.
"A room for a week. And a meal to start."
"Yes, sir! I'll get you the key as well!"
I paid the fee and sat at the bar-style table, opening my ears wide.
The blind spot of places like this, where alcohol was served, was that people didn't really think others were listening to their conversations.
Of course, they wouldn't speak of top secrets out loud here, or if they did, they'd do it quietly. But all the other trivial chatter was fair game.
And in a situation where I had no information, every little piece of it was precious. Sometimes, unexpected details emerged.
"Anyway, I wonder what that pig from the capital does in that mansion all day."
"Shh! You bastard! You trying to get me killed too?!"
"Agh…! Can't even speak my mind!"
"Shut up! Keep your mouth shut. There could be ears here. Damn it all!"
From a corner of the inn's first floor, I heard a quiet but furious voice.
A voice you wouldn't catch if you weren't paying attention.
The man's face was flushed red from drink, clearly intoxicated, but the other man's reaction was anything but ordinary.
It was the complete opposite of Rzhev, where people openly cursed the capital.
"Don't contact me again! Damn it. What rotten luck."
Moreover, the man who'd been on the receiving end of the curse nervously scanned his surroundings and then quickly left the tavern, as if afraid of being overheard.
'The owner of that mansion is someone from the capital. Probably an inspector or some other official. And he builds a mansion bigger than the lord's castle and lives there?'
It was all so incomprehensible. Just what kind of person was he to be leading such a life?
Now that I looked around, the mood of the drinkers was strange, a stark contrast to the streets outside.
A strange look of frustration. Of oppression.
It was unexpected. Their expressions were so different from the cheerful faces outside.
'I'll have to look into this.'
This seemed to be about more than just recovering an old identity.
***
After settling into the room Kratos had taken, Seamus immediately established a connection with Lando.
— *What did you say?*
"A mercenary named Kratos seems to be interested in Northern Inspector Sejanus's mansion. The first thing he did upon arriving in Libria was circle the damn man's mansion before getting a room."
— *Sejanus. Does he seem to have any connection to that damned devil?*
"It's not certain yet. What his objective might be. Or if he's waiting to send a signal."
Whether Kratos circling the mansion was simple curiosity or something more, one had to be cautious until it was clear.
— *This is serious. Of all people, Sejanus. You have to be certain. Don't miss a single clue.*
"Understood."
Lando muttered, his voice full of worry.
The Empire's Northern Inspector, Sejanus. He was the devil himself. Not in the sense of power or ability—he was a devil in a different way.
He was an ordinary man, though he did surround himself with artifacts for protection.
There was a clear reason he was called a devil. His bottomless lust for power and his cruel nature. His endless loyalty and flattery toward the Emperor.
The very fact that he lived in a mansion larger than the lord of the castle's was a prime example of that nature.
What if this Kratos was Sejanus's spy? A resource sent to gather information in the north, or to retrieve the booklet he was looking for?
He wondered if he should have killed him back then, but it was too late for regrets.
— *If… if he is definitively connected to Sejanus, find out what kind of relationship they have and what his objective is. Then kill him if you can. If you can't kill him, at least cripple him.*
"Understood."
After ending the communication, Seamus deactivated the privacy artifact and went down to the first-floor tavern.
Kratos was still sipping his beer. But watching his subtle movements, it was clear he wasn't just thinking, but listening to the sounds around him.
'Is he really one of Sejanus's men? He's pretending to drink beer, but he's listening to what everyone is saying.'
Every single one of his actions was suspicious.
'Should I kill him?'
At that moment, their eyes met.
Kratos held his gaze for a moment, then offered him a slight smile.
'He's smiling?'
Seamus swallowed hard. A chill ran down his spine.
Both in Rzhev and now, this man clearly knew. He knew he was being followed.
'But why isn't he reacting? Is he waiting for me to make the first move so he has a justification?'
He was a frightening man. Not only did he sense he was being tailed, but he knew it was him?
A trained tracker and assassin. And a pretty high-level one at that.
'Can I really cripple or kill him? I can't sense anything from him.'
A strange uncertainty took hold.
Besides, he had to figure out the relationship between this man and Sejanus. He had a strong feeling it wouldn't be easy.
'I have to treat this as a life-or-death battle. I can't afford to underestimate him.'
Seamus resolved to tail him with all his might.
***
'Being handsome really makes a difference.'
Of course, that handsome man was me. In the past, nothing like this ever happened.
I was just sitting here drinking a beer, and a pretty woman made eye contact first.
I was a bit flustered myself that our eyes met, so I just gave her a slight smile, but I couldn't understand why she was even more flustered.
Putting that aside, the problem was how to get into that mansion.
A frontal assault was the worst option. I couldn't dig up the ground and retrieve my things while fighting off soldiers. The best-case scenario was finding the item without a fight.
'Wait. Digging up the ground? Ground? A tunnel?'
Suddenly, the Sherlock Holmes story "The Red-Headed League" came to mind. The one about robbing a bank by digging a tunnel.
Anyone else would think it was a crazy idea.
'Huh? That's not bad. There's definitely a possibility.'
Kratos couldn't shake the thought that it was actually a good idea.
It would take advantage of being from the Heracles Clan. I was strong. Inhumanly so. And I had great stamina.
If I could secure a suitable spot, digging a tunnel to the mansion's basement wouldn't be a difficult task.
Whether I used a shovel or my bare hands. Of course, if it took an absurd amount of time, I'd have to reconsider.
But it definitely seemed possible.
Kratos stood up, covered his face with a cloth, and went out into the street. He needed to get a better grasp of the surrounding situation.
***
"Hmm. About five meters."
The distance between the mansion wall and the nearest building was about five meters. Considering the mansion's position, the distance from the wall to the center of the building was roughly a hundred meters.
For a city of this size, the mansion was ridiculously large. It would be one thing if the building had been there from the start.
But this meant that to build it, all the surrounding buildings must have been torn down.
It seemed the complaints from the drunks at the tavern weren't just empty words.
"Shall I give it a try?"
Once you have a path, there's no need for excessive deliberation. Time for action.
With that, I rented a shabby house close to the mansion, using up most of the money I had.
The rest of my money went to tools for digging, steel plates, and timber.
With this, I had gone all-in with the gold I'd acquired when I escaped from the slave traders.
*Thud— Thud—*
With each swing of the shovel, a huge chunk of earth was gouged out. The ground was a bit hard, but this body's strength was on another level.
After about a dozen swings, I had already dug a pit as deep as I was tall.
"This body is a cheat. It's definitely a cheat."
After about an hour of dedicated digging, I had managed to excavate a pit deep enough to start a tunnel.
You could never start a tunnel from a shallow position.
The ground could collapse, exposing the tunnel and rendering the whole effort useless.
Once the pit was deep enough, I lowered the timber for shoring and various tools into it, and most importantly, prepared plenty of provisions.
Still, before I began, I had to recite the incantation.
A chant I had started half-jokingly, but had become a sort of routine.
"Lord, please allow me to become a righteous thief."
*Heh heh—*
Well, it's not like I was Fantômas. I was just going to get my own stuff, but still.