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chapter 16
The guild members found themselves in an awkward situation.
Originally, they had just wanted to move aside anything that might bother that man so he wouldn’t notice it.
“It’s nothing, sir. Just another guest’s child who fell asleep, so we were moving her.”
“Click, click. Bringing a child into a gambling den? The world is truly doomed.”
And yet, the man himself, who was a priest, had the audacity to sit in the gambling hall under the pretext of “business,” without the slightest self-awareness.
“Keep her far away. Tch, spoils my drink. Maybe I should just leave.”
“Sir, don’t go! Stay and play with us!”
“Right. We’ve got fine liquor—I’ll pour you a glass.”
“How about a card game?”
“Ahem, shall I then?”
The man swaggered off proudly.
The staff forced themselves to flatter him because he was a representative of a business partner, but the way he strutted as if he were someone important was truly ridiculous.
The server sneered inwardly.
After all, just being in a place like this meant he was already living at rock bottom. True “real ones” always stood out from the atmosphere alone.
Come to think of it, this kid…
The server looked down at the sleeping Lirian with a serious expression.
Her looks and even her abilities are unusual. Could she be the child of a high noble?
The higher-ups wanted to expand their business soon.
Not with shabby illegal gambling halls like this, but by opening a proper casino targeting nobles. They were already laying down connections in several places.
One of them was the very business partner that pompous man belonged to—that was why the guild had accepted this job in the first place. It was all groundwork.
Nothing forged bonds stronger than shared weaknesses.
In that situation, offending a high noble could endanger not just their business, but the guild’s very survival.
For nobles were the true “real ones.”
“Senior, she isn’t a noble child, right?”
“Would she be? Look at her clothes. The fabric is good, but at best, she’s from a merchant family. The highborn lords wouldn’t dress their children in something so lacking in refinement.”
“You’re right.”
“And why would a noble’s child be here? Alone, no less. Her cheeks are plump—clearly well-fed and well-slept. If she were precious, she’d have a line of guards around her.”
“That’s true.”
Even as he said that, he suddenly thought of the shield protecting the child’s body.
Their own magical tools were incredibly expensive, yet that shield had blocked them in an instant. Not only that, but it carried such overwhelming offensive power that they couldn’t even touch it.
Could a child with such magic truly be just anyone’s offspring?
But none of them imagined it.
That a reaper far more terrifying than a hundred guards was on his way to smash this place to pieces.
Clink.
The sound of a door opening.
The server turned to greet the new guest.
“Welcome to—”
Thud, thud.
He froze when he saw the hulking doormen who had been guarding the entrance, along with the guild member sent to fetch something, tossed to the floor like sacks.
The server instinctively reached for the weapon hidden under his clothes.
“That.”
A low voice, like claws scraping against the soul, rang out.
“If you draw it, you die.”
Gooseflesh prickled over his skin. Cold sweat trickled down his jawline.
What…?
He froze purely out of instinct. The instinct to survive.
He felt the dense mana swirling around the figure who had just entered.
It was so overwhelming that even the space around it warped.
As the server stood rigid, unable even to breathe, a tall, lean man strode proudly into the gambling hall.
Step.
At that moment—
“Huh?”
“What the?!”
The gamblers, who had been too absorbed in their games to notice anything else, all screamed.
No wonder—their chips, their glasses, their dice and cards were all floating up into the air.
Rumble!
Crash!
In an instant, chaos engulfed the hall.
Stacks of chips tumbled, a chessboard flipped, golden liquor drifted midair, mixing haphazardly with chips, dice, and pieces.
Wild-eyed gamblers shouted.
“That’s mine!”
“What are you saying?!”
“Those chips are mine! Get lost!”
But oddly, the noise stopped short.
Because—
Step.
The man took another step.
“Enough.”
Everyone reaching greedily for the floating items froze where they stood.
As though bound by an unbreakable commandment.
Why can’t I move?
Gasp, I can’t breathe.
Save me!
The man walked leisurely through a space that looked frozen in time.
His long cloak billowed with each step.
Hair black as the midnight sky, eyes shining cold and blue beneath, and a silver-rimmed monocle glinting with chill light.
“What a spectacle.”
Caesar Ersioni spoke with a trace of scorn.
Unlike the ordinary gamblers, some of the dark guild members, who had resistance to magic, managed to break free of the invisible bind and shouted:
“An intruder! Kill him!”
“He’s alone! Take him down!”
Those disguised as dealers and bartenders all pulled out weapons.
From the back, more guild members poured out to surround him.
Typical of the Dark Guild, they didn’t hesitate at all to attack one against many. But they had chosen the wrong target.
Caesar’s expression stayed cold.
“I told you—draw it and you die.”
At that moment—
Shhhinnng!
Glasses, display cases, ornate chandeliers—all shattered at once, releasing a sharp explosion of sound.
The guild members charging toward him were hurled back, unable to withstand the gale of pressure erupting from around Caesar.
“Ghhhak!”
“Aaagh!”
Boom! Crash!
Where they slammed down, screams rang out. Walls crumbled, heavy decorations and stone debris rained down.
What made this possible was the darkness rippling around Caesar.
A black haze rose, like a savage beast growling.
The others didn’t realize, but it was Caesar’s mana manifesting.
The overwhelming pressure of a 9th-circle mage’s mana exploded outward, tearing the surroundings apart.
The weakened building shook and rumbled dangerously.
He was a calamity, an army in one man.
A few with higher skill managed not to be flung away disgracefully—but that hardly counted as luck.
“More bothersome than flies.”
He raised his right hand.
From somewhere, a sleek card flew into place between his index and middle finger.
Ace of Spades.
He spun it once, and the other cards floating in the air fanned out behind him.
Like throwing knives.
“Get out of the way!”
Someone shouted bravely—
“For daring to kidnap my daughter.”
—but it was already too late.
With a flick of the Ace of Spades, the cards became deadly projectiles raining down on the dark guild members.
“Ghhhk!”
“S-someone, help—!”
“Did you think you could escape?”
Whiz, whiz!
The cards flew.
The gambling den was reduced to ruins in seconds.
Some fell pierced by the cards, others were slammed into pillars and display cases.
Then, suddenly, all the racket stopped.
The chandelier that had been swaying precariously finally crashed to the ground with a shatter.
CRASH!
Through a gap in the collapsed wall, moonlight poured in, illuminating the devastation.
Step.
Caesar strode forward, crushing the glittering chandelier crystals underfoot without a care.
“…You…”
At that moment, one man spoke as if in a trance.
The youngest guild member, the server, often praised for his bravery.
“Who are you…?”
Thud!
Before he could finish, his body was flung back. Caesar’s cloak flared in the night wind.
In the total wreckage, he stood alone.
“Who am I, you ask…”
He murmured to the empty air, no one left alive to answer.
Then he stopped at the place he had been fixed on since entering.
“One more drink! Fwoo, fwoo…”
There lay his daughter, fast asleep, cream smeared adorably around her lips.
Even in the wreckage, Lirian slept peacefully. Caesar chuckled softly.
He scooped her up, gently wiped her mouth, and pressed a tender kiss to her forehead.
“I’m the thief who came to steal the brightest treasure of all.”
The phantom thief of the moonlit night curved his lips in a sharp smile.
