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Chapter 39
“Since your resolve is so firm, there’s nothing I can do. I will give it to you. However, you must place your seal on a document. Will that be all right?”
“Of course! Hurry and give it to me. Where should I place my seal?”
Baron Zellard urged the priest.
Despite the document clearly looking like something he shouldn’t be signing, Baron Zellard went ahead and stamped it. He then opened the lid of the medicine bottle the priest handed him and drank it down in one go.
His body trembled violently, and the priest watched him with a gentle smile.
‘Something tells me that document is really important.’
I had a strong gut feeling.
Just as I turned to inform Wishid—
Clack.
A small pebble hit my foot and rolled far away.
It was a small but distinct sound.
“Wait.”
The priest stood up and began approaching.
I looked up at the long staircase and swallowed dryly. There was no way I’d make it up those stairs before the priest spotted me.
{Over here, Boss!}
Whipping my head around, I saw a rat sticking its head out from a small hole and waving frantically at me.
{Boss! Hurry!}
I scrambled into the rat hole just in time, as the door swung open with a bang.
The priest peered around the quiet basement staircase, then shut the door again.
Whew. That shaved ten years off my life.
While clutching my startled chest, I suddenly looked up.
The back-alley rats I’d seen before were all watching me.
Silence hung in the air—only for a moment.
{Boss! Where’ve you been?!}
{Do you know how long we waited for you?!}
{You’re really back for good, right?!}
As I stammered, overwhelmed by the outpouring of voices, someone pushed through the crowd of rats and stepped forward.
It was the deputy rat.
{So the great boss finally decides to show up?}
{The deputy waited the longest for the boss!}
{Hey! Why’d you say that out loud?!}
The deputy rat shouted in a fluster.
{Wake up, everyone. The boss isn’t fully back yet. The boss has an owner.}
{An… owner?}
The warm, lively atmosphere turned strange.
In that moment, I was sure of one thing—if I told the truth, they’d turn on me.
Even though our time together was short, I’d figured out their personalities. These rats followed strength. And their boss couldn’t be subordinate to anyone.
In other words, I couldn’t have a master.
{N-no! You’ve misunderstood!}
I blurted out whatever came to mind.
{He’s just someone I pretend to serve! I’m only using him temporarily to fulfill my goal of world domination!}
{World domination?}
{Yes! World domination!}
The rats looked at each other, then turned to stare at me again.
{Whoa, Boss is amazing!}
{That’s so cool!}
Phew, I was safe.
Thankfully, the rats were simple-minded, and it wasn’t hard to fool them.
Just as I was finally starting to relax, the deputy rat approached me.
{Is that really true?}
His eyes were suspicious, but I nodded as confidently as I could.
{By the way, Boss. My timing was perfect, right?}
The rat who had poked his head out of the hole earlier asked as he approached.
His face was full of pride.
{Yeah. Perfect.}
At my compliment, he scratched the back of his head.
{Hehe. You need anything? I can help with anything! Especially stealing—we’re experts at that!}
{Stealing?}
In that instant, a brilliant idea flashed through my mind.
{Could you… maybe steal something from someone’s pocket?}
The rat’s eyes widened.
{How’d you know that’s our specialty?! We’re pros at swiping stuff from humans’ pockets!}
{That’s right. Even among all the other groups, that’s what we do best.}
The deputy rat spoke gruffly, but there was unmistakable pride in his voice.
{Then… you know that human in the white robe who came in earlier? He has a document in his pocket. I really need it. Can you get it for me?}
{Will it help with world domination?}
{…Yeah! It’ll help a lot!}
{Got it! We’ll take care of it!}
My answer must’ve been perfect, because rats from every direction started volunteering.
Startled by their enthusiasm, I stepped back. The deputy rat blocked my path.
{Everyone, back off! The boss is feeling overwhelmed. Return to your positions!}
At the deputy’s bark, the rats shrank back and returned to their places.
{This mission will be carried out by me, the boss, and Jidori.}
{Yippee!}
The rat I’d met first cheered loudly.
I guess that one’s name was Jidori. It suited his face—with a round, mole-like scar next to his long snout.
As Jidori approached, the deputy rat turned to me.
Our eyes met, and I flinched.
{Just the document, right?}
{Huh? Uh, yeah. Yeah.}
I nodded hastily, and the deputy rat and Jidori headed toward the rat hole.
Without hesitation, the deputy slipped outside. Before leaving, Jidori looked back at me.
{Watch closely, Boss! We’re really good at this!}
The deputy rat leapt up and grabbed the doorknob, twisting it.
The door opened just slightly. He quickly dropped down and hid in the corner.
“Who’s there?!”
The door flung open, and the priest stepped out.
While the priest checked behind the door, the deputy rat and Jidori scurried between his legs and entered the room.
The priest glanced around for a while, then returned with a suspicious look.
Not long after—
Crash! Bang!
“Ack! What are these rats doing here?!”
The priest’s yell was followed by Baron Zellard’s scream.
“Argh! That’s expensive, you rats! Guards! Get these filthy rats! Now!”
Men with weapons rushed down the corridor.
Taking advantage of the chaos, Jidori rolled his body and darted back out through the door, slipping into the rat hole.
He had the document in his mouth.
{Here, Boss!}
It felt like watching a real action movie—I couldn’t help but admire them.
{That was nothing.}
Just then, the deputy rat returned.
His fur was covered in dust and ink, but he still managed to look kind of cool.
{I’ll be back soon. Thanks!}
Now all I had to do was give this to Wishid, and it would be perfect.
Enough time had passed that Wishid and the black panther must’ve found the necklace by now. The timing worked out well.
Using the rat hole the deputy had shown me, I made my way back inside the auction house.
I followed an instinctive pull.
‘He should be around here somewhere.’
I could almost smell Wishid—but not quite. It was vague.
Had I come too late?
Just as fear gripped me—
“Squeak!”
My body was suddenly lifted into the air.
It was Wishid.
My shock lasted only a moment. Once I recognized him, I beamed. I was ready to brag and hand him the document.
“You scared me, Squeaky.”
But as soon as I met Wishid’s gaze, I froze. He stared at me, expressionless.
Only for a second, though—then he smiled faintly.
“If you’d been even a little later and I hadn’t spotted you, I would’ve killed every human here. Now, tell me the truth. Why are you so late?”
He smeared his pheromones all over me, speaking with a sweet smile that didn’t match his threatening words.
“…Squeak.”
‘I had to bring something important…’
I fumbled to hand over the document. Wishid’s brow twitched.
“All that… just for this?”
Just this? Just?!
Do you know how much Jidori and the deputy rat risked to get this?!
“Squeak! Squeak!”
‘It’s not just anything! It’s important!’
“I never asked for it.”
