I Became a Gallery Manager in Another World

Chapter 162: Chloe Stole Something Incredible (1)

Chapter 162: Chloe Stole Something Incredible (1)

Swish-!

A woman clad in a pristine white suit cut through the dark night sky like a whale leaping from the water.

“Hehehe! This is it! This is me, Nine-Tails!”

A legendary graduate student of the Sacred Academy.

Chloe Robellia, as if relishing the feeling of being freed from her professors, was hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

Tap-! Tap-! Tap-!

“Now, then, today...”

Softly-

Landing lightly on a tree, Chloe looked up at the mansion surrounded by high walls.

“The Marigold family, huh.”

How did one distinguish between a phantom thief and an ordinary thief?

From the perspective of the person being robbed, they might seem the same, but at least for Chloe, the presence of ‘aesthetics’ made the difference.

Never doing anything that went against one’s ‘aesthetics’ no matter what happened.

This difference allowed her to exist as a phantom thief, not as a third-rate burglar.

“Lady Elise, please grant me permission to be a righteous phantom thief again today.”

Tap-tap!

After finishing her prayer as always before starting her work, Chloe leaped up the vertical wall and swiftly arrived at the top floor of the mansion.

Click─

As soon as Chloe touched the keyhole, the locked door opened.

She slipped into the ‘Marigold’ mansion like a shadow.

“Now, where might the treasure vault be? Judging by the age and structure of the house, it should be somewhere under the central stairs, I guess?”

While not on the level of the Three Primary Colors families, the ‘Marigold’ family could certainly be considered high nobility.

Naturally, there were quite a few servants still working even in the dead of night.

However...

Chloe did not hide or evade.

Swish- Swoosh-

Just by slightly twisting her body or bending over, Chloe could walk the corridors alongside the servants.

From a distance, it might seem unnatural not to notice Chloe passing right beside them, but for Chloe, this was natural.

[Night Walk of the Fox]

One of the secret techniques created by the first Nine-Tails, it was a skill that suppressed one’s presence to an extreme through a special breathing technique, allowing one to exploit the ‘blind spot of perception.’

‘That was grandmother’s technique.’

If the first Nine-Tails’ Night Walk of the Fox was about recognizing blind spots of perception...

The third Nine-Tails, Chloe, had developed it further.

Tuk-tuk-

“Hmm...?”

Sashashak—!

Even when there were no ‘blind spots of perception,’ she could create them by causing fluctuations in the area of perception!

Of course, the technique was risky to use against professionally trained guards since it could raise suspicions, but...

Softly- Softly-

Against ordinary servants like now, it could be used as casually as taking a stroll.

“Hmm... This way, perhaps?”

Following her accumulated experience and intuition, Chloe moved towards where she thought the treasure vault might be.

“Bingo!”

Soon after, she found a vault located at the end of what appeared to be an ordinary underground corridor.

Swoosh—

When Chloe put on the monocle that allowed her to see the flow of magical energy, she could see spider webs filling the corridor.

‘Heh... The moment I touch that, the whole mansion will be on alert.’

In fact, for safety, she should dismantle each thread of magic one by one, but...

“Shall we go then?”

Moreover, judging by its placement in the corner, the person who left it there probably forgot all about it.

“Yeah, this can be a souvenir...Hehe..”

Folding the item neatly and placing it in her pocket, Chloe vanished into the darkness.

The news that Nine-Tails had invaded the Marigold family’s treasure vault caused an uproar in the household. Upon hearing this, Evelyn’s reaction was merely ‘surprising’ since she knew there were quite a few security measures in place.

However, when she realized during the vault inspection that ‘it’ had been taken by Nine-Tails, Evelyn’s hand moved faster than her mind to post a comment.

ᄂChildhoodFriendAssault■ : No, you fucking crazy bitch, out of all the places to rob, why the Marigold family?

ᄂᄋᄋ(39.919) : Why are you so pissed? Are you related to the Marigold family? You were laughing your ass off with comments like 'lol burp~' before, now this is just ridiculous lol

“This!! Fucking!! Bitch!! Ass!! Damn!!!”

She was indeed related.

As the heir of the Marigold family, there was hardly anyone more connected than Evelyn.

However, she couldn’t reveal her identity.

-I want to fucking assault my childhood friend.

If by any chance her identity was revealed and Ian heard about the posts she made as ‘ChildhoodFriendAssault■’...

...then she would have to kill Ian and then herself.

But since the fire of anger had already been lit, trying to deny her connection would only raise suspicions.

“Fuck... Since it’s come to this, I’ll go straight at it.”

ᄂChildhoodFriendAssault■ : Yeah, I'm related you fucking bitch. I live in the Marigold territory, where the lord treats us so well, and you go and rob his vault, you fucking whore?

It was like putting gold on her own face, but excessive anger could numb one’s sense of shame.

ᄂᄋᄋ(39.919) : No, but why are you so mad? Nine-Tails didn't take any 'treasures' from the Marigold family

“Did not take?! I saw with my own eyes what she took!”

Bang-!!

Evelyn slammed her desk in anger.

Objectively, Nine-Tails wasn’t lying.

Indeed, none of the ‘treasures’ had gone missing.

But for Evelyn, something far more precious than any treasure in that vault had been stolen.

“Fu... fucking bitch... why did you take that...! Hicc...”

She couldn’t even ask for it back.

Only Evelyn knew in the world what Nine-Tails had stolen.

In the end, Evelyn’s anger with nowhere else to go, turned towards an innocent teddy bear.

Thud-! Thud! Thud!

“Ian, you fucking bastard! You piece of shit! Do you like the royal family that much? Huh?! Not even a single contact in a week!!”

He had promised to contact her whenever he had time, yet a week had passed without even one ‘crystal ball communication’.

Yes, Evelyn knew that the magical stones used for crystal ball communication were quite expensive.

But...

Where he went to was not just any place; it was the royal family!

Was it reasonable for a guy who went there as a guest to not contact her at all?

“Ian, you fucking prick! Bad bastard!! You’re really a shithead!! If you’re my childhood friend, shouldn’t you be here to comfort me right now?!”

Thud-! Thud-!

Just as Evelyn was venting her anger by beating up a teddy bear that somewhat resembled Ian...

-Knock knock

“Miss, you have a crystal ball communication from Lord Ian.”

“Ah!”

Upon hearing that she had received communication from Ian, Evelyn’s face lit up as if the anger from moments ago was a lie.

“No... No, damn him, trying to make do with just communication.”

She had waited long enough.

It would soon be three weeks since she last saw Ian’s face.

“Tell him I’m too sick to answer!!”

“...Pardon, Miss?”

“Tell Ian I’m dying from sickness!! Tell him if he doesn’t want to see me die, he should come quickly!!”