The Order - 5

"I-items to steal from the Order? That's the first time I've ever heard such a question…"

Ruen looked at me in a fluster, as if she had never dreamed of hearing such a question.

Soon, she took a deep breath and introduced useful items one by one.

"I think there are holy relics imbued with the Goddess's power, or perhaps artifacts that the Order collects on its own."

Seeing as she didn't recommend anything specific, it seemed she didn't know exactly what was there.

Listening to her recommendations, I pondered for a moment before bringing something up.

"I'm just asking just in case, but would they have something like a real holy sword?"

At the mention of a real holy sword, Ruen thought for a moment before calmly nodding.

"Probably."

If so, I decided to steal the holy sword and escape this place and spoke.

"You don't know the exact location, do you?"

"No. But I do have a guess… There is a Treasure Vault in the Underground right in the center of the Order. I've heard rumors quietly spreading that they've hidden all sorts of treasures there."

"Is that so."

Then it seemed best to head there first, so I decided to slip outside using the Shadow I had attached to Liana.

*

Slipping outside through the Shadow, I saw Liana's back.

The moment I saw it, a sudden urge to be mischievous arose, so I stealthily approached and poked her in the waist.

"Heugyak!?"

She let out a very bizarre sound and plopped down onto the floor.

As I was chuckling at the sight.

Liana, having grasped the situation, frowned and glared at me.

"Ah, seriously. Lord Damian…!"

Feeling like I was going to get smacked if I stayed like this, I subtly dodged and looked around.

'Is this a Storage Room?'

Wondering why she was here, I looked at Liana.

Liana let out a sigh and spoke to me.

"I heard a huge explosion from somewhere, and it was obvious that you had started your terrorism, Lord Damian, so I was filling the Storage Room with items imbued with my abilities."

"I-is that so?"

"Yes. There's a high probability that security will tighten and it will become difficult to go around for an investigation… so I thought it would be best to prepare in advance like this."

I forced myself to avoid Liana's glaring gaze and opened my mouth.

"Anyway, that's not what's important. We were talking about this inside earlier, but if it were you, Liana, where do you think the Order would hide the real holy sword?"

"The real holy sword?"

Liana paused for a moment before speaking to me.

"The people in the Order are fundamentally suspicious. Since their very nature is that of Clergy, they have a strong tendency to be extremely reluctant to have their sins 'discovered by others'."

In truth, even if they weren't clergy, it was a natural feeling for a normal human.

Even so, the reason she specifically said this could be understood by adding the word Dark Mage to the word clergy.

'Those who have much to lose when their sins are discovered by others.'

So, in short, it meant they were people who had to be mindful of others.

"Given that they tend not to trust others well because of that, there's a high chance they kept a precious item like the real holy sword by their side rather than in a storage room."

By their side… That meant we had to search the vicinity of a person who might possess the holy sword.

'Will it be possible?'

Right now, the Order is frantically trying to find me and Ruen.

I didn't know if it would be possible to brazenly walk in and rummage around.

'…Still, it would be a shame to go back like this.'

It would be best to give it a try.

Deciding so, I asked Liana to tell me who might have the holy sword.

Liana thought for a moment before holding up three fingers.

"The Cardinal, the Pope, and the Paladin. These three."

I had roughly expected it.

But hearing it directly made me feel a bit at a loss.

Just as I was contemplating how to search the rooms of these three, Liana made a suggestion to me.

"How about we rob the Paladin's Room first?"

"…The Paladin's Room?"

Thinking that the Paladin's Room, of all places, would be extremely dangerous, I looked at her dubiously.

Liana laid out her own logic.

"In the case of the Pope or the Cardinal, the security is usually thorough, making it hard to break through… By comparison, the Paladin's Room is relatively easy to break into."

It was a shift in perspective.

an idea that took advantage of the fact that they were so excessively strong that a Guard became unnecessary.

At those words, I snapped my fingers, showing my agreement.

"Sounds good."

Hearing my words, Liana seemed quite pleased with this situation of robbing the Paladin, unable to hide her smile as she stepped out of the Storage Room and spoke.

"Then I'll guide the way."

As I nodded, Liana began to walk forward at a brisk pace.

*

Stepping out into the Corridor, I heard incredibly bustling noises that seemed to pierce my head and squeezed-out shouts from everywhere.

Just as I was smiling proudly while smelling the acrid smoke spreading around.

Liana pointed to one side and spoke.

"The Paladin's Office is located on the right."

Following her words, what I saw was an empty Corridor, save for a minimal Guard.

At first glance, it was a sight that could be described as arrogant.

But considering the abilities he possessed, it was a scene more accurately described as confidence rather than arrogance, so I let out a hollow laugh.

'Interesting.'

Thinking that such confidence could turn into hubris in an instant, I used my Shadow to trap the Holy Knights all at once.

Judging by how the Shadow was fluctuating, it seemed they were struggling.

But it wouldn't be breached by just that much, so I abandoned the trapped Holy Knights in the Shadow City and immediately entered the Paladin's Office.

Upon entering, what I saw was a fairly modest Office.

Unlike the Offices of other Clergy, which were drenched in greed and filled with luxury, it was so excessively modest that I was feeling puzzled.

Liana imbued her abilities here and there and spoke to me.

"Don't just stand there blankly, hurry up and rummage through the items."

As I nodded and was searching the inside, I suddenly discovered something bizarre.

A distorted ancient book.

That ancient book looked quite similar to the book that had the method for making the Artificial Sun written in it.

The moment I saw it, I thought I absolutely had to take it, and I tossed it into my Shadow.

'I should give it to Shiren.'

If it were Shiren, she would definitely be able to decipher the contents within it.

However, what was questionable was the fact that such a seemingly precious book was left openly on the desk.

'Could it have been left here on purpose?'

…There's no way, right?

Leaving it here on purpose for us to take would mean that they already knew we were going to enter this place.

The very idea of the Paladin trying to give this to us made no sense realistically, so I couldn't help but let out a laugh.

'Anyway, let's keep searching for now.'

Thinking something would turn up, I looked all around the office, but no matter how much I searched, it didn't seem like anything was going to come out.

'…Hmm.'

At that result, I pondered for a moment before speaking to Liana, who was diligently rummaging for something.

"Step back for a moment."

"Y-yes?"

Liana stepped back, albeit dubiously at my words.

The moment I judged that Liana was in a safe place, I tossed every single item in the Office into the Shadow City.

"…?"

Looking around at the surroundings that had instantly become desolate, she smiled awkwardly and spoke to me.

"…a Crazy Human."

I looked around while listening to the high praise coming from beside me.

'Looks like there are no hidden doors or Storage Rooms.'

It was a shame, but it seemed the holy sword wasn't hidden here, but somewhere else.

The moment I clicked my tongue and judged it would be best to search elsewhere for now, Liana let out a sigh and spoke to me.

"Then where do you want to go this time? The Cardinal? Or the Pope?"

Since it was more likely to be in the Pope's room than the Cardinal's.

Just as I was about to decide to head to the Pope's Office first, a fun idea suddenly bloomed in my mind.

'It's a bit impolite to leave empty-handed, so it would be best to leave a present behind.'

With that thought, I rummaged among my arms and pulled out Shadow Bombs, piling them up on the floor before turning my body and speaking.

"Let's go."

"……Crazy Human."

I chuckled as I looked at Liana's face as she shook her head beside me.

*

To start with the conclusion, we couldn't reach the Pope's Office or the Cardinal's Office.

It seemed the Order considered protecting the personal safety of those two more important than searching for us, as they had stationed the Paladin and numerous Holy Knights nearby.

'It's a shame, but I'll leave those for next time.'

Still, thinking it wasn't a bad outcome since we had robbed the Paladin's Office, I was about to turn back.

Suddenly, a fun idea bloomed, and I spoke while pulling on a pure white robe that was nearby.

"I have something to do for a moment, so you go back first."

"Y-yes? What are you going to do?"

"I have to leave some presents."

"If you mean presents… don't tell me."

Originally, I hadn't planned to go this far.

But now that we had become openly hostile, I judged that there was no longer any need to hold back.

I decided to plant numerous surprise presents so that the Order wouldn't be able to come to its senses for a while, and then run away.

"Then I'll be back."

"W-wait!"

Listening to the voice full of fluster coming from beside me, I moved forward quickly.

Looking around, I attached Shadow Bombs primarily in places where, from the Order's perspective, they would think, 'Please don't let it explode here.'

For example, I targeted the pillars supporting the Order, or places where expensive luxury goods were placed.

Going even further, I was smiling proudly while attaching them even to holy relics that the Order seemed to value quite highly.

From far away, the sight of Mikhail Archbishop running somewhere with the Holy Knights caught my eye.

As I saw this, a fun idea suddenly came to me, so I hurriedly chased after Archbishop Mikhail.