“Your info was perfect, Fam!” Seira said, her smile peeking through the opening as well.
“Wha...?!”
“Hey, moles aren’t supposed to come out on the surface—it’s too bright up there. Ya don’t wanna go blind, do ya? Guess I better smack ya right back down where ya belong!”
With those words, Spinoza hefted her war hammer high above her head.
The thieves were defenseless—they had their hands on the steel lid and couldn’t draw their weapons. On top of that, the passageway was too narrow for them to get out of the way. They were quite literally targets sticking their heads out in a game of whack-a-mole.
“Waaaugh?!”
The terrified thief at the top lost his grip on the ladder and fell, tumbling wildly down into the other members one by one until they all slammed into the stone floor of the passage below with an earth-rumbling thud.
“A-Are they okay?!” Seira shouted down in concern.
“Don’t worry. They’re all fine,” I said. It hadn’t been that long a fall, and it didn’t look like they had landed on their heads or anything.
I really had to hand it to Seira, though. She didn’t discriminate at all when it came to being concerned about other people’s welfare, even when the people were criminals like the ring of thieves we were after.
Splayed out on their backsides, the thieves couldn’t hide their shock.
“H-How did you know where the tunnel led?!”
“We have Fam on our team,” I explained.
“I have the entire layout of this city mapped out inside my head. While we were running underground, I let Spinoza know the rough location above that corresponded to where we were,” Fam elaborated.
Fam was able to provide instructions to others across long distances using communication magic, allowing them to make full use of her intel capabilities and knowledge of the lay of the land.
“Who woulda thought they had people with that kinda talent in the Guard Corps...”
“We could use someone like that in the Midnight Moles. If we had her intel and layout knowledge of the entire capital, we could steal any damn thing we wanted!”
“Stop trying to poach her,” I warned.
I mean, do these guys even understand the situation they’re in? They’re completely surrounded, on the brink of certain defeat...
“I never thought we’d be driven this far into a corner,” the apparent leader of the thieves muttered. “I guess we have no choice, then. We’ll have to use our last resort.”
Do they have something else hidden up their sleeves?
Our orders were to arrest them, so I didn’t really want to start up a fight, but we got into our battle stances nonetheless, and right as we did so...
“We’re so sorry!!!”
The thieves all dropped to their hands and knees and began apologizing profusely.
“Huh...?”
We were all momentarily stunned, confused as to what had happened.
“We surrender! Just don’t kill us, please!”
“That was an awful quick change of attitude, wasn’t it?” I asked.
“They might be trying to throw us off guard for a chance to strike back,” Fam suggested.
“We wouldn’t think of it! See, we’ve thrown down all our weapons! We don’t have any way to resist anymore!”
“If you surrender, though, you’ll be going to jail,” I pointed out. “Your Midnight Moles will be broken up for good.”
“If we don’t have our lives, we don’t have anything! I’m not going to die for the sake of an organization!”
The other thieves nodded vigorously in agreement.
“You just want to save your own hides, then,” I stated. “Though I can’t really blame you for that.” It was a far more sensible idea than fighting a losing battle for the sake of pride and digging themselves into an even deeper hole.
After that, the thieves allowed us to capture them. Not a single one put up a struggle, because their safety was guaranteed if they went straight to jail without any resistance.
They might have been members of a notorious ring of thieves, but they hadn’t caused any injuries or deaths. That meant their crimes likely weren’t serious enough to warrant the death penalty.
“We really could’ve been seriously injured if things had gone south, though...”
We had been that close to being blown to smithereens along with the pub, after all.
Once Spinoza and Seira had descended the ladder and regrouped with us, I started thinking out loud. “I wonder how Leobolt and his men are faring?”
“I’ll try and contact him with my communication magic,” Fam offered. “I’ll let you handle all the talking once he picks up, though.”
“Why?”
“I’m no good with strangers. I can’t handle a conversation with anyone outside the Fifth.”
“...All right.”
I had Fam connect me with Leobolt using her communication magic. As it turned out, I was able to exchange messages through her, provided I was physically in contact with her.
Once I got in contact, he reported that they had managed to succeed in their mission as well.
“Let’s meet back up, then. We’ll head over to you,” I said.
After I cut off communication, we began making our way toward the designated meeting point. We brought the thieves along with us, their hands tied behind their backs with rope.
“You know, you guys have lived in the capital all your lives, haven’t you? Why would you decide to get mixed up in this whole thievery ring thing?” I asked.
“Well, we couldn’t find jobs, so it kind of felt like we had to if we wanted to eat.”
“I see. Well, going to prison at least guarantees you the bare minimum necessities of life. If you manage to learn some skills while you’re serving your time, you’ll probably be able to find jobs once you’re released.”
“I don’t know about that...”
“I can try to help you find something too,” I offered.
“Really?!”
“Sure. If you want, you could even try the Guard Corps. You’d need some training, but I think the athleticism you guys displayed back there would be perfectly suitable for the job.”
“That’s a very kind offer. But why would you do that for us...? We tried to explode you with a magic circle...”
“Nobody ended up getting hurt. I took all the damage from the explosion myself. That’s pretty much the same as nothing happening at all,” I said. “Besides, if you’re truly sorry about what you’ve done, you should be given a chance to rehabilitate. Doing that should make things better for the capital as a whole too.”
“I-I’ve never met anyone so open-minded and big-hearted...!”
“We’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, buddy!”
“Do not follow me.” I swatted the men away as they started coming in a little too close for comfort.
“It may not be much, but I’ll help you as well!” Seira came forward. “I want you all to be able to start life over and reintegrate into society!”
“You’re too kind to us...! Are you some kind of goddess...?!”
“We’ll follow you to the ends of the earth, lady!”
“That won’t be possible, but I do appreciate the thought!” Seira declined politely.
“Buncha smooth-talkin’ bastards.” Spinoza gave a half-annoyed grin.
While all that had been happening, we had just about made it to the meeting point.
Around this corner, we should see the Ninth Squadron there waiting for us. According to Leobolt’s report, they succeeded in their mission, so they should have the remaining thieves in custody as well.
As those thoughts were going through my mind, a strange odor reached my nostrils—a foul stench of some kind. It was coming from around the corner we were turning—from the meeting point with Leobolt up ahead. I could feel the stagnant air building up like pitch darkness.
I suddenly had a very bad feeling.
The sight that came into view as we turned the corner of the alley was something none of us could have imagined.
Leobolt and the Ninth Squadron were all gathered there. Nobody was missing.
However, we didn’t see any of the captured thieves we had expected.
No, to be more precise—the thieves were there. But “captured” wasn’t the right word for them.
They were lying on the ground in a massive pool of blood at the feet of Leobolt and his men. Not a single one was left alive. They had all been cut down, their lives snuffed out mercilessly.
“Ah, Sieg. It took you a while.” Upon noticing us, Leobolt flashed a pleasant smile. “I’m pleased to see you completed the mission successfully. Although with your level of skill, I knew it would be a trivial task.”
“What...is going on here...?” I asked automatically. “I thought you said you completed the mission successfully?” There was a scene out of hell right in front of our eyes. The odor I had sensed earlier was the smell of blood and corpses.
“Of course. As you can see, we eliminated the thieves.”
“But Commander Bolton told us to arrest them,” I said. “Did they resist or something when you tried to tie them up?” If they had, the Ninth would’ve had no choice but to slay them.
“Not at all,” Leobolt said. “As soon as they realized they had no chance, they surrendered. They were quite docile, actually—begging for their lives and whatnot.”
“Then why did you...?”
“Why? Such a strange question to ask, Sieg. There isn’t any reason to allow criminals like these to live, is there?” he responded with a slight smile. “I don’t know why they think their own rights should be enforced when they’ve violated other people’s rights themselves. Their logic is rather flawed, don’t you think?”
“They told me the reason they got into thieving was because they couldn’t find jobs.”
“Yes, they told me the same thing as they were begging for their lives,” Leobolt said. “Perhaps they were trying to garner sympathy in hopes of lightening their sentences.”
“Maybe so,” I said. “But if they couldn’t find work, then there really wouldn’t have been any other way for them to eat.”
“That’s nothing more than an excuse.”
“An excuse?”
“There are plenty of other ways to find food when one has no work. Despite that fact, their own weakness caused them to devote themselves to thievery instead,” Leobolt dismissed coldly. “Weak people always place blame on others—be it specific people or society at large. Then, to add insult to injury, they attempt to cause harm to others, turning a blind eye to their own lack of effort. These men, too, refused to take responsibility for their offenses and instead tried to shift the blame to society.”
“But they still might’ve had a path to rehabilitation.”
“Men like these do not change. They merely repeat the same mistakes over and over again. Those who cause harm to honest people should not be suffered to live.”
I felt a strong force behind the expression on Leobolt’s face. “I...see,” I said. “I understand your thoughts on the matter now.”
“I expected no less from you, Sieg. I’m pleased to have your understanding.”
“Can I ask you one thing, though?”
“What might that be?”
“When you slew those men—how did it make you feel?”
“Feel? I didn’t really feel anything,” Leobolt responded. “I have a duty to fulfill. When I slew them, that was the only thought on my mind.”