CH 20

The floorboard comes up easier than expected.

It’s probably because the person who came through before me was in a hurry and didn’t close it properly. That’s why I noticed it in the first place.

I slip through a gap large enough for one cat to fit through and make my way down the stairs into the basement.

People’s voices.

Men…three men, maybe? Unless there’s a woman with a gruff voice in the mix.

“What is this ‘urgent call’ for?”

“I thought you said the demons are busy and we would stop gathering for a while?”

“I’m sorry. But, we really need to…”

I stop in the middle of the stairs where I can hear the voices and use my bird’s eye to see into the room below.

The only light in the room is a single candle and it barely illuminated the three men around the table.

There’s a muscular man with a stocky figure, a gentleman with a shapely physique and a slightly kid-like man with narrow, fox–like eyes.

“Where’s Yuri? We can’t start yet.”

The fox-eyed man asked as his complexion became even more pale.

“Actually…that’s why I called you both here…”

“What do you mean?”

“I haven’t seen Yuri since this morning.”

“Not even at the store?”

“Yeah, she’s never even been late, much less being absent without permission. I went to her house tonight, but there wasn’t a sign of anyone there.”

After listening to the gentleman’s explanation, Mr. Muscles and Fox Eyes fell silent.

Hmmm…

As far as I can tell, this Yuri person is missing.

“Hey…no way, Yuri’s missing!?”

“You mean she went off and did what she said she was going to do the other day!?”

“That’s what I’m worried about.”

Silence again.

The weight of the air is much different than it was ten seconds ago and I can feel it creeping all the way up the stairs around me.

It seems that things aren’t going well.

“That’s not good…Breaking into a demon’s house is always dangerous, but even more so now because something seems to have happened. I don’t know how they could invade, but they’ll definitely get caught in the process.”

“What can we even do!? If Yuri was caught by the demons, we’re in deep shit too!”

“Calm down, Gull. We don’t know if Yuri is gone yet.”

“I don’t know Gull, but if Yuri did go…and got caught, we should at least be prepared, right? That’s why I called this meeting in such a hurry.”

“Hmm…Well, that’s right.”

The demon house? Isn’t that the place where the cargo was being taken before I stole it?

The missing Yuri and others may have been caught trying to invade there…

Since one group was caught, this group might get caught as well, so I’m panicking a bit now.

…I’ve been wondering about this situation, but if they’re talking in a secret basement like this, and if their friends get caught, they’ll be in deep shit…These are the people who are against the demon race, aren’t they? After looking around the basement, there are a lot of weapons and armor on the walls….

…If I put all those weapons and armor in the Collection Box, I could get a pretty good bonus, couldn’t I…? No, that’s a bit of a stretch…I’m a complete thief at this point…I took a load from the demons, now it’s time to change it up a bit.

I don’t have to just steal them, I’ll just throw them in the Collection Box for the bonus and remove them.

They continue talking while I try to calculate how to get those bonuses.

“But, Yuri is a part of the Rebellions. If she got caught, she wouldn’t say anything about us. Although, the demons might try to do something to Deal’s store where Yuri works.”

“When that happens, we’ll just pretend we don’t know, right?”

“Yeah. If Yuri took action without telling us, she’s also prepared to be cut off.”

As soon as the conversation is settled between Mr. Muscle and Mr. Deal, Fox Eyes spoke up.

“So if Yuri has been captured…or is being captured, we are going to help her?”

“We won’t.”

“I guess we have no choice then. We don’t have enough strength to go help her, I’m sorry to say…It’s a shame, but we can’t even prepare to go in with the demons watching us so closely.”

The three all let out a sigh at the same time.

They don’t want to abandon this Yuri person either, but the demons are too strong for them to handle, so they give up and cry…

I don’t blame them for abandoning their friends or not being able to resist the strong…In fact, I’m also a person on that side, so I strongly agree.

It’s insane to fight against those monsters with horns, tails and magic.

It’s the way of life for common folk, to not go against the strong, but to be enveloped and controlled by them.

I think that the goodness and sense of justice in the people who risk their lives to save their friends is beautiful, but only because I can’t do it myself.

I don’t want to stick my neck out and die. If I had to, I’d pretend to not see or hear anything and live my entire life without any conflict or commotion.

“Did Yuri really go there?”

“I don’t know…I’d be happy if she comes back tomorrow morning with a smile on her face…but that’s not how things are unfolding.”

“That’s right. Yuri’s obsession with the Divine Weapons is quite something. She would’ve gone anyway.”

Divine Weapons? What’s that? That sounds like an awesome name…I bet it is that really rare one! I’m not entirely sure though…

“What do we do? Do you want to go and search the town now? Maybe there’s still time.”

“Don’t do that. It’s almost time for the streets to grow silent and deserted. If you’re running around in the middle of them, you’ll attract the demons’ attention no matter what you seem to be doing.”

Mr. Muscle and Fox Eyes hung their heads in defeat.

“Damn it…! Yuri’s an idiot. The thing that the demons were carrying wasn’t even determined to be a Divine Weapon.”

…Huh? What were the demons carrying?

Maybe—I thought, I should probably browse the detailed information of the Sword of the Rising Sun.

“[Sword of the Rising Sun Lv. 382]

Category: Weapon

Size: Medium

Rarity: ★★★★★

Attribute: Super Holy

Equipment Restrictions: Hero Trait

Attached Technique: Judgement Lightning

Quantity: 1/1

The first sacred weapon.

It’s one of the artifacts said to have been given to humankind by the gods.

It has the effect, ‘Halves energy consumption of Heavenly Arts’ and ‘Significantly increases the effects of Heavenly Arts’ when equipped.”

…I wonder if this is the Divine Weapon they are talking about?

Eh? What? That means that Yuri went to invade the demon mansion in search of something I’ve already stolen!?

No, no, no, this is bad, isn’t it? It’s not my fault, right? Isn’t this just an unfortunate misunderstanding?

…You know…The whole reason the demons are so vigilant right now is because I stole it from them…I’m partly to blame for their capture.

Oh, shit!

I run up the stairs.

I don’t want to get into trouble. If I could just stay out of it, I would, but that’s only if it had nothing to do with me.

Since I’m a part of this now, I can’t just ignore it!

I’m a cat now.

I’m a cat right now, but inside I’m a decent adult man.

It isn’t possible for me to look at this and pretend to not see it from the perspective of a “former” human being!!

Even if I’ve become a cat, I have no intention of giving up at least the minimum amount of humanity in me!