Chapter 210

Chapter 210

I Became the Academy Mafia Chapter 210Do you know what a night like tonight is called?

A pitch-black night.

A night when neither the moon nor the stars nor anything else in the sky can look down upon the earth.

“You said you were preparing, and you really did prepare properly.”

The Pendragon family's villa located in Seoul.

This villa had been built solely for Ray Pendragon's life in Korea and stood at the edge of a neighborhood where embassies were gathered.

Of course, thanks to that, I could clearly see his mansion from the summit of the mountain.

“Hmm, there aren't many. Have the Pendragon reinforcements not arrived yet?”

There were only a few proper elites visible.

Just police officers patrolling the neighborhood, agents from the Awakened Police Headquarters, and a few members of the family.

“All right, shall we dispense justice again today?”‘God. Please allow me to become a righteous thief.’

Of course, since he was still the President, there were more people than at the house I robbed before, so I'd prepared a few different methods today. It should be worth looking forward to.

My current appearance had been dyed pitch-black by 【Clown Makeup】, as though I were wrapped in darkness.

“Time to begin.”

I ran down the mountain slope and accelerated toward the Pendragon estate. Then, with the intention of finishing things quickly, I charged straight toward his mansion.

According to what I'd seen from above, if I continued like this, then in a moment...

Rustle.

“Hm? An animal—eek──?!”

I'd run into a patrolling police officer.

I immediately fired the tranquilizer gun at the officer's arm.

The officer, hit by the tranquilizer dart in the arm, collapsed before he could even use his radio.

Without slowing down, I poured aura into my legs to enhance my physical abilities while simultaneously blending my body into the darkness and leaping upward.

My body shot into the sky in an instant.

The moment I cleared the wall of the Pendragon estate.──!

I felt something sweep over my body, and goosebumps rose all over my skin.

“As expected. It wouldn't be Ray Pendragon if he allowed an easy intrusion.”

Unlike the Treasurer's house, where they'd merely carved spell formulas near the walls and stationed guards, this place had them engraved in a dome shape.

Weee-oo! Weee-oo! Weee-oo! Weee-oo!

Along with a noise that seemed capable of tearing apart my eardrums, the estate was dyed bright red.

“Ugh, is hurting people's eyes and ears the defining feature of security companies? That's a nuisance to the neighborhood.”

As I grimaced and ran toward the entrance, the sound of several people running came from around the corner.

-The bastard's over there!

-Run!

Looks like the spell formula had some kind of tracking function.

In that case, what I had to do was simple.

“Black Flame.”

Activating Black Flame, pitch-black flames began rising around me, using the surrounding light as fuel.

At the same time, the surrounding light gradually began disappearing.

-Who's turning off the lights!

-I can't see!

The Pendragon estate slowly lost its light.

The fact that they'd turned the lights on so quickly actually worked in my favor.

Using that opening, I entered the interior and immediately ran toward the secret vault.

-Damn it, where is he! Turn on a light, a light!

-The lights keep going out... w-what is this! Fire! Fire!

They were already completely disoriented by the combination of darkness and Black Flame.

Of course, things weren't much different for me... but I had another pair of eyes.-Turn left in two seconds.-3... 2... yes. Stop there. Open the door on the right and proceed. There are only servants, so ignore the noise and pass through.

After my first deployment ended, my partner had begun helping with my good deeds from beginning to end.

That's right.

The best person behind the desk was providing solid support from the rear.

-Yes. That's the break room used by internal employees.

“Confirmed.”

I moved carefully while receiving precise information about the situation.

An unavoidable section ahead?

Then it was simple.

I brought my left hand to my right cheek.

“Magic. Character Change.”

I swept my hand across as though scanning.

At the same time, 【Clown Makeup】 activated.

Before I knew it, my face had become that of the police officer I'd met on the mountain.

And before anyone could notice, I immediately grabbed the clothes hanging in the break room and put them on.

The beginning of phantom thievery was disguise and infiltration.

“Ready, Ha?”

-Of course. Eu.

From this point on, the greatest show on earth, with the entire nation as its audience, was about to begin.

______________

Before long, the area surrounding the Pendragon family's estate had become packed with people because of the incident from several dozen minutes earlier.

“You may not approach!”

“Do not cross the police line!”

Police officers were blocking people from approaching.

“What exactly was that siren just now!”

“As I understand it, the heir of the Podish family, who was targeted by Magical Rogue last night, and the heir of the Pendragon family are both members of the same Academy student council. Has ‘Magical Rogue’ appeared again this time?!”

A tremendous barrage from reporters. There were even ordinary spectators who had simply come to watch the commotion.

The one who stepped forward to face the reporters' barrage of questions was a man with neatly arranged hair.

“I am Senior Patrol Officer Kang Cheol-sang of the Awakened Police Headquarters, assigned to support security at the Pendragon estate.”

Kang Cheol-sang identified himself while looking at the reporters. At that, the reporters' cameras and microphones turned toward him.

“Is it true that Magical Rogue has appeared?!”

“Has Magical Rogue infiltrated the estate right now?!”

“What is happening inside!”

As the questions continued raining down, Kang Cheol-sang recalled the information he had just received from his aide.‘At the same time the surroundings went completely dark, all traces of the suspect vanished. We're searching every inch of both the interior and exterior, but there still appears to be no sign of him.’He had devoted his entire life to the police. And he possessed the pride he'd accumulated from dealing exclusively with thief-type villains.

The police were often underestimated by the public because of Heroes. But the police he knew were not incompetent.

Otherwise, their arrest rate could never have exceeded 97%.

That was why he was certain.

The bastard had ultimately retreated in the face of their powerful security system.

Or at the very least, he had temporarily withdrawn for now.

He stared firmly at the reporters setting off camera flashes, raised a fist into the air, pumped it, and shouted loudly.

“Everyone! Please rest assured! The Pendragon estate is safe───.”

Booooooooom────!!

“──and... huh?”

With a tremendous explosion, flames erupted from the center of the estate.

“B-breaking news!”

“Take pictures!!”

“A star! A star appeared in the sky!”

A pink star rose into the sky above the Pendragon estate.

And inside an ice cream truck not far from the mansion.

“The reporters have confirmed the star. How was the timing?”

-Of course it was perfect. How does it look from your side?

Haru glanced at the sky after hearing Eugene's words.

“Yes, it is certainly enormous.”

-Hehe, Magical and Logical Haru.

“...

I do not understand what that means.”

Even at Eugene's nonsense, she did not let her guard down and continued checking the footage transmitted through the miniature camera hanging around his neck.

The situation inside the estate, which had become a complete mess because of the explosion moments ago, was...

“Put that fire out over there! It's burning!”

“Mages! Bring the mages!”

Exactly the chaos Eugene had intended.

And amid it, Eugene ran around diligently in an employee uniform.

His target was the vault room inside the Pendragon estate.

Now that the surroundings were brightly illuminated again, finding the way wasn't particularly difficult.

The internal layout, engraved in Eugene's mind from countless experiences robbing the place, was gradually coming back to him.

-Young Master. You are finding your way surprisingly well. It is almost as though you have been here several times before.

“Is that so?”‘I suppose to someone who doesn't know, it would be strange how easily I'm finding my way as though I've visited several times.’But I'd already prepared an excuse for that too.

What you needed most for something like this was an alibi and various trivial reasons to explain different situations.

“That's the destiny of a Magical Girl.”

-Ah... yes.

“Anyway, you said the vault was near the underground storage room?”

-That is correct. Go down one more floor from there and you will reach the valuables storage room.

Hearing that, I reduced the sound of my footsteps even further.

From here on, the difficulty changed a little.

Unlike the guards running around upstairs trying to put out fires or the others patrolling the inside of the mansion, the guards here were true professionals. No matter what commotion occurred, they simply remained at their posts.

As though determined to stop anyone trying to enter.

And what people like that needed was a smile.

“Thank you for your hard work, everyone.”

A refreshing smile that made it impossible to think I was a bad person.

“...

What brings you here? That uniform appears to be for perimeter security.”

“Ahh, it's nothing much.”

The guard glanced at Eugene's clothes, furrowed his brow, and looked at the man before him.

But as though he'd expected this, Eugene calmly raised his head, removed his hat, and answered them.

“──I came from the main family.”

______________

“Y-you are?”

“Hello.”

They froze in shock the moment they saw my face.

“...

Sir Galahad? Have you already arrived in Korea?”

I shrugged at them and patted their shoulders.

“It's classified. Keep your mouths shut. OK?”

“Ah, yes!”

“Please proceed!”

There was a reason people said a face was as good as a seal of approval.

Suspicion itself made no sense.

Galahad was someone that even people connected to the family wouldn't properly know unless they were close to the inner circle.

That was because he was a knight responsible for guarding important figures within the Pendragon family and rarely revealed himself.

And because of that, his face was practically a blank check among Pendragon affiliates.

-This actually works.

“The very idea that I could imitate Galahad's face probably isn't even conceivable in their minds.”

Well, from my perspective, since I knew about him, it made for a fantastic free pass.

“All right, let's go.”

I'd passed the hardest checkpoint with ease, so all that remained was to continue with a light step.

Once I had completely descended the stairs, a huge space made entirely of metal appeared.

Each door was a massive vault that could only be opened by entering a four-digit password, and because of the materials and spell formulas used to make the doors, it was a place that could never be breached by ordinary means.

It even triggered an alarm after only two wrong attempts.

But.

“Now then... 9999.”

That meant nothing if you knew the answer.

With a clunk, the door slowly opened.

At the same time, stacks of gold bars inside revealed themselves.

“The young master from Britain brought quite a lot of spending money.”

Every gold bar bore an official certification mark.

“Haru. Can you handle gold too?”

-It is not impossible, but it will take quite some time.

“If that's the case, it doesn't matter.”

I put all the gold bars straight into the Cube.

The gold bars instantly began taking up space inside it.

“Then~ shall we open the next vault?”

The password for the next vault was 9

9

9

8.

Once again, the vault opened with a clunk.

This time, several paintings reminiscent of an art museum were hanging on the walls.

“Paintings? Are they expensive?”

-They are probably paintings used for illegal transactions. Paintings are extremely easy to convert into money. They are also difficult to trace.

“Then I'll take all of these too.”

I cleaned out this room as well.

Before anyone else arrived, I began robbing them one by one.

Before long, the items had filled more than half of the Cube.

“How much are the things I've taken so far worth?”-...

I believe they should be worth at least ten billion credits.

“Jackpot.”

-Do not forget that you promised to give me ten percent.

“Of course.”

The information Haru had given me for this robbery had been incredibly valuable.

-But how exactly do you know the passwords to the vaults, Young Master? Information like that would not even be traded on the market.

Perhaps she found it strange how I kept opening vaults as though it were nothing, because Haru asked about the secret behind the passwords.

“That is a trade secret.”-...

Does thievery have trade secrets?

“It's a one-man corporation.”

And this time too, I'd made corporate-level profits.

“All right, then only the final vault remains?”

-It is larger than the other vaults, and its locking mechanisms are considerable as well.

Even just what was visible right now included a password, fingerprint recognition, and even a special keyhole.

-I do not believe knowing the password alone will open this. What do you plan to do?

“Ah, that?”

You're asking something obvious.

“──With magic.”

As befitting Magical Rogue.

We're going with the straightforward method.