The Megzam Thieves Band and the Reunion with the Cursed Child Emi

“Man, I tell ya...... hehehe, this is a piece of cake, Boss! I bet even these ruins are shakin' in their boots from how scary you are!”

Wringing his hands, Tappa, the square-faced one of the Megzam Thieves Band, called this out to the big, shaggy-bearded man sitting heavily with his back against the stone wall, taking a break...... in other words, to their Boss, Megzam.

“......Yeah.”

Megzam gave a careless grunt in reply, then glared hard at Tappa.

As for what had been such a ‘piece of cake’: it was the road here to the deepest part of the ruins, where they were now resting.

After dropping Mitran and the others deep underground, the Megzam Thieves Band and “Ruins Plunderer” Ibrabarleg had done nothing but keep going down the stairs.

These stairs were, so to speak, a shortcut—a detour to the deepest part of the ruins—and unlike the regular route Mitran and the others were taking at that very moment, this was not a road laid with any particularly dangerous trials.

There were a few moments along the way where they needed to operate some kind of old-fashioned machinery, but Ibrabarleg would simply check his notebook and perform the correct operations in an instant, opening the way forward.

The Megzam Thieves Band had followed Ibrabarleg this far as his escort at his request...... but there had been almost no situations that called for an escort.

“Almost” none.

But there had been one.

It was when this very Tappa, now wringing his hands and trying to butter him up, pulled something stupid, so that Ibrabarleg botched operating the machine and set off an alarm.

VIIMU, VIIMU, VIIMU!!!

When the magic lamps suddenly glowed red and that warning sound echoed throughout the ruins, even Megzam had felt a chill run down his spine.

Still, all that happened after that was that 3 shaggy monsters, which Ibrabarleg called “Guardians,” appeared from a hole that suddenly opened in the wall, and they were easy enough to deal with.

Ibrabarleg had puzzled over how few Guardians there were, but writing it off as something there was no point thinking about, the four villains pressed on.

And the place they arrived at was this room where Megzam was currently resting.

According to the explanation Ibrabarleg gave after reading the writing on the wall, this room was in the deepest part of the ruins, and the relic he sought, the demon sword ‘Soul Devourer’, was supposed to be enshrined in the next room.

Whether that was true or not, they didn't know.

This was because Ibrabarleg had told Megzam and the others to stand by ‘just in case’ and eliminate any intruders, and then he had quickly proceeded into the next room alone.

The moment he entered, the door leading to the next room had closed and locked on its own, so Megzam and the others had no idea what the room beyond was like.

......And so, Megzam and the others were bored.

The entrance to the back path they had used closed automatically when they began descending the stairs, so from the outside, it should still look like nothing more than a wall with a strange painting on it.

No meddling adventurers would be getting in that way.

Then again, it was hard to imagine anyone clearing the regular route all the way here, either.

If such people existed, these ruins would have been conquered long ago.

As far as he knew, only up to ‘The 3rd Trial’ of these ruins had been cleared.

That much intel-gathering, even Megzam and his crew did.

Furthermore, the Guardians hadn't shown themselves since that one time; in short, these villains were currently dying of boredom.

That was likely why Tappa, remembering his earlier blunder, had started buttering up Megzam to make up for it.

“............”

While tuning out Tappa's dim-witted flattery about how ‘strong’ or ‘scary’ he was, Megzam slowly stood up.

And then, without any rhyme or reason.

With all his might.

He punched Tappa right in the face!

“Guhee!?”

Tappa collapsed, blood streaming from his nose!

“......Tch! Hey, Ander! Don't just stand there frozen, you get over here too......”

“Y-yes sir......”

Megzam called over Ander, the long-faced one, who had been dutifully doing something resembling keeping watch, and when he came over...... punched him too, of course.

“Aga!?”

Ander collapsed, blood streaming from his nose!

Truly, it was utter tyranny.

But this was exactly how their relationship worked.

Tappa and Ander had been disciplined and kept in line by Megzam's brand of violent communication.

“Hey, you punks, what're you lyin' around for? We're deep down in the ruins. No tellin' what might happen. Is this any time to be takin' a break? Huh?”

Megzam looked down at his two underlings rolling on the floor and scolded them, completely ignoring the fact that he himself had been resting.

““YES SIR! This is no time to be taking a break!!””

Tappa and Ander leaped up, noses still bleeding, and shouted in unison.

Their eyes were steeped in fear and tension.

Satisfied that the slackening mood had tightened up again, Megzam sat back down.

“Way that hat guy tells it, this here's the deepest part of the ruins. Which means, you punks, our biggest job's comin' up real soon. You know what that is?”

Now then, having sat back down, Megzam glared at his two underlings and solemnly put the question to them.

““YES SIR! We don't know!!””

The two underlings shouted reflexively, without thinking.

“Hey, Ander, Tappa, who are we?”

““YES SIR! We are the ‘Mad Dogs of Yabonove’! The Megzam Thieves Band!!””

“That's right!!”

Satisfied with the energetic response of his underlings, Megzam nodded deeply.

Then, lowering his voice, he quietly began to tell the two of them a terrifying plan......!

“Can those ‘Mad Dogs’ be satisfied takin' an escort request, gettin' paid, and playin' at bein' adventurers?”

““YES SIR! We can't!!””

“Exactly! You can't, right!? That's why...... we steal!”

““Ooh......!””

Told this much, the two underlings finally understood what their Boss had in mind.

They began to murmur their agreement in low voices.

“In a little while, that hat guy...... that bastard Ibrabarleg, will come out of that room with the treasure. We'll just slash 'im from behind while he's lettin' his guard down 'cause he thinks he succeeded! That way, we don't just get the money, we steal his treasure too and make a fortune. Well? Did I say somethin' weird?”

““YES SIR! You didn't!!””

“You punks think this plan's wonderful too, right?”

““YES SIR! It's wonderful!!””

“Good! Then get fired up some more! One last job's waitin' for us! Right...... grit your teeth!!”

“Guhee!?”

“Aga!?”

To finish, Megzam stood up once more and punched his two underlings for no reason at all, rounding off his violent communication.

Now even these idiot underlings would be properly fired up to tackle the upcoming job.

Megzam grinned evilly, imagining the success of the work about to begin.

But it was then!

DOGAAAN!!

That a roar like that rang out somewhere far off in the ruins and reached Megzam and the others along with a tremor!

“Eh?”

“What the hell is that?”

DOGAAAN!!

DOGAAAN!!

DOGAAAN!!

The sound...... seemed to be getting closer and closer to Megzam and his crew!

“Draw your blaaades! Be on guard!!”

Barking at his two underlings, who were flustered and letting out pathetic noises, Megzam drew his own big machete and swung it around.

DOGAAAN!!

DOGAAAN!!

......DOGAAAN!!

After that the roar came again and again, until finally...... with that sound, a door into the room where Megzam and the others were—not the one Ibrabarleg had gone through, but one on another side—was blown clean off!

GAAN-GON!!

The heavy door, made of some kind of metal, bounced and rolled across the floor like a child's toy that had been handled roughly.

Dust clouds billowed up.

And then, emerging through the dust...... was a small, black shadow.

“““......Wha!!?”””

The moment they made out that shadow, the three of the Megzam Thieves Band cried out in surprise in spite of themselves and froze.

Because that shadow.

That girl.

That black-haired, black-eyed girl.

......was the cursed child who shared a deep, bitter history with the Megzam Thieves Band!!

The moment the Megzam Thieves Band recognized the cursed child, she seemed to notice them as well.

And...... it appeared this cursed child remembered them.

“............”

She was silent.

She was expressionless.

She was silent and expressionless, but.

......She was emitting a terrifying 【Intimidation】...... murderous intent!

Directly at them!

Even Megzam's body trembled, and he couldn't stop the cold sweat.

If he let his guard down for even a second, he might lose consciousness just from absorbing this 【Intimidation】.

That was how immense the pressure was.

This was the third time they had encountered this cursed child.

The first time, this cursed child, still weak back then, had caught them off guard and gotten away.

The second time, she had already become stronger than them and slaughtered all their underlings except for the three of them.

And now, the third time.

Just by feeling this 【Intimidation】, he knew.

Unfortunately, this cursed child had become even stronger than she was the second time......!

“......Long time no see.”

To Megzam and the others, trembling all over but desperately holding their blades at the ready, the cursed child began to speak in a cute little voice.

“What are you doing in a place like this?”

“............”

Megzam and the others were silent.

The truth was less that they didn't want to answer, and more that, glared at by a monster overwhelmingly above them, they had lost even the composure to reply.

“Ignoring me? That's fine, I guess.”

“............”

If only.

If only this monster's 【Intimidation】 would remain just 【Intimidation】.

Surely this monster was conquering these ruins.

If so, he wished she would just ignore them and hurry on ahead.

He didn't care about Ibrabarleg's treasure anymore.

He just wanted to run away.

Cold sweat pouring down his face, Megzam prayed for that.

“............Now then, how do you want to die?”

Ah.

We're done for, looks like.