---

A day after, I found myself back at our usual rendezvous spot, by the small building beside the Yarzon marketplace stalls. It was about noon when we arrived.

Effects of yesterday's raid became quickly apparent. In place of the usual throng, I was greeted with a sparsely populated plaza.

Word of the collapsing street is already spreading like a forest fire. It can't be a coincidence—the information manipulator must be working their magic...

Melyn had gone off to steal some food for the children. I was worried the lack of a crowd to hide in would deter a successful haul.

But when she came back with five baguettes strapped to her back and a paper bag of other goodies, my worries were swiftly laid to rest.

「W-was there a clearance sale out there or what?」

「It's practically empty out there Zozo. Nabbing these was a breeze. It almost makes up for my failure last time.」

「Yeah no... you couldn't even smuggle out a single loaf.」

「And whose fault was that?」

She puffed up her cheeks and placed the paper bag atop my head. I begrudgingly took it in my hands and carried it for her.

If we were this successful with a single run, imagine how much of a feast was waiting for us back home thanks to the other thief division members.

However, there was a part of me that felt disconcerted with how smoothly things were going.

And fittingly, as the lingering anxieties invaded my mind, a voice just had to call to us from the distance.

Not a moment's rest for this twelve-year-old.

「Heeey! Kiiids! Thank Vel I found you! It's meee!」

Goddammit... not him again...

Pink polka-dotted short shorts. I knew the drill.

I took a deep breath and shouted at the top of my lungs.

「HEY EVERYONE!!! THERE'S A PERVERT WHO ENJOYS EXPOSING HIMSELF TO LITTLE KIDS COMING OUR WAY!!!」

Persons within a mile radius swiveled their heads towards my direction. The exhibitionist zipped over to me and covered my mouth.

「A-are you trying to get me arrested?! One more infraction and they'll shut down my business you know?!」

Ouch.

He exposed some pretty depressing history with that sentence.

I lowered his hand and let out a grumble.

「And? Why are you here?」

「What's with the cold attitude, Lorenzo..? We just had tea yesterday...」

His blank stare indicated cluelessness as to what we'd gone through yesterday. Bastard was unknowingly the catalyst for the tribulations I had to deal with right now.

Yet... without him... Thonvir, Ysolva, and Oleena would still be trapped in the illicit drug racket.

「With you, it's... complicated...」

「Eh..?」

I found it impossible to recap all of last night's events in a few short sentences.

So, against my better judgment, I put a lid on catching him up to speed and instead heard the exhibitionist out.

「More importantly, you had something to tell us?」

「A-ah right... nearly slipped my mind. So... long story short...」

Storytelling was not one of Nago's strong suits.

If brevity was the soul of wit, then his twenty-minute-long jabber was a husk devoid of any signs of life. I'd lost count on how many times he got sidetracked.

"Long story short" my ass...

Melyn looked just about done with him. There was ominous intent in the way she held those loaves.

In actuality, his longwinded account boiled down to a single truth.

「Alright... basically... Potnugs has been harassing you to arrange a meeting between us...」

「Yes... but you're forgetting the part where he camped outside my home and spoiled my teatime—」

「Oh. Food's getting stale, better hurry on home.」

The thief girl and I turned tail and walked away, uninterested in Nago's request to meet with the merchant.

Alas, he didn't take no for an answer. The information broker fell to his knees and clung to my ankles, begging for my assistance.

「Please! I need your help, Lorenzo! He won't leave me alone! It was your fault for angering him in the first place! I had nothing to do with it!」

「D-dude... do you seriously have no shame..?」

Then I remembered this was Nago we're talking about.

His pink polka-dotted short shorts dirtied as I dragged him through the streets. Passersby would gaze at the risible scene of a child towing along an exhibitionist around.

People in this world need to start acting their age... Oleena and Thonvir are better-behaved than this...

「Lorenzo! The friction hurts my groin! Just stay still and hear me out!」

「I've already listened to that tedious tale of yours, you deviant. Don't you have a store to tend to?!」

「I have no wares to sell! I only restock at the end of the week when the delivery wagons arrive! Ergo... I'm completely free!」

「Good, then use your free time to bother someone else!.」

「O-o-oh right! I forgot to mention he's looking for an assistant! It's a paid job with you as his first choice!」

I stopped dead in my tracks.

「How much are we talking?」

「I-I don't know..? But! As the most popular store in the city, he's loaded with cash right?! Don't you think there's an opportunity there?!」

Nago was business savvy, but the farthest thing from a whip-smart conversationalist. Sniffing out bullshit was my specialty, and he just happened to reek of it.

And yet... his obviously uninformed statements did hold some truth to them.

If I could swindle Nago, a seasoned merchant, out of eight silver coins, how much could I get Potternuggets to cough up?

Playing along for some moola might not be such a far-fetched idea...

Melyn recognized the menacing glint of rapacity in my eyes and groaned.

「Zozo... not this again...」

「What? Poppernagets isn't tied to any of our enemies.」

「Can you not get into trouble every five minutes..?」

「The place is six minutes away. Doesn't count right?」

I kicked Nago away from my legs and grabbed an apple from my bag.

「Lead the way Nago. Pottershack in Barbajou Street right?」

「Y-yeah... hey... did you really have to kick me..?」

I took a bite of the apple and shrugged.

Our next stop was the Pottershack.

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