As the figure continued along the road, after a while, a person of similar height, completely wrapped in a black robe, walked out of the alley from earlier and silently followed behind.

  About ten more minutes passed.

  "Hmm——?"

  Hulim took the initiative to stop, then quickly found a place to hide herself.

  A few seconds later, the person being followed in front also seemed to sense something. They stopped and reached out a hand toward the short knife hanging at their waist.

  "Hey, you bastard dare to come to our territory again!""You want to die, huh?!"

  More than a dozen men holding weapons walked out from all directions, surrounding them in the middle of the street.

  Seeing this, the only few pedestrians on the street ran away in an instant.

  "Who are you guys?"

  The crowd fell silent.

  Then a mohawk-haired man who looked like the leader roared furiously:

  "You bastard——!!! Are you serious?! Breaking into our stronghold, stealing the money we just collected! And you have the nerve to say you don’t know us?! You piece of shit——what kind of damn righteous thief are you! Today we’re definitely going to chop you into pieces!!!"

  "Huh~, chop me into pieces?"

  After glancing around the crowd surrounding her, her gaze fell provocatively on the mohawk-haired man.

  "With just you guys?"

  As soon as these words were spoken, the crowd exploded with anger.

  "Huh——? What the hell are you saying, you little thief?!""Do you know what kind of situation you’re in?""You think you can beat so many of us alone?!""If we all charge together, we’ll hack you down in a few moves!""......"

  While the crowd kept shouting insults, the surrounded righteous thief seemed to be racking their brain thinking about something.

  "Ah——, I remember now!""You’re the ones who bully ordinary commoners all day, extort money, and lend usury...... those...... iron-headed thugs?"

  The crowd fell silent instantly.

  Then the thugs glared angrily at the righteous thief.

  "I-I-Iron-headed thugs——?!!"

  The leading mohawk-haired man was so angry that his veins bulged and his eyes turned red.

  "Bastard! How dare you belittle our Iron Axe Gang!!! Don’t think just chopping you into pieces will be the end of it!""Boys! Get him! Chop him up——!!!""Oh——!!!"

  More than a dozen thugs swarmed forward immediately.

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  "Hmph!"

  The righteous thief looked calmly at the attacking thugs and whispered an incantation.

  "Strengthen!"

  A faint white light lit up.

  Whoosh!

  Only an afterimage of the righteous thief remained in the air. Before the thugs could react, that figure had already appeared among them.

  Thud! Thud! Thud!

  With several muffled sounds, several thugs flew backward and fell to the ground, with their scattered teeth flying in the air.

  "Ah, this bastard dares to take our men——"

  Thud——!

  A fist landed on that man’s face, distorting it and silencing him at the same time.

  "Die!"

  A spiked mace smashed down from behind.

  But the righteous thief’s body suddenly fell forward onto the ground, then pressed their limbs against the ground, twisted nimbly to dodge the attack, and then bounced up like a spring, their knee slamming straight into the man’s face.

  "Ugh——"

  Nosebleed splattered as the man rolled his eyes and fell backward, the spiked mace slipping from his hand.

  "......Damn you!""......Don’t get cocky!"

  The rest shouted loudly, waving their weapons randomly at the righteous thief. But every attack was easily dodged. Their agile movements completely threw the thugs into chaos, and one by one, they were knocked down.

  "Get out of the way! Let me personally kill him——!"

  The leading mohawk-haired man roared.

  A faint white light also glowed on his body. He gripped a double-handed battle axe tightly and smashed it heavily at the righteous thief.

  Boom!

  The ground shattered, but the axe missed. The righteous thief had jumped away just before the axe fell.

  The righteous thief, who had leaped into the air, did a backflip and actually landed on the back of the double-handed battle axe, stepping on it.

  "What——!"

  The mohawk-haired man tried to lift the axe forcefully to flip the other person off, but the other’s movements were faster.

  In the blink of an eye, the righteous thief, who had been stepping on the back of the axe, was charging at the mohawk-haired man, whose knee was already in his line of sight.

  Thud——!

  "Ah——"

  In that instant, the mohawk-haired man’s face distorted like the others.

  "Boss——!""Boss——!!""B-Boss is down?! "

  The other thugs panicked on the spot.

  "Ugh...... You...... Who are you saying is down! Huh——?!"

  The mohawk-haired man stumbled backward a few steps and actually stood firm. Although his face was covered in nosebleed, he still hadn’t fallen.

  "Oh~! Worthy of being the boss!""Nice one! Boss!""Go get him, Boss! Take him down like this——!""Oh ah——!!!"

  Egged on by his underlings, the mohawk-haired man charged again.

  Thud——!

  "......"

  The crowd suddenly fell silent.

  The mohawk-haired man lying on the ground looked at the short knife pressed against his throat, his eyes gradually clearing.

  "......Want to continue?"

  ......

  Watching the thugs scurrying away, carrying and dragging their unconscious companions, the righteous thief slowly sheathed the short knife.

  "Not bad skills~."

  "Wah——!!?"

  The sudden voice from behind scared the righteous thief into jumping up and back, putting a large distance between them.

  "Who is it, meow?! ""Your voice disguise gave you away~.""What——!?"

  The righteous thief quickly covered their mouth, then suddenly looked up vigilantly at the person who had appeared. Under the black hood opposite, a familiar face came into view.

  "Hulim——!!? Ah, no——"

  Realizing they had slipped up, they quickly covered their mouth again.

  Then they said in a squeaky voice: "......I was talking nonsense just now! I definitely wasn’t calling your name! Don’t misunderstand!""......""No, you’ve completely exposed yourself. There’s no way you can fool me at this point.""Huh? Can’t I——""......""......So that’s why you’re always leaving early and returning late. You’ve been coming to places like this to be a righteous thief, Miko~.""Huh?! I’m not Miko! I’ve never heard of any Miko!"

  With that, the white-haired catgirl covered her face and turned to run.

  "Ah——"

  But before she could run two steps, the back of her collar was roughly grabbed.

  "Didn’t I say you’re exposed...... Do you really think you can get away with it by running now?""C-Can’t I......""That’s obviously not possible."

  Dragging Miko into a dead end where no one could see them.

  She lifted the hood on Miko’s head, and a pair of fluffy cat ears appeared.

  "Yah——"

  Miko quickly covered her ears.

  "......"

  Meeting Hulim’s gaze, she smiled awkwardly, put her hands down, and took off her mask.

  "So, now can you tell me? Why is Miko the righteous thief?"