Became the Academy Romantic Phantom Thief chapter 199

199 – For Tomorrow

The princess pondered for a moment before opening her mouth.

“The first words he said were these.”

-The Child of Prophecy will come.

“…The Child of Prophecy?”

“Yes. I don’t know what that means, but he calls you that.”

I’m not old enough to be called a child. Of course, in the eyes of God, he’s beyond a newborn baby and is no different from a day-old.

Anyway, you should focus on the word in front, ‘prophecy,’ rather than the child in the back.

What kind of prophecy? As much as the goddess of fate said, it would never be light.

The first thing that comes to mind when it comes to prophecy is, of course, the Witch of Prophecy.

The goddess of fate and the witch of prophecy. As much as there is some overlap, the possibility that the two have a point of contact cannot be ignored.

Perhaps he is a transcendental being endowed with the power of God that Vivian explained.

The surest way was to ask someone who might know the answer.

“Do you know what a prophecy is?”

Unexpectedly, however, she shook her head.

“No. I don’t know. Originally, I didn’t even know that the child of prophecy was referring to you. The day I first met you, I only realized it after facing you face to face.”

It seems that he is talking about the first time he infiltrated the palace to steal the sword. I received a similar premonition back then, and must have realized that I was the one called the Child of Prophecy.

“What next?”

“I said that you would come to pick up the promise the royal family had been holding for a while.”

Um. The legend of King Arthur must have been over a thousand years in the past to keep it for a while.

A thousand years might be just a moment for the gods who live forever.

“Is there anything else?”

“There was nothing special except for telling you the place and time to meet you. So I prepared Excalibur in advance and was waiting.”

“Um…”

I’m a little disappointed.

I thought something huge would be revealed, but it was just a reminder of what I had planned.

Obviously, it wasn’t me who the Goddess of Fate told me about the future, it was the princess.

In other words, she has no reason to tell her what she has that will help me. For the princess, the fact that the phantom thief was aiming for Excalibur was enough big news in itself.

In the end, the only thing I could say was that I was a ‘child of prophecy’.

Should I dig into this more intensively and look for hints?

If it’s a prophecy, it’s probably related to my miserable end.

At this point, I’ll just let you go, so I want to take a peek at what kind of future it will be. Of course, that’s just what they say, but I don’t really intend to face a miserable end.

I can’t help it. Let’s retrieve Excalibur and finish talking to Vivian.

After listening to the information about the god of time that Vivian decided to tell you, you put the scattered clues together like putting together puzzle pieces.

From noble mtl dot com.

I have already discovered quite a few fragmentary pieces. The problem is, I just haven’t been able to find the key clues that put them together yet.

You never know. It’s already in my hand, but I might not be noticing it.

“Thank you for letting me know.”

“What is this much between friends?”

“hahahaha…”

I became friends with the princess so I couldn’t even take it off.

Looking at what they’re talking about, they’re not just moderately close friends, they’re at the level of soul friends.

It’s not that I don’t like that, but I wonder if the difference in social status is too big than I thought.

To be honest, it was a bit burdensome. I’m worried that the princess will be harmed because of me.

“Then you should take care of this sword.”

“Ah. That.”

Of course, it is right to take care of it. By the way

“Can I come pick it up tomorrow?”

“Hmm? Why? If it’s because you want to see me again tomorrow, you can just come over to play.”

To bring up such a thing casually. Even if you think it’s too self-conscious, if you’re a princess, you’ll automatically nod your head saying it’s okay.

But unfortunately, that wasn’t the reason.

“I have already sent a notice to the police station. Actually, I was going to secretly leave the notice today as well.”

I pulled out her card from her bosom and showed it to her.

In the notice, I confidently declared that I would go to Excalibur tomorrow. But when the police try to stop me, I don’t even appear and Excalibur has already disappeared, how absurd would it be?

Of course, it’s none of my business whether the police are embarrassed or not, but apart from that, my professionalism as a thief is unacceptable.

Isn’t it the romance of a phantom thief to protect it no matter what?

If you ignore what I said like flipping the palm of your hand, fooled by the easy way, no one will believe my predictions later.

“…Is that the only reason?”

“It’s just that. It is a matter of great importance to me.”

After hearing my explanation, the princess shook her head as if she couldn’t understand, but she respected my opinion anyway.

“Then doesn’t that mean you will come back tomorrow? Whatever the reason, it’s a welcome thing for me. How about directing a hostage play like last time?”

“I will decline. Anyway, I can give this notice to the princess.”

Today we were friends, but tomorrow we will meet as enemies.

In a way, wouldn’t this be quite a romantic development?

Now it was time to go back. The moment I was about to say goodbye and leave the palace.

The princess grabbed me and asked a very perplexing question.

“I’m just curious. What are you going to do if the theft fails tomorrow?”

“Yes?”

“I don’t know the details, but isn’t it a situation where you must take Excalibur with you? But of course, since the royal family is Britannia’s number one national treasure, they will try to protect it somehow, so it won’t be easy.”

This is definitely not wrong. There was a high probability that tomorrow would boast the most difficult level of difficulty among the phantom thief activities so far.

I had already stolen the same target last time, but at that time I didn’t even know that it was Excalibur, it was a separate palace, not the main palace, and it was a success thanks to the help of the princess.

Just because you haven’t failed in the past, there’s no reason you won’t do that in the future.

No matter how thoroughly you prepare, you may fail tomorrow.

What if I fail to steal Excalibur?

Then you’re screwed. My grand plan is to be shattered from the beginning.

I can’t. Suddenly, anxiety starts to rise.

What if I really fail? Should I just put my pride aside and take care of Excalibur?

Victoria is in a very favorable situation for me, so if I ask, she will obediently hand it over.

I wonder if I can give away Excalibur, the treasure of the royal family, so easily, but in fact, I already gave it to you last time. I only absorbed the power of the jewel and gave it back.

Her Fundamental reason why she helps me in the first place is that she was foretold by God. So, it would not be strange if the responsibility as an apostle of God was more important than that of a country’s princess.

“Hmm…”

“You seem to be worried about something.”

It’s because you brought up useless talk. If I hadn’t asked that question, I would have gone back and worked up a trick.

We had serious conflicts, but in the end, the conclusion was the same.

“It must be meaningful only when I get it on my own.”

“I see. I think that look is pretty cool.”

“Thank you. But if it fails, I might come back to get it later…”

“I will withdraw my remarks. I’m honestly a bit disappointed.”

I don’t want to do that either. It’s just insurance against the worst.

Fortunately, the princess seemed to have said it as a joke and immediately cheered with a single smile.

“Try hard once.”

“…It’s a little strange that the landlord supports the thief.”

“Come to think of it, that’s true.”

Anyway, I broke up with the princess and returned home.

Then the next day dawned.

***

“Excalibur?”

A quiet afternoon. Waiting for the code to be deciphered, Gadget blinked at the unexpected story.

After hearing the report from the decryption team, she asked because she didn’t know.

“Was it real? Isn’t that just a legend?”

“I contacted the royal family in strict confidence and they said yes…”

“I’m going crazy. It is a legendary weapon now.”

The scale is too big than I thought. To be more precise, it was a mysterious area that was difficult for ordinary people to access.

It is the executive branch, not the general police, that is in charge of this kind of work.

However, Gadget’s team was in charge of the Phantom Thief Raven, and they even quarreled over the right to investigate, so it seemed reasonable to cooperate amicably.

Gadget, who was tearing her hair out in an embarrassing situation, asked a question just in case.

“Is it possible that it is an analogy or a double cipher?”

“Team manager. Just admit it meekly.”

“Haa…”

I will admit it honestly. It is close to impossible to arrest the thief on their own.

Then you have to get help from someone else, but the problem is that no one seems to be particularly successful.

Working with a gritty executive? I can bend my pride as much as I can if I can catch him.

But what was it like when Raven appeared most recently? Even though two executioners stuck together, they ended up missing the same.

It is not enough to simply deploy one or two enforcers. If the power of the executive department sticks to it, we’ll have to catch it, but that’s the same as saying we’re going to ruin Britannia, so it’s dismissed.

‘Sherlock isn’t enough.’

Her detective girl skills are acknowledged, but in terms of her results, she too has failed over and over again.

Something groundbreaking was desperately needed.