“Come out, all of you!”

The warehouse door opened, and two auction house employees barged in. The sudden appearance of the employees herded us all out through the warehouse’s back door.

“Stop dawdling and follow! We have to move elsewhere!”

They led us into an alleyway behind the warehouse.

“Damn it, where are we supposed to hide all these kids? If we get caught, we’re the ones in trouble, you know?”

The employee walking in front grumbled. The bulky employee monitoring us from behind responded with a deep voice.

“There’s a carriage in the back! We’ll load them there and move, so just hold on!”

“What are we going to do with these kids once they’re on the carriage?”

“We’ll contact the vicemanager when we get there! The vicemanager said we absolutely can’t let these kids be discovered!”

A frightened child slowed his steps. An employee yelled and struck the nearby wall threateningly.

“Hurry up, will you?!”

The child eventually burst into tears. When one began to cry, the rest followed suit, whimpering.

“Shut up, all of you! If you keep whining, you’ll be thrown into a sewer!”

At the threatening voice, I clenched my teeth.

‘Now’s my chance.’

I gripped the bag on my back tightly.

‘It should be easier to escape now than when we were in the warehouse.’

The employee in the front had a scrawny and skinny physique and was unarmed.

Furthermore, all the kids had already been taken out of the warehouse.

Although many of them were young, there were a few boys around 7 or 8 years old, like Shankez.

If that employee up front had been alone, I might have risked it all in an attack.

The problem was the large employee behind us, who had been yelling at us the whole time.

He was twice the size of an average man, like Bart, the biggest man I’d ever seen.

Shankez glanced around and moved closer to me.

“Hey, tell them you’re not one of us. Don’t you have bodyguards? Summon knights to smash them.”

“Even if I tell them, they won’t believe me. They’ve already seen my clothes and said nothing.”

I had lent my outer hood to a child who had been cold, so they must have seen my clothes.

Still, they didn’t seem to consider that I wasn’t one of the merchandise.

Speaking out would likely only draw unnecessary attention.

‘I can’t arouse suspicion now.’

If I drew attention, they might check what was in my bag.

‘Why did the silver snake end its concealment…’

Though I was still disoriented, the silver snake had ceased its concealment when I touched it.

Fortunately, at that time, the children were focused on Shankez who was unlocking the padlock, so I hadn’t been caught.

“Ah, if only it weren’t for that big guy…”

Shankez mumbled as he glanced back, evidently contemplating the same as I had been.

‘Is this kid really Shankez?’

I had suspected it when I first saw him.

It’s not common for a child to jump lightly from such a high window in a warehouse.

Only when I saw him unlock the cage with a slender wire did I become certain.

That he was the famous ‘Bandit Shankez’ from the original story!

‘He was famous for stealing from nobles and distributing the loot among the poor.’

Of course, he hadn’t started as a bandit.

Shankez first became famous as a thief who never left a trace.

Moreover, he had the ability to effortlessly infiltrate mansions with the tightest security, like a cat, and steal only what he wanted.
It wasn’t an exaggeration to say there wasn’t a noble’s mansion he hadn’t infiltrated in the capital.

For this reason, not only his appearance but also his age and gender were all unclear, and even the royal family was frustrated at being unable to catch him.

The reason he revealed his identity was purely to help Elizer.

In this regard, people thought Shankez must be a cunning individual in his forties, since he left no evidence.

So, when Elizer first met Shankez, he was quite surprised to find that he was a young man of similar age to himself.

‘Because he’s that skilled.’

Shankez had inherited all his talent from his parents.

His parents were quite infamous thieves in the underworld.

But Shankez thoroughly wanted to hide that his parents were thieves. He had torn himself apart for being born among criminals.

And the only talent he had was stealing, so he might have fallen deeper into selfloathing.

That changed when he met Elizer by chance.

Through Elizer, he realized that he could help others with the wealth he stole, and actually began to do so.

It was stealing wealth and goods from irrational nobles and distributing them to the poor.

‘I’ve stolen from the Duke a few times, haven’t I?’

Though it had gotten him chased by the Levy Knights a few times, he still did not stop his acts of banditry.

‘So the whiner turned out to be that cool Shankez.’

Even in the original story, Shankez was quite popular among the readers.

Though quiet, he steadfastly stood by the protagonist, and when crucial, he assisted the protagonist.

‘And he became very close with Elizer.’

Moreover, it was said that in terms of appearance, he was not inferior to Elizer.