“Everyone, come out!”

The warehouse door opened and two auction house employees rushed in. The suddenly appearing employees drove us all out through the back door of the warehouse.

“Stop talking and follow! We need to move to another place!”

They dragged us into the alley behind the warehouse.

“Damn, where are we supposed to hide all these kids? Won’t we be in big trouble if we get caught on the way?”

The employee walking in front complained. Then the burly employee watching us from behind responded in a deep voice.

“They said there’s a carriage in the back! We’ll load them up and move, so just hang on a little longer!”

“Dammit, what are we going to do with these kids after we get in the carriage?”

“We’ll have to contact the deputy director when we get there! He said we absolutely can’t let these kids be discovered, even if the other slaves are!”

One frightened child slowed down. The employee shouted loudly and threateningly struck the nearby wall.

“Hurry up and move!”

The child finally burst into tears. When one started crying, the other children began to sob a little too.

“All of you shut up! I’ll throw any crybabies into the sewer pit, you hear me!”

I gritted my teeth at the threatening voice.

‘This is my chance.’

I gripped tightly the bag on my back.

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

The employee in front had a slim, thin build. He wasn’t carrying any weapons either.

Plus, all the children were now out of the warehouse.

Though there were quite a few young children, there were also 3-4 boys around 7-8 years old like Shanchez.

If there had only been that one employee in front, I might have desperately rushed at him right away.

But the problem was the big-bodied employee standing behind, the one who had been yelling at us the whole time.

Unlike the employee in front, he looked about twice the size of an average man.

Of all the people I had seen so far, the biggest was Bart, and this guy seemed to be about Bart’s size.

Shanchez glanced around, then moved right up next to me.

“Hey, tell them now. That you’re not one of us kids who got captured. Don’t you have any guards? Call your knights to come beat them up.”

“They wouldn’t believe me even if I said so. They’ve already seen what I’m wearing but haven’t said anything.”

I had lent the outer hood I was wearing to a young child who said they were cold. So they must have seen what I was wearing underneath.

But from the fact that they weren’t saying anything, it seemed they didn’t think at all that I might not be a child meant to be sold.

In this situation, bringing it up unnecessarily would only draw unwanted attention.

‘I can’t arouse suspicion.’

If I drew attention now, they might try to check what was inside this bag.

‘Of all times for the silver snake to break its concealment…’

It was still out of it, but eerily, the concealment broke as soon as my hand touched it.

Fortunately, the children’s attention was on Shanchez who had opened the lock at that moment, so it wasn’t noticed.

“Ah, if only that big guy wasn’t here…”

Shanchez muttered, glancing back. He seemed to be thinking something similar to what I had been thinking earlier.

‘But is this really Shanchez?’

To be honest, I had been a bit suspicious since I first saw him.

It wasn’t common for a child to be able to lightly jump down alone from that high window in the warehouse.

I only became certain when I later saw him easily pick the lock on the cage with a thin wire in one try.

That he was the famous ‘Robin Hood Shanchez’ from the original story!

‘He became famous for stealing nobles’ goods and wealth to distribute to the poor.’

Of course, he didn’t start out as a Robin Hood figure.

The reason Shanchez first became famous was because he was a thief who never left any traces.

Moreover, he would sneak into mansions as nimbly as a cat regardless of how tight the security was, steal only what he wanted, and disappear.

It wouldn’t be an exaggeration to say there wasn’t a single noble mansion in the capital that he hadn’t broken into.

Because of this, not only his appearance, but also his age and gender were all unclear, and even the imperial family had headaches trying to catch him.

The reason he ended up revealing his identity was purely to help Elizer.

Since he never left any evidence, people thought Shanchez must be a seasoned person in his 40s.

So even Elizer was very surprised when he first met Shanchez to find out he was a young man around his own age.

‘He must have such outstanding skills.’

All of Shanchez’s talents were inherited from his parents.

Shanchez’s parents were quite renowned thieves in the underworld.

However, Shanchez desperately wanted to hide the fact that his parents were thieves. He tormented himself for being born to criminals.

And since his only talent ended up being stealing, he probably fell even deeper into self-loathing.

That thinking changed when he happened to meet Elizer.

Through Elizer, he realized he could use the wealth he stole to help others, and he actually started putting it into practice.

He began stealing property and goods that nobles had accumulated through unfair means and distributing them to poor people.

‘He stole from the duke a few times too, right?’

Because of this, he was chased by the wild dog-like Leviche knights a few times, but he still didn’t stop his Robin Hood activities.

‘To think this grumbling kid was that cool Shanchez.’

In the original story, Shanchez was quite a popular supporting character among readers too.

He didn’t talk much but silently stood by the protagonist’s side, and stepped up to help the protagonist at crucial moments.

‘He even becomes close friends with Elizer.’

Plus, he was described as being almost as handsome as Elizer.

‘Though that doesn’t seem to be the case…’

“What are you looking at?”

When our eyes met, Shanchez raised one eyebrow and looked at me tersely. I frowned.

It was worlds apart from the image I had seen in the original story.

‘He could change when he grows up.’

Just as I was trying to accept reality with difficulty, Shanchez approached me with a determined expression and whispered.

“We’ll take care of the big guy.”

“…What?”

“Salmon and I will take care of the big guy together, so you escape with the other kids. The guy in front is scrawny so it shouldn’t be hard, right?”

I couldn’t help but look back in shock. Even if several people rushed him, it would be impossible with a build like that.

Even if Shanchez managed to take down that big guy, it was questionable whether the remaining kids could get away from that employee in front.

There were still many kids sniffling quietly while watching for an opportunity, and even I was only 4 years old.

“It’s too dangerous.”

“No, we can do it. If I aim for his weak spots first, then Salmon can knock him down…”

Shanchez explained a plan with extremely low chances of success. Just as I was wondering how to persuade this young Robin Hood who was getting ahead of himself, there was a loud smack from behind.

Thud!

The sound of something heavy falling backwards was heard. All the children stopped walking and turned around.

The big guy, no, the big-bodied employee who had been standing behind us until just now was gone.

He was lying spread-eagle on the ground, unconscious with his eyes open.

I looked at Shanchez with a bewildered expression.

Even though I hadn’t asked out loud, Shanchez shook his head preemptively, looking guilty.

His expression seemed to shout “It wasn’t me!”

I carefully examined the large employee again. I could see something embedded in his forehead.

‘Is that a pebble?’

“W-what’s going on here!”

The employee who had been walking in front ran back and assessed the situation.

He looked around with trembling eyes, then pointed at us one by one and berated us.

“Who was it, who dared to do such a terrible thing to an adult!”

His words and attitude were harsh. But I saw his hand trembling slightly.

‘He’s scared.’

That employee knew too. That if all these children rushed him after the employee behind had fallen, he would be at a disadvantage.

“Ah geez, I don’t know either!”

Suddenly Shanchez picked up a branch that had fallen on the ground and shouted.

“Everyone get up! Attack!”

As Shanchez shouted, the other children rushed forward.

“There’s only one of them! We can win! We will be victorious!”

“Y-you little brats have all gone mad! Get back!”

At first, only children around Shanchez’s age rushed at the employee.

But soon, as the employee staggered under the children’s weight, unable to withstand it, the younger kids gained courage and all rushed in too.

“Aaah!”

“Take me to my mom!”

“You bad man!”

Penny also screamed at the top of her lungs, using some curse word she must have heard somewhere. Amidst the chaos, the bag wriggled.

‘No way!’

I quickly opened the bag. I saw the silver snake coiled up inside. The silver snake’s head moved slightly.

“Silver snake, are you awake?”

The silver snake made a faint groaning sound. I tapped the silver snake’s head lightly with my index finger.

“Silver snake, wake up a bit! You almost became snake soup, you know!”

The silver snake wriggled but couldn’t easily open its eyes. It looked like someone waking up from a very, very deep sleep.

‘Don’t tell me it was kidnapped while sleeping?’

But do divine beasts even sleep?

‘I never heard of a divine beast sleeping in the original story.’

As I was about to shake the divine beast awake again, someone grabbed the collar of my clothes from behind.

I was dragged backwards, kicking my feet.

“Kyaah!”

My scream wasn’t even heard because of all the commotion around. In that moment of carelessness, I even dropped the bag with the silver snake.

“Let go!”

Had that big employee woken up? Was he trying to take me hostage after waking up?

‘I won’t just sit still either.’

He looked as big and strong as Bart. But that didn’t mean there was absolutely no way to beat him.

I grabbed a handful of dirt from under my feet. Just then, the person holding my collar also stopped abruptly.

As soon as I regained my balance on both feet, I turned around immediately.

The first thing I saw was a slender wrist.

Seeing that, my breath quickened and my whole body stiffened from the tips of my toes.

The person who had dragged me wasn’t the big guy. The build was so slim and petite that the word “big” didn’t suit at all.

The handful of sand slipped weakly between my fingers at the sight of long, bright yellow hair flowing down to the waist.

“My Lil.”

The woman’s head tilted crookedly to the side. I smelled the thick, sweet scent I hadn’t been able to smell for so long.

The scent I smelled at night. The scent that filled my nostrils every night.

As our eyes met, Rebecca’s lips curved into a pretty smile.

“My daughter, I missed you.”

‘……Mom.’

At that moment, all light vanished from the world.