I Became a Gallery Manager in Another World

Swish-!

A woman clad in a pristine white suit cut through the dark night sky like a whale leaping from the water.

“Hehehe! This is it! This is me, Nine-Tails!”

A legendary graduate student of the Sacred Academy.

Chloe Robellia, as if relishing the feeling of being freed from her professors, was hopping from rooftop to rooftop.

Tap-! Tap-! Tap-!

“Now, then, today…”

Softly-

Landing lightly on a tree, Chloe looked up at the mansion surrounded by high walls.

How did one distinguish between a phantom thief and an ordinary thief?

From the perspective of the person being robbed, they might seem the same, but at least for Chloe, the presence of ‘aesthetics’ made the difference.

Never doing anything that went against one’s ‘aesthetics’ no matter what happened.

This difference allowed her to exist as a phantom thief, not as a third-rate burglar.

“Lady Elise, please grant me permission to be a righteous phantom thief again today.”

Tap-tap!

After finishing her prayer as always before starting her work, Chloe leaped up the vertical wall and swiftly arrived at the top floor of the mansion.

Click─

As soon as Chloe touched the keyhole, the locked door opened.

She slipped into the ‘Marigold’ mansion like a shadow.

“Now, where might the treasure vault be? Judging by the age and structure of the house, it should be somewhere under the central stairs, I guess?”

While not on the level of the Three Primary Colors families, the ‘Marigold’ family could certainly be considered high nobility.

Naturally, there were quite a few servants still working even in the dead of night.

However…

Chloe did not hide or evade.

Swish- Swoosh-

Just by slightly twisting her body or bending over, Chloe could walk the corridors alongside the servants.

From a distance, it might seem unnatural not to notice Chloe passing right beside them, but for Chloe, this was natural.

[Night Walk of the Fox]

One of the secret techniques created by the first Nine-Tails, it was a skill that suppressed one’s presence to an extreme through a special breathing technique, allowing one to exploit the ‘blind spot of perception.’

‘That was grandmother’s technique.’

If the first Nine-Tails’ Night Walk of the Fox was about recognizing blind spots of perception…

The third Nine-Tails, Chloe, had developed it further.

Tuk-tuk-

“Hmm…?”

Sashashak—!

Even when there were no ‘blind spots of perception,’ she could create them by causing fluctuations in the area of perception!

Of course, the technique was risky to use against professionally trained guards since it could raise suspicions, but…

Softly- Softly-

Against ordinary servants like now, it could be used as casually as taking a stroll.

“Hmm… This way, perhaps?”

Following her accumulated experience and intuition, Chloe moved towards where she thought the treasure vault might be.

“Bingo!”

Soon after, she found a vault located at the end of what appeared to be an ordinary underground corridor.

Swoosh—

When Chloe put on the monocle that allowed her to see the flow of magical energy, she could see spider webs filling the corridor.

‘Heh… The moment I touch that, the whole mansion will be on alert.’

In fact, for safety, she should dismantle each thread of magic one by one, but…

“Shall we go then?”

Tap! Tap-tap! Tap!

After doing a light stretch, Chloe, with her agile body, sometimes bending backwards almost vertically, sometimes stretching her legs straight, maneuvered through the gaps and arrived in front of the vault.

Click- Click-

“Hehe… This much is simple. Now, let’s see what’s inside.”

The dial on the vault moved several times following the tip of Chloe’s finger…

Click-!

The securely locked vault opened.

“Wow!… The Staff of Rabbit Knight was here?”

As expected of the ‘Marigold’ family… or should it be called a branch of the ‘Yellowpansy’?

Though it couldn’t compare to the Three Primary Colors families, it was filled with valuable treasures.

Honestly, she felt like taking one, but…

Unfortunately, that would go against the aesthetics of Nine-Tails.

Stealing only items commensurate with the level of the crime.

This was the aesthetic of Nine-Tails.

Therefore, while she would sweep the vaults of corrupt nobles clean, she couldn’t even take a single gold coin from the Marigold family.

Because the Marigold family had not accumulated any ‘corruption’ no matter how hard one looked.

So why did Nine-Tails visit such an estate where there was nothing to steal?

Chloe had opened this treasure vault merely for ‘hobby’ and to ‘prove’ her abilities.

Simply put, it was like saying, ‘I opened this treasure vault! I can command treasures!’

“I should take a picture for evidence too.”

And above all, the sweet attention from the gallery was delightful.

At first, the gallery treated her as a ‘Nine-Tails’ impersonator, but after uploading a few selfies from inside vaults, they began to acknowledge her as the real deal.

[Posted by: ㅇㅇ(39.919)

[Today's vault, shall we guess?][0]

(A roughly mosaicked picture of the vault.jpg)

The hint is four letters~

Photos like this were for gallery certification, but there was another for real-world certification.

“Then, shall I leave my card and head back?”

The card symbolizing Nine-Tails with the number 9 and the mark of the third generation, two ears, was her signature.

[^9^]

“Hmm… Where should I leave this?… Hmm?”

While looking for a suitable spot, Chloe’s eyes caught sight of a suspicious item.

An old box that didn’t seem to fit in a treasure vault.

Of course, there could be items of immense value hidden in such an old box, but she could swear on her grandmother’s honor that wasn’t the case here.

“Was it misplaced?”

However, in such a well-managed place, it was more logical to think that it was intentionally placed there.

“Hmm… Is this a trap?”

Despite knowing the danger, not checking would be uncharacteristic of a phantom thief.

Swoosh─

Simulating escape routes to counter any potential traps, Chloe carefully opened the box.

“Huh?”

Contrary to her worries, the box was not booby-trapped.

The box itself was truly of no value, and the contents inside were no different.

However…

“Pfft!!..Ahaha!…Hahahaha! They put this… in the treasure vault? Ahahahaha!”

Chloe burst into laughter upon seeing the contents of the box.

“Ha…Haah…Really…Did I laugh too much…My stomach hurts…Haah…It’s cute, really.”

According to her aesthetics, Chloe shouldn’t take even a single gold coin from the ‘Marigold’ family, but…

‘Wouldn’t this be okay?’

Objectively, it was an item of no value.

Moreover, judging by its placement in the corner, the person who left it there probably forgot all about it.

“Yeah, this can be a souvenir…Hehe..”

Folding the item neatly and placing it in her pocket, Chloe vanished into the darkness.

The news that Nine-Tails had invaded the Marigold family’s treasure vault caused an uproar in the household. Upon hearing this, Evelyn’s reaction was merely ‘surprising’ since she knew there were quite a few security measures in place.

However, when she realized during the vault inspection that ‘it’ had been taken by Nine-Tails, Evelyn’s hand moved faster than her mind to post a comment.

ㄴChildhoodFriendAssault■ : No, you fucking crazy bitch, out of all the places to rob, why the Marigold family?

ㄴㅇㅇ(39.919) : Why are you so pissed? Are you related to the Marigold family? You were laughing your ass off with comments like 'lol burp~' before, now this is just ridiculous lol

“This!! Fucking!! Bitch!! Ass!! Damn!!!”

She was indeed related.

As the heir of the Marigold family, there was hardly anyone more connected than Evelyn.

However, she couldn’t reveal her identity.

-I want to fucking assault my childhood friend.

If by any chance her identity was revealed and Ian heard about the posts she made as ‘ChildhoodFriendAssault■’…

…then she would have to kill Ian and then herself.

But since the fire of anger had already been lit, trying to deny her connection would only raise suspicions.

“Fuck… Since it’s come to this, I’ll go straight at it.”

ㄴChildhoodFriendAssault■ : Yeah, I'm related you fucking bitch. I live in the Marigold territory, where the lord treats us so well, and you go and rob his vault, you fucking whore?

It was like putting gold on her own face, but excessive anger could numb one’s sense of shame.

ㄴㅇㅇ(39.919) : No, but why are you so mad? Nine-Tails didn't take any 'treasures' from the Marigold family

“Did not take?! I saw with my own eyes what she took!”

Bang-!!

Evelyn slammed her desk in anger.

Objectively, Nine-Tails wasn’t lying.

Indeed, none of the ‘treasures’ had gone missing.

But for Evelyn, something far more precious than any treasure in that vault had been stolen.

“Fu… fucking bitch… why did you take that…! Hicc…”

She couldn’t even ask for it back.

Only Evelyn knew in the world what Nine-Tails had stolen.

In the end, Evelyn’s anger with nowhere else to go, turned towards an innocent teddy bear.

Thud-! Thud! Thud!

“Ian, you fucking bastard! You piece of shit! Do you like the royal family that much? Huh?! Not even a single contact in a week!!”

He had promised to contact her whenever he had time, yet a week had passed without even one ‘crystal ball communication’.

Yes, Evelyn knew that the magical stones used for crystal ball communication were quite expensive.

But…

Where he went to was not just any place; it was the royal family!

Was it reasonable for a guy who went there as a guest to not contact her at all?

“Ian, you fucking prick! Bad bastard!! You’re really a shithead!! If you’re my childhood friend, shouldn’t you be here to comfort me right now?!”

Thud-! Thud-!

Just as Evelyn was venting her anger by beating up a teddy bear that somewhat resembled Ian…

-Knock knock

“Miss, you have a crystal ball communication from Lord Ian.”

“Ah!”

Upon hearing that she had received communication from Ian, Evelyn’s face lit up as if the anger from moments ago was a lie.

“No… No, damn him, trying to make do with just communication.”

She had waited long enough.

It would soon be three weeks since she last saw Ian’s face.

“Tell him I’m too sick to answer!!”

“…Pardon, Miss?”

“Tell Ian I’m dying from sickness!! Tell him if he doesn’t want to see me die, he should come quickly!!”