Prologue

It happened on the night of the fireworks festival. The festival that I was supposed to go to with that person.

After I failed to fulfill my promise with that person, when I was dragging myself home with depressed steps——

——I came across the mansion of the corrupt nobles known as Undine.

At the outskirts of the mansion, I spotted a pair of strange looking people.

When I saw that mask that one of them wore, I felt my heart skip a beat.

What is this? Was I always such a simple girl?

I should be someone that isn’t swayed so easily by appearances, but…

I gathered my resolve, and approached the two of them.

“—U-, Um… Could it be? Could you guys be the duo from the Silver-Haired Thieving group?”

The two of them jumped in surprise at the voice from behind them.

With great passion and a shrill, excited voice, I introduced myself.

I proceeded to ask the two — who showed forced, twitching smiles — something I had been curious about for a while now.

“Did you two infiltrate the royal castle in order to protect the princess—sama from the dangerous divine instrument!?”

In response to my question——

“Ah-, Yes. Our calling is as chivalrous thieves, and we are the ally of the masses. Even if it is the princess, we will not turn our eyes from a young girl exposed to danger. If there is a crisis that beckons us, it makes no difference whether it is a noble’s mansion or a royal castle, we will infiltrate it. That is the mission of the Masked Thieving Group”

There were some small differences, but this person valiantly declared her intentions nonetheless.

“Megumin was it? Actually, we’re going to steal a certain thing from the mansion while the occupants are asleep. It is something that is necessary for the future of humanity. Though thieving is not praiseworthy behavior, but for us, this is something that we must do, even if a bounty is put on our heads.”

I could feel his spirit being hidden within.

For some reason, I feel a sense of dejavu when I look into his one unconcealed eye.

I averted my gaze from his eyes, and continued to listen to them.

“From here, we will infiltrate this mansion, and steal something that will be an important trump-card to use against the demon king army. We wouldn’t stop you from spreading this information…, but I would like your trust, this is for the sake of humanity after all.”

Basically, the two of them – despite the large bounties on their lives – were working hard for the sake of the world. In order to defeat the demon king army, they made all of humanity their enemies, and faithfully continued their activities.

Without a care for what they had done; Without a care for what they were about to do—

As if they had been best friends for the longest time, they shared a cheerful atmosphere.

Seeing their moods, my chest began to ache for some reason.

Then, I bid the two of them farewell.

As if I had left my heart behind, I looked back a countless number of times, and pretended to leave.

That day—

As the sole person that bore witness to their efforts, I resolved to help them from the shadows——