I became a heart-stealing thief in Azure Files

"Yes, that's right... Next is the 'announcement release' stage."

As for the text and design of the announcement letter, the four members of the game club don't need to worry about that; Amamiya can handle it himself.

But how to give it to Rion... that is indeed a problem.

"So... the next time I go to another world..."

Momoi's voice was unusually solemn, even carrying a low, menacing tone: "...Next time, we'll have to face..."

"The Dark Lord of the Seminar... 'Rion Tsukigami'..."

‘Gulu~’

The sound of swallowing saliva softly.

To be honest... the game club is just an ordinary club at Millennium Tech Academy... and its reputation is virtually unknown.

I doubt they even qualify to be noticed by the chairman of the Millennium Technology Academy...

But now the story has evolved to the point where we have no choice but to confront such a behemoth as an adversary...

The jump was too fast.

It's like the first chapter is about catching a runaway kitten, and then the next chapter tells you that you have to pick up your sword and kill the level 99 demon king in front of you...

Sensing the fear emanating from Momoi, Amamiya smiled and tilted her head, glancing at Momoi, whose calves seemed to be trembling slightly, indicating that she was already considering retreating.

After a few seconds of pause, he asked with a teasing smile, "Is Momoi scared?"

"If you're afraid, you don't have to participate in this 'Black Demon King Annihilation Battle.'"

【~??~】

Momoi immediately raised her head, temporarily dispelling her unease, and met Amamiya's gaze with slightly trembling eyes.

"Although I'm a little scared... I, Momoi, will not admit defeat... Not being able to witness the 'Demon King being defeated' would be the biggest regret of my life!"

After a few seconds of eye contact, Momoi's already slightly trembling pink eyes became even more flustered.

The girl lowered her head slightly as if fleeing, avoiding Amamiya's calm gaze, while trying to find a topic to divert attention.

"Speaking of which... I haven't heard Yuzu say much... Yuzu?"

Yuzu, standing next to Amamiya, remained silent, only shifting her feet slightly and making a soft sound to indicate that she had been listening attentively the whole time and had not been distracted or thinking about anything else.

"..."

A little embarrassed that she hadn't managed to distract everyone, Momoi could only shrug her slightly heaving chest and make a guilty 'promise': "We even survived something like saving Alice... I'll do my best to shine in the upcoming 'Demon King Extermination Battle'!"

"okay……"

Amamiya found it slightly amusing, shook his head, and stopped teasing these clowns.

"Everyone, prepare for battle... I will release the 'announcement'."

"As for the record of 'releasing the teaser letter'... I'll temporarily install a pinhole camera on myself later, and maybe I can record it and show it to you as game material—"

"Well then, that's all for today. Everyone, get some rest and we'll talk again next time."

Amamiya finally came to Alice again. With an expression of enjoyment, satisfaction, and happiness on the AI ​​girl's face, he lifted her up under her armpits and hugged her in an intimate way, like an older brother hugging a younger sister, and spun her around.

"Alice, you should also rest well and conserve your energy. You can't just do things that even 'heroes' would disdain."

Alice, whose head was being patted, felt a slight sense of weightlessness, as if the world was spinning, followed by a mixture of tenderness and other emotions that she didn't yet understand but loved, emanating from the words and physical contact.

Once placed on the ground, her first instinct was to tiptoe as much as possible, wanting to get closer and closer to this 'source of gentleness'...

【~???~】

"Alice will be obedient!"

Amamiya straightened up, formally waved goodbye to the four members of the game club.

After saying goodbye to the four members of the game club, on his way back to Xia Lai, Amamiya watched the sunset as the high-speed train sped past, and one thought kept echoing in his mind.

'Next, all that's left is the release of the announcement letter…'

What is the most appropriate way to approach them and send a message in advance...?

A building that's been blacked out for a thousand years?

No, no, no… even Beritas, who dares to take on anything, couldn't handle this kind of demanding job…

While it's certainly possible that he'd accept the offer, Amamiya doesn't want those genius geeks to suffer 'retribution' later because of him.

Or... should we send the notice to Rion's desk through the maid club?

Speaking of which... Rion hasn't been 'touching' the maid club, has she?

So... directly locate Rion herself, find Elido in the real world, and try every means to deliver the notice to her?

That's a feasible solution, but...

Speaking of which, it seems that Himari and Rion have some kind of connection... at least they seem to be able to contact each other.

Why not ask Himeko to contact Rion and then send out the notice?

As Amamiya rested her head on her arm and gazed at the sunset outside the window, a variety of thoughts raced through her mind.

—Let's think about the wording of the announcement first.

After hesitating for a moment, Amamiya reached into her shoulder bag and took out a small black and red announcement card.

A cluster of invisible, ghostly blue flames rose directly from his fingertips and began to shape characters on them in a writing-like manner.

"The seminar president who committed the grave sin of vanity"

"Ms. Tsukigami Rion"

"You embezzled funds and kept henchmen..."

"We are already aware of his dictatorial behavior."

We demand that you stop doing what you consider "right".

"The funds you embezzled, and your desires."

"Give it all to us."

"Respectfully submitted by the Phantom Thieves of Hearts"

'That should work...'

Looking at the small black and red card that had been shaped in her hand, Amamiya let out a soft breath and then began to think about how to deliver it to the person in question through normal means so that the person could see it.

The high-speed train began to slow down and sound its horn as it approached the station. At the same time, Amamiya heard the train's announcement that "The Federation Student Council has arrived."

After casually stuffing the small card back into his jacket pocket, Amamiya got off the bus along with several other Federation Student Association students who were also getting off there.

After exiting the platform, Amamiya was planning to head straight for Shirai...

But just then, the figure of a maid with long golden hair suddenly flashed before his eyes.

"Hello, nice to meet you, Sensei from Xia Lai."

After his gaze met the girl's in the crowd, Amamiya watched as she lightly leaped across several meters and landed right in front of him.

"I am Asuka Matoki."

After bowing and lifting her skirt in a gesture of courtesy, Amamiya heard her continue, "My master—the president of the millennium symposium, Rion Tsutsuki."

"She wants to see you."

"So...can you come with me?"

Chapter Twenty-Nine: Rion, let's have a [deep and simple] discussion?

With blonde hair and blue eyes, the maid's hair accessories and dress were a perfect and conservative blue and white; the black as the main color and her relatively tall figure, which was between maturity and immaturity, gave the girl a touch of the unique coolness and purity of a young girl.

However... Amamiya noticed a slight sense of 'incongruity' about her.

This sense of incongruity... did not stem from the girl's delicate yet lifeless face.

It wasn't from the fact that despite being dressed as a maid, she lacked the gentle demeanor typical of a maid; instead, she was as cold and aloof as a special agent who could pull out various grenades or other combat weapons from under her skirt at any moment...

It was a kind of... somewhat indescribable feeling, somewhere between her personal temperament and aura, and the sense of incongruity and conflict that she herself displayed.

how to say……

To describe it, it's like... a person with very elegant speech making violent gestures that are completely inconsistent with their manner of speaking.

The subtle sense of incongruity even evokes a slight fear.

Seeing that Amamiya had no reaction, the girl took a small half step forward and stood on tiptoe to look at Amamiya as closely as possible—almost pressing her calm, undisturbed, and emotionless beautiful face against Amamiya's chest.

There wasn't any obvious change in expression, but it clearly conveyed a clear message: "Please answer."

Amamiya resisted the urge to pinch that face that looked inexplicably irritating, and instead stared at it at close range.

"..."

After staring at each other for a few seconds, Amamiya shook her head slightly with a sigh, "Even though she used the polite word 'please,' she didn't leave anyone any room to refuse..."

So, does that mean you "agree"?

The girl tilted her head slightly, seemingly not paying any attention to Amamiya's sentiments, but calmly questioning Amamiya's reaction.

'This maid is so unprofessional...'

Amamiya felt slightly embarrassed, thinking to herself that her behavior was somewhat different from that of the other four members of the maid club, including Nero, whom she had encountered.

Compared to Nero, Karin, Asuna, and Akane, who are all reasonably comprehensible 'common-sense people', this 'fifth maid' in front of them seems a bit off-track...

"...I guess that counts as agreement."

Amamiya reluctantly pressed his hand down in response.

In his annotations using his "third eye," the girl's information is as follows:

[Assistant: Asuka Matoki / The Secret Outcast Maid]

[Arcana: The Emperor (.The Empor)]

[Assistance Relationship: Not Unlocked]

'The emperor is the one with the assistant relationship… then I understand somewhat.'

The moment Amamiya saw the Arcana above the girl's head, he felt relieved.

—So it turns out he's the holder of the [Emperor] card, which explains his unusual 'unconventional negotiation rhythm'.

But speaking of which... its title is 'The Hidden Outcast'...?

The secrecy refers to her trait of not knowing about the 'maid club' group before and having very little contact with the four members.

As for the oddball… based on the other maids, Amamiya could roughly confirm… this child was probably the kind who, “dressed like a maid,” “couldn’t do any of the things maids do at all”…

A special anomaly.

He had seen this kind of strange maid before in Akihabara—she worked at a maid cafe, but she was so clumsy that she couldn't even draw a simple omelet with ketchup.

"Then... please follow me."

She looked up seriously, her gaze lingering on Amamiya for a few seconds, as if further confirming Amamiya's intentions, before turning around and leading the way.

However, what Amamiya didn't expect was that... she actually 'led' her back to Xia Lai's office building.

Amamiya was speechless.

Since Rion wants to see me, why don't you just wait downstairs at the station instead of lingering at the station?

Speechless as he was, thinking of Shi's 'seniors' and knowing that he would need to maintain good relationships with them in the future, Amamiya didn't say much and silently followed behind Shi to the bottom of the Xia Lai office building.

At the certification office downstairs in the office building, Amamiya met the 'Chairman of the Seminar (Student Council President of Millennium Technology Academy)'.

In the twilight of late autumn, as the sun sets, a young girl, gazing absently at the distant sunset, raises her eyes slightly. Her white turtleneck sweater, contrasting sharply with her black outfit, is bathed in the warm glow of the setting sun.

Mature and beautiful, with an elegant figure and a commanding presence that belies her superior status.

As for her profile in the sunset, the only way to describe it is with the phrase "skin as smooth as jade".