Harassing Thief Girl Chapter 128

Time to Play

This was the council room for the Warren Council. Inside were Duke Marsfield, Sir Chaffee, Lord Leopold, Former Lord Ferdinand, the Council Chairman Maria, and the a.s.sociate member of the council Ellis.
Today's agenda was an information exchange about the current situation for the Almerian continent and the effect that the five dragons in Warren was having. Ellis was called in on behalf of all the Dragon Maidens.

“In fact, we have been able to confirm several reports about monster attacks that seem to be linked to some demonic power.”

Duke Marsfield continued. The largest attack by far was the ma.s.sive invasion in Warren. There were still a number of unanswered questions there. Then there was the covenant between the previous Lord of Wheat Grace and the demon that was exposed by the Hero.

“In fact, we've already confirmed the hiding place of some demons and monsters in Marsfield.”

According to the Duke, this was the current extent to demon infiltration in large cities, but there have been sporadic attacks and raids done by demons in the surrounding rural areas, fishing villages, and post towns. Especially in the south there were cases where all the residents in entire villages would be taken.
Ellis remembered Ken and Shin, but if she were to bring up their pasts here, they'd probably end up punished for them. Maria shared a look with Ellis at the same time, clearly thinking about the same thing.

“That's why, the capitol decided to use one of the achievements from Wisdom here.”

When the duke made a signal, some of his men entered carrying what appeared to be a stuffed bear toy.

“This is the ‘Howling Plush Toy', and if I remember right, it should be able to transfer the sound around one toy to another over extremely large distances. However the drawback is that communication can only be done one on one through this. That's why a plush toy will be put inside each city to be used in case of an emergency.”

Until now, even if you were able to send out a message, it would take two or three days for reinforcements to arrive from another city. It would be meaningless if there was a sudden attack from demons. But now there was the Hero who could move between cities in an instant. In addition there were two dragons in Warren that had the ability to fly. This tool would prove to be very effective from now on against any sudden invasions.

“But I have to ask, why are they plush toys?”

After Maria asked, the Duke responded while looking over at Ellis.

“It's apparently the hobby of the development team's leader. She so happens to be the mother of one of the Dragon Maidens.”
“Izerina!”
“That's right. Thanks to the achievements that her and Ares have been able to accrue in the world of magic, the couple has already gained the right to freely go wherever they want on the continent.”

‘I see, I'll have to go tell Claire right away,' was what Ellis was happily thinking to herself.

The pair of plush toys were distributed with one pair going from Wheat Grace to Warren, and the second pair leading from Warren to Marsfield. Leopold would be in charge of his plush toy in Wheat Grace while the duty of overseeing the two in Warren would fall to Maria.

“Things will start to get busy from now on.”

Sitting between two sighing dragons, Ellis was the only one who was laughing.

And after a long time, this is the Demon Lord's Castle.

“Hey, Berunal”
“………”
“Hey, Berunal”
“………”
“I wonder what could cure this bad mood.”
“……… Perhaps a Demon Lord who isn't useless that could be there just in time to fix the situation.”

Berunal had arrived at the entrance to Master's Hideaway, but the woman at the reception desk refused to let her in and threw her out. Afterwards she came up with a good solution. She would just have the Demon Lord accompany her inside. So she immediately headed over to Dundee's Shangri-La and sent out a message asking for a.s.sistance. However the Demon Lord never came out. For two hours Berunal was left waiting in front of the storefront to paradise, getting more frustrated as time went on. Seeing the Demon Lord's satisfied expression when he finally came out after two hours just made it worse. And then there was the happy-looking woman who came out with him. The last straw was when it became clear that the Demon Lord had completely forgotten about her and returned to the castle alone. That was why Berunal was so angry right now.
The upset Berunal had already hit eight demon executives and urged them to hurry up and find those missing claws. That was the reason why the demon army had become so active in their plundering lately.

“Yosh, I just came up with a good idea.”
“………”
“Berunal, how about we go to Warren today?”
“………”
“I haven't made any reservations today, so I can just quietly sit back.”
“………If you're going to say that, then I guess there is no other way. Let me go pick out an outfit.”

Despite her calm and uncaring words, Berunal returned to her room with a skip to her step. It seems that when changing between male and female, the brain isn't completely reconstructed, meaning that she had lost her usual cool demeanor.

“Could you step on me like that?”

And the Demon Lord's soliloquy echoed for no one to hear.

The stage returns to Warren once again.
The inspection party would end up staying another night. It seems that last night all of the men stubbornly argued over how to spend their remaining time with no consensus ever being met. Those on Duke Marsfield's side all wanted to go feel good at Dundee's Shangri-La while those behind Former Lord Ferdinand all wanted to try their hand at gambling inside Master's Hideaway, so it was decided that they would extend their visit one day. In the shadows, there were also a few guards who wanted to check out Revitalizing Home and Mercury Bar after hearing the rumors.
By the way, the more serious Leopold and Lux couple went home with Frau giving them a ride back to Wheat Grace. And so,

Team Tuna: Duke Marsfield, the accompanying Citadel City Guild Masters, and escorts.
Team Duck: Ferdinand, Lord Chaffee, and escorts.

The men were cleanly split into two separate groups. Although it seems like Sir Chaffee would be visiting Warren again sometime in the future, this time without his family. Team Tuna would be left to Maria's guidance while Ellis would be left to take care of Team Duck along with the women and children.

“So, what should we do?”

Ellis was quick to dump Team Duck into Reeve's capable hands however. So then all that was left was to figure out what to do with the remaining Mebett, Bizon, and Hymel.
That was when Katie and a humanoid Ah-nyan started a small story in front of their three guests.

“Hey, Katie, do you know something weird?”
“Nyan has two different ways to be spelled nya?”
“Yes, no, girls have father complexes.”
“Girls have father complexes nya.”
“But boys have mother complexes.”
“Why's it like that?”
“Because they love b.r.e.a.s.t.s!”
“Nyahahahaha!”¹

Bizon and Frau both burst out laughing here. Mebett and Hymel meanwhile took a step back while Ellis and Claire were filled with a mixture of shame and anger.

“Enough with the Nyahaha funny stuff! Claire, Mebett, Hymel, we're going to the Workshop Guild and playing with Mogemoge-kun!”

Looking furious, Claire and Ellis brought Mebett and Hymel to the Workshop Guild while Katie and Frau took Bizon to the live house.
Katie's group managed to arrive at the live house just in time to see a Pine Bamboo show. Ellis's group meanwhile started a battle royal match with four palm-sized Mogemoge-kun's that Claire had built for testing purposes. The fights actually developed into something pretty interesting, and guild members placed bets on the fights as they watched during their lunch breaks. The rules were simple. They fought each other on top of a cloth stretched out over an upside-down tub. You lose if your Mogemoge-kun tips over or falls off the tub. It is an active game of strategy with irregular movements because of its eight legs, and the way the body moves is unexpectedly important.
Originally Mogemoge-kun operated with a ring through the user's consciousness, but it was proved difficult focusing on the ring to drive the machine while also paying attention to your surroundings. That's why Claire turned the controller into a box with two rods that allow you to move it back and forth or side to side. All the operator has to do now is focus their mana into the box, and they can move Mogemoge-kun while also having the leeway to watch where they're going. These four mini-Mogemoge-kun's were the prototypes for this new operating system.

The youngsters inside the Workshop Guild couldn't play for long because they'd use up their mana pretty quickly. Mebett and Hymel on the other hand had been given Spirit rings by Ellis. Since these two have absolutely no idea how golems move, it's natural that they don't think that somethings off here with the rings they've been given however. And with Ellis here they're mana will never run out, and they can play for as long as they want.

“Yosh, then next will be a team battle! First will be Hymel and me against Claire and Mebett!”
“I want Ellis! Today I'll make you eat my attack!”

Thus, while Ellis, Claire, Mebett, and Hymel played with their little robots like a bunch of boys on a playground, the adults around them were gambling their money away on the game's results.
Ah, sorry, Hymel really is a boy.

1. I worked on this dialogue for at least an hour. It was awful, trying to find out what the punchline here was. Then I finally realized, there isn't one. The punchline is that little boys like b.r.e.a.s.t.s, and there was no wordplay or double meaning like what I was looking for. It never pays to overthink things folks, and you'll always hate yourself when you do.