"And who exactly are you, dear?" the countess demanded.
"I am the daughter of Count Von Schmucker!"
The countess narrowed her eyes.
"Strange. I've never seen you at any ball."
Robert narrowed his eyes also.
"Maybe you only attend the… lower-class ones?"
"Are you sure it's not the other way around?" The countess replies coldly.
The temperature dropped.
Snob war initiated.
The jeweler sweating buckets.
While the two "noble ladies" began exchanging elegant venom from behind their fans—
Sister Catherine moved.
Silently.
Calmly.
With expert nun-level stealth.
One by one, the items Robert had "purchased" slid off the counter.
Every single glittering piece vanished smoothly into the subspace bag hidden beneath her cloak—courtesy of the Misfit Party's equipment department.
Exactly sixty seconds later, Sister Catherine gently approached Robert.
"Ehm, my lady," she whispered politely, "you are expected for lunch with the count."
Robert sniffed.
"Hmph. Very well. My shopping mood is ruined anyway."
"Y-Young lady, what about your pur—" the jeweler started.
"I shall return tomorrow," Robert said coldly.
"Hopefully without such inconveniences."
He shot a final glare at the Countess.
The Countess returned it with equal aristocratic glare.
Then Robert turned sharply and walked out, Sister Catherine following behind.
The moment the door closed behind them—
Their elegant noble walk instantly transformed into a rapid speed-walk.
One second later—
"THIIIIIIEEEFFFFF!!"
The jeweler's scream detonated across the town square.
Few kilometers away, Ivy watched everything through her hovering drone feed.
"Team Two, Team One is heading your way," she said calmly through the comms. "Standby."
From her control station, Ivy casually dropped a decoy jewelry piece from the drone in the opposite direction of Robert's escape route.
Right on cue.
In a nearby alley, Team Two—a group of children waiting patiently—sprang into action.
Clothes changed at lightning speed.
Sister Catherine removed the maid outfit and slipped back into her proper nun attire.
Robert's wig came off.
Then the dress.
Then the makeup.
Within seconds, the elegant noble girl disappeared. In her place stood an annoyingly smug teenage boy.
The disguise bundle vanished into another bag.
The team split into two separate escape groups.
"Charlie Team has the goods and is exfiltrating," Ivy confirmed.
The operation concluded with textbook precision.
The heist—difficulty rating: Expert—Also flawless.
---
Command Post
Irving monitored several screens at once.
His eyes moved sharply from feed to feed while his fingers tapped the console in a steady rhythm.
Every team was moving.
Every signal was clean.
Not a single town guard showed even the slightest hint of suspicion.
Brightfield feed.
Fairview feed.
Rockdale feed.
Everything was unfolding exactly according to plan.
"Copy, Charlie. Keep an eye out until they're all clear," Irving said calmly into the comm.
On the outside, the demon captain maintained the composed expression of a disciplined military officer.
He held it for precisely six seconds.
Then—
"Kukukuku…"
The corner of his mouth began to twitch.
Then the grin spread wider.
"YEAAAAAAAAAAAH! HAHAHAHAHA!"
The entire command tent rattled with his victorious laughter.
---
Brightfield Town — Exfil
Back in Brightfield, the butcher pounded frantically on the healer's clinic door.
"OPEN UP! SOMEONE HELP THIS CHILD!"
His fist slammed against the wood again and again.
The building remained completely silent. No response.
Meanwhile, a few steps behind him—
The "injured" girl quietly sat up.
She brushed dust off her clothes, stood, and stretched her arms like someone waking up from a short nap.
Her partner casually walked up beside her.
Neither said a word.
They simply turned and walked away together down the street.
"Bravo, remember—exit the town through separate gates." Bella's voice came through the comms in their earpieces. "And do NOT go straight home."
Behind them, the butcher was still hammering the clinic door.
"HELLO!? HEALER!?"
---
Fairview Town — Exfil
In Fairview, the siphoning crew finished their work. The hose was rolled up neatly and the barrels were resealed.
The kids scattered from the cellar like nothing had ever happened.
One of them slipped behind the tavern counter and gave a silent thumbs-up toward Kovalski.
Mission complete.
Kovalski sniffled dramatically.
"Master… thank you," he whispered to the tavern owner, voice trembling with emotion.
"You're done already?" the owner asked, surprised. "Most men need a few more mugs to get over heartbreak."
Kovalski shook his head slowly.
"I can't. My children need me." He wiped his eyes and straightened his back. "And like you said… there are plenty of fish in the lake."
The tavern owner nodded wisely.
"I just have to find the right one," Kovalski continued, voice quivering with determination.
"For me!"
A dramatic pause.
"And for my children!"
The tavern owner's heart shattered instantly. He grabbed Kovalski and pulled him into a tight, brotherly hug.
"Go," he said softly. "Be strong."
Kovalski nodded solemnly.
Then he walked out the tavern door.
The moment he stepped outside and the door closed behind him—
His entire posture changed.
Professional.
Calm.
Efficient.
He tapped his earpiece.
"Command, Alpha Team exfiltrating."
---
Rockdale Town — Exfil
Ivy watched the drone feed while leaning comfortably in her chair.
A wide grin never left her face.
On the screen, Team Charlie was already blending into the afternoon crowd.
Sister Catherine's group calmly turned down a side street and disappeared from view.
Robert's team had vanished completely.
"Command, all Charlie sub-teams clear," Ivy reported.
---
Command Center
Irving watched the screens carefully as the children left their respective towns one by one.
Only when the very last child crossed the town boundary did Irving finally lean back in his chair.
"Alright," he said into the comms. "Everyone regroup at home base after sundown."
"Roger," Ivy replied.
"Roger," Kovalski echoed.
"Roger roger," Bella added for absolutely no operational reason.
Irving exhaled slowly in victory.
Another mission complete.
Zero casualties.
Three towns quietly cleaned out.
And nobody suspected a thing.
Not even for a moment.
The only thing left behind in those towns were—
Confusion.
Broken hearts.
And a handful of adults wondering if they had just experienced the saddest, cutest, strangest day of their entire lives.
Irving leaned back and let out a satisfied sigh.
He had raised those kids well.
---
Forest Orphanage
Night settled gently over the forest orphanage, wrapping the wooden building in a blanket of quiet warmth. Firelight flickered through the windows, and laughter spilled from the open door. After an entire day of chaos, the misfit party had finally reconvened inside the orphanage.
And they were in dangerously high spirits.
Irving raised his mug with a grin so wide it nearly split his face.
"HAHAHAHAHA! That—" he slammed the mug down, making the table shake, "—was the smoothest operation I've had in my entire career!"
"AGREED!" Kovalski, Bella, and Ivy chimed in together, their mugs clattering triumphantly against each other.
Kovalski took a long drink and leaned back with a satisfied sigh.
"Anyway… where are the kids? It's been an hour since sundown."
Ivy waved the concern away with a loose flick of her wrist.
"Maybe they wanted to double-check their tracks, make sure no pursuers followed them. They can be very diligent, you know."
"Well, this is their home after all." Irving nodded thoughtfully. "Even if they're rough around the edges, they won't risk leading anyone back here."
He lifted his mug again with approval.
"Smart kids."
"Ugh, I'm hungry," Bella groaned, rubbing her stomach. "I can't wait to eat some of the fresh meat we scored today. I'll go check the storage and see if there's something we can snack on while waiting."
She stood up and wandered off toward the back rooms.
Moments later, Irving's ears twitched.
"Oh—" he smiled. "I hear their footsteps."
He tilted his head slightly toward the forest.
"They're not far."
Sure enough, faint flickers of torchlight began dancing between the trees outside.
"Ah! Finally!" Ivy cheered, clapping her hands together. "Our prizes are back!"
"I can already taste the booze," Kovalski added, practically salivating.
The group leaned forward in anticipation.
Then Bella returned.
Not carrying food.
Instead, she was holding a folded piece of paper.
"Uh… guys?" she said slowly, tilting her head. "I found this letter."
"What letter?" Ivy asked.
Bella unfolded it and squinted at the handwriting.
"Let me read… 'Dear Bella, Kovalski, Irving, and most beloved, Ivy…'"
She paused.
"Oh. This is definitely Robert."
Bella cleared her throat and continued reading aloud.
"This past week has been a wonderful time for me and everyone else at the orphanage. You have all taught us many valuable lessons. But the most important one is, you reveal to us that this is a harsh world we lived in."
The Misfit Party hummed approvingly.
Bella continued.
"Sister Catherine and I realized that what we've been doing—keeping the children hidden in a secluded forest—was wrong. They won't learn anything about this vast world if we coddle them."
Irving nodded slowly, taking a sip from his mug like a proud instructor.
"So we have decided to move out of the forest and live in a settlement. There, we can use our new skills and give the children better opportunities. They must learn to survive."
Kovalski scratched his cheek.
"That's… surprisingly mature?"
Bella kept reading.
"Oh, speaking of opportunity—we always remember your teaching that we shouldn't let any opportunity slip by."
Except for Bella, everyone's expression slowly darkened.
A terrible realization began creeping across the table.
Bella continued reading.
"So I told Sister Catherine that the 'donations' we got today should be used as our starting funds on our next journey."
"GAAAASP!!!"
—the trio gasped in perfect unison.