I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 129

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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Episode 129: You’ve All Gone Mad

She stood in the Dining Hall with a tray of food, her sun-bright hair and striking figure on full display as always.

The portion was considerable, and when Krash stared at it openly, she faltered for a moment before slyly turning the tray away.

“…I’m just eating a bit more today, that’s all.”
“I didn’t say anything.”

Krash, who knew well enough how much she typically ate, didn’t press the matter.

Astria had never been the type to gain weight, no matter how much she consumed.

‘Though honestly, I suspect all that nutrition is going somewhere else entirely.’

Best to keep that observation to himself—she’d only get mad.

“If you’re eating here, save me a seat.”
“Uh, huh?”
“Let’s sit together.”

At his words, Astria’s eyes widened slowly, then broke into a bright, unguarded smile.

The moment she realized she’d smiled, she stiffened and her face flushed crimson.

“D-do whatever you want.”

She turned her head away with a show of indifference and moved toward a table.

Every eye in the hall followed her as she walked, yet her gaze remained fixed only on Krash, barely glancing sideways at him.

So he ordered a modest set menu: soup, bread, meat, and vegetables, then made his way over to where she sat.

For some reason, the space around her table was empty.

‘Probably because there aren’t many 1st Year Students around.’

Most of the 2nd Year Students were barely adults.

Given Astria’s station, they likely found it too daunting to simply sit down nearby.

The 1st Year Students, for their part, had been through enough to have nerve—they might have seized the chance to speak with her again—but they weren’t here now.

As Krash sat down across from her, Astria lowered her eyes, focusing intently on her own plate.

‘She’s not usually this quiet.’

Right now, embarrassment seemed to have overwhelmed her.

“You healed me the other day. I’m grateful.”

So Krash decided to break the silence first.

At last she stiffened, then lifted her head to look at him.

“You’re always pushing your body too hard. One day you won’t be able to handle the consequences.”

Her first words were wrapped in concern.

He’d already owed Astria more than once before.

So she knew his condition well enough.

“I suppose.”
“Don’t suppose. If you keep this up, you’ll be dead before you’re thirty.”

She meant it.

Krash’s body was accumulating strain upon strain, eating away at his lifespan bit by bit.

He’d filled the gaps with one thing and another, but eventually the day would come when even that wouldn’t be enough.

“It’s fine. I’ve already thought it through.”
“That’s not fine at all.”

Astria’s eyebrows furrowed as if she were genuinely angry.

“Are you worried about me?”
“Of course I’m worried! What kind of question is that?”

Astria’s expression twisted into something petulant.

Looking at her like that, he kept seeing the version of her from long ago.

She had always worried just the same way.

Begging him to be gentler with his body.

“I really do have a plan, so don’t worry. Besides, thirty’s still ages away.”

The world was going to end before then anyway.

“You’re really something…….”

Astria looked like she had plenty more to say, but she exhaled slowly instead.

“Then promise me at least this.”
“Promise?”
“Promise me that if you’re hurt, no matter what happens, you’ll come to me. I can heal you no matter what state you’re in.”

If he was going to overexert himself anyway, she was saying, at least get properly healed in the end.

“That sounds like it only benefits me.”

If he could get healed, Krash would be grateful unconditionally.

So when Krash asked that, Astria stared directly at him.

“That’s why I’m saying it.”

Her eyes, bright as sunlight, met his.

Krash caught the deeper meaning behind her words, and he faltered for a moment.

She was saying that helping him was something good for her too.

The reason was simple.

She enjoyed helping those she had feelings for.

Astria’s face flushed deeper as she spoke her honest heart aloud.

“S-so make me a promise, at least.”
“I promise.”

It was a promise that cost Krash nothing.

So he agreed, and she broke into a brief, pleased smile before shame overwhelmed her and she lowered her gaze.

Her body had grown, but her heart remained tender in so many ways.

＊ ＊ ＊

After finishing his meal with Astria, Krash headed straight for the Martial Arts Training Ground.

He’d been cooped up in his room all day and meant to properly loosen his limbs.

It was precisely as Krash stepped toward the entrance of the Martial Arts Training Ground.

A familiar face emerged from the facility.

“Krash.”

Recognizing him, she brightened.

But her expression hardened quickly, and she seized his collar.

“Wait—don’t go in.”

It was Haring.

Seeing her suddenly block his entrance, Krash tilted his head.

“Why? What’s going on inside?”
“That’s…”

Haring seemed reluctant to say.

Seeing that, Krash instinctively gathered Aura to his ears.

Enhanced hearing brought the internal voices to him.

“So this space is ours to use. You all need to leave.”
“But th-that’s unfair. We’re students of Rahelern Academy too. And why just us?”
“You really don’t know why you’re asking that?”
“Ugh.”

It sounded like some kind of argument was happening.

Krash, grasping the situation, turned back to Haring.

“So the ones picking a fight right now—they’re those Empire Faction people who had it out for me before?”
“…Yeah.”

Haring answered reluctantly.

She looked up at Krash with eyes clouded by worry.

Without thinking much about it, Krash placed a hand on top of her head and turned his body toward the door.

“Then I should answer right away. Why wait?”

As if to prove Haring’s concern unnecessary, Krash yanked the door open roughly.

Bang!

The moment the training room door swung wide, every eye in the place turned toward him.

There were 1st Year Students from the Empire Faction and younger 2nd Year students in front of them.

The Martial Arts Training Ground was used by both 1st and 2nd Year Students alike, so it was only natural.

And Krash immediately grasped which faction the younger students belonged to.

‘Starlon.’

All of them were from the Starlon faction.

The 1st Year Students from the Empire Faction were needlessly harassing the 2nd Year Starlon students.

A quick glance around showed that students from the other kingdoms deliberately stayed out of it.

Better to watch than to stir up trouble with the Empire.

‘No Starlon 1st Year Students here.’

If they had been present, they would never have stood for this.

But all the Starlon 1st Year Students were currently absent.

Most of the Starlon 1st Year Students belonged to either Anyx’s or Charlotte’s squad.

Anyx was away on business with the Ssang-ah-dan members again.

And Charlotte’s Lion Squad was still out on a mission.

Of course there would be no Starlon 1st Year Students left behind.

And as it happened, the instructor was also absent.

Today was one of those afternoons when, after the morning regular training session, individual training time was given.

So there was no instructor either.

‘They were waiting for this moment.’

These bastards had deliberately chosen to harass the Starlon 2nd Year Students when the 1st Year Students weren’t around.

Because there was only one person in Rahelern Academy that the Starlon 2nd Year Students could depend on.

“Krash of Valheim.”
“He’s here.”
“This is about to get messy.”

Sure enough, the moment Krash appeared, every eye snapped toward him.

The Empire Faction thugs who’d been tormenting the Starlon 2nd Year Students broke into leering grins.

‘These aren’t Seirang’s people.’

The Empire was vast enough that it divided into numerous factions even within itself.

So naturally, the Empire Faction had splintered into multiple branches.

‘In this cycle, Seirang focused on gathering the Starry Generation.’

She’d invested more time in the Starry Generation than in consolidating the entire Empire Faction.

Which explained why these splinter groups had emerged within the Empire Faction itself.

Krash cracked his neck, rolling his shoulders loose.

The eyes of the Starlon 2nd Year Students fixed on him.

Fresh from adulthood, they’d entered Rahelern Academy with dreams of achievement.

Now, facing the Empire Faction’s overwhelming force, their faces had twisted into expressions hovering just short of tears.

He felt no particular sympathy.

Why would he? He had no fond memories of Starlon himself.

If he’d entered as a mixed-blood, these same fools would still be stabbing him in the back.

Now the situation had changed entirely—that wouldn’t happen. But that wasn’t the point.

He was no longer a mixed-blood.

For better or worse, he represented Starlon and held the top ranking in 2nd Year martial arts.

Touching Starlon’s 2nd Years was the same as disrespecting the ranking’s top seed—him.

If they bared their fangs at him, they had to be ready to get bitten back.

He decided to teach them that fact right now.

“You want to drive Starlon out.”

Krash spoke as if he’d already heard the whole story.

“Drive out, we just—”

One of them started to speak with that same leering smirk, but Krash was suddenly in front of him.

By the time the thug—too slow to follow Krash’s speed—frantically raised his arm, it was already too late.

Krash was already driving his front leg forward.

Crash!

The one who took the kick flew all the way to the end of the training ground, tumbling across the floor.

“Hack—cough—”

It was a considerable shock—he swallowed hard and wrapped his arms around himself.

“What the hell are you doing?”
“This bastard.”

The faces of the Empire Faction members flashed with fury in an instant.

They had meant to provoke Starlon to bring Krash down, but they never expected him to strike first with such reckless abandon.

Regardless, Krash simply grabbed the head of another man beside him.

The one whose head was seized tried to respond at once, but Krash was faster.

His leg was already driving upward, slamming into the man’s abdomen.

“Hack—!”

As the man who cried out bent forward, Krash drove his head straight down into the ground with a sickening crash.

Above the smoke rising from the impact, Krash lifted his foot without hesitation and brought it down hard against the back of the man’s skull.

Bang!

With the sound echoing across the space, blood began to seep from between the face of the man whose head Krash had stomped.

Yet Krash stared down at him coldly, then turned to regard the others around him.

Flinch—

Caught off guard by the brutality and the unhesitating cruelty of his actions, they froze for an instant.

Looking into Krash’s eyes, which had turned cold as ice, someone surfaced in their minds.

Charlotte Valheim.

Empire Faction or Four Kingdoms, small town or whatever—

Rahelern Academy’s most notorious madwoman, who would shatter anyone who offended her eyes, ensuring they would never again lift their head before her for the rest of their lives, regardless of their origin.

They felt it now—that Krash was that woman’s brother.

“What, did taking hits from Charlotte make you think you could do the same to me?”

The moment Krash flashed a mocking smile, their eyes changed.

And then they were rushing at him—

“Stop.”

With someone’s shout, the Empire Faction’s movement halted in an instant.

Krash turned his head, and there stood a man with ash-grey and black hair mixed together, wearing glasses.

And Krash knew who he was.

‘Right. It was this bastard.’

The other center of the fractured Empire Faction.

Pandra Augست

Even during his half-blood days, he was the one who kept getting tangled up in annoyances.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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