I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 139

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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 139. Do Whatever You Want

While Krash waited for Haring in front of the Female Dormitory.

The female students kept stealing glances at him as they passed.

It was only natural, given how much of a talked-about figure Krash had become.

Yet none of them dared approach.

There weren’t many who could casually strike up a conversation in front of the name Balheim.

“Krash?”

Unless, of course, they shared the same name.

Krash looked up at the sound of his name.

“Sister.”

Before him stood a woman with hair the same color as his own.

The Sword Saint, Charlotte Balheim.

She’d evidently just returned, her body still glistening faintly with sweat.

And despite it being spring, a faint heat radiated from her.

The Lion Unit had returned.

“Krash, sir!”

And beside her, for some reason, was Karandis.

The Ninth Princess of the Kingdom of Poseus.

Karandis Poseus.

Like Charlotte, her clothes clung to her with sweat, and her healthy complexion seemed to emit an unmistakable appeal.

The moment she caught sight of Krash, she broke into a radiant smile and waved her hand.

“Why are you two together?”

At the unexpected appearance, Krash tilted his head, and Charlotte glanced back over her shoulder.

“She was following along when we returned.”

Krash quickly pieced together the situation.

Karandis, who wanted to marry him.

She’d been part of the Lion Unit under Charlotte’s command on this mission.

So naturally, she must have followed Charlotte around, thinking that was the way to go.

She was trying to win over his family first.

The only pity is that the family in question is Charlotte.

Charlotte didn’t seem to care whether Karandis was there or not.

“Hehe, we’ve worked together on a mission before!”

Karandis laughed good-naturedly, as though it made no difference to her.

She had remarkable composure.

In the meantime, Charlotte turned to look at Krash with the lifeless gaze that had become her trademark.

“So why are you here?”
“I was waiting for someone, actually.”

Charlotte’s eyes shifted toward the Female Dormitory.

She regarded Krash with a peculiar expression before speaking.

“Forgetting you have a fiancée tends to make things complicated. Better to make peace with her, even if things are rough between you.”
“K-Krash, are things difficult with your fiancée? There are ways to arrange a new betrothal, you know……!”

Having heard this exchange, Karandis pointed both index fingers at herself, her eyes alight with hopeful interest as she made her appeal.

And Krash ignored her completely.

“That’s a misunderstanding. Bianca and I are getting along fine.”
“Then it doesn’t matter.”

Still, the timing worked out well.

He’d been meaning to meet with Charlotte anyway.

“Could we discuss the Student Corps matter for a moment?”

Krash believed he would need Charlotte’s help to resolve this situation.

More precisely, he needed the help of her and her unit.

“You came to see me?”

Charlotte’s eyes widened slightly, then the corners of her mouth lifted in her signature smile.

“Good thinking. You really are my brother. I’ll wait for you.”

Charlotte spoke with an unusual cheerfulness, then disappeared into the dormitory.

It seemed she planned to bathe and change into fresh clothes before coming back out.

“Is something the matter?”

After Charlotte left, Karandis didn’t follow her in. Instead, she asked Krash directly.

Krash studied her for a moment, then smiled with unmistakable malice.

“A dispute between the Empire and the Kingdom of Staron could escalate into war. Would you like to get involved?”
“Take care! It was so nice seeing you today. Let’s meet again soon!”

Karandis bolted without another word.

No matter how desperately she wanted to secure a marriage match, she’d be crushed under the weight of something on this scale.

Besides, Krash had made it clear he didn’t want her involved, and she’d been quick enough to withdraw.

‘Sharp woman.’

While Sizzly’s intellect was that of a prodigy, Karandis’s cunning was no small thing either—she was far from ordinary.

Indeed, surviving in Poseus, where royalty ran thick, was feat enough even as the ninth princess.

In any case, things had worked out well.

He could finish this conversation sooner than expected.

The moment Krash exhaled in relief, a figure emerged from the Female Dormitory alongside Astria.

A girl with hair an unusual blend of black and purple.

Haring Lagrain.

“……Krash.”

She appeared with a face far darker than when he’d last seen her.

“You alright?”

Krash asked upon seeing her.

Her face was an absolute wreck.

Of course—she must have learned her father was gravely injured and wanted nothing more than to return to the Empire immediately.

Yet her hands carried no luggage whatsoever.

With an empty expression, she stood frozen, unsure what to do about the situation.

Seeing that, Krash intuited what was happening.

‘The Lagrain Family must have told her to do nothing and wait.’

They wouldn’t have given her the reason.

From the Empire’s perspective, it was a classified matter.

The Lagrain Family had no choice but to hold their silence.

“……Yeah, I’m fine.”

Haring answered with a vacant stare.

Her mind was completely elsewhere.

She couldn’t focus on the conversation at all.

A kitten abandoned in the rain wouldn’t look this pathetic.

Krash glanced toward Astria.

She gave him a look that said she was going to listen to the whole story no matter what.

She stood with her arms crossed, her head tilted back.

Besides, it wasn’t as though Astria would have any objection to hearing it.

Krash decided to speak plainly.

“I came to tell you something about your father.”

For the first time, Haring’s shoulders tensed.

“I’m planning to go to Hadenhartz to pursue the World Erosion Entity that attacked Yeom Wang.”

Haring, who had been looking down, slowly raised her head.

Her eyes were trembling visibly.

Her expression asked whether she had heard him correctly.

“You.”

Astria too was watching Krash with slightly narrowed eyes.

Her look suggested that this seemed recklessly dangerous.

“…What do you mean?”

Meanwhile, Haring’s expression betrayed confusion—she didn’t understand why Krash would say such a thing.

The World Erosion Entity that had gravely wounded Yeom Wang was currently hidden in Hadenhartz.

Naturally, a matter of this scale was something the Empire and Staron themselves would handle directly—not something for students without any official position in their families to pursue.

At best, if Haring went, she’d be fortunate to escape mere ridicule for coming in the first place.

And her own family had explicitly forbidden even Haring, whose father was directly involved, from taking any action whatsoever.

For her, this was the cruelest prohibition of all.

She had lost her brother to a World Erosion Entity and had trained relentlessly her entire life to ensure such a thing would never happen again.

Yet despite all that effort, when her family faced death once more, she could do nothing.

That truth gnawed at Haring’s heart.

She despised powerlessness above all else, and it tormented her.

But now Krash was saying something to her.

That he would pursue the World Erosion Entity to Hadenhartz.

As the words sank in again, the color drained from Haring’s face.

“Wait, wait—no. No, Krash.”

Haring stumbled forward toward him.

She grasped his collar without thinking, shaking her head like a child.

She looked bewildered, as if his words had shattered her composure entirely.

Haring had maintained her composure through discipline and repetition, giving her all to survive until this day.

But her inner self had been rotting for far too long.

Her brother had died because of her.

That truth had tormented her for a lifetime.

The memory of counting numbers alone in solitary confinement remained in her heart like a scar, refusing to fade.

And today, the news that her father Yeom Wang had suffered grave injuries carved a fresh wound into that old scar.

Blood and pus seeped continuously from the reopened wound.

Despite her efforts, the family had instructed her to remain still once more.

Powerlessness was dragging her back to that time again.

When she heard Krash declare that he would go to the World Erosion Entity, her heart sank.

After the mission, Haring had often seen her brother’s shadow in Krash.

He was more mature than his peers, and he often unconsciously showed her a senior’s presence.

And that presence only made her remember her brother all the more.

Already confused by her father’s condition, she found herself lost.

So much so that she couldn’t tell whether the Krash standing before her now was truly him or her brother—her mind had drifted far away.

“…I hate it. I can’t bear to lose someone again like that.”

Speaking in fragmented words, she trembled.

Because she could not go, Krash would go in her place.

That situation felt identical to when her brother had locked her alone in solitary confinement.

In that moment, she felt something cold against the hand that held his collar.

It was Krash’s hand.

That hand slowly warmed, spreading its heat through her.

“Haring.”

Krash called her name.

Haring slowly raised her gaze to meet his.

Krash’s face was dimmed in shadow, the sun rising above him casting him in silhouette.

“Because of this incident, relations between the Empire and Staron will deteriorate to their worst.”

To Haring, whose eyes wavered, Krash slowly explained why he had to go.

“I intend to prevent that. With World Erosion outbreaks happening everywhere, two nations fighting will do nothing but make matters worse.”

Krash’s eyes held more gravity than ever before.

He truly intended to stop this himself.

World Erosion.

For Haring, who had lost her brother in the World Erosion wrought by a World Erosion Entity, it was the thing she most desperately wanted to prevent.

“And to stop it, I need your strength.”

Haring’s eyes began to widen slowly.

Rahelern Academy was, on the surface, a place of unity.

The Empire and the Four Great Kingdoms, along with various smaller factions, had declared their commitment to fight solely against World Erosion.

That was why Rahelern Academy had been founded.

And within such an academy existed a structure called the Student Corps.

While it was now being used as a vehicle for factional infighting, the original principle of the Corps was that people who trusted their leader, regardless of their origin, would gather to form one—a creed of harmony.

The Corps structure was precisely what the term “place of unity” should best describe.

And within such a Corps, the direct line of Balheim and the daughter of Yeom Wang, one of the Top Ten Under Heaven, both held membership.

And to aid Yeom Wang’s vengeance for his daughter, he would go to Hadenhartz alongside her.

As a picture of unity to show the world, it was nothing short of perfect.

‘With just this, I can make the Empire hesitate before rashly marching into Hadenhartz.’

The Empire was attempting to storm Hadenhartz under the pretext of Yeom Wang’s vengeance.

But the one who held that pretext most strongly was his daughter, Haring.

From the moment she moved as the Empire’s representative, the Empire itself could not claim the moral ground and had few options left.

Moreover, since Staron had even supported the direct line of Balheim, it could demonstrate its commitment to the Empire’s cause.

‘That alone would be enough to extinguish the immediate crisis somehow.’

In matters of diplomacy, what mattered most was ultimately legitimacy.

So what Krash needed right now was Haring.

She was the symbol of the moral ground the Empire held in the current situation.

“That is….”

Haring’s eyes began to tremble harshly.

Even amid her confusion, Haring grasped part of what Krash was saying.

She was not one to lack intelligence.

And so Haring found herself all the more flustered.

She had not expected Krash to suggest that she come along.

She opened her mouth, caught off guard.

“The family said it. Don’t do anything. Just wait.”

It was exactly the answer Krash had anticipated.

Which meant Haring must have been all the more anxious.

Being told by the family to stay put would be enough to drive anyone mad.

Krash’s hand, wrapped around Haring’s, tightened slightly.

For some reason, the warmth from his grip seemed to transfer to her.

“You’re a Rahelern Academy student before you’re anything else for the Empire.”

Everyone here, removed from their families, carried the identity of an Academy student.

“Forget about family and all that. If you’re a student, then act like a student. Even reckless behavior can be dismissed as youthful folly.”

Their entire unit was supposedly heading to Hadenhartz to volunteer.

So while Krash had meant to wait, he ended up going with them.

Once he put it that way, the family couldn’t stop him immediately.

“The world is weaker than you think when you insist stubbornly enough.”

Krash spoke those words and let loose a bitter laugh into the world.

“I hate not being able to do anything.”

And he looked directly into Haring’s eyes.

The eyes that met hers shone more vividly than ever before.

“I hate powerlessness more than anything—that feeling of being unable to do anything.”

Because he’d had to live that way his entire life.

The world offered nothing but bitter failure to those who lived powerless.

So Krash had spent every day until now struggling endlessly, fighting again and again.

And this time would be no different.

The war that Arthur couldn’t stop—he would stop it, even if he had to crawl through the dirt to do it.

“So I’m going to struggle like my life depends on it.”

Haring stared blankly at Krash.

“You struggle too. Whatever the family says, whatever others say, whatever the world says. Do the very best you can.”

And those words came to Haring, who had heard nothing but orders not to do anything.

For the first time, she heard permission to do anything at all.

Haring’s body began to tremble.

In place of powerlessness, a new emotion began to rise from the depths of her heart.

Color gradually returned to her pallid cheeks.

Strength seeped back into her limp frame.

“And that debt from the last mission—just insist you’re going to pay it back. The Lagrain Family always repays what they owe twice over.”

A playful smile, boyish and mischievous, curved Krash’s lips.

…….

Haring stared at that smile, dazed.

For a long moment.

“Ha, heh-heh.”

Laughter spilled from her lips—soft, almost surprised.

The face that had been twisted in anguish moments before couldn’t hold back the smile.

Perhaps it was simply that she, usually as expressionless as Bianca, had allowed herself to laugh.

Krash watched her with something like astonishment.

Then again, it wasn’t as though the Eye Doll suppressed all her emotions.

Laughter was something she could certainly allow herself to feel.

“I lost my brother to the World Erosion caused by a World Erosion Entity.”

At her words, Krash fell silent.

He had never known Haring—the Poison King’s ward—in such depth.

He’d only sensed that she’d lost something in her past, that some trauma clung to her.

But the full truth had remained beyond his grasp.

Now, though, he understood why she’d been so consumed by vengeance against the White Ghost—why she’d been willing to sacrifice her entire family for it.

The desperation of her obsession suddenly became clear.

‘She must have lost her mind with grief.’

Bianca’s transformation into the White Ghost had itself come about because she’d become a vessel for a World Erosion Entity.

So Haring had lost family members twice over—both times because of a World Erosion Entity.

“But this time my father fell victim to such an entity. I couldn’t endure it. And yet they kept telling me to stay put, to do nothing. I felt so utterly powerless. All my efforts seemed meaningless.”

Stay put.

To her, those words were the cruelest, the most paralyzing words in existence.

Because staying put, waiting in silence, had cost her brother his life.

And so Krash had told her something different.

He’d told her not to stay put.

“……So it’s a debt, then.”

She stepped back several paces from Krash, finally releasing the smile she’d been holding.

Yet the subtle warmth in her expression lingered on her face unchanged.

“This is a debt too, so I’ll repay it.”

If that was how she chose to see it.

“Fine. Do as you like.”

Krash merely respected her will.

—Why can’t you leave the girls alone?

And somehow, he caught flak for it again.

Astria even looked at Krash with a hint of disapproval.

Krash felt utterly wronged.

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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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