I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 22

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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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Chapter 22. Beyond the City Wall

Wall Town, on the border of the Starlon Kingdom.

The moment Krash stepped down from the carriage, he found himself in a frustrating situation.

“Get lost, kid. I don’t need some brat messing this up.”

The man guiding him to the broker who would smuggle him over the City Wall was refusing to cooperate.

“But I said I’d pay you.”

From Krash’s perspective, the situation was absurd.

The man who was supposed to introduce him to the broker wouldn’t do it, despite the offer of payment—simply because Krash looked like a child.

“Look, kid. You have no idea what it’s like out there beyond the wall, do you?”

The man fixed Krash with the weary gaze of someone at the end of his patience.

“The official road connecting the Empire and the Starlon Kingdom is safe because the World Erosion is cleared daily.”

That much was common knowledge.

The official road was where merchants and travelers typically moved.

Those who used back roads like this were usually people hiding their identities or criminals.

“But the unofficial routes? The World Erosion grows wild there without restraint. And the brokers guide people along paths that avoid it as much as possible.”

He glared at Krash as he spoke.

“Here’s the thing, though. Even the bravest people often break when they come face to face with World Erosion.”

World Erosion naturally triggered revulsion in humans.

It was, in essence, an instinct for survival.

A deep, primal warning was etched into the body: do not enter dangerous places.

“Even grown men struggle with it. If a runt like you panic out there, what do you think happens? The brokers guiding you die too.”

Krash couldn’t argue against what he was hearing.

No amount of payment would convince them to take on that level of risk.

‘So it all comes down to this damned appearance.’

Growing younger had its advantages.

His training progressed well, and the curse was gone.

But this appearance created endless irritations.

“I hear you’re trying to enter the Empire Martial Arts Tournament. I don’t know why, but you should just use the official road.”
“If I could use the official road, why would I be here?”
“I don’t care. Either way, I’m not guiding you, so figure it out yourself.”

He said as much, then turned on his heel and walked away.

Krash, watching him go, had to stop himself from throwing a punch.

‘Damn it all—I’ve been to the Golden Domain itself, and this is how I’m treated?’

He hadn’t known that coming back would carry such a burden.

“So what now?”

Crimson Garden, who’d been watching from the side without offering to help, posed the question.

She clearly found the situation entertaining.

“Crimson Garden, you don’t have any magic? Something that could make an adult seem young, maybe?”
“That kind of thing doesn’t exist. Unless you want to wear someone else’s skin, of course.”

She said something horrifying as casually as one might discuss the weather.

It struck him anew how fundamentally she was a creature of World Erosion. Krash pressed his forehead against his palm.

“Hey there, kid.”

Just as Krash was deliberating what to do next—

A voice calling to him made him turn.

There stood a woman in her mid-twenties with short hair.

She smiled at Krash when their eyes met.

“You want to get outside the City Wall, don’t you?”
“Well, yes.”

Krash answered curtly, and she lowered her posture.

Despite the winter cold, she wore only a thin shirt beneath her coat, its front panel open enough to be revealing.

“If that’s what you need, I think I might be able to help you out.”
“Are you a Broker?”
“Not a Broker, but I’m a Merchant Woman who deals in goods.”

It took Krash a moment after hearing this to understand what she was driving at.

“You mean you’d hide me inside merchandise and smuggle me out.”
“Exactly—the Brokers have no reason to inspect the shipments. Most of what moves through here is that kind of thing anyway.”

It wasn’t a terrible offer.

“What’s the price?”
“Ten times whatever the Broker would charge.”

She laid out an outrageous condition without hesitation.

A true merchant, through and through.

No doubt she’d left room for negotiation deliberately.

But Krash had other ideas.

“Just take what the Broker pays you.”
“Hmph. So you won’t give me a ride either? The kid can’t leave the City Wall on foot.”
“I’ll provide escort instead.”

She blinked at those words.

Then, as if the very idea struck her as absurd, she covered her mouth and laughed.

“This one really overestimates himself, doesn’t he?”

Krash reached into his pocket.

He’d meant not to bother with it—but the circumstances demanded otherwise.

In that moment, the woman’s eyes fixed on his hand.

What Krash held was none other than a badge bearing the Valheim insignia.

Every soul dwelling in Starlon knew the Valheim mark.

As proof, the woman’s body went rigid.

But the true reason for her stiffness was not the badge itself—it was the faint blue light emanating from the Valheim insignia.

That blue radiance was something every inhabitant of Starlon had heard of at least once.

Especially those criminals who might find themselves targets of Valheim’s blade knew it well indeed.

A blue light that manifested only when a direct lineage Valheim holder wielded it.

That was Valheim’s special credential.

“Wh-what?”

The moment those confused words left her lips, Krash’s hand moved to cover her mouth with a sharp motion.

With her mouth firmly shut, Krash—the badge’s blue light filling both his eyes—tilted back his hood slightly, revealing eyes that gleamed a pale, icy blue.

The characteristic blue eyes and dark hair of Valheim’s bloodline only deepened her certainty.

“Now you understand the situation?”

She nodded vigorously, her face drained of all color.

From the moment he’d covered her mouth, his aura had pinned her so completely she couldn’t move.

“You’re free to tell others if you wish. Though it won’t profit you—they won’t believe you anyway.”

There would be no reason for someone of Valheim to bypass official channels for this.

When Krash finally withdrew his hand from her lips, she turned away at once, her expression one of nervous haste.

“L-let’s go!”

From the moment she glimpsed the Valheim insignia, Krash’s strength was already verified.

More precisely, she no longer sought an escort at all.

Better to take her pay and ferry Krash than risk any complications.

‘That’s what I like about a real merchant.’

Sharp minds make for better understanding.

＊ ＊ ＊

Following the woman’s lead, Krash soon arrived at a large carriage.

The carriage, fitted with iron bars, was draped in a black cloth.

And inside it were none other than Erosion Creatures.

It appeared she was a merchant who illegally caught and sold Erosion Creatures.

Nestled among the creatures, even brokers wouldn’t spot you.

They were all asleep from Sleep Magic, so there was no real danger.

“Tell me when the Broker’s tour is finished.”

Krash fished in his pocket and flicked coins to the Broker.

She hurried to take the payment and opened the iron-barred door.

“P-please come inside.”

Krash trudged in, and the woman locked the barred door behind him, then drew the cloth closed again.

In the meantime, Krash found a spot and dropped down heavily.

Then Crimson Garden landed on the carriage floor.

“There are some rare specimens here.”
“They fetch better prices that way.”

Krash surveyed the Erosion Creatures with a distinctly displeased expression.

All the creatures here were of the sort that induced hallucinations and auditory illusions—the so-called Mental-type Erosion Creatures.

“Deranged things.”

Unable to fathom those who chased pleasure using Mental-type Erosion Creatures, Krash leaned back against the wall.

Soon after, with a creaking sound, the carriage began to move.

The way his body shifted inward suggested they were descending underground.

A back passage beyond the City Wall, no doubt.

As Krash waited in silence, several hours passed.

Voices could be heard from outside briefly, then footsteps approached from this direction.

Clang—

And soon the sound of the iron door opening rang out.

As Krash stepped outside, the Merchant Woman he’d seen earlier stood waiting for him.

“Where’s the Broker?”
“He’s gone. His job was just to guide us here.”

In other words: figure out the rest on your own.

The moment Krash descended lightly from the carriage, an emerald-tinted sky began to fill his vision.

Unlike Starlon, this sky had been transformed by the World Erosion.

For Krash, such a sky held no particular strangeness.

And it served as proof of one thing: they were beyond the border.

‘As long as it isn’t red, there’s nothing to worry about.’

Krash tore his gaze from the sky and turned to face the Merchant Woman.

“By the way, where are you headed? For what it’s worth, I’m Empire-bound.”

He spoke with a slight smile.

The woman, catching the meaning behind his words, answered with a strained expression.

“Ah, well, I’m also heading to the Empire.”

Where she’d originally intended to go hardly mattered now.

The moment Krash said he was going to the Empire, that became her destination too.

“Good. Let’s move.”

With that, Krash walked toward the front of the carriage.

He hoisted himself lightly onto the driver’s bench, and the woman reluctantly settled beside him.

As she set the horses in motion, Krash surveyed the surroundings.

Apart from the Erosion Creatures, the carriage seemed to carry only her.

“You’re not hiring additional guards?”
“Ah, well, I do a bit of Erosion Hunting myself. Believe it or not, I’m quite skilled. I can manage up to level-two World Erosion.”

More capable than he’d expected, then.

Judging purely by realm, she might be comparable to him.

“Besides, anything level-three and above, it’s just easier to run. And hiring mercenaries costs more than it’s worth anyway. So I travel alone. The trouble is, there are quite a few mad bandits and outlaws living beyond the City Wall, and you never know when you’ll run into them.”

Krash accepted her reasoning readily enough.

“Say, what’s your name?”

She posed the question seemingly just to fill the silence.

At the sight of her, Krash let out a soft laugh.

“What good would introducing ourselves do? Seems pointless either way.”
“Oh, you’re right! Then let’s just skip the introductions. Here we go!”

She rushed through her words as though eager not to stir up trouble.

Krash, grateful for the smooth journey, leaned back against the carriage wall.

‘I wish we’d encounter some World Erosion along the way.’

The Merchant Woman harbored hopes for something she truly prayed would never happen.

＊ ＊ ＊

Clatter, clatter!

Ten days since the carriage journey beyond the border had begun.

The Merchant Woman, as though she had done this countless times before, carefully chose only roads untouched by World Erosion.

Thanks to her guidance, Krash spent his time solely on Aura Training under Crimson Garden’s instruction.

He had allotted generous time for the journey to the Empire.

Should World Erosion arise along the way, he could stop to investigate—but not actively seek it out.

‘I can do that on the way back.’

So Krash trained at his leisure, unbothered.

Before long, night had fallen.

As Krash wrapped himself in the blanket the Merchant Woman had given him, she fastened a bell to the back of the carriage.

It was a bell that would ring instantly if anything approached.

“How much longer until we arrive?”
“At this pace, about five more days. We’ve been traveling quietly without any World Erosion so far. Is it thanks to you being here, Krash?”

The Merchant Woman smiled and offered a compliment.

In these past ten days, she had initially felt uneasy around Krash.

But as she observed his temperament, she came to realize he was a more considerate person than she’d expected.

“You must have it nice, being from Valheim. It seems like you have the whole world at your feet.”

So she began speaking to him in this manner.

“Is the world really that small? I never thought it was so narrow.”
“Oh, perhaps it’s because you’re still young and haven’t felt it yet? Common folk worry about where their next three meals will come from. You don’t have such concerns, do you?”

That was certainly true.

Yet there was one unmistakable difference between the nobility and ordinary people.

“You’re right—nobles don’t worry about such things. But just as we know little of you, you also understand little of us.”

Krash gazed out into the Lawless Territory beyond.

In that desolate expanse, standing against World Erosion and triumphing—that was how kingdoms were born.

And it is the nobility who maintain it.

Many forget this.

Even the nobles themselves.

There are quite a few among the nobility who neglect that duty and do nothing but garbage-tier things.

‘When they think things are peaceful, they get caught up in power struggles too.’

When that peace breaks, the first to die are those who chased nothing but power.

“Tee-hee, is that so? Then I’d like to become a noble too. Should I book myself as a bride to Valheim right now?”

What was this woman in her mid-twenties saying?

“I have a fiancée.”
“Oh, really? If she’s Valheim’s fiancée, she must be adorable.”
“Adorable?”

Krash found his thoughts drifting to Bianca for a moment.

He knew that when she grew up, she would become a woman of considerable beauty.

After all, there had been times when he’d gotten caught up in troublesome situations precisely because men had been entranced by her appearance and used her status as his fiancée as leverage.

So in terms of looks, she was superior to most.

‘If you were to call her adorable…’

The way she toddled after him, peeping like a chick, might actually be called adorable.

“Perhaps.”
“Pfft, though you seemed mature on the surface, it seems you have a childlike side too. You haven’t experienced love before, have you?”
“Sorry, but I have.”

As he spoke, Krash rose from his seat, leaving the blanket draped behind him.

“Though it was love that ended the moment I tried to pursue it.”

Krash’s gaze turned toward the outside.

The moment the Merchant Woman saw this, Crimson Garden overhead let out a sharp cry.

“It seems it’s time to work.”
“Oh no.”

Ding-ding-ding!

At the same time, the bell she had hung began to ring.

The Merchant Woman, belatedly, drew her weapon and stood up from her seat.

Beyond the pitch-black forest, something that looked like black liquid given human form was walking toward them.

The problem was that there was not just one or two of them.

“Just as you’d expect from the Lawless Territory.”

A symptom that occurs when the master of World Erosion is slain but not properly purified.

The Black Humans were one such manifestation.

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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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