I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 24

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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 24. The Fourth Princess

Clack-clack, clack-clack.

Five days later.

Klash lifted his head, watching the horse beneath him labor faithfully forward as always.

As he did, the Empire’s ramparts began to appear before his eyes.

“We’re almost there.”
“Indeed.”

Hearing the merchant woman’s words, Klash raised a hand to shield his eyes from the brilliant sunlight.

The capital of the Epania Empire lay at nearly the same latitude as Hadenhartz in Staron.

Consequently, as they drew closer to the Imperial capital, the air grew progressively colder.

‘Still, there’s quite a distance left before reaching the capital itself.’

Still, he could take some satisfaction in having entered the Empire at all.

“Stay inside for now.”

There was nothing to gain from having a child spotted by an Imperial broker.

So Klash unlatched the iron-barred door and settled himself among the slumbering spirit-realm creatures packed inside.

A moment later, the merchant woman’s voice rang out in conversation with someone, and the carriage lurched forward.

For hours.

As Klash waited patiently, the carriage at last came to a halt.

Shortly after, the blackout cloth was pulled back, and he heard the iron door unlock.

“Tada! We’ve arrived!”

She announced it proudly.

As Klash stepped out, an inn and the Empire’s streets came into view.

Judging by the visible ramparts, this seemed to be a town near the outer walls.

We made it through safely, it seems.

“You’ve worked hard.”
“Ha, you even saved us from bandits halfway—how could I ask for more? You’re leaving right away?”
“Yes.”

He intended to secure another carriage and head straight for the capital.

Watching Klash, the merchant woman’s expression turned wistful.

Fifteen days together had apparently been enough to kindle some affection.

“I’m Klash Valheim.”

So he offered her his name.

The moment she heard it, the merchant woman’s eyes widened, and a bright smile bloomed across her face.

“I’m Lara!”
“Take care of yourself.”
“If you grow up lonely later, please come find me! You’re always welcome, Klash!”

She was something else right to the end.

Still, if their paths crossed again, they might meet once more.

Klash waved to her and moved on.

“The Empire again. It’s been a while.”

By then, Crimson Garden had perched on Klash’s shoulder.

“You’ve planted quite a few seeds in the Empire, haven’t you?”
“One is preparing for the Academy, the other is in the Imperial Palace. These remote regions—I don’t know much about them myself.”

So she had a pawn in the Academy too.

“Heh, by the time you arrive, she’ll be your senior.”

True enough—if he enrolled now, he’d be entering a year behind her.

“So who is it?”
“Isn’t the fun in discovering it yourself later?”

With that, she took to the sky.

She certainly had no shortage of amusing tricks.

‘One more year.’

Klash lifted his gaze to the heavens.

Winter made the sky feel impossibly distant.

‘It’s not far now.’

Sensing that the day of confronting the Age of Sky Generation loomed near, Klash set about finding a carriage.

Fortunately, obtaining a carriage bound for the capital proved straightforward enough.

The Empire was vast.

Because of it, Klash found himself condemned to nearly a month of grueling carriage travel.

‘This is no way to travel.’

During the Age of Sky Generation, he’d relied primarily on Space Magic.

I’ve never gotten used to carriages.

“Oh, Klash, training Swordsmanship again today?”
“Yeah, gotta do it every day.”
“Ha! I do hope you’ll place well in the Martial Arts Tournament!”

Thanks to that, I’d grown quite close with the carriage driver.

He called me by the alias I’d been using and broke into a hearty laugh.

“We’ll arrive this evening. Lucky timing for the tournament.”

At the driver’s words, I wiped the sweat from my brow.

The thought that this carriage journey was finally ending brought a sense of relief.

The problem was that the return trip was already giving me a headache.

‘Maybe I just won’t go back.’

The thought occurred to me forcefully enough to show how thoroughly sick of this journey I’d become.

But I’d promised that chick I’d return with her, so I couldn’t very well abandon that.

When the carriage set out again like that.

By that evening, I arrived in Siran, the capital of the Epania Empire.

In a sense, the wealthiest and most advanced city in the world.

Upon arrival, I stretched my back lightly.

“Damn nuisance.”

Perhaps it was because I had no good memories of the Epania Empire.

I let out a curt remark immediately.

Then I set off walking at once.

Though it was evening, registration for the Martial Arts Tournament should still be open.

Since tournament entry closed tomorrow, I decided to register today ahead of time.

‘First though.’

I dug through my pocket and pulled out the Transformation Potion that Darling had given me.

I didn’t know what form I’d change into, but anything was better than my current appearance.

‘Find somewhere secluded first.’

I found a suitable spot, ducked out of sight, and opened the potion’s cap.

The medicine’s distinctive scent stung my nose, but I downed it without hesitation.

Soon after, I felt my face twisting and warping.

Must be the potion’s effect.

After waiting a moment, the numbness finally faded from his face.

“Crim.”

At his summons, a raven descended and perched before him.

“Can you see in front of you?”

The moment he spoke, Crimson Garden tilted his head and posed the question back.

Can you see in front of you?

Klash’s expression shifted to one of bewilderment.

“What kind of reaction is that? What have I become?”
“Just as the words suggest. You certainly look suspicious.”

Klash had no idea what he was talking about, so he walked outside.

Then, the moment he turned to glance at the window that happened to be nearby, Klash froze.

“……What is this?”

Eyes so swollen they were barely slits, pupils nearly invisible.

Hair as fluffy and black as a dog’s coat.

A boy who somehow evoked the image of a villain stood there in the reflection.

And when Crimson Garden, now in the shape of a raven, alighted on his shoulder, it was the perfect finishing touch.

-So you can see in front of you?

“Eyes are eyes, after all.”

Klash stared at himself in dismayed disbelief.

Somehow he could almost hear Darling’s giggling laughter in his ears.

‘She imagined my temperament, she said.’

So this was how she’d been imagining him.

Klash let out a long sigh.

It didn’t matter how his appearance changed.

His face looked rather suspicious, admittedly, but it wasn’t something worth worrying over.

-Now you truly look like a raven.

Crimson Garden snickered.

Look at him, acting like it had nothing to do with him.

-Go register before the deadline closes.

Taking the hint, Klash began moving toward the registration desk before it shut down.

* * *

The registration hall for the Epania Empire’s Martial Arts Tournament.

Since the event was hosted by the Imperial Palace, one of the buildings under its administration served as the registration center, and it was crowded with people.

Because it was a Martial Arts Tournament sponsored by the Empire, figures from all over the world had flocked to the site.

As a result, the tournament was drawing crowds unlike any before.

“Hmm, quite the gathering. All sorts of interesting characters showing up.”

In that moment, a voice like chiming jade rang out.

There was a doll-like girl whose hair shimmered like a blue sea.

She wore fine clothes made from expensive cloth.

Yet she was pressed against the railing on the second floor, peering down at the registration area below.

“So many interesting children gathered. This is absolutely fascinating.”
“Your Highness, please mind your bearing. If the Emperor were to see you like this, he’d be livid.”
“Don’t mention my father. His voice will echo in my ears again, and I don’t need that.”

The girl who had just scolded her attendant was none other than the Epania Empire’s Fourth Princess, Sizlei.

The youngest of the imperial children, she was fourteen years old this year.

Though still young, the brilliance in her eyes was no ordinary thing.

Naturally, this came as no surprise.

She possessed an intellect so sharp that even the Empire’s finest minds competed to acknowledge it.

There was a famous tale of her solving a puzzle that had vexed the Empire’s mathematicians when she turned seven.

Yet for all her gifts, she had one marked flaw.

She was impulsive and wild in a way that matched her youth.

A girl who dug into whatever caught her interest, who used that clever mind to outwit her handlers and slip out of the Imperial Palace itself.

Because of this, even those who admired her brilliant mind doubted she would ever rise to become an Emperor Candidate.

But that was the talk of those who didn’t understand.

Sera, one of the attendants who had served her since birth, knew her true nature.

‘She deliberately acts like a tomboy so she won’t be considered for the Emperor Candidate position.’

She had been blessed with a brilliant mind, but her constitution was naturally fragile.

If such a delicate person were drawn into the Empire’s most brutal succession struggle, her body would fail long before her will could bend.

So she deliberately exaggerated her wildness.

She bent her sharp intellect toward other pursuits, ensuring no one would ever recommend her for the Emperor Candidate seat.

Sera found such a strategy both heartbreaking and, in its way, wisely protective.

She seemed far more suited to living freely than to the life of an empress.

“Hehehehe, look at all these delectable morsels. I’ll pluck each and every one of you and send you to Rahelern Academy so you can become my little playthings!”

The trouble was that this tomboyish streak seemed to grow stronger with each passing day.

“Fourth Princess, where exactly did you learn to laugh like that? You’re ruining that lovely face of yours.”
“Sera, the face is the most effective tool for revealing one’s emotions. In that regard, I’d say I handle my tool quite skillfully. Don’t you think I deserve praise rather than criticism?”
“I would like to scold you, Your Highness.”
“How dare you, a mere attendant, scold the Fourth Princess? Fourteen years is too young for such presumption.”

She was truly an eccentric princess.

“Hm? Oh, look over there!”

In that instant, Sizlei spotted something amusing and pointed between the railings.

When Sera reluctantly approached, she found a young man standing there.

Eyes shut tight, a sullen-looking face.

Accompanied by a crow no less, he looked every inch a dark sorcerer.

Yet the black sword at his waist suggested he was a swordsman.

“Don’t you smell it? That unmistakable stench of villainy? He reeks of Valheim—the Empire’s sworn enemy!”
“Valheim? What would they be doing here? Though I admit, something does seem suspicious.”

When those eyes opened, she sensed, something momentous would come to pass.

At that, Sizlei suddenly sprang to her feet and wagged her finger with a tsk-tsk sound.

“Now, now, Sera. It’s foolish to judge someone by appearance alone and harbor prejudice.”
“But Your Highness, didn’t you just say he smelled like a villain?”
“Precisely why I shall investigate personally.”
“Your Highness?”

Sera’s brief cry of alarm was all it took.

With her small frame, Sizlei suddenly vaulted through the railings.

“Fourth Princess!”

The moment Sera cried out, Sizlei grabbed hold of a groove carved into the railing and slid down it smoothly.

It was like watching someone ride a slide.

While Sera gasped in horror, Sizlei reached the ground in moments.

“All right then, you suspect villain. Come now, reveal yourself to this princess—who are you and what are you about?”

With a playful smile spreading across her face, she pushed through the crowd.

It was in that very moment as she parted the throng.

Her slight frame, always frail by nature, collided sharply with a man who suddenly emerged from the press of bodies.

“Oof!”

In that instant, her body tipped forward as her feet tangled beneath her.

An arm shot out and caught her stomach just before she fell.

Sizlei, barely catching herself, gasped and looked up—only to find herself staring into closed eyes.

It was the boy she had been looking for.

“You’re reckless.”

At the sight of Sizlei, the boy tossed out those words and set her back on her feet.

“Watch yourself.”

Then, paying her no further mind, he turned and walked away into the crowd.

Sizlei stood speechless for a moment, then tilted her head.

“Reckless?”

The boy had spoken as though he knew her, and that puzzled her.

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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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