I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 35

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

Chapter 35. Jenika’s Inner World, Bianca’s Return

People grow as they age.

And people are always contradictory.

A child might torment someone relentlessly, only to feel guilt years later, wondering why she ever did such a thing.

Yet sometimes, unwilling to admit that guilt, a person grows only more irritable instead.

Jenika was sixteen this year.

The world called her an adult, spoke of marriage as if it were already her time, but she remained immature.

So she did not understand her own heart well.

That year without Bianca.

She who had made cruelty toward Bianca her daily habit slowly changed once Bianca vanished.

Love fades when bodies grow distant.

Hate fades the same way.

Jenika, who had harbored a vague hatred for Bianca born from the pain of losing her mother—a woman cursed from childhood, who had given birth to Bianca under strain and then passed away—found that vague hatred had nowhere to go once its target disappeared.

Hatred without direction became hollow.

And hollow soon became contempt for herself.

She was old enough now to step out from under her parents’ shadow.

Old enough to look back and understand what circumstances Bianca had faced, rather than simply hate her in the abstract.

As she turned over in her mind, one by one, the things she had done to Bianca, she came to understand.

How contemptible she had been, how she had cornered Bianca simply because she was Emotionless.

As her immaturity gave way to growth, Jenika began, bit by bit, to recognize her own mistakes.

Then, all at once, Bianca came back.

Jenika, not yet truly mature, threw out the words carelessly, without thought.

“Why did you come back?”

She had always spoken to Bianca this way.

Even knowing she had wronged her, Jenika could not suddenly conjure kind words.

“Oh, I see. You got dumped by that two-bit named Valheim, didn’t you? Well, who’d accept someone as disagreeable as you anyway.”

So she showed Bianca a venomous face.

Even knowing she was wrong, she could not stop.

And so, once again, she repeated what she had always done, all while harboring a deep disgust for herself.

She was passing through such an immature season of her life.

“I’m going to search for a Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom.”

Upon hearing Bianca’s words, Jenika tried not to care—but she cared nonetheless.

The Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom had long been used as a common tool for fraud.

Because there existed a Baekwhasa Fungus that looked nearly identical to it.

Even merchants often failed to distinguish between the two.

There was no way Bianca could tell them apart.

‘She’ll probably buy something fake.’

No matter how she tried to rationalize it, Jenika found herself irritated enough to seek out the merchant houses.

There, she secretly located the genuine Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom before Bianca could, and managed to procure an authentic specimen for herself.

The problem was that there was only one.

“Tell all the merchant houses not to sell their Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushrooms to Bianca. If you say it that way, they’ll understand what I mean.”

So Jenika had her attendants relay this warning to all the merchant houses.

She was implicitly turning a blind eye to them deceiving others with the Baekwhasa Fungus—but under no circumstances were they to sell it to Bianca.

Yet her habitually sharp manner of speaking gave rise to a misunderstanding.

The attendants, watching Jenika issue her warning to the merchant houses, all became convinced that she was once again sabotaging Bianca.

Well, that was what she always did, wasn’t it?

In truth, Jenika had only brought along her closest butler to avoid being seen procuring the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom herself—the attendants could have had no way of knowing.

And Bianca, naturally, saw the merchant houses refusing to sell to her and misunderstood.

She assumed it was Jenika’s doing—the same Jenika who had tormented her all her life.

‘What do I do about this?’

Yet the one who had actually procured the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom, Jenika herself, stood holding it in silent thought.

Why on earth was she going this far for Bianca’s sake?

After wrestling with such questions, the conclusion she reached was none other than Bianca’s current position.

She was none other than Valheim’s fiancée.

“Valheim’s little—well, he said it wasn’t little. That youngest brat needs it, so that’s what matters!”

Jenika nodded to herself, finding this conclusion satisfactory enough.

Deep down, guilt over what she had inflicted on Bianca all this time was the true driving force, but she deliberately turned away from it.

‘Once I hand this over, that’s the end of it.’

It was just as she was thinking this that she decided to look for Bianca.

“Jenika!”

She tilted her head as she watched the attendant rush toward her.

“What is it? What’s happened?”
“Bianca went into the mountains alone!”
“What?”

Jenika’s eyes widened in disbelief.

Then, belatedly, she understood why Bianca had gone to the mountains.

‘Because she couldn’t find the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom.’

She had gone to search for it herself.

“Is she out of her mind? As if the mountains of Hadenhart are nothing to fear.”

Jenika’s expression twisted in exasperation.

What was this sudden reckless impulse all about?

She suppressed her growing anxiety and quickly summoned the knights.

‘If Bianca dies, my connection with Valheim falls apart!’

Repeating this excuse over and over in her mind, she began climbing the mountain as fast as she could to find Bianca.

Fortunately, Bianca was not far away.

Seeing her confidently prepared for the climb, Jenika felt utterly incredulous.

“I told you not to go.”

And now she understood why Bianca had made the decision to climb immediately.

An excuse rose to the tip of her tongue, but she barely managed to suppress it.

After all, she knew full well that her own sharp manner and usual behavior were to blame.

If she had simply told Bianca from the beginning that she had already obtained the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom, this would never have happened.

Yet again, the words that spilled from her lips were harsh.

“Do you think I brought you here because I like you? It’s because if Valheim’s betrothed gets lost and dies out here, my relationship with Hadenhart will be ruined!”

Sharp words tumbled out of her mouth.

This mouth of hers had never learned to speak kindly.

“Sister, why did you come yourself?”

But her words caught in her throat at Bianca’s next question.

“You’re not usually so concerned with family matters. You could have simply sent a search party.”

At those words, her mouth would not open.

As Bianca had said, sending only a search party would have been perfectly acceptable.

The excuses she’d made dragged up the guilt that had been lurking in her heart, pounding against her chest.

Before that weight, she bit her lip hard and scrunched her face as if in anger, though shame was what truly burned there.

“What does it matter what I feel?”

Bianca merely looked at her with an expression of incomprehension.

To Bianca, who was Emotionless, Jenika’s shifts of feeling were incomprehensible.

Emotion does not lean in only one direction—it is multifaceted and complex.

Yet that very complexity was beyond Bianca’s grasp.

So all Bianca could discern in Jenika’s emotions were anger and resentment.

“Come—come along. I don’t want to look at your face anyway. I’ll give you the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom and send you back at once.”

Having struck a nerve, Jenika could only respond to Bianca with a sharp edge to her voice.

It was a defensive posture born of shame at being exposed.

“As you wish.”

And so the two of them began descending the mountain in silence.

Jenika found the quiet uncomfortable.

She wanted to say something—anything—but her lips wouldn’t move.

And she assumed Bianca had no desire to speak with her either.

‘That’s all we are, in the end.’

Given everything she’d done, what right had she to expect anything different now?

She despised herself as she lifted her head.

They’d climbed high enough that by the time evening fell, they would reach the base.

Once they returned, she would press the Baekseol-Yeolyang Mushroom into Jenika’s hands and send her away. That would be the end of it.

It was in that moment.

“Mind if I join you three?”

A voice rang out from behind the knights and the two women.

One of the knights sensed something amiss and moved to draw his blade—

Crack!

A flying Axe split his head in two.

For a brief, terrible moment, there was only silence.

The man who had crushed a knight’s skull in an instant looked at the three of them with a leering grin, drawing his Axe free.

His head bore a striking resemblance to a dog rather than a human form.

A blunt black snout protruded from his face, teeth bared between the jaws.

Yet he bore human ears, a grotesque hybrid of beast and man.

A creature of the World Erosion who had slaughtered countless imperial figures and fled—

Berkman, the butcher hound.

“Hello there, pretty things.”

He was a manifestation born from a pact with the World Erosion.

“My ladies, flee at once!”

A knight cried out in desperation, drawing his blade and charging forward.

Clang!

“What—what is this?!”

As sword and axe collided with a deafening ring of steel, Jenika, who had witnessed this sudden violence, fell into a state of panic.

She had been raised in careful innocence, untouched by the World Erosion.

Death and injury were commonplace to soldiers and knights, but for her—a sheltered young lady raised among flowers—it was her first glimpse of such horror, and her panic was entirely justified.

Snap!

In that instant, a girl faster than anyone seized her hand.

She was none other than Bianca.

Like Jenika, Bianca had been raised in the greenhouse of privilege, yet she possessed no fear to plunge her into panic.

And so, with a clarity of mind sharper than anyone’s in that moment, she grasped Jenika’s hand and made her decision to run.

“Run!”

She did not forget a sharp command to snap her companion back to awareness.

Jolted back to her senses by Bianca’s cry, Jenika steadied herself and began to run.

She had no idea what was happening.

But she could sense that their situation was gravely dangerous.

Still, despite regaining her wits for a moment, her mind remained in disarray.

“Just focus on running.”

Bianca spoke thus, pulling Jenika along.

Jenika bit her lip at the sight of Bianca—younger than her by far—leading her forward.

However it had come to this, she was the elder.

She began to run on her own legs rather than be dragged along, and she spoke.

“At this rate, they’ll catch us.”

Even accounting for the element of surprise, this was someone skilled enough to drop a knight in a single blow.

The fact that the other knight had immediately told them to run suggested he couldn’t hold the line alone.

If that knight fell, the two of them—who’d never trained in martial arts—would be caught within moments. There was no doubt about it.

“Is there a way out?”

Bianca wasn’t particularly familiar with the geography of the Rocal Mountain Range.

So when she asked if there was another option, Jenika began scanning their surroundings, eyes darting left and right.

“This way.”

She spun and bolted in that direction, and Bianca followed without hesitation.

“The Rocal Mountain Range gets so much snow that ice forms over the gaps in natural caves scattered throughout, and crevasses hidden under snow cover are pretty common here.”

She spoke as she ran through the forest, evidently well-versed in the terrain’s layout.

“You and I have Snow-Running Artifacts on, so we’ll be fine—but they won’t be.”

The ice would collapse the moment an adult’s weight pressed down on it, sending them plummeting into the depths below.

If they headed that direction, their pursuer would have difficulty following.

“The path will take us the long way around, but there’s an area with plenty of crevasses like that.”
“Let’s go that way.”

There was no other choice.

So Jenika and Bianca immediately sprinted toward that direction.

Thump! Thump! Thump!

In that very moment, footfalls began echoing from behind them.

When snow isn’t actively falling, footprints show clearly.

He had killed the knight and was now tracking the two of them with deadly speed.

With every footfall that drew closer, Jenika felt her anxiety spike.

If he caught them like this, what would happen?

Would she die the way that knight had?

All manner of thoughts seized her mind.

By then, the two of them were already running across the snow-covered field dense with crevasses.

Crack!

In that instant, the sound of ice shattering erupted from behind them, and snow came pouring down.

The moment Jenika heard that sound, relief finally crossed her face.

Bang!

Footsteps echoed once more.

This time, they came bounding in great leaps, as if he could see every crevasse’s location laid bare before him.

Jenika’s face drained of all color.

He could escape a crevasse fall with ease, and worse—he could pinpoint their positions.

They had only managed to take the long way around.

“It’s my fault……”
“This way.”

As Jenika realized her mistake and squeezed her eyes shut, Bianca spoke in that same steady voice.

When Bianca changed direction, Jenika followed without thinking.

“Wait, if we go that way—”
“It’s fine. This is the right way.”

But this direction was the exact opposite of Hadenhart.

Yet there was no time to change course.

The footsteps behind them had already drawn close at their heels.

“You girls, didn’t I say I wanted to talk? Not listening? I’m about to get angry.”

Now his voice boomed across the glacier, enormous and near.

Jenika’s face went ashen just as Bianca slowed her pace.

“We’re here.”
“Here? What do you mean, here?”

The moment those words registered, Jenika’s eyes went wide.

Because they stood at the edge of a cliff—nothing but empty air beyond.

“What are you doing!?”

Jenika spun to face Bianca, shouting—

Crunch.

A voice called out from behind them, the sound of snow crunching beneath a foot.

“The Snow-Running Artifact is unfamiliar to me.”

The speaker was none other than Berkman, the butcher’s hound.

“Still, my luck is truly something. Getting to spend time with such pretty girls.”

Indeed, luck was his constant companion.

He had fled the Empire and hidden himself in the mountains of Hadenhart, wandering until he chanced upon the sound of two voices.

Listening to their conversation, he realized they were none other than the daughters of Hadenhart itself.

Even worse—the other was Valheim’s fiancée.

As hostages, they were perfect.

“Come now, step back this way. It’s dangerous there.”

As he advanced, Bianca and Jenika began to retreat slowly, step by step.

But if they fled, there was only a cliff behind them.

Jenika couldn’t fathom Bianca’s reasoning.

No matter how she looked at it, she couldn’t understand why they’d fled to this place of all locations.

“Get ready.”
“Ready for what?”
“To jump.”

Jenika’s eyes went wide.

This seemed like pure madness.

Was she suggesting they kill themselves?

But Bianca and Jenika had already reached the very edge of the cliff.

“Wait—you’re not actually going to jump, are you?”

Berkman cried out in shock, moving to stop them both.

But it was already too late.

Bianca pushed off backward, and Jenika, caught in her grip, went with her.

“Ahhhhhhhhh!”

In an instant, both women screamed as they plummeted over the cliff’s edge.

“Damn it!”

Seeing this, Berkman let out a roar and leapt after them.

The two women were valuable hostages.

He had no intention of letting them die, so he meant to catch them mid-fall.

The moment he dove from the cliff.

His eyes opened wide.

Because the two women hadn’t fallen below the cliff at all.

Instead, Bianca and Jenika were standing on a narrow ledge that jutted out slightly from the cliff’s edge.

Jenika stood there pale-faced, her legs trembling beneath her, while Bianca fixed him with a steady, unyielding stare.

“Huh?”

Was that really the point of the jump?

So that was why he’d come to this place.

Struck by the absurdity of it all, he spun his Axe in a wide arc.

The youngsters had played their cards cleverly enough.

“But you underestimated me far too much!”

His Axe whistled through the air as he swung it the opposite direction.

In that instant, the very wind his blade tore from the atmosphere altered his trajectory.

Not even Berkman could escape a fall from this state.

But one of them—he could still catch one of them.

It was the moment he thought this, his lips already curving into a cruel smile.

Bianca’s arm whipped through empty air.

Thwack!

A snowball, hurled with deadly precision, struck him square in the eyes.

“What—?!”

One hand was already stretched out to catch them; the other gripped his Axe.

For all his trained flesh and muscle, there was no time to guard against a sudden snowball.

Yet it was only his vision that had been obscured.

The moment he lunged forward with his outstretched arm to seize them, something hard struck the crown of his skull.

When he opened his eyes at last through the falling snow,

there was Bianca—using his own head as a springboard, launching herself skyward with her boot.

“Yes!”
“Bianca!”

Berkman’s cry and Jenika’s shout crossed in the air as Bianca and Berkman plummeted downward together.

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