I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 36

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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 36. The Person I Miss

Berkman and Bianca fell, and this time fortune smiled upon Bianca.

The place where she landed was where snow had accumulated gently as it trickled down the cliff face.

Berkman, by contrast, fell onto a slope where snow had frozen solid.

“Aaaaahhh!”

Already struggling to control his body as he plummeted from the cliff, Berkman simply slid down the frozen slope with no way to stop himself.

Meanwhile, Bianca lifted her head as she emerged from the snow with a soft sound.

“Ugh.”

At the same moment, a dull throb shot through her ankle, and she winced.

From that height, she supposed she should count herself fortunate it amounted to only this.

But fortunate or not, it hurt.

Bianca tilted her head back, staring up at the cliff face.

The cliff stretched impossibly far above her.

Jenika wasn’t even visible from down here—that said everything.

‘What do I do?’

Bianca was no mountaineer.

The sun was already beginning to set.

Moving recklessly on an injured ankle would only increase the odds that she’d lose her way entirely.

Yet she couldn’t simply sit still either.

Berkman would be gnashing his teeth at the humiliation of being brought down by a mere girl, and he would hunt for her with relentless determination.

‘I have to hide first.’

Bianca dragged her rapidly swelling ankle and began to make her way through the forest.

Her breath began to form white plumes in the cold air.

A sign that her body temperature was dropping.

Though she’d dressed carefully, she had rolled in the snow.

Her clothes, soaked by the snow, hung heavy and leeched the warmth from her body.

At this rate, Hypothermia would claim her before anything else.

She had to find a way to warm her clothes and her body.

And in that moment, one thing came to mind: Snow White Heat Fungus.

The Snow White Heat Fungus maintained her body temperature simply by being held.

Her eyes began to search the forest urgently.

She knew the growth conditions and habitat of Snow White Heat Fungus well.

First, it would grow on snow where sunlight reached.

Second, there had to be a century-old timber tree nearby that could serve as a nutrient source.

The age of such trees could be easily determined by their girth.

She began searching simultaneously for a place to shelter and for the fungus.

Before long, fortunately, she spotted an enormous timber tree.

Bianca’s breathing grew shallow.

Pain and Hypothermia were slowly dragging her eyes closed.

She was reaching her limit.

‘I have to find it.’

With her lips pressed tight, the moment she reached the timber tree, she could only release a sigh of relief.

Because there, growing on the tree, was the Snow White Heat Fungus.

A mushroom, pure white, brimming with sunlight.

Its warmth was felt from a distance—truly characteristic of Snow White Heat Fungus.

She had been extraordinarily lucky.

Bianca drew a small blade from her belt and carefully cut it at the base.

As she cradled it against her chest, warmth flooded through her entire body, as if she were bathed in sunlight itself.

‘Warm.’

Now that she’d resolved the Hypothermia, Bianca made her way to the Cave she’d spotted earlier.

It bore no signs of wild animals, so it would serve well enough.

On the path to the Cave, she spotted red Mountain Berries and quickly gathered them before arriving safely inside.

“Haah, hah.”

Then she collapsed to the floor.

Once her breathing steadied, Bianca examined the inside of her shoe.

Her injured leg was swollen bright red.

She removed her shoe and peeled off the outer garment she was wearing, using it as a blanket to cover the wound.

With the Snow White Heat Fungus in her hands, the warmth would dry the cloth quickly.

Then, using the snow that had blown into the Cave, she cooled the wound before fashioning a thick Wooden Branch into a splint.

It was fortunate that she’d packed a Bandage for emergencies.

Bianca finished the first aid quickly, then elevated her foot above her heart using her shoe before lying down on the ground.

It was emergency treatment drawn directly from knowledge gleaned from books.

But this was only first aid—without proper treatment, she wouldn’t recover.

‘I don’t know what comes after that.’

Her knowledge ended here.

She noticed her eyelids growing heavy, creeping downward with each breath.

She’d secured her position.

Just in case, she’d covered her footprints at the Cave entrance with snow, and all that remained was time to recover her strength.

‘Krasch.’

For some reason, she found herself longing for him.

Holding the memory of his tender hand brushing against her head, Bianca drifted gently into sleep.

＊ ＊ ＊

Considerable time had passed since she became stranded.

A massive avalanche struck the lower slopes of Haden Hartz Mountain, forcing the search parties to struggle through brutal conditions, and Bianca’s rescue was delayed further still.

Isolated, Bianca survived by foraging on Mountain Berries and winter greens she’d read about in books, barely scraping by.

By good fortune, she’d discovered a Medicinal Herb good for sprains midway through and crushed it with a stone to press temporarily between the Bandage layers—that was all she could manage.

The pain had lessened somewhat, but her ankle showed no signs of healing.

‘It’s either cracked or broken.’

Either way, the situation was far from favorable.

The real problem came when she discovered what appeared to be Berkman’s footprints while gathering Mountain Berries.

‘He’s close.’

He was pursuing her.

Once Bianca realized this, she severely restricted her movements.

Being spotted by him would mean the end.

The best outcome would be for the search party to arrive before him.

But Bianca harbored doubts about that possibility.

Because she was forced to hide from Berkman, the search parties would surely have a harder time finding her.

And with each passing day, she felt her body growing weaker.

Even with Snow White Heat Fungus, she was still just a thirteen-year-old child.

Enduring life outdoors through a harsh winter with inadequate nutrition was no simple feat.

“…I fell asleep again.”

Bianca, increasingly drowsy, rubbed her eyes.

No amount of sleep on the cold stone floor could shake the exhaustion from her bones.

This was bad.

Next time she closed her eyes, she feared she might never wake again.

It was then, thinking this, that Bianca forced herself to rise and move.

Crackle—

Beyond the cave, in the undergrowth, footsteps echoed.

Bianca’s face went rigid.

A grown man’s footsteps.

Of course, those steps bore no resemblance to any search party.

“Found her.”

The moment she heard that whispered voice, Bianca bolted.

Footsteps immediately gave chase behind her.

Bianca ran the shortest route she could, using a path she’d scouted beforehand.

She deliberately headed toward dense woods where a large frame would struggle to pass.

But her injured leg kept betraying her.

The pain in her ankle slowed her pace.

Crash!

Behind her came the sound of wood splintering and collapsing.

“Ugh!”

At that sound, Bianca tried to change direction, but the sharp pain in her ankle held her fast.

Thud-crash-crash-crash!

The fallen log rolled toward her and struck her fragile body.

Hit by the log, Bianca tumbled across the snow for a long stretch.

“Hgk… nngh.”

Weak moans escaped her lips.

Pain shooting through her entire body left her unable to move even a finger.

Blood trickling down her forehead wet the corners of her eyes.

It was as though Bianca, who had never shed a tear in all her life, was now weeping tears of blood for the last time.

“Always running away, aren’t you, Miss?”

As she fled, Berkman’s low voice rang out across the forest.

He leaped lightly from branch to branch and landed squarely in front of Bianca.

Then he seized her snow-white hair and lifted her bodily off the ground.

“Nngh…”
“Interesting—not a flicker of emotion. You really are a hardened sort, aren’t you?”

Lifted by Berkman’s grip, Bianca could not even struggle.

The exhaustion accumulated over so long, combined with the pain she’d just endured, had drained every ounce of strength from her body.

“Still, making a person suffer like this—I suppose a hostage ought to be roughed up a bit first!”

Berkman rose to his feet, holding her suspended in that same grip.

The tug wrenched her hair painfully at the roots.

At the same moment, he tore the Hairpin from her hair and clutched it in his fist.

He would sell it, he decided—it looked expensive enough.

Bianca watched the Hairpin through half-lidded eyes and slowly began to close them.

She had done all she could.

She had no strength left to endure.

And as her eyes dimmed, it seemed Krasch’s face appeared within them.

He who had changed completely from a single day onward.

At first, she had stayed close to him wondering if he meant to take his own life out of depression.

But somehow, that too had become routine.

He had never found her Curse troublesome.

Though he sometimes wore an apologetic expression, his way of seeing her was fundamentally different from how others looked at her.

Was that why?

Over this past year, Krasch’s side had felt far more at ease than Haden Hartz Mountain.

Him training, and her reading a book beside him.

Nothing remarkable, just daily life—yet those were undoubtedly happy days.

‘Happy, of all things.’

Never would she have imagined she could feel joy.

Joy is certainly an emotion, isn’t it?

For the first time, Bianca found herself questioning whether she truly possessed emotions at all.

What was certain was this: she regretted not having emotions.

If she had felt them, she would have savored the comfort and joy of that moment more fully.

And she would have shared so much more with Krasch.

Somewhere along the way, Bianca had come to realize that he had grown very large within her.

So it was then that Bianca finally opened her mouth.

“K… rasch…”

His name, spoken in a voice she could not quite reach.

It was in that moment.

That the sound of rushing footsteps tearing through the snow erupted.

“Huh?”

It was only then that Berkman reacted.

Thud!

A boy’s fist drove into his ribs with full force.

“Ugh?!”

The ambushed Berkman stifled a cry of pain in that instant.

A second shock followed, spreading inward—but he realized it too late.

Crack! Crack! Crack!

Under the relentless blows, his body folded, and he tumbled across the ground, losing his grip on Bianca.

As Bianca began to roll across the floor in turn, she felt warmth against her.

When her blurred eyes opened, she saw the one face she had most desperately wanted to see.

The moment their eyes met, a wave of relief washed through her entire body.

“Bianca.”

Through his barely parted lips came his voice, calling her name.

That call, weighted with regret and fury and a thousand other feelings, was almost unbearable to hear.

At the sound of it, Bianca slowly lifted her hand to cradle his cheek.

“I’m all right… Krasch…”

As her fingers traced his cheek, her eyes slowly closed.

From her nose came the sound of shallow, ragged breathing.

The moment relief washed over her, her exhausted mind gave way.

Seeing this, Krasch lifted her into his arms and moved forward at an unhurried pace.

Once he’d settled her gently against a tree, a raven descended and perched before her.

“Can you win?”

The raven opened its beak to ask the question.

The opponent was a Slaughter Hound.

He was already renowned as a formidable fighter.

Though he’d fled the Empire, he’d grown stronger after encountering a World Devourer.

By any honest measure, he was clearly the stronger of the two.

“Evelask and I cannot help you.”

The other servants of Crimson Garden were not on Haden Hartz Mountain.

Her only servant here was the raven alone.

While magic could be wielded, it was limited to Lower Magic.

Even for Crimson Garden, that would not be enough to stand against an enemy.

As for Evelask, she was bound by an Unspoken Rule among World Devourers.

The Rule was simple: unless you wished for war, you did not touch another’s servant.

To violate it would mean going to war with the World Devourer who owned the Slaughter Hound.

Evelask would naturally not choose to take such a risk lightly.

Though she had a certain trade arrangement with Krasch, there was no reason for her to aid him at the cost of such peril.

So Krasch would have to face Berkman alone.

Knowing this well, Krasch drew his sword from its sheath.

His blue eyes blazed with clarity.

“I’ll win.”

It was not a shred of a lie—it was absolute conviction.

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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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