I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 53

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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 53. The Swindler

-Quite brazen, aren’t you?

Krash, with his innocent face.

Seeing it, Crimson Garden offered a terse assessment.

She wasn’t comfortable with this either, if she was being honest.

They used to trade jokes whenever they ran into each other long ago, but now she had to pretend he was a complete stranger.

It was stifling.

But there was no help for it.

He had no memory of her.

Krash knew full well that the memories in his head no longer existed in reality.

So while he felt a strange unease, there were moments when he felt oddly relieved.

At least when he thought about his relationship with Lirena standing before him now, this was better.

‘Her face hasn’t changed from then to now.’

It was fine when he’d seen her at the store.

But facing her directly like this, he felt an inexplicable restlessness creeping in.

There was no help for it.

After all, they had been tangled up in affairs one way or another.

Lirena’s eyes closed for a moment at the question, then opened again.

Only then did she belatedly realize that she herself had appeared so suddenly.

Her eyes, usually half-closed as usual, showed a touch of belated embarrassment.

“Oh, I apologize. I’m Lirena, one of the handmaidens serving House Egrit. I’ve been giving some food to Kami recently.”

At the name Kami, Krash turned to look at Crimson Garden.

His gaze carried the meaning ‘Kami? That suits her well’—so much so that he nearly glared at Crimson Garden.

“So that’s what happened. I wondered where Crim was always off to. I didn’t know she’d been scrounging meals. She seemed well-fed enough, but was it not enough?”
“I gave it to her on my own initiative, so please don’t scold her for it.”
“She’s a clever one, so if she felt she’d eaten too much, she would have restrained herself—no need to worry. If anything, I’m grateful you looked after her.”

Growl-growl-growl—

Just then, a sound rumbled from Krash’s stomach.

Lirena, hearing it plainly, covered her mouth slightly.

She was trying to hide a laugh that had leaked out unbidden.

Seeing Krash’s flustered reaction, Lirena tilted the basket slightly to show him what was inside.

“The desserts haven’t been touched at all. How about it? If you’d like, please help yourself.”

Food that would only be discarded anyway.

Since Aslan hadn’t touched the desserts today, they remained in the basket untouched.

Seeing her like this, Krash offered a wry smile.

“After Crimson Garden, isn’t it presumptuous for me to accept scraps as well?”
“Food that goes to waste is the real disrespect to nature. This way, I’m doing a good deed. For Crimson Garden, and for Crimson Garden’s owner as well.”

Her words flowed as smoothly as ever.

Even so, Krash smiled apologetically.

“Then might I impose upon you?”

Those who knew Krash would have gasped at the sight of him now.

-Well, well, laying on the charm thick, aren’t we? I saw you skipping meals all morning and thought you were planning to starve before I could take back my Immortality. But no—you were thinking of courting the girl?

And sure enough, Crimson Garden’s mockery burrowed into his mind.

She already knew the full picture—so why was she itching to needle him about it?

Krash pondered this for a moment before understanding dawned.

It must be because he’d kept her playing errand-crow for the past several days.

But what could he do?

The reality was that Crimson Garden had no choice but to help him grow stronger.

“I’ll sit beside you, if that’s all right.”

And boldness was Lirena’s sole monopoly, not Krash’s.

Even at their first meeting, she had seated herself beside him without much hesitation.

Over the past few days, through her encounters with Crimson Garden, her spirits had lifted.

So it was only natural that she had grown fond of Krash as a person—he who was Crimson Garden’s owner.

After all, they say that a person whom animals readily trust is never a bad person.

Lirena opened the basket and withdrew a cheese cake and black tea that remained from dessert.

“It’s from Alina’s Store.”

And the moment Krash saw the food, he spoke as if he already knew.

“You’re familiar with the shop?”
“Yes, I stop by there often.”

Krash added that while the shop was shabby, the food was excellent—and Lirena nodded in agreement.

“That’s why so many Magic Academy students go there. And they stay open late, which is nice.”

Lirena’s face held a trace of bitterness as she spoke.

She gazed for a moment as if recalling someone, then caught herself and handed over the plate of cake.

“If it’s a flavor you know, I hope you’ll enjoy it. Here you are.”
“Thank you. I won’t hold back.”

Krash cut into the cheesecake with the fork Lirena had given him.

Lirena watched him closely, her mind turning over thoughts.

A boy who looked scarcely into his mid-teens.

The fact that he knew about Alina’s Store—a place only a select few were aware of—suggested he might be a student at the Magic Academy.

There was a certain refinement in the way he ate the cheesecake.

From that alone, Lirena could tell he came from a family of means.

As a maid who had served in noble households, she would never overlook such details.

“Now that I think about it, I forgot to introduce myself properly.”

Having taken a bite of the cheesecake, Krash finally spoke up.

Lirena had indeed introduced herself, but he had not.

“I’m Krash Balheim, of the Cheonghae Knights.”

But the moment those words left his mouth, her body went rigid.

Balheim—that name was a house known even to her, far away as she was in the magical city of Halgram, distant from Staron.

It was the beginning of her strange first meeting with the boy.

* * *

After that, visiting the Park to meet Krash became part of Lirena’s daily routine.

In truth, there was no real need to go.

Yet Lirena found herself drawn toward the Park again and again.

‘Why do I keep going to the Park?’

Even today, as she made her way there, Lirena pondered this seriously.

For one thing, feeding the raven to whom she had given the nickname had become part of her routine.

The raven called Crimson was intelligent, and charming enough that Lirena had grown fond of her.

So perhaps her feet simply carried her there, wanting to see Crimson once more.

For another, there was the thought: what was the point of letting leftover food go to waste?

Though Krash had given his name as Balheim, he ate gratefully whenever she brought food.

At first, Lirena wondered if Balheim was less well-off than she’d assumed, but when she asked Krash about it, he explained that the Cheonghae Knights’ training was grueling—he was always hungry because of it.

Yet whenever he spoke of Balheim, there was a peculiar hesitation in his manner.

So Lirena made subtle inquiries about Krash whenever the maidservants brought gossip from around the city.

Balheim’s affairs were quite well-known even in Halgram, after all.

From these conversations, Lirena discovered one crucial fact.

Balheim’s youngest was talentless.

He possessed no martial talent whatsoever, and was being cast out by his house.

The moment she learned this, several of Krash’s behaviors suddenly made sense to her.

Why would someone of Balheim’s standing be in Halgram? He’d been exiled to the Cheonghae Knights.

The perpetual hunger in his eyes—that made sense too. Balheim must have cut off his support.

Of course he’d always seemed reluctant whenever Balheim came up in conversation.

The distance between Halgram and Staron was considerable.

Halgram was an independent city, not nestled within Staron’s walls.

Because of this, the recent changes in Krash’s circumstances hadn’t yet reached the ears of mere maidservants.

In her ignorance, Lirena had fallen into misunderstanding.

She felt a deep pity for him.

He was still just a boy, not yet an adult.

Being cast aside by his own house must have wounded him terribly.

Perhaps it was because of Aslan—she’d always been vulnerable to wounded boys.

In truth, what she was doing now might be little more than an escape.

There was no way to heal Aslan, so in helping Krash, who found himself in a situation not unlike his own, she was perhaps comforting herself.

‘How pathetic of me.’

But watching Krash eat heartily did bring her satisfaction.

The food she brought each evening from such a distance—Aslan would eat only a bite of it.

Even if he refused what she’d touched, she was grateful that Krash at least ate the portions Aslan left untouched.

“Thank you for the meal.”
“It’s wonderful to see you eat so well. I think you’ll shoot up in height, Krash.”

Recently, Lirena had taken to bringing only food Aslan hadn’t touched, and she smiled her characteristic smile.

Watching her, Krash briefly touched the back of his head.

Noticing he seemed to have something to say, Lirena tilted her head.

“Is there something you wanted to tell me?”
“It’s awkward to say this when I’m in a position of constantly begging for food, but there seems to be something going on with the meals Miss Lirena brings.”

It was indeed a situation anyone would find suspicious at first glance.

The food Krash ate always came from the same restaurant.

And what’s more, it was always leftovers.

Lirena worked for House Egrit.

That she consistently brought food from the same establishment was plainly abnormal.

Noticing that Krash had caught on, Lirena rolled her eyes for a moment.

Honestly, this wasn’t the sort of thing to discuss with others.

Yet she too felt a secret frustration building inside her.

It was hardly painless to stand by while the mistress she served attempted suicide repeatedly.

So she let her lips tremble slightly in deliberation.

‘If I say things like this, I’m no different from those maidservants.’

As she pondered, recalling the maidservants she’d scolded, Krash spoke first.

“I’ve asked too much of someone in a position of accepting charity. I only wondered because you always seemed to have something on your mind, Miss Lirena. If you’d rather not answer, that’s perfectly fine.”

Hearing his words, Lirena covered her face.

“My expression isn’t really that strong. I didn’t think it would show so plainly.”
“There’s someone with more obvious expressions around me. I’m quite good at reading faces.”

In truth, it was more that they’d known each other long enough that he could read her expressions well enough.

Krash smiled and glossed over it that way.

“You’re always lost in thought. It’s bound to show, no matter what.”

Lirena lowered the hand that had been touching her face.

“So you read Crimson Garden’s mind and read mine too, I see.”

Since she often saw Krash acting as though he were genuinely conversing with his raven, Lirena laughed softly.

And at the same time, she wondered how harshly his family must have raised him to make him this perceptive.

“So it is, then. A worry, I suppose. Since you’re an outsider, I wonder if I can complain a little without the head maid scolding me.”

So saying, she gazed up at the sky with a troubled expression.

“Miss Lirena.”

Then Krash called to her.

“I can’t speak in detail about my own situation, but I’m not someone who has anyone to tell secrets to.”

He was the one called Talentless of Balheim.

Lirena sympathized with that point, though with some sorrow, and she agreed.

“They say that when people hold stories in their hearts, eventually those stories become too heavy for them to bear. Don’t you think it’s necessary to unburden oneself now and then?”
“……You’re quite the eloquent speaker, aren’t you?”

Lirena touched her temple briefly.

A gesture that surfaced when one was thinking things through.

After a moment, she turned back to Krash.

“Yes, well. I imagine you’ve heard the rumors recently too.”
“……You mean about the direct heir of House Egrit attempting suicide?”

Lirena nodded.

It was the kind of story no one in Halgram could avoid hearing.

“I’m the handmaiden of such a person. The meals I used to bring you were ones that Aslan hadn’t touched. Though he does eat well whenever it comes from this shop—because there are memories attached to it.”

Lirena stroked the basket gently.

She missed the Aslan who once enjoyed this shop’s food happily, always with someone at his side.

“I see.”
“I’m sorry. I’ve brought up something rather gloomy.”
“Not at all. But I’ve heard that Aslan wasn’t always this way.”

Krash had barely managed to push out those words—nearly choking on the formality of addressing Aslan by such a casual honorific.

“Yes, that’s right. He was a bright person originally. The sort who could endure difficulties and overcome them with grace.”

Once Lirena began speaking, her lips would not be easily restrained.

The story she’d kept locked away in her heart had apparently grown heavier than she’d realized, just as Krash had said.

“……But after one of Aslan’s friends stopped coming around, he fell apart completely.”

Since she—perhaps Aslan’s only true friend—had gone missing.

“Stopped coming around?”
“……She went missing. I searched for her in every way I could, and I even told the family head, but he only told me not to bother looking. So…….”

She’d been pouring out words when she suddenly caught herself and looked up.

She’d thoughtlessly spilled everything—secrets and all.

“Please forget what I just said.”

It wasn’t something she should have told an outsider.

At her request, Krash simply shrugged.

“There’s nowhere for me to tell it anyway.”

Seeing Krash’s unflustered response, Lirena managed a bitter smile.

“It’s strange. I talk so much whenever I’m around you. I’m usually quite reserved, you know.”
“Is that so? I never thought of you as the quiet type, honestly.”

After all, in Krash’s memories, Lirena had always been the talkative one.

‘Though I suppose I did have some intention behind what just happened.’

Krash had his own ways of speaking that he’d cultivated over time, but Lirena was someone he already knew.

So every time they met, he’d shared this and that with her to help her grow comfortable with him more quickly.

Which meant that, without quite realizing it, he’d let his own guard down around her.

It was time.

Krash rose lightly from his chair.

“Then let’s solve that worry of yours.”
“Pardon?”

Lirena looked at him with a puzzled expression, and Krash smiled.

“After all, if we find Aslan’s friend, your problem gets solved too, doesn’t it?”
“……True, but I’ve already asked around quite a bit myself.”
“I’m with Balheim.”

And as Krash declared this, Lirena flinched.

True enough, he was called Talentless, but he was Balheim.

He might well have access to far more information than a mere servant of House Egrit like her.

“……Still, a man who goes hungry every day and begs for food doesn’t exactly inspire confidence about being with Balheim.”
“Now that’s a problem. How do I build that trust?”
“I’m joking. I believe you.”

Besides, she’d already let everything spill out carelessly—no point crying over it now.

Lirena smiled, feeling oddly relieved.

“Then I’ll have to ask for your help, Krash.”

And so she clasped her hands respectfully and made her request.

“Please live up to the meal you just ate.”

And true to form, she added a touch of playfulness to her words.

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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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