I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 9

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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 9. Anix’s Provocation

A murmur rippled through the crowd.

Those who’d witnessed Krasch’s kick had begun gathering, eager to learn what was happening.

The boy’s expression flickered between confusion and alarm.

He’d lashed out in a moment of hot anger, that much was true.

But he knew, even as he acted, that what he was doing wasn’t right.

“I—I was only following Princess Claudia’s orders!”

The name tumbled from his lips unbidden, the weight of the moment pressing down on him—young as he was, he cracked under the tension.

The murmuring stopped at once.

The young nobles began withdrawing with hushed whispers.

Krasch turned the name over in his mind, and a face surfaced from memory.

‘Claudia of Staron.’

The second princess of the Kingdom of Staron.

But why would the princess summon Bianca?

“Princess Claudia asked me to bring Bianca to her quarters, and I was doing as instructed, but she kept refusing, so I had to escort her—it’s a royal command!”

A royal command. Hardly.

A mere princess held nothing close to the weight of a king’s decree.

Yet defying a princess’s wishes would damage one’s standing as a noble.

Among the female nobility, such slights cut deeper still.

‘But why Bianca, specifically?’

Bianca was indeed the youngest daughter of Haden Hartz, the northern lord.

Yet her standing among the nobles had suffered because of the Curse.

Plenty had made their disdain plain enough.

Would a princess who favored surrounding herself with devoted followers really seek out such a girl?

The pieces didn’t fit.

Then a memory surfaced in Krasch’s mind—something from the past.

‘Anix.’

The eldest son of the Graiza house, called the Palace Lord.

The moment his face came to mind, Krasch’s brow furrowed.

Because he was the object of affection for Claudia, the second princess.

In fact, as time passed, thanks to Claudia’s ardent pursuit, the two had even progressed to marriage.

But Anix harbored one critical flaw.

‘Right, I remember now. That bastard was obsessed with my sister.’

At the Star Holy Ground, Anix had clashed with Charlotte and suffered a crushing defeat.

He who had been called a prodigy his entire life, ascending from victory to victory within the Graiza family, had been utterly shattered by Charlotte.

His pride had been annihilated entirely.

But the direction in which his broken pride twisted had gone terribly wrong.

Anix hated Charlotte. He despised her.

How could he not, when she had crushed his genius?

Yet even as he hated her, he yearned for her strength.

Being a fellow prodigy, he wanted to become like her.

And so, over time, those conflicting emotions had transformed into something far more twisted—obsession.

Some of that destructive fire had inevitably spilled onto Krasch and Bianca.

‘If I bring Bianca here, I thought I could bring her too.’

Since Charlotte was beyond reach.

Perhaps he could at least touch her younger brother instead.

“Hah.”

Krasch exhaled a bitter sound, then slowly brushed back the hair from his forehead.

It was the gesture he made when anger consumed him.

‘So you thought you’d lay hands on Bianca?’

As naked fury blazed from Krasch’s eyes, the young nobleman flinched.

Then, realizing he had been momentarily cowed by Krasch’s gaze, his pride wounded, he furrowed his brow sharply.

No matter that Krasch was of direct Valheim lineage, he was younger than Anix.

More than that, he was the one called a Half-wit from Valheim.

The rumor that Valheim had cast him out was now common knowledge.

He had deliberately left Krasch alone out of deference to Valheim.

But Krasch himself was nothing more than a powerless boy.

“You—you!”
“What?”
“No, never mind.”

The boy opened his mouth to cry out, but the moment Krasch shot him a sharp look, he swallowed his words.

Under Krasch’s fierce gaze, his nerve simply crumbled.

“I’ll go.”

At those words—at Krasch saying he would go—the boy’s head lifted.

If he failed to obey the princess’s command, he would surely be stripped of his place as her loyal servant.

Yet the moment relief crossed the boy’s face, what came from Krasch’s lips was something entirely unexpected.

“But the report goes to Anix, not to Princess Claudia.”
“Ah, why to Anix?”

Krasch looked at the self-proclaimed loyal servant and clicked his tongue.

“You follow the princess, yet you don’t even know on whose request she gave that order? Pathetic. Your eyes are truly blind.”

Well, blind eyes would certainly explain how someone like Anix had bewitched him.

The moment the boy realized Krasch was belittling him, his face flushed red—but before it could fully bloom, Krasch seized Bianca’s hand.

Together with her, he turned and began to walk.

It was a thoughtless gesture, born from the conviction that leaving this wretch alone would only attract more parasites.

But as they walked, Krasch suddenly remembered something.

“Bianca.”
“Yes?”
“Why didn’t you go, even though it was the princess’s command?”

For all that Bianca was precocious beyond her years, she was only twelve.

He himself had grasped the situation because he was a returner who knew all the circumstances.

Bianca had no idea how his relationship with Anix was intertwined.

So why had she deliberately chosen not to obey the princess’s order?

“Because you told me to wait here, sir.”

Krasch blinked once.

She was saying his word took priority over the princess’s command?

He studied her blank expression for a moment, then reached up with his free hand and gently stroked her head.

“Good girl.”

One had to reward obedience.

Her head, small as it was, bobbed and swayed with each pass of Krasch’s hand.

Something almost like amusement tugged at Krasch, and he withdrew his hand.

The displeasure that had clouded his mood moments before seemed to have lifted, at least in part.

Then your mood should’ve improved a bit.

Let me have a word with Anix first.

＊ ＊ ＊

Anix was not far from the Main Party Hall.

Since the party had been underway for some time, the young nobility were mostly enjoying their own pursuits by now.

So it was no surprise that Anix had chosen the Terrace—a place where one could admire the outside scenery.

The moment Krasch arrived at the entrance to the Terrace, he came face to face with a familiar figure.

A boy with markings like a tiger’s stripes etched across his skin.

Ballak Hogma.

Anix’s subordinate stood at the entrance leading out to the Terrace.

The moment he saw Krasch, his feline eyes gleamed.

“Hey there! Nice to see you!”

Seeing him greet so readily, Krasch regarded him with an impassive stare.

Ballak was a swordsman who wielded two blades with ease.

Skill-wise, he had no shortage of talent, yet his temperament posed certain complications.

To describe him plainly:

An explosive you could never predict.

He was the sort of person terribly difficult to handle.

Ballak bounced about erratically, as though no one could fathom what occupied his mind.

He was simply that peculiar a breed of human.

“I’ve come to see Anix.”

For that reason, Krasch hoped to pass by without friction.

He found dealing with Ballak to be a headache.

“Right! Anix told me to let you in if you showed up!”

Fortunately, it seemed Anix had already given the order in advance.

“Fine, then.”
“But I don’t want to!”

Just as Krasch reached for the Terrace door handle, Ballak blocked his path.

With only a year’s age difference between them, Ballak stood at nearly the same eye level as Krasch.

His face was clearly visible as it broke into a wide, silly grin.

“I’m interested in Krasch too!”
“I’m not interested in men.”
“Huh? Does it have to be a woman?”

Ballak tilted his head, confused by her words.

Krasch felt a dull throb at his temple.

“So?”
“Let’s fight!”

He’d seen this coming from a mile away.

Ballak was a battle junkie who had charged at Charlotte without hesitation the moment she arrived at the Star Holy Ground.

He’d been soundly thrashed, of course, but unlike Anix, he didn’t linger on the defeat.

He simply enjoyed fighting for its own sake.

So it made perfect sense that his battle hunger would flare up at the sight of Krasch, a fellow member of Valheim like Charlotte.

“This is the Star Holy Ground. Fighting is forbidden here.”
“But you fought Charlotte! I want to fight you too! Though you do look weaker than her.”

He was comparing himself to the star who stood at the apex of Staron.

Krasch deliberated for all of a heartbeat.

He could ignore Ballak and try to open Terrace, but—

Given Ballak’s nature, he didn’t seem the type to step aside that easily.

That said, it wasn’t as though Ballak was weak.

Far from it.

‘He’s Expert Class, same as me.’

If anything, Ballak’s level was slightly higher.

But Ballak’s real problem was his innate combat sense.

That unpredictable nature of his was reflected perfectly in battle, and thanks to that sense, he was the one who’d lasted longest against Charlotte.

Though that was only about three seconds longer than Anix, to be fair.

‘I don’t want to tangle with this idiot when I need to meet Anix.’

But looking into Ballak’s eyes, Krasch saw no mercy there.

“Fine.”

So Krasch relented.

“Wow, thanks!”

Whoosh!

And Krasch immediately threw a punch straight at Ballak, even as the man was voicing his gratitude.

The moment a fist saturated with Oura reached inches from Ballak’s face, he snapped his head back with extraordinary reflexes.

Ballak’s flexibility—bending his waist so far that the ground nearly touched his head—was enough to draw admiration.

But before Ballak could spring back with a gasp, Krasch swept a kick across his legs.

Thud!

Ballak flew lightly into the air from the blow.

And in the next instant, Krasch’s elbow came down hard across Ballak’s abdomen.

Bang!

Ballak crashed to the ground under Krasch’s assault.

As Krasch stood silent, staring down at him, Ballak suddenly sprang up with a backflip.

In that motion, he folded his arms across his torso in defense and then slowly began to smile, eyes gleaming.

“No mercy, then?”
“You’re the one who wanted to fight.”

Krasch rolled his neck with a pair of sharp cracks.

Krasch was a half-wit.

Compared to the Generation of the Sky, his ability was pitiful enough that he’d served as a curse shuttle for them.

And yet, he had lived to the very end.

Part of the reason Krasch survived was that he never stood on the front lines.

But through sheer desperation to stay alive, he had clawed his way to possessing a faint martial skill.

At least enough not to get beaten around by children.

Of course, by the time they reached adulthood, their talent would surpass his—that was reality.

Which meant, for now, he didn’t lose.

“Great! Perfect! Let’s keep going! I want to grab a weapon too!”
“You want to? But I don’t think there’s any need to continue.”

The moment Ballak shouted with enthusiasm, Krasch spoke coldly.

Ballak didn’t understand what those words meant—then blood suddenly gushed from his nose.

“Huh?”

The instant Ballak expressed his confusion, his eyes rolled back and he crumpled to the ground.

Watching Ballak collapse, Krasch dusted off his hands as Bianca tilted her head.

“What did you do?”
“Secret technique.”

The name of that technique was—

Chon-gyeong.

A secret martial art devised by Valheim’s former half-wit, capable of delivering maximum destructive power at the shortest range.

And it was also the secret art that Krasch had learned from a single book he’d found in the hidden library of Cheongsong Manor before it burned to ash.

Krasch had crossed countless death lines thanks to this art.

So it was also the secret art he wielded most skillfully.

“It’s a secret art that comes with quite a few conditions to use.”

If those conditions were met, it was an art capable of piercing through even armor and striking the interior of the body.

The moment Krasch’s elbow made contact with Ballak, he had already deployed Chon-gyeong.

As a result, even though Ballak had blocked with his arm, the impact had transmitted through entirely to his insides, shaking his internal organs violently.

“Ugh… ahh.”

Ballak, struck by Chon-gyeong, trembled several times but ultimately couldn’t rise.

It would have been a different story had he defended with Oura from within, but taking Chon-gyeong barehanded was only natural to collapse from.

Leaving Ballak as he was, Krasch seized the terrace door and opened it.

Standing at the terrace’s railing were a man and a tall woman.

And the woman was Elfin, Ballak’s subordinate, of the same rank as him.

Elfin glanced at Krasch and then moved past him with measured steps.

She was heading toward Ballak, whom Krasch had felled.

When Krasch willingly stepped aside, Anix smiled faintly, his drooping eyes creasing slightly.

“To bring down Ballak like that. I’m impressed.”

This man too had known that Ballak would pick a fight, yet he’d stationed him at the entrance regardless.

Thinking what a black-hearted bastard this one was, Krasch fixed him with a glare.

“I figured you were planning to lure me out by having Princess Claudia bring Bianca to the gathering. So I came looking for you myself.”
“You read that much? ”

Anix showed a genuinely surprised reaction.

At the same time, he stroked his chin with a note of bewilderment in his expression.

“This is very different from the rumors I’ve heard. How strange. Could the rumors have been wrong?”
“If the rumor is that I’m a half-wit, then it’s true.”

Krasch had no intention of denying the rumors of his past.

In the first place, he had no interest in such rumors.

The world’s destruction approaches, unguarded even by the Generation of the Sky.

Rather than worry about rumors, he had to grow stronger, even if only by a fraction.

“Still, if you take a beating from me today, that rumor might shift just a little.”

If he grew stronger, the rumor would naturally transform—Krasch knew this better than anyone.

And Anix was precisely the sort of useful fellow who could make that rumor change.

‘I’m taking that skill of his.’

He too was of the Generation of the Sky.

One of the names on Krasch’s list.

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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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