I Became A Thief Who Steals Overpowered Skills - Chapter 97

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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 97. Stop Your Tears

Word spread across the world that Balheim’s Jucheong Knight Order had felled the Star Grade 8 Invasive Species, Agaress.

Since the matter concerned the Demon Realm, every corner of the world naturally turned its attention to what transpired there.

At the same time, people freely lavished praise on Balheim, as one might expect.

Most notably, the reputation of Lilish, Balheim’s direct descendant, soared even higher.

To have slain a Star Grade 8 Invasive Species without losing a single knight to the order.

No matter what anyone said, it was an event that proved her abilities.

So much so that there was talk she would become one of the Top Ten Under Heaven.

Yet behind that triumph.

No one knew that there had been another person who stood against Agaress with desperate determination.

Because that person themselves had sought to hide their identity, and Lilish, for her part, had kept silent until Krash opened his eyes.

As a result, the Holy Kingdom fell into no small amount of commotion.

Just as the public uproar began to settle.

Krash opened his eyes in the Holy Kingdom’s treatment ward.

‘You’re not someone I should leave alone like this. Come out sometimes instead of always holing yourself away. There’s a festival right ahead of here. Let’s go see it together, just the two of us.’

Krash gazed at the ceiling of the treatment ward for a moment.

A memory that had brushed past him in a dream lingered before his eyes even as he woke.

Hair that shone with crystalline clarity in sunlight, and a woman who pretended it was nothing while unable to hide her embarrassment.

‘I know. Someone else has been cursed again, right? I understand, just by looking at you. I do. But for just one day, you could prioritize your own life a little more, couldn’t you?’

And the way she had tried to conceal disappointment on her face when he hadn’t gone that day.

After that, the two of them had spoken less and less.

Krash shook his head, casting the memory away.

Then, as he slowly lifted himself up, the pain that had suffused his body vanished without a trace.

This feeling—it must have been that woman who healed me.

-You’re in bad shape.

Krash turned his head toward the voice he heard.

Sitting by the sunlit window was a raven.

It was Crimson Garden.

“Bad shape? I thought I was done for.”
-Yet knowing that, you pushed yourself to such an extreme?
“I caught Agaress, didn’t I.”

Krash scratched his head awkwardly.

He’d slain one of the harbingers of the Apocalypse, and the satisfaction was complete.

-Let me ask you one thing.

As she spoke, Crimson Garden stepped closer to him.

-What drives you to such desperation?

Crimson Garden knew, beyond doubt, that Krash was a Returner.

Yet even in her eyes, his obsession seemed abnormal.

Krash threw himself at everything with an intensity bordering on madness.

Without sparing his own body in the slightest.

Crimson Garden did not know the circumstances of Krash’s return.

That was why she asked him now.

What reason could drive him to this.

Krash’s mind turned to Arthur.

Once, someone had posed a similar question to Arthur.

Of course, their reason for asking had been different—Arthur’s coldness, not Krash’s desperation.

Yet the fact remained that he had been asked the same question.

And Arthur had answered thus:

‘Do you think you could understand it even if I told you?’

No one can fully comprehend what they have never experienced themselves.

That was why Arthur had spoken as he did.

Standing at the brink of apocalypse, what could someone who had never returned possibly know?

And so Arthur treated those around him as expendable.

He wielded people coldly as instruments, surrounding himself only with those who would never betray him.

Krash was little different.

He used people like chess pieces, only slightly less ruthlessly than Arthur did.

The one difference was that Krash included himself among those pieces.

In all his years of living, he had never once prioritized his own welfare.

He was aware of his own nature—a consumable vessel, stealing curses for others to use.

So now, even with his return, nothing had changed.

The thought had taken root so deeply that over the course of his life, he had come to regard even himself as a mere pawn.

‘You could prioritize your own life for just a single day, couldn’t you?’

The words from his dream surfaced once more.

Krash looked toward Crimson Garden.

If he were to tell her about the Apocalypse, what would happen?

Would she change as desperately as he had?

Or would she accept it with equanimity?

He didn’t know.

Still, Krash opened his mouth.

“It’s necessary for me to be myself.”

There was only one time Krash could live for himself.

And that was when he could prevent the Apocalypse.

—…….

Crimson Garden said nothing, simply watching him in silence.

Soon she drew a quiet breath, spread her wings, and soared through the window.

—There’s just under half a year left before you go to the Academy.

The previously silent Crimson Garden’s voice continued.

—I’ll train you to the brink of death before then, so remember that.

Presently, she disappeared beyond the window.

Watching her go, Krash found himself laughing.

Yes, that was just like Crimson Garden.

Creak—

In that moment, the door to the treatment room opened.

There stood Bianca, holding a wet cloth and a bowl.

She had quietly closed the door, seemingly unaware of Krash’s presence, but then she lifted her head.

When her eyes met Krash’s—

Clang!

The iron bowl filled with water slipped from her hands and clattered to the floor.

Krash stiffened at the sight.

He had promised Bianca he would return unharmed, yet here he was in worse condition than ever before.

There was nothing left to say.

In that moment, Bianca approached slowly.

Expressionless as ever, she came to stand before Krash and spread both arms wide.

Understanding what she meant, Krash smiled bitterly and reached his own arms up beneath hers.

Then he wrapped them around her back and held her close.

Bianca trembled quietly in his embrace.

“I’m sorry.”

At his apology, Bianca only burrowed deeper into his arms without speaking.

As he stroked her hair, she spoke.

“Will you introduce me to your teacher?”

So it had come to this.

“All right.”

Training together before heading to the Academy wouldn’t be a bad idea.

Creak—

The door opened once more.

There stood a woman with peach-colored hair beneath a veil, and Blavi.

“I told you, I was just going to check that you’d woken up and leave. The girl has her responsibilities too. Here, as a member of Sepia, well—you’re awake!”

Seirang, who had apparently been contacted by Sepia and was conversing with a Magic Device in her hand, turned to look at them.

She quickly put the device away and, spotting Bianca nestled in Krash’s embrace, smiled wryly.

“She was very worried. You’ll need to comfort her quite a bit.”
“She came in while I was doing exactly that.”
“I can’t see what happens in here—even with Astromancy.”

It was sincere, but Krash treated it as a joke.

“But isn’t it a bit much to hide that you’re a direct member of Balheim?”
“You never asked.”
“Well, I…”

Seirang fell silent.

She hadn’t asked, that was true.

“In any case, thanks for sending the escort.”

Blavi had reached Agaress before the Cheongae Knight Order had even exited the Demon Realm.

That alone showed how faithfully he carried out Seirang’s orders.

‘If I’d only waited a bit longer for Blavi, I might have taken him down more easily.’

That’s just hindsight talking.

With no telling when Blavi might arrive, she couldn’t afford to waste more energy.

“It’s fine. That was the deal, after all. Even if it hadn’t been, I would have sent word once I heard.”

She trembled slightly, as if remembering something Mirbis had said.

Krash didn’t particularly pity her, knowing exactly what that was about.

After all, this woman was the author of the erotic novels Ebelasc frequented.

Hidden in the third drawer of her room were the manuscripts she’d written herself.

A princess of Sepia by day, an erotic novelist by night.

He’d found it almost absurd when he first discovered it in her chambers.

‘Never thought I’d end up using that.’

In any case, Krash decided it was time to move to the main topic.

“So what about the other deal?”

As he asked, stroking Bianca’s head, Seirang fell silent.

Krash knew suspiciously much about everything.

So she also knew that what he’d said about her death wasn’t a lie.

After wrestling with it for a moment, she finally sighed.

“Fine. It wasn’t a bad deal for us from the start anyway.”

What Krash wanted was the Cheonsal-seong.

The bond between him and Sepia was too deep for Blavi to abandon her over a single lost Cheonsal-seong.

So she could give it willingly enough.

“But are you sure? Telling that girl so much?”

Seirang knew that Krash possessed three skills.

And that one of them was a skill to steal skills.

But Krash wasn’t particularly concerned.

Eventually these things would come to light anyway, as matters progressed.

“Your own secrets would hardly go undiscovered, would they?”

Seirang stiffened, her body going rigid.

By the moment she’d sent Blavi away, she’d already admitted it was her weakness.

Which meant she could never breathe a word of Krash’s secrets to anyone.

“So we’re a secret society, then.”

Seirang forced a smile.

For some reason, when she said the word “community,” Krash felt Bianca’s grip tighten around him, but he let it pass.

“Blavi.”

At Seirang’s call, Blavi stepped forward.

“What do I need to do?”
“Just consent in your heart—agree to give me Cheonsal-seong.”

Blavi obeyed Krash’s instructions faithfully.

Krash raised his hand toward him.

Target: Blavi. What to steal: Cheonsal-seong.

The Black Hood activated in Krash’s palm without requiring a dial.

In that instant, Krash’s body went rigid.

From the depths of his being, an absurd murderous intent surged up immediately.

‘So this is what it feels like.’

Long ago, the curse called the Slaughter Demon had felt something similar.

At the same time, the effect of the Eye Doll grew stronger alongside the Cheonsal-seong.

Cheonsal-seong amplified the power of curses, after all.

The murderous intent that had surged up was crushed and vanished in an instant by the Eye Doll.

At the same time, the madness that kept trying to leak out was also suppressed.

He’d absorbed so much World Erosion this time that controlling the madness had been precarious.

Thanks to the Eye Doll’s strengthened effect from Cheonsal-seong, the problem was entirely resolved.

And that wasn’t all.

‘With Cheonsal-seong, instead of feeling murderous intent toward others, physical ability rises correspondingly.’

He was itching to put his body to the test immediately.

“No. You said you needed to rest and recover.”

But Bianca, sensing Krash’s thoughts, spoke with her eyebrows raised in reproach.

Since Krash knew well what the Saint’s Ability could do, she’d certainly given him a clean bill of health.

But he owed Bianca a debt, so he resolved to restrain himself a little.

“Blavi, how do you feel?”

In the meantime, Seirang turned to Blavi and asked.

Blavi clenched and unclenched his fist, then looked at Krash with a peculiar expression.

“It feels as though the shackles binding my body have fallen away.”
“A pleasant sensation, then. That’s fortunate.”

Seirang smiled with satisfaction and turned to leave.

“I’ll take my leave now. I’ve no wish to intrude on your time together.”
“When the time comes, I’ll be there to protect your life.”
“I can protect my own life well enough.”

She laughed with a dismissive snort and turned to go.

But with her hand already on the doorknob, Seirang glanced back.

“I’m curious about one thing. Where will you be a year from now?”

She could have simply divined it with her vaunted astromancy.

So why ask at all?

Krash found the question strange, yet decided to answer this much as payment for the Cheonsal-seong she had received.

“Rahelern Academy.”
A soft hum escaped her.

Seirang’s smile lingered at the corner of her mouth, and beneath her veil, her lips curled slightly upward.

“I see. Do enjoy your time at the Academy. Oh, and one more thing before I go.”

She continued, as if offering a parting gift.

“The Fake Saint who recently appeared in the Holy Kingdom—is she truly a fake?”

Krash let out a slow breath at her words.

“Are you testing whether I’m a prophet or not?”
“Who can say for certain?”

Why did astromancers always seem to love this air of cryptic significance?

Krash found it utterly baffling, yet he spoke.

“She is not a fake.”

And neither is she genuine.

Only one truth stands certain.

The Fake Saint is a force that will shake the very foundation of the Holy Kingdom.

“That answer suffices.”

Seirang finally opened the door.

“Please look after my friend Astria.”
“What did your astromancy show you?”
“Nothing at all.”

She spoke with honest disbelief, and then departed, her peach-colored hair streaming in her wake.

Just one thing.

He kept hidden the fact that Astria, who should have seen everything, had suddenly gone blind to it all.

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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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