I’ll Steal Everything and Escape - Chapter 4

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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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4.
According to Elodie’s precise
memory
, even before the regression, Stefan and Robert delivered the same lines. The only difference this time was that there was no raid by the bird monster. The party dispatched the wolf and butchered the meat.
[‘You’ve had enough, right?’]
[‘You didn’t do anything, and you’re not even that hungry. Are you?’]
Had she simply stayed put, she would have been on the receiving end of such remarks from Stefan, that insolent brat.
She quickly devised a way to slip away from the group. While replaying her past memories, she spotted a small demonic beast that had caught her eye.
‘Jewel Crow!’
It was flying far off, so she couldn’t make out the details, but its size, its color, and the feathers that fell out in clumps were unmistakably those of a Jewel Crow. In her previous life, Elodie hadn’t even known such a creature existed.
The would-be thief decided to make use of the traits of an avian demonic beast that happened to be passing overhead.
[Here it comes.]
While everyone’s attention was fixed on the Quinowolf, Elodie raised the hand mirror she had borrowed from Silvia toward the sky. It was the exact moment the bird monster circled around and was about to vanish.
‘Flash, flash.’
She figured that if she waved it vigorously at the right angle, it would surely respond. A Jewel Crow was, after all, a Jewel Crow.
‘You’ve never seen a mirror before, have you? It must be fascinating. Silvia nearly got carried off earlier, after all.’
Its proper name was Metal Crow, but Robert had always called the creature a Jewel Crow. Naturally, it was because of its peculiar habits.
“It was lucky a Metal Crow happened to be among the avian demonic beasts.”
It carries something that glitters, and if you don’t lose sight of it, you can almost certainly follow it back to its nest. That’s because it’s foolish enough to believe that anything shiny and whatever is clinging to it are one and the same.
“Everyone’s going to think I’m dead. Quite a natural exit, really.”
Getting snatched up by a Jewel Crow gives you a fair chance at survival, since it’s so attached to its ‘shiny things’ that it makes its nest exceptionally soft and cushioned.
“Ahh-ooh.”
Elodie pressed a trembling hand firmly against her shoulder. Blood seeped out from where the claws had dug in. It was a fairly deep wound, but there was no need to worry too much.
‘I have one emergency Potion in my backpack.’
Long live the Academy’s supply provisions.
“Phew. All right, then, let’s head down quickly.”
When the sun sets, the crow returns to its nest. She had to get clear of the area before then.
“It’s a bit short, but if I double it up…”
Elodie pulled a rope from her small Survival Backpack and tied it securely to a branch right beside her.
‘So far, everything is going as planned.’
“Right. Let’s go down.”
Just as she had read in a book, Elodie pressed herself tight against the tree trunk. Slowly maintain your balance, stay calm…
Stay calm.
“Hnnng-hnnng.”
The top student, who had hardly ever needed to use her body, wrapped her arms around the trunk with all her might.
“No, no, I can’t. Time won’t wait for you…”
Squeezing her eyes shut and straining, Elodie finally completed her descent after what felt like an eternity.
“Aaah!”
The final jump was a little hair-raising, but at least both her legs were intact, which was a relief.
“Now…”
Her violet eyes, which had gone hollow without her noticing, looked up at the blue sky. It must have been around four in the afternoon. That left about two hours until sunset, then.
Elodie held her breath and sketched a map in her head. The top student, who had nothing but sheer grit to rely on, kept her eyes wide open as she scanned the ground below even from the sky.
[Eek, t-too high!]
Her mind was half-gone, but her memory was accurate. She had landed farther away than she’d expected.
‘That leaves me short on time.’
To get through the first night alone and safely, she needed to find the Tree of Rest. Elodie bit down hard and set her direction. Then.
“Hup.”
She began to crawl along on all fours.
…There’s no helping it. This place is crawling with demonic beasts, and I’m still weak.
* * *
Days Until Death: D-516
One day had passed. Elodie Pontaine had survived. Alone, no less.
“Phew.”
Gasping for breath, Elodie shrugged off the thick green vines that blanketed her body.
‘Green Net.’
A native plant she had put to good use in her previous life as well. It’s suffocatingly heavy, but when bundled up and draped over the body, its peculiar smell keeps demonic beasts from giving it a second glance.
‘In the end, I failed to reach it before sunset.’
She had moved with desperate urgency, but the Dragon’s Grave was no pushover.
“A Black Rat and a Scroller, too… I nearly died right then and there.”
She’d had to skirt around demonic beasts the whole way, so reaching the spot in time had been utterly impossible. Elodie had no choice but to wrap herself loosely in Green Net and spend the night there.
“Ugh, I feel all stiff.”
Of course I had a nightmare. Maybe I was that anxious, because even the memories of the jerks who haven’t joined me yet
memories
showed up in my dreams.
[Hey, bookworm! Get out of the way!]
[Explain? Are you saying what I just said is ridiculous?]
Then there was Louise Charmant, who flaunted her insufferable personality every single day.
[Hmm. Are your legs just for decoration? Run, Elodie Pontaine.]
[Don’t you dare become a burden to the prince!]
And Tristan Plant, the textbook example of an arrogant knight.
Elodie rolled her stiff neck and closed her eyes.
“Not those. Something better. Let’s think of something good.”
The would-be thief set aside her gloomy past and sketched out a new future.
[My daughter, I missed you so much!]
If I hang in there, I’ll get to see my parents.
Once I get out of here, I’m going to forget all about Robert’s party for the rest of my life.
memories
I’ll shut myself up in my hometown. Maybe I’ll go traveling, too.
Elodie psyched herself up with a firm breath.
“Alright. It’s one more hour to the Tree of Rest.”
The Tree of Rest. Once I reach it, I’ll finally be able to relax. Elodie gnawed on an energy bar while glancing around nervously.
“Hurry up…”
Growl.
Her stomach churned.
“…Hold on, Elodie Pontaine.”
I have to ration my food as much as possible. Searching for something to eat would greatly increase the chances of running into a Demonic Beast.
“Just make it to the Tree of Rest. Then—”
A map unfolded before her eyes with a crisp rustle.
“There’s a strawberry bush thirty minutes away.”
With Elodie’s current abilities, all she can get are fruits and vegetables. Even then, she has to carefully tell apart the poisonous ones before eating. There was a reason she chose the Tree of Rest as her first base camp. The strawberry patch nearby!
Elodie stepped forward with renewed energy.
“Just a little more.”
And exactly thirty minutes later.
‘What rotten luck.’
Before my regression, Elodie had spent all her time at the Beach, listening to Silvia throw a tantrum, demanding a blanket made from quinowolf pelts.
So how could she have known that a monster like that was roaming this way?
‘Poison Scorpion!’
Just fifteen minutes from the Tree of Rest, a black insect as big as a house was menacingly swinging its tail.
“Kiii, kirik.”
Elodie quickly caught her breath and pressed her back tightly against a thick tree trunk.
‘As long as it doesn’t move until it leaves, I must not—’
Crunch.
Her violet eyes flickered downward to her brown walking boot. A small twig was rolling on the ground, mockingly.
“Kiiiiiik.”
Acting on instinct, she threw herself sideways. Clack-clack-clack, a sharp leg dug into the tree trunk where she had been standing.
‘Eek.’
Sprawled on the ground, Elodie frantically flung her backpack in the opposite direction.
“Kiiiii!”
At the dull thud of the backpack landing, the black scorpion swung its body around with a rumbling thrum.
The Poison Scorpion hunts its prey through ground vibrations. Its eyesight is nearly nonexistent.
“Kiik?”
Elodie gulped, staring at the scorpion’s leg that had pierced straight through her precious backpack. If she hadn’t thrown something, that would have been her.
Carefully, she pulled out the green plant she had been keeping tied to her waist.
Elodie Pontaine can’t burn scorpions like Robert, nor heal her own body like Silvia. She has no attack magic, no healing magic.
The only thing Elodie can rely on is her memory. That’s all she has.
Srrrk, something tough silently covered Elodie’s entire body.
“…Kirik. Kik.”
The monster’s presence came closer, searching around. The rustling sound drew nearer and nearer.
‘Hold my breath. I have to hold my breath too.’
Before her eyes, a fearsome leg swayed back and forth.
“Kiiiik.”
And the sharp legs sweep past Elodie again, right in front of her. They didn’t notice. Her trembling hands pulled the enormous leaf tighter against her.
‘Good thing I grabbed the Leaf Cloak on the way.’
The Leaf Cloak. Normally it’s just an ordinary leaf, rolled up to the size of a forearm, but once you cut into it, it unfurls in an instant and wraps around whatever is nearby. Left alone, it’s a terrifying plant that keeps its prey wrapped tight until they suffocate. But if you sever the stem beforehand, it can be used this way.
‘Demonic Beasts don’t pay much attention to plants. And I’m wearing the Green Net, so they shouldn’t smell me either.’
The Poison Scorpion slowly moves past Elodie. Tap-tap-tap, its sharp legs grow fainter and fainter.
‘I’m alive.’
The moment she let out a thin breath and squeezed her eyes shut.
Gurgle-rumble.

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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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