“Dammit! Stop right there, criminal scum!”¹

The shadowy figure halted and raised his hands up in defeat.

“W-Wait, I—”

Not waiting for him to finish his sentence, I jumped down from the bed and kicked him away. I then snatched the necklace from the table and wore it, making sure that it was safe.

Stomping toward the figure, I slashed Avaron down. However, since I did it half-heartedly, he managed to dodge it—though, in the funniest way possible: falling flat on his stomach.

It was so funny that I also let go of my rage. Almost.

‘He’s definitely not an Assassin if he dodges like that. Probably, he’s a small-time thief.’

Though, it was definitely suspicious that he could infiltrate this mansion.

“Who are you?” I glowered as I put my foot on his back, lightly pressing it down. “And don’t try anything funny. The walls of this mansion are thin, and everyone would definitely hear my scream.”

“Y-Yes! F-Forgive me, milady!”

Pressing my foot against him a little bit harder to remind him of his current situation, I opened the nearby cabinet and took out a candle and lit it up.

I could see in the dark with my eyes, but I still needed a bit of light to do that. So, only now could I see the face of the disgusting thief who tried to take Ria’s gift.

Blonde hair, blue eyes, and a face too handsome for my liking; that was what the thief looked like. Also, it seemed like he was in his teens. 

However, he didn’t dress like a thief. Instead, he was wearing the same armor that the guards had.

“Who sent you?”

“N-No one!” He immediately replied. “I-I’m a guard of this mansion! P-Please, if you don’t believe me, check it with Head maid Ri— EUGHHH!”

Before he could finish his sentence, I slightly lifted my foot up and stomped down with full force. It definitely knocked the air out of his lungs, but I was sure that it didn’t do any serious damage since he was wearing armor, and my [STR] stat was too low.

“Don’t you dare utter her name with your mouth, thief.”

“I-I got it!”

With the thief whimpering under me, I slowly opened my mouth again.

“If you’re a servant of House Leinfall, why are you trying to steal from me?”

“T-That…”

“Is the wage not high enough? I swear, fifty Silvers a month is more than enough for Commoners.”

“It’s not enough!”

The thief, realizing his mistake, tried to take back his words. However, it was too late.

“Are you saying that…you’re stealing just because of your greed? Because you can’t be content with what you have?”

Of course, I knew that this was the case. What else would people be stealing for o—

“N-No! I need more money for my sister!”

My ears twitched at his words.

{Bet you didn’t see that coming.}

‘Shush.’

Sighing, I threw Avaron into a corner and sat down on my soft bed. Crossing my legs, I tried to sound as intimidating as possible.

“Kneel, now.”

The thief shuddered and immediately got on his knees.

“Tell me, why would you need more money for your sister?”

“S-She’s really sick! I-I need at least one Gold a month to afford her treatment!”

“...And how long has this been going for?”

“J-Just under three months, I swear!”

‘Three months…’

That coincided with the first time Mom complained about one of her fishing rods going missing. Yes, fishing rods, not jewelry. Apparently, she liked fishing more than collecting useless ornaments, so she bought the most expensive rods with her money.

Just recalling all the times she went rambling on and on about how great the rods that she bought were made me shiver.

“I guess Mom ran out of fishing rods for you to steal, huh?”

“T-That’s right—”

The thief covered his mouth before he could finish his foolish sentence. However, like before, it was too late.

‘Hmmm? Why does this feel kind of…fun?’

But I shook my head to clear my mind. I shouldn’t indulge myself too much.

With a heavy sigh, I made my way back toward the cabinet and took out eight Golds.

“Here.” I handed him the money.

Alternating his gaze between the shimmering Golds and me, the thief tilted his head in confusion.

“W-Why would you give me this?”

‘Oh, for fuck’s sake, he’s really stupid. Who would ask questions when they’re clearly being spared?’

Despite thinking that, I’d already made up an excuse.

“Mom would be sad if any more of her rods were to go missing. This should last your sister eight months; come to me after that, and I’ll give you more. If I found out that you blew the money on something stupid, you’ll immediately receive punishment befitting of a thief.”

Now, the thief was on the verge of tears.

“THANK YOU!”

“Shhhhhh! Do you want the entire mansion to know that you’re here!?”

“S-Sorry m—”

“Enough. Leave, now.”

The thief scurried out of my room. Though, he didn’t forget to express his stupidity one last time by closing my door a little bit too forcefully, making a loud sound.

Scowling, I laid back on the bed and clutched the necklace with my right hand.

“If you’re going to tease me, do it now,” I muttered.

{Nahhh, I know that you didn’t fall for that bastard or anything. It’s because his situation is similar to K—}

‘That’s enough. I’m sleeping.’

{...Such a tsundere,} I could hear Avaron sigh.

‘Tsundere? What’s that? Sounds like one of the Otherworlders’ languages. And why do I feel like it’s an insult…?’

{It’s nothing. Don’t worry about it.}

Yeah, definitely an insult.

But by now, I was already getting used to Avaron’s weird insults again. So, after some more back and forth with this bitch of a sword, I fell asleep again.

.

.

.

.

The next morning, I checked the information of all the guards with Ria. As it turned out, the thief was telling the truth.

“Edward, age fourteen, joined the guards four years ago…”

Yeah, I could definitely see why he wasn’t caught until yesterday. With four years of loyalty like that, no one would make him the first suspect.

“Y-Young miss, why are you staring at his mini-portrait so hard?” Ria stuttered, completely terrified. “T-Though, he does look handsome for his age. I wouldn’t be surprised if—”

“It’s nothing.” I closed the registry book with a sigh. “Ria, can you find out more about his family?”

Hearing this, Ria’s body shuddered again. This time, though, it was for a completely different reason.

“Y-Young miss, d-did he offend you? L-Let’s take a step back here, shall we? I-It’s okay to punish him alone, but to involve his family…”

“It’s nothing like that.” I sighed once more. Seriously, why did she think an innocent five-year-old child like me would do something like that?

“Then why are you interested in his family.”

“Oh, I heard rumors that his sister is sick, that’s all.”

“As expected!” Ria’s eyes sparkled. “The young miss is kind!”

‘...Didn’t you just think that I was going to punish his entire family?’

But I wasn’t bothered enough to voice this out loud.

Then, Ria left the room in a hurry.

…Literally five minutes later, she came back with a stack of paper in her hands.

“Young miss, this is all the information you need!”

Not questioning her uncanny speed, I went through the papers. Since Mom kept boasting about how fast I learnt how to read when I was three years old, I could do this without raising any further suspicion.

“Huh?”

As it turned out, his sister wasn’t the only one who was afflicted with the strange illness; the entire village that she was living in, and five more near it, were having an outbreak of the same illness.

“Ria…the paper says that this has been going on for three months…why am I only hearing of this now?”

“Well…” she twirled her hair. “...Normally, children like you don’t concern themselves with this kind of matter. A-Ah, but don’t worry! I’m sure that lord Herald’s advisor is doing something about it!”

‘No, he’s not.’

How did I know that? Well, it was because of the symptoms listed here.

A black patch would appear on one of the patient’s four limbs. It would stay there for five days before spreading to the entire body. Once it enveloped the head entirely, the patient would be considered dead.

This, right here, was something I’d seen countless times on the Demon continent. It was entirely and easily curable, and I was also sure that it was very well-documented; at least, for the higher-class. After all, Saintess Emelia made sure that it was…

So, the first thing any sensible person would do was to look through a library to see if there was any precedent of the disease. If that didn’t work, consulting a Healer would be the next sensible step.

However, seeing as this had been going on for three whole months, it seemed that no one in the upper echelons of this territory really cared.

‘Huhhhh…’ I stroked my chin. ‘...This could be a good chance to make the Common people like me.’

Having the backing of the people would definitely be a great help in the inevitable succession war…if I decided to enter it in the future.

‘I’ll think about it later. First, let’s solve this issue.’

Taking a quill, I wrote all the ingredients needed to make a cure. They could all be found rather easily, so there would be no problem making cures.

After handing the list to Ria, I said,

“Please also prepare a carriage for me. I’ll come to the villages personally.”