Hello guys, here come another part of this chapter. I think this is a pretty interesting one so enjoy!

Also, starting Friday I'll be going on a vacation with my family for one week so don't expect any update!

Well, enjoy !

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High in the sky, the sun was still shining as brightly as ever, just like how lively the marketplace was. In this part of the place, most of the stalls were occupied by food seller and grocers. It was the most animated part of the city where most of the commoners bought their food.

Within one of the backstreets linked to the place, Eniel and Shina were hiding within the shadow behind one of the street’s corner. Shina strangely looked at the calm Eniel who observed each and every corner of the street, afraid of missing even the smallest detail.

Eniel turned around and noticed Shina’s curious eyes.

“What is it?”

“I don’t understand what you are doing.”

Remembering that Shina wasn’t originating from the slums like her, Eniel understood her why she had such a strange reaction.

“Do you really expect me to go and buy some food?”

Shina looked at Eniel uncertain of what she should say or what kind of answer she was waiting for.

“Yes...?”

“Or course I ain’t going to buy it! Why should I buy something from those morons?”

Like she had suddenly understood something, Shina’s eyes widened as she harbored an interested expression.

“So you are going to steal it!”

Eniel nodded after she finally noticed her intentions, she looked at Shina her eyes filled with a touch of sarcasm.

“What? Feel bad about stealing stuff?”

From Shina’s reaction, Eniel noticed that she probably had never stolen anything from her life and probably harbored some principles like ‘Stealing is bad!’. But as she waited with a sneer for Shina to condemn her, she was actually the stunned one.

“Nope, it sounds pretty interesting. Let’s do this!”

A strange feeling filled Eniel’s heart after hearing her sincere reply, the emotion in Shina’s eyes toward her didn’t change in the way she was expecting; in fact, they were now filled with excitement.

This excitement made Eniel feel puzzled and unable to understand what this girl was thinking.

‘Normally someone feels afraid or guilty when they steal something for the first time…’

The more time she spends with Shina, the less she was able to understand her. It was like she didn’t belong to the same world as her, she completely lacked this something called ‘common sense’.

Eniel’s eyes turned back to the street, Shina at her side also looked unusually concentrated as if she was trying to imitate her.

Her eyes mainly focused on the many stalls close to her and their product, she compared their distance with how far the guards were and the time they would approximately need to notice her actions and pursue her.

Unlike Shina who tried to enjoy this new experience, for Eniel stealing was her job. If she was caught she would either have her hand cut or being hang up, serving for the next few months as a new decoration for the city before having whatever remained of her body after being eaten by the birds thrown away.

The food she had been forced to leave behind when she fled was something she obtained at the risk of her life. If it wasn’t because she couldn’t waste any time she would never have abandoned it.

With her life in peril, she couldn’t allow the slightest mistake to happen!

A small stall caught her attention, the merchant was selling a large amount of apple-sized purple fruits. Despite being pretty young; probably still in his mid twenty, the stall’s owner looked pretty sick and seemingly didn’t have the ability to chase after them.

The guards have situated more or less thirty meters away and given her speed they wouldn’t be able to catch up to her given massive the weight of their armor. Normally a city guard would rather prefer to be wearing a light leather armor. But given how dangerous this city was, their duty was mainly of preventing thugs from openly killing people.

Eniel tapped Shina’s shoulder and pointed toward the fruit stall.

“This is our target, try to act naturally as we approach the stall. From the moment I start moving, you will only have two seconds to take some fruits and start running away. You absolutely can’t take too much, otherwise, you’ll be slowed down by the food and caught.”

Not missing a single word, Shina listened to Eniel’s instructions and advice very carefully. Those advice were something that Eniel learned after stealing for years and came from her own experience, Shina didn’t dare doubt a single one of words.

“Just try to follow my lead and stay behind me.”

Unknowingly, worry for the girl began to fill Eniel’s heart. She had slowly started to open her heart which transgressed the rules she had followed until now, she started trusting Shina.

Nodding at each other, the two girls left their hiding spot and slowly walked toward the marketplace. Eniel had changed her bloodied clothes and was now wearing a hood masking her face.

After arriving only a few meters away from the stall, something unexpected happened.

One of the men walking in the street grabbed suddenly her hood and unmasked her, revealing her face to all the people present.

“This is!... It’s that thief! Everyone, I caught that thief!”

While most of the passerby had no reactions, many merchants harbored an angry look.

Eniel’s expression became grave and quickly tried to break free of the man’s grasp.

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“Tch!”

A large amount of the merchant close by left their stall and ran toward her. Eniel’s popularity in this place was very high… In a bad way.

“I remember you! You damn thief not only do you steal my product almost every weeks, but you also once stole the money I needed to buy medicine for my son! That day he almost died because of you!”

“Give me back the ring I bought for my wife!”

“She once destroyed my stall to escape!”

“Mine too!”

Many complain flew at her while she was trying to break free, Eniel had previously noticed that many merchants had once been victims of her thieving talents, but she hadn’t noticed this man who caught her.

It was the man from whom she had stolen the wedding ring he had bought for his wife, such ring were many months of payroll. The man looked exhausted like he hadn’t eaten for days, yet his grasp was powerful like he wasn’t willing to let her go even if he died.

A small crowd was rapidly charging at Eniel, her free hand quickly unsheathed her hidden dagger and stabbed at the man’s arm. A large amount of blood flew out after she mercilessly severed his tendon.

Free of his grasp, Eniel started running toward the alley they came from, but it was too late. Many hands suddenly held her back and tried to immobilize her, preventing her from even moving her hands.

More than ten people were actually holding her body down, with her meager strength she had no way to resist.

“We got her, someone get me a knife!”

“Hurry up, I want that damn thief’s hand cut!”

“I got one right here, let me pass!”

“Don’t just cut one, cut them both!”

Even as many people roared and cursed at her, her eyes kept trying to analyze the situation, searching for a way to escape this hopeless situation.

None of the guards actually moved in front of such a scene, it didn’t matter which city it was the punishment for theft is the same…

Eniel recognized Shina among the people surrounding her. Having the reputation of working alone, nobody imagined Shina being her accomplice.

She wanted to ask for help, using Shina’s strength she might have a chance of escaping… But what would she gain from that?

Ever since Eniel was born, her life rotated around one principle… Never risk your life uselessly.

Eniel’s eyes turned watery as she struggled using all her strength.

“Let me go you bastard! Let me go!”

She wished for help. But even if she asked for help, in the end, Shina would only put herself in danger without gaining anything in return. Yet, she innerly hoped for help, no matter how ridiculous she'd found this thought to be… she wanted to be able to trust someone.

Shina who had remained silent until now gazed at Eniel held down by many people who were exploding with rage and joy.

Under Eniel’s eyes, the atmosphere around Shina abruptly vanished. Her eyes turned cold and ruthless, she didn’t look like an innocent child anymore.

Her mouth slowly opened as a low and cold voice came out.

“Unhand her…”

Hearing her words, only two men glanced at her.

“Do you think she is her friend?”

“Who care? Just leave her alone.”

The two men quickly lost interest, not noticing how Shina normally black eyes slowly turned crimson.

“Didn’t you hear me?... I asked you to…”

Shina’s feet swiftly left the ground before landing on the shoulder of one of the men holding Eniel down.

“LET HER GO!”

The impact of Shina’s kick completely shattered the man’s shoulder to the point where even if it was hit by a hammer it would have been in a better state.

His bone were completely crushed under her overwhelming strength!

Everyone suddenly watched Shina’s darkened appearance who seemed to be radiating with a darkish aura. Her crimson eyes were filled with anger and a faint amount of killing intent.

The onlookers shed cold sweat to the point where their clothes were as wet as if they had taken a bath with their attire on.

The atmosphere around Shina turned colder and colder, they could feel the temperature dropping to the point where they wouldn’t have been surprised if snow started to fall. Without giving some time for the men to react, Shina’s fist landed on one of the men’s face, shattering his nose and jaw while sending him flying ten meters away.

Every time Shina lifted her hands, someone was sent flying into a wall or destroyed one of the market’s stall. The place slowly started to be filled with unconscious bloody bodies.

Nobody dared remain close to her, the passerby quickly began to panic and run away, leading to a general chaos. But within this chaotic place, only a single person looked at Shina with bright eyes as a single tear fell down from her cheek.

Shina extended her warm hand to the lying Eniel who slowly grasped it.

“Thanks…”

Responding with a little nod, Shina pointed toward the alleyway they came from.

“Humu… Let’s get moving.”

“Y-Yes…”

Still, in unsettled state, Eniel agreed in a low tone and walked toward the alley.

“Oh right, I almost forgot.

Shina ran back to the marketplace before returning, carrying five strange purple fruits.

“Operation Succeeded!”

On those words, Shina gave her three of the fruits and held her hand as they walked away...