Chapter 7

‘Anyway, is it really that?’

A member of the Dark Streets . Could I be right?

It was kind of interesting to think that something I had only briefly read about was such a crucial communication tool . But on that same train of thought I felt my insides go cold .

This was actually the reason I couldn’t just try to run away at any random time .

It was rumored that there wasn’t a single place in the Empire that the Dark Streets weren’t in .

It would be easy to get caught as soon as I set out if I didn’t have a good plan .

It would also be easy for them to kill me as soon as I was caught .

‘I definitely need Agrita . ’

I was realizing yet again, that she was necessary to me . I listened as Ash made additional commands to the person on the other side of the communication tool .

He told them to find someone who succeeded in stealing a wallet from a noble lady with red hair and a green dress .

Huh, can you find anyone with just those words?

Ash turned around and looked at me after turning the communication device off .

“Sister . ”

“Huh, yeah?”

“Let’s go . ”

“Where?”

“The clock tower . We came to see that . We’ll be able to find the thief soon, so don’t worry about it . ”

Ash told me to forget about it and focus on our outing .

Uh . Yeah . I nodded without realizing but my thoughts were quite the opposite .

I was actually concerned about something other than the thief .

‘Are they actually a member of the Dark Streets?’

Are they really the people who can turn this entire area into ruins in a day if they wanted?

Compared to that, thievery was absolutely nothing .

As well as my stolen wallet .

‘What kind of situation is this anyway?’

I suddenly felt very tired .

It may have been because I spent all my energy thinking about the Dark Streets but I wanted to quickly return home after seeing the clock tower .

I needed to run away tonight, and I wouldn’t be able to do it if my body and mind were tired .

Let’s return quickly and save up some energy .

We quickly came to the square because of the sudden sense of urgency that overcame me .

As soon as I stepped into the open area, I realized something .

‘Right, gotta be careful of direction . ’

We may come face to face with Agrita if just go through the square blindly .

As I was pivoting my shoe to o change direction, I heard the communication device respond .

[Master . ]

My gaze darted to Ash’s pockets .

The voice felt so familiar to me despite having heard it only once .

Ash stopped in his tracks .

“Report the situation . ”

[I found him . ]

What? They really found the thief?

“Who is it?”

[It’s street thief with a small child like body . I can’t tell if it’s from an illness or if they were just born with a small body but they are using it to their advantage to steal things from people’s pockets from below . ]

“That’s why we didn’t see them . ”

Ash clicked his tongue . I was busy admiring the fast work of the Dark Streets member .

If you just say ‘find them!’ without any info can you really just find them like that?

I was thinking if it was like the power of a criminal cartel, but Ash asked .

“Location?”

[Do you see the red roof 3 o’clock direction? He’s under that . ]

“It’s that bastard . ”

Ash quickly spotted something after turning his head .

I could see the same thing when I followed his gaze .

Oh, he’s really small .

When I squinted my eyes to look I could see the thief smiling as he tossed around a gold coin .

What is he doing with my money?

Ash started walking towards the thief with me still by his side . His expression indicated that he was thinking about what he would do once he caught the thief .

Ah, wait . Is he going to kill him? That’s a little too much .

Is there no way to let him go after getting my wallet back?

Right then, the thief noticed us and ran .

He’s quick to catch on . Well, Ash and I are pretty easy to spot even from a far distance .

Ash was about to run after the thief, but stopped in his tracks .

Uh, probably because of me . He can’t run with me by his side .

Ash talked into his communication device after stopping .

“Direction the thief is running in?”

[Middle of the square . ]

There was an immediate answer . Isn’t this basically an ARS at this point?

But wait, where did he say the thief was going?

“Why is he running that way instead of turning towards the outskirts?”

[It seems like his gang is there . He seems to have prepared for possibly getting caught and is planning on passing on the stolen goods and running . ]

Ash’s mouth twitched . He seemed to think that the thief’s actions were foolish .

And I was filled with nervousness and my insides went cold .

“Ash… . . ”

“Get rid of it all . ”

[Yes sir . ]

I was about to call Ash because I had a bad feeling but Ash was a step faster .

The person on the other side agreed without a single hint of hesitation at his short order .

It was a moment later .

Boom!!

I heard a loud crashing sound . It was enough for the ground to shake .

I could tell right away where the sound had come from .

If I didn’t I would be stupid .

“……Ack!”

“What…… is this?!”

I could see confused people run in all directions and some fell to the ground even though they were far away .

And I could see the fire even better .

A fire that was burning strong enough to instantly incinerate a small building .

The fire was coming from the middle of the square .

My mouth fell open . It just opened without me thinking .

The words that came out of my mouth had not gone through the common sense filtering of my mind .

“You crazy bastard!”

My voice was clear despite the loud chaos .

Ash looked back at me slowly as if he was hearing things .

‘Just in case’ are the most beautiful and grateful words .

It was because of those words I had brought an extra marble with me today .

I threw the marble and broke it as soon as I realized what I had said .

* * *

‘What did I do wrong?’

As I hid myself in the corner of my room, I thought about it .

‘The fact that I called Ash a crazy bastard after losing my mind?’

And having to use the marble because of it?

No . Even if it wasn’t that, I still had to turn back a day .

Agrita had died again .

Yes, the female lead had died again .

I remembered the huge fire that caught my sight .

I didn’t know how but the person Ash had ordered had created an extreme explosion in the middle of the square .

They say the subordinate follows its master . They must be crazy .

The problem here was that, well there were lots of problems, but the largest one was that there was free food being passed out by the charity group in the middle of the square .

Agrita was kindly passing out food to the people there .

But there was a large explosion there .

Then here’s a question . What would have happened to Agrita?

‘She would’ve died!’

If she could’ve survived an explosion that happened right next to her, she wouldn’t have died so easily when the clock tower crashed either .

The female lead had died twice . I was completely losing it .

“Ahhhhhh . ”

A noise of some sorts came out from between my hands, which were covering my face .

Next to me was a pillow rolling around that had become tattered because of my constant abuse of it .

The moment I had turned back to this time was when Bessie handed me my shawl and I had walked out of my room .

As soon as I realized I was alone in my room, I started abusing my pillow like a madwoman .

There was no other way to let out this feeling of unfairness, sadness, flusteredness, futileness, and other negative emotions .

‘Why?!’

I hit the pillow that had already reached its limit of abuse once more .

‘Why did it have to turn out this way?’

I thought back to the day to try and fix things again .

I was curious as to what I had done wrong to have to go through such a thing .

But the more I thought back, the more resentment I felt .

‘Is it my fault that I took my wallet with me on an outing?! Huh?! It’s the thief’s fault!’

I hit the pillow again .

‘Causing an explosion just because of the thief and his gang is the devil and his follower’s fault!’

I hit the pillow harder .

“Haaa… . . ”

I sighed because of my futile actions . I should ask for a new pillow before going to bed .

‘What is this, really . ’

The more I thought, the more astonished I was . Agrita’s death was always the result of a coincidence .

If she wasn’t there when the clock tower crashed, and if she wasn’t at the square when the thief and his gang were, she could’ve lived if she had been in a slightly different place .

I accepted it the first time because Ash was a crazy bastard, but now that I was on the third time, I was beginning to get flustered and suspicious .

Doesn’t it seem like there’s some sort of evil spirit on Agrita at this point?

“An evil spirit called Ash perhaps…… . ”

I mumbled and lied down in my bed . Then I started rolling around in frustration .

‘My marble!’

The disappearance of my marble started to hurt my heart .

I could shed bloody tears at the thought of their losing one more .

I had imagine a flower path unfolding in front of me when I initially succeeded in stealing the marbles .

I never thought I would end up using two of them at this point .

There was simply no way I could even think of it .

It felt like I was losing years of my lifespan every time I broke a marble .

I knew the marble wouldn’t come back even if I regretted it now . There was no way it would recreate itself even if I went on a rampage about how it was wasted .

But despite knowing this I couldn’t stop kicking my legs in regret .

‘……Lets…… . think that I did something good . ’

I sprawled down on the bed after using up all my energy . I tried to think of it in a positive way .

There were many people who had died besides Agrita .

If Agrita’s death hadn’t been planned, all those people would’ve died an unexpected and unfair death as well .

This was a good thing to do since it turned back all those deaths . Yes, there was a good reason for using the marble .

‘It is a problem that none of it would’ve happened if it weren’t for Ash but…… no . I’ll be in an endless loop if I keep thinking of it that way . Let’s just stop . ’

I sighed deeply and lifted myself up .

I suffered enough .

The present and future were more important than the crazy and astonishing past .