Chapter 13
Chapter 13
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Translator: Vine
Chapter: 13
Chapter Title: Not That Kind of Person (1)
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There isn't a soul in this world who doesn't know the importance of money.
Even a five-year-old kid who hasn't grown a single whisker knows that.
And as everyone grows up and enters the working world…
Most come to the bone-deep realization of just how difficult and arduous earning money is.
Barring a few exceptions, like being born to wealthy parents or winning the lottery…
To earn money, one must continuously create value worthy of it.
Therefore, whenever you spend money, you must understand how precious it is.
You must properly comprehend its value.
Otherwise, you will one day come to deeply regret your actions.
‘I’m out of money. I’m sure I had a decent amount left…’
Clink.
A coin rolled feebly inside the empty can.
Two 1-credit coins and one 5-credit coin, for a total of 7 credits.
It was the change I had left after buying a deluxe chocolate cornet for lunch today.
To think that this amount, not even enough for a single meal, barely enough for a piece of gum, was now my entire fortune!
Overcome with self-loathing, I covered my face with my hands and rolled back and forth on the bed.
‘Of all the times, why did the baker have to come out with a special menu item right then!’
Of course, the baker wasn't really at fault.
He’d simply gained some financial breathing room thanks to an increase in customers and ambitiously created a new, limited-quantity product.
It was my own stupid choice to foolishly give in to temptation.
I’d spent every last credit I had.
‘But still… how could anyone resist a giant chocolate cornet shimmering like gold, as if glazed with honey!’
Half resigned, half self-loathing, I idly crumpled the edge of the bed with my psychokinesis.
Then, feeling dejected, I clutched my head and thought.
‘Haa, I was never a big eater before. But for some reason, ever since I ended up in this body, I find it hard to control my appetite. Especially these days.’
Back when I first fell into the underworld, one hamburger a day was enough to fill my stomach.
Was it because using psychokinesis made me hungry so quickly?
As time went on, the amount I ate began to increase noticeably.
One meal a day became two, and two became three in the blink of an eye.
At this rate, I was worried I’d soon become a pig with a bulging belly.
‘Ugh… Well, eating well is a good thing. It’ll help this shorty grow taller. But the more important thing right now is that I’ve spent all the money I saved up…’
I glanced up at the dirty calendar hanging on the wall.
Today marked one week since my nighttime chase with the blonde pervert.
For the past week, I had minimized my time outdoors.
If I happened to run into him in the back alleys again, I wasn't confident I could get away.
Naturally, I had also completely halted my one and only source of income: my petty thievery.
I had been spending my days just using up money with nothing coming in.
Thankfully, I had saved up a little to buy a bed, so I didn't starve immediately.
But it seemed I had finally reached my limit.
I really, truly had to do something.
‘Maybe I’ll just do a little thieving… just for a bit, just for today?’
The thought surfaced very cautiously.
No matter how I looked at it, finding work outside seemed difficult.
First, whatever I did, I would have to cover my body if possible, or at least my face.
My face was too conspicuous for wandering the underworld.
But what kind of employer would hire someone who kept their identity completely hidden?
On top of that, I couldn't speak and knew nothing of the world. If it were me, I’d kick them out in a heartbeat.
Besides, right now, I was a useless can of a person without my psychokinesis.
And using my psychokinesis openly was far too risky.
So, after going around in circles, I came to the conclusion that petty thievery was the best option.
Huh? Then why not just openly steal things or rob everyone in sight?
Unfortunately, that was truly the worst of the worst choices.
Willingly giving people stronger than me, who were everywhere in this city, a reason to beat me up?
I’d have a better chance of surviving a bungee jump from a skyscraper without a cord with only a broken leg.
‘Haa. If only I could speak, there would have been so much more I could do. I never knew being mute would be such a handicap.’
To think that after all that, the only thing I could do was resort to thieving.
I suppressed the creeping anxiety and tried to calm my emotions.
It had already been a week, after all.
Surely the blonde pervert wasn't still lying in wait, right?
And even if I did run into him, there was nothing I could do.
No matter what, I couldn't just do nothing and starve to death.
And so, pushing down the fear that slithered up within me…
I donned the new cloth I had acquired and leaped from rooftop to rooftop under the night sky of the Western Labyrinth.
“Kyaaah!”
‘Found one. A bad person.’
It seemed the underworld of Nighthaven hadn't changed a bit in my absence.
Just like usual, I was able to quickly find a bad person suitable for a little thieving.
I landed silently in the back alley with practiced ease and, as always, subdued the scoundrel with a light psychokinetic flick to the forehead.
The moment I was about to snatch the wallet from the man who had collapsed limply to the ground…
I heard the sound of footsteps rushing toward me.
“Found it! It’s the real ghost!”
“Kihehehet! We have to catch it alive!”
“Uoooooh! The 700,000 credits are mine!”
What is that?
I instinctively took a step back at the sight of the suspicious group, who looked like they were straight out of a post-apocalyptic movie with their mohawks.
And there weren't just two or three of them; the alley was practically bursting at the seams with their numbers.
Forgetting all about the wallet in the fallen man’s pocket, I had no choice but to turn and flee in a hurry.
The only silver lining was that none of them seemed to be on the level of the blonde pervert, so I was able to shake them all off quickly.
But I could clearly sense that something was seriously wrong with the situation.
‘Wh-what in the world?’
Thoroughly bewildered, I paused my thieving for a moment and decided to watch the back alleys carefully from a rooftop.
“Kieek!”
“Is that the ghost?! Dammit! It’s not! Who left a hell toad in the back alley?!”
“I heard those spike-haired guys found something earlier! It seems the ghost is real after all!”
“700,000, where are the 700,000 credits! Kihehehek!”
The back alleys were swarming with an unusually large number of metahumans.
There was an alligator-man carrying a sword, a dwarf with a Heihachi hairstyle, and even a fishman wearing a fishbowl.
They were so distinct that it was impossible to find any common thread among them.
They would react swiftly to any scream or commotion in the alleys, rushing toward the source in a massive horde.
From their conversations, I gathered that they were bounty hunters.
And that a ridiculous bounty of 700,000 credits had been placed on my head.
As far as I knew, 700,000 credits was a fortune large enough to live on for a year without working.
Judging by their reactions, it was clearly enough to make the bounty hunters go crazy.
‘There’s no way I can do any thieving like this…’
To be honest, the individual bounty hunters weren't that strong.
Watching them fight the thugs in the back alleys, they seemed only slightly stronger than an average person.
But there were so many of them. No, there were way, way too many.
There were so many that the hordes of bounty hunters would take down the bad guys before I could even find them.
At this rate, thieving was out of the question; I’d have to be careful just wandering around at night.
‘Ugh, this is a huge problem. I never thought this would happen.’
It was something I hadn't imagined in the slightest.
If I had anticipated anything, it would have been the blonde pervert roaming around.
Who would have thought the back alleys would be swarming with bounty hunters?
This meant that my grand and magnificent plan to earn money through thieving was now nothing but smoke.
‘What should I do…?’
Growl.
Was it because I had been treating it to lavish meals lately?
My cute little stomach, ignorant of my troubles, demanded to be fed.
How tactless of it, especially at a time like this.
Depressed, I let my shoulders slump and walked aimlessly, letting my feet carry me wherever they pleased.
‘How did I end up here?’
Then I suddenly realized I had reached the vicinity of Greg’s general store.
Was it because bounty hunters rarely came to this area?
It seemed my feet had unconsciously led me to this quieter place.
…Quiet is nice, but I don’t have anything to sell right now.
There’s no need to get deeply involved with a character from the original story and take unnecessary risks.
After making a quick decision in my head…
I turned without hesitation to leave.
That is, I would have, if it weren't for the incredible smell of meat that suddenly wafted over to me.
‘Ugh, that smell… B-barbecue…!’
It was a form of violence.
For someone whose stomach felt like it was stuck to her spine, it was a vicious assault of scent, like a leash being snapped around my neck.
The intense, dizzying aroma of meat was so powerful it made my brain surrender on the spot, causing me to drool onto the ground.
‘Sluurp, no. Greg is just a reliable business contact. Making contact in such a pointless way is…!’
“The ghost. Are you here to trade?”
‘Ah.’
When I came to my senses, I, who had been on a rooftop just a moment ago, found myself standing before the half-open door of Greg’s shop.
I couldn't even resist the smell of meat. What an idiot!
I squeezed my eyes shut and bowed my head in deep self-loathing.
And just as Greg, seemingly puzzled by my sudden appearance, strode over to stand before me…
Groooowl!
A thunderous roar erupted from my stomach.
It was so loud that I felt all the blood drain from my body out of shame and embarrassment.
“…Want one?”
Greg, seeming to have a rough idea of my situation, offered in a somewhat cautious voice.
An orc offering me meat.
He was such a gentleman I could almost cry.