Chapter 301 : The Painful Feeling Of Being Betrayed
After I finished healing Lumon’s injuries, Celine came and looked at Lumon who was lying unconsciously on the ground.
By the way, before I healed him, I tied his hands and legs with the rope he was going to use to tie Nicola up just in case.
Celine let out a deep sigh after I told her everything that happened here including how I stole Lumon’s Gift.
「Unbelievable… Other people would normally doubt it, but I believe you.」(Celine)
After saying that, Celine bent forward and brought her face closer to mine. She then continued talking with a serious expression.
「Mark, listen. You have to keep that a secret from other people. You shouldn’t even have told me about it, you know?」(Celine)
Gifts are said to be the god’s blessings that are rarely given at birth.
The people who are blessed with Gifts would be horrified if they found out that their Gifts can be stolen.
That’s why I can’t just casually tell other people about how I stole Lumon’s Gift.
However, Celine is different. I trust her completely.
「I know. I won’t tell other people. I told you because I trust you.」(Mark)
For some reason, Celine’s face turned a bit red after I said that.
I’ve known her for a long time. There’s no reason not to trust her.
「I, I see… I’m glad that you trust me and told me about it…」(Celine)
It seems that she’s happy that I trust her, which makes me happy too.
『Onii-chan, you might have been able to steal that man’s Gift this time, but you better not to think that you can easily do that again to someone else. Stealing someone’s Gift is not that simple after all.』(Nicola)
Nicola, who was clinging to Celine’s waist, pretending to be frightened after being taken hostage, glanced at me and talked to me via telepathy.
『Is that so? Then, why could I steal his Gift?』(Mark)
『This is an extremely rare case, but I think you were able to steal his Gift because you met certain requirements. Firstly, he carelessly explained about his Gift, so you know how his Gift works. Secondly, he was knocked off and almost dead. Thirdly, he ran out of mana because you sucked it all up. And lastly, you have much muuuuch more mana than him. I think all of these factors increased the chance of your success in stealing his Gift.』(Nicola)
『I see… So, it somehow just happened to work out this time, huh?』(Mark)
I knew it. It’s not that simple.
I just happened to be able to do it this time. I might fail if I try to do it again to someone else.
I decided to tell Celine what Nicola had just told me.
「I see. So it’s not that simple. But it doesn’t mean that you can tell other people about it.」(Celine)
「Yeah, I know.」(Mark)
「But… You can always talk to me about it. Fufu~」(Celine)
Celine replied to me with a smile and then walked toward the carriage.
Inside the carriage, Garrett-san was still tied up, lying unconsciously on the passenger seat. It seemed that Lumon made him sleep with some kind of chemical substance.
After taking him out of the carriage and untied him, Celine used water magic to splash water on his face to wake him up.
「*Cough cough* Wha…!? What is happening!? …Hm?」(Garrett)
「Good morning~」(Celine)
「Garrett oji-san, are you okay?」(Mark)
「You guys… Aa! That bastard put me to sleep!」(Garrett)
Seems like Garrett-san remembers what happened before he lost consciousness.
He slowly stood up and looked down at Lumon on the ground with anger.
「…Dammit! I thought he was a good guy… I met him a few months ago at a bar. He saved me from thugs who wanted my money. I had trusted him since then, but… Khh!!」(Garrett)
He looked so regretful.
It must be hurt to be betrayed by someone you trust. Somehow I can understand his feelings.
「He had been working for me as an escort for quite some time, but… Who would have thought an escort that should protect me from bandits was actually a bandit himself…」(Garrett)
「Garrett oji-san…」(Mark)
He closed his eyes for a second and turned his gaze to us.
「He wasn’t alone, was he? Where are his friends?」(Garrett)
「Don’t worry. Ester and I have taken care of them.」(Celine)
「I see. That’s a C-ranked adventurer for you.」(Garrett)
「But the one who defeated their boss, Lumon, is Mark~」(Celine)
Saying that, Celine stroked my head.
「Is that so? You’re stronger than you look, huh? Thank you, Mark-kun.」(Garrett)
「You’re welcome.」(Mark)
「Anyway, let’s go to the container house and talk about what we’re gonna do with them.」(Celine)
「I think I’ll pass. I leave them to you. I will… stay with my horses…」(Garrett)
After saying that, Garrett-san turned around and walked toward the carriage while looking down.
He seemed to just want to be alone for now.
We decided to leave him alone and went to my container house.
ーーーーー
After a few minutes of climbing the hill while dragging Lumon who was tied up on the cart I made with earth magic, I saw Ester who was waiting in front of the container house waving her hand at us while holding a torch.
「Welcome back~!」(Ester)
「Ester, are you hurt?」(Mark)
「Nope! Celine protected me! It was a piece of cake!」(Ester)
Saying that Ester pointed her thumb toward the battered bandits who were tied on trees next to the container house.
As expected from Ester and Celine. Beating up this many bandits wasn’t a problem for them.
「Mark, can you make a cage with your earth magic? We need something to put them in. Make it as durable as possible just in case.」(Celine)
「Alright.」(Mark)
I made a 5×5 meter cage with earth magic, and then we put Lumon and the other bandits in it.
All of them were injured and some were unconscious, so none was able to flee when we put them in the cage.
I made the cage as hard as steel, so they definitely won’t be able to escape.
「For now, I will watch them until morning. After that, I will go to Torfe Town with Garrett-san to bring the guards here. Mark, Ester, can you watch them while I’m gone tomorrow?」(Celine)
「Aye, Ma’am!」(Ester)
「Alright, but are you gonna be okay? You’re going to stay up to watch them tonight, right?」(Mark)
「Fufu. You’re so considerate. Don’t worry, I will sleep in the carriage on my way to the town tomorrow.」(Celine)
「I see. Oh, right! How about Tio onee-san?」(Mark)
「Don’t worry. She’s safe inside the house.」(Ester)
Ester pointed to the small window in the wall of the house.
I looked in that direction and saw Tio peeking out from the inside.
Since we’re safe now, I guess it’s time to free her from the loneliness of waiting alone inside the house.
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Well, it looks like the author actually admitted that allowing him to steal gifts was far too problematic, and restricted it to “just this once.”
The question, then is why allow it at all?
Is there an issue with character development?
It’s called plotting yourself into a corner. The author wanted an exciting development of arriving at the brink of defeat, and later couldn’t find a better way of resolving it. Maybe it will happen again, maybe it won’t.
Most of those prereqs are not even that hard lol, we arlready know Mark has A LOT of mana, and I doubt he was going to steal from innocent bystanders anyway, so “defeated and helpless” isn’t really a meaningful condition either. Really the only important one is “does know what gift does” which seems to be pretty arbitrary. Really the best reason not to do that was given in comments last chapter – the bowl can fit only so much and you don’t want to fill it with say stonecarving gift if you aim to be an adventurer.