The Mythical Path of a Princess from a Destroyed Kingdom

"Does that mean I passed?"

Maginus turned to look at the old man and pointed to a rope with bells tied to it, hanging low. A single trouser pocket hung on the rope, and it looked like there were a few copper coins inside.

"If you can take out the copper coins without triggering the bell, then you've mastered the art of stealing."

"I bet besides stealing, they also need to practice hiding?"

The girl asked a question, but Willen waved his hand without answering, letting Maginus practice on his own while he went out to see if the other boys had arrived.

Arriving at the rope covered with bells, the girl tried to put two fingers into her open trouser pocket. As soon as she touched the edge of the pocket, the bells jingled softly. She didn't rush and waited for the bells to stop before trying again.

……

Old Willen's peaceful day passed quickly. As night fell and the young men outside were still conducting their night training, he looked back into his house. The bell had stopped ringing for a while, and Maginus opened the door and came out.

"It has been approved."

Hearing the boy say this, Old Wei Lun had no intention of testing him. He wasn't one of his men. Whether "Ji Mo" lived or died in the future depended entirely on whether he was self-disciplined during training.

“Okay,” he nodded and pointed to the children who were looking for something. “They’re playing hide-and-seek over there. After this is over, you can be the one hiding. I’ll be watching you and I’ll tell you when you get through.”

Chapter 26 Theft

"Why haven't we found it yet!"

The somewhat disheveled blonde young lady smashed one precious vase after another with her hand, and those who had gone out to search for news of Maginus knelt on the ground, not daring to speak.

There was a case where someone interrupted, and Inser turned him into a stone statue and smashed him to pieces.

She smashed everything she could in front of her, glaring angrily at the minor nobles connected to gangs throughout the city. As her emotions gradually calmed, she shouted:

"Have people keep searching! We must find Her Highness before Whitnet's men do! Understand?!"

"Yes!"

As they hurriedly left the mansion, Inser muttered Maginos's name, wondering where the girl had gone.

Eight full days have passed since the Kingdom of Nesery ceased to exist in name only. On the third day, news of Vokri arrived, but there was still no progress on the news of Maginus.

The father, and even Whitney Nizmore, had gone deeper into the cemetery to search for the so-called treasure, and these days they had only made slight contact with it using magic.

It seemed that Inser could slowly search for news of Maginus, but she knew that those liars would never want Maginus to stay by her side.

She couldn't bear to let her favorite person die like this, but her men searched the entire capital and found no trace of the princess.

Even prophetic magic struggled to pinpoint Maginos's location and situation. It could only vaguely ascertain that she was still in the capital and barely alive, but nothing else.

Inser didn't want to know the cause of the accident; she just wanted to find Maggie completely intact as soon as possible!

“Maggie… Maggie…”

Muttering the girl's name, Inser walked into the garden and looked at the trembling nobles bound in front of her. They were all the men who had once opposed her father, Ebeslut.

Since they were all going to die anyway, they were handed over to her to deal with.

Feeling the restlessness in her heart, the young lady pointed to one of the figures with both hands, and a perfect stone statue slowly took shape.

……

On the other side of the city, the girl who was always being nagged by Inser opened her eyes from her sleep, subconsciously looked at the window that was blocked by a wooden board, and then confirmed through the darkness inside the room that it was night.

She had another nightmare, a very vivid one.

In her dream, her deceased relatives kept reaching out to push her away, shouting "Run! Run!" hoping she could get away from the danger. But the danger was still approaching. One after another, unseen dark shadows killed all her relatives and began to walk towards her helpless state.

Patting the dagger at her waist that gave her a sense of security, Maginot looked up when she sensed someone approaching. Jack extended his somewhat rough hand to her:

"Are you still half asleep? Today is your first mission. If you don't feel ready, don't go for now. Be careful not to get caught and beaten to death."

Maginus trained with old Velen for only five days before the old man announced that she had graduated. It wasn't because she had a great talent for thievery, but because he had only taught her the very basics.

With her high talent, she completed her apprenticeship in five days. After consulting with Jack, she learned that the training time for other thieves was also not long, at most fifteen days. The rest she had to rely on herself.

In the best-case scenario, they might be able to bring back their belongings; if they weren't caught, they were already lucky. If they were caught, they would inevitably lose their hands or feet and be forced to beg for a living from then on.

Sure enough, as soon as Jack left Old Willen's place, he found her and asked if she wanted to try it today. Maginos naturally agreed immediately, as she wanted to recover her strength as soon as possible and couldn't wait too long.

It was 2:25 a.m. Maginus grabbed Jack's hand and got up, walking with him toward the street where many wealthy people lived. As they walked further, other nocturnal creatures slowly emerged.

Following the unspoken rules among gangsters, the night owls did not interfere with each other and carried out their own actions. Maginot and several other thieves under Jack's command soon arrived at the wealthy street.

"This is the area where our White Hands Gang can operate. Be careful not to take anything from other places, or you might provoke other gangs."

Hiding in the alley to avoid the patrolling soldiers, Jack whispered to Maginot that some of the thieves following behind him had already left to go to the houses they had been staking out.

"The rest is up to you. At worst, you'll just lose an arm or a leg. You can go over there and take a look; there's hardly anyone guarding that rich merchant's house."

Jack patted Maginus on the shoulder, then disappeared into the alley. The girl, who was stealing for the first time, took a deep breath to calm her nerves and prepared to act.

After scanning house after house, Maginot finally chose the one Jack had mentioned. She walked through the dark streets, circled the mansion, and then immediately climbed over the wall, stepping into the bushes in the garden.

The rustling sound didn't attract anyone's attention. The gatekeeper was fast asleep, leaning against the gate, unaware of her presence. It was precisely because of the gatekeeper that there were no watchdogs, saving Maginus a lot of trouble.

Old Willen once said that when stealing, it's better to find a place with guards than a house with many dogs, because sometimes dogs can be much more troublesome than people.

Passing through the small garden surrounding the mansion, the girl crawled closer to the wall, looking for any open windows. Unfortunately, she was not so lucky; the tightly closed doors and windows gave Maginus no chance to enter.

Recalling old Velen's words, Maginus suppressed her anxiety and chose to retreat first, hoping to find an opportunity to steal something in the next few days.

Jack simply nodded to the returning "boy," his face showing no particular expression as to why she returned empty-handed.

It's normal that he can't steal anything; not everyone is a master thief. Otherwise, he would have more than four or five thieves around him by now.

……

Three days had passed since Maginus first staked out the place. That day, she returned to the house she frequented and her eyes lit up.

A window was wide open, clearly forgotten to be closed. Curled up in the bushes, she confirmed that the gatekeeper was still asleep, and immediately went to the window and quietly peeked inside.

This is the window in the kitchen, with some food displayed inside, but unfortunately she didn't see any spices.

For nobles or wealthy merchants, spices were not particularly rare, but even ordinary merchants would carefully store rare spices.

The girl jumped directly through the window, glanced at the kitchen to make sure there was no high-calorie food, then went to the front door. She listened carefully to the sounds inside the house, opened the door as quietly as possible, and walked into the hall.

Chapter 27 Plenty to Eat

Looking around the mansion, Maginus's heart pounded. She stroked the dagger that gave her a sense of security and began to check if there were any valuable and easily portable items around her.

Vases, sofas, ornamental plants...

Difficult to carry, can't be taken out, worthless...

Glancing at the room above the stairs, Maginus decided to take the risk and stepped onto the stairs. Her light body still made a creaking sound as she walked on them.

She moved forward very slowly, and after a long time, she finally reached the second floor. She pressed her ear to the nearest door, and after confirming that no one was inside, she opened the door.

This room is clearly an office space. There is a chair and a table right after you open the door, and the bookshelf next to it is full of parchment scrolls and two books.

Maginus's eyes lit up. She went into the study and took down the two books. Just like spices, books, or rather knowledge, had a certain monopoly on the continent of Konoil, so books were very expensive.

She glanced at the cover; it was a book about business. The girl tucked it into her bosom and immediately turned to leave, without a trace of greed.

Giving these books to Mallory should net me a few silver coins at a 90/10 split, even though they're just sitting on the study shelf, not really that important...

She thought uncertainly that theoretical knowledge was one thing, but being in the palace, she wasn't really sure about the prices of these items. However, at the moment, Maginus only wanted to alleviate the hunger pangs in her body and didn't care whether she could get all the money.

Without closing the study door, the girl carefully walked down the stairs and returned the way she came; her first attempt went very smoothly.

Emerging from the mansion, Maginus, who had committed the theft, glanced back at the grand estate, lightly tapped the dagger again, and suppressed the unease and guilt in her heart.

……

"Oh, two books?"

The next morning, Maginus handed the two books to Mallory, who took them, flipped through them briefly, and with a very satisfied expression, tossed them into several bags to the side.

One small bag was full of books, another was dedicated to handicrafts, and yet another contained jewelry...

After handing the items over to the so-called boss, she returned to a corner to wait for her reward. It wasn't until evening that Mallory returned carrying a small bag and beckoned to the thieves sitting in the house, including Maginus, to enter the study.

One silver coin after another was handed out. The girl took three coins, glanced at the dozen or so silver coins the other thieves had collected, and frowned slightly.

Based on what she had seen these past few days, renting a room in the slums for a month would only cost a few silver coins, so why were they crammed into this dilapidated house?

After everyone left, Maginus looked at Mallory and asked, "Boss, why don't they rent a place to stay?"

Mallory, who was happily counting the large pile of silver coins in front of him, looked at the girl with a slightly meaningful expression when he heard the question:

"Jimor, because they are all gamblers, the money they steal will basically be lost within a few days. If you are short of money, you can also try it. You might win big."

The gangster spoke with a slightly seductive tone. The girl shook her head, tossed a silver coin in the sunlight, looked at the face of the first King of Nesery, her ancestor, without saying a word, and walked straight out of the room.

"See? I told you that house didn't have any protection against thieves."

Jack smiled when he saw Maginus come out. Maginus tossed a shiny object to his face, and he instinctively reached out to catch it. When he opened his hand, he found it was a silver coin.

"Thank you for telling me about the house."

The girl thanked the boy with a cold face, then retreated back to her usual corner, pondering how to use the remaining two silver coins. Jack scratched his head and accepted the silver coin with a clear conscience.

"Everyone inside, stop right there! Routine search!"

The sound of hurried footsteps and roars jolted Maginot awake from her slumber. She put two coins into her pocket and her pupils contracted as she looked at the open door. Five soldiers burst into the dilapidated house in the sunlight.

Emerging from Mallory's room, where he hadn't left the previous night, he saw that the intruder was a foreign soldier. He pulled his hand from behind his back, flashed a fawning smile, and quietly slipped a small bag into the soldier's arms.

"May I ask what brings you gentlemen here...?"

The soldier who took the bag shifted his weight, his previously fierce expression immediately softening. He patted Mallory on the shoulder and said, "Oh, don't worry, buddy. They just told us to come to the slums to look for the remnants of the Imperius royal family."

"That's wonderful, please feel free to search."

Mallory made way, and five soldiers entered, scanning the faces of everyone, including Maginus. Slightly startled by the girl, they did not discover her identity and then entered room after room to search.

Having received the money, the soldiers were quite reasonable and didn't touch anything else. They smiled, took the hand-rolled cigarette from Mallory, took a puff, and the leader said, "May I ask your name, sir?"

"You guys really worked hard to help Mallory from scratch."

"Not at all, Mr. Mallory, I'll have to rely on you for guidance in the future..."

After a series of meaningless pleasantries, the soldiers left the dilapidated house. Maginus, showing no signs of distress, relaxed and sat down again with the few children who hadn't yet gone begging.

She waited until noon before leaving the house and going to the only bakery in the slum. The aroma of butter made her mouth water, and she clenched her thin, bony fingers to ask about the price of the bread. In the end, she decided to buy a bunch of black bread.

Over the past few days, Maginus has confirmed that, for some reason, her resurrected self can digest food extremely quickly, and only needs to empty her stomach of its contents almost every three days.

Of course, it's also possible that she's not eating enough.

Given this, the filling and inexpensive black bread became her first choice, and she didn't even have to worry about indigestion.

She bought three copper coins and three large pieces of black bread to test the waters. Maginos took back the change, took the bread, and stepped out of the shop. Immediately, a lot of eyes were focused on the food in her hand.

Sensing danger, the girl returned to the shop and sat on a chair, stuffing black bread into her mouth. Since the bakery, located in the slums, was not robbed, no one dared to come in and cause trouble.

As time went on, the shop owner and some poor people watching from outside were gradually drawn to the girl eating, and they all subconsciously swallowed.

In their eyes, a skeletal skeleton was stuffing three large pieces of black bread into its mouth, which were gradually decreasing, but the skeleton's belly showed no sign of growing.

Chapter 28 Inner Struggle

Eat, eat, eat heartily.

Ignoring the gazes directed at her, Maginus stuffed three whole pieces of black bread, each fifteen centimeters in diameter, into her stomach. She felt no fullness, and her body showed no obvious changes.

Her body was still seeking nourishment, but the weakness had lessened somewhat. Raising her hand to touch her abdomen, the girl, confirming that she was alright, got up and laid out five copper coins on the table again, indicating to the shopkeeper that she should get five more pieces of black bread.

After stuffing all the bread into her stomach, the girl clenched her fists. Her body was the same as before, but the weakness had finally disappeared. According to the original plan, it was time to pick up her swordsmanship again.

Murder...

As Maginus walked out of the bakery, though she was thinking about killing her enemy, she still felt a lingering unease about the act of killing, a feeling unique to those who had never done such a thing before.

She walked through the alleys of the slums, and after a while she suddenly stopped and looked at the two figures in front of her who were just as thin as her.

"Hey kid, you've got some money on you, haven't you?"

The emaciated man and woman wore somewhat maniacal smiles, saliva dripping from their crooked mouths, their gazes not fixed on Maginot.

The girl reached for the dagger at her waist, inwardly lamenting that she had waited eight or nine days in the slums before being robbed, wondering if it was because of luck or because she genuinely looked penniless.

She suppressed her nervousness and asked, "I'm from the White Hands Gang. What are you planning to do?"

"What...what are the White Hands Gang anyway!"

The man spoke incoherently, pulled a package from his pocket and ate it. After discarding the package, he took out a worn-out dagger and slowly walked toward Maginus with the woman, his face showing excitement.

Upon seeing the packet of powder, the girl immediately realized that talking to these two would be pointless. She pulled out a dagger from her inner pocket and gripped it tightly, recalling the days when Kadenor and Beth taught her swordsmanship. Her withered arms tightened around the hilt.