Chapter 7

“Instead of stealing from the many travellers who are just as pitiful as we are, let’s aim for a bigger target!” Lin Tianyin declared, full of confidence. Ah Fu and the others could not help but be surprised by her aura, but they shot her a questioning look.

“A bigger target? Isn’t that still stealing?”

“No. We can’t do such a thing.” Milona was the first to object and seemed to have taken on the holy mother role again—typical of a white lotus.

Lin Tianyin stretched out a finger, wiggling it back and forth while making a ‘tsk’ sound, and said, “Of course we’re not going to rob poor travellers like us. Instead, we are going to take back what belongs to us from those upper-class exploiters! It’s called robbing the rich to help the poor, you know.”

“Robbing the rich to help the poor?”

Well, This is obviously a sugarcoated way to say ‘We’re going to steal’.

Milona and Gagaf cheered up, they looked at Lin Tianyin and asked, “Then who are we going to rob? Drew?”

Ah Fu who thought Lin Tianyin was planning on robbing Master Drew’s house couldn’t help but pitch in, “Drew’s family raises a pack of ice field iron wolves, you guys should be careful!”

Lin Tianyin gave Ah Fu a pointed look, looking at him as if he was a fool, “Stealing from his family and then returning it to his family? We’ll definitely be found out.”

“Then who are we going to rob?” Ah Fu frowned unhappily, “The richest in this area is Master Drew’s family.”

“No, no, not them. We will be robbing those who are much higher up on the ladder.” Lin Tianyin lifted her chin confidently while the rest looked at her sceptically, leaving them with a bad taste in their mouths, “According to some gossip I heard, the prince of Trist City in the Faros Continent will be passing through here, and since the prince is travelling with treasure surrounding him, we can just steal his money bag.”

“What?! You plan to rob the prince?!”

The three of them shrieked in unison after hearing Lin Tianyin’s plan. Ah Fu was so scared that his tongue was big and his body shook like a sieve chaff, “Stealing from the prince is a serious crime! If we get caught, it won’t just end with a simple death sentence! No…we can’t steal from the prince!”

“So you’re saying we can only steal from unlucky civilians like us?” Lin Tianyin listened, feeling a little angry. She can’t help but sternly educate Ah Fu, “Don’t joke around! Do you know how painful it is for those travellers you stole from to find their stuff missing? And when you are finally given the chance to face someone from a truly exploitative privileged class, you chicken out! Are you even human? Since you have to steal, steal without discrimination. Understand?!”

“Un …… understand!” Ah Fu was practically driven to tears while Milona and Gagaf looked a little uneasy.

“But …… is it really good to steal from the prince like this-”

“Don’t be silly, don’t you know where the prince’s money comes from?” Lin Tianyin crossed her arms. “It comes from the treasury! And where does the money in the treasury come from? It comes from the exploitation of the people! Every year, after we finish working hard to earn money from farming, we have to pay a part of this already small amount of money as tax. That means the prince’s money comes from us, so we should have no problem taking back the money he took from us. No need to feel guilty, this is called taking from the people and using it for the people, got it?”

Lin Tianyin said as if it really was like that. Gagaf listened with a black face, but Milona actually felt the explanation to be quite reasonable. She nodded and agreed, “That’s true …… we have to get the money from the prince to help this poor child!”

“But ……” Ah Fu seems to want to say something, but Lin Tianyin is too annoyed with him and interrupted, “And after stealing you gave us the monkey, we will take the monkey out of this town and our journey, so don’t worry, the prince will not find you.”

“…… Well, I guess that makes sense!”

With that last statement, even Ah Fu was convinced. They decided to finish this ticket and go back home …… no, to continue the journey to defeat the demon lord. So Ah Fu gave the monkey to Lin Tianyin and carefully ordered the monkey to be obedient. Lin Tianyin herself wonders why the monkey seems to be shivering as if it was afraid of her, but that’s not a big deal.

After getting their luggage back, Lin Tianyin thought that she could finally eat something. Bur she was shocked to find that the four boxes of lunch they brought out from the village were completely empty. When asked, she learned that they had been eaten by Ah Fu and the monkey. Lin Tianyin was so angry that she felt like vomiting blood, so she suggested going to a tavern to eat something.

Milona and Gagaf were also hungry for a full day, and Lin Tianyin’s offer to go to a tavern was nothing short of reasonable, so they both readily agreed. The three of them let Ah Fu lead the way, eventually arriving in the only tavern in town. Maybe because it was dinner by the time they arrived, the tavern was very busy. There was fortunately still an empty seat and they sat down immediately after being greeted by the waiter.

“Welcome! What would you like to order?”

“Three bowls of omelette rice.” Lin Tianyin raised her fingers up to show a “three”.

“Wait, three bowls? What about me?” Ah Fook looked at them blearily, donning a pitiful look.

“No, you finished our food.” The three said in unison. Even Milona did not sympathize with Ah Fu like saying something like ‘buy him a bowl too’. It seems that they were really hungry and a bit too poor.

After ten minutes or so, the waiter brought the food to their table, and the three of them wolfed down the omelette rice on their plates. Ah Fu looked at the three of them with pity. However, Lin Tianyin wasn’t satisfied at all, but she was still on a diet and had to work hard to control her crazy appetite.

“Speaking of which, what kind of a person is the prince?” After eating and drinking, Milona began to worry about their plans again, she looked a little melancholic with her big eyes twinkling, looking very charming. “And how do we know what the prince looks like? What if he’s wearing civilian clothing ……”

Lin Tianyin leaned back in her chair, rolled her eyes, and recalled the original description: “Well …… he has golden hair, he wears a silver and white light armour, with a cloak draping over his back. Unlike ordinary people, he is of a different style of painting, so he’s easy to distinguish.”

“Different style of painting?” Milona asked, puzzled.

(T/N: Lin Tianyin is implementing here that the prince has an extraordinary physical appearance, just like a painting.)

“As in, at a glance, you’ll know that that person is the prince.” Lin Tianyin said carefully, like the original description from the author who tried to show how perfect the prince. She does not know if it’s just the author’s limited level of creativity, but the prince—not only in some aspects—seems a little like a bastard on the outside or just disgustingly handsome. She also didn’t know if he ended up with Milona in the end; Lin Tianyin didn’t finish reading the story, even the demon lord is a mystery to her.

After hearing Lin Tianyin say that, Milona nodded, seemingly understanding her. Lin Tianyin did not expect Milona to understand, because she mostly said it for the monkey to listen. The monkey seemed to be very smart and could understand the meaning of human words accurately. Which is why in order to get along with the monkey, on the way back she deliberately bought a bunch of bananas for the monkey to eat, and sure enough, after eating the bananas, their friendship surpassed that of Lin Tianyin’s friendship with Milona and Gagaf. Lin Tianyin felt that the plan to let the monkey steal the prince’s wallet was becoming more and more foolproof.

The next day, after the three of them made do with a night in Ah Fu’s broken house, Lin Tianyin’s group went into the woods outside the city and prepared themselves while waiting for the prince. Although the method is primitive there is no better way since now the plot has turned messy, so they cannot wait to be found by the prince and the head of the knights in the burnt houses like in the original story. And she doesn’t know if it’s a mistake, but Milona who was slowly influenced by Tianyin is turning into somewhat less of a good person. In the original story, she was supposed to be a pure little saintly mother who is in love with the prince, but now she has been encouraged by her to get ready to rob the prince’s money bag together ……

The sun in the sky is blinding and the three people in the woods waiting for the rabbit in a morning ambush got nothing. After half a day of waiting, their foreheads are full of big sweats, and the monkey also pooped twice.

The three of them suddenly felt their actions were a bit stupid and began to consider whether they should continue to wait or go to the lake to catch something to eat until the monkey Lin Tianyin had with her suddenly became alert and ‘squeaked’ twice, and then scurrying in one direction.

“What’s wrong?!” Gagaf immediately rested his hands onto the bow and arrow, the bored Lin Tianyin also instantly climbed up, vigilantly looking around. “I think the prince is coming!”

Counting the time, the prince should appear anytime soon. They should be going to the Nameless Village just like the original story, so they will certainly pass through this road. But the opponent is the prince and the head of the Knights and these two possess extraordinary strength. They are not opponents one would like to face in a direct face to face encounter. Lin Tianyin originally planned to follow these two back to the town and wait for an opportunity to act, but she never thought that the monkey would directly attack! This is a big problem!

Lin Tianyin’s heart is anxious. She’s hesitating on whether she should abandon the monkey to escape or to cover for the monkey. Just when she was still contemplating her decisions, Milona, exclaimed, pointing her finger ahead. Lin Tianyin looked over in the direction she pointed only to see the monkey scurrying out of the bushes with a heavy pocket on its back, squealing as it fled.

‘It grabbed it that quickly?’

Lin Tianyin couldn’t help but be shocked by the monkey’s efficiency. The prince was robbed in the blink of an eye! Is this monkey a natural-born thief?

“Stop, you d*mn monkey!”

As the monkey was fleeing from the trio with the pocket on his back, an angry shout rang out from the woods. Lin Tianyin looked in the direction of the shout and saw a Silver Knight wearing the Order’s armour while holding a huge shield in his hand, the knight shot a suspicious look at the trio.

“Are you and that monkey together ……”

It was the knight order leader. Lin Tianyin immediately reacted since the prince himself did not come after him and instead let the knight order leader travelling with him catch the monkey. Milona and Gagaf also looked a little nervous—they did not expect to be hit right in the face like this!

“Run!” Gagaf instantly reacted, he pulled Milona’s hand and ran. The Silver Knight saw the reaction of these thieves and was furious, he raised the silver sword in his hand in the direction of the two running away. “How dare you rob the king’s family’s belongings, you deserve to die!”

Seeing the Silver Knight raise his sword, Lin Tianyin’s heartbeat accelerated sharply. This is the original knight order leader’s ‘sure-kill-dragon-chopping’ technique! Is he actually going to use it on them right now?! One of them is the heroine that he should have saved and secretly loved in the original story……

If she’s hit with that move she will definitely be dead! Lin Tianyin broke into cold sweat, she must stop this guy!

At that moment, Lin Tianyin spots something, ‘Ah, I have an idea!’

“Look here, big guy!”

When the Silver Knight turned his head around, two smelly objects suddenly flew towards him, and before he could react, the objects had ‘snapped’ right in his face.

“Ughhhh…! What is this? It stinks!!!”

The Silver Knight’s ‘sure-kill-dragon-chopping’ move was forced to an end as something earthy glued his eyes. Lin Tian Yin took advantage of this opening to rush forward and knocked down the knight’s leader with a punch. She then drew her legs and ran towards the fleeing Milona and Gagaf.

“Wait–!”

Lin Tianyin was in shock, she had just done something that entails heavy consequences ……

…… She smashed the leader of the Knights with a monkey’s faeces.

Oh my god, this is the sound of an oncoming big feud with the original protagonists before the plot even starts!