(third person's POV- omniscient)

Miku huffed as she reached in an alley along with her little brother.

"Miku! We got a jackpot!" Her brother exclaimed happily, with the bags on his shoulders and she brought out the leather pouch which she stole a moment ago.

The sword was certainly heavy and also the daggers but she had skillfully acquired those from that man.

She scoffed. He must be an aristocrat. A Samurai? Or maybe some noble? Who cared as now he was poor as hell.

Served him right.

She said, "We can sell these in the market and will get more coins." She pointed at the bags and added, "And we can sell whatever valuable inside of these and the rest, we can use."

Hotaru, her brother, nodded enthusiastically and said, "Then, now we can buy medicines for Kaede and food for all of us for at least a month!"

She smiled and nodded. "Yes, we can."

"But what about those weapons?" Hotaru asked. "They seem heavy... Will it fetch a good amount?"

The sword was indeed very heavy to carry. It was hard to run with that so it was better to sell that. However, her little siblings hadn't eaten anything for a day. The last person they robbed didn't have good money and that didn't even cover the expensive medicines of her sister.

She looked at the sword and saw a beautiful emblem was carved on its hilt. She brought out the sword from its health and saw it was so beautiful. It was made of some darkish metal and the sharpness of it threatened to cut in one swipe. He must love the sword too much since it had no dirt on it. It looked new but from the handle, she knew it had been used so many times.

That man must be a royal or maybe a knight. From his great physique, he certainly was a knight. But she was certain he wasn't from here.

For a split of second, she felt a little bad but it went poofed as soon as she recalled all those bitter memories of her past.

No! Men are all scambags! Except for her brothers, of course.

Three of her little siblings were waiting in that old, cranky house who needed food and medicines. It didn't matter if what she was doing was wrong. Well, she wasn't a thief by choice. And she certainly wasn't feeling guilty about it.

"Alright! Let's sell it first." She said and Hotaru nodded.

"I'd rather not sell that sword, lady." They heard a voice and both of them stiffened as they looked at the source. The man said, "I have taken an oath with that so, it's off limits."

Miku's eyes bulged out as it was the same man whom she and Hotaru just robbed a while ago. But they had ran a great distance... How could he even find them?

His tall, sturdy body came to their view as Miku pushed Hotaru behind her back.

His eyes were dark and playful but she knew they were trained and even his strong hands looked like they could snap both of their heads in a blink of an eye.

Who was he?

He stood there blocking their path and smirked as Miku shouted, "Hotaru, run!"

Hotaru took a glance at her and knew what she wanted him to do. He looked at her with a mortified face and said, "But Miku, you can't..."

"Just run! They need you." She yelled at him. She knew Hotaru was scared because the man didn't seem like an easy target. So, she made herself a decoy while Hotaru successfully run away. She knew Hotaru didn't want her to sacrifice more but it wasn't a choice anymore.

They turned around and she was about to run the other way when she felt her waist being pulled back from behind. Her breath caught in her mouth when she found that man had reached her and caught her waist along with that sword.

His held was too strong that it was almost impossible to run. And he might catch up with Hotaru.

She shouted, "Leave the bags!"

Hotaru followed what she said and left the bags while Miku threw the coin pouch toward him. Hotaru caught it and started to run.

They had a policy. Whoever got caught won't say a thing where were the other one even if they had to die. So, Hotaru started to run without taking a glance. Because they were the only ones who could do this.

Miku was 23 while Hotaru was around 18. Kaede was 19, a year older than Hotaru but she had a disease which made her too weak to do anything. Then comes her younger siblings who were too small. Luka was around 7 years old while Lina was 10.

If one of them get caught, at least the other one could look after them. That was why Miku huffed with a relief that at least he could buy their food and medicines.

It was better than nothing.

The man wanted the sword. Let him have the sword. She thought.

She loosened the hold on the sword as that man's focus went to it. As soon as she felt his grip on her waist loosened, she kicked on his foot.

"Ow. Ow. Ow." He exclaimed and loosened her waist entirely.

Now was the chance to dash off. But the next she felt her left hand being caught by him immediately.

Shit! What was his problem?! And how could he be so fast!

She groaned and was about to punch on his face but he immediately caught her other hand as well. He was just too fast...

"Let me go! You ogre of a man!" She struggled to free both of her hands but it seemed like he was holding her wrists with no great effort by only one hand. While his other hand held the sword.

Wasn't it too heavy to hold? It seemed like he wasn't finding it difficult at all!

"Shut up, you bish! First, you stole my sword and my bags! Now you are insulting me!" He hissed at her.

She smirked, "Can't help since you were too stupid to fall for my charm."

He scowled at her and said, "I wasn't charmed at all..."

Well, Hiroshi certainly was charmed by her for a few seconds but he wasn't going let her know that and let her feel superior.

He added, "I was just being nice."

She smiled innocently and asked, "Then why don't you being nice now and let me go?"

He smiled back gently and answered, "That's because I am going to put you in the celler of this town and get back my coins..." He muttered with an irritated tone, "You know how hard it is to earn those?!"

She hissed back, "You won't be saying that if you were in my shoes, mister."

He added, "Your shoe size is too small. Of course, I wouldn't know."

She clicked her tongue. Tch.

And Hiroshi glared at her but she wasn't faltering back either as she glared back.

At that time he thought, just how stupid he was to think she was delicate and a lady. Well, she wasn't! And her kicks hurt too as he was still feeling the pain on his foot.

She said, "I'll scream if you don't let go of me and let people know that you are trying to do adultery things on a lady."

He grinned wickedly and said, "Well, that won't be bad but lady? Seriously? Don't give yourself too much privilege. You are just a thief."

"I am a noble thief. I only rob rich people." She said smugly as if it was a good thing to do.

"Well, then how did you even think that I was rich?"

She said, "You are wearing those expensive shits and you have a sword made of a different material than the normal swords. There is no way you are a poor man."

He said, "That's given by my master. All of us wear that. It doesn't make us rich but it is comfortable to move without worrying that it will get torn."

"Still you had a pretty heavy coin pouch." She said.

As he took the bags and carefully hung his sword in his belt, that girl suddenly kicked his feet again as he groaned. When it didn't make him loose her, she bit on the back of his palm as he hissed in pain. Just who was this wild animal?!

And why the hell he thought her as a delicate woman?!

She wasn't delicate at all!

But as he felt the pain of her bite, he loosened his grip and she immediately ran away to the crowd.

It was her second attempt to run away and unfortunately she got successful in it.

Hiroshi sighed and muttered, "At least I got back the scroll."

He felt something in his hand as he looked at it, he found it was one of her gloves.

He let out another frustrated sigh. He would handle her later but now, he needed to go back and rent two rooms.

He just knew he would definitely see her if he stayed in this town.

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27th January, 23
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