Narrator's POV
The moon shone brightly in the sky with a few clouds passing by and briefly covering the moonlight, something that a small shadow took advantage of to sneak behind some guards of the noble manor they guarded.
The Shadow moved behind some guards, entering the gardens she hid herself behind some of the intricately cut bushes, briefly staring at a massive duck shaped bush before she focused on the east wall of the Manor.
She brushed some strands off her face and jumped up, grabbing onto a small crack on the wall she then started to slowly climb it, using the crevices and cracks in the walls as gripping points for her to get higher and higher until she got to a window on the third floor.
Her slender fingers were about to try and force the lock on the window open, but as soon as she touched the window it just…slowly opened.
"do these guys even lock their stuff?..." she thought before sighing.
She opened the window easily and entered the room, apparently this one being the bedchambers of whoever the manor belonged to, her boots barely made a sound as she walked around the place.
Not seeing anyone in the room, she immediately started to work, slightly opening the bag she had attached on her belt, she walked to a nearby desk and opened the drawers starting to quickly grab whatever seemed to hold value, including coins, jewels and small rings and necklaces.
Everything she dumped into the bag seemed to disappear into nothingness inside of it, like if inside it there was just an infinite void where everything could dissapear into.
She closed the bag after feeling satisfied but as she gave a step towards the window to leave, her blue eyes stared directly at a painting that was hanging on a wall, the drawing showing a rather muscled and handsome man standing over a mountain of dead lions.
"…every Ego hides something, right?"
She hurriedly approached the painting and immediately grabbed it and took it off the wall, showing a simple white wall behind it, but she knew better.
Her hand slid into the magical bag attached to her belt and pulled out a small knife, immediately starting to cut the now exposed fake paper wall that was hidden behind and quickly enough, she stared at a locked safe that seemed to require a key.
"Great…I hate this gross thing"
She stuffed the knife back into the bag but then pulled out what seemed to be a small pink and slimy blob, she pressed it against the keyhole, letting the thing spread into the insides and expand until a click made The Shadow perk up as she opened the safe.
"Thanks, you little…ugly…oddly cute thing"
She thanked the living breathing blob before stuffing it inside of the bag and cleaning her gloves against the wall before fully opening the safe, seeing golden ingots and various coins of copper silver and gold, a smile spread on her face beneath the mask at the sight.
"Good, this should be close to enough, after 10 years…only a few thousand left"
She grabbed her bag and opened it fully, pushing it inside of the safe letting all the wealth from the safe be quickly absorbed into the bag until the safe was left completely empty.
"Good! This is perfect!"
She perked up as the door of the room slowly opened and a man stood on the doorway, rather thin, dressed in little clothes alongside a robe, the half-bald man, apparently the owner of the Manor immediately let out a high-pitched scream that startled the Silver-haired woman.
"Fuck!"
She buried her hand inside of the bag and immediately threw a small knife against the man, letting the knife make a little cut on his neck and in just a second, he stopped screaming and fell down on the floor, apparently paralyzed.
The Shadow quickly closed the bag and strapped it to her waist and ran towards the still open window, immediately jumping out of it, she leaned on the ground directly, a green barrier forming around her legs apparently absorbing the impact from the fall.
Starting to hear the ringing of the bells as the guards started to sound the alarm, she choked out a groan and just started to run, quickly trying to avoid the sight of the guards, but in just a few seconds, a single bolt from a crossbow flew straight to the side of her head, completely catching her with her guard down.
The green crystalized barrier formed right around her head as it stopped the bolt completely letting it bounce on it, she then looked straight at a tower, where the guard that had just shot her was already loading another bolt, something that immediately prompted The Shadow to run directly towards the outer wall of the Manor.
A few more bolts flew directly at her from behind, but just like before, the barrier completely stopped each and every one of them, she arrived at the outer wall rather quickly and stared up at the tall stone wall but flinched as a bolt went past her head and buried itself in the wall, and an idea lit up in her head.
"Hey! I'm here!" She raised her voice and both of her arms.
And immediately various crossbows aimed at her and started to shoot, The Shadow jumped and started to both dodge the bolts letting them bury on the wall and also allowing her to use same buried bolts as foothold and handles for her to jump and swing higher and higher until she arrived at the top of the wall.
"I'm so smart and is that a ballist—"
Her train of thought was instantly cut as a rather huge ballista bolt hit her right on the chest, throwing her off the wall on the other side and going through a few trees on the outside of the Manor.
"Did you hit her?" The guard that had loaded the Ballista asked.
"I fucking got her" The second guard who had fired smiled proudly. "Let's go, there's no way she's still alive"
As the guards moved to go outside of the manor, inside of the woods that extended behind the manor, the Ballista bolt slowly rolled across the ground until it bumped on a tree.
"A Ballista?! I'm a burglar?! Who shoots a burglar with a goddamn Ballista?!"
The Shadow groaned as she slowly stood up and dusted off her clothes, the green barrier around her chest slowly dissapearing after having just blocked the ballista bolt.
A grunt came out of her as she looked at the distance, seeing the light from the torches of guards she immediately turned around and ran deeper into the forest.
"These guys shot me with a Ballista, if they catch me who knows what they'll do!"
After some short minutes of running and arriving at a lake, she stopped and started to catch her breath and feeling herself in a safe spot, she pulled down her hood and mask, fully exposing the long silver hair and her pale skin adorned with blue eyes.
"Ahhhh~ not going back there, I need to look for smaller places" she spoke to herself as she let out an exasperated sigh.
Her right hand then moved underneath the collar of her clothes, pulling out a golden necklace she stared down at the green stone on it, making her smile softly as she brushed the jewel with her thumb.
"It's still perfect, thanks mom..."
.....
"Dear, wake up"
As the light of the sun entered through an open window, a pair of blue eyes slowly opened, a young Silver-haired girl not older than 12 sat straighter on the chair she had remained on and pulled her arms off the bed she was resting on.
"Mom? You're up!" She asked still a little drowsy.
"I am, you have drool on your moth"
The little girl quickly flinched and cleaned the small line of dry drool with the long sleeve of her black dress, then she looked at her mother.
The woman held a soft smile on her face as she stared at her young daughter, her blue eyes shining with love as her long silver hair flowed lightly with the soft breeze that entered the room, her hands moved to pull the she sheets a little lower and after adjusting the simple white robe around her, she reached to pick up a golden necklace with a green gem on it.
"I have a gift for you, Dear" she smiled offering that same necklace to the young girl.
"A gift~? Oh! It's so pretty!" A smile formed on her cheeks as she accepted the necklace. "The gem is very pretty, I like green!"
"I knew you'd like it" her hands held the necklace and carefully put it around her daughter's neck. "There we go, it fits nicely doesn't it?"
"Mhm! I love it!"
"That's not all, look~"
She got one hand close to her daughter's face, and in a quick movement...she flicked her forehead, but before her finger managed to hit the young girl's head, a green crystalized barrier appeared in between them blocking the flick.
"I put an enchantment on it... it'll protect you from whatever tries to hurt you by absorbing force" she smiled warmly making the girl beam up.
"So I'm invincible?!" She stood up and raised her arms high. "I'm invincible!"
"Haha! Don't get too excited, it's just very resistant but not unbreakable...I want you to be safe even after I'm gone" she reached out and cupped his daughter's cheek. "Can you promise me you'll take care of yourself?"
The little girl's expression softened a little and she smiled as her hands moved to gently held the woman's hand, basically nuzzling against the warmth of her palm.
"I promise mom"
.....
A bump made The Shadow silently open her eyes, the first thing her blue eyes saw was the open window on a ceiling...
"Where..."
Immediately she sat up and looked around her, her hood and mask were down, and a pair of bandaged were wrapped around her head, probably covering the bruise on her forehead, she was inside of what seemed to be a food stall...that was in movement.
Standing up she quickly looked up at the open window and with a jump she reached it, pulling her own body up through the window she stood on the ceiling of the stall and jumped down from it, not even bothering to turn around before running.
She pulled her mask and hood up again to cover her face and head but after a few seconds she noticed something...her belt was gone, and the necklace that would normally be hidden under her clothes around her neck as well and only then she turned around to look at the place where she was *imprisoned*
It was the food stall she had decided to steal from after reaching that small village she was staying at for the night...but it seemed to have somehow grown wooden wheels, or perhaps they were simply hidden before, she expected to see one or two horses pulling the stall...
But instead she simply saw the crimson haired woman effortlessly pulling on the entire food stall with a single rope, her blue eyes stared dryly at her before she pulled something from her side...casually showing The Shadow that she held her belt and necklace in her hand.
It was effectively a hostage situation.
And as if waiting for her to see it better, The Chef starting to gently shake the belt and necklace in her hands as if she were trying to catch a cat's attention.
The Shadow swallowed hard, her eyes closing for s second before she slowly walked back to the food stall, her hands moved to her head, one of them pulling her hood down while the other hooked a finger on her face mask pulling it down as well to expose herself as she stood in front of the woman.
"C-can I...get my stuff back?" She asked clearly overwhelmed by shame. "Or j-just the necklace...give me the necklace please...you can keep the other stuff"
The Chef remained silent for a second after hearing the Silver-haired woman plead for her stuff back…and in response she rolled her eyes and threw both things at her, prompting her to catch the belt and necklace as quick as possible.
"I couldn't get my money back, the magic bag only responds to you so I couldn't make it work…I don't really care about you stealing form others, but you definitely shouldn't steal from me" the crimson haired woman answered plainly making the other flinch.
"I-I get it…"
Blushing with some embarrassment she put on the belt around her waist and unhooked the magic bag, turning it upside down letting some golden coins start to fall down and spill on the dirt road.
"There…162 gold coins, right? There you have them"
The Chef eyed the golden coins on the ground before nodding. "yeah, that seems about right" she said before kneeling down and starting to pick up the money. "It would've been nice if you gave it to me by hand though"
"Ah! S-sorry"
The woman with crimson hair continued picking up the coins one by one, slowly stuffing them inside of the pocket in her apron, meanwhile The Shadow hooked the bag on her belt again and finally stared at the necklace...growing worried immediately.
"No...no, no, no, no" her blue eyes stared at the cracked green gem on the necklace. "It broke?! How?! Was it when this woman broke the barrier?"
"I'm curious, you have a lot of weird stuff, why don't you just sell that necklace for money? It's probably worth way more than the money you stole from me" The Chefs finished picking up the money and stood up smoothing out her dress.
"No! I...I can't sell it, it's important to me" she said quickly holding the necklace close to her chest. "Besides, it's broken now..."
Seeing the young Silver-haired woman, The Chef's expression softened a little, apparently having caught up on a little of the reason behind the necklace being important.
"I see, do you want me to fix it?" She asked dryly.
"Fix...it? Y-You can?!" The Shadow raised her voice a little looking at the woman.
"Of course, it's very simple, come with me"
A little smile appeared on her face as she turned around and walked to the back of the food stall, The Shadow immediately followed her with hope in her eyes, her fingers holding the necklace before putting it around her neck.
The Chef walked to the back wall of the stall and stood on her tip toes, apparently unlocking what seemed to be a simple hook, letting her flip the wall down to the floor...showing that the wall—now transformed into floor—had a bathtub with a curtain around it.
Grabbing a wooden bucket, she offered it to The Shadow. "Be a dear and fill the bathtub with water, there's a lake nearby, you need a bath"
"A bath?" The Shadow looked...a little curious, but she nonetheless accepted the bucket. "Okay..."
In response, the crimson haired woman smiled and walked into the food stall, allowing the second woman to start walking towards the lake she was able to see in the distance...while sniffing her own sleeve.
"I don't smell that bad do I?..."
...
After a few short minutes, The Shadow let out a small sigh and set down the water bucket, having completely filled the bathtub her nose caught a delicious scent that came from inside the food stall, she slowly and a little shyly entered the place, seeing The Chef already filling a bowl with some vegetable soup.
"You filled the bathtub already~?" She mused before handing the bowl of soup to the young woman. "Here you have, drink this while bathing, with an eye closed and thinking about ducks, that should fix your necklace.
"....am I getting scammed?" Was the first thought that came to her mind. "I think this woman is a con artist..."
Her eyes then moved down to stare at the bowl of soup in her hands, she really didn't seem to have much options to fix her mother's necklace, so she instead looked directly at The Chef.
"Does it...matter which eye I have closed?" She asked and the woman with crimson hair shook her head. "Okay...I'll go"
The Shadow just sighed and walked out of the food stall, getting close to the bathtub she closed the curtain, thankfully it covered more than just the bathtub so she'd have some privacy to undress.
Peeling off her clothes piece by piece, she ended up completely naked after a few seconds and then she entered the bathtub, feeling the water mildly warm which drove her to let out a satisfying sigh.
"I haven't had a warm bath in years" She looked at the necklace around her neck and then at the bowl of soup she laid on the stool. "Here goes nothing..."
She did just as she was told, she silently and slowly consumed the vegetable soup while in the bathtub, her left eye remained closed all the way, even after she finished the food she kept thinking about any kinds of ducks.
When she finished cleaning herself, she slowly stood up and walked out of the bathtub, making sure to dry her body and hair with a towel the Chef at some point left there, she started to dress herself up and decided to look down at the necklace around her neck.
"W H A T?!"
The mix of fear, incredulity and sheer surprise made The Chef jolt up inside of the foodstall momentarily distracting her from the omelette she was finishing, she moved the pan out of her fire to look behind her at the entrance of the stall.
And after a quick minute, The Shadow entered the stall quite agitated, her hand showing the completely fixed necklace to The Chef.
"It actually worked?!" The Shadow asked to the woman.
"Of course it worked sweetie~ you followed the instructions" she shrugged her shoulders with a smile before returning to the omelette.
"B-But how?! It doesn't make sense?! Aren't you a con artist?!"
"That hurts you know? I'm not scammer!" She scoffed lowly like if her pride had been personally attacked. "It's just how our world works"
"What do you mean? This...this is a magic artifact, it shouldn't be so easily fixed" she lowered her voice, still looking at the necklace.
"It's simple, you wished for something and the gods of our world listened..." She started to explain with a rather calm voice. "Our gods are assholes who love seeing amusing stuff, especially if it involves seeing mortals do random things, I simply barter with them and we bet on if people will fulfill a set of conditions they choose or not, if you fulfill the conditions, I win and your wish is granted, if not, then you get 1 year of bad luck and the opposite of your wish is granted"
She finished the explanation and carefully set the finished omelette in a plate, turning around and setting that same plate on a nearby table, signaling at The Shadow to sit down and eat.
"....I...I don't think you should've explained that so casually" she answered dryly...like if her soul had just left her body, then she simply sat down on the chair staring at the omelette, silently grabbing a fork.
"Awww~ it's nothing special~ besides, your mother's amulet just got fixed right? Isn't that enough?" She asked making The Shadow stop.
"...h-how did you?!"
"Haha! A mother always knows, sweetie~ you remind me of my son, though he's much more grumpier than you~" a little chuckle came out of The Chef.
Calming down a little more she looked around, like if she were trying to look for any signs of a young kid. "You...have a son? I didn't see him around, and you don't look particularly older than me, I'm in my early 20s..."
"Well~ for your information, I'm actually 51 years old~" she beamed up immediately.
"...huh" was the only thing that came out of The Shadow's mouth before she went back to eating. "So...you have a son?"
"That's right! He's around your age, but he's absolutely hopeless, I've been trying to get him to marry someone for a while now, but he's too stubborn, just like his father" The Chef pouted a little crossing her arms over her chest.
"Why don't you...just use your magic, divine, godly food?" The Shadow asked a little curious.
"I did! But it was completely outrageous! For him to find a suitable wife, he'd have to defeat the Demon King!" She scoffed with a loud voice.
"That...does sound a little absurd, especially because I heard that the Demon King was already taken out by The Hero a little over 3 months ago..."
A sneeze that came from outside the stall made the two women perk up, The Chef quickly peaked her head out from the backdoor of the food stall and immediately smiled wide coming out of the place hopping away.
The Shadow raised and eyebrow and stood up, also walking out of the food stall with curiosity.
"Mom, don't leave the stall in the middle of the road, you'll obstruct others"
The Shadow's blue eyes immediately locked on the crimson-haired man in dark clothes talking with The Chef, though what clearly caught her attention was the metal box he was carrying on his back.
"I know sweetie~ I just ran into an emergency" The Chefs happily mused before looking at the metal box. "What's that on your back? Did you bring mommy a gift~?"
"It's the Demon King...I defeated him, but he's an idiot that I can't kill, so I'm carrying him around to look for The Real Hero, they'll be able to permanently kill him" he explained plainly before his golden eye looked at The Shadow.
"Oh~ so you really did defeat him?" Her smile grew a little wider before she looked back at The Shadow. "By the way I have a guest~"
"Mom, who is she?" The Hero asked looking at the Silver-haired woman.
"I'm..." The Shadow spoke in a low voice. "Your wife?"
...
After openly saying the first thing that came to her mind, The Shadow decided to keep her mouth completely shut, staying entirely rooted on the spot.
The Hero remained completely still for a few seconds with his eye locked on The Shadow, before his gaze slowly moved lower and to his left, staring directly at his mother.
A mother that simply stared back at her son with a pair of shining and glimmering blue eyes, like if not a single thought was behind those joyful eyes.
....and then the metal box started to laugh.
★ ★ ★
A/N: man, who doesn't love speed running marriage? Also fuck I didn't think this one would end up so long, here I was worrying it'd be shorter and it'll probably be the longest chapter in a while.
Anyways, hope you all enjoyed!