"Watch out!" The woman screamed, as Loraine’s eyes widened at the sound. She spun around as fast as she could, the sight of a small hooded figure blurring past her eyes, stunning her in shock and surprise as the hooded figure snatched the coin pouch she had on her.

Jingle!

The coin pouch rang, the sound reverberating in her ears as she watched the figure disappear off into the crowd, the fact that her coin pouch being stolen only registering a few seconds after as with great fright and shock she glanced at where the coin pouch had been, finding it gone.

"W...what the!?" Loraine gasped in terrifying realization, her face turning pale as she trailed the figure running through the crowd.

"You bastard!" She roared, immediately giving chase as with everything in her being Loraine began to frantically chase after the little bastard, rapidly picking up speed as she dashed through the crowd.

’Shit! Shit! Shit!’ Loraine frantically cursed inwardly, weaving through the crowd the best she could as to not lost speed, while also keeping eyes on the little gremlin that managed to steal the very thing she was supposed to keep safe.

’Margret is going to kill me if I don’t get back with those ingredients! Why does everything always have to be a life or death situation!’

The small hooded figure, a child with short crimson hair peeked behind him as he bolted with surprising agility, an amused grin forming on his lips as he cackled. "Oh? She actually decided to give chase?" He mused, intrigued.

"Let’s see just how much she can keep up, hehehe~" The child grinned, picking up the speed as he began to run even faster, surprising Loraine as she didn’t expect the boy to still have that much speed left in reserves.

’Is that a kid? How are they so damn fast? At this rate...I might end up losing him!’ Loraine thought in frustration, she was already doing her best just to stay within perceivable distance, and she was trying her best to ignore the burning sensation in her lungs, her stamina wearing thin with every passing second.

"Hey you!" Loraine shouted, trying to get the boy’s attention. "You better drop that bag or things will get really ugly when I catch you!" She warned firmly, trying her best to sound intimidating but it didn’t really come as she had hoped, as she barely had any air in her system to even run left with.

"Fufufu~ She’s still chasing? She’s quite determined for an ordinary maid. Usually people would give up trying to chase a [Scarlet Thief], due to our high agility stat. Let’s see if she can keep up with this!" The boy grinned, chuckling as his body began to be submerged in a piercing blue glow, his form rapidly starting to blur as the young boy activated [Dash], a skill that increased his agility by 30% for 30 seconds.

He glanced behind him for a moment, noticing a strange glow emanating around Loraine’s palm as his senses quickly screamed at him to get away from whatever the woman was doing, kicking it into high gear as he began to run at top speed.

He burst forward with the added momentum, his form disappearing into the night as he jumped at the side of a large building, running sideways on the wall before leaping into away into the night, disappearing from Loraine’s perceptive range as she fell to the ground on her knees, unable to give chase anymore.

"Ha....ha...ha..." Loraine panted, her lungs burning and her form draped in sweat as she couldn’t chase any further. She had lost him, she didn’t expect the boy to have Awakened as well, and from what just happened to her, she deduced that boy was probably a thief, and she unlucky to be his target.

’Damn...what do I do? I tried using [Magical Grasp] to stop him, but he disappeared before I could focus on grabbing him.’ Loraine thought, gritting her teeth in frustration as she stood up from the ground, using [Cleanse] on herself to wipe away the sweat and dirt on her uniform as she thought of her next move.

"He couldn’t have gone far," She muttered, immediately starting to give chase once more into the direction she last saw him head in. "Whatever I do, I must keep chasing him until I catch him and get my money back, otherwise I’m screwed!" She said with a terrified expression on her face.

’If only I had my [Stamina Reincarnation Potion]....’ Loraine thought with a hint of regret, wondering if she could’ve kept up a better chase with a 50% buff to her current stamina. But she highly doubts that would’ve done anything in the long run, that boy’s speed was way too much to keep up with.

’They must be a higher level than I am....’

In the outskirts of the city, the hooded boy jumped from rooftop to rooftop, his agility unmatched as he descended into a dark alleyway, landing on the ground with a small thud, a large figure waiting for him as he dusted off his clothes.

"Finally back eh?" The large burly man asked, flashing an excited grin. "I don’t see a lot of purses on you boy, looks like you’ve been slacking off today huh? Jacob?" He asked, looking the boy up and down.

Jacob removed his hood, a small shuddering breath escaping his lips as he grabbed onto a few bags, one of them being Loraine’s purse of coins, throwing them at the man. "Today’s been a rough day," Jacob commented, glancing at him bruised arms which had cuts and wounds from confrontations in the past, his attempts at stealing having failed at the might of higher leveled individuals, only being able to snatch a couple today.

The man caught the pouches with a grin on his lips, flipping them upside down into his palms as the flutter of coins rained down, his eyes roaming around as he proceeded to count them.

"1..3....6..." He muttered under his voice, his tone growing more and more displeased as he scowled while counting the money. "Only 8 silvers? This is far below today’s quota kid." He said, glancing back at the boy as he noticed one more pouch on him that he wasn’t given.

"Hand it over." The man commanded, reaching out his hand for the boy to toss the bag, as the boy’s eyes widened and his hands instinctively reached to cover the bag.

"B..but! I haven’t eaten anything today!" Jacob retorted, his eyes low as he didn’t meet the man’s piercing glare. "I had to do all this on an empty stomach...so I wasn’t at my best condition today." He said, but the man didn’t care about the boy’s pathetic story of hunger, he simply wanted all the money he could extract from the young child.

"I don’t care." The man spoke, his tone growing more threatening. "Bag. Now." He asked once more, standing directly in front of the boy this time around, his aura threatening and intimidating.

"I-!" Jacob tried to speak up again, but before he could react, the man’s hand moved, smacking the boy to the side, the force of his blow enough to have the child spitting out blood and losing a considerable amount of HP, the young boy nearly knocking himself into a wall as the pouch fell to the ground.

"Tch, annoying brat." The man commented, picking up the pouch and counting the coins inside it, visibly displeased. "Tch...this is not enough boy, you still owe me quite a lot you damn brat. What am I supposed to do with all this chump change, huh?" The man asked, turning to face the boy who was slowly rising from the blow, his head spinning with the impact.

He moved toward him, his hand reaching out by the collar and lifting him up effortlessly into the air, the moonlight flashing down on Jacob to illuminate his terrified gaze.

"Perhaps I should give you another beating, you know I don’t like it when I don’t get my money." He asked, chuckling with an evil sadistic grin on his face as he clenched his free fist, a horrified expression blooming onto Jacob’s face as he desperately tried to free himself from the man’s iron grip, but it was useless.

"I’m sorry! Please don’t hurt me!" Jacob begged, "The night’s still young! I-I can still go around and get more where that came from!" He tried to reassure the man, but Jacob already knew from his blood hungry expression that the man just wanted an excuse to beat him up.

"Too late kid." The man grinned with a twisted smile, his hand glowing in a bright orange glow as he readied himself to strike, but was stopped by the yell of a woman who had managed to find them in an alleyway.

"That’s enough!"