I Became the Burden of a Conscienceless Party

56 – XX Tina (1)

XX Tina (1)

It’s truly a shame.

Tina lived a childhood that was full of the prejudices that had taken root in everyone’s heads, including Esmeralda.

She was an abandoned child who wandered through back alleys to survive.

I don’t know when it started.

I don’t even know my parents’ faces.

When she came to, she was a pickpocket in a back alley, picking the pockets of tourists.

Perhaps the only silver lining is that he had talent?

It’s not a talent for stealing. It’s a talent for choosing your opponents.

Yeah, that’s an innate feeling.

“How about that guy?”

“I feel like I’m broke.”

“Then what about that person?”

“… … If I touch it, it might be dangerous?”

“Hmm, then whose pocket would be best to pick?”

“How about over there? He looks so drunk he can’t even run properly. Did he win a lot of money gambling? He must have been drinking so happily.”

“Wow! That’s great observation, Tina.”

“No, it’s not so much observation as I just took the picture.”

“Well, what do you think? If it’s right, that’s fine.”

There were many children in the same situation as her in the village where she lived.

In order for these children to survive, they had no choice but to join forces and hide in back alleys.

Although there were occasional bad adults who tried to take advantage of them, the Empire would forgive pickpockets but not organized crime groups.

If Tina secretly told the guards about the bad adults, the back alley would be cleaned up quickly because the guards were only interested in their performance.

Well, the thing that was really unfortunate was that they didn’t save the children.

I am so grateful that you are turning a blind eye to the thieves, Tina.

“When will we become adults?”

“That’s right, if I could grow up quickly, I wouldn’t have to do things like this.”

Even children knew that stealing was wrong.

However, there is no place that will hire children. In order to survive, they have to resort to crime, and the Imperial Guard knows this, so they are keeping quiet.

The only way to escape this bizarre vicious cycle is for children to grow up to be able to do decent work.

“Tina, I think I’m almost done with all the money I saved up. Shouldn’t I start working soon?”

“What? Already?”

“Yeah, Tena has been sick recently. She spent a lot of money buying medicine.”

“Ugh… … .”

Tina was the leader of the children and was in charge of them.

It was only natural, since her abilities were the best.

“Then let’s get going. I know that, but you shouldn’t mess with our villagers. You should only target people who won’t be staying long, like peddlers or travelers.”

“It doesn’t matter since Tina will teach me how to fur anyway, right?”

“What are you going to do when I grow up? I can’t take responsibility for you all, and if you stay here and continue to steal or something like that, you’ll get caught by the security guards.”

The ones who are being watched are, after all, the children.

If you continue to steal even after becoming an adult, you will be treated as a criminal who uses children to steal money.

“I don’t think Tina will grow up.”

“What did you just say?”

Tina immediately got up after hitting the kid on the head with a hammer who had been swearing at her.

Later, when she left, she left, and now that she is also a part of this group, she has no choice but to work hard to make a living.

‘Even if you work hard, it’s still stealing.’

Tina sighed at this strange situation and looked around for targets. Merchants from outside, travelers, strangers who wouldn’t stay long.

The important thing is not to spend too much money.

I only steal the amount that I can afford to give up due to my schedule.

Because if they come into the back alley to catch the kids, things could get awkward.

So Tina was careful and committed crimes to survive.

It was one moment in time that her life changed.

“Tina, what about that guy?”

“… … .”

As usual, I was looking for someone to pickpocket.

Tina felt a strange sensation towards the seemingly ordinary woman.

The gait, the expression, all the outward appearances are ordinary.

It even looks a bit silly.

If you were to aim for that, she would be the perfect target. Since it seemed that way, the question was asked to Tina whether it would be better for other children to target that woman as well.

But Tina found that ordinariness creepy.

There’s no basis for this. But, that’s the most dangerous opponent she’s ever seen.

“no.”

“Really? I thought you were a good match, but is there something wrong?”

“No, that’s not it… … . It’s just, it’s just a little bit creepy… … .”

“Then there’s nothing I can do about it.”

Fortunately, the children trusted Tina’s intuition, so there was no problem.

However, Tina couldn’t take her eyes off the other person even though she was sweating coldly. It’s dangerous. I don’t know what’s dangerous, but it’s dangerous.

Just discovering its existence feels wrong.

Shouldn’t we at least let the adults know? No, how can we do something at the level of the security guards?

I don’t even know what’s more dangerous than that, and I don’t even know what direction the danger is coming from.

Only her intuition tells her so, no one else would notice anything strange about her.

“Heh.”

“Huh?!”

That’s why Tina couldn’t take her eyes off the woman, feeling anxious, scared, and uneasy.

Tina could see a woman approaching her and looking at her with interest.

I was clearly watching you until just a moment ago, but when on earth did you get to where I am?

“You, for a human being, have quite an interesting personality, don’t you?”

The woman’s yellow eyes, seen up close, were unusual.

Vertical pupils, like those of a wild beast narrowing its eyes for hunting.

A feeling of seeing through to the root.

“Follow me. I will teach you what you need to know.”

Tina could tell through her natural intuition.

She has no choice.

If she didn’t follow, she wouldn’t be the only one who would die. So Tina followed behind a woman she had never seen before.

.

.

.

.

“Here… … ?”

“Come in. From now on, you will learn many things.”

She was thus forcibly incorporated into the ＜Eye of Truth＞.

And there was no explanation whatsoever about the process.

***

For her, learning knowledge was a new thing.

No, there was ‘learning’ itself. But it was ironic that I ended up learning knowledge that seemed irrelevant, not knowledge necessary for survival or filling my stomach.

‘At the time of learning this… … .’

Tina shook her head to shake off the thoughts that came to her mind over and over again and steadily walked down the path to becoming a scholar.

Her talent wasn’t anything special. She was just a pickpocket who wandered around back alleys.

Basically, even if I am confident in detailed tasks or body movements, it is difficult to sit down at a desk and concentrate.

‘I haven’t seen that person since that day. No one knows who he is, even if I ask.’

Despite following her with the determination to die, the woman has not been seen since she arbitrarily allowed Tina to join the Eye of Truth.

And when I looked closely at the Eye of Truth, which seemed like it might be some kind of secret society, I found out that most of them were just people who were good at studying.

“Ah, this problem… … . No, do I have to know this too?”

Tina acquired basic knowledge.

Basically, learning about movement for exploring ruins was the most fun, but I never neglected learning other things.

Of course, it’s only basic.

Knowledge that is not enough to stand shoulder to shoulder with the so-called geniuses.

But with just that basic knowledge, Tina could become a genius.

“Um, is this it?”

“What the heck… … What?! How did you know that?!

Her intuition for guessing based on basic knowledge is nothing short of genius.

“Wow, I guess I got lucky.”

“Oh, this is similar to this.”

“What?! How…? How on earth did you solve this?”

“No, even if you ask me how I did it… … . It just seemed that way… … .”

Of course, she wasn’t considered a genius from the beginning.

Even if you get the answer right, if you can’t explain it, you can only think that you guessed.

But what if that happens again?

If you have at least a minimal amount of knowledge?

Tina had a talent for solving only 20% of the problems, but being able to guess the rest.

Since that ‘feeling’ was something that could not be proven in any way, people thought it was the result of Tina’s genius.

Isn’t that obvious?

How can there be someone who gets the correct answer 100 times out of 100 guesses?

They came up with a reasonable answer.

It’s so genius that I can’t explain it.

There have been geniuses of this kind in the past, and Tina is considered to be one of the most outstanding among them.

“What do you want me to do?”

“I asked you to become my successor.”

“who?”

“It’s Tina.”

“why?”

“Because no one could match his genius. And he has achievements. He solved many difficult problems that scholars had been struggling with, so it is only natural that he would become our next representative.”

“No, um… … Rather than saying I released it, I said I took a picture of it?”

“I know.”

Tina smiled faintly as she looked at the middle-aged scholar who was looking at her with a soft smile.

Even if you hit it with a feeling, it’s still a performance. So if she became the successor, there’s nothing you can do about it.

Of course, it was a little different from what a middle-aged scholar thought.

‘Yes, I know. How can I explain that outstanding genius?’

The middle-aged scholar interpreted it as Tina’s own kind of humility.

***

Tina was recommended by numerous senior scholars and eventually became the successor to the leader who would lead the next Eye of Truth.

To be honest, I was just feeling a little shaky.

What a coincidence. Tina wondered if what she had thought was a feeling might actually be luck.

If it wasn’t a matter of good intuition but luck, wouldn’t it be surprising that things worked out this well?

However, I found out that that thought was wrong after becoming the successor.

“Yeah, you’re finally here.”

“you are…….”

“Haha, you’re really surprised? Well, I guess that’s possible. Should I introduce myself first?”

Representative of ＜Eye of Truth＞.

An unknown genius who is also called the Dean among the people.

Because she was the one who brought Tina into the ＜Eye of Truth＞.

It’s not like luck.

All of this was just an experimental field designed and nurtured by women.

“I… … . Well, for now, let me simply introduce myself as ‘La Pa’.”

The woman looked down at Tina with her bright yellow eyes and said.

“You guys were originally supposed to call me a god. Call me whatever you want. Tana.”

At the sight of a woman introducing herself as a goddess, Tina’s first thought was…

“You will be punished. And my name is Tina, not Tana.”

Before that, I corrected what needed to be corrected. Whether it’s a god or something else, I know something. My own name is more important than a god whose face I don’t even know.

“Really? You’re talking back to me over personal stuff. My daughter is going through puberty.”

“Since when have I been your daughter… … or were you the one who abandoned me?”

“That’s not true. Why don’t you know that our daughter is like that? I adopted you.”

“You call that adoption… … ?”

Not kidnapping?

This guy is out of his mind.

They say the difference between a genius and an idiot is only a sheet of paper, and it turns out that this saying is not wrong.