In the bedroom, Emma, fresh from a bath and dressed in pajamas, threw herself onto her soft bed and murmured to herself:
"I really wasn't suited to handling social occasions like this. Compared to a 'ball,' I preferred going out at night to attend Beyonder gatherings and secretly stealing the items other Beyonders had worked so hard to trade for."
"And then secretly returning them? I have to say, you really are a failed 'Fire Thief.'" Flora Jacob, the "Parasite" lodging within Emma's body, mocked her.
Although she could not harm Emma because of the Contract, she never yielded an inch verbally.
Emma had long grown used to Flora's Provocation and did not take it to heart. She merely smiled and said, "Stealing 'fire' means taking away the most precious thing a person possesses... and in my experience, an item is always most precious to someone right after they have gone through countless hardships to obtain it. Stealing it at that moment gives the best Acting effect.
"And according to Teacher, 'returning' it is also part of a Fire Thief's Acting."
Flora was left speechless, but she still said disdainfully, "You really trust that teacher of yours! Aren't you afraid he has bad intentions, just like me?"
The Contract on her had been established by that teacher, so she hated that person to the bone and seized every opportunity to sow discord.
"If Teacher wanted to deal with me, it would be effortless. There would be no need to go through so much trouble... As for whether he might use me? Isn't that perfectly normal? If he had no other motives, why would a powerful Demigod invest in me?
"At the very least, the payment he gave me in advance included not only the Beyonder Characteristics of Sequence 6 and