/
“Haa
 Everyone’s such worrywarts.” Iris sighed as she strolled through the nighttime street.
While there were few cities where a lonesome girl could wander the night streets alone, that applied only when the girl herself was normal. An everyday thug couldn’t hope to even frighten Iris, much less win against her.
Well, I can’t really go around blowing people up with my magic, so if something bad happens, I’ll just throw around some smokescreen and make a run for it.
In the case an enemy appears who I myself can’t deal with
 Well, that would be the worst case scenario. Even with all four of us combined.

Or so Iris thought, and this evaluation was largely correct.
However, the attacker she faced that very night was something beyond her comprehension.
“Hmm
?”
Something moved near her, she felt at the back of her mind.
At the same time, all the noise of the world drowned in silence.
The sound of wind blowing, howling stray dogs, drunkards fighting somewhere far off. All gone.
――â‰ȘSilence≫?
A spell that erected a barrier of silence. It shuts out all noise from it’s outside, while also preventing any noise from leaking out.
Although it was a low-level spell, one could find a variety of uses for it. Like breaking locks and assaulting girls at night.
Iris immediately swung her staff and chanted.
“â‰ȘDispel≫”
It was a spell that would deactivate any magic with lingering effects. Light emitted by the staff washed over the vicinity in the shape of a dome, spreading over the area affected by â‰ȘSilence≫.
However, her â‰ȘDispel≫ was cast in vain. The barrier repelled the spell’s effect, causing the ball of magic to simply dissipate into thin air.
――What
!?
Suddenly cold sweat dripped down Iris’ forehead.
â‰ȘDispel≫ would not work. In other words, this â‰ȘSilence≫ was cast by a mage much more powerful than her.
She was still quite young (she aggressively rejected being called a ‘child’) for a Wizard, but her ability was nothing to laugh at.
“What
? What is even happening?”
‘Good evening, my little lady.’
“Kya-!?”
The voice of a girl much younger than her came from behind, causing her to squeal and jump away, then turn to look back.
The silver moon that ought to shine in the night sky had manifested on the land of mortals.
The young ghost’s silvery visage shone lightly, her silver hair fluttered and her silver eyes swam to Iris.
‘
hmm perhaps, young lady may be more appropriate than little lady?’
“Who are you!”
‘Someone suspicious.’
The young ghost laughed with glee.
Iris felt the hairs on her body stand straight, washed over by the tingle of her skin being set aflame.
It resembled the sensation of powerful magic being blasted in one’s immediate vicinity. In this case, Iris was reacting to the unbelievable conglomeration of magic energy that this girl was made out of.
“Undead
!”
This ghost in front of her and none else must have cast â‰ȘSilence≫.
Spirit-class undead were troublesome. The number of ways they could be damaged were limited.
On top of that, because this ghost girl employed powerful magic and kept her sanity, she was likely an artificially created Undead.
I don’t get why something like this is here, but this is bad. This is very bad.
Standing tall with her staff held out, Iris took a step back.
She felt like her heart was thumping against the walls of her skull.
――I can’t win against this
.! I have to defend myself and retreat back to Diana!
Holy Magic specialized in both healing and defense against undead.
Even if it’s a high class Monster, as long as I can get someone who can use Holy Magic, I can turn this around. As long as I put my everything into defense, I should be able to hold out until I join up with Diana
 I think.
“
â‰ȘSignal Bomb≫!”
She lifted her staff and shot out a spell. The ball of magic flew into the sky, filling the air with sound and light.
If those three notice all together, then they could meet up faster.
At the same time, Iris began running, dashing past the ghost, making a break for The Leaping Flounder.
In that time, the girl stretched her hand towards Iris.
――This is
 â‰ȘGhost Touch≫?
A low-level curse type magic attack. It was used by Spirit Type Undead to drain the life-force of whatever they touched, slowly killing them. It does take around 10 minutes or so to actually kill a person, however.
For a high-level undead to use such magic felt off. Iris felt wary, she guarded for another spell to come flying at her from elsewhere.
She imagined her body to become clad in magic, focused her mana, strengthening her resistance to magical attacks, and then-
――Eh
!?
The ghostly hand slipped into Iris’ body.
She could not grasp what kind of magic it was. It was definitely magic, but it was so powerful, it broke through her defenses like a dry leaf being crunched underfoot.
For the Undead to be ‘above Iris’ level’, was a gross understatement. Their dimension of measurement was fundamentally different.
She felt no damage. However the ghostly girl had reached deep into her, fatally so.
She felt her soul being gripped, torrents of dread and a fear for her impending death rushed through her.
Iris fell to the ground. She couldn’t move. Her breath clogged in her throat. The pit of her stomach turned cold like sleet.
“Wha
. what
 Are you doing
 to
 me
!”
‘I’m simply borrowing you. Well, I won’t ever be giving you back though
!”
“Ah
 Aaaaaaa
..!!”
Iris’ consciousness slipped and drowned into the muddy darkness, slowly falling to its depths, and was promptly crushed by it.
“Iris, what happened!? Didn’t you use â‰ȘSignal Bomb≫!?” Diana yelled, breathless from having rushed over.
“Um, no, I didn’t.”
“Those cuts
”
“I tripped, it’s fine.” Iris hid her hands behind shyly.
“I
 see. God, I feel like I drank too much.”
“Gonna drink some more?”
“Hm- I’ll quit while I’m ahead. But I do have to go back and tell Benedict and Hugh nothing happened before I go back to the inn
. Ah, this isn’t a good pattern. I’ll just end up drinking more.” Diana shook her head.
It seemed the choice of going to the tavern and leaving without drinking didn’t exist for her.
“Well, anyway, I’ll be going back now. Umm
 Don’t drink too much?”
“I’ll hold back.”
Diana staggered off, fluttering her hand behind her as she went.
Once her back disappeared, Iris turned away and checked her own body.
The weight of flesh and bone.  The cold caress of the wind. The feeling of trodding the earth. The feeling of her nails pressing against her palm when she curled her fingers into a fist.
――This is awesome! This feeling of being in a living body! Oh this is so awesome, I missed this so much! Well, being a ghost has its own perks, but nothing beats a live body! Iris nodded to herself.
Poor Iris’ body had been taken over by the ghost called RenĂ©.
After all, for her, the appearance of a Dullahan was simply a temporary visage. A puppet designed to look like one by possessing her own dead body.
René’s true body was her spirit, her soul. If classified accordingly as a Monster, she would be a much more powerful variant of Abyss Spirit, the highest level Spirit Type Undead.
The blessing given to her by the Evil God was this; an unimaginable amount of magical energy. Even right now, her strength would rival even the strongest of the Humanoids. But an even more important fact was that RenĂ© was an Undead ‘capable of growing stronger’ over time.
She could make contracts with souls that died with grudges carved into their hearts, and in exchange for quenching the soul’s desire for vengeance, she could absorb it. It was much different from simply devouring the soul. This act increased her presence, filled her soul, and grew her magic.
The Evil God had referred to this as ‘theoretically being able to become much more powerful than the Demon King himself’.
The Undead dream of taking in souls to become more powerful, they dream of becoming Legion, but that would only be a consequence of multiple evil spirits gathering in a single point. To be able to empower her own self through this method, that characteristic was something René alone possessed. A trait unique to her alone among the Undead.
The woman whom René had laid eyes on. Miriam. She held a grudge against Night Python, a criminal syndicate that controlled the dark side of Ciel-Terra.
While enacting vengeance upon that kind of organization felt like overwork, RenĂ© nevertheless really  didn’t want to let Miriam go.
Always quality over quantity.
And while possessing others was something very much within the ability of every high ranking Spirit Type Undead, in René’s case, she even had a special option.
However, to make use of that skill, she had to possess a girl of the same or similar age as her

――Man I’m so lucky. I got my hands on just the perfect body! Well, well, how should I proceed from here?
Iris was the perfect body to possess for René.
First, she was of the same age as her. Second, she was trying to get involved with Night Python. And finally, she was an adventurer, and a Wizard at that, allowing her to use her own magic under the guise of Iris.
If she cannot beat Lawrence, she could not get revenge against the usurper, Hilbert. Strengthening herself through devouring other souls was key.
So let’s make use of Iris and her friends. To my end.
Wearing Iris’ smile on her face, RenĂ© hurried towards the inn.
Translator: Fried Hedgehog
Eyyo guise, sup, Hedge here with another chapter of “*rubs hands* Excellent *rubs hands more*”. There’s not much to talk about here, except that it’s building up to something bigger I guess. Good god I hope Suzume-sensei stops with all the perspective jumps every chapter from here on out, for at least a little while longer.
As for the title, it’s referring to the Japanese Law. Penal Code Article 252 is about Embezzlement. I’m not sure if it’s okay to classify taking over other people’s bodies as embezzlement, but hey, the analogy weirdly works.
For those who want to know more: Japan Law Translation.
Aight, that’s all for this episode. See y’all next chapter.