Knowledge Is Power: The Last Reader

Aria ran.

She had no idea where she was going. Her feet carried her through winding streets and narrow alleys, past confused pedestrians and startled merchants. Her heart pounded in her chest, and the loaf of bread was still clutched against her side like a lifeline.

She only knew two things.

The shopkeeper was chasing them.

And they had absolutely no money.

"GET BACK HERE!"

Aria glanced over her shoulder.

The shopkeeper was gaining. Her face was red with exertion, her apron flapping behind her like a battle flag. She was surprisingly fast for someone who spent her days surrounded by bread and pastries.

"RUN FASTER, KELME!"

"I’M RUNNING!"

"You’re walking!"

"I call this running!"

"You call everything running!"

Kelme looked offended, his expression a mixture of indignation and genuine effort. Then he started running faster.

They turned down an alley, ducked behind a stack of crates, and finally escaped into the crowd. The shopkeeper’s shouts faded behind them, swallowed by the noise of the busy street.

Aria leaned against a wall, breathing heavily. Her legs were shaking. Her lungs were burning. The bread was somehow still intact.

For a few seconds, neither of them spoke.

Then Aria started laughing.

Kelme stared at her. "What?"

"This is stupid." She laughed harder, her shoulders shaking. "We’re stupid."

Kelme nodded slowly. "Finally, some self-awareness."

Aria wiped her eyes, still chuckling. "I mean it. We’re completely useless. We spent an entire day trying to rob someone, and instead we got chased out of a bakery for forgetting to pay for pastries."

"It was a very stressful day."

"Kelme, we forgot to pay. That’s not a stressful day. That’s incompetence."

---

She thought for a moment, her laughter fading into something more thoughtful.

"Milo actually tried to fix this."

Kelme raised an eyebrow. "Milo?"

"My teacher. The one I told you about. He kept telling me I should read books."

"I can imagine."

"I didn’t want to at first. Who wants to sit around reading hundreds of pages when you could be doing literally anything else? It seemed boring. Pointless. Like homework."

She smiled, a distant look in her eyes. "But one day, he took me to his super-secret book-reading group."

Kelme looked confused. "Super-secret?"

"Very secret."

"How secret?"

"There were twelve people eating lunch together."

"Ah."

"Anyway, I didn’t want to sit with the kids. I thought I was too old for that. Too cool. Too mature. I wanted to be with the adults."

Aria paused, her expression shifting to something almost regretful.

"I regretted that decision very quickly."

Kelme frowned. "Why?"

"They wouldn’t stop talking about books." She shook her head. "Everyone kept talking about how many books they’d read that week. Five books. Seven books. One kid said he’d read twelve."

"Twelve?"

"Exactly!" Aria threw her hands up. "I was supposed to be the grown-up, and this twelve-year-old had read more books in a week than I’d read in my entire life."

Kelme’s mouth twitched. "That’s humiliating."

"It was devastating." She sighed. "I started thinking about eating the children."

Kelme stared at her. "...What?"

"Not literally." A pause. "Mostly."

Kelme decided not to ask.

"Then it was my turn." Aria covered her face. "I panicked. I hadn’t read anything."

"So?"

"So I bullshitted." She straightened up, trying to imitate her younger self. "I said, ’I don’t really keep track. I just see where the pages take me.’"

Kelme’s mouth twitched.

"Milo almost choked trying not to laugh. Then some asshole asked me what my three favorite books were." She threw her hands into the air. "Three! Like I even knew one!"

Kelme laughed, a genuine sound.

"I made up some names. I said something about ’The Adventures of the Silver Squirrel’ and ’The Mysterious Case of the Missing Moon’ and some other nonsense."

"And they believed you?"

"No. Of course not. Everyone laughed. I stood there, red-faced, while a bunch of children mocked me for being illiterate."

"So Milo convinced you to start reading?"

Aria nodded. "He said I didn’t have to read everything. Just enough to know what I was talking about. He said it was about confidence, not knowledge."

"And?"

She shrugged. "Turns out he was right. I started reading. And I discovered that books are actually—" She paused, searching for the right word. "—interesting."

Kelme looked impressed. "You learned something?"

"Don’t make it weird."

They walked in silence for a moment. Then Kelme suddenly stopped, his eyes widening.

"Wait."

Aria looked back. "What?"

"Did any of those books teach you how to make money?"

Aria froze. Her eyes widened.

"Oh."

Kelme waited.

"Oh, no."

"What?"

Aria slowly grinned. "Holy shit."

Kelme immediately looked concerned. "I know that expression. That’s the ’I just had a terrible idea’ expression."

"The Great Gatsby."

"What about it?"

"Crime."

Kelme stared. "That’s your business idea?"

"No! Listen!" Aria grabbed his shoulders, her voice rising with excitement. "We don’t need to rob people. We just need to find something this kingdom banned that people still want."

Kelme’s expression shifted, understanding dawning. "And sell it illegally."

"Exactly!" She pointed at him triumphantly. "Now you’re thinking!"

Kelme thought for a moment, clearly taking the idea seriously. "Slaves?"

Aria’s smile vanished. "No."

"What?"

"What’s wrong with you?"

"I was brainstorming!"

"Brainstorm something else!"

"Fine."

Aria began thinking, her brow furrowed in concentration. Then she snapped her fingers. "Sugar."

Kelme blinked. "Sugar?"

"The kingdom banned it. Apparently it turned out to be terrible for people’s health. Bad teeth, other problems. The kingdom decided humans weren’t meant to consume that much of it."

Kelme stared at her. "You know all that?"

"I read books."

He sighed. "...I’m beginning to regret asking."

Aria grinned. "People still want it. They crave it. They’d pay almost anything for it."

Kelme slowly smiled. "So we sell it."

"Exactly."

A long silence followed. Then Kelme asked the most important question.

"I didn’t know you knew how to make sugar."

Aria stared at him.

"I don’t."

Kelme’s smile disappeared.

Aria smiled confidently. "But I can learn. I know where to find the information. I know people who know people. We can figure it out."

Kelme stared at her. "You want to illegally manufacture sugar."

"Yes."

"We just got chased out of a shop because we couldn’t afford bread."

"Yes."

"We know nothing about making sugar."

"Yes."

"And you think this will work?"

Aria nodded. "Absolutely."

Kelme sighed, rubbing his temples. "This is the stupidest plan we’ve ever had."

Aria smiled. "That’s why it’ll probably work."

---

Neither of them noticed the shopkeeper standing at the end of the alley.

She was red-faced, still breathing hard, and pointing directly at them with the kind of fury that only comes from being cheated out of two pastries.

"THERE THEY ARE!"

Aria’s eyes widened. "Run."

Kelme sighed. "Again?"

"Again!"

And they ran.

Visit and read more novel to help us update chapter quickly. Thank you so much!