Outside the city walls, Ritzy was crouching on the floor. Placing his palms on the ground while infusing his mana with the dirt.
The next moment, the ground commenced shivering. The ground was dirt so the movement of the ground didn't make a sound. Ritzy knew if he changed the structure of the wall, loud cracking sounds would come from the stone walls and it would alert everyone. Ritzy wanted his raid on the city to go unknown, so he had to be as quiet as possible.
Ritzy controlled the dirt to accumulate on the wall, creating a small mountain. Ritzy then poured more mineral magic into the dirt, making it condense and creating a sturdy slope.
Feeling he made the incline stable, he removed his hands from the ground and walked up the slope.
Ritzy's thoughts,
'What should I go for first. I can't go to the bank or major stores. Most likely that greedy Grasso would go there first so I need to loot somewhere else. What has valuables that I can take, but wouldn't be too important for Grass to send his men?".
While thinking, Ritzy reached the top of the slope and jumped on to the wall. Walking on the stone walls, Ritzy found a litter of dead beastkin and the farmers from before.
Ritzy's thoughts,
"I still can't believe they are willing to die for such little money. Wait, I should go where they make commoner items. The little stores that make clothes and furniture that commoners need.
There should be many coins stored in those stores, and I can also learn the price of commoner items at the same time.
While traversing through the dead bodies, Ritzy finally reached a tower with stone stairs that led to ground level. Going down the stairs, his mana presences sensed a chamber underground.
Continuing to go down the stairs, Ritzy sensed many items inside the chamber. There were many crates, barrels, racked weapons, and siege weapon parts.
Ritzy couldn't tell what was inside the barrels and crates since his mana presence only outline the things around him. If the crate had a hole, Ritzy's mana presence would go through the hole and he would be able to tell what was inside. But since the crates and barrels were tightly closed, Ritzy's mana presence couldn't tell what was inside.
Ritzy's thoughts,
'What would need to be sealed tight? These walls need to be defended at a moment's notice so why would they store something so tightly. Whatever's inside wouldn't be ready at a moments notice".
When Ritzy reached ground level, he didn't leave the tower, he kept going down and into the chamber. Inside the chamber, he walked past the weapon rack and went straight to the crates.
The crates were made of wood with iron bolts holding it together. On the crate was a strange emblem Ritzy had never seen. The emblem was a shield with a three-leaf clover in the middle.
Walking to the crates, Ritzy saw a sheet of hide paper bolted onto one of the crates. Curious, Ritzy read the paper.
______
Type of Delivery: Black Level Package
Package: Recreation fire-elemental material
Notes: Fragile, Flammable, Do not open, military-grade
_______
Ritzy's thought's,
"Black level package? Military-grade? Elemental material? This sounds like items used for secret weapons research. I wonder what they are trying to make?".
Not holding back, Ritzy conjured a light blue crowbar and then stabbed the top layer of the crate and cracked it open. With the crate open, the smell of excrement and rotten meat had spread out through the room.
Ritzy was mortified by the smell so he quickly used wind magic to create a wind helmet. Not allowing the smell to reach his face.
Removing the smell, he was able to refocus and went to check what was inside the crate. Looking inside, Ritzy was surprised.
Ritzy murmured,
"They're making gun powder".
Inside the crates was excrement as Ritzy smelled before, but the rotten meat smell wasn't from any animal. The smell was from beastkin.
Ritzy,
"This is the Powdered-Priests method from Japan's Sengoku period. I guess this makes sense. They always want to find ways to easily kill people, and using dead bodies makes sense. It wouldn't be weird that someone found out that bodies were explosive with time if they were buried with excrement".
"The people in this world wouldn't bat an eye in killing people and then throwing them with their waste. It was just a matter of time until this was discovered".
Looking at the crate again, Ritzy noticed something off. The bodies weren't simply killed, it was as if they were tortured to death. Few of their teeth were missing, hair yanked out, bruises were everywhere, bones broken, and much more.
The bodies weren't even removed from any possesions they had before they died. Ritzy even saw a severed hand with a copper wedding ring.
Ritzy,
"Huh, seems like the people who wanted to send these things, didn't pull any punches. Could the beastkin be criminals, severely punished slaves, or what could it be? Well, it's not my problem. Investigating the bodies won't bring me anything. What I need to know more about is the gunpowder they're making and what they've been able to make with it".
Ritzy opened more crates and looked around. Ritzy didn't find anything useful. It was all armor, weapons, and dead bodies. Seeing there was nothing, Ritzy left the chamber and got out of the tower.
Outside, Ritzy was met with the residential district. The homes were trashed and left abandoned from the beastkin conquering the city.
Knowing the houses were most likely already looted, he continued walking. While walking, he was meet with the occasional restaurant, tavern, and inn. Going inside each one, Ritzy didn't find anything worth taking.
Ritzy always had his mana presence activated but he didn't find anyone near him. He also used his mana presence to check where the taverns and inns kept their stash of money but nothing appeared.
Curious why there was no stored valuables, he would look around every corner and under every rug. During the checking of one tavern, Ritzy found an irregular plank from a wooden floor. Pulling the plank out, and digging the ground. Ritzy found a small wooden box. Inside the box were photos and few coins. Only about 18 iron coins.
Ritzy's thought's,
'It appears that the reason I couldn't find anything was because people hid their wealth underground. It is way too slow to dig out every stash, so I need to rethink my plan. Wait! Since I've been here, I haven't seen a single beastkin or soldier. Where could they be?'.
Leaving the tavern, Ritzy started walking at a quicker pace. Heading more and more inside the city. Ritzy also increased the mana in his Mana Presence so he could see more around him.
After a mile of walking, Ritzy's mana presence finally picked up something. Ritzy's mana presence had reached the other side of a house and onto another street. In the street, an elf male and beastkin boy were being chased by a group of three mercenaries.
Mercenary 1,
"Get back here you damn ungrateful slaves!".
Boy Beastkin (Riku),
"I'm scared, Christoph".
Male Elf (Christoph),
"Don't look back Riku, we can't stop running".
The elf then lifted his arm and aimed the palm of his hand at the group of mercenaries chasing them. The elf then chanted,
"Shè dàn zhènfēng".
Wind elemental magic gathered on the palm of his hand and then launched at the mercenaries. The wind spell hit one of the mercenaries, causing him to fall off his horse.
Mercenary 2,
"Zeke! Damn you, slaves. We were gonna give you quick deaths but now, forget it!".
The second mercenary pulled out a bow and aimed for the elf.
Mercenary 2,
"Take this you ungrateful piece of Sh*ts!".
The second mercenary released his grip on the string and let the arrow go. The arrow flew through the air but as the arrow was about to reach the elf's back. A transparent white knife hit the arrow, causing the arrow to lose its trajectory and missing.
Mercenary 1 seeing an interference, he panicked and shouted,
"Watch out!".
The beastkin boy hearing a metal clang behind him, made him turn around. Looking behind him, the boy saw a black figure jumping off a building. The figure had golden light coming from his eyes and white light from his left hand.
The figure then made a chopping motion in the air, causing white slashes to head directly for the mercenaries. The white slashes then sliced through the mercenaries.
Since the mercenaries weren't perfectly aligned. One mercenary had his legs cut off, another was slashed right through his torso, and another had his head separated from his body.
Once the figure landed on the floor, the group of three mercenaries were already dead.
Riku,
"Christoph, we're saved!".
Christoph,
"I can't believe we survived".
Riku,
"Let's go thank him. Mama always said we should thank people when they help us".
Approaching the figure, Riku and Christoph could now clearly see Ritzy. Seeing Ritzy, they could only think one thing.
Christoph,
"A human".