๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
It would be impossible to do such a heist on Earth, we had it too easily, we were the first one's to ever rob a central bank in this world, and we did because as military technology evolved, weapons would be exchanged in the army, but what happened to the outdated guns? nothing, they would be sent to a weapons warehouse to rust until a smart soldier or group of soldiers realised they could make some money by selling those weapons. And since at Kruschen the commerce of weapons is forbidden, it was all made under the table. and now people could get their hands on weapons, outdated weapons but lethal nonetheless, which allowed us to easily rob the bank
After meeting everyone at Rotciv House we throw the body of Steel at the Salim river and went directly to our first hideout carrying all our money and our stuff, the kid was taking us there but he already told me where it was, but since he was soo happy by being useful I let him guide everyone. We were following him going in the direction of the Industrial district, where we walked in front of an abandoned church.
๐๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ค๐ฉ๐ถ๐ณ๐ค๐ฉ... ๐ ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฃ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ช๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ด ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ด๐ข๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ช๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ฃ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฆ๐ฅ, ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ด ๐ญ๐ช๐ฌ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ๐บ ๐ค๐ญ๐ฐ๐ด๐ฆ๐ฅ ๐ช๐ต, ๐ธ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ฏ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ณ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ๐ช๐ด๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต.
"This is the place, but there is no way to enter through here, follow me!" said the kid.
We entered an alley and we walked for a bit behind the main street there were a few drunk men walking at night in the alleys, but nothing too dangerous, no one dared to steal from us in such a large group, and even if someone tried we were armed.
Through the alleys, we found a small door and the kid had a key for it.
"How do you have this key?" I asked him while he opened the door.
"After my family died, I was taken here who at the time was an orphanage, but I didn't stay long, the church was about to close and all orphans were to be sent somewhere else, they said it was a bigger church in the domains of the Holyprincess, but I didn't want to leave this city, where I had friends, where my father and mother lived. So one day I left this church but I stole some things before including this key, I thought it could be used in the future, and I was right, I lived here alone for a time." the kid answered while everyone was entering the building.
"Why this back door? Can't anyone enter through the front door?" asked Werewolf.
"Churchs are always open, but they do have mechanisms to close it, when the priest left they closed the door, and I never opened it, it need a lot of strength and even if I could, should I? like any man could easily steal this place from me."
"The Kid is right, he is very smart for his age, We also won't be opening the front entrance, this will be the only entrance for us, we don't want to draw attention!"
When everyone entered the church the Kid closed the door and guided us through the building.
The back entrance was leading to a small corridor with a few doors, it was the perfect place for a base of operations, it had a lot of space, many rooms, the entrance hall where ceremonies were held, the bell tower, a cellar and a basement, but there was no furniture, not even beds.
"Today we will sleep in our blankets, tomorrow we gonna buy things to improve this place, mattresses, more blankets, more weapons, ammo, food and drinks, but for now each one can choose their own room if you want to share a room with someone here you are free to do it, but you can't do it with a person of the other sex, I choose the High priest room!" I said already choosing the best room in the church as mine. and following be kid took the second-best and everyone ran to choose other good rooms.
I walked through the church in order to explore it myself and I ended reaching the hall, there was already a few others there
"This place is almost perfect, almost..." I said looking at a big statue of the Godking, made of marble, with the size of two human beings.
"Yes, this place needs a redecoration! don't you think?" Said Skyler
" Yes, Werewolf?"
"It will be my pleasure!"
Werewolf approached the statue and started to push it, it seemed to be quite heavy, so much so that he couldn't move it right away, but in a short time he managed to tilt it, then gravity did its part. the statue fell into the floor breaking it into a thousand tiny pieces.
๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
It has been almost two weeks since I got promoted after capturing the man who began a slaughter at the palace, Now I am overlooking the cleaning of the debris of the Saint's Bank just waiting for the time I will be facing the holyprince.
"Captain, we found the entrance to the vault, we are still cleaning but we focused our efforts in that area!"
"Stop calling me Captain, Samat, call me Boris, I've already told you I don't like to be called like that, would you like to be called Sargeant instead of your name?"
"Yes, captain!"
I sighed at his answer.
"Return to your post I will deliver the news to the Minister!"
I went to a fancy barracks outside the ruins of the bank, inside there was a man sitten reading a bunch of documents sometimes he would write something or sign one of the documents and would go on to the next.
I waited for him to finish his job, it is highly unusual for a man of his position to be working alongside a just captain, but he himself choose me for this job, and put him as the chief of the cleaning of the debris.
"say it!" he ordered still looking at his documents.
We found the entrance for the vault, we are still removing debris from it, but in a few hours we can enter the vault.
"Good, don't let anyone enter it without my supervision, I will go there once I finish here!"
"Understood"
I did as he told me, I let the soldiers work removing debris until the vault could be entered, but I didn't let anyone enter there through the hole in the wall, the vault doors were black because of the fire, but they seemed to be operational.
After a while came the Minister.
"Let be going, you go first!" he said to me.
I passed through the hole in the wall without any problem then helped him to pass, the fire didn't damage this section so much, there were some signs showing that the fire spread here, parts of the carpet and doors were burned, but it didn't damage the structure of the vault, the walls and the ceiling of the safe were still standing, differently from upstairs.
We searched the first rooms but they were empty, we walked a bit to get to the next room and inside the room, the fire was a bit stronger, lots of burned wood in the floor with damaged jewellery between.
"Apparently they didn't steal the jewellery!" I said.
"hmm..."
I opened the door on the other side and there it was hundred, if not thousands of gold and silver ingots pilled in the room, they were a bit darker than usual than someone would expect, but they were here.
"They didn't even steal the gold and silver..."
"...They did, they stole all the gold, silver and jewellery, and they burned everything left behind, money and works of art, do you got it?"
"Sir... are you asking me to steal from Your Holiness"
"It's not stealing, is just put this gold and silver to good use, the Godking is weak and don't deserve this, if you help me I can give you something of value"
"I don't want a part of this"
"Yes, you don't wanna this treasure, but I know what do you want... and I can give you the Holyprince!" he said glaring at me victoriously, as he already knew my answer.
๐๐ฉ๐ข๐ต? ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด ๐ฎ๐ข๐ฏ... ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฎ๐ถ๐ค๐ฉ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฆ๐ด ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฏ๐ฐ๐ธ?
"I can't give him not right now, but in the future, if you devote yourself to me, I can give you your little revenge, rest assured your secret lies only within me, and I don't intend to tell others about a useful pawn"
๐๐ฉ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ ๐ซ๐ฐ๐ช๐ฏ ๐ฉ๐ช๐ฎ? ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ๐ฐ ๐ด๐ถ๐ด๐ฑ๐ช๐ค๐ช๐ฐ๐ถ๐ด... ๐๐ฐ๐ธ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ฅ ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐ฅ๐ช๐ด๐ค๐ฐ๐ท๐ฆ๐ณ ๐ฎ๐บ ๐ด๐ฆ๐ค๐ณ๐ฆ๐ต? ๐๐ฐ... ๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ค๐ข๐ณ๐ฆ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ข๐ต, ๐ ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ญ๐ฅ ๐ข๐ด๐ฌ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ง๐ณ๐ฐ๐ฎ ๐ข ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ง ๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐จ๐ฐ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฉ๐ฆ๐ญ๐ฑ ๐ฎ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ข๐ท๐ฆ๐ฏ๐จ๐ฆ ๐ต๐ฉ๐ฆ ๐๐ฐ๐ญ๐บ๐ฑ๐ณ๐ช๐ฏ๐ค๐ฆ.
"I... I gladly accept this offer"
"Good, some men will enter here to transfer the ingots and jewellery to one of my secret warehouses during the night... No, the Godking doesn't trust me... probably I or this place is being watched by the outside by angels, yes, I will have to think more about this plan..."
"By angels do you mean?"
"Yes Angels, they are like a secret police loyal only for the Godking himself, don't you worry about that..."
"...For now, just keep people away from entering the vault. I will think of a way to take the ingots safely!"
"Understood"
๐๐/๐๐/๐๐๐ ๐ค๐ซ๐ฎ๐ฌ๐๐ก๐๐ง ๐๐๐ฅ๐๐ง๐๐๐ซ.
I was at my office when one of the servants announced that Saint Morozov wanted to talk with me, he got news about the robbery.
"Tell him to wait for a while, call Saint Borgis, and Saint Mikken, when both arrive allow the three of them to enter the room"
"Understood, Your Holyness"
"Meanwhile, call the head of the angels here"
"I will do as you command, I will be on my way, Your Holiness!"
It didn't take long to Kasim get to my office
"What happened?"
"Saint Morozov finished the salvage of the Saint's bank he is here to make a report, I want you here to hear your opinion later"
"Excuse me sir, the three saints have arrived!" said one of the servants opening the door just a little to enter the room.
"Let them in"
She opened the door, and announced everyone's name before leaving.
"Saint Morozov what did you have to say to us"
"I have good news and bad news, which one do you want to hear first?"
"The good one"
"The robbers didn't steal a lot of Kales, they just stole the gold, silver and jewellery from the bank, which means we can still catch them when they try to sell it"
"good unless they flee from the country the chances to find them are great, reinforce the borders I don't want even a soul to pass through it. "
"I will do as your command"
"And the bad one?"
"We are bankrupt"
"What?!"
"The robbers stole all the gold and silver from the vault, they also stole the jewellery"
"This is very bad, The jewellery that was stolen was insured by the Estate we have to pay it back to the owners their value" Said Saint Borgis.
"I, can't believe it, YOU WILL BE D..."
"I didn't finish it yet, with the testimonies gathered from the bank personnel we know the robbers burned most of the money and paintings, which I imagine were also insured"
"The cultural loss for Kruschen was greater than the monetary" Said Saint Mikken calmly
"HOW CAN YOU SAY SOMETHING LIKE THAT RIGHT NOW?"
"Sorry Your Holiness, I wasn't diminishing what was stolen, I was just expressing one fact. The gold and silver can be recovered, and money can be gathered again, but the paintings that were burned are lost forever. Paintings from, Ulrich, Ferbotten, Masrchem, Bolga, Kaligierez and many others artists from the past. I had known all of them, they were good men who chose to leave their names behind through their works, and now they are lost!"
"I DON'T CARE FOR ART"
"I'm truly sorry for my statement, your holiness"
"Saint Borgis you will be sentenced to death, and all your belonging will be..." I was saying and for each word I could see the soul of Saint Borgis leaving his body.
"Your Holiness this isn't a fair punishment" Said Saint Morozov
"WHAT?"
"Saint Borgis worked diligently for more than two centuries and he never messed up, and now you gonna punish him because some thieves stole the bank, that could happen to anyone sitting in his position, it isn't his fault, punish him, I agree to this, but I won't allow for you to punish him too harshly"
"YOU WON'T ALLOW IT!?"
"YOU DARE TO ORDER YOUR GODKING!" Said Kasim behind me
"I DARE PROTECT MY FELLOW SAINTS!" answered the Saint
"WHY SHOULDN'T I KILL BOTH OF YOU RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW!"
"YOU DON'T WANT TO START A WAR, THIS IS THE REASON!"
My hands got electrical I was about to kill that man, but I couldn't... he was right if I killed both of them a war would erupt within the country
"STOP!!! Killing won't resolve anything, we need to catch those robbers" spoke the head of the church.
"You are right, we shouldn't fight here about this... but punishment is needed for Saint Borgis, I will be merciful, he will keep his job and blessing, but he won't have any payment for one entire year and his belonging will be confiscated in order to help to pay the debt of our country! if he refuses this offer, refuses to work for free for one year, or even he doesn't work properly, he will be sentenced to death, do you agree to these terms" I explained looking at Saint Morozov
Saint Morozov didn't say anything, he remained silent showing that he supports this punishment.
"I... I... agree" said Saint Borgis
"You should be thankful for Your Holiness forgiving you!" Said Kasim at my side.
"Thank you, Your Holiness"
"I don't want your gratitude I want results, what we gonna do"
"If we keep printing money we will just devalue it. We need to take loans from other saints who didn't have their money at the bank, or from other countries...
"Another country, I shall send envoys soon as possible, what more?"
๐ ๐ฅ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ธ๐ข๐ฏ๐ต ๐ต๐ฐ ๐ฅ๐ฆ๐ข๐ญ ๐ธ๐ช๐ต๐ฉ ๐ฎ๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฆ ๐๐ข๐ช๐ฏ๐ต๐ด
"As I was speaking, we need to increase taxes..."
"Consider it done"
"Keep the expenses low, we must fire and lower wages of servants, other employees, and soldiers, stop buying ammo and other things..."
๐๐ฎ๐ฎ? ๐๐ฐ๐ณ๐ฐ๐ป๐ฐ๐ท ๐ธ๐ฐ๐ฏ'๐ต ๐ด๐ข๐บ ๐ข๐ฏ๐บ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ฏ๐จ ๐ข๐ฃ๐ฐ๐ถ๐ต ๐ต๐ฉ๐ช๐ด?
"Do what you have to do, anything more?"
"We could also sell some saint titles, or sell one of your palaces to whoever has money or even sell some territories to another country"
"I will sort which palaces you can try to sell, and I will deal with the sale of some poor territories to another country"
"Another option is to invade a country, it will be expensive but we can take their fortunes by force"
"No, This I won't allow"
"Understood"
"Anything more?"
"If we can catch the robbers we can avoid everything I said before, so we should use the idea of the Saint Morozov of invading every house of the slums of this city and others nearby"
"tsc, I... I... I will allow it"
"I will act as instructed" Said Saint Morozov
"This is everything I can think of" finished Saint Borgis
"You three leave, now! Kasim remain here"
When the three Saints left, I took a bottle of whiskey, a delicious drink from another country, but I was soo enraged that I couldn't properly pour on my glass and some documents got wet, I throw the bottle of whiskey on the wall, them the glass, then I threw everything at my desk on the floor. I punched my desk many times to alleviate my frustration, completely destroying the desk, I took the chairs, other furniture... I broke everything in the room when I couldn't break anything more I looked at Kasim in his eyes
"What do you think Is Morozov saying the truth? they stole and burned everything?"
"The man I put on Morozov watch said that he didn't do anything suspicious and that no one took anything from the bank's ruins, I don't know if they all stole everything, But I'm sure the people who I followed didn't carry gold or silver in their bags, but there are testimonies of the employees who said that they stole all the gold plus a bit of money, maybe I just was unlucky and found the one who took the money"
"There is no such thing as Luck, increase the surveillance of Saint Morozov, if he breathes I want to know"
"You should have killed him in the spot when he defied you"
"I'M NOT IN THE MOOD TO TALK ABOUT THIS, I'VE ALREADY TOLD YOU I DON'T INTEND TO START A WAR WITHIN KRUSCHEN, LEAVE NOW"