"...Brother Falti?" Athelei spotted a familiar face in the busy crowds.
Lisa was prompted to glance at where Athelei's gaze lay, "It is him." she nodded.
"...but why does he look so bummed out?" she pondered after a brief pause.
"Let's go ask," Athelei said, breaking into a small run before calling, "Brother Falti! Brother Falti!"
Falti heard the familiar joyful voice calling out to him, so he looked for Athelei's small figure in the crowd. It didn't take even a moment for him to spot the boy as Athelei emerged in front of him with Lisa in tow.
"...Oh, hey Orien." Falti spoke, "If yer going to ask what's wrong, I'll just tell ya now."
Athelei waited for a moment but it seemed like Falti was waiting for a response, "Uh... what is it?"
Dramatically, Falti clutched at his chest as tears streamed from his eyes. "Job-hunting, my lil' bro... I've been rejected repeatedly since this morning."
Falti then wiped a tear from his cheek as he continued, "There's nothing for me in this world..." He then put a hand on Athelei's shoulder, "Don't be like yer brother here, 'kay? Grow up strong!"
Falti then turned around and left.
Athelei silently watched as the teenager entered another store with a bright smile that spelt the word, S W I N D L E R and could be visible from a mile away.
Athelei was just stunned. 'It seems like normal humans sometimes forsake the beauty of planning... I will definitely not be like you, Brother Falti.'
Meanwhile, Lisa had a wry smile. She had come to know more of Falti than Athelei did, given her less robotic learning routine. She thought to herself, 'The only thing Brother Falti is good at is singing lullabies and looking for useful items in piles of junk... May the Gods guide his way...'
Athelei and Lisa continued on their exploration as the sun rose and rose. For lunch, they bought some food for themselves off the food stalls that littered practically every street corner. It cost about 5 coppers, but it was a satisfying meal of roast rolls and a quiche that they could bring along with them.
Essentially, they ordered takeout.
When they finished their meal, they walked around some more and continued on their window shopping. Athelei confirmed the stories on the Information Network about Nebula Gems seemingly being controlled in its sales.
So far he only spotted a select few shops that sold those indestructible gemstones. As for the prices? It cost about a silver coin for both Purple and Cyan. Orange cost much more at a large silver coin given how the countries controlled its distribution.
After a while, Athelei suddenly nudged Lisa who was holding his hand as they walked,
"Hey, Lisa..." Athelei let out a giggle as he spoke, "Wanna try stealing stuff?"
"Huh?" Lisa froze, "Stealing..? Orien? Hello?"
Athelei grinned, "Yeah. Stealing. We can be thieves."
Lisa's expression was a mixture of shock and disbelief, "Are you serious?" she asked in a whisper, as if not entirely denying the idea.
"Yes!" Athelei noticed Lisa was seemingly into the prospects of thievery, "We have my paralysis dagger so we can give it a go. We'll steal stuff from thieves so that it won't totally be a crime."
Lisa was slightly hesitant when she heard 'paralysis dagger' but her nods swiftly came when Athelei said something about stealing from thieves. Athelei's smile grew wider as he thought, 'I have a good partner.'
"So... what do we do?" Lisa asked, clearly a lot more nervous than she had been when compared to the time she asked Athelei for help in running away. There was a tremble in both her hands and her voice, but her eyes shone in excitement. Athelei wondered why she seemed more afraid of simple stealing than when she had run away from home, but quickly shelved his thoughts as he focused on what was more... important.
Athelei then pulled Lisa close and whispered in her ear, "Here's the plan, I saw some thieves earlier and..."
.
.
.
Lisa was quite nervous, standing in Aren's shadowed alleyways. The idea of doing something so criminal had riled her up, but when they were actually going to enact on their ideas, Lisa felt her confidence waver.
"Hooo," Lisa breathed through the cloth that covered half of her face.
Athelei was beside her, lightly holding his threateningly-pointy mystical dagger. He had just drawn the Mystic Pattern for Guide a few times and was gazing at an alleyway corner. It was likely the same corner that the thief he spotted had crept into. He waited for a few moments before creeping towards the corner, and slowly sneaking a glance.
"There's our guy," Athelei whispered, "Messy hair, dirty clothes, and shorter than Sister Yan."
Lisa nodded as she too sneaked a glance from above Athelei's head. There, she saw the man that Athelei designated as the target. The man seemed to be staring at a dark wall, for reasons she could not discern. He stood there lazily, with a knife strapped to his waist and a pouch of coins hung loosely from a utility belt.
Lisa watched as the man's head reeled back, and was instantly followed by Athelei whispering, "A chance. Now!"
Athelei dashed the short distance as the glow of a Hunter pattern fully settled itself on him, and Lisa followed swiftly from behind.
"Achoo!" The man sneezed, and Lisa understood what kind of chance they had been blessed with.
Ssuk ssuk!
Lisa heard two soft stabs sound out, and the man's legs gave up on carrying his weight. She then took two well-placed steps and swung out her sheathed sword. The wind whistled with her swing and struck the man at the back of his head.
Thud!
The man fell on his face, unmoving. He was probably unconscious without knowing what hit him. All he would vaguely recall was losing the feeling in both of his legs before his vision turned black.
Lisa's heart was pounding when she glanced at the knocked-out thief. She belatedly realised that they somehow succeeded.
"Did we do—" She was about to ask.
"Shh! The mission isn't over until it is over." Athelei rushed to put a finger on her lips. "We take what we came for, and we leave. Only then will we have completed the task."
Athelei was not one to tempt probability because he knew full well how that thing functioned. What more was the fact that when Athelei had sneakily used Inspect on Lisa while she was asleep, he discovered a concerning attribute.
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Lisa
- Luck: See-saw
[]-[]-[]-[]-[]-[]
Athelei's best and most likely on-point guess was that Lisa's Luck tended to go up and down. Perhaps it had been bad when she discovered the notorious Nefarious Icon while it had been good when he had met her. Athelei did not know for sure, and worse, he did not know if Lisa had bad or good luck at this very moment.
He did not want any of what the humans called 'jinxes' to occur just because of a few fate-tempting words.
And so, the two kids looted the unconscious thief with gloved hands. Athelei then bandaged the puncture wounds he had given the man's legs to prevent blood from flowing too much and hid it beneath the man's dirty pants.
The kids then took the pouch with them, as well as a jewellery box that looked important, and disappeared from the alley.
As they left though, Athelei gave the wall the man was staring at a good look. Lisa noticed this but thought nothing of it. She could not guess what was in the little kid's brain at all.
Holding hands to not get separated, the pair moved through the crowd until they made it back to the inn. They then climbed up a few sets of stairs, unlocked the door to their room, sneakily closed it, and then made sure it was locked.
Athelei then sat under a window, ensuring that nobody outside could see him as he stuck close to the wall. He beckoned Lisa to sit in a similar way he did.
The kids' hearts were beating against their chest as sweat had made their hair moist. They breathed for a good minute before letting out a few laughs.
Lisa relaxed against the wall and glanced above her, where rays of sunlight were shining through. She locked eyes with Athelei and finally asked,
"Did we do it?"
Athelei nodded slowly and placed the jewellery box in front of him.
Lisa placed the coin pouch in reply.
"We did." Athelei smiled and dramatically donned the look of an Adventurer, "How do you want to split the spoils?"
Lisa bit her lips as she pondered. She then replied in a similar, Adventurer-inspired way, "Can I take the coin pouch? I want to have some money of my own. You can take the stuff inside the jewellery box. Whether it is an expensive item or not, I will have no complaints."
"Umu," Athelei hummed in affirmation, "I'm fine with that."
He then grasped the jewellery box gingerly. It looked rather large in his hands, but that did not matter.
"Libra, please bless me with great riches!"