Visidia didn't take more than mere seconds, and the lock protecting the office was already on the dusty floor. Before going inside, William looked at the neutralized Inkerekh Keeper, feeling freezing goosebumps.
"By Sek, I can't believe we're actually at the office," she took a lamp next to the dark entrance and lit it on.
"...you didn't think we'd get this far?" William raised one eyebrow, taking another lantern. He wondered if, after all, being there was a good idea.
"Heh, sometimes you gotta risk it all..." she justified, which he didn't like.
With both lanterns shooting orange light, the interiors of the office were revealed. A luxurious crimson seat with a dark-grey desk was at the bottom right. Worn-out bookshelves and drawers crammed with documents covered the wall behind.
Archaic, western-styled paintings rested above, the biggest one being a portrait of the bulky Mafia lord himself.
"What an egomaniac," mocked Visidia. "I'm leagues ahead of him in beauty, and I would never have one of those. Especially not a painting of Mauric design. But hey, every other idiot around here has an inferiority complex despite their brutish Oksidi nationalism. They hate them —and they are in their right— but feel as if everything coming from the western side of the Dawn Sea is superior. Loads of moth crap, ain't it?"
"Eh, I guess so..." William almost asked where she was from but remembered her vague response back at Onissa's. 'From everywhere and nowhere...'
She didn't speak like someone who was from the western continent —and neither from Reniram. Her looks, inhuman strength, and secretive nature, all of them pointed out there was something up with her.
Shelves with strange tea sets and other foreign decorations that William didn't recognize were on the wall ahead of the entrance. Above them, various pieces of paper covered with blue, glowing dust mini mounts rested, like some kind of natural medicine you'd find at a herbalist shop.
"Blue gold. Glowdust," said Visidia. "It feels like the climax of the best lusty night once you try it, and the next time you remember you're feeling like crap and craving a dose so hard. It's the reason Erish Dagrim lives in luxury while you see some townsfolk out there either in the streets or fearing for their lives. It controls Inanna. What a load of trash."
"How much does all of that cost?"
"All of those spots together? I bet some 1000 stars. Though gotta say that selling them on your own is declaring the war on the mafia. I could sell them in the capital, nonetheless, but that dust is really fine and it slips off pockets, so it's better if we leave it alone. If the guards find some of it on you you're really gonna have trouble. You're likely getting hung with that much. It's not worth it, but don't worry. That's nothing compared to what we're about to get..."
A drug, and one quite profitable considering how much those little blows were worth. How was it consumed? Its colorful blinks attracted William's eyes like some magic trick, but it was better to listen to her. The last thing he needed was an addiction problem amidst the chaos he found himself in.
"And here is the safe, where the pig stores all of his prizes. I've heard he used to have them decorating all over the place, but since they started to disappear he's put them all inside here. Greedy ass."
She stood before the bottom left wall, where stood a thick door covered with rust and a lock even bigger than the ones in the previous doors she had violated. "Well, seems like this one's gonna be problematic..."
"Can you open it?"
"I don't know. It's different than the rest. It'll take me too much time which we don't count on right now. C'mon. Maybe the toad's got some spare key or the blueprints of the lock inside those drawers. They'll come in handy"
She moved to the other side where the desk, paintings, and drawers stood. Was she really that unprepared? Someone could come in at any moment and waste their plans.
Sigh. It was useless to complain. He helped her look through the drawers.
Their content was a mix of Mafia documents, letters, messages, and Mauric documents as old as 60 years old. And as they were looking for anything useful, both couldn't help but get distracted by various documents from the Mafia lord, and the recent events in Reniram...
One of them mentioned Visidia and the Inkerekh Brotherhood, which stated that Erish Dagrim had connections with the dark and obscure organization, the reason why he had access to their services.
The man feared her for some reason; he'd only hire their services for dangerous, high-priority targets. Anyone else would be simply disposed of by his goons. It only added up to William's doubts about Visidia.
Although she wasn't a danger to him —even 'saving' him by risking herself and fighting alone with that keeper— it was obvious she hid something. If he couldn't know more, at least the best was to keep being her ally.
Another document was about Bloodsucker: the Mafia lord claimed to not have anything to do with him. In fact, he was scared and wondered if he wouldn't come after him, his power and wealth making him an attractive target.
The last document before Visidia found the blueprints of the inner workings of the lock was one that drew William's attention, reviving the doubts and concerns possessing his mind since he woke up as a lich:
The Mafia Lord was aware of some Uchimi pirate ships coming from the west and executing considerable quantities of prisoners on the southwest coast of the Dawn Sea, the ocean on the occidental side of Reniram.
Although they were only suppositions, Erish Dagrim believed those executions were ordered by an unnamed cult of wicked necromancers, using the bodies of those deceased western prisoners for horrible worshipping purposes.
What the heck was it? What were Zho and Artur hiding? Was that cult the Zeimey Lich Order? If so, where the heck was the rest of the prisoners? At least 50 were executed on that cold coast!
Goddamnit. He saved the document in his pocket, not revealing anything to Visidia. Zho and Artur would surely have some words about it...
"Alright, that's it," she finished with the lock, whistling with a tired grin. "Let's get inside, Will. What we've been looking for is right here."
They went inside. The safe was a narrow room full of locked expositors on both sides; displaying shiny, colorful jewels and gems of all kinds of styles, traditional swords, and armors of both western and eastern origin, ancient decorations and garments... all the way down to a shelf at the bottom with all of its drawers locked.
But a small, wooden safebox rested above it, the place where one would perfectly save money...
"Hey, this must be the Katosi grail," he whispered, facing the expositor with the only object similar to it: a golden glass decorated with aquamarines, and various cat figures carved on its hexagonal edges.
"And that's the object I'm looking for," signaled Visidia what was next to it, which was nothing luxurious or pretty: it was an old, rusty black dagger with a bat carved on its pommel, its rusty blade curved like a creeping snake.
"What's that?" William wondered why would she want that piece of scrap out of all the treasures inside that narrow place.
"Ah, it's just some old relic an eccentric and wealthy collector is willing to pay lots for... It's supposed to be super rare and more than 800 years old, whatever."
Hmmm. She was some bounty hunter on hire. "So, how do we get them out of here?"
Something called their attention; muffled voices spoke through the thick walls outside, getting louder as steps accompanied them.
"Shit. We need to get the hell outta here," she got serious, hurrying up to the bottom of the safe and pick up the tiny, wooden safe box at the top of the drawer.
"And how do we get this outta here?" William lowered his voice in distress.
She didn't respond with words. Instead, she slammed the glass of the expositor with the sturdy wooden box, broken glass flying everywhere. Taking her dagger, she rushed out of the vault. William picked the Katosi Grail and went before her with no time to steal anything else.
The steps and the raspy voices outside got louder. At least five marched to the office. William and Visidia looked around, almost panicking like a pair of rats surrounded by incoming cats.
"W-what do we do now?"
Visidia looked right and left, and then moved to the windows, smashing the glass on them. "Come, follow me!"
"W-what the hell..." exclaimed a voice.
Looking at the entrance, one of the Mafia henchmen had discovered the dead Inkerekh keeper. He drew his cutlass out and rushed.
But as he was about to get inside and notice them; Visidia threw her lantern at him, Burning oil and hot crystals raining all over the man. William did the same, and another explosion collapsed on him.
"Waaaaaagh! aaaaaaaAAGH" he grabbed himself and fell to the ground, rolling as he tried to extinguish his flames.
"What's going on there?! Intruders!" the steps outside violently accelerated.
Visidia didn't think about it, jumping through the window. Thinking fast, William did the same, only to realize they were falling from a fourth floor. Luckily, a vertical rope extended across the street was in their way. Both grabbed themselves from it midfall and rappeled all the way down to the street.
And once down, both ran as fast as their legs allowed them, not stopping at least five streets down where a bridge rested below a dry water canal. Both got inside of it and leaned on its curved structure as their lungs were about to collapse.
"O-oh my. D-did you see that bastard? He got all covered by flames!" She grabbed her chest, gasping for air. Chuckling like a maniac, her respiration barely allowing her to speak.
William breathed as deep as he could, cleaning the sweat on his forehead. Was that man dead? Dang, it! It could have been themselves.
"We... we made it!" he took the Katosi grail out of his pocket, looking at its shiny patterns.
"Hehe... that's not the only thing we made outta that, boy!" Visidia was euphoric.
She took the stolen wooden safe box and slammed it against the hard ground. Splinters bounced everywhere, followed by tiny, hexagonal golden coins faintly glowing among the darkness.
Turning on an improvised torch, they collected them all. Visidia split them into equal parts: 150 coins for her and 150 for him. They were different compared to the regular stars he had seen before, smaller and a paler golden tone.
Was that just it? did they go through all of that just for that?"
"Relax, William," she said happily. "these are called great stars. Do you know how much each one is worth? 50 regular stars. Congratulations! you just came out of that brothel having had fun with a sexy beauty like me, and 7500 stars richer, plus whatever you're planning to do with that Katosi bargain, which seems worth another small fortune. Enjoy them; don't waste them all in one place, would ya?"
William's phylactery heart skipped a buzz, a euphoric feeling electrifying through his skin. Was that even real? he pinched himself to confirm he wasn't dreaming, but he was still a lich in Reniram.
"This... this is...." he was dumbstruck.
"Awesome, isn't it? I told you it was gonna be totally worth it! I didn't think you'd accept at first, but I'm very glad you came with me after all. You don't get this every day, right?"
"Y-yeah..." he couldn't help but grin.
"Now, my heart breaks in two but we must separate," she got up, saving her money. "Nice job, William. Thanks for your help! I must leave Inanna as soon as possible. After this, Erish will definitely start going all out against me. I hope I see you again, handsome. Think about me often~"
She took a step closer, put her hands on his shoulders, and connected her soft, seductive lips against his for various seconds, giving him a smile after getting apart, and immediately rushing out of the bridge.
He tried to stop her, but she was already gone. Was that it? Dang, it. He sat below that bridge for a few moments, unable of processing all of that between his euphoric attack.
He laughed. Although that document about those pirates still concerned him, thinking about that hot moment with Visidia, the grail, and all of that money —not to mention how funny the whole thing was— made him delighted to be there. Maybe being a lich in Reniram was not that bad, after all!
And Visidia. Would he see her again? Truth was that she left him craving for much more. But she was right; it was better to get the hell outta there before the mafia started looking right there.
It was time to return to the monastery. Mission accomplished. He was now able to return. Zho would be satisfied. He wondered how lucky Artur and Miris had been so far...
A big moth glided in the night sky...