The next three days passed slowly. Nolan's days consisted of him lying in bed and Harley bringing him food.
He got to know Harley's wife Nara, and his seven years old son, Henry.
His wife was from a noble lineage too. She had blonde hair and looked to be in her early thirties. Simply said, she was beautiful.
Henry, on the other hand, had brown hair like his father's.
Harley and Nara kept the fact that he came from a noble lineage secret. They intended to raise him to be a commoner, far away from the cruel society of the nobles.
While Nara was thankful to Nolan for helping them, she didn't have much contact with him in the past three days.
Henry, on the other hand, was the exact opposite of his mother. In the past three days, he spent most of his time in Nolan's room. He liked Nolan very much.
And Nolan, except for eating and lying in bed, in the past three days, he spent the rest of his time telling Henry stories, which of course, Henry loved very much.
…
Night time.
It was a moonless night.
Henry and Nara slept in the house while Nolan and Harley stood on the roof. Harley wore all black and had his face covered with black cloth, giving off the vibe of an assassin.
On the other hand, Nolan wore his black hanfu. However, he didn't bother to hide his face.
"Did you find their street?" Nolan asked.
"I did. But are you sure you don't need more time to recover?" Harley asked, glancing at Nolan's right shoulder.
"We can't give them more time to recover. We must act now while they still fight for the boss position." Nolan replied, looking in the distance at the dark night. In fact, his body was not in such a bad state as Harley thought. Yes, when he first woke up in Harley's bed, his legs and muscles hurt like crazy because previously, he ran without rest for a long time, pushing his muscles past the limit. However, in the past three days, he rested well without moving much. So not only did the pain in his muscles almost disappear his shoulder healed too. Well, it didn't fully heal, but he could at least move his right hand, and when he moved it, the pain he felt was bearable.
"Do you have any idea of
a place to rob?" Harley asked.
[Ding]
[Quest: Robbers]
[Rob from Rosalia's people]
[Rewards: Depends on how much the host robs]
[Time limit: 5 hours]
[Penalty upon failure: Death]
Nolan didn't show any reaction even after reading the quest details.
"We are going to rob the Old Man's Inn. Let's go." Nolan jumped on the roof of the nearest building.
Harley followed. Jumping from roof to roof with Harley leading the way, they moved toward their destination.
…
A half-hour later, they arrived on the roof of the Old Man's Inn.
"What now?" Harley asked.
"It's too dangerous to enter through the front door. We have to make our entrance from here." Nolan moved a tile of the roof to the side.
It was a tile above one of the chambers.
A faint light emitted from the chamber.
"Kyaaaa!" A scream sounded from inside the chamber.
To better see the situation inside, Nolan quickly moved more tiles aside.
"Heheheheheh! Layla, just tonight. Accompany me tonight, and I promise I will reward you handsomely."
Layla lay on the bed with the fat innkeeper above her, restricting her movements. He tried to force himself upon her.
"Noooooooo! Get away!" Layla screamed, kicking the fat innkeeper in the stomach with her little legs.
However, the fat innkeeper didn't even budge. Instead, he grabbed her legs and forcibly spread them.
Nolan looked at Harley. They nodded simultaneously.
Nolan moved more tiles, making a hole big enough for a person to pass through.
Nolan jumped through the hole, followed by Harley.
Thud!
They landed on the floor behind the innkeeper.
The innkeeper instantly turned back. But as he turned back, Nolan pointed the sword at his throat.
"Yoo! Long time no see." Nolan smiled widely.
"I-It-It's you!" The innkeeper trembled at the sight of Nolan.
"If you don't want to die, give me your money," Nolan said, making a little cut on the innkeeper's throat.
The innkeeper fell on his butt, wetting his pants in fear. "D-D-Downstairs. Currently, the inn is empty. If you look carefully, you will find the money downstairs."
Nolan instantly glanced at Harley. Harley just nodded and headed to search the inn.
The moment Harley left, Nolan turned to the innkeeper again.
The innkeeper had a forced smile on his face.
Nolan smiled too, but his smile was wide and somehow scary. "Do you know what I hate the most?"
The innkeeper gulped hard and shook his head.
"I hate bastards like Rosalia. I despise sluts. I despise those who are not loyal to their husbands and wives. I hate rapists. I hate scum like you!" Nolan spoke with a smile, but his voice was cold and distant.
"Sir, I'm afraid I do not und…"
Swoosh!
Nolan swung the sword, beheading the innkeeper.
Thud!
The head fell to the ground. Blood splashed everywhere, dying the bed and the floor red and a part of Nolan's clothes too.
"I bet you don't understand!" Nolan said, looking coldly at the headless body on the ground.
Layla didn't scream. It's not like she didn't want, just no matter how much she tried, she couldn't produce any sound. After all, the horror she witnessed was not something an ordinary person could beat to see.
Tears flowed down her face. "B-Boss?" She let out a low voice full of disbelief.
Nolan glared at her angrily. "B-Boss?" He imitated her. "Shut the fu.ck up, stupid bitch. He tried to rape you, and you still have time to worry about him?" Nolan stored the bloody sword in the inventory and clapped his hands several times as if giving applause. "You sure are good-hearted."
"B-But still, he didn't deserve to die."
Slap!
Nolan slapped himself across the face. "Ohh, dear god. I always wondered why the novel protagonists didn't beat the sit-out of annoying bit.ches like you. Listen. You are confused, so that's why you are spouting nonsense. So please, shut the fu.ck up before I lose control of myself and beat you."
'Inspect.' Despite his anger, he still used inspect to see her status window.
[Name: Layla]
[Gender: Female]
[Age: 19years 6months, 18days]
[Personality: Naive]
[Occupation: First class waiter]
[Martial arts: None]
[Strength: 5]
[Stamina: 8]
[Agility: 6]
"Naive? System, you are too soft. She is so naive, it is better to say it's mental illness." Nolan muttered sarcastically.
After seeing her status window, he calmed a bit. 'First class waiter? She could be useful, but…" Nolan thought. 'Can I trust someone who tried to seduce me for a tael of silver?'
At that moment, Harley stormed inside the chamber. He carried a black bag on his back. The moment he entered, his eyes fell on the headless innkeeper, but he didn't say anything.
"I've got the money. Let's go." He said.
"Wait. What do we do with the girl? We can't leave her like this. I think she could be useful. She has experience as a waiter." Nolan said.
"I've set the first floor on fire. We don't have much time before they notice and arrive here. Take her with us. We will decide later." Harley said as he jumped out of the chamber through the hole in the roof.
'How the fu.ck did the jump three meters in height?' Nolan cursed in his heart.
"Jump." Nolan bent before Layla with his back facing her.
She hesitantly jumped on his back.
Nolan rose. "Here goes nothing." He jumped toward the hole in the roof with Layla on his back.
He surprised himself with how high he jumped.
He stretched his hand in the air toward the hole. And though he was just a few centimeters from reaching the hole, he still could not reach it.
He closed his eyes as he slowly started falling, but as he lost all hope, he felt a strong grip around his wrist.
Harley had taken him by the wrist and pulled him out.
"Thank you."
"No problem. Partner!" Harley jumped on the roof of the nearby building, and Nolan followed closely behind him with Layla on his back.
She was wide awake but didn't let out even the slightest sound. She just observed the things happening before her. Speechless. She couldn't believe her eyes. How did things escalate this far?
…
Carrying Layla and the money, they arrived at Harley's house in an hour.
They entered the only empty room in the house, the room Nolan previously rested in.
"If you are tired, go to bed," Nolan said to Layla, pointing at the bed.
She nodded and lay on the bed.
Harley took the black cloth off his face and threw it on the ground.
"Harley, do you have some old clothes? I think I got some blood on the clothes." Nolan said as he examined himself in the dark, But he couldn't see much.
"I have. Just wait a minute. I will go and bring them here."
Harley left the room.
After a few minutes, he returned to the room carrying a burning candle in one hand and an old, brown hanfu.
He gave the hanfu to Nolan and placed the candle on the table, lighting the room.
He then sat on the ground.
Nolan quickly changed his clothes and stored the black hanfu in the inventory. He then sat on the ground too.
Harley poured the money out of the bag onto the floor.
A pile of silver taels formed before them. They didn't waste any more time and started counting the silver taels.
They counted the taels separately. After fifteen minutes, when they finished counting, they were left with two smaller piles of silver taels.
"Mine has fifty-seven taels," Nolan said.
"Mine has sixty. So hundred and seventeen tales of silver in total." Harley calculated.
"Together with my twenty-five taels, it makes hundred and forty-two tales of silver in total. Good job, partner." Nolan smiled as he stretched his fist to Harley for a fist bump.
Harley smiled and fist-bumped Nolan.
[Ding]
[You completed the Quest: Robbers]
[You received: 4 allocation points, 125 Exp]
[Ding]
[You leveled up]
[You received: 3 allocation points]
'Great.' Nolan smiled, satisfied. "Harley, you should go rest too." He said.
"You are right." Harley stood up. "Goodnight." He left the room.
There was still an hour or two before sunrise, so Nolan decided not to sleep and look for a place for the restaurant early in the morning.
"Status window." He mumbled under his nose.
[Name: Nolan]
[Age: 19 years, 10 days]
[Personality: Mentally unstable]
[Occupation: Beggar who knows basic swordsmanship]
[Level 3]
[Exp: 75/100]
[Martial arts: Basic swordsmanship]
[Strength: 10]
[Stamina: 16]
[Agility: 15]
[Allocation points: 7]
Without much thought, Nolan put one point into agility and the rest into strength. He didn't want to focus only on one aspect. Instead, he wanted his stats to be balanced.
[Strength: 16]
[Agility: 16]
'Great. Now each stat is at sixteen. But why am I still a beggar?' Nolan thought. 'I should be at least a rich beggar? Which beggar has hundred and fifty taels of silver?'
[Ding]
[Chain quest: Build a village]
[Quest 1: Funds]
[You need funds to run a village. Open a business in the city]
[Time limit: None]
[Penalty for abandoning the quest: Electroshock for 10 minutes]
[Reward: New occupation-Hidden business owner, Exp 75]
[Quest 2: Complete quest 1 for further information]
[Quest 3: Complete quest 2 for further information]
[Quest 4: Complete quest 3 for further information]
[Quest 5: Complete quest 4 for further information]
'Now you are talking! The real fun starts now!' A wide, crazed smile spread on Nolan's face.