I've always gone under the radar, never being noticed by anyone. That was completely intentional; living in Jericho means you are barely above the bottom of the barrel, and if you stand out, you are beaten into complacency.
Being a thief wasn't my first option, but it was the only viable one long-term; other offers of hard labor for little pay never lasted long. Hundreds of homeless people who all have back problems are enough of a hint at what that route gets you.
So where are we now?
"Move it, you scum, I said move!" a voice shouted. a noble or high merchant, trying to get his carriage through the streets. It looks like an easy target for someone like me, or it would have been without the three adventures following him around.
"Rolt, please don't risk it," a voice said up at me, pleadingly.
"Myria, I must; you know how long it's been since we stocked up on supplies." Looking down at her with sad eyes, she understands but doesn't like it.
This is Myria, a younger sister of sorts. About 5 years younger than me at 12 years old, from the same orphanage I came from. At her insistence, I've been teaching her the trade of thievery, and she knows that that carriage is a prime target, if very risky.
We usually pick pockets in the lower merchant district and then buy supplies with the money. Stealing items from rich people is always lucrative since they wouldn't bother taking cheap things with them.
There is a fence we sell items to sometimes; he gives us a good deal, but I don't trust him at all. He is always wearing jewelry. probably a plant by the guards. Fortunately, I've always worn a mask when dealing with Ferd and haven't gotten caught yet.
Myria tugs on my shirt, making me look back down at her."But those are adventures, silver-rank ones," she said warily, pointing to the badges on their collars.
Adventurers are someone who's absorbed a monster core; the stronger the core, the higher their potential, not to mention their abilities. Silver-ranked adventures like these have probably absorbed cores from monsters like minotaurs or lesser wryms.
Adventurers are mercenaries here in the human kingdoms; in other kingdoms, they are closer to the stories, delving into dungeons and killing monsters. In Jerain, there's only one dungeon, and it's a weak one with only goblins. Most of the guards have at least absorbed a goblin core to keep them above the general riff-raff.
"They have to sleep sometimes, I'm sure. Besides, they must have something valuable to have hired three silver ranks." I argued, not taking my eye off the carriage.
People are moving slowly out of the way, and that goes a lot faster when one of the adventurers pulls out a sword, the sound of it being taken out of its sheath scarring the people.
"He said MOVE!" He screamed the last word, seemingly not seeing that they already had.
"I have to know what they have; it could change everything for us," I said, hugging her and pushing her back. "I'll be fine; you know I always get away."
Years ago, when I still had a master to teach me how to be a thief myself, I had absorbed the core of a shadow hound. Master had given it to me as a graduation present when he had taught me everything he could.
The Shadow Hound is an artificial monster, and the cores are ranked lower than the abilities they can account for. They can be completely invisible on command, as long as there is not much daylight. Artificial light doesn't seem to affect it, and the same is true with magical light.
Hounds are fast—extremely fast. And it makes some sense that some of that ability would transfer over to their core; I'm far faster than I had any right to be. The thing with cores is that they only give one ability with absolute certainty; they can give more, but it's rare.
I was absurdly lucky. I got 4 abilities from that one core. Invisibility, an enhanced physique, shadow storage, and an enhanced sense of smell My master was shocked that I got the invisibility; it was absurdly rare, and only 1/75 people got it. The enhanced physique was expected.
I hadn't discovered the other abilities until after my master had left, and I hadn't shown anyone any of my abilities. not even Myria. I could easily become a master thief if I used those abilities, but I'm still waiting for my ascension.
When orphans turn 18, they get a free education from the church; usually, they become guards, but some of them stay and become priests or priestesses, and a rare few go out and get a trade like my friend Aleks, who's training to be a blacksmith.
There are plenty of magic items that can tell if you use an ability; most shopkeepers have them, so I can't just throw stuff into my shadow storage. That would be too convenient.
I'm waiting for my ascension because a core was left for me when I was dropped off, according to the director who runs the orphanage. My mother was a tall woman with red hair, which I didn't inherit, who wore armor fitting someone of high silver or low gold adventurer status.
Hopefully, the core will be something good. The average person can absorb 5 cores in their life, and with royalty getting more, up to 10. There was once a person who had more, but those were special circumstances.
"I'll be back tomorrow; do not go looking for me if I go missing." "I will be back." Looking her in the eye one final time, just to make sure she understood, I started walking in the same direction as the carriage.
This is where my talent for going unnoticed shines brightest. Patience is key. constantly pulling my cowl over my head and taking it off every other time one of the adventurers looked in my direction, eventually I got close enough to hear their conversation.
"Oh my Gods, this has taken so long; I can't wait to get to the guild and mark this job completed," the adventurer with the sword said.
"You will wait because that's our job." "We're still following this carriage till tomorrow, in case you forgot," a female adventurer with a spear said.
"Leave 'em be; you know he just likes complaining, and besides, this job wasn't supposed to last this long; I've got family waiting for me back in Keen." The last adventurer said, a male with a longbow.
Keen was a neighboring city to Jerain, a two-day walk or quarter-day ride by horseback. It's a lot smaller but has a lot more farms and a training facility for rangers. The city was named Keen because there's a dungeon there with bird monsters; they give the "Keen Eyes" ability, which helps a lot for archers and rangers of any kind.
"Are we staying in another inn? The last one had bugs, and I'm still itching." The first adventure complained again.
The spearwoman sighed. "Yes, we are staying in another inn. This one should be better considering it's in the middle ring of the city."
"Who's keeping watch of the carriage overnight?" the archer asked.
"Not it!"
"Not it!"
"Oh, c'mon, again? I did the last one!"
"Sorry man, you know the rules," the swordsman smirked while the spearwoman giggled.
It looks like the archer is going to be watching the carriage; tonight is my perfect chance.
end of chapter one. being cross-posted on RR.