Abel let out a sigh after hearing what Coinweaver just said.
At least he had come to the house earlier than the merchant and whoever was lurking outside hadn't seen his face yet. He also connected the dots right away and could take some countermeasures against them instead of getting jumped unaware while he was on his way back from the dungeon.
If the worst comes to pass, he could kill them to prevent them from logging on for a day. Hopefully it wouldn't have to come down to that. While he was ready to kill other players if they attacked or impeded him, he wanted to stay low-key and keep any prying eyes from tracking his movements.
"What the hell is going on? What are you two talking about…"
Chronelix was much more naïve than Coinweaver, at least the latter had a better understanding of human nature due to his upbringing and family teachings. The young merchant had much more worldly experience then his more sheltered friend.
"That guy I sold the poison to, he probably bought everything to have me close down my stall early. I would probably go and meet up with whoever was passing the poison to me. If he can pull on this thread, it would untangle all his questions and lead him to the source… Red Sky, I'm sorry I didn't realize…"
"Who's outside?"
While Abel was a little pissed deep down, he knew it wasn't Coinweaver's fault. He would be better off thinking of a solution instead of laying the blame on one of his partners.
Chronelix stood on the side with widened eyes, now realizing that anyone of them could get attacked if they stepped outside the city. Usually Coinweaver wouldn't have any business beyond the city walls but Chronelix would sometimes go out and practice the magic skill he'd learned from skill-essence crystals on some small monsters.
"It's a couple of guys that were standing at the back. I'm not sure if they're together with that player but I wouldn't be surprised if they were standing so far back on purpose"
"Are you sure they're the only ones that followed?"
"Well I can't be 100% certain, there could be others…"
Abel thought for a few minutes while the 2 young men gave him some space to think without interruption.
"Alright, first of all… we can't use this place anymore. You guys can continue using it for yourselves but I won't bring any of the loot back here again. I'll think of another place where we can make the next exchange but I'll have to get back to you on that."
"But still, if they see-"
"I'm not done yet."
Abel took a deep breath and organized his thoughts before he continued,
"I want you to go out and buy me a mask and a cloak, something with a hood that will cover my hair. Just deduct the cost from the next payment but don't go and buy something expensive. I'll leave after that and lose the tail on my own."
"They'll still follow us, won't they?"
Chronelix cut in after hearing Abel's plan, he didn't want to die and be prevented from logging in for an entire day.
"So what if they do. Do you guys even leave the city?"
"Well Chronelix sometimes goes out to practice his magic skills on the small monsters outside…"
"Then he's still in the safety net if he doesn't stray more than 500 meters from the wall. These guys won't bother you for long, once I'm done with these dungeon runs, I plan on selling the information about it anyway. You can purchase it from me and auction it off or sell it to as many people afterwards, it's up to you. So long as you don't mention me, then we're all good. Though I'll tell you now that I'm also going to offer this chance to a few other people."
"Bro, come on sell it to me exclusively!"
Abel thought for a moment before taking a step back, even though the young merchant had messed up, he had been good to him after all.
"The most I can do is introduce you to these people. It's not many, just 3 girls and another guy that's an absolute newb. I doubt they'll care but I have to see if I can make a bit more from this information. It won't just be the location of the dungeon but the monsters inside as well as the layout and strength of each floor."
"Alright, I get it. I'll go get you your stuff."
Chronelix had been relegated to a background character during their discussion, he was still wrapping his head around the fact that people were following his friend.
When Coinweaver left the house, they returned to sitting in slightly awkward silence but Abel didn't care. Chronelix actually wanted to ask the young man a few questions but his reserved nature with strangers held him back.
Abel was thinking about who could be behind these guys. He knew the human heart was usually filled with greed, even his own was no exception. The ability to hold back in the face of profit and temptation, to do right and not go overboard, it was commendable but not everybody could do such a simple yet difficult thing.
He couldn't help but recall an old quote from Octavia Blake in one of the history books he read in school.
She said "It's not history that repeats itself, but certain mentalities amongst humans that does".
He hadn't understood it back then but now, with another life's experiences, he did. She was talking about avarice, the incessant greed within one's heart.
Abel lost himself in thought and before he knew it, Coinweaver was back with a plain black cloak and a wooden half-face mask.
"The cloak was pretty cheap at 80 coppers but the mask cost 1 silver and 20 copper coins."
"Deduct 2 silvers from my share in the next trade."
He put on the cloak and hood before covering the bottom half of his face with the mask. Before leaving, he decided to ask for a description of the 2 guys Coinweaver had spotted.
"By the way, what do those guys look like?"
"One of them is super skinny, I'm guessing he plays as some type of rogue, probably a thief. The other is a little muscular, probably a tank or a warrior. They skinny guy has blue hair while the other one has bright blonde hair, you should spot them easily."
He nodded and bid farewell, exiting from the front door in his new look.
The second he stepped out, he spotted the 2 guys. They were absolutely terrible at staying out of sight, he had no idea why they were sent on such a clandestine operation.
'Do they not care about the information or are they just amateurs? No, why would they go through this trouble if they don't care… hmm maybe they have limited numbers, it shouldn't be a big group and they are definitely laymen. They might be conceited thinking they're already strong for the current player base.'
He made his way down the streets as he thought about their background. He weaved between different NPC's and players with the occasional look sent his way. He was dressed pretty weirdly, even for a player but no one bothered him.
He slowly made his way back to the old guardians' district and entered old man Rye's shop. After crossing through the door, he was back in the familiar building.
'They shouldn't be able to get in here. Even if they enter the store, all they'll see if a shabby old shop and shouldn't be able to go through the back door. Heh, I can leave from the front.'
Before he could take off his getup, old man Rye showed up in front of him. He obviously knew it was Abel but he couldn't understand why he was dressed so sneakily or why he came from the shop's entrance.
"Are you in trouble child?"
"No sir. Just some nosy travelers, I can handle them."
"Mm, they've stepped into the shop."
"Really? I can't hear them though…"
Abel voiced out his confusion as he couldn't hear anything from the other side of the door.
"Of course. Did you really think this is an average building? It's layered in runic enchantments and only those with special keys can even enter this section of the building."
The information old man Rye revealed was quite illuminating but it made sense. How could a Legend live in a normal brick and mortar building without any magical enchantments!
"If they know what's good for them then they'll leave after a while. But if they try to come through the door then they'll be in for some pain."
Abel nodded and thought of something before he tentatively asked,
"Sir, could I make use of the shop to trade some goods? I have a pact with a merchant to sell some monster parts but I need a private place for the exchange. Would you mind?"
"It's fine child. The shop should be used for its intended purpose so you can do as you wish."
After saying this, the old man simply disappeared, returning to where ever he was staying in the building.
'Phew, thankfully we're on friendly terms.'
He was thankful for his rising favorability with the old man that afforded him this chance.
Now that he thought of it, this was probably the safest building in the city, even safer than the royal palace. Other than the enchantments layered into the building, it currently housed the kingdoms only Legend.
'I should go and take care of all the raw Nocturnium…'
Now that he had gotten rid of his pursuers, Abel made his way to the forge to get started on refining some Nocturnium ingots.
******************
Back in old man Rye's shop, the 2 young men were looking around, finding the pile of junk perplexing.
They couldn't understand what kind of shop this was, perhaps it was a junk yard in the middle of the city?
"Where do you think that punk went?"
"Obviously through that door, idiot!"
"Don't call me an idiot. I know that of course, we saw him come inside but he's not here. Where else would he be if not behind that door."
"If you aren't an idiot then why did you ask such a stupid question?"
Before the muscular guy could lose his head in a rage, the skinny rogue spoke up again,
"Let's go and check it out, the boss wants the dungeon information. Maybe we can hit it tonight so stop messing around."
The muscular man held back his anger and walked up to the door. The second he touched the handle, he felt a sting in his hand that travelled up his arm and saw his HP drop down to 0.
The skinny rogue saw his muscle headed partner evaporate into a shower of sparks and was terrified. He jumped back as far as he could and didn't dare get close to the door.
He looked at his character panel and saw he wasn't under combat status so he calmed down slightly. He realized his partner didn't die from a sneak attack but a trap on the door. He thought it might be disabled now that it was set off but deep down, he was too scared to try.
He gulped, his mind racing in thought about what he should do.
In the end, he decided to fall back and report to his boss about what happened. This shop with its dirt covered junk already gave him the creeps and the sight of his companion disintegrating terrified him even more. Usually when a player dies, they'd leave behind a corpse but his friend didn't.
He turned around to leave but when he reached the shops entrance, he stopped.
He was afraid he'd suffer the same fate if he touched the door knob. He steeled his rapidly beating heart and reached for it. When he didn't feel any pain, he quickly opened the door and sprinted away as fast as his legs could take him.