When the guards fell on the ground, I approached to check them… they were completely knocked out, but I asked Serana to make them sleep until mid morning of the next day. While she put more sleeping powder on them, I began to work.
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 10 Experience points.)
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 20 Experience points.)
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 30 Experience points.)
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 40 Experience points.)
(You have leveled up and received five Status Points and one Rank Up Skill Points.)
(You have upgraded the Pickpocketing skill tree.)
Light Fingers
Pickpocketing success rate increases by 15%. (Pickpocket skill tree at Level 05)
I wasn't surprised that the skill tree gained experience to level up. While the enemies were down and unconscious, I was stealing the items, after all. The sleeping dust only made the chances of working reach to one hundred percent since they couldn't wake up.
Iron Long Sword (Uncommon)
Damage: 20
Effects: Two Hands Mastery Rank 02 +
(You have unlocked a new skill tree.)
Long Weapons: Improves your skill in using two-handed weapons such as greatswords, battle axes, and war hammers.
Two Hands Mastery
Attacks with two-handed weapons do fifteen points of more damage. (Requires Long Weapons skill tree at Level 01)
It was a level-two effect that wasn't half bad… the enemies had the same type of sword, and just by holding them, I could feel myself a bit stronger. In any case, I also took their gear and the coins that they had with them, so that helped a lot.
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 50 Experience points.)
(The Pickpocketing Skill Tree leveled up. You received 60 Experience points.)
After that, I chopped their clothes and then turned them into something like ropes before tying them up all together. The hands of one were tied up to the feet of the other, and so on. They were basically naked after I was done with them, so they will have one hell of a surprise when they wake up and are unable to free themselves. Serana looked quite impressed.
"Wow… and I thought that my people and I were good pranksters."
"This isn't a prank, this is to make them disappear without making them understand that I am here. Regardless, there are other guards that we need to deal with, let's make them follow me here as well."
If the plan was working, there was no need to change it. Just as I had expected, the other groups of guards couldn't resist the lure when they spotted me moving around suspiciously in the dead of night. Their curiosity and duty got the better of them as they followed me through the winding streets, their footsteps echoing faintly in the silent darkness. I led them, one by one, into the secluded alley.
As soon as they were deep enough into the alley, Serana's sleeping dust came into play. The fine, glittering powder drifted down from above, barely noticeable until it was too late. The guards barely had time to register what was happening before their eyelids grew heavy and their bodies crumpled to the ground, lost in deep, dreamless sleep.
I moved with speed, ensuring each group was neutralized without raising any alarms. When morning came, I stood among the twelve guards, who lay scattered across the alley like discarded dolls. The task had been completed with ease, exactly as I had planned.
Before long, people began to wake up and find them exactly like I had left them, alive but in a pretty embarrassing situation. When I returned to the hideout, I took the swords from my backpack and then handed them to Diran; he paid me six hundred gold coins from them. For the rest of the gear, he would have to pay me later since reselling it was a bit harder. Diran nodded in satisfaction since he didn't expect that all of the twelve guards would lose their weapons.
"A fine job."
"Not exactly, since I didn't do it alone."
"You can thank me by buying a less smelly hood. Then again, living in this kind of place will make any clothes stink in a couple of hours."
"I don't like the smell either, but it is good against the beastkin."
The winter had arrived, so it was pretty cold. Taking showers was almost a punishment if the water wasn't hot, and preparing it was a lot of work, and it wasn't like I had a place to do all that.
I couldn't help but think that I neeed to use my magic to improve my life quality a bit… but I needed some more tricks for that.
"I want to buy some skill books; where can I find them in this town?"
"Why buy when you can take them for free?"
"Unless their owners are assholes, I would rather not do that."
The idea of being a "conscious thief of morality" felt ridiculous, almost like a bad joke. How could I justify stealing or causing harm by wrapping it up in some self-righteous notion of morality? It was just an excuse, a way to feel better about doing wrong. The truth was, my life was pretty messed up, but that didn't mean I had to go around making others' lives just as miserable. I could easily cause trouble for those who deserved it, those who reveled in their power and took advantage of others. But when it came to the innocent, I couldn't.
It wasn't that I was trying to be a hero or anything like that. I just didn't see the point in spreading the misery. I didn't want to be the reason someone else's life turned to shit, especially when they'd done nothing to deserve it. Maybe that feeling came from the old couple who helped me when I was down and out. They had nothing to gain from helping me, but they did it anyway. That simple act of kindness made me realize that not everyone was out to get you and that maybe, just maybe, I didn't have to be out to get everyone else.
Their kindness stuck with me, even in the darkest moments. It was like a small light that kept me from losing myself entirely to the darkness. I could still be a thief, still take what I needed to survive, but I didn't have to make it personal against those who hadn't wronged me. It was a line I wasn't willing to cross, not because I was noble, but because I didn't want to become just another monster in a world already full of them. Diran looked puzzled over that.
"... You can find a large trader in this town, you should find what you need there. It won't be cheap, though."
"That is fine, and I will come back later."
After leaving the hideout, I looked around the town for the trader that Diran mentioned. I thought that in a town big like that, I would find a shop specialized in magic stuff, but maybe they weren't common in the human realm.
"Why are you interested in magic? It is rather limited when you don't have racial skills like mine. I also heard that most of your ancestors were warriors by trade and pretty fearsome ones at that."
"I just want to cover my bases to avoid problems in the future."