Chapter 27

He left the building like any normal employee would and made his way to a place that had been feeding the thief since he had arrived at Darter.

Joe's Pavement was the name and before you start thinking Seth was eating pavement, which technically he was, Pavement in the language Seth was using was actually just square pizza.

They were open 24/7 and for a thief that was a huge need. Their Pavement was always cooked to perfection and the toppings were spread generously.

You can even trust his opinion because you know that he's not getting paid. So, if you ever find yourself Peckish on this planet, specifically on the Eastern Continent in the city of Darter then Seth recommends Joe's Pavement.

Seth finished his Pavement and went back to planning. That was likely his last meal of the day, but he had money to make, or steal in his case. It's not really money as well but,

Anyway, after Seth finished his preparation he finally had the finished plan on his desk. Beautiful, exquisite, and most importantly done his plan was now ready for action.

So as the time ticked past 5 PM and the Theatre allowed people to start seating at 5:30 Seth was prepared to hit John for all he had, and Richard was going to do half of it himself.

POV Change: Richard Evergreen

The time for his plan was ticking ever closer and Richard wasn't feeling confident. Truthfully he was scared that his plan would fail, and he would be caught, but even then he likely would get off scot-free as his father wouldn't charge his son.

Richard knew this plan was foolproof after all he thought of the plan himself, thinking of the process, it was almost like a dream.

Whenever he drank and woke up he would get these premonitions of the night before and bits and pieces of the plan slowly formed. Richard genuinely thought that maybe the God Of Wine was helping him out after seeing his devout practice, and his father dared to admonish him.

Richard was already dressed up for the first scene and he had already finished reading through his lines. He knew them by heart now, and more importantly, his plan was finalised as he found a secret pocket in the Emperor's robe that was just perfect for storing the fake crown.

Now Richard just needed to do his and he would show the world his skill in acting. With the money made from the crown Richard could continue his habits and the God Of Wine clearly approved so with a more thorough belief in his actions, Richard waited for the show to begin.

POV Change: John

The show was about to begin, it was only 10 minutes until the curtain was drawn. His security was on high alert and ever since he had received that dreadful package John had been a bit paranoid about security.

He took a deep breath; he had a level 66 here to protect him and if that didn't work then he stood no chance in the first place.

He looked down from the 4th floor and he could see people orderly arriving at their seats. He had hired extra staff, and worked his actors to the bone and now was the time that John would reap the rewards.

His son, John felt mixed emotions about his son. For the past few days, he had heard that he had finally stopped that alcohol addiction of his and John hadn't felt so pride since his son got the class of Actor. If only his mother was here to see it, John wept a tear of sorrow.

Looking down below him John heard the door behind him open. Knowing it could only be the arriving noblemen, John gracefully received them, after all, part of the reason he even bid for The Emperor Play was for political gain.

The clock counted down; it was 5 minutes until the show began.

POV Change: Seth

With only 5 minutes left, Seth rapidly entered through the back door of the theatre. That pesky guard had forced him to arrive through the back and waste time, but it wasn't all for nought.

Entering through the back Seth quickly made his way to his seat and the gain he was given was the lack of ticket paying that Seth had to do on the way.

A good breaking and entering was one of Seth's favourite activities.

Sitting on a chair that had no vision with the light railing Seth sat up as the show was about to start.

The characters were ready, the stage had been set and the show had just begun.

The curtains opened for a poorly dressed young man staggering out from backstage. It was Richard, the young boy who was a young emperor before his awakening and was just a lowly farmer.

Seth believed this play to be set around 480 years ago and it is nearly incredible how little had changed from then compared to now. Human history on Earth had been completely revolutionised but here, maybe a few magic inventions went mainstream that was about it.

Anyway, the beginning wasn't anything special it just showed a young Emperor growing up to be a strong and charismatic man, It was only until the awakening that something interesting happened.

The theatre used a mix of magical items to create a false aura, but it was still fairly impressive. The awakening score itself was far different, no recording was done, and people came and went like it was a drive-thru.

Guilds were still there, but there were more of them, and the power was better spread out. The young Emperor

awakened with the class of King of Knights which was a ridiculous class to awaken to and was guessed by scholars to be a 6th evolved class so in other words the Emperor wouldn't need to evolve until he reached level 175.

Those were stupid numbers, goldy levels even and the Emperor used his highly evolved class to enter the top guild at the time. He levelled up quickly as he went through numerous life-threatening battles In dungeons far above his level.

Seth honestly thought this was a protagonist when he first heard about the Founding Emperor's story, but it was actually a tragedy.

The coronation scene arrived, and Richard gained possession of the crown, According to the plan Seth had spooned him he would swap it out between scenes.

Seth had to leave now, he already knew the story and sneaking out was an easy feat. He just left using the excuse of needing the toilet.

Seth avoided the vision of the light rack, but as he calmly walked out into a corridor that led to the toilets he could hear a conversation,

"You got the thing?"

"Yeah take it and remember to run after 10 minutes".

One of the people walked out of the stall and Seth was hidden and panicked as he was in between a gap between the stall and a diagonal wall.

Seth watched on as a man walked out with a large coat and Seth could even see a faint glow from the man's sleeves.

Well, that would provide a great distraction, `thankyou bombers` Seth thought as he waited for the men to leave. Seth knew they would be caught so he allowed that situation to provide a great distraction. Once they did he quickly did his business and then left, okay he actually did need to go c'mon he was still human.

Now out of the theatre, Seth started to make his way towards the Mansion. That's right the crown was an important target but the real one was the Mansion.

Mr. Old money obviously had some cash and Seth was ready to relieve him of it all. His scoping out contained the mansion and Seth had spent his time getting to know the guard's patrol routes.

The guards themselves, Seth knew each and every one by name and even knew all their skills. Flashcards were actually pretty good as long as it wasn't being used to learn about biology.

Anyway, with routes and all learnt Seth was ready to get stealing. This was his finale, and he was going to make it worth it.

Dressed in his formal, and ridiculously expensive outfit Seth strolled up to the Mansion fence and vaulted over it. A guard was set to come in this direction in 5 minutes, but Seth had his snake force him to move so he could just walk right past.

The layout of the building was something Seth had started to piece together using an old employee, a simple gold coin and she sang as sweet as a Nightingale.

He was in the laundry room so that meant that Seth needed to exit, he did and turned a right, which he then also did.

The mansion itself was a large stone structure decked in fur and other ornaments that showed the prestige of the Evergreen surname.

Paintings hung next to orbs of light as Seth wandered down the tall corridors. Fancy, but creepy was Seth's grand conclusion.

That aside Seth was making his way towards the vault room which the maid hadn't been allowed near, so Seth was in the dark. Turning the corner and going down the stairs, avoiding a butler on the way, Seth arrived in the basement.

Here no one except John was allowed to go as even the `young master`, this is the maid's words, wasn't allowed down there. Seth wanted to know what dirty little secret John had hidden away even from his own son.

A set of wooden double doors blocked his path and when Seth tried to open it he found it locked.

That was one filthy secret, Seth couldn't give up on it now, so he tried the spell he learned.

Pick Lock was the single most fundamental spell of the Thief magic tree and once the glowing orange hands got to work Seth had to wait as they did.

This spell just needed a constant source of mana, and it would eventually pick the lock of any door, or vault. If Seth tried it against the rank 14 safe it would take millennia, but the door only looked around rank 6 so it would only take 10 minutes.

Time ticked on and Seth got the door open in 2 minutes. That was quick even for a rank 6 door which made Seth think it had another feature.

Perhaps an alarm system so Seth entered with haste.

Through the door, he found what looked to be an alter and oddly it looked remarkably like the one Seth had seen in his Soul Island.

Why would they recreate it?

Looking around Seth looked at the altar to find an open book, it read: Magical Notes and it was written by someone called Astra Evergreen.

Searching through his memories, Seth found nothing but grabbed the book anyway as it did him no harm. He still had plenty of space so looked around the room for more.

The room itself was like a dilatated ruin, with moss and vine growing through old stone, Candles were the only light source and how they were still lit was a question Seth did not know the answer to.

Frantically looking, Seth started to get a bit worried, he had come here for what? A single book? `No there must be more` he started to study the alter more and started to see circular patterns surrounding the alter.

Closer and closer, Seth looked for an answer. Anything, he needed something!

10 minutes that how long it took a good carriage to get from the Theatre to the Mansion and so Seth utilised every second.

With nearly no mana left after unlocking the door, Seth had to simply stare at it in the hope of finding something.

But as his mental clock ticked Seth ended up with nothing. The shape itself was a geometric marvel, the folding shapes creating a pattern that had an unknown effect on mana, but Seth wasn't a scholar.

He was a thief, so he mentally focused his mind on remembering it and by the time the minute was up and the timer ended, Seth was out the door.