Chapter 29

2 months later,

Seth hated Leo; he had thrown away the man's titles as the devil didn't deserve them. Seth wanted to hate the old man even more, but the results spoke for themselves.

Seth was now well built, with emphasis on the well. He was no bodybuilder, that would ruin his disguises so instead Seth opted for a more modest build. Since he worked as much as he could during the last 2 months Seth now was ready to face the world.

He had learned dagger techniques and been taught by a person in their level seventies so needless to say Seth was now a lot stronger than he was before. Seth himself thought he could take on 30 of his previous self at the same time but whether that was true or false, only time could tell.

Talent played a role in Seth's growth but the fact he had evolved certainly did help. The first stage was known as soul awakening and from it the user gained some basic upgrades.

All lesser upgrades but they added up. Stuff like hand-eye coordination would improve and the user's memory would mildly improve. This was all under the upgrade point of ` general increase in Thief ability.`

It was broken, but if all users benefited, it was balanced.

Anyway, 2 months had passed and during this time Seth had spent the majority of his time training. So, to catch himself back up with the times he went to a local tavern and picked up some local gossip.

The war was nearly over, the two sides had agreed on a time and place and the duel was set for a month yesterday. 30 days and everyone would be free from danger.

Relief was the main emotion coming from the general public and although everyone had a general distaste for the 2 major factions, it was nothing a good publicity stunt couldn't fix.

Apart from that, the city lord was apparently going to be hosting the match, so it was going to be a massive show-up to a very important fight.

A stadium was being built and so jobs on that were being spread.

Nothing else seemed to be important so Seth made his way back home. His Snake friend was bigger, but that wasn't a surprise. It seemed he had grown bigger by the day.

Ouro was now more than 2 metres long and he now took up a large portion of the house. His food was becoming an economic burden on Seth's finances.

Seth's diet had taken a change during his training, and he now exclusively ate rank 3 and above food. The cost was heavy, but Seth was seeing increased mana control every time he ate. It was only minor, but it all added up.

Because of his new control, Seth now had access to more spells from his Thief magic tree. His new repertoire included: Pick Lock, Comical Coin and Money Bag.

Comical Coin created an ethereal coin that when landed was louder and more noticeable. It was a good distraction that needed nearly no cost and no storage was needed for it to work.

Unlike Money Bag which was in essence an enchantment spell. This made Seth's money bag store more than it should be able to.

This sounds great but it didn't reduce the weight so he could be holding around a 10cm-by-10cm bag that weighs 50kg.

It was a great dumbbell though and Seth used it during his training for great results.

Anyway, Seth's money was bleeding and he needed to ramp up his money-making prowess. His passive pickpocketing made up most of his income and that wasn't enough to feed him and his snake, so he needed to find a new and better way of making money.

2 months was enough for the police to stop actively searching for him, but Seth knew they were getting close. He wasn't prideful enough to believe he hadn't left any clues and the police had the manpower to constantly have people working the case.

Speaking of police Seth wanted to find that Detective again he would solve how much the police knew.

With that plan in mind, Seth started to look for Taverns with the orange-eyed detective. Cruising through the taverns he saw many drunk sailors and a few miserable businessmen, but he saw no Detective.

The night continued on, and the streets only got darker, By the time the moon had reached its peak Seth was no closer to finding him than before.

Until he found a small tavern, one that only let a small plume of smoke out of its single chimney. The Silver Mouse was its name and Seth walked in to find a Locke sitting by an open shutter staring at the moon.

Seth sat down next to him and started a conversation.

The two caught up and Seth finally arrived at his goal, "That thief, the one that robbed the Theatre, he's run away now right?"

Locke looked tired, exhausted even but still tried to give his best to a wary citizen.

"He's done more than that. The Treasury, houses, and pockets that Thief stole far more than we ever realised. I was given his case at first when he started. Pickpocketing was where he started, and he worked his way up from there. The worst part is that we were so close. Right at the start, when he still picked pockets, we raided his house or hideout."

Locke took a swig of his drink, "But he wasn't there. I had tracked him there; I had known his schedule and for no reason except fate was he not there that night. The heavens must have blessed that bastard."

Seth didn't really know what to say. He had taken in another perspective of what he was doing so Locke's words hit him with surprising force.

Serene Mind strangely ignored the issue as well and so Seth was left speechless.

Locke noticed Seth's silence and thought it was odd.

Most people in the city had strong opinions on the Thief, whether he stole from the rich or he took from the poor his reputation was mixed.

Seth tried to alleviate any suspicion with the words "The heavens blessing him? How could that be when he was given an evil class?"

Locke started to notice some weird things about Seth. When he was tracking the thief he did get a few glimpses of what he looked like and although Seth didn't look exactly like the Thief there were some remarkable similarities.

The hair for instance was the right colour and near the right length.

So to be safe Locke activated his Intuition skill. His mind relapsed to when he was walking down the street that day, looking for the pickpocket who had been plaguing the streets for the last few days.

Darrow Circus was where he ended up: the busiest place in Darter.

That's where Locke saw him. Knocking into 20 people seemingly on purpose. Asking a person to check his coat pocket Locke confirmed that he was the right man.

That appearance, he had followed behind. That hair and that movement, he moved with confidence and jubilance and most importantly did that fit with the man in front of him?

His head hurt with such a hard question. His intuition only made it worse as it looked for even the smallest clues.

In the end, Locke gave up finding an answer, but he felt that it was better to be safe than sorry.

He decided to arrest Seth on suspicion of being the Thief, so he worked up some magic and Seth felt the strange sensation of magic condensing over his hands. Since he didn't know what it was, and Locke was only staring at him he allowed for the magic to form.

It was cuff magic...

Seth was thoroughly confused, and his mind was a warzone.

Fear of death made his mind oppressively calm, and he acted with a weird sense of robotic movement. Everything was to be acted out as if he was an innocent person and Seth even started to regulate his heartbeat.

For now, he acted like an annoyed innocent man named Isaac.

The justice in Darter was better regulated than on roads and in dungeons so Seth didn't think he would be murdered for experience. The case was also incredibly high profile so any low-level cop was unlikely to kill him for a quick win for the backlash wouldn't be worth it.

He was taken by carriage down to the police station and whilst Seth thought about running he couldn't guarantee his life if he did. One thing he did notice in the pub was the detective's weapon, a bulge on his belt where a certain magic weapon lay.

One that was issued to all Police members and all those who carried out work in the name of justice. Issued by The Order they were called fancy names like Glory or Honour and Locke had a special medium range Vindication.

This was essentially a gun but instead of bullets it shot highly charged mana at a target. It was a mess of enchantment from the Lightning Magic Tree crammed into a gun used by people who would usually never afford such a weapon.

The Order was well funded, and these weapons were exclusively used by those who fought against justice and if you didn't you still used one.

Well, a quick report and you were blasted off the face of the planet. Once the evidence was provided and verified the target was as good as dead.

It just wasn't worth it so nobody except those that fought for justice used them.

Anyway, Seth wasn't planning to get hit by one of those anytime soon, so he sucked it up and arrived at the police station.

His identity was handed in and Seth was brought to a holding cell. During this time Locke reported his intuition.

Seth sat in the wooden cell and questioned his life, as many of his fellow inmates were also surely doing. Talking about fellow inmates there were 3 others in the holding cell with him.

All were your very average criminals. One was actually just smoking pot which actually was a magic spell called Endless Smoke. It essentially enchanted a joint so that it never ended.

This alone caused most Drug Dealer to die but those that didn't tend to end up extremely rich or in prison. It was another class that was chucked in prison before any questions were asked which was rather laughable when their fellow inmates were Mass Murderer and Gang Leaders were in there for the same punishment.

Seth hoped that it would all be over relatively soon. He would act like Isaac's class, which was a Beggar, and become free when they found zero evidence.

It was odd, Seth actually reckoned he would rather have his demonic class than Isaacs Beggar's class as it simply gave him better odds of immortality.

The time in the cell was dreadfully boring. The inmates with him said nothing and did nothing, they waited just like Seth to be either released or sent to jail.

Execution was also on the table for that sweet, sweet experience and it was interestingly a very well-respected job to hold. An Executor was well known to be very well levelled, but they weren't the only ones who killed the dammed. Money gave access to everything, and experience was no different.

The cell windows were essentially just small holes in the wall and Seth found himself staring out of them into a back alley outside, he noticed a trash bin and a stray cat.

The cat made Seth think of his snake, which he promptly used as an excuse to get out. The police though said that they were searching for his house and had detained his snake as he didn't have a permit for the dangerous animal.

Luckily that wasn't enough for charges and if anything, it lowered suspicions. Even luckier was the fact that John Evergreen did not allow for his employees to be interviewed else the police may have found themselves a lead.

For now, Seth sat in his cell thinking of every piece of evidence he could have left behind and how it could be connected to his identity and his any object in his house.