Thick as Thieves

I was 14 by then and good with a sword. I had already killed my fair share of monsters and brigands. I also hit the temporary limit at level 25.

It was a dark and hot night. The village I was currently scouting was fast asleep. It was about 200 houses, a warehouse, and a big mansion for the mayor.

From the looks of it, this was an up-and-coming village. I bet in only a couple more months it would become a town. This created a small grin on my face. The best thing of all though was that this was a mining town. The entire village was built next to a silver mine. A silver mine! That fat mayor was probably swimming in money.

The only problem in all this was that the sentinel was supposed to be about level 60. As a level 25 I would have absolutely no chance against him. Not that I normally fight the sentinel of the village, but if I got caught it would turn very bad very fast.

My first target would be the mayor's house. He probably had loads of expensive things in there. Then I would go to the warehouse. That was where they were storing the silver. Whatever extra room I had after the mansion I would fill up with silver.

The plan had me grinning from ear to ear. After this, I could probably even pass my level limit requirement.

Since I was a thief class the requirement was for me to own a lot of wealth. A simple one, but it was taking a while. After this though, maybe I could finally pass it.

With the 3 moons in the middle of the night sky, I finally put the plan into motion. I crept towards the fence with my now advanced stealth skill. The mansion had a 2-meter-tall spiked fence surrounding it. It was meant to keep out thieves, but it would take more than that to stop me. I passed my bag through the bars. Then I climbed my way up and over, then back down.

I was now in the large garden surrounding the mansion. Some guards were patrolling, but with me wearing all black leather armor and my stealth skill they didn't have a chance in the abyss of spotting me.

Making my way through the garden I reached a window of the mansion. It was closed with a latch keeping it shut. I put one of my lock picks in between the window and frame. I then undid the latch and pulled the window open a crack. I entered through the small crack and then shut it behind me.

The mansion itself was 2 stories with high ceilings. The insides were a little disappointing as everything was mostly just wood. There were some paintings on the walls, but it would be quite difficult to sell them.

The room I was currently in looked like a dining room. There was a long table in the middle of the room. Unfortunately, none of the silverware was out. So there was nothing much of value.

The dining room was connected to a hallway. I crept my way into the hallway. Within the hallway, there was a little table with a silver vase holding some flowers. the flowers were green and gold. I dumped the flowers onto the floor and placed the silver vase into my bag.

The bag was a dimensional bag that had more space than it looked. I had stolen the bag from a drunk adventurer. The bag itself could store about a medium closet-sized worth of items. It never failed to amaze me how I could just stick my whole arm into a bag the size of a purse.

Moving on, I made my way down the hallway. The hallway went in 3 directions left, straight, and right. On the left was the kitchen, straight was the servant's quarters, and right was the main hall. I first made my way into the kitchen.

There were pots and pans strewn about the place. In the middle of the room was a large table connected to a large magic oven, while cupboards surrounded the room along with a single window into the garden.

I began going through the cupboards. When I finally found the silverware drawer I pulled it out and dumped it into the bag. Thankfully once an object went into the bag it could no longer make noise. I then went over to the magic oven. I knew there was a mana stone connected, but this was my first time around a magic oven so I had to search for it.

When I just found the mana stone I heard a sneeze. Slowly looking up I saw a guard walking by outside the window of the room. He stopped when he sneezed. I only had my eyes over the oven staring at him. After he grumbled something to himself he moved on going out of sight. I let out a sigh of relief as I pulled out the mana stone.

The stone was light blue and had a shimmer to it showing it was still charged. It fit in the palm of my hand and was rigid. A stone this size was worth its weight in gold. I grinned as I put it in my bag.

Going back I made my way back into the hallway. I was back at the intersection. I made my way into the main hall skipping over the servant's quarters. I would feel bad if I robbed a bunch of poor servants. Plus they probably didn't have anything valuable.

The main hall had a chandelier and a large portrait that I could only guess was of the lord here. For a village this was extravagant, but considering the silver mine it made sense.

There were large stairs leading up to the second floor. This was probably where they were storing the real money so I made my way up.

The second floor was a long hallway with multiple closed doors leading into different rooms. From the door closest to me I could hear snoring. This was definitely the master bedroom and where the mayor and his wife were sleeping. Although there was some expensive jewelry in there, I didn't want to take the chance of waking up the sleeping noble.

The worst-case scenario would be him waking up, and me being forced to run away. Killing the mayor was completely off the table due to him being a noble. It was one thing to kill a random commoner, and another thing entirely to kill a noble. I shivered just thinking about the type of bounty I would get and the search parties that would be sent after me.

So I made my way down the hall opening each door a crack to see what was inside. I went from a bathroom to a library, to finally an office. I was thinking of the possible value I could get from each room I visited. The library may have had something valuable, but due to me being barely literate, it would take forever. In my eyes, only the office could have something of real value.

The office had a single desk with papers about it. The walls were made of hardwood. Aside from the desk, there was also a painting on the side and a bookshelf in the back.

I first went for the desk. The papers on the desk were nothing of interest. Going through the drawers there was also nothing of value. Looking around the room I thought 'There has to be something in here.' I began to pull at straws hoping for maybe a safe. Moving on to the painting I lifted it to only find the wall behind it.

I was sweating bullets now. Maybe this whole heist was a mistake. I had yet to find anything of real value. My last chance was the bookshelf. I took books out from it placing them quietly on the floor. As I pulled on one of the books it didn't budge. Then I noticed there was a little row of books that wouldn't budge. A smile came across my face 'Still got it, baby!'

I grabbed the whole row by the ends. Then I could finally move them. Pulling the row out my eyes sparkled at what I saw behind them. A single little black safe. Placing the books on the ground I got to work on the safe.

The safe itself had a dial with numbers on it and a handle for when all the combinations were entered. Thankfully it wasn't some form of magic safe or I would have been shit out of luck. I activated my [ heightened senses ] skill that I gained from my thief class and pressed my ear against the safe. Then I slowly moved the dial to the right. It went and went until I heard a quiet *click* from within the safe. Then to the left *click*, then to the right *click*. Pulling the handle it finally opened up.

Within the safe were a couple of gold coins and a wrapped box. I quickly snatched the coins and then picked up the box. Staring at the box I couldn't help myself. I needed to know what was inside.

Tearing open the box like it was a present meant for me I found two items. A large blood-red diamond and a letter with a noble seal. I tossed the letter to the side as I was enamored by the diamond. I activated the magical lamp by the desk to get a better look. It was beautiful, the red light glimmered off the smooth cut surfaces. It fits perfectly within the palm of my hand.

It hurt me to let it go as I placed it carefully within my bag. I looked at the letter. I didn't have very good self-control because I also tore open the letter to read. I had to know what could cause a noble to give up something so valuable.

Placing the letter under the light I began to read as best as I could,

"Dear blah blah blah I have come to know that you will be overseeing the dissemination of land within the newly claimed blah blah blah lands. I am writing to you in hopes that you may be more charitable towards me if I were to give you a gift. blah blah blah I am particularly fond of the iron-rich blah blah region. By the way, how is the blah blah blah? Yours truly blah blah blah."

Cutting out the boring parts, from what I could gather, this diamond was meant to be a bribe. 'What a good person am I, stopping a corrupt noble from giving out a bribe.' I thought that as I picked back up my bag of stolen loot.

'Anyways I think I got all I could get from here. Time to head for the warehouse for my bonus.'

I backtracked to the first floor, then to the dining room, and back out the window. The garden was still crawling with guards so I had to take my time getting to the fence. However, a new problem became apparent once I reached the fence.

My bag was now half full. Although it was a dimensional bag it would naturally begin to bulge once items were placed within. By now it would be too big to fit through the bars, and too heavy to throw over or carry with me while I climbed back over. So I had to do something risky.

I reached into my bag and pulled out one of my larger tools. It looked like a metal clamp with a crank on the side, but it expanded outward instead of inward. I wedged it in between the bars. I looked around to make sure no guards were nearby. Then with one hard crank the bars bent. The sound was a little loud, but it happened in an instant.

Before any guards arrived I slipped through with the bag and made my way into the forest. Now I was in the clear. With my skills, it would be nearly impossible for anyone to track me, but I was greedy and wanted to take the silver from the warehouse as well.

Traveling through the forest I made my way towards the village. The village itself was quite large. The most distinct thing about it was the large stone watchtower in the middle. This was where the sentinel lived. He was either an archer or a wizard. The watchtower would make it hard to attack or escape from the village. But I was planning to go in and out without alerting anyone, so it would probably not matter. The warehouse was also near the center of the village right below the watchtower.

So I made my way into the village creeping through alleys to reach the warehouse. I could hear laughter and cheer coming out of a nearby tavern, rowdy even at this time of night. Once I got to the warehouse I scouted it further.

It was a large building with two large doors meant for wagons and one small door for people. There were 2 guards posted in front along with a large bell right next to one of them. Using my [ inspect ] skill I checked their levels. They were both about level 20. Not very high, but I suppose their job was just to ring the bell if trouble came so they didn't need to be.

Going through the front gate was a no-go. I may have been able to kill the guards, but it didn't seem necessary. That didn't leave many options left. Then I came up with an idea. I climbed on top of a house next to the warehouse. Then I activated my [ silent step ] skill, got a running start, and jumped onto the roof of the warehouse. With my skill, I barely made any noise.

I walked across the roof checking out the wooden shingling. Once I spotted a loose part, I pulled out my short sword and pried it open slowly. Once I got the shingles out of the way I went for the wood underneath. I slowly sawed at the wood making sure to make as little sound as possible. When I got the hole big enough I jumped down into the warehouse.

Within the warehouse were two sides. One was filled with raw silver ore, while the other was filled with refined silver ingots. In the back, there was also food and other things, but I mostly ignored it. I got to work putting the refined bars into my bag.

As I put the bars into my bag I began to think. Technically speaking this is the silver meant for the village. This was how this village made money, and now I'm taking it. 

I couldn't think of any way to justify what I was doing. So instead I ignored it and began thinking about other things. I started thinking about how I was going to sell all this silver. After some calculations, I also got a general idea of how much it was all worth. A grin replaced my frown thinking about it. 'My bag is probably gonna break my back with all this silver. Talk about first-world problems.'

When I was about halfway done I heard a thump at the warehouse door. I stopped and began to listen in. The sound of footsteps and the opening of a door is what I heard. Before I could react the door swung open and 2 guys rushed inside.

The first man had bulky metal armor on, was taller than average, bald, and had a large beard. He had an enormous shield on his back with a mace at his side. The second was a teenager, average height, wearing robes, and had frizzy hair while being clean-shaven. He had only the hilt of a short sword poking through his robes.

Me and the bearded man saw each other first and locked eyes. He was as surprised as me. We both put our fingers to our mouths and frantically said "Shh shh." The worst thing that could happen would be if one of us made a loud noise and alerted everybody nearby.

Then the younger guy saw me. He was surprised and yelled out "Who the fu-." Was all he could say before his companion's hand covered his mouth.

He then realized the situation while I rubbed my hands against my eyes in utter disbelief at such an incredible display of stupidity.

Then the voices started "Hey did you hear that?" "I think that came from the warehouse." "Could it be thieves?"

Less than 10 seconds had passed before a bell began to ring. It echoed all throughout the village waking everyone up. Me and the two guys ran outside. I first saw the 2 guards lying dead near the warehouse. The 2 guys must have killed them on the way in.

Then we saw people kicking open their doors with axes and pickaxes in hand. Then the guards came marching down the main road spear in hand. That's when I realized possibly the worst thing of all. I looked up to the watchtower to see something terrifying.

I saw a man with a long green hat and leather armor. He was pulling back on a bow and arrow the size of a man. he let loose the arrow. I jumped to the side before impact.

*BOOM*

The arrow impacted the stone street causing an explosion. Once the dust cleared I saw the arrow. It was thick, pure steel, and 2 meters long. It had a rune on it that was probably the cause of the explosion. I and the 2 guys looked at each other in disbelief.

We then collectively began to sprint in the direction of the forest. We bobbed and weaved between houses. Dodging attacks by random villagers and guards. Arrows rained down all around sending shrapnel and rubble everywhere.

After a good amount of running though I noticed something. Whenever we ran through a crowd of people the arrows stopped coming. Currently, the arrows were by far the greatest threat so I yelled out to the 2 guys "We need to run into crowds! He won't fire into them!" They looked at me and both nodded. We then moved out from the alleyway we were currently running through, and into the Main Street flooded with people.

'Wait why did I tell them that?' For a moment I began to think while I ran. 'why did I help them? After fucking up my plan, what conceivable reason would I have to help them?'

My line of thought was broken by a wave of villagers attacking me with tools. This was not the time to be thinking about this. I focused instead on dodging and ducking around the weapons. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw the bigger guy pushing and punching them out of the way, while the guy in robes was casting fire magic to get them out of the way.

It was hard getting through the crowd, but at least the arrows stopped. As I got clipped in the side by a spear I thought to myself 'Why are these goddamn villagers so persistent? I only robbed the mayor and the warehouse.'

After breaking through the crowd the 3 of us were in the homestretch. We were at the edge of the village and the forest. The last hurdle was a wall of guards pointing their spears at us. I thought we were screwed, but the bigger guy yelled out "Salis! Your time to shine!"

The smaller guy who I now knew was Salis ran forward with a grin on his face. He pulled out a wand and began chanting. A red magic diagram formed at the end of the wand. Then an enormous ball of red formed at the end before shooting out at the wall of guards. It was slow and heavy travailing through the air.

The guards began to chatter and go weak at the knees at the sight of their approaching death. None of them wanted to die. Quickly they ran away to the sides in a panic.

The 2 guys continued to run straight towards where the orb was going to explode. 'Do these guys have a death wish or something? Maybe they have a plan?' I reluctantly followed behind them. If I didn't then I might never escape this damn village.

The orb of crimson finally landed on the ground. A little puff of smoke came out of it. "hahaha! Did my big orb of fire scare ya off? haha!" Salis yelled while laughing like there was no tomorrow. The spell was merely a bluff.

As we ran out of the village, I couldn't help but laugh too. What a good trick. The villagers and guards were fuming as they yelled and began to run after us. It was too late by now though. They didn't have a chance of catching us.

Then the hair on the back of my neck stood on end as I heard in the distance the sound of a bowstring let loose. It was so large it reverberated around the whole village. There was definitely an arrow coming right now. It was the sentinel's last attempt to kill us.

The 2 guys were too busy laughing to pay attention or hear it. I yelled at them "Stop laughing you morons! an arrow Is coming straight for us!" They both stopped immediately. Salis looked to the bigger man and said "Now it's your turn, Balgrof." The larger man pulled the tower shield off his back, and looked towards the sky.

The arrow whistled through the night sky. It spiraled going at insane speeds. It had a shimmer to it coming off of the runes. If I had to guess it was probably a combination of an explosive and homing rune.

Balgroff hunkered down and activated a few skills. A blue shimmer was coming off his shied. While his feet sunk into the ground like it was quicksand. After a moment the ground hardened now having his legs stuck within the ground. His muscles pulsated and seemed to get slightly larger. Now he was like a big ball of metal stuck in the ground.

The arrow came down and collided with the shield. It made a screeching sound as it ground against the shield. The arrow and the shield were now at a stalemate. With sweat on his brow, Balgroff then used all his strength to deflect the arrow to the side.

It shot off to the side going towards some trees. There it finally exploded creating a crater in the ground, and killing 4 innocent trees.

Me and the guys didn't waste a second after that going straight into the forest. Making sure to be out of sight. We ran and ran, and ran.

Finally, we reached a little opening with no trees. We all stopped and sat down against a tree. We were exhausted after so much fighting and running. But now, We were finally in the clear. Now it was just me and the two strangers.