10 The Heist!

Early in the morning. James woke up in the inn. He murmured to himself, "Tonight's the night." James rubbed his eyes and the system display appeared. He chose to equip the common soldier uniform once again. His height increased, his hair turned red, and his skin now had a tan color to it. He chose to commit the heist in his common soldier uniform disguise so that it wouldn't impact his original persona if he got caught.

James exited the hotel and headed for the market. He walked through the market until he reached a small stall in a more secluded area of the market. Scuttle, the boy he first met when entering this city, was running the stall. James spoke, "Morning Scuttle. I need to meet up with Hood-Rat. Scuttle nodded, "Boss sent him to the docks. He's running a job today." James nodded and thanked the boy before leaving.

James headed for the docks. It took him a while, but he found Hood-Rat digging through some shipping crates. The boy appeared to be around 13 years old. His clothes were dirty, and he looked like a beggar. James had met Hood-Rat roughly three months ago when he first started to plan his heist. Scuttle introduced James to Hood-Rat through the local thieves' guild. It turned out Scuttle was a member and most of his inferior goods he sold at his stall came from sketchy sources.

James headed over towards Hood-Rat and tapped him on the shoulder. The boy jumped, "Gahh, I wasn't taking nothing!" He spun around. Then he sighed in relief when he saw James. "Oy! Bastard! Don't scare me like that. Do you want to die?!" James laughed, "Relax. I'm here on business. You remember that job I hired you for?"

Hood-Rat nodded excitedly, "It's finally time? Remember the deal. One gold per item! I can guarantee the thieves guild can satisfy your needs!" James laughed aloud, "Yeah. Yeah. You call it the thieves guild, but it's only made up of poor children throughout the city." Hood-Rat harrumphed, "You'll see. Someday the boss will run this city. All will respect and fear the thieves guild!"

James spoke, "Okay, let's do as we agreed upon before. The operation begins tonight. I'll meet you back here at midnight. One gold coin per item." Hood-Rat nodded. I'll send my best men for the job. I'd go personally but I'm stuck here by the boss's orders today." James nodded and headed back towards the city market. There were a few items he needed to buy for the operation tonight.

Midnight. The docks. James and Hood-Rat met up again. James spoke, "Got the goods?" Hood-Rat made an awkward face and sighed, "Sorry. We only managed to pickpocket two of the three. My third guy got caught. Fortunately, he managed to run away." James sighed, "Damn. This is going to be a lot harder now. Which ones did you manage to get?"

Hood-Rat pulled two items out of his pocket and handed them over. "The iron key is for the Ironwood Blacksmith. The bronze key is for the Lady's Boutique." James grabbed the keys and nodded. He handed two gold coins to Hood-Rat.

James took the two keys and headed into the city. He was currently wearing a cheap black cloak he bought at the market. Other than the cloak, he also bought a cheap iron dagger and some rope. The dagger was sheathed on his right side. James thought it would be suspicious to carry around rope at night. So, he made sure to keep it well hidden by wrapping the rope around his torso underneath his soldier outfit.

James headed for the blacksmith. It was a dark night. The only light that could be seen was from the stars and moons in the sky. James reached the blacksmith shop. It was a large stone building with no windows. A big iron door was the only entrance. James looked around to make sure no city guards were nearby. They patrolled the city in small groups every night. After confirming the coast was clear James used the iron key to open the door and headed inside.

James looked around the blacksmith shop. He could see swords, daggers, maces and more lined up on the tables and walls. There were iron helmets, chain-mails, and plate-legs as well. Unfortunately, there were no full suits of plate-body armor. James grabbed one of each item and fed them to the system. It took a weapon, helmet, chain-mail, and plate-legs to make up a single 'uniform' for the system to devour. James quickly cleared the shop. It was much easier for him than in the past due to his strength he now possessed. There were quite a few weapons leftover when he finished. Unfortunately, these weren't useful to him since he couldn't create a 'complete' uniform with just weapons. He also had no way to carry them away due to lack of interdimensional storage.

After James cleared the front of the shop he headed into the back. There was a furnace here as well as many blacksmith tools. James sighed, "Damn. Nothing else back here. Oh well, this was the easiest target tonight. The blacksmith doesn't live here, and this is the most run-down blacksmith shop in Sea Salt City after all. Any other blacksmith would be located in the better part of town where city guards are always stationed."

James left the blacksmith shop and looked at his system display. It currently showed 17 energy units. "I only managed to scrap together 17 low-grade uniforms for the system to devour there. Hopefully my luck is better at the next target."

James traveled through the city in the dark of night. He reached his next target, The Lady's Boutique. This building was in one of the nicest parts of the city. It was made of high-quality wood and had large glass windows. The shop sold noblewoman outfits. The city lord's wife was known to frequently shop here.

James crouched and walked towards the boutique. He could see two city guards stationed to keep watch on the surrounding shops. James hid in a dark corner and waited. One hour later two new guards arrived to change shifts with the current guards. James muttered, "Damn! I was hoping when the shifts changed there would be a time-gap before the new guards arrived. I'll have to do something else."

James sneaked away from the boutique and headed down the street away from the guards. He was now in front of a two-story residential building. Richer citizens lived in this part of town and stayed in nicer homes compared to the tall stone buildings most ordinary citizens rented rooms in. Just like the boutique from earlier, this house was made of high-quality wood that was stronger than stone. It also had glass windows which were considered a luxury in this city. James picked up a big stone and hurled it at a window with all his strength. A loud shattering noise echoed throughout the streets. A light shone from the house and an angry voice boomed, "Who dares?!"

James slipped away into the darkness. A fat man whose face was red from anger exited the home. He was looking for the culprit. He screamed, "Come out bastards! I'll kill you myself!" The guards down the street heard the glass shatter and saw the man screaming. They headed over to check out the situation.

James hurriedly snuck back to the boutique. He made sure no one was around and opened the door using the bronze key. He entered the shop and looked around. He saw many outfits displayed on mannequins. James stayed crouched and walked slowly through the shop. He thought to himself, "I've got to be careful. The shop owner's sister lives upstairs in the shop."

James grabbed the first outfit he reached. A red dress with a large hat. He fed it to the system.

[Bottom-grade uniform devoured. 0.1 energy units]

James sighed, "I was afraid of that. The mining outfits were only worth 0.1 energy units as well. It makes sense though since that dress was only worth around one gold." James thought for a second and then questioned the system, "Hey, system. Why are these outfits bottom-grade but my suit you ate was considered mid-grade?"

[The suit was made of superior goods. Additionally, it was a unique item made from unique materials that cannot be found in this world. Grading is normally based on quality, but rare or unique outfits may increase the grade based on my own preferences.]

James chuckled, "Damn glutton. You're like a wine snob, but for outfits."

James realized there were only a few outfits displayed. He decided to head for the basement warehouse to check for more. Logically, there should be plenty of outfits stored for sale downstairs. It was one of the main reasons he chose this target. He headed down the stairs. He saw hundreds of clothes piled up on shelves. He excitedly whispered, "I'm rich! Haha!" James had the system devour all the outfits in the warehouse. He then checked his system.

[Current Energy level. 50 units]

James nodded, "Hmm. There should have been more than 300 bottom-grade outfits in the warehouse. Now I'm just 50 energy units short of my goal." James slowly headed up the stairs. *Creak!* One particular stair made a loud creaking sound. "Shit! I hope no one upstairs heard that!" James hurriedly climbed the stairs and headed for the door.

*Swoosh!* James heard the sound of something tearing through the air. "Ugh!" James fell backwards and tried to grab onto something to prevent the fall. He grabbed something soft with his left hand and slammed into a shelf. He felt pain at the left side of his ribs. James covered the area that hurt with his right hand and could feel blood. A sharp voice yelled, "Whoever's there, don't move!"

The lights flickered on. James looked up from the floor. The light from the magic-beast cores in the ceiling was blinding. He saw a woman standing near the staircase that led upstairs. She was holding a bow and arrow pointed towards James!

James glanced towards his left ribs. They had been grazed by an arrow and blood was slowly pouring out. James glanced at his left hand and saw a pink cloth. "This must be what I grabbed when I fell down." James transferred the cloth to his right hand and used it to cover his wound.

"Kyaa!!!" The woman screamed. She let loose another arrow. It narrowly missed James and slammed into the shelf behind him. James hurriedly dove for cover behind a nearby counter. The woman screamed, "Panty thief! Guards! Guards! A pervert is stealing our stores panties!" James felt cold sweat on his forehead. He glanced at his right hand and saw the pink cloth he used to cover his wound. It was a pair of woman's underwear! James groaned, "Fuck my luck!"

James peeked over the counter and saw the woman had already notched another arrow. He noticed that the woman seemed to struggle with pulling the arrow all the way back. She was an ordinary woman and her aim clearly wasn't that good. James decided to make a run for it and dashed for the nearest window. *Swoosh!* An arrow slammed into the wall behind James. It had missed by several feet. James crossed his arms in front of him and jumped straight through the glass window!

A shattering sound could be heard. James landed in the street surrounded by glass. He once again covered his wound with the pink underwear in order to slow the bleeding. James looked up and saw the two guards from earlier running towards him. "Fuck!" James ran in the opposite direction. The homes in this area were spread apart and there were no alleyways nearby. The guards were quickly catching up. They were clearly low-level knights! Fortunately for James the guards were all the way down the street before they started chasing him.

James continued to run. A small trail of blood left behind him. One of the guards was faster than the other and caught up to him. The guard swung his sword towards him. James hurriedly pulled out his iron dagger to block. *Clank! Swoosh!* The cheap dagger blade snapped and went flying. It shot directly into a nearby wall. By now the other guard had caught up as well. The guard swung his sword towards James. James hurriedly rolled out of the way to dodge it. He screamed, "I surrender! Don't kill me!"

The guards pushed James down to the ground and tore off his black cloak. They saw his ugly large appearance. James was currently wearing his black and red soldier outfit that was a part of his common soldier uniform. The system forced him to wear it in his current appearance. He could take it off but if he tried to walk more than five feet away from the outfit it automatically reappeared on his body.

The skinnier guard had an ugly look on his face, "To think a soldier of the Drake Kingdom would degrade himself by stealing woman's undergarments. You shame us all with your actions!" The soldier kicked James in the wound causing him to groan in pain. The other soldier tied his wrists together with a small length of rope. They then lifted him up to his feet.

James looked at the two guards with tears in his eyes. He spoke, "I didn't want to steal them. I was forcefully retired from the army due to an injury. Shortly after, my wife passed away of illness. All I've got left in this world is my one and only daughter. Her birthday is tomorrow and all she wanted was an outfit from the Lady's Boutique. Alas! I am but a poor man. I can't even buy my daughter a nice gift! So, I broke in and tried to steal it. My daughter has no one else to rely on! If you arrest me she'll go to the orphanage! I beg you! Let me go! I didn't even manage to steal anything. No one has to know!"

The larger guard had a mixed look on his face. It was well-known that injured soldiers weren't well cared for by the kingdom. They were usually forcefully retired and only given a few gold coins as compensation. The larger guard turned to look at the skinnier guard and spoke, "What should we do?" The skinnier guard sneered, "Don't believe his rubbish. We're locking him up for the courts to deal with!"

James got desperate and yelled, "Oy! I'm in uniform too. Do you want to make soldiers everywhere lose face by arresting me?! This will harm your own reputations as well!" The larger guard had a sympathetic look on his face. He tried convincing the other guard, "Maybe we should just let him go? He didn't cause that much damage." James felt hope grow in his chest. He looked at the skinnier guard with pleading eyes. The skinnier guard laughed aloud, "Haha! My companion here may not recognize you, but I do!" The skinnier guard pulled a parchment out of his back pocket. There was a sketch of James current appearance on it. It read, "Wanted! James Dawn. Wanted alive for multiple acts of public indecency." The skinnier guard spoke, "Captain Beardy personally handed out these wanted posters over six months ago! As the captain of the Sea Salt City guard he ordered us to keep an eye out for you!"

James eyes widened in surprise. He murmured to himself, "Eh? Beardy-face is the captain of the guard in this city? What about Lumi then? I thought they were both from the capital?" The larger guard had an angry look on his face. He slammed the pummel of the sword into James stomach, "Dare to trick me do ya?! To think I felt sorry for you! Humph!"

The skinny guard shoved James. "Start walking. We're taking you to prison." James and the two guards started walking towards the prison located near the center of the city. It was at least an hour walk away.