Chapter 10

Wind gathered dark dust here and there, and broken, and dirty half-burned furniture stood in the building. Some occasional rains had already formed dirty venues of ash, mud, and tar stains.

*Fuck, just like at home* Thought Darius with a laconic stare at the half-burned walls.

Roofs had all collapsed but somewhere more partially. Darius had to squeeze himself through in harder parts or break some blanks loose to be able to continue going about in the remains of the slaver's old hideout. The fire had destroyed many valuable items, and some parts were inaccessible. Everything was a mess. Some people had already been there, and they had taken already quite a lot. Some even building materials, it seemed. *Slum will have new houses I guess*. Darius continued the maze of dreadful half-collapsed rooms seeking anything worth the effort. Five first rooms were half empty. There was only half-broken trash. Then he started more methodically lifting shelves up with a bit of struggle and found some coins. Only one silver though. Darius contemplated taking some ceramics with him, but he left them on the floor. Most of the papers had burned sadly. One hallway mat could be cut in half and reused, but it would need a lot of work, which Darius mainly tried to avoid.

Two hours of digging up items from ash had resulted in a few more Tranguil coins, only one silver coin from earlier, some random clothing he could use for items not to break, daggers and one extra short sword. There were some polearms and axes but badly damaged and already rusting from rain and low maintenance. The night was turning darker, but Darius had surprisingly good sight. He mentally added it to the list of mage body modifications while absentmindedly trying to see if anything was underneath a crashed desk. The ash and dirt seemed to impersonalize everything broken and left to the mercy of the elements. Darius walked to the old cosy part of the building, but it was even more heavily blocked. He had to spend 15 minutes heaving several blanks from the wall with the rusty axe so that he could get deeper into the building.

*There might be still items worth the money here. Nobody had been here before* Darius amused and started crawling in narrow spaces. Occasionally he could even lift his head a bit, but it seemed that the maze had gotten much narrower. Despite the narrowness, Darius started to find all manner of interesting items. It appeared that he was in the office part of the building since the tables were expensive polished wood. However, some of the fallen roof parts were supported by them. Underneath one of these tables were drawers that he had to break open. There were a lot of useless account books and other documents that he just put on the floor while exploring all the drawers, boxes and shelves. In one drawer, he found a pouch full of coins, mostly copper Tranguils again, but money is money. There were some loan papers that Darius also pocketed. In the last drawer, he found a large document box that he had to crack open with the axe. Considering that he didn't have much space to do that, he had to put the box next to the actual wall not to let the roof fall on him. Then he stabbed the box a few times with the axe, and the lid lock broke.

*It seems some of these walls are still more sturdy than this lid*

At first, the box seemed half empty, but then Darius saw something oddly familiar. The pergament with red stamps. In the intense moment, Darius had become a landowner again. He laughed a bit, just a silent chuckling not to alert anyone about his location. It felt good, though. The land is always worth something. *Maybe I can make it in alchemy after all* The calming thoughts came to Darius like rain after the dry season. With every coin, dagger, and illegal document, he was closer to his goal of being able to keep himself fed. He could even dare to think about advancing in magic if he had enough money for it. But it was all still hope and dreams, but as of this moment, everything he could find now could make or break his progress. With renewed motivation, Darius started going through boxes and found some of his old alchemy pots and glasses. These glasses were not typical medical instruments. The glass in alchemy tools was, in fact, so sturdy it would be difficult to break it by any normal means. While wondering what experiments really needed this kind of equipment, Darius came to the corner where the open safe was. The only thing at this spot kept the roof from collapsing. Darius had emptied it in the first raid while freeing himself, but some items had dropped in a hurry or rolled over. There was a lot of ash everywhere, presumably from all the papers. Still, the floor was mostly fine, and Darius could find some writing items and jewels here and there. Underneath the empty boxes and tables. Still crawling, he reached his hand behind the shelves finding nothing. He did the same thing at the safe and almost thought there was nothing. But there was one burned coin in the middle. It was standing in the crack on the floor underneath the safe. It seemed that the papers had burned it entirely black. Darius just threw it into the purse with other coins and started looking at other items.

After a while, there was no place to go in the building. At least one-third and the whole underground cells were barred with stone and wood beams and iron supports. Darius estimated that he could at least pay for a month of tavern living and maybe more after selling some items. He had also taken some antique collection items. Several old miniature onyx stone statues, some odd-looking stones, and one shiny rock with smooth flat surfaces and sharp edges. Darius didn't know what these items could be, but since he had never seen them, he took everything for the chance that these would have value.

A sudden loud creaking sound alerted Darius awake from his thoughts. It was the broken inner door of the first room. Darius started slowly crawling into a better position away from the dead end where he had crawled before. When he returned to the opening where he could stand, he heard people arguing several rooms away.

"Hey, look at this someone has been here. This thing was not broken before!" A rough-voiced man spoke.

"Are you sure? Nobody in the slum would go against the orders of Lars." Someone with a higher voice responded hurriedly.

"Someone has been stealing in our fucking turf! Damn, continue finding something to sell to Mr Trader! We have to get money, or Lars will get angry! Hurry up!"

Darius heard people breaking walls and walking around all over the place. When he was squeezing himself into one room, that was the original direction where he had escaped the last time someone saw him from another room.

"HEY HEY Look, there is someone here! GET HIM!" a loud voice cried in the dark. Hurriedly Darius got on the other side while the first three men started to clear the pathway to him. He did not have much time anymore. After orienting himself to where he was, Darius busted one door open and saw a completely collapsed roof blocking his way. He darted back to the hallway with broken wood beams all over the place. Then someone tried to grab his hand, and he saw a person with a red beard holding a dagger on the other side of the logs in one of the rooms. Darius slashed with his axe, but there was not enough space. The man dodged and started yelling at others. Darius leapt to the hallway's other side and met with one boy. He threw the axe at his face while continuing past him. The boy tried to dodge but got hit on his shoulder.

"AAAggh, he has weapons kill him!! Help, I am hurt!"

First, Darius went to one room too far and only saw a stone wall. Then he went back, and another man holding a torch almost stumbled on him. Darius tried to stab him, and the man dodged while Darius ran past him into the next room. Then he closed the door on the hooded man's face according to agonizing voices behind the door. Darius didn't have much time. He looked at some wood beams and rubble in the room and saw the window without glass on the other side. He started running towards it, and while passing the first wood beam, he heard the door opening and a loud thud on the wood beak.

"Fucking sly bastard! Kill him!" an angry voice bellowed behind Darius.

A second thud came closer to him on the window frame. Darius did not stop there to look at what weapon it had been. He threw himself out of the window as painfully as it was the first time. When he crashed again on the stable roof, he heard the rough voice giving orders. One roof tile splintered this time, and Darius got a minor flesh wound to his leg. With his heart pumping, Darius jumped down while hearing someone shouting near the window. Then he heard a crash from the roof and a loud thud next to him. It was a yellow-haired boy, face leaking blood on the cobblestone with unmoving brown, dark eyes. It seemed that someone had made the uncoordinated long jump and killed himself while trying to get to him. Darius darted away from the body and started running around the streets. He heard angry sounds and muffled cries but didn't look back even once before he was four and a half streets away. Then he jogged to the nearby street end, lifted the sewer hatch, and climbed into the tunnels. Just when he had closed the hatch and climbed down, he heard people running past on the street high up. He panted heavily and tried to keep it quiet. The petrifying stench of sewers didn't help, and he almost started coughing. He lifted his travel sack and buried his head in it to avoid making loud sounds. After a while, he adjusted his eyes to the dark and started walking the sewer tunnel slowly, touching the wall with his hand. When he got past the first corner, he lighted his makeshift lamp with a ceramic cup and a small vax candle. This was the same light that he had previously used in the tunnels. He didn't exactly know where he was, but he knew that if he went downwards, it would lead to the slums, and higher would lead to the store district.

While venturing into the dark and smelly tunnels, Darius started to reflect on his choice of work and how easy money would not always be easily gained. After an hour of walking in sewers, regularly stopping at the street hatches and waiting for a quiet opening to surface on the streets, Darius heard a noise. But this time, in the tunnels. It was the footsteps of one person. Darius closed the light and took several tens of quiet steps to reach the turning point in the tunnel. Despite this, he was noticed.

"Who goes there? Are you here for the goods!"

Darius stepped into the light and said, "I am not."

He stared at the nervous robe-hooded man with a torch and backpack to say or do something. Then the man came to the realization.

"You are in the wrong parts of the tunnels. You should not have seen me."

In horror, Darius saw the man lift his hand and start a minor flame just above his palm that lighted the lower part of the man's pale face with an ugly smirk. Then the man started running towards him while laughing manically. Darius turned and ran behind the corner just when he was almost getting caught. He didn't continue running. Darius went down on his knees and took his dagger. Next, with not as smooth movement, he rose with his legs, lifting the dagger into the chest of the running maniac with fire on his arm. The fire went off immediately, and the man gasped air sharply. The dagger was stuck, so Darius took another and cut the man's throat with it, leaning next to him. After five fast heartbeats, Darius leaned on the wall and slid down on the floor while gathering his wit. He had almost died twice today, but this time by a mage.