Ch. 30 Stolen Goods

Ethan was slightly worried the other two had escaped, but it was all for naught. When he returned to the group, he found one of the men decapitated and another impaled on a large stone spike. He went up to Ana and patted her on the shoulder.

"You've gotten over your fear."

"A bit… I need to pay that bastard back if I'm to fully overcome this."

A soft murmur was heard from beyond the fence. Chloe Taylor was watching them since nobody knew when.

"Mom!" Ana ran into her embrace almost knocking the woman down. "Are you ok? Did they…"

"No, no. Calm down child. Those fellows were bastards but fortunately not cruel enough to hurt a bedridden lady. They left after I told them you were out, though they didn't go too far from the looks of it."

Ana's cheeks went bright red and she began to stutter. "Th, this is…"

"Relax." said her mother while swatting away the hand that was trying to cover her eyes. "I've seen worse."

Mrs. Taylor wanted to invite her daughter's new friends in, but sadly the house was a mess. Besides her chamber, every other room was devastated. The furniture was smashed to pieces and there were even fist sized holes in some of the walls.

"Pricks…" muttered Ethan upon seeing it with his own eyes. He never really liked this place, but it was important to Ana.

"It likely won't be safe for you to remain here anymore." said Oliver. "Since I've already claimed you work for me, how about you come live with us. Our guest house is larger and we have no use for it anyway."

Regardless of how much his father insisted, clients and partners never stayed the night out of fear of accumulating debt. His stinginess had long become an urban legend.

Ana was reluctant to part with her childhood home, but after Chloe gave her approval, she eventually relented. Mrs. Taylor couldn't walk easily, so the journey took quite some time. Fortunately, no further incidents occurred.

"I'll get a healer to check out your mom." said Oliver after the woman fell asleep in her new and improved chamber. Despite the room being 4 times larger and filled with only high end furniture, Mrs. Taylor seemed to fit right in. Her looks and age didn't match at all, as the supposedly old lady looked more like a sleeping beauty waiting for her prince.

"I've already hired someone a while back." said Ana. "But, he couldn't figure out what was wrong. She's growing weaker by the day without cause or reason."

"Hmm… then, I'll ask dad to call his drinking buddy over. He's level 3 and one of the most respected healers in the Guild."

"Really!?" Ana's eyes were glowing as she cupped her hands.

"Of course. You'll just have to help pay off the debt."

Before Ana could ask what debt he was talking about, the boy changed the subject.

"Anyway, since we're safe now, how about we check out our loot?"

The team went to the guest house's meeting hall and sat around a large table. Out of Arthur's tiny ring, gold, pearls, armors, and weapons fell on the table in droves. Everyone's eyes were practically glowing.

"Alrighty then…" Oliver pulled up his sleeves and started sorting through the items. Like an experienced merchant, he grouped them into several small piles and even placed tiny labels on each one.

"There are exactly 800 gold coins. The jewelry is worth around 950 and the rest of the stuff about 50 gold. So, we're looking at 450 gold coins per person." He concluded while making a victory sign.

They all gave each other a high five or a hug. Not to mention the two commoners, even for the brothers this was a huge paycheck.

"So, should we split it four ways or sell it and then split the gold?" asked Ethan.

"Absolutely not." said Arthur.

"He's right." confirmed his brother. "If this stuff hits the market, there'll be no end to the amount of explaining we'll have to give. The King might even confiscate it using some bulls**t excuse.

Our best move is to melt the coins, rip apart the jewelry, and change the patterns on the weapons and armors. Only then can we use or sell them safely."

"Sure, but if what you're saying is right, it needs to be done discretely." said Ethan. "We can't just go to a random blacksmith for this."

"No problem." shrugged Oliver. "Half of the stuff our family buys needs to be modified in some way. I'll just summon my guy, and he'll have it done by tomorrow."