Gaining an Informant

Situated in the large underground cavern where he fought the psychedelic jellyfish king, Kirou was now sitting before the tied-up gnome thief next to the lake. The duo has been there for over twenty minutes now but Kirou has said nothing during this time while the gnome thief was currently examining his surroundings.

At first, the gnome thief was terrified of what Kirou would do to him and wanted nothing more than to make a hasty escape. Unfortunately for him, however, was that he was already bound by Kirou's wires. Even worse, since Kirou had managed to tie him up with said wires without managing to inflict any damage to his character, the system treated the gnome thief similar to how all players are treated while in safe zones, locked out from their offensive skills and at the mercy of anyone who wasn't.

After the duo had entered the large cavern, Kirou placed the gnome thief next to the lake before disappearing for a minute or two. When he returned, Kirou retrieved two chairs and a small table from his inventory and set them up before sitting the gnome thief down on a chair and occupied the other. Following this, Kirou ignored the gnome thief sitting before him while he took out a tea set and started brewing some tea.

The gnome thief watched Kirou dumbfoundedly for a few moments as Kirou did this before he released a breath and started examining the cavern around him. From his observations, the gnome thief realized that this cavern was a few times bigger than the one which his party died in and the only thing different was that this cavern lacked one of those jellyfish creatures. While he was bound and unable to move, the gnome thief was worrying about when the jellyfish creature for the room would show up to attack both Kirou and him.

Sitting before the gnome thief, while it seemed that Kirou was fully focused on brewing the tea before him, he had his eyes observing the gnome thief from the very beginning. He had seen all the changes in expression that the gnome thief went through and he was inwardly nodding his head at the gnome thief's current actions. Kirou kept up this facade for another few minutes before he finally finished brewing the tea and filling two cups. He placed one before the gnome thief, attracting his attention while Kirou took a sip of the one before him.

After the sip of tea and with his eyes closed, Kirou spoke in a calm yet impassive voice, "What is your name, little thief?"

The gnome thief stared at Kirou for a few seconds before he responded to his words, "My name is Summer Shade, Senior."

Kirou nodded his head slightly at the gnome thief's response. He was inwardly satisfied with the gnome thief even more as it seems that he understood the appropriate actions one should take at certain times. Without even bothering to open his eyes, Kirou took another sip of his tea before speaking, "Tell me, Summer Shade. Do you know why you are still alive instead of joining the other eleven members of the group you came here with?"

Hearing this question, the gnome thief now identified as Summer Shade was at a loss. He had no idea as to why Kirou had captured him instead of killing him in that cavern. That being said, the gnome thief immediately started thinking of various reasons as to why Kirou had kept him alive.

This went on for a minute before a strange idea entered his mind. Feeling unsure of this idea but not having any better options, Summer Shade spoke up, "Could..... could it be that the reason Senior opted to capture me had to do with the fact that I backed away from the group when they entered the cavern and kept my distance as they approached that strange jellyfish creature?"

This time, Kirou opened his eyes and stared at Summer Shade with a smile. That smile allowed Summer Shade to realize that he gave the correct answer but he waited for Kirou to speak before thinking anything further. "Very good. It seems that it truly wasn't a waste on my part to capture you first."

Hearing Kirou's words caused Summer Shade to release the breath that he was holding. While it didn't seem like it on the outside, he was sweating bullets and on the verge of a nervous breakdown on the inside. Those words allowed the gnome thief to relax his mind a bit while facing Kirou.

Kirou saw the look of relief that formed on the gnome thief's face but said nothing as he was satisfied with the thief's actions so far. 'Just a bit more and I'll know for sure if he's worth cultivating as one of my own.' As this thought passed through Kirou's mind, he allowed the wires binding Summer Shade to come loose, freeing him in the process.

Suddenly being freed from his bindings, Summer Shade was currently at a loss. On one hand, he wants to flee from Kirou as fast as possible. On the other, he was intrigued as to why Kirou had released him after transporting him here and just asking a few questions. Summer Shade contemplated these thoughts for a few moments.

On the other side of the table, Kirou retrieved his wires and took another sip of his tea while facing the lake, seemingly looking away from his former captive. While it looked like this on the surface, Kirou was actually watching Summer Shade from the corner of his eye, waiting to see what his action will be. After another minute of this, Kirou nodded his head inwardly before turning back around to face the still sitting Summer Shade.

"Why didn't you leave? Didn't I already free you from your bindings and even took the time to enjoy the lake view beside us?" Kirou casually asked these questions, understating the importance of their true meaning.

As if he was aware of this, Summer Shade responded to the questions with a helpless smile on his face, "Surely Senior jests. I'm sure Senior remembers that I was apart of the group that attacked Senior and those two elves a while back. I know about that weird weapon of yours, as well as your skills. I doubt I would even make it two feet before I would die."

Kirou smiled at the gnome thief's response before gesturing for him to have a taste of the tea that was sitting on the table before him. After seeing that Summer Shade took a sip, Kirou once again turned to face the lake before speaking, "You are both correct and incorrect at the same time."

Kirou didn't need to see Summer Shade's face to know that he was making a confused expression at the moment. In fact, he just nodded to this before continuing, "Before I answer that question, allow me to clear up another issue on your mind."

Hearing this prompted the gnome thief to look at Kirou in even more confusion, wondering what this other issue that Kirou would be clearing up for him now.

Kirou still stared out at the lake as he spoke, "I'm sure you are quite interested as to why even though this cavern is a bigger version of the previous cavern in which your group died, why is it empty?"

BOOM!

An explosion went off in Summer Shade's mind. He was indeed wondering this, whether it was that the creature was just sleeping underwater or that this area just didn't have one. Hearing Kirou's words, however, revealed to him the third possibility. "No way..."

Still facing the lake, Kirou now had a smile on his that was visible to Summer Shade's eyes. A few seconds later, Kirou spoke up, "What decimated your party was just a normal variant. Had they not been so careless, your group could have taken that jellyfish down after a few small sacrifices. That being said, it was just a child. What lived in this cavern was the parent, their king, and a boss at that. Just the size difference of the room alone was enough to describe what lived here."

Those words caused Summer Shade's complexion to pale as he understood the underline meaning of what Kirou was telling him. He had seen how that small one took down his party. He was sure that even if they weren't careless, just based on the small one's skills, the boss fight would have ended the same way the previous one did, except it wouldn't have been due to carelessness.

"A friend of mine needed help in dealing with the creature so I came up here to help him deal with it. It took us a while but we did defeat it and were rewarded properly for doing so. Now, to answer your previous question, while I do indeed possess the weapons and skill needed to take you down before you even made it two feet from that chair, I was genuinely giving you a choice."

Hearing this prompting something within Summer Shade's heart. He placed the cup of tea down and stared at Kirou for a few seconds before speaking, "A choice, Senior?"

With his face still facing the lake, Kirou responded in a casual tone, "That's right, a choice. You had the choice of leaving and we would have nothing to do with each other anymore. You would have been scot-free without suffering any ramifications on my end."

Summer Shade was relieved when he heard this but there was a tinge of excitement in his eyes as he spoke, "And the other choice, Senior?"

This time, Kirou once again turned to face Summer Shade before speaking, "The choice of working for me, from now on."

Boom!

An explosion went off in the gnome thief's mind. He had no idea why, but he truly felt that he was fortunate for not being a coward and fleeing at the first chance he got. His gut was telling him that he made the smart decision earlier by staying in that chair.

***********

Roughly an hour later, the gnome thief Summer Shade was now standing at the surface entrance to the underground cave system. He looked back at the cave entrance with an expression of both reverence and fear on his face.

In Summer Shade's hands were two daggers giving off a slight blue glow in the dark. Along with these daggers, Summer Shade had Kirou's entire Swampland Leather Armor Set in his inventory. After remembering the discussion that took place within the cave, Summer Shade couldn't help but grip the twin daggers tightly in his hands.

Taking a final look at the cave entrance, Summer Shade released a breath and steeled his resolve once more before turning around and swiftly walking away from the cave. Along the way, his body disappeared from view, signifying that he was making use of <Stealth>. He had a lot of work to do and he wants to make sure that Kirou's faith in him wasn't misplaced.

*********

Kirou was now in the underground cavern, next to the large cavern that housed the psychedelic jellyfish king. Like he was doing with Summer Shade before, Kirou was sitting next to the huge underground lake while enjoying a cup of his personally brewed tea. He stared at the glowing moss on the walls of the cave and the waters reflecting their lights.

While it looked like he was enjoying the serene and beautiful scenery of the underground cavern, Kirou was actually thinking about the offer he made to Summer Shade earlier. When Kirou had captured him, he only planned on getting some information from the gnome thief about the Thieves Branch for Sanming before releasing him but the thief's actions during the whole ordeal created a spark of interest in Kirou. And once that spark of interest was created, Kirou decided to make a spur of the moment decision.

While the two elves had told him that they would be fine for now, Kirou didn't like seeing them go up against such odds without backup. Since they hadn't asked for his help on the matter, he won't get involved but that doesn't mean he can't provide a bit of assistance under the quiet. For now, he's managed to get someone on the inside and that is good enough.

Just the fact that he was able to secure backup for the girls by making use of the items he was about to change out was a pretty good deal. If any other player was to know that was what Kirou thought about his gear, who among the crowd wouldn't try to bludgeon him to death with a cudgel.

'Let's hope that I won't have to make any big moves myself and that Summer Shade is enough for now.' As Kirou thought this, Kirou finished his tea and stood up, revealing his current gear. Besides the black fur coat with the <Camouflage> skill on it, Kirou was now wearing a set of basic leather armor that he had 'obtained' from a few generous players he's met in the past.

Summer Shade was originally against Kirou giving him the Swampland Leather Armor Set on top of the two daggers as compensation for the job but Kirou insisted on him taking it. The reasoning that Kirou used to make him take it without being able to say anything else was that he planned on upgrading his gear before scrapping the old ones. Summer Shade practically grabbed the armor and ran away after hearing that, prompting Kirou to chuckle at his retreating figure.

"Now that I've got the natural security system's effectiveness verified and sealed the entrance to this area, I believe it is time for me to claim this area." Following those words, Kirou took out a scroll from his inventory and opened it up. This prompted the system to give him a message.

[System Message: Are you sure that you would like to use the <Hidden Land Deed>]

[Y/N]