Money in Hand

Before long, Great Thief Jero, his wounds healed, quickly brought back his four companions.

These four companions consisted of three men and one woman. Of the three men, one was tall and powerfully built, skilled with a heavy axe, with a scar across his face. His name was Johnson, nicknamed Great Axe Johnson. One was a one-eyed archer named Leandro. The short one, skilled at digging traps, was named Ludom, nicknamed Dwarf Dom. As for the only female thief, a curvaceous black-haired woman whose real name was unknown, she was called Femme Fatale because of her skill with poison and her unpredictable temper. Her nickname was "Snake Woman."

Together with Great Thief Jero, the most experienced of them all and effectively the leader of the four, this lean five-person team made Zhou Ming marvel. It was practically the perfect combination for burglary, murder, and treasure plundering.

For a moment, Zhou Ming even felt the urge to join them.

But it was only a passing impulse. Unless he had no other choice, he would not join this group.

Before the operation, after a brief exchange of pleasantries in the dense forest, Zhou Ming took three drawings from his pocket.

The first was a route map for infiltrating Rose Town. According to this route, they could avoid the castle guards' eyes and reach the target location as quickly as possible.

The second was a layout map of Brunode's residence in Rose Town. Zhou Ming had obtained this map while delivering something to Brunode's home. After just a brief glance, he had mapped out the location of the dog pen, the room layout, and the possible hiding places for treasure in Brunode's house, marking out the route for the operation as well.

The third showed the route for transporting the treasure after they got it. He estimated that Brunode's residence held at least several hundred gold coins and several thousand silver coins in hidden wealth. Altogether, that gold and silver would weigh over a hundred kilograms, so he suggested that the five of them each carry a cloth sack capable of holding twenty kilograms. After loading the treasure, they would leave through the back door of Brunode's house.

Zhou Ming, meanwhile, would wait in the backyard and stand watch.

"Kid, how do you know Brunode has so much treasure in his house? And that he keeps it under his bed? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

Snake Woman stared at the three drawings, unable to agree with Zhou Ming's overly subjective plan.

Zhou Ming explained, "There must be a great deal of treasure. I'm certain that Brunode has embezzled plenty of the lord's wealth over the years. The lord does not care whether the territory's annual income rises or falls; all of those matters are controlled by Brunode. Besides, compared with ten years ago, Glan Territory's output is already enough for Baron Connor to support fifteen to twenty knights. Yet even now, he still only has around twelve, and the knights' equipment has not improved noticeably. Where did all that money go? Brunode is probably the only one who knows..."

"Also, given Brunode's greed, stinginess, and narrow-minded nature, he would not trust anyone else to manage that wealth. Unless it was right under his nose, somewhere close at hand that he could touch whenever he wished... And sure enough, Brunode refused to stay in the comfortable, secure guest rooms at the castle and returned to his residence in town to rest every day. I think no one but a miser like him would make such a strange choice. So robbing Brunode cannot possibly go wrong!"

As they watched Zhou Ming lay out his arguments with such confidence, Great Thief Jero and the others looked at one another.

Was this kid in front of them really only sixteen?

"Kid, we'll do as you say!"

Great Thief Jero made the final decision.

Thus, on a night when dark clouds covered the moon, the group of six crept through the pitch-black night to Brunode's residence.

The most troublesome things were the guard dogs watching the house. At the slightest noise, they would bark wildly, alerting the owner inside and causing the operation to fail.

Dealing with the guard dogs was easy enough. They tossed in several bones smeared with poison. Dogs had keen noses, and without special training to resist food from strangers, they quickly gnawed the bones clean after catching the scent.

An hour later, once the whining of the guard dogs could no longer be heard from the yard, the five thieves formed a human ladder and sent someone over the wall to open the front gate. Then, following the route on the drawings, they swiftly sneaked into Brunode's bedroom.

Snake Woman pressed a piece of coarse cloth soaked in Castor Grass juice, which had a fainting effect, over Brunode's nose and mouth for a while. Once he fell unconscious, the treasure Brunode had hidden beneath his bed appeared before Great Thief Jero and the others, as alluring as a beautiful woman stripped bare.

It was beyond expectations.

There were six whole chests of treasure!

One chest held nearly a thousand gold coins, while four more were filled with gleaming silver coins, each containing over a thousand.

The remaining chest was full of valuable gems of all kinds, including emeralds, amber thumb rings, agates, as well as a small amount of treasures such as pearls and tortoiseshell from the southern coast.

The gold coins, silver coins, gems, and pearls weighed nearly one hundred and fifty kilograms in total. Great Thief Jero and the others each carried nearly thirty kilograms of treasure on their backs, then slowly passed through the back gate and vanished into the silent night.

After succeeding, they piled the treasure together and discussed how to divide the spoils in the dense forest. Great Thief Jero suggested that one-third of the treasure be given to Zhou Ming, who had contributed the most.

The other four had no objections. After all, even if they split the remaining two-thirds among the five of them, they would have no trouble living comfortably for the rest of their lives. They were thieves with little moral bottom line, but when it came to dividing the spoils, they still observed professional ethics. Even thieves had their code.

Yet as Zhou Ming looked at the dazzling, glittering treasure, his heart did not stir in the slightest. He pushed it back and shook his head. "Keeping this treasure with me would only bring disaster. You should take it all. Use it to recruit men and expand your ranks. Buy weapons and improve your equipment. Do not think about squandering it all at once. You will have many better opportunities ahead... Trust me. With one final big job, I can guarantee that you will spend the rest of your lives free from worries about food and clothing, without living in fear."

A lifetime without worries about food and clothing?

And without living in fear?

You little brat...

The five looked at one another. They all wanted to retort with a few mocking words, but for some reason, the words reached their lips and would not come out.

Instead, their hearts began pounding faster.

They stared blankly at the kid for a long while. On him, they seemed to see a kind of grand vision they had never encountered before.

"My treasures!"

"My treasures that I worked so hard to save for decades!"

"Who was it?! Which bastard took all my treasures?!"

"Bastard! Give me back my treasures! Give me back my treasures!!"

"Ah! Ah!! Ah!!!"

That day, incomparably miserable cries rang out from Brunode's residence in town.

The cries were so heartrending that they shook heaven and moved ghosts, echoing throughout all of Rose Town.

The townspeople were utterly astonished. Those slaughtered-pig cries—could Brunode's parents have died? But when his parents had died, he had not seemed this grief-stricken.

Then they heard him constantly crying about treasures. Had he lost money? With his miserly nature, only losing money could make him howl in pain as if someone had cut off his flesh.

The townspeople discussed it endlessly. Zhou Ming hid nearby and laughed to himself. Brunode must have suffered quite a blow this time. Most of that money had been acquired through embezzlement, so it would not be easy for him to explain it to the lord. Keeping it bottled up would be agonizing too. For quite some time, he would probably remain in this deranged, grief-stricken state.

Heh heh, heh heh.