Money in Hand

Soon after, Great Thief Jero, his wounds healed, quickly brought back his four companions.

These four companions consisted of three men and one woman. Among the three men, one was tall and strong, skilled with a heavy axe, and had a scar on his face; his name was Johnson, nicknamed Great Axe Johnson. Another was a one-eyed man skilled with a bow and arrow, named Leandro. The third was a short man skilled at digging traps, named Ludom, nicknamed Dwarf Dom. As for the only female, a black-haired thief with a hot and sexy figure, her real name was unknown. Because she was skilled in using poison and had an unpredictable temper, she was called Femme Fatale, nicknamed "Snake Woman."

Adding Great Thief Jero, who was the oldest and considered the leader among the four, this small, capable team of five made Zhou Ming sigh, thinking this was simply a golden combination for robbing homes, killing, and seizing treasures.

For a moment, Zhou Ming even had the impulse to join this group.

However, this was just a momentary impulse. Unless absolutely necessary, he would not join this group.

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

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

The second was a layout map of Butler Brunode's residence in Rose Town. This map was obtained by Zhou Ming through opportunities to deliver things to Brunode's house. With just a quick glance, he had mapped out the location of Brunode's dog kennel, the room layout, and possible treasure hiding spots in his mind, and marked the action route.

The third was the route for transporting the treasure after it was obtained. He estimated that Brunode's residence would contain at least several hundred gold coins and several thousand silver coins in private wealth. These gold and silver assets combined would weigh over a hundred kilograms. Therefore, he suggested that the five of them should each carry a cloth bag capable of holding 20 kilograms of weight. After loading the treasure, they would open the back door of Brunode's house and leave.

Zhou Ming, meanwhile, would wait in the backyard, responsible for keeping watch.

"Little fellow, how do you know that Butler Brunode's house has a lot of treasure? And that it's hidden under his bed? Did you see it with your own eyes?"

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

Zhou Ming explained, "There will definitely be a lot of treasure. I can assert that Brunode has embezzled a lot of the lord's property over the years. This is because the lord doesn't care whether the territory's annual income is increasing or decreasing. All these matters are controlled by Butler Brunode. Moreover, compared to ten years ago, the output of Glan Territory is already enough for Baron Connor to train 15-20 Knights, but even now there are still only about 12. The Knights' equipment hasn't been significantly upgraded either. Where did this money go? Only Brunode probably knows..."

"Furthermore, with Butler Brunode's greedy, stingy, and petty personality, he wouldn't trust anyone else to manage this fortune unless it was right under his nose, in a place not far from him and where he could touch it at any time... Coincidentally, Brunode doesn't stay in the comfortable and safe castle guest rooms but returns to his residence in town every day to rest. I think, besides someone with his miserly personality, no one else would make such a strange move. Therefore, robbing Brunode will definitely not go wrong!"

Looking at the logical and eloquent Zhou Ming, Great Thief Jero and the others exchanged glances.

Was this little fellow in front of them really just a sixteen-year-old kid?

"Little fellow, we'll do as you say!"

Great Thief Jero made the final decision.

So, on a night when dark clouds obscured the moon, a group of six, taking advantage of the pitch-black night, crept towards Butler Brunode's residence.

The most difficult to deal with were the guard dogs watching the house. With even the slightest movement, these dogs would bark wildly, alerting the residents inside and leading to the failure of the operation.

Dealing with these guard dogs was also easy. Throw in a few bones smeared with poisonous Castor Grass juice. Dogs have very sensitive noses. Without specialized training against strangers feeding them, they would smell the scent and quickly finish the bones.

An hour later, after no longer hearing the whimpering sounds of the guard dogs in the yard, the five thieves formed a human ladder, sent someone into the front yard to open the main gate, and then, following the route on the blueprint, quickly sneaked into Butler Brunode's bedroom.

Snake Woman covered Brunode's mouth and nose for a while with a cloth soaked in Castor Grass juice, which had a stupefying effect, causing him to fall into a coma. Then, the treasure hidden under Brunode's bed, like a beautiful woman stripped naked, was presented before Great Thief Jero and the others, incredibly tempting.

Unexpectedly.

A full six chests of treasure!

One chest contained nearly a thousand gold coins, and there were four chests full of glittering silver coins, each containing over a thousand.

There was also a chest filled with various valuable gems such as emeralds, amber thumb rings, and agate stones, as well as a small amount of pearls and tortoiseshell produced on the southern coast.

The combined weight of these gold and silver coins, gems, and pearls was nearly 150 kilograms. Each of Great Thief Jero's group carried a heavy load of nearly 30 kilograms of treasure on their backs, slowly walking through the back door of the residence and disappearing into the quiet night.

After successfully obtaining the treasure, they piled it up in the dense forest to discuss the division of spoils. Great Thief Jero suggested giving one-third of the treasure to Zhou Ming, who had contributed the most.

The other four had no objections. After all, even with the remaining two-thirds, if the five of them divided it, they would have enough to live comfortably for a lifetime. They were all thieves with no moral bottom line, but when it came to dividing the spoils, they also had to adhere to professional ethics. There is honor among thieves, after all.

Looking at the glittering, dazzling treasures, Zhou Ming didn't feel the slightest bit of temptation. He pushed them back and shook his head, saying, "These treasures would bring disaster upon me if I kept them. Take them all. Use them to recruit soldiers and expand your ranks, buy some weapons, and improve your equipment. Don't think about squandering them all immediately. You still have many better opportunities... Trust me, with the last big job, I can guarantee you'll live a life of comfort and security, without any worries."

A life of comfort and security?

And without any worries?

With just you, this little guy...

The five exchanged glances, all wanting to retort and mock him, but for some reason, the words wouldn't come out.

Their hearts, however, began to pound faster.

They stared blankly at this little guy for a while longer. On him, they seemed to see a kind of grand vision they had never encountered before.

"My treasures!"

"My treasures that I painstakingly accumulated for decades!"

"Who! Which bastard took all my treasures!"

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

"Ah~! Ah~!! Ah~!!!"

That day, from the residence of Brunode, the steward of Rose Town, came a series of incomparably mournful cries.

These cries, shaking heaven and earth and making ghosts weep, echoed throughout the entire Rose Town.

The townspeople were incredibly surprised. Could this pig-slaughtering cry mean that Steward Brunode's parents had died? But when Brunode's parents died, they didn't see him this sad?

Hearing him constantly shouting about treasures, could he have lost money? With his stingy personality, only when he lost money would he let out such a painful cry as if his flesh had been cut off, right?

The townspeople discussed animatedly. Zhou Ming hid to the side, chuckling inwardly. Brunode must have suffered a significant blow this time. Most of his money, obtained through corruption, would be difficult to report to the lord, and keeping it bottled up would be very uncomfortable. He would probably remain in this state of mental breakdown, like someone who had lost their parents, for a long time, wouldn't he?

Heh heh, heh heh.