Cui Ciyou carefully tucked the last spice bottle into his bag.
The clear clinking rang through the still air.
I'd better pack these securely. We haven't reached a town where we can restock yet, and these are precious.
Where would I buy more out here in the wilderness if I ran out?
The clinking bottles and jars stirred Elinalise's thoughts.
Her mind drifted involuntarily into the distance.
Toward the monkey-faced Demonfolk buried deep in her memories.
"Those were the days..."
Elinalise sighed softly, a trace of nostalgia in her voice.
"Back when we went adventuring..."
"Keith always carried bottles and jars like those, too."
Without lifting his head, Cui Ciyou answered casually as he organized his pack.
"Keith?"
"Wasn't he in charge of the meals when you were adventuring with Black Wolf's Fang?"
"It only makes sense that he'd carry seasonings."
In this complicated other world, the word thief...
No longer referred solely to the traditional sort who scaled walls and rooftops, stealing whatever they could.
It was more of a vague, broad umbrella term, encompassing three very different yet closely intertwined groups.
The first were bandits who gathered in the wilderness and robbed travelers.
They were destroyers of order, enemies of civilization, outlaws who lived on a knife's edge.
Some were commoners driven to banditry because they could no longer survive;
Others were powerful sadists who reveled in plunder and slaughter;
And still others were deserters from the army.
They put all their killing skills to work in a trade that required no capital.
The leader of the Grey Wolf Bandit Group he had encountered when he first arrived in this world had been a junior officer who deserted from Asura.
The second group consisted of thieves and swindlers who mingled among ordinary townsfolk, living off scams and deception.