A Small Awakening (Part 1)

"Harvey, tell me, what exactly was that tax officer Bakasi after? He went to all that trouble just to deal with a nobody of a boy?"

It was deep into the night. Rika Town lay asleep beneath the moonlight, silent and still, every lamp extinguished.

In the Thieves' Guild hideout outside the town, only two of the four men were still awake. Lying in bed and chatting, they had somehow drifted onto the subject of what had happened earlier.

The thief named Harvey was a burly one-eyed man. He gave a sinister chuckle. "Who cares? As long as we ruin that boy, we'll have someone to lean on in this town from now on. Better than drifting from place to place like this..."

Thieves' Guilds had always been established in large and medium-sized cities. Yet as adventuring parties gradually pushed into remote regions, and some thieves moved into smaller cities and towns, the guilds slowly began spreading into those places where life moved at a more leisurely pace.

Rika Town, a small settlement nestled between the ocean and the forest, had gradually caught the attention of outsiders amid this tide. Half a month ago, a small band of just four thieves had set foot on this land.

"Hey, Bossi, you haven't seemed right since yesterday. Missing women, are you? Once we settle this business, we'll find a couple of broads in a mercenary band and have ourselves a good night, hahaha! Not that I'm saying anything, but that girl we had in that town last time—she was hot, fierce, what a taste. Tsk, tsk, tsk. You were the only one without the luck for it. Not only did you fail to take her, she clawed your face to ribbons. Hahaha, what a disgrace."

The thief named Bossi was thin and pale. He glared at his companion. "If you hadn't killed her husband and child, would she have fought that desperately? What a pity, such a pretty girl..."

As he spoke, he seemed to savor the memory again. "Right, does that tax officer keep his word? Will he really turn a blind eye to us doing business in town?"

The requirements for establishing a Thieves' Guild branch were quite lax, perhaps because thieves were difficult to restrain and because the guild wanted to expand more effectively.

Thus, one only needed to meet the following three conditions.

First, one had to obtain approval from the Church of the God of Thieves and offer tribute to it every year. Second, the person planning to establish the branch had to already be a member of the Thieves' Guild. Finally, no fewer than four people could establish a branch.

This four-man band of thieves happened to meet all those requirements. Of course, generally speaking, though the Thieves' Guild could not show its face in the light, it would still forge ties with local lords and handle matters the lords found inconvenient to deal with openly.

However, these thieves were merely the lowest-ranked Level 1 or 2 petty thieves. They had been unable to scrape by in the cities and had only fled here, so no one took them seriously. Moreover, Baron Rokas, the lord of Rika Town, lived year-round in Rokas Castle and was rarely seen by commoners. During the first few days after their arrival, they had run into walls everywhere. Meeting anyone truly in charge had somehow become a difficult problem. Just when they had fallen into complete despair, the tax officer from the local mayor's office had unexpectedly come looking for them.

They had been told that so long as they made a deal with him, this tax officer—said to be a relative of the lord—would take care of all the matters involved in establishing their branch in town.

All they needed to do was frame an ordinary fifteen-year-old boy from town, a boy without power, influence, parents, or backing. No matter how one looked at it, this deal was a bargain.

Out of professional habit, after Bakasi left, the thieves had secretly sent someone to investigate the boy who had so clearly offended the tax officer. The results largely matched Bakasi's account. Aside from omitting the fact that the boy was actually a Level 1 Druid, everything else was true enough.

Still, even if the boy was a Level 1 Druid, he was only Level 1. Given that he had offended the Druid Jefa and been driven out by Priest Tennis, he posed no great danger to them. In the end, they had decided to proceed with this deal that could not possibly lose them money.

"Hey! What are you imagining? If he dares deceive us, we can make sure he can't swallow it or carry it away!" The one-eyed man's expression changed, and he rebuked him unhappily.

"True." Thinking it over, Bossi felt somewhat reassured. Yet for some reason, his eyelid had been twitching ever since yesterday. His innate sharpness kept leaving him uneasy. The feeling had only grown stronger since yesterday. He rubbed his temples, thinking he might simply be too tense. They still had to go outside town tomorrow morning, so he decided not to dwell on it and to sleep peacefully instead.

But as drowsiness gradually descended, so did the urge to urinate. Bossi sighed and finally sat up in resignation.

"Where are you going?" the one-eyed man asked curiously.

"I'm taking a piss." Bossi put on his shoes and pushed open the door of their shared room.

The thieves had rented a shabby two-story building. The four thieves occupied three rooms on the second floor, while the toilet was beside the first-floor corridor. Yawning as he went, Bossi walked down the stairs. When he reached the door of the reception room, a sudden strange sound from within jolted him, instantly waking him up.

Bossi happened to be on night watch that day. He took out a ring of keys, selected the largest one, and carefully inserted it into the lock. Then he gently turned it. Something was wrong! The door was open! Could it be... he had forgotten to lock this room today?

Or perhaps... He pressed his ear to the door and listened carefully. Yet strangely, the sound from before did not come again. Had he heard wrong?

Bossi felt puzzled. He drew the sharp short sword from his boot and slowly pushed open the wooden door.

The room was lit. The file drawer against the wall stood wide open. Many things lay scattered across the floor. Bossi stared at the sight before him in shock. Heaven above! Someone had actually stolen from the Thieves' Guild?!

But aside from some documents, there was nothing valuable in this room. Still, there was no time for further thought. Looking at the iron window locked from the outside, he concluded that whoever had broken in could not have left the room yet! Though he had seen no one when he entered, there were three tall cabinets in the room. The intruder had most likely hidden inside one of them.

Bossi was, after all, an experienced thief with decent fighting skills. Upon discovering this situation, he did not immediately go out and call the others. Instead, he began carefully searching the entire room.

He abruptly opened one cabinet. No one was inside.

He opened the second cabinet. Still no one.

Bossi stared at the last cabinet, his gaze growing sharper and sharper. If his guess was correct, the intruder should be hiding there. This time, however, he did not rashly open it. Instead, he listened carefully for a moment. Sure enough, in the silence, the faint sound of suppressed breathing within reached his ears.

A cruel smile appeared on Bossi's face. Then he fiercely plunged the sharp short sword in his hand through the wooden cabinet door. A scream rang out at once. He laughed loudly, then pulled out the dagger. Blood dripped from its tip, pattering onto the floor.

The air was immediately permeated with the stench of blood. A twisted excitement appeared on the thin man's face. He yanked open the cabinet door, and the sight of two unfamiliar boys hiding inside made him cry out in delight.

"You dared come here to steal? You've got some nerve. Get out!" The thief chuckled, carelessly holding his sword as he motioned for the two boys to come out.

The two boys exchanged a look, then obediently crawled out. The sturdier one clutched his right arm, blood continuously seeping through the gaps between his fingers.

"Come on, Romon." The thief had clearly recognized the other boy. "Looks like tomorrow's deal won't be necessary after all. Theft, breaking into a residence at night, attempted robbery—those are much more serious charges, aren't they? Hmm, let me think. That's enough to get you hanged. Hahaha!"

Just as the thief was about to call the others downstairs, Romon suddenly raised his hand. With a pfft, the thief's neck was pierced through.

The attack had come too strangely. At such close range, the thief could not resist no matter what he did.

A crossbow! The thought flashed through his mind. Before he could wonder why the two boys possessed such a tightly controlled weapon, blood sprayed everywhere.

Only after the thief collapsed to the floor did Romon let out a long breath.

This crossbow was the only weapon in his space besides the machete. In his original country, weapons had been strictly controlled. Though he had space to store things, he had been unable to get a gun and could only acquire a crossbow. He had never imagined it would now play such an important role.

Fafier was astonished by the effect of the object in Romon's hand, but the approaching footsteps immediately made him clamp his opened mouth shut.

The moment one thief turned around, there came a pfft. His body jerked violently as a short bolt pierced through his chest and emerged from his back.

The man gave a muffled grunt and fell to the ground.

The thief who emerged behind him was horrified, suddenly caught between advancing and retreating.

Romon held the crossbow. Six bolts remained loaded upon it, their arrowheads gleaming coldly. Fafier held his longsword and pressed forward.

Despair filled the thief's eyes. He suddenly shouted and charged straight at them.

Romon's eyes turned cold. He pulled the trigger. With another pfft, a powerful bolt shot out and pierced through the thief's body. The distance was so close that it passed straight through him, carrying a great spray of blood before embedding itself in the door.

After that, things became much simpler. Against low-level opponents, a great killer like a crossbow was practically invincible. Especially since the one remaining man was only a Level 1 or 2 petty thief, Romon with the crossbow and Fafier with his longsword found and killed the last man without much danger. Only after confirming there was no one else did they finally relax.

The moment they relaxed, Fafier's face turned pale. This was his first time killing someone, and he had killed four people. He had been enraged when he heard they were being framed, but now fear rose within him.

Romon also felt like vomiting, but he forcibly suppressed it.

Four corpses lay before them, their faces twisted in terror, their deaths gruesome. The air was thick with the foul stench left behind by death. Air from outside flowed in, yet it still could not wash away the traces of what had happened here.

"Romon, are they... are they really all dead? Killed by us?" A low, hoarse voice suddenly broke the eerie silence, carrying a hint of nervousness but even more disbelief.

If Fafier's first reaction after killing those four thieves had been, Heavens! We killed people!

He turned his head and looked at his friend beside him, whose expression was equally complicated. The shocking scene from moments ago surfaced in his mind again. What exactly was that weapon that had suddenly appeared? Where had Romon hidden it? And in that sudden moment, Romon's decisiveness, the killing intent he had shown when facing the enemy—everything about it felt so unfamiliar. It was as though Fafier suddenly no longer recognized this good friend...

"Fafier, do you regret it? Do you regret coming here with me today?" Noticing his gaze, Romon, who had been silently staring at the corpses, suddenly raised his head and asked. Romon's expression was strange as well, shifting between light and shadow, with a flame burning in his eyes.