Heka, the Unlucky One

Humans were creatures adept at compromise.

When someone forced a person to steal against his conscience, he would probably refuse because of things like morality and ethics.

But after being shown his fellow humans with their legs broken, thrown onto the streets to beg,

he would most likely start talking about how those who understood the times were the wise ones and choose to pick pockets.

The good news was that Heka was not the one whose legs had been broken.

The bad news was that Heka was the one who had chosen to compromise.

Three full months had passed since he had come to this world, and Heka currently missed that crude dormitory with its damp air, four walls, and a roof more than anything.

This was not his world. He could tell just by looking at the sky. The sky in his hometown had never been this blue.

He was no longer a newly employed engineer. Instead, he was a petty thief controlled by a gang in Seapeak Port, Valin Kingdom.

[Name] Heka

[Race] Lightfoot Halfling/human hybrid

[Attributes]

Strength: 0.256

Constitution: 0.217

Agility: 1.278

Speed: 0.871

Intelligence: 1.178

[Skills]

Pickpocketing (6789/10000)

Slashing (187/10000)

Sleight of Hand (218/10000)

[Inventory] (10 slots)

1 inferior basin filled with foul-smelling well water 9 inferior buckets filled with foul-smelling well water 1 chest filled with food 1 crude dagger 761 copper coins 1 chest filled with miscellaneous items

[Challenges]

None

These were the things that had come with him to this place. Perhaps it could be called a panel. At first, Heka had even tried talking to it, but he had received no response.

He had already explored all the other functions on the panel. Only the challenge section remained completely fruitless.

So far, he had found no opportunity to increase his attributes or expand his inventory. It seemed the panel was just a panel.

The boy curled up in a shadow-blessed corner stood and quickly swept his gaze across the stream of people flowing before him.

Although he did not particularly like his current job, the gang's threats of violence meant he had no plans to change jobs anytime soon.

He first ruled out the adventurers carrying weapons. Most of those people were psychologically twisted.

A few days ago, a little fellow had been egged on by others to challenge himself, only to be kicked away by an adventurer.

The poor man's head had slammed into the steps behind him, turning into a shattered egg of red and white in an instant.

After witnessing that scene, Heka could only return alone to the pigsty-like dormitory. He then looted the place with tears in his eyes, taking the man's battered blanket.

Next, he had to rule out those dressed in finery. Most of them had connections.

True big shots would not appear on the streets. They traveled by carriage instead.

But even the owner of a pawnshop had enough influence to summon the gang in charge of petty thieves like them and recover his stolen goods.

He would inevitably receive a vicious beating afterward.

Then there were the miserable laborers. They had nothing on them. The most valuable thing they possessed was the clothes on their backs.

Heka looked at his skinny arms and legs. They were thieves, not robbers, and besides, he doubted he could overpower those people.

There was one...

The boy's gaze eventually settled on a young man hurrying along with his jaw clenched tight.

He could vaguely make out the bulging money pouch at the man's waist. He looked like someone on his way to handle some business. That made him the target.

Heka jumped down from the chest and patted his partner, who was squatting on the ground and playing with a stick.

The boy was technically his roommate, a child whose hair had all fallen out except for a single tuft.

It was because of the boy's appearance that Heka would rather spend a little money fetching water from the well than drink the natural gift flowing through the river outside the city.

"That man. Cover me."

Thanks to the panel, Heka's progress had been astonishingly fast. In just a few days, he had become a core member of this property-transfer organization.

Of course, that also earned him the qualification to be arrested by the constables and hanged from the city gate tower.

Heka pulled down his already-tattered hat to cover his eyes, then squeezed into the crowd.

Perhaps because he had eaten well in recent days, this body, which had originally been little better than a goblin's, had begun to put on flesh. His constitution had also increased by 0.001.

Heka guessed that the standard for a normal human was probably 1. Unfortunately, aside from intelligence and agility, all his other values were below standard.

The target was heading toward the crossroads. Heka glanced to the side, and after confirming that Tuft was in position, slowly followed the man.

The moment he drew close, Heka's nose wrinkled sharply.

There was a smell of blood on the man. But Tuft had already latched onto him, and with the arrow on the string, Heka had no choice but to fire.

Even among the small gang of pickpockets and beggars, a child like Tuft—with a face covered in sores, no hair, and a black tumor growing on his head—was not well liked.

Heka did not care. The boy's frightening appearance was perfect for drawing a victim's attention.

Pickpocketing, like magic, was an art of diverting attention.

He moved close, sliced through the fabric with his small knife, then gently lifted with the tip. A money pouch that was neither full nor empty dropped neatly into Heka's hand.

Proficiency +1

Seeing that he had succeeded, the boy immediately turned and left to the side.

From behind, Tuft caught sight of Heka already leaving and immediately abandoned his entanglement with the person in front of him.

The man visibly let out a sigh of relief before hurrying away from the intersection.

Heka glanced at the gang enforcer not far away. The man had been watching these petty thieves of theirs the entire time. After all, they were like otters raised by fishermen: important tools of labor.

A fisherman could tie an otter's feet with a rope, but these petty thieves were not diving into the water to catch fish. They worked on the streets, so clearly their ankles could not be crudely bound with rope.

The best solution was to send people to watch them. If they ran away, the gang would lose this immensely profitable business.

Heka paused slightly at the street corner. After avoiding the gazes of the enforcers on both sides, he immediately slipped his fingers into the money pouch in his clothes.

When he felt the sticky sensation coating the coins, Heka's movements stopped. That seemed to be...

Blood...

It was stolen money, but it did not matter. To get a full meal, Heka did not mind this little interruption. It was just rotten luck. There would probably be trouble later.

Heka hooked out some of the coins with his finger, but when he tried to put them into his inventory, he failed for the first time.

Only when he tried putting them into another empty slot instead of stacking them with the copper coins were the coins in the pouch successfully stored.

Heka took the opportunity to glance at his inventory. There was a new item inside.

16 bloodstained Huika Gold Coins

Heka's heart lurched. Trouble—huge trouble. This was disastrous.

Heka looked toward the street. That was the enforcer the gang had specifically assigned to keep an eye on him.

He had been the fastest learner among this batch of pickpockets, which was why he had received this special honor.

Heka was certain the man had seen the target he chose. After all, his job was to keep watch over him.

Normally, that would not have been a major issue. But now, it could cost him his life.

Many forces across the continent issued their own currencies.

The currency commonly used in Seapeak Port was the official currency issued by Valin. The official exchange rate was based on thousands: one thousand copper coins for one silver coin, and one thousand silver coins for one gold coin.

Although he did not know the exchange rate between Huika Gold Coins and Valin Gold Coins,

Heka had just weighed the pouch. Even if the coins were melted down for their gold, it was no small sum.

Gold coins simply did not appear in ordinary transactions. They were mostly used for large-scale deals. This was truly a huge problem.