Departure

Slashing (9998/10000)

On the 41st day of coming underground, Heka's progress far exceeded his own expectations, and at this moment he had completed his established goal ahead of schedule.

Looking at the entry on the status panel, Heka continued to swing the dagger in his hand.

Proficiency +1

Proficiency +1

Heka let out a long breath, put the dagger back into the scabbard at his waist, and then focused his mind, pulling the interface to the skills section.

[Skills]

Theft (7180/10000)

Slashing (Additional 20% damage when using a dagger/short sword)

Sleight of Hand (729/10000)

Valin (212/10000)

Valin came from the teachings of Tuft of Hair, only it was somewhat different from skills like Slashing that could be improved through repetitive training.

Heka's Valin had already fallen into a bottleneck at this moment; although he still maintained daily reviews, the progress still showed no sign of moving forward.

Heka checked his backpack. At this moment, their food reserves had about a dozen days' worth left, but the drinking water had completely bottomed out.

It was time to go out and buy some supplies while checking things out. Hopefully the matter had already blown over, considering that most people on the streets didn't have much of a memory.

Heka had already taken advantage of Tuft of Hair being fast asleep last night to organize his backpack. This time going out, he didn't need to carry food; if he got caught, it was certain death, with no such thing as a commuted sentence.

Heka concealed the dagger on his body, placed the two crossbows in the foremost empty slots of the backpack for easy retrieval, and left behind most of the food, keeping only a few pieces of cheese as emergency food reserves.

After draping a cloak that he had originally kept in the sundries box over his body to cover his face, Heka checked his backpack and prepared to leave.

[Backpack] (10 slots) Simple crossbow in a ready-to-fire state × 1, simple hand crossbow in a ready-to-fire state × 1, shoddy empty wooden bucket × 9, small piece of cheese × 5, Walin Copper Coin × 412, Walin Silver Coin × 67, Huika Gold Coin × 23, sundries box × 1, hand crossbow bolts × 14.

If there was an opportunity this time, Heka was prepared to use silver coins to try and purchase a quality short sword and two to three heavy crossbows.

As the coins in the backpack followed his active storage of Huika's gold coins, the copper and silver coins now also carried their originating nation's name in front, as if the backpack was also becoming internationalized.

Although maxing out Slashing added a noble percentage damage bonus, Heka understood that at his current stage, his strength—which was as low as 0.260—still could not reach an average level even compared to the substantial improvement it had seen before.

His safest method at the moment was to use crossbow bolts, cooperating with the storage and retrieval characteristics of the backpack to achieve a surprise effect.

"If I don't return within a day, you go down and follow the left side straight ahead, make two consecutive left turns and then go to the surface. There is a carriage rental service there, and if you are lucky enough, you can leave this place."

Heka handed a small money pouch to Tuft of Hair in front of him. Inside this pouch were five silver coins and fifty copper coins; gold coins were too conspicuous and meant certain death the moment they were exposed, so Heka didn't leave them for the other person.

"Boss, I'm going with you."

Tuft of Hair didn't reach for the money pouch, instead raising his head to look earnestly at the peer in front of him.

"You're dead weight right now, and besides, it's not like we haven't gone up before."

Heka opened the money pouch, letting Tuft of Hair see the five gleaming silver coins inside.

"The person we stole from last time had way too much money on them—odds are they're a tough customer. If it weren't for getting into the sewers, we'd probably be dead by now.

It's only been forty-some days, and the matter isn't over yet. Going up now, there must be people up there waiting for us. With you, I won't be able to run far, and by then I'll only be able to throw you up there."

Heka looked at the other person, then shook the money pouch in his hand.

He had one more thing left unsaid: the other person knew this place, and if he escaped, he would never let Tuft of Hair, who had fallen into enemy hands, stay alive.

"This time is rather troublesome, and I might be gone for a while. If I haven't returned within a day, then chances are I'm already dead, and this money will lose its meaning. Once you reach the carriage rental, just find any carriage and slip aboard.

Don't negotiate prices directly with the person in charge; go straight to the driver.

That guy who escaped last time used this exact method, and the fare is around 10 coppers.

There are two checkpoints on the road: one where you leave the city, and one at Apple Town. When leaving the city, you can bribe the soldiers—twenty coppers will be enough. I don't know how to get past the Apple Town one.

Perhaps you can get off midway.

This is information from forty days ago. If your luck is good enough, after I get caught, the gang might relax their vigilance a bit. You only get one chance.

Also, remember to bring some food before you leave, and don't eat food given to you by others on the road.

Wrap yourself up tightly, don't show your face, and try not to speak. Gnomes and halflings aren't much taller than you when they reach adulthood, so try to make people think you're a gnome or a halfling."

Listening to Heka's instructions, Tuft of Hair finally took the money pouch. Heka pressed the corners of his lips together, wanting to pat his head, but hindered by the lump on the other's head, he ended up just patting his shoulder instead.

"There's a cloak inside the box, and you can use everything in here."

Having finished giving his final instructions, Heka quickly descended the rope ladder back onto the main thoroughfare. He looked upward and saw Tuft of Hair standing there, watching him.

Heka waved his hand, signaling the other to hide himself, and then proceeded forward along the sewer.

Seapeak Port had a dungeon a long time ago. Like most dungeons on this continent, after experiencing a massive amount of raiding by adventurers, it gradually lost its ability to continuously respawn monsters.

Roughly a hundred years ago, this dungeon was cleared for the final time and subsequently completely transformed into a part of the city.

This was the main body of Seapeak Port's underground world. Upholding the principle of making full use of everything, the rulers of Seapeak Port built the sewers within it, ultimately forming the entire system.

The sewer at this moment was only a small portion of it exposed to the surface, and further down there were still massive amounts of much deeper things.

According to what the bards said, there were even cities built directly inside dungeons that had already lost the ability to spawn monsters. He really wanted to go and see them.

Heka moved forward along the main thoroughfare for a period of time. Just as he was about to enter the section where vagrants began to frequent, he immediately turned to the side. There was a narrow cave there, from which one could bypass the preceding section and come directly to a location with a vertical shaft leading to the surface.

People couldn't survive in the sewers; it was far too damp here, and further out there was almost no lighting.

As for fuel, it was an important resource second only to food. Destitute vagrants would never consume a large amount of fuel purely for the sake of illumination.

The most important thing about the sanctuary Heka had found was actually not its terrain where one man could hold off ten thousand, but rather the few wisps of faint sunlight falling down from that shaft connected to the ground.