Fortune Favors the Bold

Bang!

The rattan ball struck the damp brick wall. Its springy surface was rejected by the cold, unfeeling Mr. Brick, then bounced helplessly into the air, leaving that embrace that had never once opened for it.

The boy landed on one foot and steadily struck the airborne rattan ball with his knee, sending it flying once more toward that love affair doomed to bear no fruit.

At last, after being kicked back and forth between Heka and the cold Mr. Brick, Miss Rattan Ball could no longer endure such torment. After yet another collision, she protested this injustice with her own broken body.

Heka looked at the rattan ball that had finally fallen apart after several impacts. With a slight hook of his toe, he drew it into his arms.

This was how he trained his agility. Though it had not yet yielded anything on his status panel, it barely qualified as a warm-up exercise.

"Time to eat."

Heka called out into the darkness in the distance. Then he tucked the rattan ball beneath his arm and placed it atop the large wooden crate beside him.

To Tuft of Hair, Heka might have hidden these things here, but only Heka himself knew that the large crate had previously been inside his backpack.

After all, it had taken him three months to barely gather the wealth inside. There was no way he would leave it in the sewers.

Not even if this was a relatively concealed shelter Heka had found for himself in the sewers. Things showing up in sewers was far too common; even without thieves, if this place flooded, the loss would be unbearable.

At Heka's call, Tuft of Hair emerged from the darkness. He had stayed here for six days, yet rather than growing listless, he was more spirited than ever.

Heka took two loaves of black bread and a small string of dried fish from the crate beside him. He handed the pot and fire-making stand to Tuft of Hair, while taking several pieces of charcoal for himself.

Although they had plenty of food, Heka had not prepared much fuel. Most of the time, they could only eat a hot meal once every two days.

Heka had originally worried that Tuft of Hair would not adapt to life in the sewers, but unexpectedly, he adapted even better than Heka had imagined. Perhaps because he did not need to stand in the sun or run around, his face had even filled out a little over the past few days.

The shelter Heka had chosen was an abandoned maintenance shaft. It had originally required a ladder to enter, but Heka had removed it and connected the shaft to the main tunnel below with a rope ladder.

As long as he pulled up the rope ladder, all he needed was a spear to easily kill any intruders in the narrow tunnel.

The maintenance shaft connected to a space that seemed to be part of the old sewer system, so it was fairly spacious.

Having kept track of the days, Tuft of Hair ran forward carrying the pot. Today was a hot-food day. Even when he had lived aboveground, he could only barely fill his stomach, and hot meals were usually beyond his reach. But who did not like food with warmth in it?

Tuft of Hair set the pot on two water buckets neatly stacked together, then filled their only cooking utensil with water so clear that he did not dare touch it with his palm.

Tuft of Hair had sniffed it carefully. His boss had to be right, but he simply could not smell the strange odor Heka had mentioned.

He felt that this water was probably the holy water the priests who handed out little biscuits during festivals always talked about.

Besides being easy to defend and hard to attack, the reason Heka had chosen this place as a secret base was the nearby rainwater shaft.

The patter of water could already be heard ahead. Rainwater fell from above, carrying dim light with it. It was probably raining outside again.

Only on rainy days did Heka dare light a fire. Otherwise, if the smoke drew the attention of people aboveground, it would certainly bring unwelcome visitors.

The damp air had made even the tinder stored in the little box somewhat moist. Heka knelt on the ground, tirelessly trying again and again to start a fire.

Tuft of Hair sat on the stone platform beside Heka, holding down the items next to him with his hands as he quietly and intently watched the boy his own age, whose face was smeared with grime.

When tiny orange-red sprites began dancing in the brown tinder, Heka finally let out a breath of relief.

Starting a fire in a place as damp as the sewers was truly difficult. Fortunately, he had spent a hefty sum on a flintstone. Otherwise, relying on rubbing sticks together, he probably would not have managed to light a fire in his lifetime.

Starting this fire had even given him a point of Sleight of Hand proficiency, showing just how difficult it had been.

Where Heka could not see, the orange-red flame in Tuft of Hair's eyes slowly burned, eventually turning into admiration.

Heka skillfully set up the stand made from three pieces of wood. The orange flames had already ignited the charcoal, red veins spreading across it as though the long-dead thing had come alive again.

Seeing that the fire was lit, Tuft of Hair immediately hung the water-filled pot on the stand, put on the lid, and crouched before the flames, timidly cupping that rare warmth with his little hands.

Heka also sat beside the fire, using it to drive away the chill in his body.

There were twenty-three Huika Gold Coins and seventy-two Walin Silver Coins in that money pouch.

Perhaps the local exchange rate had not pleased its former owner, so they had not exchanged all their high-value gold coins for Walin's local currency.

The fortune was simply too vast. Heka planned to remain in the sewers until they had eaten all their food.

In truth, if he had already overcome the crucial obstacle to leaving this place, Heka would have run away long ago.

Fortunately, his days here were not entirely idle. Heka had never stopped practicing Theft and Slashing, while his Sleight of Hand had also improved as he repaired the crossbow mechanism.

Heka opened his panel and checked his progress bars.

[Skills]

Theft (7180/10000)

Slashing (1987/10000)

Sleight of Hand (518/10000)

Though he still had some way to go before mastering them, victory already seemed to be waving at him.

Heka scrolled upward and found that his Constitution had indeed increased by another 0.001.

It had now reached 0.218. His Strength had also increased by 0.001, rising from 0.256 to 0.257.

That was more like it. Even a halfling should not have less than one-fifth the Constitution of a human, much less him, a half-halfling, half-human. In theory, his Constitution should have been higher than that of an ordinary halfling.

Heka guessed that the main reason this body's Constitution had been so low was malnutrition. Ever since his Theft skill had broken past three thousand a month ago, allowing him to reliably steal enough food to fill his stomach, his Constitution had been slowly increasing.

At last, the water boiled. Heka cut up the black bread and tossed it into the pot, followed by some dried fish and a pinch of salt.

After putting the lid back on the pot, Heka took out a simple dagger that counted as a short sword for him, but would probably only count as a dagger for an adult.

Under the firelight, he began swinging it again and again as he waited for the meal to cook.

Heka focused his attention and called up the panel, then continued swinging the weapon in his hand.

He had once thought that simply swinging it would increase proficiency, but later, Heka discovered that wildly slashing more than a hundred times only matched the effect of one serious practice session.

After Heka gradually learned a few slashing tricks by making daily offerings, what had once required three hundred swings to gain one point of proficiency now needed only twenty.

Sleight of Hand proficiency +1