“He took all of them,” The thief gasped as the guild master glared at the badges. “What an extraordinary skill considering your size. You would be a great asset to the guild.” The guild master approached Arad, staring up to his face.
“Asset?” Arad glared back at the guild master, and the master thief remembered something.
“Your guild is the asset. If I don’t find the information I seek. I’m leaving at once.” The thief could swear he heard those words before.
“You come here, demonstrate such skill and think I can let you leave?” The guild master smiled, “Even if you managed to escape, I can track you down. No one in your family will be safe.”
CREEK! A vein popped on Arad’s forehead, and he growled, “Not if I cut all of you here.” Those words rang in the master thief’s head.
^I remember. It was that fighter who came here several years ago.^ The thief gasped inside. ^The black hair, sharp glare, muscular build, and arrogance of the young. Considering his skills, his words aren’t unfounded.^
Thud! The master thief grabbed the guild master’s shoulder, “Calm down, let’s hear what he needs.”
“Evan, don’t intervene!” The guild master growled.
“No, I will do this time. We don’t want what happened before to repeat itself.” Evan glared at the guild master, and the old man remembered.
***
Several years in the past, a strange young man came to the guild. He took the test, but instead of stealing the badges, he walked to everyone and beat them to a pulp before taking them.
The man was seeing a werewolf, but the guild refused to help find him. So the man beat the hell out of everyone and gouged the guild master’s left eye.
***
^Evan is right. I didn’t want to remember that day.^ The guild master growled. ^He awfully resembles him, from his face to his build, stance, and attitude.^
The guild master turned to look away, “Fine, what do you want?”
“I’m looking for twin sisters with black hair and blue eyes. Heard of them?” Arad glared at the guild master.
Evan and the guild master gasped. It was their recent quest they got from a noble. ^Is he sent by that man as well?^ The guild master gasped.
^To ask for such a thing from the get-go?^ Evan smiled, ^It’s just like him.^
“Say, young man, can we sit and talk?” Evan smiled, pointing at a table with his thumb.
Arad looked at the table, “Why not? You seem to know something,” He walked toward the table.
Evan walked after Arad. ^He’s perception is out of the chart. Are we dealing with a human or a monster?^
As the guild master retreated to his office to bring the necessary documents, Evan started talking with Arad. “We received a quest to retrieve the sisters. Did a Marquess send you?”
“You could say so. Does that mean that our goals align?” Arad leaned back on the chair, keeping his eyes on Evan.
“Yes, would you like to work together? Of course, we will split the reward evenly.” Evan smiled. It’s already going better than the last time.
The guild master returned and put a large stack of papers on the tables. “The information we gathered. My men tracked the girls all the way here in the city and to the western parts. Since the city is dangerous, I was about to send Evan to search.”
Arad looked at the paper. “I see.”
The guild master smiled. “Total reward is a whole platinum coin. It is enough for someone to retire for the rest of their lives.” He approached the table.
Thud!
“I will give you half upfront if you take the quest with Evan.” The guild master put a pouch with 50 gold coins on the table, “You will get the rest when you bring me the girls.”
“You got a deal,” Arad smiled, looking inside the coin pouch.
Evan and the guild master smiled, looking at each other. “Then we should start…” They looked back at Arad. He had disappeared with the documents and the gold.
“The fuck! I didn’t hear him move!” Evan shouted, and the guild master looked around the room. “The fucker slipped away! You were right when you said he disappeared when you first saw him.”
“Everyone! Search for a large man with red eyes!” Evan shouted, running outside into the streets, grinding his teeth, “The bastard robbed up,”
“Evan! It’s bad! He robbed my office as well!” The guild master shouted inside.
****
Earlier, when the guild master and Evan looked at each other and took their eyes off Arad. He touched the documents and the gold, sucking them into his stomach.
[Void walk] He teleported to the guild master’s office as the door was slightly open, and he could see a bit of the inside.
With a single touch and using [Wyrmwolf’s uncanny physique] to regulate his movements, Arad sucked the guild master desk and the cabinet in the back to his stomach by touching them and then used [Void walk] again to teleport to the sky through the window.
When in the air, Arad kept using the void walk to move away while hidden in the darkness of the cavern until he was outside the guild’s territory.
[Was that okay?]
^This is the city of criminals. They would lose face if they started crying about being robbed, especially by an amateur while being in the thief guild.^
[You also took all of the business documents. They will find it extremely hard to get back up from this.]
[You don’t offer a dragon something he can take. And they are the kind of people you would kill for blood outside.]
^Yeah, mere bandits. It doesn’t matter if you’re a thief or a killer. It’s all the same.^
To Arad, as a dragon, a vampire, and a wyrmwolf. People like those in the thieves guild were nothing more than food and pests to be eliminated.
Thud! Arad landed on a large stone right outside the city. He looked up at the cavern ceiling and back at his surrounding. It was dark, and no one was around.
Arad silently shifted into his draconic form and dug a hole, hid inside, and closed the entrance.
Inside his new hideout, Arad shifted back to his humanoid form and ignited a small flame above his head. He then laid all the papers on the ground and started reading them.
The twins were last seen in the central temple. But they were also spotted in the slave market, around the assassins’ district. After reading about his quest, Arad started reading the guild documents. Trying to understand what they were up to.
The papers had all of their previous quests and the ones they still intended to finish. .
The quests ranged from kidnapping to thievery and threatening. They didn’t seem to take any killing contracts, but they did have a policy of killing any witnesses related to higher quests.
^I guess killing is the Assassins guild job.^
[Stop! You aren’t thinking of hitting them next! What happened to climbing the pillar and surviving the area?]
^I will do that, but I seem to get more information this way.^
[It’s dangerous, and do you want to break the city’s balance?]
^I mean, this city is like a large bandit den. No one can take them down head-on. So what if I damaged them enough that the kingdom could send its army to wipe it clean? No more thievery, no more killing, less kidnapping, and a better life for everyone.^
[That isn’t how it works. This city is a place where you can make a deal and get your shady business done.]
^Why would I make a deal with a large bandit den? It’s better if I break the city and use that fame to reach S-rank and have the kingdom do my dirty work.^
[What?]
^Remember Nina? The kingdom support her even though she killed a whole army and a lot of her comrades, as Abel said. I want to be as strong as her.^ Arad smiled.
^If I wanted something, I don’t want to deal with bandits. It’s better to ask the kingdom to bring it instead.^
Mom sighed, [Fine, just don’t get yourself killed.]
^Don’t worry. I have my plans.^
[What kind? Going into the assassin guild next?]
^Using the kingdom’s power to destroy the mages’ tower. My end goal is to silence those who threaten my life.^
[You’re thinking that far?]
^The kingdom’s power is better suited to fight the mage tower. A bandit den like this won’t grant me any greater power.^ Arad sucked the thief guild papers back into his stomach and dug his way out of the den.
Standing outside, he looked at the city. “This city is a bit bigger than my dungeon. Could I build a nest here?”
[For drakainas? It’s true that you will need more space if you wanted to mate with dragons, especially chromatic ones who find it hard to shift into humans.]
^Isn’t that right?^
[I’m sure the Giant ant queen can build you a larger nest. Please give her some time.]