LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 23: - Shaldina Thieves
On the 11th day since my reincarnation, I swung my Mithril two-handed sword down with precision.
The Greater Rat didn’t move, it just disappeared.
Activating my skill Stealth, I approached the Greater Rat without being noticed. Thanks to the skill Critical Strike, the damage tripled with a 100% activation rate. The fight was over in an instant.
“The Assassin job’s Stealth skill is excellent, and Critical Strike is incredibly powerful. It’s not an assassination; it’s an instant kill,” I remarked.
“It’s a result of your daily training, Master,” Anneliese replied.
“That’s not entirely true. This Mithril two-handed sword is exceptional,” I said, acknowledging the role of my own efforts and my ability to change jobs.
Anneliese picked up the dropped items and put them in a bag, and we moved on to the second floor.
In my elderly form, my movements had been slow, but now I was agile, and even my chest bounced with each step. Even if I wrapped a towel around myself, there was no stopping the bounce. It was a sight to behold.
Although I had leveled up, I repeated hunting four Greater Rats until I reached level 3.
Next, I would not hunt the boss on the second floor but the Giant Spider on the third floor. Since there were two bosses on the second floor, it wouldn’t be efficient for an Assassin. It made more sense to deal with a single boss.
Using Dungeon Move, we moved closer to the boss room on the third floor. I had to wait for about 30 minutes because my party was just entering the boss room. It might be easy for an Assassin to win in an instant, but normally, battles like this took time. I had to stay focused.
I hid my presence using Stealth before the Giant Spider appeared. I had investigated earlier; Stealth wouldn’t work if the enemy had already seen me. So, before the Giant Spider appeared, I concealed myself with Stealth.
It seemed the Giant Spider couldn’t see me. I approached, raising my Mithril two-handed sword.
“Huh!?”
Its thin legs passed right in front of my eyes. I reacted and jumped backward, narrowly avoiding getting hit. Was it just a coincidence?
The Giant Spider still hadn’t noticed me. Perhaps when I entered a certain range, it could sense my presence even if I was hiding with Stealth. I had to test this theory.
I circled around to its back and approached within ten centimeters of where I stood before. The Giant Spider still didn’t react. Now, I raised my Mithril two-handed sword. No reaction. At this distance, my sword wouldn’t reach, so I moved closer.
Thunk. Just as I thought, it reacted when I entered a certain range.
I speculated that the Giant Spider sensed danger when my Mithril two-handed sword entered a specific range, and that’s why it reacted.
In that case, what if I swiftly lunged from outside its range?
I raised my Mithril two-handed sword, activating my skill Godspeed. I lunged forward from just outside its range, swinging down. The Giant Spider reacted, but my Mithril two-handed sword had already torn through its body.
Indeed, it was Godspeed. Its speed was as the name implied.
With a sharp crunching sound, the Giant Spider disappeared.
Considering it reacted, it was a delicate line between activating Critical Strike and not. Thanks to the high ATK modifier of the Mithril two-handed sword, I could defeat it, but with a weapon like an iron one-handed sword, which had a lower ATK modifier, I wouldn’t have been able to finish it off.
As expected of a boss, its reaction was just as it should be. Thanks to that, my proficiency in the Stealth skill had increased from (Micro) to (Low).
With this, I could defeat the Giant Spider without it noticing me.
As I thought, with (Low) level in Stealth, I managed to strike the Giant Spider without it noticing me.
I continued circling around the Giant Spider and raised my Assassin level to 6.
I exchanged the boss drop items for money at the guild, but thieves had infiltrated once again. I was starting to suspect if the guild itself was in cahoots with the thieves.
– 4 Greater Rat tails: 6,000 grills.
– 7 Poison Sacs: 12,600 grills.
– 1 Green Leaf: 4,500 grills.
– Total: 23,100 grills (equivalent to 231,000 yen).
Boss runs were good for making money. Considering that I was now actively considering purchasing a slave, money wouldn’t be a problem.
Additionally, Anneliese had explained the positive aspects of the slave system to me, revealing that it was a system designed to aid those in need. The only problem was the name “slave.” Changing it to something else might create a lighter impression.
Now, after shaking off the thieves, I intended to go out alone once more.
“Please be careful…”
“I will. Make sure to lock the door and stay cautious too.”
“Yes.”
Wearing my cloak, I walked through the entertainment district with confidence.
I sensed someone trailing me from a certain distance using my Skill Perception. Unbeknownst to them, it seemed a thief had taken the bait.
There was only one response so far. I entered a tavern and decided to pass some time there.
“Milk, please.”
“… “
An elderly man with ash-gray beard like the Master silently poured milk for me. It seemed he wanted to say something about ordering milk in a tavern.
The lukewarm milk had a raw taste. In this world, there was no culture or habit of making ice or chilling drinks.
After about 20 minutes of sipping, thieves started to gather around me. Lately, the Hois Hois technique had become popular.
I left two silver coins totaling 100 grills on the table and stood up.
“Thanks for the meal.”
“… “
The Master nodded in response.
It didn’t taste great, but it was a nice tavern.
Now, the number of thieves temporarily increased to five but reduced to three. The other two had probably gone to call more allies.
I left the tavern and pulled my hood over my head. Although it was too late to cover my face completely, I was conscious of the people around me and entered a narrow alley. There, I activated Stealth.
The thieves followed me into the alley.
“Where did he go?”
“This alley should be a dead end. There shouldn’t be any escape route.”
“Darn it, he escaped again. The Boss won’t be happy.”
Such conversations happened right in front of me. It was quite ridiculous.
“What do you mean by ‘the Boss’?”
“You report it.”
“No, you go.”
“No way, it’s your turn.”
Were they trying to be comical ostriches?
Instead of focusing on me, they ended up assigning the role to the chubby-faced thief among them. He got slapped by the other two and went to make the report. It seemed he always got stuck with the annoying roles, and he was probably the weakest among the three.
I followed the chubby-faced thief. Since he said he had to report to the Boss, he should be heading to their hideout.
Kerniffi was a large city, and true to its size, it sprawled widely. The affluent resided from the north to the east, explorers were numerous in the south due to the proximity to the dungeon, and the poor gathered in the west. The castle was situated in the northern part of the town.
Entering from the south to the west, the buildings gradually transitioned from stone to wood. As I went further, makeshift huts became more common. In the midst of this area, there was a large stone mansion, a rare sight in this neighborhood full of wooden houses.
After a few words with the gatekeeper, the chubby-faced thief entered through the service gate. All four gatekeepers were thieves. This had to be the thieves’ hideout, but it was quite different from what I had imagined.
Thieves stood guard even in front of the entrance door of the mansion. The chubby-faced thief exchanged a few words as he entered. It seemed to be a password, as it was the same phrase as the gatekeeper’s.
I slipped in right after the chubby-faced thief. Inside the mansion, there were numerous presences. Most of them were thieves, but occasionally, there were dangerous job names like rapist and arsonist. This was undoubtedly the thieves’ den.
I climbed the stairs to the third floor and walked down the corridor. There was a room guarded by three thieves in front of a door. I paused there and exchanged the password with them.
I entered through the door. Inside, there was a woman and three men. The woman lay on a sofa, smoking a pipe about a meter long. From the smoke, I assumed it was tobacco, but the pipe had a gaudy gold color, quite distasteful.
The men were positioned near the window and by the door. Was this red-haired woman the boss?
“So, you’re the young one from Gogoku’s place.”
At first glance, I thought she was around thirty, but upon closer inspection, she had a lot of heavy makeup. Looking at the wrinkles on the hand holding the pipe, she was at least fifty, maybe even over sixty.
“Yeah…”
“What brings you here?”
“Umm… it’s about that kid…”
“That kid? Ah, the one who killed Potsuku. I saw him running away just a while ago, a young one.”
The chubby-faced thief reported, obviously quite nervous.
“Useless kid. Throw him out.”
“Yes.”
“I-I’m sorry!”
The chubby-faced thief was tossed out into the corridor by a sturdy guard standing by the door.
“Sigh… useless kids, all of them. How long do they plan on letting the one who killed my cute little brother run free?”
The red-haired woman exhaled smoke from her pipe.
Among the thieves I had killed was one named Potsuku. He led a thieves’ group under the Shaldina family, a major thieves’ guild.
This woman was Shaldina, the big boss of the Shaldina family. Under her, there were five thieves’ groups and three hundred thieves. Quite an extensive organization.
Because of the size of this thieves’ guild, even the lord couldn’t easily intervene. Despite constructing such a conspicuous mansion, no one dared to cross them because they were guarded by a hundred thieves at all times. Furthermore, thieves surrounded the area, ready to swarm out if anything happened. They were like cockroaches, spreading everywhere.
Killing three hundred thieves was not a realistic option. Could I at least assassinate Shaldina and her five immediate subordinates? Maybe then, the entire organization would disintegrate?
Despite being right in front of me, she hadn’t noticed me yet. Killing her might not be so difficult. If that was all, it might be okay.
Killing Shaldina would only result in someone else taking over the Shaldina thieves’ guild. They would eventually come after me, and we would end up back where we started. To break this cycle, there was no other choice but to annihilate the entire thieves’ guild.
This was troublesome. I hadn’t anticipated dealing with such a massive thieves’ guild. I needed to retreat and gather my thoughts.
[Job] Assassin Level 6
[Skills] Precision Strike (Low), Stealth (Low), Erasure of Traces (Low), Godspeed (Low), Perception (Low)
[Unique Skills] Detailed Appraisal (Medium), Item Box (Medium)
“Let’s gather our resources and consider various approaches,” I said when I consulted Anneliese at the inn.
She proposed, “We should make sure we have enough resources to handle various situations.”
I found myself leaning more towards purchasing slaves, but I hesitated. Buying slaves with the intention of killing people, even if they were thieves, felt morally ambiguous.
“Thieves are targets for extermination just like monsters. Therefore, killing thieves doesn’t constitute a crime,” Anneliese explained.
I knew I had to strengthen my forces. Even though I understood it logically, my heart was reluctant.
“I don’t want to force this upon the slaves,” I admitted.
“Then, don’t force them,” she replied calmly.
“Huh?”
“When purchasing slaves, simply inform them that you are buying them for the purpose of eliminating thieves. Buy those who agree willingly,” she suggested.
She implied that slaves could choose to fight willingly. I agreed.
“Understood. Let’s go to Gorteo’s shop tomorrow.”