It’s like these idiots don’t even know how to withdraw their creds. He thought, sipping from the potion bottle he’d gotten. It was a healing tonic that was supposed to act as a general cure-all. Adelhard didn’t know if the body had any disease or anything before this, but he wasn’t taking any chances after the paraplegic incident. A Melrose clinic was on his list of facilities to visit, but he wanted fuck off money before that happened.
As he wandered through the streets, his hand reached out and brushed against someone. Adelhard held contact for a couple seconds before the lady noticed, and he smiled at her apologetically before wandering off.
<2,319 PEC stolen>
Nice. He’d been trying to target anyone who looked like they had wealth to spare, but had the clueless or arrogant look of a noble instead of the calculating and condescending look of a merchant. Adelhard had been through enough iterations to recognize the types, and merchants were sticklers for their crystals and always knew about the bank due to class features.
For the most part, he was wandering the city, getting his bearings as he considered just what he wanted to do. There were probably guards all over that warehouse by now and they likely already knew his face. Well, his old face. He’d already shifted it back close to what he’d originally looked like. Angular cheekbones, a rounded chin, and a short nose. He wasn’t a looker, but that served him better than being conventionally attractive. He also wasn’t ugly, just kind of bland.
Which made it all the more interesting when a woman put a hand on his shoulder, “Are you lost little boy?”
He looked up at her with a dopey smile, his Acting skill helping to remind him just which muscles to move so he looked younger than even his body suggested.
There was something in the woman’s eyes, a certain calculating look. “Where are your parents?”
“I… I don’t… there was a fire and…” Adelhard stumbled out, making himself sound pitiful. He’d heard about some of the recent incidents and one that kept popping up was some noble’s mansion going up like a core made manifest.
“Oh… you poor thing…” Adelhard sensed a hint of anticipation from her. “Are you hungry? I’ve some sweets at home.”
He took in her appearance briefly. She was in a well made but not too fancy purple cotton dress with a small amount of black and gold embroidery. Not rich noble style clothes, but maybe a skilled laborer? There was a predatory smile on her face that would probably have creeped a normal child out. Adelhard just smiled dopily as he thought, Already? It hasn’t been a day.
“Come on, little one. Let me help you. Do you have any family?” She asked, guiding me down the street.
He shook his head and her steps seemed to gain a slight spring to them.
They walked and she kept telling him of various sweets and foods that she’d give him. About how there was a warm bed waiting that he could use. That she’d take care of him, though she put a strange emphasis on the ‘take care’ part. How bad is her Deception skill? Yikes.
They got inside and she actually made good on her promises, giving him some kind of a sweet bread that was pretty good. She claimed to bake it herself, but he didn’t smell the tell tale signs of someone who baked their own breads. No light dusting of flour that got missed on a clean up. No faint odor of baked goods.
Stolen from its rightful author, this tale is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
There was the faint scent of blood and sex that led from a door that Adelhard suspected went to a basement. Why is it always a basement? He mused as he swung his dangling legs in the chair. He watched her pull out a glass jar she did something with before offering him a small bowl full of hard candies. “Here, have some sweets while I get dinner ready.”
Adelhard picked one up and noticed the faint medicinal scent. He pretended to knock one back and suck on it, but just put it back in the bowl. “Miss… you said something about a room? I’m kind of sleepy.”
“That was fast…” He heard her mumble under her breath. She turned and put a smile on her face. “I still need to clean up a little, if you’d like to wait right here, I’ll go prepare it.”
She went, surprise surprise, down into the basement. Adelhard followed after her, the rest of the sweet bread in hand. He was faintly humming a song as he watched the oblivious bitch move aside a large, rectangular travel chest. Then she poked at a brick in the wall and opened a small room.
Adelhard saw a kid inside.
He rolled his eyes and tossed the bread to the side. “How the hell have you not been caught by now?”
She turned to look at who had spoken, but he’d already pulled the knife from where he’d hidden it, a makeshift back sheathe barely hidden by his shirt. “What the-?” Was all she got out before he’d slipped the blade between her ribs.
Adelhard looked past her at the badly beaten boy who looked to be in his early teens. He was tied up in a way that the assassin knew the woman had used him for sex, and Adelhard kicked her again just for good measure. “You alive?” He asked into the room.
There was a whimper and Adelhard sighed. “I’ll bring help.”
With a sigh, he headed upstairs. “Now, did I hear a scream? Smell something funny? I think scream works better here.” He grabbed a rag a used water from a sink in the kitchen to clean his dagger before returning it to it’s sheathe. He snagged a fruit from a basket on the counter and headed outside to find a guard.
The kid was safe now, being rushed to a healer. Adelhard hadn’t stuck around to give any kind of statement, watching from a nearby rooftop as he took a bite of a slice from the fruit. It was pale blue and juicy, but the skin was bitter. It was also faintly sour, but just sweet enough that it wasn’t bad.
He’d earned a bit of EXP for the kill, a bonus for a target he’d declared after the business in the auction house. If they are this common here, it might be better off to just burn the city down and find a new place to get my bearings. It was big enough, though, that he wasn’t sure how effective that would be.
“This fire is out of control, I want to burn this city. Burn this city.” He mumbled along with the lyrics to an ancient song. Being a diplomat’s kid had gotten him access to all kinds of neat things, and a complete archive of media from the original homeworld was his personal favorite. They’d even let him bring it with into the game, under the caveat that it was accessible to the staff, for a modest buy in, of course.
He’d always thought it a shame that those who’d remained behind had destroyed themselves in wars. Despite laws, biological weapons and nuclear devices had started flying and even the remnants had kept the violence going. Some of the best music had been made during that time, though. Not like all the high pitched squealing and rapid, thrashing percussion that had grown common before he’d started in Veldern.
As day turned to night, he heard something from the edge of the roof, and rolled his eyes. A head poked up from over the side, some teenager almost old enough to be an adult. He looked at Adelhard and then down to a crumpled note he was holding. Adelhard motioned him closer, “You going to stand there, or talk.”
“I’ve got a message for the guy who rescued Thames.” He walked over and held out the note. Adelhard offered him a piece of fruit, which he took.
The assassin took the note and read it.
Meet the boy with the emerald stud at the alley between Force and Gains in the Pauper district. Follow him from a distance and he’ll lead you to a place you can belong.
-X
Adelhard let out a low whistle. “Fun. A cloak and dagger invitation to a mysterious hideout.” He crumpled up the note and tossed it underhanded back to the boy who fumbled with it. “Pass.”
The teen looked taken aback. “What? Why?”
“It smells like a trap.” Adlehard said simply. “Besides, I don’t like belonging. Makes life more interesting.”
“That’s dumb.” The teen said. “Do you want me to give the boss a message or something?”
“Nah. I’m sure I’ll wind up meeting him eventually. We can talk then. A good gamer never follows the plot, though.” Adelhard said with a shrug. He stood up and gave the teen a two fingered salute. “Nice meeting ya.” Then he jumped backwards off the roof.
The teen rushed to the edge of the roof, looking down for the lunatic. He didn’t see that Adelhard was already down the street, having used a shadow to slip notice. The player chuckled. I love doing that to people.