I warped to the wall facing the girls—hidden from the thieves' line of sight. From what Remu and Miria had told me, most houses here had both a door and at least one window.
Crouching low, I looked along the wall carefully until I found a wooden window. I tried pushing it gently, but it didn't budge—must be barred from the inside. Forcing it open would make noise, so I moved on, tracing the wall in silence.
Turning the corner, I spotted the entrance. The door was hung wide open.
I slowed my breathing, crouched lower, and crept closer. Peering in with just my eyes over the threshold, I used Appraisal.
The room was pitch black to my eyes, but Appraisal revealed it was completely empty. No furniture, no partitions—just bare floors and walls. The whole house was barely larger than the hotel room I had rented when I first arrived in this world.
Suppressing a sigh, I relayed the information about the house being empty through the party link. The girls on the other hand were on lookout duty, keeping eyes on the thieves outside and keeping a careful watch for any movement around me.
I shifted targets and warped to the next nearest house. My plan was simple: clear the outer houses first—the ones farthest from the thieves—before closing in. In this darkness, I was confident I could slip through unnoticed.
But I wasn't sure whether to call it luck or misfortune—the next several houses were also empty. Many had doors left wide open, as if abandoned in a rush. Others were in disrepair, with broken walls, shattered windows, and doors hanging off their frames. Had the bandits looted everything down to the last board?
Still I could search through a house in just a few minutes, so time-wise it wasn't too demanding—but I kept reminding myself not to relax. This wasn't a leisurely exploration. It was far more dangerous than any labyrinth, with the lives of an entire village hanging in the balance.
I also avoided the walls exposed to the bonfire groups and kept my focus tight. To manage my mana consumption, I shifted my Bonus points from Dexterity into MP recovery rate, pushing it up tenfold. These were only short-range warps, so the mana cost shouldn't be high, but over time even that would add up.
Following Remu and Miria's guidance from afar, I soon finished sweeping all the outer houses. They tracked my progress and confirmed each cleared house. That left only the inner houses—the ones far too close to the two bonfire groups for comfort.
I carefully warped to the wall of the nearest house. This time, I spotted a slightly ajar window. Pressing close, I peeked into the darkness. My breath caught—as I got a response from Appraisal.
Immediately I crouched, stilled my breathing, and focused. Instead of barging in blind, I opened the warp straight to the wall inside. When it shimmered open before me, I leaned my head through just enough to see.
[Thief Level 7]
[Thief Level 5]
[Thief Level 9]
I could see three tags low to the floor, spaced apart—three young men. One of them was snoring loudly enough to confirm they were asleep. Still I pulled my head back and canceled the Warp.
'Roxanne, Remu—come here through Warp. Miria, Setsuna—you two keep watch,' I ordered through the party link, then opened a Warp from the wall in front of me to the tree trunk where they were waiting.
Roxanne and Remu arrived swiftly, while Miria and Setsuna acknowledged the order without complaint. I felt a flicker of relief at how obedient they all were. I had warned them beforehand that once this operation began, there was no room for hesitation—they needed to follow my commands instantly. Only that way could we move quickly and efficiently.
Both Roxanne and Remu crouched beside me, copying my stance. I relayed what I had discovered with Appraisal, then opened another Warp, gesturing for Remu to take a look.
She leaned through the portal, eyes sharp, and came back out a moment later.
'Master, there are three men inside. All asleep,' she confirmed.
'Alright. Let's go in,' I said, nodding to them both before stepping through. I shifted carefully to the side, making sure my boots didn't brush against anyone, and let my eyes adjust.
Roxanne and Remu followed, swords already drawn. Wolfkin eyesight was still sharper than a human's even in the dark, so I was the only one seeing vague silhouettes.
The men weren't lying on the dirt but on low wooden planks, the same kind of crude bedding I had used back in that first village.
I silently reassigned points, making Durandal appear in my hand. From my pocket, I drew a cloth. Roxanne and Remu mirrored the motion, cloths ready in their free hands.
Crouching low, I moved to the [Thief Lv. 9]. I could see the faint outline of his face now, hear the steady rhythm of his breath. Roxanne positioned herself beside the [Thief Lv. 7], and Remu slid into place at the [Thief Lv. 5].
'When I count to three, press the cloth to their mouths and cut their throats cleanly,' I instructed, steadying my breathing while keeping Durandal aligned with the man's neck.
'I am ready, Master,' Roxanne replied calmly.
'Me too,' Remu's voice was just as steady through the party link.
'One… two… three!' I commanded, clamping the cloth over his mouth with my left hand as my right hand drew the blade across his throat.
Phoosh!
A faint spray of blood burst from the wound, though I had kept enough distance to avoid being splattered. His muffled cries vibrated weakly against my palm, then quickly faded as his body went limp.
'Are you both finished?' I asked, though Appraisal already told me the answer—it wasn't showing any thieves in the room.
'Yes, Master,' Roxanne said, standing and calmly wiping her blade with the cloth.
'I sliced it cleanly,' Remu added, her tone firm.
The coppery stench of blood drifted through the room. I was grateful for the darkness; I didn't need to see what I had done. What unsettled me most wasn't the act itself, but how disturbingly easy it felt—and how little I seemed to care about ending another human's life.
Am I just used to it?
'You're both alright?' I asked, my worry shifting to them. I think this might be the first time either of them had killed a man.
'Yes, Master. It is natural to kill thieves and bandits,' Roxanne said without hesitation, walking up to me.
'I agree with Roxanne-san,' Remu said, standing at her side.
I could only smile wryly. People here were simply used to killing, especially when it came to criminals. Or maybe the girls with me were just exceptionally tough.
I had half-expected Remu to hesitate, given her past ties to a bandit group, but she showed no sign of it. In the end, I hadn't had much choice but to use her. I trusted Miria completely to keep watch, and though Setsuna deserved a chance at revenge, she was still just a level 4 Villager—there was no guarantee her strike would be enough to sever a throat cleanly.
'Alright… once all the bandits are dead, we'll come back here for their Intelligence Cards. They might have bounties on them,' I told the girls. Truthfully, I doubted it—as all of them were nothing but low-level thieves.
They nodded, and I warped us outside. Another warp sent the girls back to the others. In fact I could have killed all three thieves alone, but if even one of them stirred or made a sound mid-strike, the entire stealth plan would collapse. So I decided to listen to Roxanne—knowing that I didn't need to do everything myself especially when I had such capable allies.
Still, this had been the first time we put the plan we discussed into practice, and it felt slow. This time we were fortunate—their sleep was deep, unbroken. But if even one had been a light sleeper, or worse, lying awake and waiting, it could have all unraveled instantly. Next time, it would need to be faster. Clean, precise, and over in seconds, leaving no chance for resistance.
Especially with the risk of other thieves returning back to these houses and finding these dead bodies at any moment.
I dismissed Durandal, its weight vanishing from my hand, and moved on. Soon, I found another house where four thieves slept. This time, I had no choice but to include Setsuna. I feared her anger might overwhelm her, but she held steady.
'These bastards don't deserve such clean deaths,' Setsuna muttered after cleanly finishing the low-level thief I had assigned her.
Looks like when you slice someone's throat the right way, levels and jobs don't mean much. Or maybe it was just the sharpness of her steel sword making the difference.
'Right now, speed matters most. Remember, we're doing this to save your fellow villagers,' I reminded her, patting her shoulder.
'…Setsuna understands,' she whispered, taking a deep breath to steady herself.
I sent them back and crept toward the next house. But most of the others I checked were empty, and before long I found myself near the two bonfire groups. From here, I could see them clearly—bottles scattered across the ground, meat roasting over the fire, a few drunk voices singing and laughing without a care.
Still we were able to find one more house with four more bandits, that we easily dispatched off.
'Shit, this window's closed,' I muttered while checking the last building left, apart from the barn and the big central house.
'Master, its door faces one of the groups—they might see you,' Remu warned nervously.
'This is the last building. There might be thieves sleeping inside. I'll have to risk it—every number we cut down now makes the end easier,' I replied, crouching low, eyes fixed on the group.
The black cloak covered every bit of my gear, so no light from the fire should reflect off the metal. Step by step, I crept to the door. None of the three thieves nearby were looking this way, so I reached it safely. Not taking chances, I eased the door open, just a slight crack, just enough for a glimpse inside—then quickly used Warp on the door, rolling through into the Warp and out again in the forest beside the girls before canceling the Warp.
'Did they notice me?' I asked, pulse still tight in my chest.
Both Remu and Miria studied the bonfire group carefully before shaking their heads. Relief washed over me.
I used Warp again, this time picturing the house's interior that I had just seen through the slight gap of the door. A faint Warp door formed on the tree trunk, and through it I glimpsed the inside.
'Bingo.' I smirked. Four more thieves were asleep inside.
I pulled back and gestured to Remu. She peeked through and nodded. 'Four men, all asleep… though I did notice that the farthest one among them is moving his hand. He might be awake.'
I nodded, canceled the Warp and opened another on the opposite wall, just beside the farthest man—the one Remu had warned might be awake.
As I slipped inside, I activated Overwhelming, the Hero job skill that made my perception super fast. The thief barely twitched before I clamped the cloth over his mouth and drew Durandal across his neck in one clean stroke.
The three girls followed right on my heels, each heading for their target.
The man under my grip thrashed harder than I expected —he was quite high-leveled. But then I realized that he just took out his free hand from his trousers. This fucker was masturbating!
Disgust churned in my stomach. His filthy hand clawed toward me, and before it could even brush against me, I drove Durandal down with my full strength, splitting his neck clean through and silencing his struggle instantly. A pool of blood spilled over the wooden plank.
When I looked up, the others were already finished. Roxanne and Setsuna were pinching their noses.
'It stinks in here,' Roxanne muttered.
She wasn't wrong. The window was closed so the reek of alcohol and sweat clung thick in the room.
I was about to suggest we leave when the muffled sound of voices drifted in from the nearby bonfire group. They weren't talking in Brahim but I could understand perfectly, thanks to my level up rewards.
"Ha! I miss Big Brother Hugo. He gave us little brothers some fine booze!"
"Don't say his name! That idiot couldn't even raid a village properly. Because of his failure, our gang's numbers dropped so low we got driven out of Vale City. Now we're stuck squatting in this shitty village!"
My heart froze.
Hugo.
That was the thief leader I had killed on my very first day in this world.
And from their words… it was because of his failure—and my killing him and his group—that their numbers dwindled, forcing them to flee Vale City.
Forcing them here.
Right into Setsuna's village.
My grip tightened on Durandal as the realization struck me like a hammer.
By killing Hugo and his group that day… had I inadvertently caused the destruction of Setsuna's home?
***
[AS1291 has redeemed an Extra Chapter this week]
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Animesh Sharma
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