"Did you see them? Three fat sheep from out of town."
In the darkness, whispers drifted from the top of the clock tower.
"Saw them ages ago."
A shadow darted up to the top of the clock tower in a flash, without making a sound.
"Followed them all day today. Those three are loaded."
"Strutting around, flashing their wealth like that—if we don't fleece them good, how can we live up to the name of our Thieves' Guild?"
"That sky-blue cat they're keeping lives better than we do. Really, some folks have it worse than pets."
"Don't you know polymorph? You could turn into a stray cat, act all cute, and beg them to take you in." A woman's voice chuckled softly.
"Easy for you to say. If they haul me off to get fixed, I'm done for."
"Hey, did you guys catch that? Among those three, the one they call 'Captain'—he just snapped a gold bar bare-handed. Looks like he's got some real muscle."
"Hah, snapping a gold bar? That's nothing! I can bust open a mithril lock with my bare hands, and the guildmaster can snap an adamantite chain using just two fingers!"
"Then he's all yours to handle. Me and Carl will take out the other two."
"Piece of cake."
...
EeDechi lay on the big bed with its silk brocade quilt, starting to think about her next move.
No doubt about it—the trip through the Eight Greed Kings desert had been a huge haul. Right now, the top priority was to finish what she'd been obsessing over: head to Baharuth and resurrect her old teammates, Sean and Stella.
Next, head to the City Alliance, repair the Apocalyptic Mourning Bell skyship, then set off for the Godfall site, the place where the Eight Greed Kings once clashed with the World's Will in a final showdown.
But the problem was, from the city she was in now to Baharuth, there was still a heck of a long way to go.
EeDechi spread out the map and took a look, discovering that the city she was currently in actually had a teleportation circle that led straight to the Sorcerer Kingdom's city, E-Rantel!
EeDechi's fingers traced over the map as she pondered to herself, "Maybe pull the same trick again—first hop on the teleportation circle to reach the Sorcerer Kingdom's city E-Rantel, then from E-Rantel take another one to Baharuth."
But the snag was, all the teleportation circles were under the Sorcerer Kingdom's watchful eye, so she'd need to come up with a way to slip past the surveillance.
EeDechi mulled it over for a while, but couldn't think of any solid plan, so she decided to let the night pass and talk it over with Barrett tomorrow.
...
Deep into the night.
Outside the top suite of the hot spring hotel, a soft night breeze whispered by. The stained glass window hadn't been latched tight to begin with, and it eased open under the wind.
The night sky was pitch black, with clouds perfectly blocking the dim moon. A dark gust darted through the window, silent as a shadow...
EeDechi lay sprawled out with her arms and legs flung wide, in a big star shape, still sleeping soundly away on the bed, totally oblivious to the black figure standing right at her bedside.
The shadow raised its arm, a pitch-black dagger clutched in its hand like a razor-sharp dragon claw, thrusting viciously toward EeDechi's neck!
The keen blade stabbed into EeDechi's skin, but it couldn't budge an inch further.
"What the hell!" The shadow's eyes bulged, wondering if he was seeing things.
"Mmm... why's there a mosquito... don't bite me..."
EeDechi was still fast asleep, mumbling to herself as she waved a hand and smacked the "mosquito" dead.
The shadow's dagger twisted into a hunk of scrap metal, and his five fingers snapped, bending at weird angles and dangling limp from his palm.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow..." The shadow clenched his jaw to keep from screaming. Sweat beaded on his forehead as he sucked in shallow breaths, fighting to hold back the agony that drilled right into his bones.
"What a monster—gotta get the guildmaster." The shadow gently set down the mangled dagger, cradled his wrecked hand with his good one, and turned to creep out on tiptoe. No way he could stick around here.
"Hey, who's this guildmaster you're talking about? I'm a bit curious myself—mind making an introduction?" EeDechi sat up in bed, stretching with a long yawn.
"Oh shit!" Without a second thought, the shadow bolted for the exit. If he got caught, EeDechi wouldn't let him off easy—and neither would the guildmaster.
EeDechi, still in her pajamas, shot up like a bolt of lightning. The shadow had barely gotten one foot on the windowsill when she grabbed him by the back and hurled him to the floor.
"Interesting. Who sent you?" EeDechi's night vision was razor-sharp, and right in front of her was a mean-looking guy, all muscled up, with ropes and a short knife tied around his waist, his whole body wrapped in black stealth gear.
"Don't get cocky. You mess with our Thieves' Guild, and you're in for a world of hurt! My buddies are still out there!" The man winced in pain, grimacing, but he kept talking tough.
The window was wide open, and a tall, burly man leaped into the room from the roof—it was Barrett, buck naked except for a pair of black boxers. In his hands, he was hauling a woman in black and an owl.
EeDechi lit up the crystal chandelier, and Barrett tossed the woman and the owl onto the floor. The owl hit the ground with a thud, flapped its wings a couple times, and turned into a man in black.
"These your buddies?" Barrett mocked.
The three thieves exchanged glances, taking in each other's sorry state, then sighed and hung their heads.
But the female thief among them stayed sprawled on the floor, turning her head to look at the ripped Barrett, her eyes glazing over with a hint of haze and anticipation.
She wasn't bad-looking, decked out in a skin-tight stealth suit. On the ground, she wriggled her hips like a slithering serpent, staring at the obvious bulge in Barrett's boxers, her cheeks flushing with a cute blush.
She propped herself up, one hand pressing against her full breasts, and fixed her gaze on Barrett. "Damn it, you caught me. You're gonna punish me, right?"
"Get Franco in here. Give these three a proper interrogation." EeDechi tossed a blanket to Barrett.
Before Barrett could even respond, Franco's screams rang out.
"AAAAHHHH!"
Franco was buck naked from head to toe, not even a scrap of underwear on. He slammed the door open, eyes swimming with tears, and ranted:
"Those women from the Slane Theocracy are terrifying—she nearly bit my dick clean off! How the hell can such a vicious bitch work as a hotel receptionist?"
Barrett took a good look and spotted that on Franco's slick dick, there really was a neat row of tooth marks.
"I begged and bargained, handed over thirty gold coins, and only then did she let go! I've got serious trauma now, wah wah wah..." Franco sobbed nonstop.
"Put some damn pants on!"
EeDechi's temple vein bulged as she launched a kick that smashed Franco into the wall.
...
After the total chaos died down, Franco pulled out a potion of truth and forced it down the three crooks' throats. They finally coughed up the truth.
Turns out these three got greedy when they saw the riches and came for a break-in robbery, but they picked the wrong targets. They weren't pushovers—in the Thieves' Guild, they ranked as "Silver Hands," just one step below the guildmaster's "Gold Hand" level.
"How big a deal is your Thieves' Guild master?" EeDechi asked on a sudden impulse.
"He's a big deal, of course—all the underground outfits are under our guild's thumb." The man stuck his neck out proudly.
"What about this city's teleportation circle?" EeDechi asked.
"The teleportation circle's no exception, naturally."
"Take me to see your guildmaster." EeDechi sat on the bed's edge, looming over the man on the floor.
"Dream on! I'll never betray the guild!" The man declared, ready to die for it. "If every one of us turned traitor that easy, the Thieves' Guild would've crumbled ages ago!"
Barrett flung a bag of gold coins right in front of the man, then yanked a longsword from his spatial ring and jammed it swift against the guy's neck, growling, "Lead the way without any funny business, and the gold and your life are yours. Otherwise, you lose both."
The man felt the icy blade at his throat and stared at the bag of gleaming gold, nodding like crazy. "No problem whatsoever! The guild's just a steaming pile of shit!"