Aegar followed Hawk down through a pair of doors underneath the foyer staircase of the mansion. It opened up into a lush hallway adorned with full suits of armor, a fluffy red carpet that muffled footsteps, and many portraits of different people and landscapes.
He stopped to gaze at a portrait that caught his eye. It was of an older gentleman dressed in clothes fit for a noble. Of course the clothes were that of the kingdom, black with gold trim. He looked like Hawk, almost down to the details.
It couldn't possibly be Hawk because the clothing was from a much older time period, at least several decades if he had to guess. Just then Hawk spoke about it.
"That was my grandfather, a great man." Hawk said. "He was the reason I became a Knight, he was a Knight too. Got his Knighthood saving the crown prince from a monster rampage when he was a boy."
"Huh..." Aegar made a noise of acknowledgment. "Your reason for becoming a Knight..."
Hawk smashed his hand down onto Aegar's head and mussed his hair a little bit. "Don't think about it too hard, kid. You're still a couple years out from your ceremony. Enjoy life a bit and slowly figure out what you want to do."
Hawk's words made sense to Aegar. He was still just a kid. The entire reason no one really wanted to hire him back at the Market Circle. No talent, no intrinsic strength, just him. Just Aegar. He had all the time in the world as long as he had coin.
"Come on. Let's keep going." Hawk resumed walking down the hallway and Aegar hurried after him. He spent less time looking around at the portraits and other decoration and more time staring at Hawk's back and wondering how he became a Knight.
He thought back to Hawk's grandfather. He saved the crown prince then from a monster rampage. The crown prince who was the father of the current king. That must have been ninety years ago?
Aegar racked his brains and tried to think about who it could have been. He always did pay attention in history studies, mostly. Nope, he couldn't do it. It must have been a lesson he missed, or perhaps slept through? His life at the orphanage wasn't always easy and sometimes his chores were exhausting.
He decided to table the matter for now and focus on the matter at hand, meeting the rest of the crew.
"Hawk, who all do you have on this job?" Aegar asked.
"Hmmm...heh." Aegar could feel the smug grin on Hawk's face. "A healer, a thief, an assassin, and a shadow."
"An assassin and a shadow? But why?!" Aegar was shocked. "Isn't the job to steal and destroy demonic artifacts?"
"Yes, that is the job, but..." and Hawk turned around for a moment and looked Aegar in the eyes. "What do you think would happen if the job goes wrong? Who is going to bail out the thieves?"
"Uhh..." Aegar said dumbly.
"Still a child after all." Hawk sighed. "Look kid. Not every job is going to go smooth, in fact, the more jobs that do go smooth means security will keep tightening until something does happen."
"Oh." Aegar finally understood after a simple explanation from Hawk. "Insurance?"
"Exactly. Now you're getting it kid." Hawk turned around and resumed walking down the hallway.
After what seemed like an hour of walking, they took a few twists and turns before arriving at a spiral staircase leading down below into the depths of the mansion.
"This is our stop kid." Hawk said. "Once we walk down here we'll be in the hideout proper. From then on, you'll no longer have your own freedom. You can back out now, but after this...there's no turning back."
Aegar stepped forward and put one foot on the staircase. "I didn't except the job and come all this way to back out...besides, you're the only one willing to hire me. Even if it for theft."
"Nice resolve. Hopefully you can meet all of the crew. I did send most of them on a job this morning, but they should be back by now." Hawk nodded. "Well, if not then you'll at least meet our healer, she doesn't leave the hideout after all."
Hawk and Aegar descended the steps for what seemed like an eternity. No torches lit the walls and even Aegar's special eyesight didn't penetrate pure darkness. It was after what felt like the thousandth step that he could see the glow of a torch from around the corner of what he assumed to be the bottom of the steps.
Aegar had to shield his eyes and adjust to the light of the torch after being in the dark for a few minutes.
"Sorry about that kid. Security measure." Hawk said. "Most people would have to take a moment to adjust to the change in light, that gives us extra time to prepare defenses, prepare an assault, or in a very special case, prepare to escape."
As Aegar's eyes adjusted to the light, he could make out more details. Contrary to his expectations, the hideout was not just stone walls and storage crates like most novels made them out to be.
There were carpets of different colors crossing the floor, tables with flowers in strange vases that glowed like the sun, and personal decorations hanging here and there. In fact as they walked along the hall, he could see the nameplates of different people haphazardly placed on doors here and there.
"Ah, yes. These are the personal rooms of the crew." Hawk gestured. "There are a total of nine rooms. Five are occupied, while three are empty."
"You said nine, but listed eight." Aegar said as more of a statement rather than a question.
"Yes. The ninth room is mine of course." Hawk laughed and Aegar grumbled for a moment. He should have figured that one out from the start. "Including you, I can only hire two more people for the job, but I won't."
"Why not?" Aegar was curious.
"You think it's cheap to keep such an elite crew onboard?" Hawk glowered at Aegar. "Everyone here had some sort of stipulation to their contract, except for you. You were the cheapest one to hire after all, ha ha ha!"
"What?!" Aegar was slightly offended to be called cheap, but then he tossed it aside. The only thing he had going for him was his eyes. Other than the he was kind of worthless.
"Don't take it to heart, kid." Hawk replied. "You'll be a force to be reckoned with after your ceremony, but until then, you're cheap labor."
They stopped in front of a wooden door at the far end of the hall across from the stairs. It wasn't decorated or marked as special in any way.
"This is the meeting room. Every job gets planned here. When the job's finished we all meet here for a debrief." Hawk explained.
"What's a debrief?" Aegar asked.
"It's when we break down the details of a completed job. We go over what went well, what could be improved, and how we can use it to plan the next job." Hawk said. "All right, prepare to meet someone!"
Hawk threw open the door to the meeting room and it smacked against the wall with a loud bang. Aegar got his first look inside and almost screamed.
In the center of the meeting room was a woman dressed in a frilly pink dress and a small white cover on her head, almost like a crown, with a red plus stitched in the middle of it. She stood over the long meeting table in the center.
That wasn't what made him almost scream. What did was the corpses of the two maids he met earlier laying splayed across the meeting table with blood splattered everywhere, even on the woman's dress and face.
She looked at them with clear bright grey eyes shining with happiness. He could see a tuft of silver hair sticking out of her cover. "Oh! I see you brought a new kid! Play toy?"
"THAT'S A HEALER?!"