Darren had quickly and quietly slipped out of the inn, paying careful attention not to alert anyone that might be awake.
He had left his room, wearing all the necessary equipment. Only the essentials.
He had on his ears, [earrings of silence] a magic item, that guaranteed that he would make zero noise when walking on any surface, his steps would be silent and undetectable, this was true for any movement he made, no rustling of clothes or anything of the sort.
The next item he had on were the [wind boots] an item that used wind to reduce his weight and allowed him to not only jump great distances but also reduced his weight enough to not cause any creaking floor whenever he climbs the stairs.
On his hands were the [Thieving gloves] an item that ensured he never let go of whatever he grabbed to prevent any possible slip-ups of him dropping a glass or something.
On his forearm were the [bracers of strength] Strength strength-enhancing arm bracers that also added good defense against sword or blunt force attacks.
These bracers are perhaps his most expensive magic item, second only to the [daylight monocle] which allowed him to see in the dark as if it were daytime, unfortunately, he lost the monocle to Bulat months ago and now he has to settle for using a candle.
Aside from the already mentioned items, the rest of his body wore normal clothes, with some leather armor on his chest and a black mask that covered his mouth and nose. He also had dyed his hair red, an attempt to misdirect anyone who might see his hair.
Thanks to the boots, he managed to reach his targeted house rather quickly. He jumped over the fence and silently made his way towards the front door. However, as he did, he heard noise coming from inside.
"Hmm?"
He hummed in curiosity, the sounds were muffled but he was certain a woman was screaming someone's name, he quickly realised what was happening so he waited.
After what he believed to have been 2 hours, the noise stopped. However, to be a little more careful, he waited another hour before making his move.
He easily picked the lock open, as a thief worth his salt, lockpicking was something you learn very early, breaking windows is loud and messy, worst of all it makes it obvious there was a robbery, and the number one suspect of that is the folk living in the slums.
So unless you want the knights to storm the slums and detain everyone they can find, better to avoid breaking windows.
He slowly opened the door, paying careful attention to not create any creaking sounds, so he had to open it extremely slowly. Once the gap was wide enough, he slipped right in and closed the door just as slowly as he opened it.
Once in the house, he lit his candle and began his search. What he was looking for was jewelry.
People from the inner parts of the capital( Central), especially women, tend to have a lot of gemstones and gold. A handful of that will be enough for the day.
He quickly scoured the lower floor, searching for whatever may be expensive-looking and unfortunately found nothing of worth, however just as he was about to move to the upper floor, in the kitchen right on top of the counter he found a nice silver necklace with an emerald centerpiece.
"Jackpot!"
He whispered before quickly stuffing the item in his pockets. He couldn't help but feel a little giddy and excited. He just knew the upper floor was going to have even better items to steal.
Not wasting any time he slowly climbed up the stairs, doing so carefully and slowly, regardless of how excited he was, there was no reason to be in a hurry and end up making a mistake.
It took a full ten minutes before he fully climbed up and set foot on the upper floor, it was here that he needed to be very careful, the sounds he heard earlier came from this floor meaning the residents were on this floor so he needed to tread as carefully as he could.
There were three doors on this floor, and Darren made his way towards one of them, he placed his ear on the door, trying to ensure there were no people inside before entering.
He lamented the fact that he didn't have his monocle with him. The flickering candlelight was a liability, and it forced him to do this job as quickly as possible and then make his escape.
"It's such a rookie move to boot"
He whispered to himself, chastising himself for the fact that he was forced to bring a candle.
After determining there was no one inside the room, he grabbed the handle and tried to open it, and luckily, the room was unlocked.
He frowned. All the other rooms below were also unlocked and had nothing in them. The fact that this one was unlocked as well meant there was a high chance it had nothing of worth inside.
With a disappointed sigh, he decided to enter anyway. However, before he could do so, he heard another door being suddenly opened to his left.
Turning his head, he saw the man of the house staring at him with no small amount of anger on his face, naked, dick out and about.
The moment both made eye contact, the man moved swiftly.
"Shit!"
He exclaimed in surprise as his heart began to pump blood throughout his body furiously. He quickly put out the candle with a blow from his mouth, and he then used his arms to block the oncoming kick.
The attack collided with his arms. The force of the attack was enough to send him crashing against the third door that was behind him. However, he didn't dwell on that and immediately rolled out of the way, dodging a punch to the face.
He could feel his arms tingling from the kick earlier, something that told him that without his arm bracers, he would have broken both his forearms trying to block that attack.
He quickly scrambled onto his feet and made a break for the stairs; however, just as he reached them, a kick on his flank sent him flying down the stairs like a boulder down a hill.
Fortunately, he was a skilled thief and managed to land on his feet, however, the kick to his ribs caused significant damage, a possible fracture but despite the pain he landed as if he was not hurt and then used the boots to make a break for the door.
Arthur jumped down to give chase. However, by the time he landed, the thief was out the door, leaped over the fence, and disappeared into the night. However, he was clutching his ribs as he fled.
Arthur was quick to bolt out the door as well. With his speed, he could catch up. However, the cold night air on his skin reminded him he was naked.
Not only that, but he realized he was not alone anymore, he could not just chase after a thief and leave his wife completely defenseless. He halted his steps just as he was about to reach the gate.
"Lucky bitch"
Arthur spat bitterly before quickly rushing back to the house and slamming the door closed.
He then turned on the lights and illuminated the house. As he did so Esme had quickly wrapped a blanket around herself and stepped out of the bedroom.
"Arthur… are you alright?"
She asked the worry in her voice present and clear, she had asked while stepping out of the room with uneasy steps, the blanket dragging on the floor as she reached the stairs and looked down at him.
....
A/N: As of right now we are 10 chapters are ahead on Patreon and 25k words of unposted content on Google docs.