Although it was now rather late, the streets were still surprisingly crowded, although the number of wagons on the street diminished by quite a bit. And it seed the few who were still around had either just returned from making a last minute delivery to other settlents, or had just made it to the city to rest for the night before setting out the next morning.
Although the street was illuminated by lanterns and the light leaking from the various buildings that lined them, the streets were oddly dark, and this wasn’t just because it was night ti. After glancing at the sky for a mont, rlin noticed that it was because the moon was being blocked by large dark clouds that were looming overhead.
’Oh, great.’ rlin thought to himself as he quickened his pace as he made his way towards the slums.
He eventually made his way into the slums, but as he traversed the glum streets, he beca the witness of a strange sight.
A few ters down the street were four young individuals, all dressed up in rather gaudy clothing that was only ever worn to showcase one’s wealth.
Four young noble n were walking through the slums, throwing insults at any of the residents they ca across, and threatening violence if their victim spoke back. Unfortunately their karma was still high enough to be considered not evil, as they hadn’t actually done anything yet, so rlin couldn’t attack them without suffering penalties.
rlin pulled his cloak’s hood over his head as he continued on his way towards the thieves guild. He was walking behind the nobles, but didn’t get too close as he didn’t want them to turn around and start annoying him.
"There’s another brat over there." One of the nobles remarked out loud.
The group of nobles approached another individual, although rlin couldn’t see the victim yet, he could only assu it was soone young as the word brat was used.
"Hey pipsqueak, what are you doing out here without your parents?" Another noble mocked, "Do you even have parents?"
The group all began laughing at the one guy’s insults, but they stopped laughing rather quickly.
"What the hell, are you so kind of mute or sothing." Yet another noble remarked, and rlin watched as the man went to shove the individual that he had yet not seen.
From what would have realistically been a classic bullying scene was imdiately flipped on its head as rlin heard a loud snapping noise, followed by a pained cry from the noble who had just acted out.
rlin caught a glimpse of the supposed victim of this event, monts before he kicked another noble in the head, causing several teeth to fly out onto the street.
’Jeez, Bell is overpowered.’ rlin thought to himself as he watched the kid destroy four n before reaching into their pockets and stealing their coin purses alongside any other valuables he could find and reasonably fit in his own pockets.
"Good job." rlin praised as he approached Bell, stepping over the nobles who were groaning in pain on the floor.
Bell gave rlin a small nod before he started running back towards the thieves guild. rlin followed behind him, glancing back at the nobles that the kid had just ruined for a mont before looking forward again.
The two entered the run down tavern just as it started to rain pretty heavily outside.
’That was a close one.’ rlin thought as he closed the door behind him.
"Bell, you’re back!" Fae spoke up with a happy tone, "You finished your task already? Good job!"
Bell nodded after she spoke. He gave her a high five before disappearing down the cellar.
"You’re back too I see." Fae said as she turned to rlin, her voice was a lot less energetic than when she was interacting with Bell, but it was still friendly and upbeat. "I assu you’ve also had a successful mission."
rlin nodded in response, to which he was given praise by her as well.
"Good job!" She said before she made her way back to her spot behind the counter.
rlin stuck around, because he thought she was going to make her way down into the cellar like normal, but she didn’t seem to do anything this ti around.
"What, are you waiting for a high five too?" Fae asked.
"No... But, is that an option?" rlin asked in a tone that was intended to obviously portray that he was joking.
"Are you a child?" Fae asked in a lighthearted tone.
"Technically." rlin quickly responded.
"What?"
"Nevermind." rlin muttered as he walked towards the cellar.
He made his way into the thieves guild. The sound of rain hitting the roof of the building above him beca muffled as he climbed down the stairs and entered through the secret door in the cellar.
He closed the door behind him as he walked down into the gambling den. He weaved through the tables as usual and sat down besides the thief lord.
"Before you ask, no. I don’t have a task for you to do right away." The elf sighed. "Although I would like to inform you about a situation that has recently occurred."
"I’m hearing several reports about groups of noble children making their way into the slums and harassing the residents here. So of which have turned violent very quickly and several people have gotten hurt." The elf explained. "The biggest concern that I have is that the family nas of so of the nobles we have identified, those who have co into the slums to cause issues and attack its residents, can also be found within reports I’ve received of noble families who have been blackmailed with the use of that new drug that has been circulating around the city."
"aning this isn’t just a new trend for noble children to suddenly attack those less fortunate. Soone is forcibly encouraging them to attack the slums for whatever reason... But there must be a reason. I’m not sure what their end goal is just yet, but there is no way that it can be good." The elf mumbled.
"When did this start?" rlin asked.
"About three days ago." The elf answered. "Although the issue was light at first, just so insults and sneering, but it slowly began snowballing into larger groups brawling in the middle of the street."
"We believed that the incident was dying down as so of the city guard started breaking fights up, but it seems to have picked up once more." The elf growled. "It has gotten so bad that we’ve actually started turning to more extre asures to keep the residents of the slums safe."
"Oh, and we accidentally killed one of Kilo’s puppets..." The elf said with an annoyed tone. "They were beating an old man to death when we caught them, we only figured out their identity a couple days after the fight. So good news, you’ve only got five more enemies to kill."
"But you’re going to need more ti figuring out their identities and weaknesses?" rlin asked, realising the pattern that was going on with this quest line.
"Correct." The elf nodded his head, "I’ve got as many talented people as I can reasonably stuff onto a task looking into any and all information about the rest of the spider’s legs. I should have a new task for you by the end of the week, maybe sooner. But for now, just watch out for the nobles hanging around, they’re prone to violence."
"Alright, thanks for the heads up." rlin thanked him. "If I have a week, I might head back up to galopolis. I’ve got to pay a visit to soone by the na of Baron Doolt, since his na showed up during the trafficker case."
"Oh, you are already familiar with the slave trader’s custor?" The elf asked with a curious expression.
"Yeah, I’ve seen him a few tis around the ranger’s guild. He’s a really sketchy guy, and I suspect that he’s probably plotting against Callisto, the leader of the ranger’s guild." rlin started rambling, "The two of them don’t seem to get along at all."
"And you’re also familiar with the princess too? You really are always full of surprises." The elf remarked. "Well, it sounds like you’ve got your work cut out for you, so I’ll let you go... Good luck out there."
rlin laughed a little before standing up, saying his farewells and making his way towards the exit. The sound of rain picked up once more as he opened the cellar door and reentered the shabby tavern.
"Leaving so soon?" Fae’s voice rung out as rlin approached the door. "It’ll probably rain for a few more minutes, feel free to sit around while you wait for it to stop."
"I should be alright. I’ll be back in a week or so." He waved goodbye as he pulled up his cloak hood and stepped out into the rain. The feeling of cold water soaking into the cloak and then touching his skin caused his body to shiver uncontrollably.
’This weather is perfect for the warm panther cloak, why did I have to use it for a disguise...’ He thought to himself. He wanted to wear it, but didn’t want to risk the extra identification chance while five of the legs, as well as Kilo herself, were still alive.
rlin made his way out of the slums quickly. He walked by where Bell had recently showcased his skill in hand to hand combat, much to rlin’s surprise. Although rlin wasn’t quite sure why he was surprised that Bell was skilled at fighting, considering his father was Pelear, the guild’s trainer. Maybe it was just his small stature and unoffensive appearance that made rlin underestimate him.
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