"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 flashed up to the top of the clock tower 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 beneath a silk brocade quilt, considering her next move.
The trip through the Eight Greed Kings desert had, without question, been a huge haul. Her top priority now was to finish the thing she had been obsessing over: go to Baharuth and resurrect her old teammates, Sean and Stella.
After that, she would head to the City Alliance, repair the Apocalyptic Mourning Bell skyship, and set off for the Godfall site—the place where the Eight Greed Kings had once clashed with the World's Will in a final showdown.
The problem was that Baharuth was still a very long way from the city she was in now.
When EeDechi spread out the map, she discovered that this city actually had a teleportation circle leading straight to E-Rantel, a city of the Sorcerer Kingdom.
Her fingers traced over the map as she pondered, "Maybe pull the same trick again—first take the teleportation circle to E-Rantel, then take another one from E-Rantel to Baharuth."
The snag was that all teleportation circles were under the Sorcerer Kingdom's watchful eye. She would need some way to slip past the surveillance.
After turning it over for a while without coming up with anything solid, EeDechi decided to let the night pass and discuss it 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 had not been latched tight to begin with, and the wind slowly eased it open.
The night sky was pitch black, the clouds perfectly covering the dim moon. A gust of darkness slipped through the window, silent as a shadow...
EeDechi lay on the bed with her arms and legs flung wide in a big star shape, still sleeping soundly, completely unaware of the black figure standing at her bedside.
The shadow raised its arm. In its hand was a pitch-black dagger, shaped like a razor-sharp dragon claw, thrusting viciously toward EeDechi's neck!
The keen blade stabbed into EeDechi's skin, but it could not sink even a fraction deeper.
"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, she waved a hand and smacked the "mosquito" dead.
The shadow's dagger twisted into a hunk of scrap metal, and all five of his fingers broke, bending at unnatural angles and hanging limp from his palm.
"Ow ow ow ow ow ow..." The shadow clenched his jaw to keep from screaming. Sweat beaded across his forehead as he drew shallow breaths, fighting back the bone-deep agony.
"What a monster—gotta get the guildmaster." The shadow gently set down the mangled dagger, cradled his ruined hand with his good one, and turned to creep out on tiptoe. There was no way he could stay 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.
Still in her pajamas, EeDechi shot up like a bolt of lightning. The shadow had barely gotten one foot onto 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. In front of her was a mean-looking man, solidly muscled, with ropes and a short knife tied around his waist and black stealth gear wrapped around his entire body.
"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 grimaced in pain, 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, saw each other's sorry state, then sighed and hung their heads.
The female thief among them, however, remained sprawled on the floor. She turned her head toward the well-built Barrett, her eyes filling with a hazy, expectant look.
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 pressed 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 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 closer look and saw 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!"
A vein bulged at EeDechi's temple as she launched a kick that smashed Franco into the wall.
...
After the chaos finally died down, Franco pulled out a potion of truth and forced it down the three crooks' throats. At last, they coughed up the truth.
It turned out that the three of them had grown greedy after seeing the riches and had come to break in and rob the place, only to choose the worst possible targets. They were not weak, either. In the Thieves' Guild, they ranked as "Silver Hands," only one step below the guildmaster's "Gold Hand" level.
"How big a deal is your Thieves' Guild master?" EeDechi asked, the thought suddenly striking her.
"He's a big deal, of course—all the underground outfits are under our guild's thumb." The man lifted his chin proudly.
"And this city's teleportation circle?" EeDechi asked.
"The teleportation circle's no exception, naturally."
"Take me to see your guildmaster." EeDechi sat on the edge of the bed, looking down at the man on the floor.
"Dream on! I'll never betray the guild!" The man declared it as if prepared to die on the spot. "If every one of us turned traitor that easy, the Thieves' Guild would've crumbled ages ago!"
Barrett flung a bag of gold coins in front of the man, then drew a longsword from his spatial ring and pressed it swiftly 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, then nodded like crazy. "No problem whatsoever! The guild's just a steaming pile of shit!"