After coming back home, Deatt explained the job that was offered to them, along with a plethora of reasons as to why he did not want to take it. He decided not to mention his murderous temptation. Nido understood, not questioning or even prying further into what they might have talked through. Evelynn on the other hand...complained. Even through all the reasons that Deatt provided to her, the girl simply refused to listen. Her altruistic side taking control of her and bashing against his decision.

  "It's the only chance that we have! What about all of the people that were turned? You could save them! Save yourself! What if...what if something happens to you? What if you turn? We might be fighting against time here!" heat rose in her cheeks.

  "I am fine. Nothing happened to me yet. Have you seen any of those out there go through a week without turning? No. They turn almost immediately. I bet that I am fine." he lied through his teeth.

  "Even so. Do you really feel no obligation to help? You are the only one who has the ability to do so!"

  "And what makes you think that?" Deatt stood up from the chair, facing Evelynn. "How can you know that? Can you use divination? Do you have any foresight? I seriously doubt that with how things went. Actually, what is your deal? You almost us killed!" Deatt answered fire with fire.

  "Never mind me! I thought you were honorable. I still believe you are! You came to save me! You did all you could, almost sacrificing yourself in the process! Why won't you do it for the people out there?"

  "What did they ever do for me?" Deatt felt a familiar disdain coming to the surface. His life had always been about surviving. Living off of the scraps they managed to steal from people that themselves were struggling. What obligation should he have to a society that always looked over him, never willing to reach a helping hand?

  "Why should I carry anything like that? Let the virtuos Vael take care of this. If he feels he was born for this, then he can feel free to rescue anyone himself. Meanwhile I, will continue living the way I always had. How about that?"

  "You...you imbecile!" Evelynn yelled. "If you were this shallow, you would not even attempt to save me! People don't just do that and not be good! Just because he married Carmilla you-"

  "I, what?" Deatt took a step closer. Evelynn suddenly became smaller, not just because she was bending backwards, but the drive in her face gave way to fear. "Whatever sweet, sweet things the fucking witch told you. You can go back and talk to her about it. See if she cares for you now that I declined."

  Evelynn's eyes widened at first, but then focused again, a serious expression appeared on her face. Then she calmly answered.

  "I am sorry. I don't know what exactly happened between the two of you. You did not tell me. But whatever it was, you should move personal problems aside when faced with something that threatens the entire world!"

  "And what would you know about that huh?" Deatt continued yelling. "You, locked in a giant manor like some fucking princess. Waiting for someone to help her! You don't know shit about the world! If not for me, you would still rot there! Rereading the same old books!"

  He saw her frown, the sudden hurt flashing in her eyes. A few tears started to bud in the corner of her eye, but she brushed them away with her hand. Evelynn continued to look into his eyes for a moment, a plethora of emotions running through her face, then she moved to the table and gathered her things into her satchel. She walked away, stopping in the doorframe.

  "Thank you for saving me Deatt..." She said, then she closed the door behind her.

  Deatt threw one of the chairs to the wall, one of it's legs breaking at the impact. He cursed from the depths of his lungs and then sat down again, breathing deeply.

  Nido was still quiet, but he did not need to say anything out loud. The disappointment in his eyes said volumes by itself. Looking into them, Deatt started to feel shame. He screamed out his own frustration at a person that was undeserving of that treatment.

  It was not her fault that she failed to understand him. She did not have the experience, the life that Deatt had. She was always safe, if also alone.

  The look in Evelynn's eyes came up in his mind again. It felt like daggers stabbing his stomach. The guilt became almost as painful. There he was, literally one of the only two people that the young woman had at the moment, and he was pushing her away.

  His first instinct was to run out, try to find her. Apologize. But he could not. He suspected that Evelynn would actually go to Carmilla. He even expected the vile woman to shelter the innocent girl. If he went there now, there was no guarantee that he would not act like an ass again.

  He was slipping, the self-control he prided himself of suddenly unreliable.

  They sat there in relative silence for a moment. Then Deatt decided to do the one thing that could clear his mind. He needed a score.

  "I'm going scouting. "

  Moving through the narrow streets where he met the two men before, Deatt was trying to find anything he could clear his mind with. He needed a hit. To steal something that would again spark the little joy he was looking forward for such a long time behind bars.

  First he wanted to enter the inner wall, but he was denied entry. That was somewhat expected, although he looked a lot better than the beggars that permeated most of the city, he was nowhere near the fashionable luxury of the nobility in town.

  The class disparity stayed the same no matter what, even the possibly cursed and definitely crazed turned outside of the wall would not change that fact. It was true that the more he walked through the city the more he himself forgot about the calamity. The city seemed to work the same as it always did, at least Deatt thought so. He never visited Zenwall before, but there was no reason to think it changed too much.

  He walked through the streets, unable to find anyone fishing for a thief.

  There were a number of ways to get a job, or find something worth stealing, but there were three main ones. Either you would know an informant, a person gathering gossip and intelligence on possible hits in town, selling them, or contracting thieves to steal for him. That, Deatt did not have, nor was he about to try to find one. The last time he used one of their services, he ended up in jail. The second way, you could locate a suitable item or two yourself. That took time, but at least you got rid of the middle man. Lastly, you could just barge into a house and hope for the best. That was Nido's favorite.

  Deatt decided to go the second route.

  He moved through the city, observing all shops and people he could, when he finally arrived at one that seemed suitable.

  It was located in the upper class of the outer district. People here had enough money to live comfortably, at least based on what Deatt saw. They wore nice clean clothes, their hands were soft and many spent their days walking through the city, gossiping. Clear signs of people that were well off.

  The building in question was smaller than the rest, reaching only about half of the height of the surrounding ones. The walls were painted purple, with golden lines spanning around it's surface. Deatt was not sure if he imagined it, but it almost seemed like the golden lines moved at times, staying straight, but moving up and down the walls.

  "Hunir's Great Magical Emporium" was the name of the shop, a sign with an open bottle surrounded by stars and spraying it's liquid hanged over the doors.

  Deatt leaned against the wall opposite of the shop, trying to gauge our how much money could be made from it.

  A gentleman with a high hat entered inside with a curious look, but reappeared almost instantly, his face full of frustration.

  He was the sole customer that Deatt saw while observing the place. He had stayed for almost an hour, but nobody else was interested in the shop.

  Truth be told, it almost seemed like people avoided it. Walking to the other side of the street rather than walk by it.

  Not a good sign. No business meant no money. But Deatt spent most of the noon watching, time wasted if nothing came off of it.

  He decided to give the shop a chance himself. It would be better if he would not have to enter, so the clerk could not recognize him if things went south, but he would not get any more information this way.

  The moment he moved the wooden door, a nice bell sounded above his head and he immediately stopped dead in his tracks. The room was huge. So big in fact, that Deatt had no idea how it managed to fit into the building. It made no sense.

  The ceiling must have been even higher than the buildings around, little balls of light floated around the incredibly big bookcases, ladders were scattered around the furniture and some books flew from one shelf to another.

  A joyous voice took him out of his stupor.

  "Hello dear customer! Anything in particular you might be interested in?" A small dwarf smiled at him. He was rather thin, surprisingly so for a dwarf. He had a short trimmed beared, and a ponytail, held in place with a golden chain. He wore a long purple tunic, the hue much the same as the walls around.

  Stolen content alert: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

  As Deatt found himself suddenly unable to answer, the short man came closer and continued.

  "Maybe a magic trinket? Or a book containing the mysteries of woodcraft?" His charming smile became even wider.

  "Maybe the trinkets?" Deatt asked.

  "Of course sir! Follow me!" The dwarf turned around and walked briskly to the left far part of the shop.

  Deatt followed, his eyes taking in his surroundings. It was beautiful. Even the extensive library of Evelynn's manor paled in comparison.

  "Evelynn would like this shop." he thought, suddenly rethinking whether this hit was worth it.

  Even without observing the trinkets, or the tomes, he knew that the items here must have been expensive. Judging by the size of the shop, it had to contain many treasures he could get his hands on.

  But it was simply too nice. From the shiny glass of the display cases and the little embers lighting them, to the eccentric dwarf that owned them.

  It almost made him change his mind...almost. The prospect of all that he could steal was just a bit stronger than the pleasantness around him. Every shiny item behind the glass transformed to a pouch filled with glinting gold in Deatt's eyes. It all seemed so tasty to steal, Deatt started licking his lips. He soon shook of the feeling of avarice, hiding his tongue back where it belonged. Luckily, the clerk was too invested in his stock to notice.

  "This is the cross of the faithful!" The dwarf began describing the first item. "It is said, that this cross was enchanted by a saintass herself. Giving the faithful to High Mother clarity in decision!" Without waiting for Deatt's reaction, the man moved to the next. There was a short red dagger in the case, binded by a couple of chains.

  "This is bloodletter, the cuts it makes won't ever close!" He said in an ominously happy tone.

  The sight of a dagger coiled around by chains seemed a bit humourous to Deatt, but the harrowing enchantment made him uncomfortable.

  "A wound that never closes? Doesn't that mean that just a prick would eventually kill anyone?" Deatt asked.

  "Well, yes and no." The clerk squinted his eyes in thought. "You see, enchantments like these are not absolute. Small wounds would eventually close. The natural energy cycle would push out the enchantment that was blocking the wound from closing." The clerk put his finger high into the air - about the height of Deatt's neck. "But! If the wound was deep enough, or there were multiple, it would take a person skilled in ipsemancy to survive!"

  Deatt nodded, absolutely unaware of what 'ipsemancy' means. It was a type of magic, that much Deatt knew, almost every type ended in -mancy.

  Such a dagger would be very dangerous for the wielder. Maybe a prick would not kill, but it still seemed like it would make anyone lose a lot of blood.

  "How much?"

  "Oh, interested? I knew from the start that this item would tickle your fancy. This magnificent dagger costs mere six hundred gold! But for you, dear sir, five hundred seventy!"

  Deatt again had to suppress his surprise. He was in the city for just a few days, but he already knew it was far pricier than his hometown. The apartment that Nido and Evelynn bought cost a full three hundred coins - almost bordering on a scam in Deatt's opinion.

  That would mean that the dagger had two times the value of the apartment. Two times!

  He only won forty from the betting and already had spent most of it on food and new clothes.

  "Hm," Deatt had to cough the surprise away. "What about the cross?"

  "Oh, that old thing?" The clerk replied with a smile. "Four hundred."

  "Ahm, ahm. And that?" Deatt pointed at a random item. It looked like a brick made out of some green metal.

  "A bar of orichalcum! Sir I must say, your eyes are made for appraising! Eight hundred!"

  No wonder the man from before walked away with such a sour expression, the prices were simply crazy!

  Even in the innermost district, nobody had that much money to throw on a small trinket! No matter how magical it was.

  But that also meant, that even if Deatt sold them for a much lesser value, he could still incredibly profit.

  Deatt let the dwarf take him about the stock, as he noted items worth stealing for when he came back in the night. Not counting the dagger, cross and the bar of metal, there was a locket with healing properties, an iron bowl that refilled with water every half-hour, seemingly endless quiver of arrows and a golden idol of a beetle. That one Deatt liked mainly because even Hunir knew nothing of what it did.

  He also managed to ask a few unassuming questions. Like how big the shop actually was, if he had more items in the back and if there were more employees.

  But the most important question remained unanswered, in a place of various magical doodads, what defenses and alarms would the shop have? Magic was not omnipotent, there was always some way around magic wards or runes, sometimes simply smudging the things would do the trick, but you would have to know what you were working with.

  Fiddling with unknown magic was akin to jumping to the great ocean. Maybe you would simply swim and enjoy yourself, or some unimaginable horror would come from the water to gulp you down.

  Deatt used to know a fellow thief, who was missing a whole arm after failing to modify a magic circle. Deatt liked his arms, and inteded to keep them.

  Leaving the shop, the clerk happily waved at him, urging him to come back once he made a decision.

  It was dangerous, the unknown defenses made Deatt think over the goal of his burglary again. He would have to gauge out at least some of them, systematically. It would be so much easier if they had a mage on their side. Especially one specialized in observational magic. Or something like that, it was not like Deatt knew what he was talking about. The problem was, he knew only one mage in the city, and he rather rudely turned her away.

  Shaking off the incoming guilt, he focused on the matter at hand again.

  Deatt really wanted to hit the shop. If not for the trinkets themselves, then as a challenge. It was a long time since he scored and he was feeling like he might not cut it anymore. Even in his escape from the manor, he had ultimately failed and got bitten. Although he had the luck not to turn...yet, at least.

  So this hit represented a test of sorts for Deatt. To evaluate whether he was the same stealthy sneak like before.

  Moving around the corner of the busy street, Deatt passed into a narrow alley and, climbing over a fence, got himself to the back of the shop.

  The walls were the same here, except a slight difference. There were about five times the number of the golden lines. They also moved quicker and were bending and waving, sometimes cutting through eachother.

  But it didn't seem chaotic exactly, Deatt struggled to make complete sense of it, but the movements did not look random. Whenever a part of the wall cleared of the lines, revealing the full purple underneath, at least two lines quickly made their way there. Slashing with their ends to reach it as soon as possible.

  Watching the gold lines whip on the wall, Deatt became sure that touching them would be very bad. He doubted they would hurt him directly, but their behavior now seemed more purposeful. Maybe they were a part of the defenses?

  He looked around, trying to find anything long enough that he could use to experiment. Grabbing a sizable half-rotten plank on the ground, he gently moved it to the line.

  When the wood made contact, the golden thread separated from the wall and coiled around the plank with surprising speed. Deatt almost failed to let go of the plank, but the shock itself, paired with his instinct, made him release the plank just in time.

  The golden lines moved around the surface of the plank, then one more joined her.

  The piece of wood suddenly shined with golden light, before it was pulled by the threads. It loudly crashed into the wall, splintering into two.

  Now he knew he definitely did not want to touch it.

  Great, the longer he observed the shop, the more he felt like the burglary was destined to fail.

  But his pride did not allow him to deny himself the pleasure of overcoming this hurdle.