Chapter 113
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Night was the perfect time for information gathering and sneaking around. The taverns in any town, village, or city would be filled with patrons who had come for an after work drink. Some would come to hang out and talk with their friends or colleges. Some would come around for business opportunities, as where there was drink flowing there was money being spent. Others would invite business associates to try and get closer to one another to better influence their deals.
Of course, where men gather, women of the night would also gather. They would encourage men to buy more drinks and to spend more money. With their ever increasing state of inebriation, they would inevitably give in the women's advances and join them for the night.
Without exception, it was also true for Altair. The cover of darkness made her movements far easier to conceal. Since people would usually be getting trunk in taverns, that meant that their lips were loose and they would talk about this and that with little hesitance. That made them a great target for gathering rumors and information. Furthermore, it was incredibly easy to rob people of their coin so that she could procure supplies and stay in town without arousing suspicion.
Altair's first task was to find someone to rob. She couldn't take anyone who was too important as the guards would be more on alert if a nobleman or merchant was robbed. However, she could rob a common man. They would, more often than not, get ignored.
With knowledge of her first goal in mind, Altair walked along the night streets as civilians passed by while talking with their friends or walked along in silence if they were alone. She followed a crowd of men that were obviously laborers of some kind, given the stink they gave off and the fact that their builds were more bulky than most. These types of people would often visit the tavern after they were done for the day.
The street Altair was walking on was covered in cobblestones. It was the standard material used in large towns and cities. Everyone's steps were noisy when they walked on it. Most people seemed to have solid shoes made of wood instead of the leather she was used to seeing. In exchange for wearing wooden shoes, they were able to have decorations on them. It was obvious that it was a recent fashion trend as the designs weren't impressive at all to Altair.
The buildings were quite a bit larger than she was used to seeing as she walked down the street. All of them had at least two storey's. As she had seen from afar, they were all made of brick and stone. Their roofs were covered in strange, red tiles that slanted downwards, like the buildings she had seen in the Empire.
Altair still found it a little hard to accept that Dyersberge had advanced so far so quickly.
The only thing that didn't really change were the clothes everyone wore. They still wore standard and dull colors on most of them, as dye's were incredibly expensive from what she had seen. They still looked like the rough linens and wool clothing as well. Their designs didn't really change either.
'This town could also be why the Coalition relocated,' she thought to herself. 'If they noticed that the Humans were developing a village so quickly near their doorstep they would flee immediately even if I didn't vanish on them.'
No one paid any attention to Altair, as she expected. She was just a little girl walking around at night. There wasn't much strange about that given that the public safety of a town this large was very good and there were dozens of people on the street at any given time. If she went into a dark alley, things might change though.
Altair eventually heard the boisterous and raucous sounds coming from down the road as she tailed the men. The light pouring out of the tavern windows was dim and laughter, mixed with songs, could be heard coming from it even from down the street.
Altair narrowed her eyes as she walked off the main road and into an alley near the tavern.
Robbing someone at night was a joke for Altair. Her Shadow Magic was just too perfect for working in the dark areas that were everywhere once the sun was down. Combined with her ability to see in the dark while Humans were, effectively, blind, it couldn't be easier for her to snatch coin purses from them.
It was made even easier by combining her Magic. By making a small square in her palm with Shadow Magic, she could then make threads out of it that were as black as night. By controlling those threads, she could swipe coin purses from afar and no one would notice.
She did just that as she cut three coin purses free from their owners that passed by the alley and pulled them back with small nets made from threads. Once she robbed her fifth victim in under a minute, she stashed the purses in her satchel before she fled deeper into the town. Once they got to the tavern and found out that they were robbed, it would become a problem if she stayed in the area.
She would need to find another tavern for information, of course. But, in a town this large, there was bound to be at least a dozen of them. So, finding another tavern would just take time and not much else.
As she darted through the back alleys, she suddenly heard shouting coming from where she had just left. She didn't pause at all as she continued through the maze-like alleyways. She literally had no idea where she was after she went around the forth corner. It didn't stop her though as she continued along in the darkness for at least ten minutes.
At that point, she finally slowed down and ducked into an alcove. She then opened her satchel and poured out the square coins of each coin purse to see exactly how much she had.
The coins poured onto the ground and echoed into the alleyway she came from. With Altair's darkvision, she could see and count out the numbers and types of coins she had.
To her surprise, she came out of it like a bandit.
The currency of the Rebanon Empire was divided into three different denominations. They all had the same shape though, all being square. The copper squares had an emblem of a rock carved on them. The silver squares had a jewelstone carved on them and the gold squares had a tower on them.
She had gotten 63 copper squares, 17 silver squares, and even one golden square. With 100 copper squares to a silver square, 100 silver squares to a golden square being the conversion ratio, Altair couldn't believe that someone actually had a golden square. She wouldn't be able to spend that coin no matter what. There just wasn't anything worth it that she could get.
'Some idiot must have been walking around with all of their savings,' she thought to herself sarcastically. It was incredibly stupid to walk around with gold squares if you weren't a merchant. Food only cost up to ten copper squares and a night at a decent inn would run twenty copper squares. There was no point in carrying around that much money unless you were buying jewelry or noble things.
'Well,' she considered, 'At least I'll be able to somewhat act like a nobleman's daughter with a gold square on me.' She took out a transparent bag that was used for cookies and dumped out the crumbs on the ground. She then shook the bag a few times before she starting placing the squares inside it.
While she was putting the squares away she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her movements paused momentarily before she continued to grab the coins and put them in the bag at the same rate. She knew she was being watched.
'Aaah, I really should have been more careful.' She mentally scolded herself while trying to act like she didn't notice them. 'Of course there would be thieves and other miscreants in a town this big. Should have put up a wall before I checked what I got.'
Her stalkers were being exceptionally quiet. It was clear they had a lot of practice at what they were doing. They didn't make a single noise when they approached her. If their gazes weren't filled with killing intent then she wouldn't have noticed them at all.
They really gave themselves away.
They were also giving her plenty of time to pick up her loot. She didn't know why they weren't attacking her yet as she had her back to them and was, obviously, a child.
Altair could see just fine in total darkness but her stalkers couldn't. They only knew that someone was before them and they were picking up coins off the ground. When they arrived, a cloud had blotted out the moon so they only caught glimpse of a bag. If it wasn't for the sound of the coins hitting the cobblestones earlier they would never have known someone was here.
They were waiting for the cloud to pass over so they could actually see what they were doing. There was no chance they would light a torch when they were the ambushers.
Altair finished picking up the coins and setting them in her bag. She then put the bag in her satchel before turning to see four men gazing into the alcove with searching eyes. They were positioned on opposite corners with two to each side. They looked like idiots to her as they peeked around the corner.
She quickly realized that they couldn't see her and a smirk crossed her face. 'Guess I'll use this opportunity to test these then.' She pulled out four of her daggers, holding two in each hand. She held the blades between her fingers, pulled back both arms and threw them, one at a time, at the men around the corners.
Her aim wasn't so great. Only two of them actually hit where she was aiming for on her right side while the other two ended up hitting the wrong spots. She frowned as the two people on her right fell to the ground with daggers in their heads and the two on her left cried out in pain as her daggers had hit their shoulders.
The two men quickly tried to escape but Altair didn't intend to let them go. She ran after them into the alley and created some shadow knights ahead of them. The knights bowled over them without a word while she stopped her chase to retrieve the daggers from the people she killed.
The knights fought in the distance with the thieves for a short period of time, causing some shouting to happen that was cut off abruptly as she pulled a dagger out of the skull of one the men. The dagger came out smoothly and easily and it caused her brows to rise slightly in surprise.
'These really are good stuff. I wonder if they can pierce plate?'
She stowed her daggers and dismissed her knights, while looting the thieves of any coins they had.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to check her spoils as she saw some light coming toward her through the alleys around her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance before she created thread from her arms and looped it around the corners of the roofs over her head and pulled herself up.
She created the threads from her body because they formed faster, were easier to control, and moved quicker than otherwise. She didn't want to risk being caught here as it would, probably, result in her killing more of them.
When she arrived up on the barely angled roof she stealthily escaped away from the scene of her crimes.
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Night was the perfect time for information gathering and sneaking around. The taverns in any town, village, or city would be filled with patrons who had come for an after work drink. Some would come to hang out and talk with their friends or colleges. Some would come around for business opportunities, as where there was drink flowing there was money being spent. Others would invite business associates to try and get closer to one another to better influence their deals.
Of course, where men gather, women of the night would also gather. They would encourage men to buy more drinks and to spend more money. With their ever increasing state of inebriation, they would inevitably give in the women's advances and join them for the night.
Without exception, it was also true for Altair. The cover of darkness made her movements far easier to conceal. Since people would usually be getting trunk in taverns, that meant that their lips were loose and they would talk about this and that with little hesitance. That made them a great target for gathering rumors and information. Furthermore, it was incredibly easy to rob people of their coin so that she could procure supplies and stay in town without arousing suspicion.
Altair's first task was to find someone to rob. She couldn't take anyone who was too important as the guards would be more on alert if a nobleman or merchant was robbed. However, she could rob a common man. They would, more often than not, get ignored.
With knowledge of her first goal in mind, Altair walked along the night streets as civilians passed by while talking with their friends or walked along in silence if they were alone. She followed a crowd of men that were obviously laborers of some kind, given the stink they gave off and the fact that their builds were more bulky than most. These types of people would often visit the tavern after they were done for the day.
The street Altair was walking on was covered in cobblestones. It was the standard material used in large towns and cities. Everyone's steps were noisy when they walked on it. Most people seemed to have solid shoes made of wood instead of the leather she was used to seeing. In exchange for wearing wooden shoes, they were able to have decorations on them. It was obvious that it was a recent fashion trend as the designs weren't impressive at all to Altair.
The buildings were quite a bit larger than she was used to seeing as she walked down the street. All of them had at least two storey's. As she had seen from afar, they were all made of brick and stone. Their roofs were covered in strange, red tiles that slanted downwards, like the buildings she had seen in the Empire.
Altair still found it a little hard to accept that Dyersberge had advanced so far so quickly.
The only thing that didn't really change were the clothes everyone wore. They still wore standard and dull colors on most of them, as dye's were incredibly expensive from what she had seen. They still looked like the rough linens and wool clothing as well. Their designs didn't really change either.
'This town could also be why the Coalition relocated,' she thought to herself. 'If they noticed that the Humans were developing a village so quickly near their doorstep they would flee immediately even if I didn't vanish on them.'
No one paid any attention to Altair, as she expected. She was just a little girl walking around at night. There wasn't much strange about that given that the public safety of a town this large was very good and there were dozens of people on the street at any given time. If she went into a dark alley, things might change though.
Altair eventually heard the boisterous and raucous sounds coming from down the road as she tailed the men. The light pouring out of the tavern windows was dim and laughter, mixed with songs, could be heard coming from it even from down the street.
Altair narrowed her eyes as she walked off the main road and into an alley near the tavern.
Robbing someone at night was a joke for Altair. Her Shadow Magic was just too perfect for working in the dark areas that were everywhere once the sun was down. Combined with her ability to see in the dark while Humans were, effectively, blind, it couldn't be easier for her to snatch coin purses from them.
It was made even easier by combining her Magic. By making a small square in her palm with Shadow Magic, she could then make threads out of it that were as black as night. By controlling those threads, she could swipe coin purses from afar and no one would notice.
She did just that as she cut three coin purses free from their owners that passed by the alley and pulled them back with small nets made from threads. Once she robbed her fifth victim in under a minute, she stashed the purses in her satchel before she fled deeper into the town. Once they got to the tavern and found out that they were robbed, it would become a problem if she stayed in the area.
She would need to find another tavern for information, of course. But, in a town this large, there was bound to be at least a dozen of them. So, finding another tavern would just take time and not much else.
As she darted through the back alleys, she suddenly heard shouting coming from where she had just left. She didn't pause at all as she continued through the maze-like alleyways. She literally had no idea where she was after she went around the forth corner. It didn't stop her though as she continued along in the darkness for at least ten minutes.
At that point, she finally slowed down and ducked into an alcove. She then opened her satchel and poured out the square coins of each coin purse to see exactly how much she had.
The coins poured onto the ground and echoed into the alleyway she came from. With Altair's darkvision, she could see and count out the numbers and types of coins she had.
To her surprise, she came out of it like a bandit.
The currency of the Rebanon Empire was divided into three different denominations. They all had the same shape though, all being square. The copper squares had an emblem of a rock carved on them. The silver squares had a jewelstone carved on them and the gold squares had a tower on them.
She had gotten 63 copper squares, 17 silver squares, and even one golden square. With 100 copper squares to a silver square, 100 silver squares to a golden square being the conversion ratio, Altair couldn't believe that someone actually had a golden square. She wouldn't be able to spend that coin no matter what. There just wasn't anything worth it that she could get.
'Some idiot must have been walking around with all of their savings,' she thought to herself sarcastically. It was incredibly stupid to walk around with gold squares if you weren't a merchant. Food only cost up to ten copper squares and a night at a decent inn would run twenty copper squares. There was no point in carrying around that much money unless you were buying jewelry or noble things.
'Well,' she considered, 'At least I'll be able to somewhat act like a nobleman's daughter with a gold square on me.' She took out a transparent bag that was used for cookies and dumped out the crumbs on the ground. She then shook the bag a few times before she starting placing the squares inside it.
While she was putting the squares away she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her movements paused momentarily before she continued to grab the coins and put them in the bag at the same rate. She knew she was being watched.
'Aaah, I really should have been more careful.' She mentally scolded herself while trying to act like she didn't notice them. 'Of course there would be thieves and other miscreants in a town this big. Should have put up a wall before I checked what I got.'
Her stalkers were being exceptionally quiet. It was clear they had a lot of practice at what they were doing. They didn't make a single noise when they approached her. If their gazes weren't filled with killing intent then she wouldn't have noticed them at all.
They really gave themselves away.
They were also giving her plenty of time to pick up her loot. She didn't know why they weren't attacking her yet as she had her back to them and was, obviously, a child.
Altair could see just fine in total darkness but her stalkers couldn't. They only knew that someone was before them and they were picking up coins off the ground. When they arrived, a cloud had blotted out the moon so they only caught glimpse of a bag. If it wasn't for the sound of the coins hitting the cobblestones earlier they would never have known someone was here.
They were waiting for the cloud to pass over so they could actually see what they were doing. There was no chance they would light a torch when they were the ambushers.
Altair finished picking up the coins and setting them in her bag. She then put the bag in her satchel before turning to see four men gazing into the alcove with searching eyes. They were positioned on opposite corners with two to each side. They looked like idiots to her as they peeked around the corner.
She quickly realized that they couldn't see her and a smirk crossed her face. 'Guess I'll use this opportunity to test these then.' She pulled out four of her daggers, holding two in each hand. She held the blades between her fingers, pulled back both arms and threw them, one at a time, at the men around the corners.
Her aim wasn't so great. Only two of them actually hit where she was aiming for on her right side while the other two ended up hitting the wrong spots. She frowned as the two people on her right fell to the ground with daggers in their heads and the two on her left cried out in pain as her daggers had hit their shoulders.
The two men quickly tried to escape but Altair didn't intend to let them go. She ran after them into the alley and created some shadow knights ahead of them. The knights bowled over them without a word while she stopped her chase to retrieve the daggers from the people she killed.
The knights fought in the distance with the thieves for a short period of time, causing some shouting to happen that was cut off abruptly as she pulled a dagger out of the skull of one the men. The dagger came out smoothly and easily and it caused her brows to rise slightly in surprise.
'These really are good stuff. I wonder if they can pierce plate?'
She stowed her daggers and dismissed her knights, while looting the thieves of any coins they had.
Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to check her spoils as she saw some light coming toward her through the alleys around her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance before she created thread from her arms and looped it around the corners of the roofs over her head and pulled herself up.
She created the threads from her body because they formed faster, were easier to control, and moved quicker than otherwise. She didn't want to risk being caught here as it would, probably, result in her killing more of them.
When she arrived up on the barely angled roof she stealthily escaped away from the scene of her crimes.
Night was the perfect time for information gathering and sneaking around. The taverns in any town, village, or city would be filled with patrons who had come for an after work drink. Some would come to hang out and talk with their friends or colleges. Some would come around for business opportunities, as where there was drink flowing there was money being spent. Others would invite business associates to try and get closer to one another to better influence their deals.Of course, where men gather, women of the night would also gather. They would encourage men to buy more drinks and to spend more money. With their ever increasing state of inebriation, they would inevitably give in the women's advances and join them for the night.Without exception, it was also true for Altair. The cover of darkness made her movements far easier to conceal. Since people would usually be getting trunk in taverns, that meant that their lips were loose and they would talk about this and that with little hesitance. That made them a great target for gathering rumors and information. Furthermore, it was incredibly easy to rob people of their coin so that she could procure supplies and stay in town without arousing suspicion.Altair's first task was to find someone to rob. She couldn't take anyone who was too important as the guards would be more on alert if a nobleman or merchant was robbed. However, she could rob a common man. They would, more often than not, get ignored.With knowledge of her first goal in mind, Altair walked along the night streets as civilians passed by while talking with their friends or walked along in silence if they were alone. She followed a crowd of men that were obviously laborers of some kind, given the stink they gave off and the fact that their builds were more bulky than most. These types of people would often visit the tavern after they were done for the day.The street Altair was walking on was covered in cobblestones. It was the standard material used in large towns and cities. Everyone's steps were noisy when they walked on it. Most people seemed to have solid shoes made of wood instead of the leather she was used to seeing. In exchange for wearing wooden shoes, they were able to have decorations on them. It was obvious that it was a recent fashion trend as the designs weren't impressive at all to Altair.The buildings were quite a bit larger than she was used to seeing as she walked down the street. All of them had at least two storey's. As she had seen from afar, they were all made of brick and stone. Their roofs were covered in strange, red tiles that slanted downwards, like the buildings she had seen in the Empire.Altair still found it a little hard to accept that Dyersberge had advanced so far so quickly.The only thing that didn't really change were the clothes everyone wore. They still wore standard and dull colors on most of them, as dye's were incredibly expensive from what she had seen. They still looked like the rough linens and wool clothing as well. Their designs didn't really change either.'This town could also be why the Coalition relocated,' she thought to herself. 'If they noticed that the Humans were developing a village so quickly near their doorstep they would flee immediately even if I didn't vanish on them.'No one paid any attention to Altair, as she expected. She was just a little girl walking around at night. There wasn't much strange about that given that the public safety of a town this large was very good and there were dozens of people on the street at any given time. If she went into a dark alley, things might change though.Altair eventually heard the boisterous and raucous sounds coming from down the road as she tailed the men. The light pouring out of the tavern windows was dim and laughter, mixed with songs, could be heard coming from it even from down the street.Altair narrowed her eyes as she walked off the main road and into an alley near the tavern.Robbing someone at night was a joke for Altair. Her Shadow Magic was just too perfect for working in the dark areas that were everywhere once the sun was down. Combined with her ability to see in the dark while Humans were, effectively, blind, it couldn't be easier for her to snatch coin purses from them.It was made even easier by combining her Magic. By making a small square in her palm with Shadow Magic, she could then make threads out of it that were as black as night. By controlling those threads, she could swipe coin purses from afar and no one would notice.She did just that as she cut three coin purses free from their owners that passed by the alley and pulled them back with small nets made from threads. Once she robbed her fifth victim in under a minute, she stashed the purses in her satchel before she fled deeper into the town. Once they got to the tavern and found out that they were robbed, it would become a problem if she stayed in the area.She would need to find another tavern for information, of course. But, in a town this large, there was bound to be at least a dozen of them. So, finding another tavern would just take time and not much else.As she darted through the back alleys, she suddenly heard shouting coming from where she had just left. She didn't pause at all as she continued through the maze-like alleyways. She literally had no idea where she was after she went around the forth corner. It didn't stop her though as she continued along in the darkness for at least ten minutes.At that point, she finally slowed down and ducked into an alcove. She then opened her satchel and poured out the square coins of each coin purse to see exactly how much she had.The coins poured onto the ground and echoed into the alleyway she came from. With Altair's darkvision, she could see and count out the numbers and types of coins she had.To her surprise, she came out of it like a bandit.The currency of the Rebanon Empire was divided into three different denominations. They all had the same shape though, all being square. The copper squares had an emblem of a rock carved on them. The silver squares had a jewelstone carved on them and the gold squares had a tower on them.She had gotten 63 copper squares, 17 silver squares, and even one golden square. With 100 copper squares to a silver square, 100 silver squares to a golden square being the conversion ratio, Altair couldn't believe that someone actually had a golden square. She wouldn't be able to spend that coin no matter what. There just wasn't anything worth it that she could get.'Some idiot must have been walking around with all of their savings,' she thought to herself sarcastically. It was incredibly stupid to walk around with gold squares if you weren't a merchant. Food only cost up to ten copper squares and a night at a decent inn would run twenty copper squares. There was no point in carrying around that much money unless you were buying jewelry or noble things.'Well,' she considered, 'At least I'll be able to somewhat act like a nobleman's daughter with a gold square on me.' She took out a transparent bag that was used for cookies and dumped out the crumbs on the ground. She then shook the bag a few times before she starting placing the squares inside it.While she was putting the squares away she felt the hair on the back of her neck stand up and her movements paused momentarily before she continued to grab the coins and put them in the bag at the same rate. She knew she was being watched.'Aaah, I really should have been more careful.' She mentally scolded herself while trying to act like she didn't notice them. 'Of course there would be thieves and other miscreants in a town this big. Should have put up a wall before I checked what I got.'Her stalkers were being exceptionally quiet. It was clear they had a lot of practice at what they were doing. They didn't make a single noise when they approached her. If their gazes weren't filled with killing intent then she wouldn't have noticed them at all.They really gave themselves away.They were also giving her plenty of time to pick up her loot. She didn't know why they weren't attacking her yet as she had her back to them and was, obviously, a child.Altair could see just fine in total darkness but her stalkers couldn't. They only knew that someone was before them and they were picking up coins off the ground. When they arrived, a cloud had blotted out the moon so they only caught glimpse of a bag. If it wasn't for the sound of the coins hitting the cobblestones earlier they would never have known someone was here.They were waiting for the cloud to pass over so they could actually see what they were doing. There was no chance they would light a torch when they were the ambushers.Altair finished picking up the coins and setting them in her bag. She then put the bag in her satchel before turning to see four men gazing into the alcove with searching eyes. They were positioned on opposite corners with two to each side. They looked like idiots to her as they peeked around the corner.She quickly realized that they couldn't see her and a smirk crossed her face. 'Guess I'll use this opportunity to test these then.' She pulled out four of her daggers, holding two in each hand. She held the blades between her fingers, pulled back both arms and threw them, one at a time, at the men around the corners.Her aim wasn't so great. Only two of them actually hit where she was aiming for on her right side while the other two ended up hitting the wrong spots. She frowned as the two people on her right fell to the ground with daggers in their heads and the two on her left cried out in pain as her daggers had hit their shoulders.The two men quickly tried to escape but Altair didn't intend to let them go. She ran after them into the alley and created some shadow knights ahead of them. The knights bowled over them without a word while she stopped her chase to retrieve the daggers from the people she killed.The knights fought in the distance with the thieves for a short period of time, causing some shouting to happen that was cut off abruptly as she pulled a dagger out of the skull of one the men. The dagger came out smoothly and easily and it caused her brows to rise slightly in surprise.'These really are good stuff. I wonder if they can pierce plate?'She stowed her daggers and dismissed her knights, while looting the thieves of any coins they had.Unfortunately, she didn't have the time to check her spoils as she saw some light coming toward her through the alleys around her. She clicked her tongue in annoyance before she created thread from her arms and looped it around the corners of the roofs over her head and pulled herself up.She created the threads from her body because they formed faster, were easier to control, and moved quicker than otherwise. She didn't want to risk being caught here as it would, probably, result in her killing more of them.When she arrived up on the barely angled roof she stealthily escaped away from the scene of her crimes.
