Over the next few days myself and Galahad went about our business, with one goal in mind, to get the Godsfathers attention. We needed to find a way to disrupt things in Willowshire as much as we could, starting low and raising the stakes until the mob leader had no option but to expose himself to us.

We had been staying together, something that I had insisted on, I dreaded to think the chaos that Galahad could cause on his own. At least if I kept eyes on him I could keep him out of trouble, which was ironic given what we were trying to achieve.

We had spent our time mainly observing from a distance, which shop vendors we thought were under the protection of the Godsfather.

Using my mini-map I had figured out that I could change the colours of the markers that I was placing, this made our lives easier than having a map filled with purple markers. For the shops and merchants I had been placing orange markers, to keep tabs of our scouting missions.

The telltale signs were always groups of two to three people, at least one of them a larger woman, she stood out the most given her stronger frame and ginormous arms and legs complete with bulging veins. She looked like she would ease a worlds strongest woman competition. She had two averaged sized men with her, the second group was led by Morgrim, the man strutted around like he owed Willowshire and he seemed to enjoy taunting people in between collecting payments.

They would enter the shops, usually for ten to fifteen minutes before leaving carrying large satchels and sacks. They were not even being discreet with what they were doing, the more we watched, the more we saw the guards blatantly looking the other way if they were getting a little handsy with others.

It was hard to not get involved with Galahad stopping me on more than one occasion, reminding me that we had to stick with the plan, no matter what. That way the town could be free from all of this. It was hard to not get involved but Galahad was right, if we were going to do this we had to avoid petty fights with low level street goons.

For now at least anyway.

When we were satisfied that we had marked all of the merchants that were paying for protection, it was not surprising that this covered approximately eighty five percent of Willowshire but at least we knew which places we were going to target.

Raven had stayed behind at the Old Hag, as far as I knew she was sleeping, her role was going to kick in, in the evenings once we had set our plan into motion. It was strange not having her with me, even when she was hiding in my own shadow. I had gotten used to her company and I knew I was more at risk not having her with me than I would be if she was here.

Today was the day that we were going to start making a move, it was time to start getting some attention.

“Are you ready?” I asked Galahad, who was stood beside me. It was late morning, there was a reason why we had waited for this time to do anything.

“You can count on me,” he replied, lowering the visor on his helmet, leaving only his eyes on display.

Today’s task was simple enough, we needed to target all of the merchants that were paying the Godsfather for protection, show them that he was not doing what he was saying he would do.

We were both standing by the large water fountain in town, it was large, standing at around twelve feet tall and was made of some kind of polished marbled stone. There was green algae creeping up the sides of the base which was shaped like an hour glass but then sprouting into branches of a tree. The algae made the feature look more tree like and whether intentional or not it worked.

We had used this spot as our scouting spot, it gave us a great vantage point over much of the town square and we didn’t stand out as people were always near it, either admiring the fountain, taking a break or sitting around.

We watched as the scary lady and Morgrim continued their rounds, we had found that they worked opposites, starting from the centre of town and making their way outwards as they patrolled and checked in with the merchants.

They were generally done by noon, spending much of the afternoons in the Old Hag or just vanishing into thin air, even after all this scouting we still had been unable to figure out where their hiding place was. By late morning they were on the outer edges of town meaning this would give us longer to put our plan into motion.

“Come on, let’s go,” I said. “Remember the plan, you will keep look out.”

“Ready when you are old chap.”

I had wondered whether or not I needed to wear a mask for this but had decided that their was no point. Galahad was completely clad in his full suit of armour, something that I had seen no one else wearing in all my time here. That meant that the guy stood out like a sore thumb. That also meant that when we had caught attention, that we would get to a point where we wouldn’t be able to move about as freely as we would be recognisable.

We headed across the town square, and towards our first target, the bakery that smelled like it had the best, freshly baked bread I had ever smelt. Part of me felt bad for what we were about to do, but hopefully it would be worth it in the long run and they would understand.

The front of the bakery was all glass, a display of bread and cakes lining the front. The bread was neatly plaited, with a glaze over the surface giving it a fresh look, even though I could swear it was the same bread that had been there the last few days. The cakes, were plenty in variety, with buns, cream cakes and frosted biscuits, neatly laid out next to one another. The sight of them made my stomach gargle loudly in anticipation. I had wanted one of those cakes since I got here.

At the top of the window there was an awning fixed to the stone, it had a blue and white striped canopy which was stretched out, providing some shelter from the heat of the suns.

Standing underneath the shade, I felt a brief reprieve from the heat, but my attention was on the alluring smell drifting out from the bakery.

My hands were shaking, I had never done anything like this before and no matter how many times I tried to justify why we were doing this, it didn’t stop a tight ball of anxiety twisting in the pits of my stomach.

I had grown up being told to always do the right thing, to treat others kindly and with respect. Since I found myself here, it kind of felt like those boundaries were blurred and that was proving to be a huge mental block.

I could have brought Raven, she could have been in and out in no time. But we needed her for tonight, so today was about me and Galahad doing our bit.

I waited for the shop to be empty and when the last person inside excited I gave them a nervous smile before stepping through the doorway and into the bakery.

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The smell of freshly baked dough was even more intense than outside and my stomach growled again in desperation. Ahead of me there were two counters in a L shape, leaving me standing on a square, open floor. The counters had rectangular boxes lined up at an angle to display the different products that were on offer. They didn’t look as impressive as the ones on display outside and I found myself getting lost as I stared at the cakes, just sitting there.

“Can I help you?”

Looking up I saw the baker standing behind the counter, he was an average build, middle aged at a guess. He had a full head of dark hair and was clean shaven. His eyes were tired, no doubt because how early he would have gotten up to bake all of the things on sale.

“Sorry, I am new to town.” I stumbled on my words, my nerves getting the best of me. I couldn’t simply take something right in front of the baker, if I did that he would just shout the guards and we would be caught straight away. He needed to figure out after I had left what I had done, so for now I just needed to distract him.

“I can tell,” the man said, “You are dressed oddly, just how far away are you from.” He was surprisingly jovial in mood and offered me a polite smile which made me feel even worse that I already did.

“A long way away, you will have never heard of it before." I waved my hand, “Now I am here because everybody keeps on telling me about your cream cakes, I have lost count of how many times I have been told about them. So I told myself that I would treat myself today and head over the first chance that I got.”

“Well, that is great to hear,” The baker said with a beaming smile, he clapped his hands together, a dust cloud of flour pluming out as he did, before wiping his hands on his, already flour covered, dark blue apron. He reached over the counter and offered his hand to me. “The Name Luca,” he said.

I knew I needed to make conversation but I had not intended on him being so friendly, this made the whole situation ten times worse than it already was.

Although hesitant, I couldn’t keep the guy standing there so I accepted the hand shake. He had a firm grip, his hands were rough like sandpaper and I could sense a lot of power in his hand.

I took the moment to see if I could find any more information on him, as soon as I did, a little table appeared above him.

Luca Simeone

Class: Master Baker

His name was green in colour, given that enemies usually showed up in red I could only assume that he was a non hostile, after all it didn’t take a genius to figure that out.

“Pleased to meet you Luca,”

“And your name is?” He asked.

“Erm,” I said hesitant, “Graham,” I said, I had no clue where I plucked the name from but I was stuck with it now.

“What a peculiar name,”

“It was my grandfather’s” I lied, even that made me feel bad and we hadn’t even got started yet.

“You travelling alone Graham?” Luca said, he grabbed hold of the dough on the table in front of him and slammed it onto the table. I jumped, before he started needing it with his fists.

“Yeah,” I said.

“Thought I saw you standing outside with Galahad,” Luca said, directing me to the window where Galahad was stood on the other side.

He was stood upright with his hands behind his back, his chin raised as he nodded at people who walked past.

“Word advice, stay away from that man, he is trouble, likes his drink too much and causes all manner of bother. I had to bar him from here,” Luca stopped mid sentence and looked at me cautiously. “Wait a minute, did Galahad send you in here to get him some bread, because if he did, I am going to have to ask you to leave.”

“No, no, no,” I said shaking my head. “He simply offered to show me where the bakery was, it was me that got talking to him at the tavern and he said he would walk me over. To be honest I wanted to decline,” I lent forward towards Luca and raised a hand to cup my face before whispering, “He kind of smells of piss and ale, but I didn’t want to offend him.”

Luca laughed before continuing to need his dough. “Well you are not wrong there.”

I was hesitant, I needed to distract him but all I was managing to do was create small talk, which was just making him even more endearing. Luca told me about how he ended up in Willowshire, how he met his wife after bumping into her at the markets.

He even told me about his two children, Jura and Nora. All of this information did absolutely nothing to help me with the situation.

“Well, that’s enough of me yammering on at you, I can talk for hours. I am sure you have plenty to do, so if you would just want to let me know what you want, I will let you get on your way.” Luca said as he finished telling me about what he wanted to do with the bakery.

“Oh,” I said, that meant I was actually going to have to do what I was meant to and stop procrastinating. Looking over the bread I tried to think of something that I couldn’t see, “Do you have any focaccia bread? I can’t see any here, that is my favourite.”

“Focaccia?” Luca said, with a bewildered look. “What is a focaccia?”

“Oh you don’t have it? It is my favourite bread back home.”

“I have never heard of it?”

“Then you are missing out, if you have a pen and paper to hand I could give you the recipe?”

“Pen and paper?”

I tutted to myself, I really needed to start remembering that people here don’t have access to these things.

“Sorry, a pen and quill will suffice, there are a lot of steps.”

Luca’s face lit up like a Christmas tree, “I have my cookbook in the back, handed down from my grandfathers, you see we are a long line of Master Bakers.”

He started to turn to head into the back, affording me to opportunity to start my petty crime spree. “Focaccia,” he said, pronouncing it slowly as to make sure he got it right. “My grandfather would have loved to have a conversation with-” He stopped what he was doing as his face started turning a shade of red.

“Galahad!” He bawled, his voice raised, “What the fuck!”

I turned to see Galahad emptying his bladder at the side of the bakery, so much for keeping a low profile.

Luca shot past me, expletives and profanities spilling from his mouth as he rushed outside to confront Galahad, he was furious with him and I could not blame him.

Suddenly I found myself in the bakery alone, which was what we had planned. I didn’t want to do this and I knew I would feel terrible for the rest of the day but I needed to think of the bigger picture here. I opened up the satchel that I was wearing and took two loafs of bread and a cream cake and placed them inside.

My chest hammered and my palms were sweaty, my knees weak and the satchel felt heavy as I spun as fast as I could to get out of the bakery. My adrenaline was spiking more than when we had to fight in the terror’s camp, I had never done anything like this. Now I was a petty thief, taking from a really nice, respectable guy.

As soon as I left the door I was hit with a notification.

Notoriety level increased

Level one notoriety

Our plan had worked, we had got on the notoriety scale, now all I needed to do was get the hell out of here, then Luca could realise what I had done.

“Sorry old chap, is this not the toilet?” Galahad said, he was standing in front of Luca who had his back turned to me. He raised his hand and wiped it on Luca’s arm who was continuing to swear and shout at Galahad, demanding that he got away from his bakery or he would be sorry.

It was enough of a distraction for me to slip away and find an alley way for me to hide in.

I could hear Galahad, continuing to cause a commotion, his armour, chiming and clinking as he bumbled around, it got louder and louder as he approached me.

I swear I could hear my heart beat but now that I was out of the bakery with stolen goods, I hated to admit it but it kind of felt exhilarating.

“Ah there you are,” Galahad said as he stumbled into the alley way. As soon as he was out of sight, he started walking normally, instead of staggering and swaying like a drunkard.”

“Wait was that all an act?” I said.

Galahad raised his visor and offered me a cocksure smile, “Of course it was old chap, how in the blazes were you going to get out of there. Goodness, I had been waiting long enough for you, so I thought I would create a distraction for you to steal what you needed to and make you escape.”

“I had it covered, Luca was just about to go in the back,”

“Sure you did, It isn’t something to be ashamed of, but if we are to be a success with this we are going to have to move a little faster Sean,”

“Silas,” I said, correcting him.

“That’s what I said,” Galahad shook his head as if he was speaking to an idiot. “As I was saying we need to move faster if we are to start getting attention.”

“So your not really drunk?”

“Gods, of course I am, what do you take me for? A bumbling old fool? I’m just not that drunk, not yet anyway.” he laughed. “Now shall we move onwards to the next merchant.”