Seth then fell asleep and woke the next day for another productive day of preparation. It was like the saying he used to use, `Preparation was King` and it held steady even to this day. A day of preparation led to a night of drinking and Richard joined him exactly as Seth suspected.

Richard wasn't in the best of moods as his father had suddenly become much more strict in his teaching methods. Usually, Richard would just get the script and he would attend a few rehearsals and that was it.

But now his father wanted him to not only show up to every one of the rehearsals but also work so hard during them, that he didn't even get his afternoon break! He was a grown man, and he had the freedom to take a break whenever he wanted!

After experiencing such injustice, Richard enjoyed his time drinking and chatting with his new friend. Seth made himself more likeable to Richard as he said the right things, and even drank with Richard until early in the morning.

Serene Mind was actually really helpful for Seth during this time of manipulation, as he could keep a clear head and stay on task. Tonight's goal was simple, introduce the idea of stealing to Richard.

So as the night went by Set was dropped in little comments that would make Richard unconsciously disagree less with the idea.

For instance, Richard said, "Sometimes I just want some freedom, you know?" and Seth would reply, "Yeah... Oh, yeah did hear about that thief: the one that broke into the City Sect treasury."

Richard, still completely drunk replied, "Oh yeah, I heard they were super close to catching them as well."

Seth nodded slowly, but as he looked back at Richard he seemed to almost laugh to himself. Richard noticed this and said, "Oi! What's so funny?"

"Ha, I just thought that you could be a great thief yourself, Richy."

Yeah, Seth had started to call Richard, Richy. It was a nickname that Richard found amusing and the comment Set had just made he found even more amusing. He liked nothing more than compliments. "Huh, why so?" And he was an expert at getting them out of people, something he used his great acting skills for misuse.

"You know, you good at acting for one and you got the bravery. I mean to be in front of all those people, I could never."

The seed was planted, and Seth spent the rest of the night finishing with a bit of watering. Adding a little fertiliser to the seed he planted the day before. Once done, Seth finally went home.

After throwing up several times, Seth finally got some rest. Sometimes he thought he overworked himself in all these plans, someday he swore he would get some subordinate to do it for him.

He was lying, he loved the planning part. It scratched that itch and it had minimal death risk, so he was all for it. So the moon fell, and the sun rose, another step in the plan was finished and yet another step had just begun.

Step 3 three was rather interesting, Seth had to scope out the theatre. It was an easy and rather fun part of the heist.

So, with tickets to their upcoming show Seth arrived before midday for a show called Le Ballerina. It was a show about a ballerina who would rise to fame after stunning performances, It was simple but executed its scenes to perfection and it left the audience in tears.

Apparently, Seth definitely wasn't going to watch, after all, he had some snooping to do.

So as the curtains were drawn open and the performance was about to start Seth got out of his seat, on the furthest back, and made his way to the toilet.

Out of the main showroom he arrived at the main lobby where you could buy confectionary or tickets, The stairs to the gallery (upper seats that look downwards towards the stage) were protected by a security guard who checked the tickets of all those that passed.

The Crown had already arrived as it was needed for practice, or was required for practice but all security was on the owner to protect it and if they lost it they had to replace it. In other words, the Kingdom rented it out and to save costs they made the owner protect it.

This tale has been unlawfully lifted without the author's consent. Report any appearances on Amazon.

Hell, they probably liked it when the crown was stolen as they got a whole new one for essentially free. There was an argument for authenticity here but that was reduced to cinders once you considered the fact that the real one was on the monarch's head or stored in a heavily guarded vault somewhere in the palace.

For now, Seth needed an idea of the whereabouts of the crown and the sort of security that John had hired for its protection.

The ground floor was rather easy to sneak around on, he just acted like he belonged there, and nobody really bothered him. Sadly, no crown. Only the backstage, a few storerooms, staff toilets, and other miscellaneous rooms were to be found.

So, Seth needed to find a way up.

An interesting potential method he found was through the lighting. Now there weren't any LEDs, but they did use a spotlight of sorts from overcharging an orb and focusing its light on a certain direction. This reduced their lifespan but increased their potency.

Anyway, all this was set up of wooden frames that made up the lighting and audio of the stage. The audio was done via magic and a Wind Mage was usually needed; this further raised the costs of owning a theatre.

Essentially Seth climbs the frame, and Seth climbs the floor. Great, now Seth wasn't a great climber but as a kid, he still remembered being at least nimble and considering his age right now, 18, he should be fine, right?

Hanging 7 metres up on a dark wooden pole Seth was not fine. His Serene Mind was taking its toll on Seth's mental fatigue, and it was likely the only reason had managed to get this high up.

How does one forget their fear of heights? Usually, Seth didn't need to think about it, like when he jumped from the second-story window in his prep heist of the vault shop but there was a difference between an instant split-second moment and continued exposure that only got worse.

Seth shuffled his way up the pole with his clammy hands which only made slipping a worse fear and the darkness, okay Seth admitted it was the only reason that the audience hadn't seen his sweaty mess climbing up, but it only made the climbing part harder!

Finally, Seth managed to climb up to the lighting rack and he could practically see his saviour, a staff maintenance door leading from the lights. He slowly shuffled his way across the tightrope thin wooden beam and finally, he ended up standing on the wooden bridge that allowed for maintenance. He then quietly made his way to the door and stepped through.

Slumping on the floor Seth breathed for the first time in 5 minutes.

After his little, much-needed break Seth was ready to continue scoping stuff out.

Wandering around the corridors, he found his way into a staffroom which finally had some useful information. Turning the lights on he looked at the board which held info about the layout of the building.

Looking through it seemed the crown was likely stored in a room called, `Important Set Equipment Storeroom` and it was on the fifth floor.

Seth thought about climbing that pole 3 more times, then decided to find another route. A great decision indeed as once he made his way onto the second story gallery he made his way to the stairs and easily made his way to the third story.

Sadly, the main stairs cut off there, but Seth did see that there was a VIP stairway up to the 4th floor. This was for Nobility and the like so obviously they wouldn't want to be seen mixing with the common Falk.

The worst part about this information was that the stairs were only accessible from the first floor, and they didn't even look heavily guarded.

Seth was fine, he was just `mildly` annoyed, and that was with the Serene Mind skill activated.

Seth's only option now was the employee staircase but that one was actually used often so Seth needed a disguise.

Preferably something an actor would wear so Seth went to a nearby set cupboard, The building was littered with them and chose a decent-looking disguise.

He now looked like a cowboy, except that he was actually a Yokai Bandit from the play The Sunset Princess and the Ghostly Army, a classic romance of a princess and a ghost commander.

Something Seth obviously would never watch, and the information about the play was obtained through his mother he definitely didn't watch the play with his mother for Mother's Day and that clearly didn't count.

Looking like a mix between a cowboy, commander and a ghost Seth now confidently wandered up the employee staircase. He got a few stares from people going past, but nobody stopped him. His old costume made their line of thought go a completely wrong direction and although Seth got a few giggles, no alarms were raised and that was the important part.

Finally, Seth made it to the fifth floor. Here was Johns's personal office as well as a conference room and other important rooms for admin purposes, Those didn't matter though, Seth was here for one room: the `Important Set Equipment Storeroom` or ISES.

The acronym was worrying but the security by the door was worse. 2 fully geared adventures stood guard over the front entrance and by fully geared Seth saw several glowing pieces of equipment which was a sign that high-class equipment was passively absorbing and using mana to create an effect like reduced impact.

They were as expensive as they were effective and Seth stood no chance, not even considering the people's levels, class, and combat experience. Suffice it to say, that Seth needed to find another entrance.

The vents were Seth's first idea but sadly John wasn't an idiot and whilst the room did have ventilation it was blocked off with reinforced grates that were impregnable.

Seth was stuck in a bit of a pickle, and so with no other way of getting in he decided the only way was to be let in, but how does one get into a highly secured room?