Seth hunched over as he tried his best to lean down as far as possible. He kept his eyes on the pavement as he walked up to the leaving group of workers. They were speaking casually amongst themselves and when Seth joined, they acted no different.
He blended in, although one person walked up to him.
“Drune, you wanna come with us to the tavern tonight.” It was a young man, Seth could tell from his hands and stature. He looked at his work jacket and saw his tag, he was definitely the one being spoken to.
Now he just needed to find a way out of it.
Seth imitated his best old man and said shortly, “No”
He didn’t know the man’s character, so Seth just kept his head low and tried to make it out like he was sad, such they left him alone.
They didn’t take the hint. “C’mon Rune your wife won’t even know. It’ll take an hour and you will have the time of our lives.”
Seth could only wonder why they wanted to bring the old man in the first place but for now, Seth could only agree and hope he could slip away once they got out.
Whilst Seth chattered, he moved ever further away and meanwhile back inside the mansion, some night workers had finally found the growing fire.
They quickly put it out using refillable water buckets, but they did have to send for the police as no fire would have spread in a room nobody said they entered. Electrics couldn’t fail as they didn’t exist and the only thing that could start a fire randomly was lightning, and nobody had heard anything of the sort.
It was only when the local police arrived did, they found the soul suppression device still on and immediately the Baron was called. The party was meant to continue until midnight and the Baron would have to decide what was more important to him, politics or his possessions.
While he made his decision, Seth had already reached the noble district exit and once he walked out, he thought about doing a runner. Seeing his `buddy` calling for him and looking at his near-immobile legs, Seth decided to continue whatever it was he was doing until the escape was easier.
The club was called La Festiva and the language sounded odd because it was one of the demi-human languages. Unlike most, these demi-humans were famed for their art and beauty, so humans had grown to somewhat like them. Even integrating them into some church’s holy books.
They were still mocked for their laziness and other human attributes but if people wanted to dislike another, they would even have the smallest and most petty reasons to hate them; even if they had the attribute they were complaining about.
The club itself was spectacular and Seth would have enjoyed it if he could have come at a time when he could move without losing what little blood he had left. Instead, he was slowly losing consciousness and the music was doing anything but helping.
Serene Mind kept him awake but at some point, it only added to the issue. He needed to leave as soon as possible.
The music was blaring loud and Seth's vision only grew blurrier, but he could still see the bright orange leave sign.
He ditched his now-drunk friend and walked out the door. Immediately the smell was better, and Seth’s mind gained such clarity that he quickly figured out where he was.
Down the street, wobble around the corner, slowly step forward. Maintain balance and keep moving. Seth walked himself back home through simple orders and once he climbed the stairs and dragged his body into bed using his skill, he fell asleep.
Blood from inside Seth’s body seeped into his own bed as Seth’s mind arrived at an abyss where his mind stayed in state until it had fully recovered.
It took 1 day before Seth’s body demanded he get up and unsurprisingly it was for food and water. His body was still incredibly sore, so he used his skills to crawl there and find an empty box of Pavement he had ordered to go.
He devoured that and drank enough water for the entire month. Never had Seth had to devour so much food and after doing so sleep recalled and demanded extra hours so Seth could only oblige.
Seth could hardly know how much real pain he was in and only thanks to his skill Serene Mind, but it was unknown what his reaction would have been considering his time dead.
Unknown to Seth he had caused a major uproar inside the Noble community, and he had started to make a name for himself. This was the second time this year that a Baron had been robbed and it was a major humiliation for both.
This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.
Blackwood got away with it because he was only a countryside noble but this time someone from within the Babylon capital had been robbed so ignoring the issue became a lot harder.
Baron Yoiden felt incredibly divided on what he should feel, the robber had broken and burned his family portrait, yet he had secured him a loan from the central bank as compensation for a robber damaging his property whilst in the noble district.
The photo was important to Yoiden, but he hated it. Burning it and crushing it made no difference as he only used it to fuel his rage. It reminded him of a time when the world was perfect and now it was miserable. Yoiden was a conflicting man with a double personality, one he showed to the public and the other he hid for himself.
He tried his best never to speak with anyone as that’s when he would slip up.
His brow fell in calmness as a friendly smile returned to his face. Once he saw the picture he cried and swore vengeance, he reported what he found to the Order and whilst they seemed normal. Yoiden was no ordinary man to fool.
He could sense their heartbeat and they were incredibly either excited or scared, maybe both.
It seemed the owner of the blood he found was an interesting criminal indeed. Yoiden returned to his city as he had people to help, he called an assassin on whomever that scum was and made sure to pray for his soul in the afterlife.
Yet when his brow fell and his face grew expressionless, a stern Yoiden called back his assassin and told him to lie to the naïve fool that was his other personality. Living was the worst punishment in this personality’s eyes, but he couldn’t kill himself otherwise he would switch back out.
This was a rare disease in this new world called split soul syndrome.
One side hated life for all it was worth and only wanted to die.
The other wanted to mimic what his parents did and so lived life to the fullest, allowing his emotions to cloud his intellect.
Both were the same person and yet had such contrasting ideas.
Yoiden continued to live as a prosperous Baron whilst Seth was only waking up.
Hours had passed and it was now midday, he had slept for a grand total of 36 hours and Seth could hardly say he enjoyed it.
But the effects were clear: his mind was back to normal, even seeming faster than before, and his body whilst not completely healed was faring much better than when he had arrived.
Bruises from dragging himself on the ground and sealed cuts were now scares left on Seth’s body. His hand in particular now looked far more sluggish than before. Instead of a clear spotless hand, he now looked like he had been to war and back and then back to war.
Obviously, the scars had not formed yet but some injuries were clearly never going to heal. Seth considered going to see a priest for one of those complete recovery spells but scars were great lessons and a good reminder in case he grew complacent, speaking of Seth couldn’t help but feel anger.
He should have planned more, he should have gathered more information. The title of mastermind had never felt so underserved.
Seth wallowed in self-pity and hate for a while before he felt the need to do something. If he wasn’t chasing immortality, he was dying and that was unacceptable.
He picked himself up and went to visit a local clinic. Doctors here were very rudimentary but at least their fares were far lower than what they would have been back home. He paid for some medicine and, once home, he applied them.
His mother had taught him basic first aid and so he knew a few things, but he was still very much a rookie. Once he was done with that Seth knew he needed to tally his wins and losses, so he arrived home and brought out a piece of paper.
He had gained 4 books, which Seth had identified as a basic mana training technique, 2 good, but useless for Seth, skills and finally a book about money.
Seth had taken the book due to its title, `Money and it’s Secrets` which obviously Seth had taken. Seth looked at the leather cover which depicted a silvery coin and started to look inside. The book contained many secrets about money but the most important ones were a new set of denominations.
After gold was platinum, then something called manite. Apparently, platinum was exclusive to wealthy nobles and manite was even rarer. It held mana inside and stored far more than every other metal by a severe degree.
According to the book it even raised the local surroundings' mana concentration which allowed for many benefits including better mana training, ranked farming, and even smithing would all lead to better results in a mana-rich environment.
There were other things, like the authenticity measures on each and every coin but for Seth, they mattered far least. These were his future targets and a wealth class he dreamed of reaching, but first, he needed to learn and to do that he needed to count his losses.
He failed the mission, that was the easiest and worst loss he had taken to date. He would have to pay compensation for that and Seth already knew what he had lost. Moral Compass was the value he had placed as a guarantee and although it stung he had to bite down and accept the loss.
He also hurt himself, badly at that and would take 2, if not three weeks before he could even attempt another heist.
His tool kit was mainly just a sleeping potion. That and his clothes.
Considering everything Seth didn’t actually lose much; it instead had given him a chance to learn. So, with a pen and paper Seth wrote down his mistakes and swore to never repeat them, and, unlike last time, he made sure he never forgot them by naming each of his scares over a mistake.
One large cut on the hands, between his pinkie finger and his ring finger, was a scar named Fake. It symbolised the fake information he was given about the soul suppressor. Another was called Pride, Information, Greed, and Stupidity. Seth truly held back no shots and let himself take it all in.
He needed to learn these things, only then could he grow as a thief and as a person.
Failure hurt like shit and never felt good, but Seth wanted to turn these negatives into positives, but he knew that was easier said than done.
Seth could not help but lean back and stare at the ceiling. He was tired, his eyelids wanted to close. He wanted to stop the endless adrenaline. To relax. Alas, life called for endless work and so Seth went back to writing.