When I left the inn, I had two followers on my tail, which didn't surprise me slightly. I even heard the boss giving them their orders, telling them to follow me from a distance, and make sure I had the items I had alluded to have, and use their magical device to communicate the result.
A smart precaution … pity it relied on my arrogance and apparent inability to use Charisma. I wasn't entirely sure I could use Charisma to give orders, but with my other examples of success, I believed I could figure out a way after some experimentation.
Under different circumstances, I would have applied some simple to get rid of my tails, but considering I needed them to follow me, I just walked out of the growing town instead… I still made a few unexpected turns and double-backs to test if I had other followers, but I acted like I just got lost at the confusing outlays and let the two follow me.
My trackers didn't impress me. They maintained the same distance carefully, making it very easy to detect them even without Perception.
I shrugged, not exactly torn up about the incompetence of my opponents. I just needed to make sure my aggressive scam went without a hitch.
When I arrived at the forest, I killed the beasts on my path easily, not having any concern about showing my combat abilities. For an hour, I pulled my followers deeper into the forest, until we arrived at a nice concealed spot … then I disappeared from their view.
Speed Stat was truly fascinating.
Before they could even register it, I was behind my two followers, my Charisma falling on them like a hammer, bringing the full power. "Send your boss the signal confirming the deal is going without a problem," I ordered.
I was fascinated by the result. I expected it to work, but I didn't expect them to suddenly turn blank as they pulled their devices, and pressed a few buttons. The devices burned with a little blue flare, showing they were single-use tools.
Meaning their boss didn't expect more messages.
Unfortunately, their fate was sealed. I couldn't let them go around tell my ability to use Charisma, not even when I was in disguise. "Sorry, boys, tough business," I said as I dealt with them…
Then, I changed my disguise, looking like a refugee once more, and went back to the town.
Meeting at the agreed spot would be the height of stupidity, as they would be crowded and armed. I could try to fight against them … but it would be a loud and long affair. Losing was a definite possibility as I had no idea the extent of their abilities, and Charisma could be used for defensive purposes, I couldn't just repeat the earlier trick.
If I had a better understanding of the magical detection methods, I would have tried to find where they had been storing the dungeon products and tried to hit the source … but if I had that capability, I wouldn't have bothered with this charade in the first place.
I needed to hit their cart on the way.
There was one risk. I would be screwed if they used one of those magical flying carts. Luckily, that was unlikely, even if they had access to such a device. It would be too high-profile for smuggling.
I waited in the general direction of the meeting spot, hoping to find a clue. It came half an hour later, in the form of one of the bouncers at the door, disguised as an ordinary refugee, leading about forty men. An impressive army.
There was no cart.
I wondered if it was a double-cross, but that didn't last long. Five minutes later, I saw a cart being driven by a familiar coachman, my fellow card player. Four men followed the cart at a distance, trying to act unrelated.
They were trying to hide the transaction from the others. Too bad for them it made my job even easier. I moved forward, where the forest started, and climbed to a tree. I picked the spot carefully. After the guard line defended the town, but before where the guard regiment was waiting.
I perched, waiting, and just as the cart was under me, I flared my Charisma, gathering the beasts toward us. "What's going on!" a guard shouted. "Is there a leak in the crates?"
"I don't know, help first!" the coachman shouted as the cart came to a stop, and they started fighting. I paused for a moment, watching them fight, taking note of their abilities. They were using an assortment of weapons — two swords, two spears, a dagger, and an ax — and while they were significantly higher quality than my halberd, none of them was magical, giving a reason for their enthusiasm for a deal.
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My focus was on their battle performance. Their battle didn't show any sign of coordination as they fought against the beasts that approached us from all sides, but they didn't need it to deal with the rush of the beasts.
Depending on their class, I guessed there were somewhere between levels forty to sixty. It was hard to guess accurately as I lacked a wide range of samples, but considering the impact of the first and second promotions, I expected the people above level sixty to fight much better — well, at least have significantly more firepower.
Their skills were more interesting. Four bodyguards used combat skills that were roughly at the same level as the unfortunate swordsman that attacked me, which I guessed to be a lower-tier combat skill. Only the coachman, who was using a spear, showed significantly better ability in combat.
I needed to be careful. Even without reinforcements, they had the ability to take me down, assuming they could coordinate against a bigger threat — which was not a given, but right now, it was safer to overestimate their capabilities.
If it wasn't for Speed, I would have considered retreating, but with its strategic flexibility, the threat was significantly lesser. I waited until the four guards and the coachman was distracted by the attack, picking a point when none of them was looking at the cart, and dropped on top of it, and slipped in before they could complete the mission.
No sudden notification alerted me about an energy source. Even as I moved behind the carts, hoping to stay concealed, a whisper escaped my mouth. "Hope they are not trying to cheat me…"
That concern didn't last for long. When I settled behind one of the crates, I noticed its surface was studded with silver runes. Silver that was too warm to be just decorative. And, a glance was enough to confirm the same runes along the bottom of the cart.
Likely to prevent mana from gathering monsters.
"Jackpot," I murmured as I pressed my magical dagger against one of the crates, and forced it open. The soft, noticeable glow of the mana stones hit me. I smiled, but it only lasted a moment. The mana stones were glowing, but it wasn't the bright, lively blue that had filled my view when that flying cart had been damaged during my escape.
It was barely a candle to its roaring flame.
"Maybe they'll help when they were all open," I murmured as I rapidly opened the other carts. It increased my risk of getting caught, but since it was the difference between success and failure, I was willing to take the risk.
A risk that was yet to pay off even as I was forcing the last crate open, though, when I did so, I met with another surprise. The glow hit my face, but it was not blue.
It was red.
Before I could even react, I felt a stirring in my depths, and the red energy started flowing toward me. I would have panicked if I hadn't felt the Archery of Destruction skill, one that had been silent for a long time even when tried to use, stir.
I was tempted to run away before the red energy could touch me, but I didn't want to waste the opportunity … especially since, like other times, the red energy was barely a flicker compared to the flood I faced.
I decided to take the risk. It was a dubious decision to allow that energy to touch me, but I still let it succeed.
[Archery of Destruction (1/X)]
[Archery of Destruction (2/X)]
Only two notifications appeared while the red energy drained completely from the stones, turning them into dust, and, at the same time, I felt a stirring in my mind. A voice, yet not, similar to the effects of Charisma.
Begging to be used, begging to spread death and destruction.
"Resilience for the win." I was glad, because those whispers were separated from me by a giant sturdy wall, trivial to silence. I wouldn't have liked to try to suppress it without Resilience.
Unfortunately, with the chaos mana consumed, I found myself facing another problem. My amazing scam, all for nothing.
"Don't tell me I had gone through all that trouble for nothing," I murmured. The risk I took was one thing … but wasting a full day was something else, especially while the guild had so many things to address still.
I was measuring the merits of another risky behavior and weighing against an early retreat, when a voice reached my ear. "Stop the cart, and prepare to be inspected, in the name of House Maell," a voice shouted.
"What are you talking about, you incompetent thug," answered the coachman with a shout. "Since when you are not licking the boots of two-bits merchants."
"Since I caught you lot smuggling forbidden items, of course," he answered.
"Do you think a few of you would be enough to take us down!" the coachman shouted. "Look at us, our reinforcements are already here," he said, which was correct. The few that possessed speed among their group were about to join them, already moving since the beasts started attacking, and without a doubt, the others would arrive as well.
"We don't need to," came the answer. "We just need to keep you in place before the guards arrive, and we receive our bounty," came the answer, followed by a laugh.
"Take them down, quickly," the coachman ordered, not willing to surrender, and the battle started.
Playing exactly my hand, and I didn't even have to work. While the battle started, I filled one of the crates with as much as mana stones as it could fit, glad that they used large crates to make it look more imposing. I managed to fit two-thirds of all available mana stones into one crate, eighty-three stones to be exact, ranging between the size of an egg and a fist.
Then, just as they started fighting, I escaped the cart, carrying one silver-studded crate in hand, my speed allowing me to disappear before they could notice my presence.
Not the great reward I had been hoping for … but at least, not a total waste.