I opened the door to the pharmaceuticals there were a lot of people inside. I suppose it is spring a lot of people tend to get sick during this time. I went towards the shelf of herbs and looked at it very carefully.

“What are you doing here? Lovre?”

One of the employees grab my wrist and pulling it away from the shelf.

“What? Can’t a guy just buy himself some medicine?”

“I know who you are Lovre Don Faust! You are nothing but a thief”

“Using my full name huh? Indeed very scary. I promise I’m not here to steal anything. In fact I’m giving you a deal.”

I then pull out perfectly fine herbs out of my jacket.

“These are herbs that I found while I was out exploring. They are said to be a form of base for futuristic medicine compounds. They’re yours for only 2 pieces of silver”

“Why would I trust some thief? For all I know you stole that from a noble from another city”

“Au contraire my fellow man. This was acquired legally and tested. I wasn’t supposed to say this but… this was a reward from a quest that came from Dr. Redorance. The genius doctor that was able to conjure healing magic. In fact I even got his autograph”

I showed him a picture of the doctor signed and his eyes widened at the proof. He told me to wait as he goes to talk to the owner. After waiting a few minutes the owner comes out and bought the herbs I was selling.

“Truly an excellent purchase. Anyway I must be going I have other businesses to attend to.”

I then leave the store with a smile on my face.

What an idiot to think that a person would fall for such a stupid con. I tossed the two silver coins in the air and catch them. As I was walking away triumphantly I bumped into someone.

“My bad… I wasn’t looking where I was going.”

Of course as I bumped into him I reached for the pocket. My deed was caught however as he held my wrist. I look up to see it was a group of knights. I smiled.

“What were you doing hand? You know better than to steal someone’s coins.” I then slapped my hand that he held. He just stared at me for an uncomfortable amount of time.

“Um… Can I—“

“Attention! You are given the opportunity to see our great and humble leader bow your head and greet him properly!”

I was rudely interrupted as he yells at my face. The soldiers step back and made a walkway. The one who walked on it was a man elegantly armoured with white that makes his red hair pop out more than it should, the current captain of the chevalier and most importantly the crowned prince of Alvarez. The knight let’s go of my hand and the prince looks at me. I instinctively stiffened up and bowed down.

“Lovre Don Faust”

I raise my head.

“Look if it’s about the herbs earlier no problem… I can return the money and take back the weed I plucked outside the city.”

I said with a nervous laugh. Why is the captain here?! And why did he bring a company?! I didn’t do anything wrong…. per se. Oh crap people started gathering, there goes my peaceful life….

“By the decree of the king you are invited to the castle, we have procured you a form of transportation.”

A white carriage then comes by to a halt and the knights open the door.

“Not to question you but… What is going on here?”

I asked.

“You, Sir Lovre have been blessed to become one of the heroes of Remeditian.”

“Sorry… let me ask that again. What’s going on here?”

“All will be explained momentarily. I Leopold Von Astrea shall accompany you to the castle.”

I look around and I was surrounded by knights and other people as well. This isn’t a request this was a demand! Seeing as there is no other choice I went inside the carriage along with Leopold.

The carriage was filled with silence as it goes down the road towards the castle.

“Um… I’m not going to be put to dungeon right?”

I asked worriedly

“No. We would never put someone in the dungeon for such petty thieving.”

Did he just say petty thieving?!

“For your information, I’m probably one of the best thieves you’ll find! I’ve handled many valuable items and sold them for great prices!”

I held my chest high and felt proud. Until I remembered I was talking to the head of all knights.

“Forget that I said that”

What a blunder! To think I would admit to my own crimes in front of the head! More importantly the prince!

I was yelling at myself in frustration until Leopold told me that we have arrived. We both got off the carriage and an entourage of knights awaited our arrival. The castle was huge, bigger than any building you’ll see here in the Alvarez kingdom. The knights followed us as we enter the castle. The inside was majestic, lined with decoration truly worthy of royalty. I by myself would never be able to get in here, there were guards posted everywhere I looked. If the guards weren’t following me I would be procuring many valuables here. We then reached the door to the throne room.

The narrative has been illicitly obtained; should you discover it on Amazon, report the violation.

“The king is waiting inside. Do not worry I will be with you”

“That’s absolutely reassuring your highness”

“Please just call me Leopold”

Great! Now I don’t have to decide every time I try to address him. We enter the throne room and there were 6 people standing in front of the king and they all looked at me as we enter.

“Ah… The fourth hero has finally arrived”

Hero? Is that what the king said?

“Him? He’s the fourth hero? He’s nothing but a thief! I’ve seen him stealing and cheating people for coins!”

That lady I recognize with her white hair and almost pale skin. There’s not much elven presence here in Alvarez especially a snow elf but her family runs the whole business district here. Safe to say she has it out for me. I did steal from the businesses they own. She was accompanied by a female knight which I feel like I’ve seen before but can’t put my finger on it. She was wearing the regular silver armour and her blonde hair was straight down, the blue eyes is something peculiar. Usually only those of royal descent can acquire blue eyes. The other four were people I’m sure I haven’t seen before. There was another woman wearing an attire that looks similar to a witch. Along with her is another knight a male one this time. He was huge probably someone of mixed blood with giants, he was wearing a black armour that I have never seen before. It covered all of his body and face. Lastly there was a boy not much older than ten, he was wearing rags for clothes and dirty all over the place he might be from the slums, it reminds me of my olden days before I got invited to become a thief. Along with him is a knight with white armour just like Leopold the knight had a helmet on so I couldn’t really identify anything. As I step up along the other people gathered here the king begins to speak.

“I know this may have been a surprise to all of you. All of you must know the waging war between us, the people of the races against the demonic beings.”

Almost everyone does. It’s been going on for years now. I myself don’t know much about the reason why, but many innocent lives were lost along the front lines all adventurers dream of going there to make a name for themselves. The king himself has been up there protecting his people. For someone who was at the frontlines he looked well maintained he didn’t look old at all he looked about the same as Leopold over here.

“Each one of you have been given a skill which surpasses those of normal races. They are called the sin series skills.”

What? Sin series skill? All living beings are born with a skill that can never be changed. What you are born with is what you get. You cannot get anymore skill than what you currently have. No one other than adventurers care enough to look at their skills. You can only see your skill through an appraiser, they themselves cost at least a gold coin. That’s basically buying yourself a small house!

“All of you will be strengthening yourselves so you may put an end to this war that has been going on for too long.”

“You’re highness not to bite my thumb at you but we’re simply citizens of Alvarez regardless of our stature”

When she said stature she sent me a cold glare. This snow elf…

“That may be true however I will show you proof that you carry a skill unparalleled to those of others.”

The king gestured for someone to come in. The door opened behind us and came an old man with a crystal ball.

“I personally hired an appraiser to show you your current skills”

The old man makes his way to the snow elf and made her place her hands on the crystal. She then made a surprised face.

Pfft… like it’s anything spectacular! Heroes?! That’s nothing but fairy tale the only way to win the war is to show who is more powerful. The old man made his way towards me and told me to place my hand on the crystal. I scoffed at it while doing so.

Wait…

What…?

A screen pops up in front of me showing my skills. In there it says:

Skills:

Thievery

Cunning

Bartering

Sneak

∞ Lust

I now understand why I work so well being a thief I have all the assets I needed. Though I knew I had lust as a skill I didn’t know it was one of the sin skills, more importantly what does the symbol mean in front of it? The old man then continued his way down to the other two they both showed the same face as I and that elven woman.

“As you can see each of you carry a skill with a symbol in front. That is the sin skill. It is said to hold power unimaginable. That is our key to winning this war.”

The woman with the witch attire raises her hand.

“We may have the skills but we don’t even know what it does.”

I agree with her, true it is an unordinary skill but we don’t know what it does, I mean I do but no one else does… I think. The blonde knight speaks up.

“Which is why we are here. You will all embark on a journey guided by us the appointed knights to improve the skill creating the heroes you will become before you all head off to the frontlines.”

I then cleared my throat.

“I literally have so many questions… You are all willing to send us? We are all nothing but civilians. A spoiled princess, some sort of witch, and a child. Am I the only one who sees a problem with this?”

The blonde knight looks at me with a cold glare. Seriously who is this woman?

“Hold your tongue you thief. You would question the judgement our king when he has shown clear evidence of your skills!”

“Look lady… I don’t even know who you are, but even if we saw the skill that we have. It clears nothing, for all we know it’s a useless skill. It would be better to hire more adventurers and help end the war.”

The king raises his hand signalling us to be silent.

“I understand your doubts… Therefore we shall clear it right now. You are to use the sin skills on the knights beside you. We shall start with the heiress of the Claude family. Felicity if you would please.”

The snow elf apparently named Felicity looks at the blonde knight and puts her hand in front.

“How do I use greed? I know how to use spells however skills are different.”

“Milady it’s simple just think up of the skill and it should activate. With your aptitude of conjuring it should be easy.”

Then as if she was holding light itself Felicity's palm started to grow bright. We were all forced to close our eyes and when we opened them, the blonde knight was kneeling on the ground panting. Felicity starts to smile.

“I… I did it… I took one of her skills! Not only that I managed to gain appraisal from it too!”

I look over to the old man and he also fell to the floor. Leopold quickly helps him up. The old man starts to shake and stutter.

“I… I lost… My… Skill!”

The old man was in complete disarray. I looked back at Felicity currently laughing at the scenario.

“This is an amazing skill! I gained appraisal and sword mastery without a cinch this is wonderful! I think I can return the skills here Alice, your skill”

Felicity raises her hand and returned the skill back

“What about me madame?”

The old man said meekly.

Felicity releases a dark grin.

“Who cares about your skill? That’s all you have you’re nothing but trash”

What? It was because of him we got to see we have the skill and now you are just planning to discard him? I look at the king and he didn't say anything. This corrupt world is and its nobles are nothing but trash…

The old man was dragged off by the knights that were on guard

“Please give it back! That was the only way I can support my family!”

The door closed behind us. Leopold walks beside me and pats my shoulder.

What? What do you want? You’re probably the same as them.

The king then stands up and raises his hands.

“Now you all see what power these sin skills possess. These are skills unmatched by anyone. Please make your way towards the front lines and help stop this war.”

The king then issued us to leave. The knights all knelt down and escorted all of us out of the castle.