Character Information - Who is who?

Because I have created quite a variety of characters, I will now create little cheat sheets before a chapter for the characters who will appear in the chapter, but not for those who haven't. Please open the spoiler if you need some reminders. (Be careful. It can be a spoiler for the chapter!)

Klepto (Spider-kin)

* Known Position

* Fugitive

* Specialization(-s)

* ?*e!#+!d

* Eyecolor

* Purple Colored

* Hair Color

* Purplish-Black Colored

* Miscellaneous

* Through corpse gems, he gained various abilities

* Elder brother of Ocilia

* Antagonistic towards the Leonandra household

* Loves William

(Close-)Retainers

* None mentioned

...

Walking through the Foxteeth, he quickly maneuvered through crowds of people who seemed to have a fun time. Drunken men and women threw themselves at each other while their hormones went insane. Nothing mattered since everyone was more or less relaxed during mating season. Even the guards were much looser and got more leeway to engage with others who didn't mind.

"How long? I think we have at most two hours left."

"It's fine. Just follow me. However, be ready to act at a moment's notice. I don't know how he will react."

The night-elf behind Klepto squinted at his back, "Got it, but are you sure about the information... I trust your good intentions, but I doubt some trash will help us."

Klepto smirked, "Don't worry, just follow me."

What Klepto wanted to do was to find a particular noble: The hatchling of the rulers of the Nine-Fire household. He was a wreck and ostracized by his family because he dabbled in the underworld and was already busted multiple times for unspeakable things.

Usually, it was rare that a noble needed to go to the underworld to do certain things since their family gave them everything they needed. From drugs to professionals, even gambling was acceptable if they didn't overdo it with their debts.

Yet, Klepto discovered from his research that this individual was doing far worse things for the stupidest reasons. Since he was little, his family pampered him. Thus, he was bored and looked for kicks: Be it assassinations or thievery, he had even the glorious reputation of a lady killer, and this nickname wasn't meant in the metaphorical sense.

Klepto and his guard walked with cloaks and hoods on through a whole sludge of establishments with one goal in mind: Get him to join their side.

After some minutes, they arrived at an abandoned well behind a rundown bar. Without hesitation, they jumped quickly down and landed inside the sewers.

The night-elf wanted to hold his nose but only bumped against the mask, forgetting he was wearing one, "I hate your underworld. I don't understand why you always build it in the sewers."

Klepto ignored his guard and kept walking forward through dozens of junctions, always looking at the signs on the wall that showed him where he needed to go to arrive at the red-light district part of the underworld.

Prostitution wasn't illegal, but some things were when certain customers had particular tastes. The underworld was there to provide for such exceptional needs for a similar exceptional price.

The existence of such a black market was also how the asylum camp could finance its operations. The new leadership sold their people to establishments that were more than happy to buy and use them for things people would pay a lot of gold for.

Since many were from the wind-djinn and night-elf race, who looked beautiful and aged much slower than beast-kin, it was easy to pick some elders who looked good enough and were about to die because of their living conditions to sell them to the underworld. It was a great deal for the camp: They had one less drag to feed while getting money.

Klepto cared little about this but knew the camp was on edge because of this practice. The only thing that held them all together was the hope that the new leadership could bring them into a new territory, which they would then defend with some help from other nobles.

After some more minutes, he found the right entrance, which looked like a wall but was actually a mana item that produced a magical illusion. Without hesitation, he walked into the wall and arrived at a tunnel.

For some reason, his night-elf partner arrived only after some time beside Klepto from his shadow, 'Probably hesitated to enter, tsk. I hope he will not fail me in the end.'

Klepto ignored him and didn't even twitch when the night-elf appeared beside him and just kept walking. He was heavily annoyed that his last hit didn't work and that the whole of Wolfsteeth's underworld looked for him. He was dead meat when someone found out who he was, and his head would probably be presented to the Leonandra's on a silver plate as an apology.

For any underworld to operate inside a big city, they would need implied consent from the fief lord or lady. Otherwise, they would be raided day and night by the soldiers and would also try to replace the rulers by all means necessary. Thus, a symbiotic relationship was needed where the underworld would control itself to some degree, and the rulers wouldn't go too much against them.

Therefore, the underworld of Wolfsteeth put a hit for an enormous sum of gold out on anyone who had information on Klepto and the broker who put the deal to the public. He had, at most, a couple of hours before a letter arrived in Foxteeth with the same hit on him. Thus, he was heavily strapped for time and needed to hurry.

After some minutes of walking, he heard people partying and talking. The noises made him twitch slightly, his movements became more erratic, and his upper eyes changed repeatedly between shades of red. Something inside him boiled when he heard and saw all the people further away.

He took out a potion and quickly gulped it down. After drinking it, he exhaled red mist.

From behind came the voice from his guard, "Listen, if you don't feel well, we can always come another time. Not like..."

Klepto's energy exploded, and he concentrated a blood-reddish aura like that of a monster toward the guard. His voice was solemn, but his eyes showed that he wanted to rip him apart, "No need. Will is waiting for me, so let's end it quickly."

The night-elf heavily sweated while looking down and nodded without saying anything. After seeing this, Klepto turned around and began to walk again.

As he walked out of the tunnel, he saw a giant open plaza with multiple houses around it, like the central area of a village. All over the place were women and men half naked, standing around, chatting, drinking, or doing other things. It was chaotic and full of beast-kin of every subrace.

Klepto arrived at the underworld red-light district where the ones with weird tastes come to enjoy themselves, and he despised every one of them.

However, even if he wanted to do nothing more than to set the whole place ablaze, he saw a lot of guards around the site, and his new skills told him that they were not weak.

He opened a little piece of parchment and mumbled the name of an establishment, "The Happy Whip... well, the name says it all."

While walking through a group of masked beast-kin, he noticed the smell was very monotone but always slightly different. They all used unique perfumes to cover up their smell so nobody could identify them.

Even though Klepto was a spider-kin, he also had, by nature, a great sense of smell. Not only canine-kin had it under the beast-kin races, but they just had the best, while almost every other subrace also had a great perception in this department compared to humans, dwarves, etc.

A case of content theft: this narrative is not rightfully on Amazon; if you spot it, report the violation.

Of course, other subraces sometimes had better senses than other departments. It always depended. So this was why he tried not to get wild in this slush of smells, which he found utterly disgusting.

Yet, not only was his nose assaulted, but also his eyes. Some beast-kin held leashes with various races restrained to them: Goblins, dwarves, humans, gnomes, etc. He even saw something very rare. A giant was used as a riding animal for some weirdos. Some skills became active as he found this sight one of disgrace.

He only glanced at them shortly and searched for the Happy Whip, trying to ignore his skills acting up, 'Where is the... ah! Here we go."

He saw a building that looked inconspicuous. However, he could smell that this was actually a slaughterhouse, 'Blood, and a lot.'

He activated his energy and went inside with his night-elf guard, who was looking left and right in nervousness. This behavior irritated Klepto, but he would vent off his stress in but a moment.

...

Inside The Happy Whip, a private room

A fox-kin stood before a gnome girl and boy, holding a small dagger that looked very special. It was very thin, small, and sharp, with a rounded and blunt tip. He specially imported it from the high-demon territory, where this unique medicine tool became a hot commodity.

"Hm, you scream too little for my taste."

He slowly was about to cut under the eye of the gnome girl while the boy watched, frightened. He couldn't turn his head away as an apparatus firmly held his head in place and his eyes glued open and sometimes moisturized by the servant who stood beside the fox-kin.

Both gnomes already had no fingernails and broken teeth. All they wanted was to die as this was Helvede for them, their version of the Outer Circle for beast-kin.

The fox-kin knew all this and enjoyed himself thoroughly for the last hours. Even though he looked stoic on the outside, inwardly, he was elated. Something about doing things like this while the mating season was going on had a certain stimulating effect on him.

He didn't know if it was because it was highly illegal or if it had something to do with his sadistic side. He couldn't decide.

Yet, his private time was cut short as the door suddenly opened before he could snip the lower eyelid, and a spider-kin came in nonchalantly. The servant tried to stop him, but the moment she tried to grab him, he grabbed her head instead, and his almost seemingly infinite energy flooded her. After some seconds of struggle, she became limp and died.

Klepto let her fall to the floor, and the fox-kin became suddenly alarmed, knowing he had no chance in a fight and wanted to flee immediately. However, when he tried to move, an arrow grazed his arm slightly, "Don't move."

Another person held his bow up and was ready to shoot another arrow. Klepto came forward with the same elegance as a noble and started talking softly, "My my, no need to be frightened..." He turned to his partner, "...and aggressive."

When the person put his bow down, the spider-kin looked the fox-kin deeply into his eyes, "Don't worry, Mr. Fiorello. We are here for a deal you can decline, and nothing will happen to you. Do you want to hear us at least out..."

He suddenly chuckled and held a hand before his mouth, "Hehe, I am sorry for the very rude entrance, but we are a bit in a rush, so it was necessary to act this aggressively. My name is, by the way, Klepto, and as I said, I apologize again for the aggressiveness."

Fiorello squinted his eyes and nodded. However, before he listened to him, he first killed the gnomes with a quick slash around their throats and sighed inwardly, 'They were expensive.'

Fiorello looked back at Klepto, "Okay, what is the exact deal, and how can I, one of the most untalented pups of the Nine-Fire household, help you?"

He intentionally made himself look bad so those two madmen would leave quickly again. He wasn't untalented, just a disgrace to his family because of his accumulated reputation over time.

He wasn't too keen on working with them as such people would only drag him into some problem where he would need his family to buy him out. It was something he especially didn't want.

He also activated numerous ridiculously high-level and rare social skills. Worst case, he could hypnotize them for a moment and flee till the guards caught those madmen.

The red-light district in the underworld was highly secure, so such things couldn't happen. Therefore, their entrance surprised him as there were usually very skilled guards stationed inside and outside the building.

Klepto smiled at these words, "You know, I was also like you: Untalented and despised by my family till I broke free with the help of someone..."

However, he stopped momentarily and looked at him in surprise while wobbling, "Oh, I see you are really talented. Such a strong aura which can be barely felt..."

Klepto shook his head, "Well, if it makes you feel safer, please use it as freely as you see fit, Mr. Fiorello."

Fiorello was baffled that the spider-kin could feel him out immediately and even more surprised that it barely worked. However, he could see that his guard was much more affected by him as he became very lax in his posture, 'By the circle, who are they?!'

Klepto continued, "What I wanted to say was that I want to propose a deal. I want to give you the freedom you want, you desire. You will be detached from any responsibility that comes with your name and will have all the funds to do what you want without anyone trying to bind you to anyone or anything."

When Fiorello heard this, he immediately became interested. He wanted to be free and far away from his household, which put shackles on him. Expecting him to follow a certain conduct day in and day out.

In the beginning, it was maybe fun to seduce younger girls at the balls he visited, but after some time, it was boring. He wanted more.

He had a terrible side. No, terrible would be a too noble word to describe his desires, which he couldn't live out freely in the underworld and always needed to hide like a rat, fearing his family would find out.

Luckily, all they found was that he dabbled in some more minor illegal things like thievery and assassinations against spouses who cheated. When he got caught one time, all he got was a year-long house arrest. This was also the time rumors spread about him in the territory.

However, Fiorello wanted excitement, but it was impossible to take that path as he was bound to his household, and he always feared that they would force him back.

His mind became mumbled as he thought about it more. The desire inside him, which rested like a snowball, suddenly became like the sun. He wanted more. Much more.

So, he listened exactly to what the Spider-kin in front of him said since he had no reason to. If he wanted to blackmail him, he wouldn't try to make a deal. If he wanted to kill him, he could do it too. It's not like he couldn't flee quickly and make a getaway before they even found him in these parts of Foxteeth.

Klepto continued, "...I want to help you stage your death and pay you a considerable amount of gold if you do like we say and help us eliminate some pests."

Fiorella raised an eyebrow, "I am no assassin and have barely any talent when it comes to fighting."

He lied again to be on the saver side, but there was a kernel of truth. He wasn't a fighter and could only kill when his victim didn't expect it, so to say an assassin.

Klepto shook his head and explained his plan to him in all detail while not caring why his new partner in crime even lied. In between, they needed to flee the establishment and talk till morning while haggling the price of what Fiorello would get—ending it with a handshake and a new appointment where they would sign a more thorough contract, together with a trusted underworld broker who would hold the gold till the contract was fulfilled.

...

Many hours later, outside of Foxteeth

Klepto leaned against the wall and breathed heavily while smiling at the success of the negotiations. The night elf guard was already gone for his next task and left him alone after getting the reassurance that he was fine.

He could see that Fiorello's skills were excellent, but his were a notch above. So he manipulated him like a marionette without him even knowing.

First, get in and show that he was more of a fighter than a manipulator, and slowly let his desire flare up while acting as if he got affected by his skills. Of course, there were more things he did, but they were already like child's play to him.

Klepto's manipulation skills were excellent as he could precisely deduce what Fiorello wanted and who he was after seeing him. Plus, he was nothing more than an open book with all the information gathered.

A ridiculously beautiful young fox-kin with a talent for socializing was somewhere in the underworld doing unspeakable things while looking overly bored. It was like he screamed to give him something interesting to do while saving him from his household, which chained him to a certain conduct he was expected to follow. An open book, nothing more.

His solar plexus suddenly started hurting, "Argh!"

Klepto's thoughts were interrupted as enormous pain invaded him. He had, at best, a couple of years left before he broke. What did it mean? Everyone who took corpse crystals became unstable and a monster, and it wasn't meant metaphorically but literally.

He opened his system window to see the progress of his degradation:

image [https://raw.githubusercontent.com/kiruschka/kiruschka.github.io/main/Chapter_61/Klepto_Broken_System.svg]

The window became worse and slowly crumbled into pieces while glitching out. Only sapient races were honored to receive a system window, and everyone who violated certain taboos became cursed.

Klepto didn't believe these fairy tales and knew the real reason: It was that the corpse crystal's skills, experience, and knowledge were violently inserted, thus damaging the personhood as it merged with the one from whom the crystals were processed.

Another problem was that most of them were impure as they were processed sloppily, accelerating his already damaged mental state.

What did the damage look like besides the broken system window? He became a monster. Like wild demons, they had no system window, slowly losing their reason, which was the minimum requirement needed to be seen as a member of a sapient race.

Rarely were corpse crystals without any negative consequences, like when the one who took it was very high leveled, around the second body modification, and the corpse crystal barely Tier 1. In those cases, the personhood one took in was nothing more than a drop inside an ocean.

However, he wasn't one of the elite, and he took multiple corpse crystals, at first from a noble and later from warriors and con artists.

'Two or three years, at best.'

Klepto gave himself this timeframe before going entirely crazy, where even the expensive potions wouldn't help him anymore. He slowly deteriorated, and at such moment, he thought of his family and how he missed them. He imagined eating at the dirty table at their old apartment over the filthy bar. They did not have much but each other.

The little reason left in him brought him to tears, but only for a moment, quickly interrupted by other voices screaming at him. He was going crazy, and his only wish welled up: To serve his only love, which never would leave him. William said so to him, and he believed it without any doubt in mind.

"I can hold on..."

He took another potion out and downed it. It was the only moment where he could relax for more than a minute before all his thoughts came rushing back.

Klepto leaned back and hugged himself, hoping that a good night's sleep would give him the peace he desired in such moments.