I left my spot from the shadows and silently approached the carriages from the side. Those meant to be guarding them could hardly even muster the energy to keep themselves awake, clearly intoxicated, and their senses dulled. I found some satisfaction in my thoughts as my body slipped through the night and made it into one of the three Carriages.

Sure enough, the many items from the dungeon raid filled the back of the Carriages, all valuable and rare, some of which I couldn’t even recognize. Regardless, I couldn't stop myself from a small smile of satisfaction as I began to fill my pouches with beast cores, jewels, and other items that could fit inside the pouch I had for this purpose.

I wasn’t one to take on small petty theft jobs like this. It was simply business, and I never held any particular emotion for any job I did.

My plan for this robbery mainly consisted of slipping into the carriage and grabbing what I needed as fast as possible before running off. My skills would be more than enough for me to do that. But that plan wasn’t enough to get some small sense of amusement from it. After all, that purple-haired girl's presence was closing in on this area.

“Hey! Why are you guys dozing off while you’re supposed to be keeping watch!?” A particular voice yelled as I silently waited for her to approach the Carriage. She had probably realized that her clan members were slacking off and had probably decided to check in on them.

I just smirked with amusement as I listened to her scold her clan member about how incompetent they were at their jobs.

“We’re in Carith. There's really nothing to worry about. I think you’re overreacting a bit,” one argued back, but she seemed more annoyed by their remarks.

“No! This is a gift to our Monarch! we can't afford to have something happen to it, so don't you dare slack off on your job!” She yelled, causing her clan member to roll his eyes at her remark, and he didn't reply to that.

After a moment of silence, she huffed in anger and then made a remark I actually found interesting, "... I'm going to look around to make sure everything is alright," she said before gripping the fabric of the carriage's rear entrance, the same one I was in. The Carriage rocked a bit as she stepped up until she realized I awaited right in front of her, with a smirk of amusement and a presence of my own causing a look of shock to wash over her.

"What are you doing here?!"

I could tell she was just as surprised as to see me again, but my smirk never faltered as I stared down at her. "I’m impressed you noticed me. Most people never do." I remarked with my usual aloof demeanor, “… but you brought this on yourself,” I shrugged as my hand raised toward her.

[Wind Burst]

A blast of wind came crashing into her with enough force to knock her back off the carriage and tumbling onto the ground. Just before she landed, she slid up to her feet, looking a bit dazed and confused as she tried to regain her senses.

The next moment, my body reinforced itself with mana as I leaped from the carriage. By this point, the clamor and shouts from her clan members had alerted those inside of the inn as the doors burst open, and the remaining members closed in on me with their weapons drawn.

They weren't really much of an issue for me, “An A-ranking clan, huh? Time to test your worth then," I mused before I went to work, however, I wasn’t going to bother with any of them. Perhaps I wanted to embarrass them and their little clan, the risk was minor if they could even find a ghost in this city of thousands of faces.

Without hesitation, they charged at me. The first one that reached me swung their sword with a yell and was quickly met by a foot to his gut. His body flipped through the air before slamming into one of his comrades, causing them both to collapse to the ground.

I simply scoffed at the sight as my small display of mockery ended there. Any more risks would only cause unwanted problems. Most of my actions were minor. They still had plenty of loot to gift, and a bruised ego would be all they lost.

In the next moment, my foot pushed off of the ground away from the scene, and a small blast surged in all directions, knocking over any that stood close enough to me as I dashed down the streets of the city.

“Get him!” One of the members shouted as the rest began to give chase. It would only be a matter of time till they gave up, and I knew I’d be long gone by the time they realized that.

Their attempts were rather futile, but like any decent enough opponent, they did try to block my way. They were simple enough to deal with, a few swings here and there with just enough force to knock them aside, no real wounds.

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Until I found myself free of their rather pointless pursuit while their scurried boots and shouts could still be heard in the distance. My attention rose to the roof of the building in front of me before I stepped back a bit.

Without much thought, I leaped at the wall and kicked myself up with my legs to reach the top of the roof with ease. After that, it was only a simple matter of walking along the rooftops back to my humble abode.

As usual, my steps were unhurried as I walked, only to stop in my tracks when I once again felt a peculiar presence.

“Do you take pleasure in your actions, Cursed trash? That blackened sclera of yours… you’re one of those, Xiao. Is the exiled Isle not enough for you? You really do live up to rumors of your kind, don't you," that peculiar girl spat from behind me.

Her remark made me click my tongue, but my gaze remained forward.

I was already done with this entire job. I only bothered to look at her over my shoulder, "...hmm? Did you say something?" I hummed, wondering how this girl found me again.

“Don’t act like you didn’t hear me,” she remarked, clearly annoyed by my usual attitude.

I turned to face her properly as my gaze remained unmoving, "You’re quite the girl, huh? You can sense my core… pretty faint, isn’t it? How does it feel to know that the sad Clan you serve is full of weaklings and that the Monarchs of this domain will see you all as nothing more than a footnote? Does that make you feel better," I said bluntly and a gaze that was filled with no sympathy or remorse.

Her eyes were filled with rage at my words, “What would you know about anything?!” She yelled at me with her fists clenched. I simply rolled my eyes at her and turned my back to her once again to walk away.

She seemed stunned by my words, as if realization hit her hard before she yelled at me again. "Where do you think you're going!"

But her yells were meaningless as I simply gave her one last look over my shoulder, "Someone like you could never stop me. And that’s why you’re hesitant to even attack me, all because the rumor cursed clans are unpredictable monsters,” I mused with a slight sigh as if it was some sort of inconvenience for me, “and to be honest, I don’t think some bootlicking girl like you has it in her to stop me, you have to learn to stand on your own and not depend on your Monarch or Apostle to save you, because they won’t," I remarked with a scoff before resuming my steps.

The truth was always a hard thing for people to take in. They only saw what they wanted to see. And she clearly didn’t expect my words or the size of my core that was well under the average range. While hers outranked me quite a bit, but she never anticipated my instincts, skills, or agility. “…screw you…” She mumbled in frustration.

Her presence began to fade away, and with my growing distance, she would lose track of me, and my below-average core would fade from her senses.

After all was said and done, it was no more than a rather boring job to me. The city itself seemed to stay still for a while as the orange glow of dawn began to show over the horizon.

I hummed to myself with boredom at the sight of the sunrise while my footsteps tapped against the tiled rooftops making my way back home to the lower district.

Eventually, once closer to the lower district, I changed from rooftops to the crumbling streets as my steps carried me home into my shabby abode and down the stairs to the basement.

“I’m home," I said with little to no emotion as I dropped down onto my sofa with a small sigh and tossed the pouch, now filled with beast cores, jewels, and various items, onto the table that sat in front of me.

A single glance at my handiwork was all I needed to see. It wasn't exactly the amount I had wanted, but it would be more than enough to catch a decent price, at least. Unfortunately for me, I wasn’t able to sell these items. For the most part, those who employed me were the ones to sell it. After all, just as that girl said, the reputation I had wasn't exactly pleasant.

So I couldn't really complain about that. It was just one of those things.

Like most days after a successful job, I found myself sitting in my shabby abode staring at the ceiling without a particular interest in anything, sure the satisfaction was there, but I couldn't say it was that big of a deal. For the most part, these jobs, whether that was, stealing, fighting, or simply making someone disappear, I just took it all for what it was, no emotion, no need, just a transaction. I would be lying if I said my own ability and whatnot didn’t improve with this line of work, but many of my peculiar skills simply came as second nature. I wasn’t quite sure how to explain it, instead, I referred to it as my instincts.

The natural skill I had simply grew on its own and consisted of a faster reaction time, speed, strength, and agility. My body made the necessary adjustments to adapt to any situation. As for my mana core, it definitely wasn’t worth bragging about. Simple E or D-ranking spells were about all I could do, and reinforcing the body with mana was simple enough, still, this came easily for me. I didn't really need to focus on it, my mind seemed to know exactly what it needed to do.

In all honesty, I wasn't sure what to make of this, it was something that I had since I could remember, but it wasn't something I actively thought about, just like I never questioned why I had never been to the exiled isle or why exactly the Xiao were hated far more than any other cursed clan, in truth I just wasn't bothered by it, even if it felt close to me, like a missing piece that was always there in the back of my mind. But I didn't care enough to bother, perhaps because I didn't know how to feel about the gnawing emptiness.

A scoff of amusement left me, and it honestly felt stupid to me. How could I feel anything at all? How could I be upset at all? I had no reason to care.

“Too much thinking from you, and it might end up turning that head of yours into mush."

A voice shuttered my eardrums, causing my instincts to flinch in alarm even my gaze shifted to the origin of the voice. But I never bothered to react. I remained in my spot, resisting the sudden alarm while my instinct continued to throb at the figure opposite of me. A man with a large-brimmed hat sat awaiting my response while a rather disturbing smile rested on his face as if it were supposed to be comforting.