Hannah woke up at dawn, got up and stretched. She had leveled up last night. Leveled up twice in fact! She was feeling ecstatic. She looked outside their "window", which was just an opening in their room to the outside. She was getting the hang of stealing. She smiled but caught herself. She got up and looked at Esme, who was sleeping soundly. She decided to let her sleep a little while longer. She went out to the communal bathroom, which was just an isolated room with a hole in the ground. She was the first one there as usual, but it still didn't help with the smell. There was usually quite a big queue at peak hours though. She thought about taking a day off today since they obtained quite a big haul yesterday. Money wasn't going to be an issue for a few days. She was quite sure Esme would say no though.

"Damn it. I miss my old bathroom."

She got out of the room and sighed. These people really needed to work on hygiene. There was no paper towel, no flush and nowhere to wash your hands. That bathroom was a nightmare.

She went back towards her room to wake up Esme. She looked at her peaceful face and gently woke her up. Esme was up instantly and after eating some potatoes for breakfast, the girls were ready to go out. Hannah held Esme's hand to object. She voiced her idea about a day off.

"Hey, hold on. How about we take a day off? We deserve it don't you think?"

Esme looked at her hand, then Hannah, then her hand again and spoke.

"There is nothing to do in this inn. We might as well be productive if we can't do anything else. We need need to level up."

Hannah let go of her hand and looked down.

"Though, if you really want a-"

"No, you're right. We need to be productive. Let's go to the usual place then?"

"Sure. Sorry."

The girls finally got out of the inn and wandered around slowly. Waiting to rush hour to hit. As they got closer to the market, they noticed a commotion. An even bigger one than usual. A man was standing on a wooden platform, giving a speech. Hannah instantly recognized him as the man she stole from yesterday and hid behind a tall man who was in the crowd. She focused her attention on the speech.

"For the past week, and even longer, [Thieves] have terrorized our market! The city guard always says to be patient! They won't do anything! I say enough is enough!"

The crowd cheered in a unified roar. Hannah and Esme were pale. Hannah's heart acted like it wanted to get out of her chest. She was frozen in place.

"They have stolen from dozens of us! dozens! These are no ordinary petty thieves! They're professionals! I'm sure they're at least level 20, and one of them has a [Charm] skill! She used it on me just yesterday!"

A gasp went out in the crowd. Level 20 [Thieves]? That was bad news. They could effectively kill their business if the guard didn't act. Not only were the people selling in danger, but the people buying as well. The man continued.

"From our dozens of victims, we know a few things. There are two thieves, both women. One is blonde, short and one has brown hair and is tall for a woman. I couldn't get a good look since my memory's been fuzzy after getting charmed but this is a good start! If the guard won't do their job just because we're in the poorer parts of Winsor, we'll do it for them! Who's with me?!"

The author's tale has been misappropriated; report any instances of this story on Amazon.

Another roar went out from the crowd Esme grabbed Hannah and they walked away from the back of the crowd. No one was talking. They were just walking back silently towards the inn. They should have seen this coming. They did know it was coming. But so fast? Hannah had expected it to at least take a few months for it to get this bad.

They were at a loss.

-------------------------------

Morten Lindvig was the captain of the city guard of Winsor. He had not wanted this job, but he was forced to take it, as he was the highest leveled [Guard] after his old [Captain] was killed by the by the boss of what was then a newly formed gang. But now, only seven years later, that same gang controlled Winsor from the shadows. It had a name, although a simple one. They were called The Mob. Their boss, Skull, was rumored to be level 40. Morten didn't feel like testing that theory.

"Captain, the [Mayor] of the Lower Winsor district is here to see you. He says it's urgent."

"Send him in."

Morten sighed. What would it be about this time? The infrastructure problems, maybe. Or the thieves? Whichever it was, he had struck a deal with the Mob years ago. No [Guards] were to go to Lower Winsor, and there was to be no involvement from the city guard with the district. That was their official territory. Going there would basically be declaring war on Skull. Morten shuddered at that thought.

"Captain."

"Eliott. Sit down. What is the issue with your district."

He sat and instantly started to speak.

"Thank you, captain. Well you see, there is an... inconvenience going on at the moment. A... protest."

Morten's eyes widened. A protest? How could it have gotten this far? What was the Mob doing, allowing protests? He saw the [Mayor] look at him in fear and calmed down. This was fine as long as it didn't spread."

"What is the protest about, Eliott?"

"Well, It's about the recent [Thieves] that have made their apparition in the district sir. They strike each day at the market. With all due respect captain, I already asked for help with this, days ago. Please. We need to send some [Guards] there to calm the people down!"

Morten bit his lip. He had to. But he couldn't, or the whole city guard–no, the whole city would be in danger. Plus, with the recent influx of adventurers due to a whole new part of the dungeon being found... He had to do something. And then it dawned on him.

"I'm afraid the city guard is occupied at the moment but I have a solution. Hire adventurers"

"What? Adventurers? But most of them usually don't want to do guarding jobs unless it pays extremely well."

"Then pay them, Eliott. You're the richest man in town. Think I don't know about your "deals" with the Mob? Pay them. Five silver coins per hour."

"Yes, Captain."

And so the [Mayor] left. That was how things went in Winsor. And in most Human cities in fact. The city guard ruled overall. [Mayors] were elected every eight years, but in most cities, that was mostly a sham. Most people became [Mayors] to enrich themselves. This was a huge contrast to the Drake and Lizardfolk cities, who were mostly Republic city-states squabbling between each other. All Humans except the ones in Sahir answered to one man. Their [Emperor] Vitelius. Although they were ruled by his oldest son, Jonas.

It was a shame really. A shame that he was the one that was picked to be [Captain]. But he wasn't one. He didn't have the class. He was just a [Guard] and a [Soldier] who used to serve in the army. He supposed it was the world's way of saying he didn't deserve this job.

-------------------------------

Hannah and Esme were back at their inn. The [Innkeeper] had thankfully not clocked them. After all, they weren't the only small blonde and tall brunette girls out here. As long as they weren't described in more detail, and their names weren't given, they'd be ok. That was the consensus. But still, it was all so sudden.

"T-the first thing we should do is find a way to hide our faces. A mask would be ideal. Let's go buy one tomorrow. Our second priority is slowing down the rate of our active days. I'm sorry, I should have listened to you. We shouldn't have stolen every day. No, we shouldn't have become [Thieves] in the first place!"

Esme smashed her first on her bed. She was clearly trying to hold back tears, and she wasn't succeeding. Hannah grabbed her shoulders firmly.

"No. We both made mistakes, but now there's no going back, Esme. We're in this together. You were right, we need to level up to survive and escape. The entire town is on our asses now, and it's only a matter of time until they arrest us or settle on a scapegoat. We should get a mask or a long hood or something."

It was a terrible thing. They were feeling lost. Why were they brought here? What were they supposed to do? Right now, only one answer came to mind.

They had to live.