Chapter 25 — The Spoils of Risktaking (Part I)
As Toren led Laiya and her friend back toward the second floor’s common area, other ‘residents’ soon began peeking out through slightly ajar doors to see what was going on. They weren’t his responsibility. He wanted no part of dealing with any of the other victims.
As for Fila, Laiya seemed to know the girl, and if helping Fila gave Laiya a role better allowing her to cope with what happened, then that was fine and maybe even good—to a point. He didn’t have any intention of escorting the girl back to her family if he could reasonably avoid it.
Really, slipping away with just his group and leaving the [Reaver] to deal with the Farharbor guards and the clean up had always been his preferred plan. The less Toren and his group were implicated the better.
Besides, from the sound of voices and rushing about coming from the floor above, Reaver Yorne had already started dealing with the situation.
But before bailing, looting the storage rooms and personal rooms of the Conclave ransomers was still a goal worth pursuing. His worry was in how much time to spend at the task. The longer they took the more risk they would be taking.
“Laiya, maybe you should take Fila upstairs to meet with Reaver Yorne and go check on your mother?” Toren suggested.
Laiya looked at him with suspicion, her arm guiding Fila to hide behind her. “W-where are you going?”
“Now that these guys are dead, I’m going to look for loot to pay the [Reaver] with so your father doesn’t have to,” Toren answered bluntly. “And, isn’t this the best way for your friend to get assurances about her situation?”
Laiya slowly nodded, her hand was shaking. “Okay…”
Seeing the girl still hesitant, he pulled a knife from Yana’s bandolier, flipping it around with his fingers to offer handle-first. “We’ll meet up on the first floor. Take this just in case, and be as quick as you can.”
The [Haberdasher]’s daughter flinched at him drawing a weapon and Fila’s hands clenched at the older girl’s arm with a fearful squeak, but Laiya did take the knife and, with a deep breath to gather her courage and glance in the direction of the stairs carrying the noises and arguing coming from above, came to a decision.
“Let’s go, Fila,” she said with a praiseworthy firmness to her voice, and the knife disappeared into a hidden pocket in her dress’ skirt.
Toren left them to it, resuming his scan of the rooms, quickly finding an occupant-free one with loot to be had. Another well-placed kick crashed the door open, and he quickly stuffed a found carry pack with the most useful of the what was probably the [Nightblade]’s things.
[Mana Sensing] has increased to 14!
[Mana Sensing] continued to show its worth and versatility, revealing a loose floorboard with some emergency potions and a small strongbox containing silver rods and small jewelry items. Opening the box would be a challenge for later with its poison-trapped mana-lock.
Assuming Reaver Yorne would loot the third floor, there were two other places worth checking. And, Toren wanted to get to them first.
Before leaving the room, Toren tied in place one of the dead man’s masks that covered his mouth and nose and pulled up his hood. The thing could have smelled better. Not buying a mask at the clothier had been a mistake. The sooner he could get something like a [Knight]’s helmet the better. …he could only hope a previously used one wouldn’t reek as bad as he was now beginning to suspect it would.
Toren thought he heard Laiya’s voice reassuring or comforting someone as he passed by the stairs going up and hurried back to the first floor.
“Toren!” Warnel gasped upon sighting him, looking like he was moments from his heart failing. “Is… is…“
At least the [Haberdasher] had picked up the dead guy’s blade.
“It’s fine,” Toren cut him off and handed him the extra pack. “The Conclave guys are dead. Give this to Laiya when she comes down. You can carry it if you want, but if I’m to make a [Warrior] out of her, we should start by improving her fitness.”
Stolen from its original source, this story is not meant to be on Amazon; report any sightings.
“You found Laiya?” Falma pleaded, grabbing his arm.
Toren patted Falma’s hands to reassure her. “She’s fine. Just seeing to her friend’s situation. How’s the door? Anyone notice or try to get in?”
Falma shook her head before freezing mid-motion at the sight of his blood-stained hand touching hers.
Whether he was lying to Falma or not about the girl’s older sister… Physically, she was fine. As for the rest, he was less confident. And if the girl preferred her family to believe he rescued her before anyone laid hands on her, he wasn’t going to preclude her that option by spilling details that weren’t his to spill.
Besides, dealing with a distraught father was not something he needed right now. Assuming the man hadn’t previously sold Laiya’s ‘services’ to help cover his debts or worse.
A quick glance out the window showed the boardwalk still empty of townsfolk. Most residents would be working at a labor site or such, but he thought there would be children running about with all the hostels here. Maybe they knew to stay away from this particular stretch?
With the smell of blood and the dead [Alleyshank] posed but unmoving outside, someone would eventually notice.
“Alright. Don’t let anyone open the door until the [Reaver] says it’s okay,” Toren instructed and gently slipped his arm free. “There’s still a few things I need to check, and then we’ll get out of here—before the guards show up, if we’re lucky.”
Warnel looked from his daughter to the door. “Should I… go up and help out?”
Toren shook his head and unclipped his metal club, handing it to Falma. “Falma shouldn’t guard the door by herself.”
The hatter slowly nodded, his eyes going nervously to a nearby window and back to the stairway and the hallways on either side of the common area.
Bashing someone fighting her father over the head should be within the girl’s capability.
Before leaving them, Toren searched the dead [Rogue], and liberated several silver rods worth of coins from a belt pouch along with another one of those suspicious tokens—like with the [Nightblade], it was nicer than the one the [Scout] boy had.
With that, he resumed his search for loot. [Mana Sensing] told him there was a basement built into the building’s tall foundations. Toren couldn’t see Reaver Yorne taking too much longer to finish up with the victims; he needed to decide whether to check that first or to find any other rooms belonging to the Conclave guys. Not immediately sensing a way down made the choice easy for him.
The very first room he encountered was a good candidate to be what he was looking for— unoccupied and containing enchanted items—and he wasted no time kicking the door open. A woman in the adjacent room flinched at the noise but, other than moving to listen at the wall, didn’t do anything troublesome.
Returning his attention to the unoccupied room and carefully entering, the scene of a lockbox sitting on an end table out in plain sight set off alarms for Toren. There was no way a [Rogue] or [Thief] living among other similarly-minded individuals would do that unless it was trapped. And [Mana Sensing] agreed with that thought, particularly in light of the complex enchantment on the box.
~~~
Toren's Celestrial Mirror Shard:
『Name: Toren of Theravos
Race: Human
Age: 20
Profession 1: Level 2 Burningblood Berserker (1700/4000)
Status: Injured (Weakened collarbone: mending), Minor Soulstrain
Mana: 3/29
Strength: 16
Constitution: 12
Dexterity: 14
Agility: 12
Wisdom: 12
Intellect: 8
Will Power: 17
Perception 14
Appearance: 8
Charisma: 8
Luck: 10
Attribute Upgrade Points: 1
Traits:
Sacrificial Guardian
Abilities:
Burning Blood (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low
Slow Bleeding (Rank 1) Proficiency: Low
Ability Upgrade Points: 1
Profession Skills:
Pain Tolerance 4
Severe Wound Recovery 3
Berserker Knife Arts 1
Spear 9
Club 8
Focus Rage 1
Combat Awareness 3
Intimidate 2
Skills:
Theravos Language (Speaking) 15
Theravos Language (Reading/Writing) 10
Religion 10
Meditation 5
Bone Strengthening 3
Hunting 20
Butchering 13
Archery 19
Stealth 17
Arithmetic 4
Foraging 16
Tree Felling 6
Running 12
Mana Sensing 14
Danger Sensing 1
Wound Binding 8』