Thief of Time

Under the light of the three moons, Claud spent a night to plot out potential targets and prepare his equipment. He had chosen his first target after a few rounds of deliberation.

The shop that was going to have the honour of being paid a visit by Master Thief Claud Primus was called Times and Banks. It was a medium-sized shop that had only brought gems at higher prices; there weren’t any indications that a mana-user or someone with an odd skill was backing it. From the observations he carried out yesterday, it was a middling lifestone shop that came from another city recently.

Claud didn’t expect it to have any significant backing; it was a good target without any catches whatsoever. As far as easy targets go, this was the textbook example. The only problem was getting inside shops in general was when it was locked up; when it came to thieving, getting into a locked area with only one entrance was the hardest.

Which was why he was going to do it in broad daylight, when the shop was open. It would be the best use of his skills anyway: Presence Nullification was practically made for daylight theft. Furthermore, there were some…extenuating circumstances that would make this run an easy one.

Checking through his skillstrips once more, Claud tickled the little box, and then told Crown that they would be heading out. As usual, it got the message, and after settling into a snug corner of his clothes, Crown stopped made itself comfortable and — if Claud didn’t get it wrong — fell asleep.

Wowsers. A box falling asleep. With a regular breathing pattern at that. What can I say? After spending a moment to stare into his trouser pocket, Claud smiled and got up from the mattress. Pulling a set of normal clothes on, he went around the ruined furniture in his house and headed out onto the streets.

It was a very simple job.

Walk in, steal items, walk out.

Making his way into the northern part of Licencia, Claud blended into the crowd. Many people were making their way to work, which usually consisted of two types in the city. The first one was ad-hoc work, where people who didn’t like the regimented lifestyle of a regular job would head over to a guild. There were many guilds in every city, each of them specialising in a particular occupation, and these guilds would post requests for help every day.

The second, naturally, was full time work. There was nothing much to be said about this one, but Claud had nothing but respect for people who could stick to an honest lifestyle. How they were able to endure their low wages was beyond him, especially since anyone had the ability to see how long their own lifespan was. Did they just not like living?

Claud couldn’t quite tell. At least the people who did ad-hoc work could earn more money, or even rewards that transcended money. Full time workers didn’t have that kind of luxury, especially if they were low level staff.

Continuing to slip between small groups of workers that were heading for work, Claud looked around the area, checking for other ladies and gentlemen who looked like they were mana-users. Since virtually all mana-users were nobles of one kind or another, they were easy to tell from their clothes and actions.

Well, most of them, anyway. Once in a while, you do see oddballs like that Dia, who acts like both a noble and a seasoned bounty hunter at the same time. Claud rubbed his nose, before continuing to survey his surroundings. He didn’t want to be blindsided, even if it was an incredibly easy job.

And with the storm brewing around Licencia, he couldn’t afford to be, either. It didn’t take long for him to arrive at Times and Banks, where its ebony double doors were already open to the public. Two guards flanked the door. One of them was holding a sword, and the other a spear, and from the looks of it, they were definitely experienced.

It was possible that one or even both of them were mana-users. After all, even becoming a one-folder took away a hundred years of lifespan; after such a transformation, most mana-users would have a shortened life. Other than seeking appointment under a noble family, businesses that dealt with lifestones were also a viable option.

Unfortunately, discerning whether someone was a mana-user or not was not an easy task. Unless they showed it off openly — which was nothing short of idiocy in Claud’s opinion — no one would know, unless they were already famous people to begin with.

Heading over to a nearby bakery, where the fragrance of freshly-made bread was wafting into the air, Claud brought a small bag of buns. Popping himself down on one of the many seats near the bakery, Claud chewed through the buns slowly and methodically, surveying the terrain around Times and Banks slowly.

Since he wasn’t planning on making the theft a violent one, the only thing he was looking out for was things that could affect his entry and exit. For more complicated targets, it would be securing multiple exit routes and potential guard posts.

Of course, Presence Nullification would render all these preparations moot, but it was good practice nonetheless. After all, he had been forced to navigate strongholds more than once while Presence Nullification and his other skills were all on cooldown; without constant practice, he would have died long ago.

Practice was the key. Skills, mana…everything else was a convenience, and in the interests of time, Claud would use those conveniences.

However, there was a time and place for everything.

Finishing off his last bun, Claud produced a skillstrip and tore it. As a rule of thumb, whenever he went on a heist, he would use skillstrips first; it was far easier to activate a skill with one’s mind than by tearing pieces of paper.

If something happened, it would be good if he could activate his lifesaving cards with a thought.

Pulling on a full mask and slipping on a pair of gloves, Claud headed towards the open entrance of Times and Banks. Walking past the two guards, who treated him like air, Claud looked around at the interior, and nodded at the sight of the open vault door. There were eight men standing around the area, each of them leaning against the wall.

One of the most crucial factors behind why he chose Time and Banks was due to this.

The vault that stored their lifestones couldn’t be closed. The door’s lock was broken when he visited yesterday, and at that time, he’d seen people laying down all kinds of detection artefacts. They would only do that if the vault could not be repaired in a short period of time and they didn’t want to close shop; clearly, this shop was also aiming to control the trade route Count Nightfall had put up for the competition.

It was bad luck and greed, if nothing else.

“Gideon,” said one of the guards, who was holding a book.

“What? We’re on the job. Don’t talk.”

“Do you know where the boss is?”

“How would I know?” Gideon replied. “Just stand still and keep up appearances. We’re getting paid for standing in front of a door, and you still want to talk?”

“It’s boring!”

“You have a freaking book in your hands!”

“I’ve finished reading it!”

“Why is a scholar playing as a guard again?”

Claud listened to the two men banter back and forth. It was clear that they were just hired on the spot to guard the open vault, so there wasn’t much he could glean from them. Navigating past the eight men slowly, he headed over to the vault door, where a bucketload of lifestones were sitting around peacefully.

He stared at the ground, where a few artefacts had been installed. He didn’t quite know their exact names, but from the looks of things, they were designed to alert anyone who stepped into them. He wasn’t going to try and see if Presence Nullification could bypass such artefacts here; Claud wanted to just make a killing and nothing else.

Tearing up his Flight skillslip slowly, he floated above the artefacts and entered the vault proper. The lifestones had been demarcated into four separate groups for convenience, and without much ado, he took the small pile of pure-ranked lifestones.

Since it barely filled a tenth of his bag, Claud turned to the pile of high-ranked and swept them up too. After depleting that pile, and half of the middle-ranked lifestones, he turned to leave, but that was when the little box in his pocket began to jiggle.

Claud had a feeling that it was ogling the unwanted low-ranked lifestones, but taking the little fellow out now would definitely be an issue. And besides, it was his policy to leave some bits behind. Without much of a choice, he fished out the little box, placed it in his bag of loot, and floated out of the vault.

It didn’t take long for him to skirt by the guards inside and around the entrance of Time and Banks.