Chương 40: Chapter 38. Heat

Ariesa felt lost now that she'd officially fled from home. Doubts about her father swirled within her. If what Oscar had said was to be believed, then it was impossible for Calus to be communicating with anyone aside from the other worlders he summoned. So that begged the question… who had her father been talking to? The voice hadn't been her fathers and neither had it been someone who she had heard before.

She didn't know if there was anyone who she'd heard have a voice even remotely similar to whoever that had been. There were just so many questions, and the only possible answer she had completely terrified her. So that led Ariesa to her current predicament… who did she rob to make herself feel better?

"I can't rob just to rob…" Ariesa grumbled quietly to herself.

"These people down here already have it bad enough as is. I can't just make their day worse just because I'm having father problems. I mean… What if… No, I can't." But why couldn't she? Her [Princess] class had already decreased. It wouldn't be long until she completely lost the darn thing. Without that class, she was just like the rest of the common rabble. And if she was common rabble… then she could steal a little bit, right?

"What's the point of being a [Thief] if I'm just going to have moral conundrums each time I think about actually doing anything related to the darn class," Ariesa said to herself once again.

"Have you considered that perhaps you're not suited for this life?" A creaky, old voice said, startling her.

"What're you doing out, Plank?" Ariesa asked.

"Did you forget that I, too, also like to walk these ugly cities' streets? If I recall correctly… didn't I stumble upon you one afternoon such as this?" Plank said and gestured for her to walk with him.

"But yes, I did intentionally seek you out. When you returned to the Burrow earlier, you were in quite the state." The stubborn elder would never ask her how she was doing, but she answered anyway.

"Father… he's… what if he's the man that Bruno, Oscar, and Gita think he is? He was speaking to Ca—to it again."

"Girl, I told you when we first met that following me into this lifestyle wouldn't provide you any answers. And I especially cannot provide any answers pertaining to that mess of man named Bruno and all the troubles he brings with him," Plank said.

"I'd recommend you steer clear of him, but that's likely impossible given how your father is now involved."

"Will he… will he kill my father?"

"If your father is the man that Bruno thinks him to be then… yes, most likely," Plank stopped in an alley facing the lower cities primary bank. There were only two down in the lower city, but this one in District Four was the most popular.

"Tell me, what level [Thief] are you?"

"Level 8 now. Why?"

"That's not bad considering our short time together and your background," Plank said, turning around and looking Ariesa in her eyes.

"When I took in Derek and Bruno, they were level 16 in their respective classes. Not everyone is a prodigy like them, but they also excelled because they loved doing what they did and couldn't see themselves as anything else. Derek was a simple [Thief] like myself, but where he exceeded even me was in his ability to quickly assess situations and decide the best option. Bruno, on the other hand… chaos was his specialty. And if things went bad? Well, that's where he thrived."

"What's the point of this? Are you trying to make me feel bad or something?"

"No, my point is that those two were meant for this lifestyle. While they had different styles, at the end of the day they were still doing the same thing: stealing from others. I don't doubt that you do enjoy thieving, but do I believe that this is what you want to be doing long-term instead of your other duties? No, I don't."

"Oh, you're so wrong! As if I'd ever enjoy being—" Plank held a withered finger up to stop her.

"Right now the mere idea of ruling is stained by the presence of your father and the memories of your mother's murder. And perhaps that'll always linger and haunt you in some capacity. But I can see it in you, girl, you were meant to rule. You may not agree with me right now, but I firmly believe when the time comes for you to take over for your father, you'll find the desire to do so. I know you want this city to be better, and I pray that you manage it." Ariesa snorted at him.

"If this city gets better then that means less crime. Doesn't that hurt your business?"" Bah, see? This is why you're not cut out for this life," Plank said as he scrunched his face at her.

"I do well enough to support myself and those that work for me, sure, but a thriving and healthy city is going to have bigger scores. Which does lead to a larger risk of being caught, but… that risk is part of the fun, is it not? Levels are plentiful when the danger is immense." While she still felt just as conflicted on what to do as before, she'd enjoyed her chat with Plank. In this current moment, though, her hatred for being [Princess] still lingered inside her.

How could she not blame everything on her stupid royal bloodline? Were her family regular folk, then her father would've never turned out so cruel, and her mother would still be alive. Deep down she also knew Plank was right. Being a [Thief] was never going to be something she leveled as her main class and identity. Neither was this experience for nothing either. A few months of sneaking away at night wasn't going to completely wipe away her sheltered life. She wasn't stupid enough to think that.

But what this experience had done for her was provide valuable insight into the common people's lives. Which was invaluable for making reforms should she decide to rule. As things stood right now, Ariesa just still couldn't see herself as [Queen]. Her father needed to be cured first anyway. There was no sense in thinking about being a [Queen] if her father was able to be saved.

"Thanks… I think?" Ariesa said awkwardly.

"I'm still just as confused as before, though, and I do still want to rob something."

"Ah, well, you're just in luck then," Plank said as he nudged her forwards towards the bank.

"It just so happens that this bank is about to suffer from its biggest loss in years." If she had any water in her mouth, she would've spat it out at him." What? We're going to rob the most popular bank in the lower city? Just the two of us?" This story originates from a different website. Ensure the author gets the support they deserve by reading it there. Plank cackled and shook his head.

"Of course not! As if I'd do that fool's work for him." He whistled, causing the patter of footsteps on the roof above to be heard. A figure dropped down beside the pair. Draped in a long, black robe and a creepy straw mask, the figure rubbed their hands in anticipation.

"Oh man, this is going to be just like old times!" The voice was a mans, but due to the mask muffling their voice, Ariesa couldn't discern who.

"And I get to use the [Princess] as an accomplice? How wonderful!" The figure flipped the mask up, revealing Bruno underneath.

"Oh," was all she said; she should have figured it was him.

"Act more excited, please. I perform better when people cheer for me," Bruno whined.

"Plank, what is this?" Ariesa asked.

"Bruno hasn't been able to get into contact with his person within the city, so he's robbing the bank for—""I need Janine's back-up key for the Dynarus safe-house," Bruno said, cutting Plank off.

"I have an idea of where she might be, but I want to search the place for any other clues. Now, I could use brute force to walk in and take what I want… but where's the fun in that? If I'm robbing a bank then I might as well rob a bank, no?"

"Why is her spare key sealed away in the bank? Can't you just break in?" Ariesa asked.

"The key isn't for her front door, it's for the safe inside. When the Dynarus safe house was setup, Janine insisted on a safe being place inside to store information about our mission. With how much crime is in this city, no one argued against it."

"Okay, fine, but there's going to be [Guards] in that bank!" Ariesa said. The truth was that she'd thought of robbing the place herself back when she'd first embarked on this journey. Very quickly she'd realized how foolish it would've been to follow through.

"Ah, but when was the last time any [Guard] actually had to do anything? They're going to be slow and stupid, don't worry about them," Bruno said dismissively.

"And besides… I brought back-up. Come on out, guys!" he shouted up above. Ariesa groaned loudly.

"What is this? Another dramatic entrance? And from the same roof as you? Can you at least try being unique?"" Fuckin' dumbass! I told him that this was a stupid idea," she heard Gita curse above. Without saying anything, Oscar dropped down beside Ariesa. He gave her a highly uncomfortable smile before having it washed away as Gita dropped less gracefully, knocking him down." Gah!" Oscar shouted as he hit the ground.

Picking himself up, he gave Ariesa a much needed and much better explanation than what Plank and Bruno had been giving her. By the end of his explanation… she was feeling so stupidly excited that she actually forgot about her family woes.

One Hour Earlier After Oscar and Shamic had finished their meal, Shamic had left stating he needed to do some last minute prep before he finally tackled his mission. The meal had stirred unwanted emotions within him, so rather than immediately going back to the Burrow, he'd opted to hangout on the inn's roof for a bit. Unfortunately… someone had found him.

"Hey, Oscar!" Someone called up, snapping Oscar out of his tranquility. The voice was instantly recognizable, which was why he pretended to not hear Bruno's annoying pestering. After a few more desperate attempts to steal his attention, Oscar finally answered.

"How did you even find me?"

"Eh, pure luck."

"Yeah… luck."

"Aw, don't be like that," Bruno said.

"I hadn't intended on bringing you along, but now that you're here… C'mon, I got a job to do. Actually… I'll come up to you."

"No, you don't have—""Too late! Okay, so… I need to break into the District Four bank. My contact, Janine, hasn't responded and would seem to be in a rather precarious spot. So, I want to search her safe-house and locate her memory quartz. Technically all of us that are within this faction are supposed to record our findings on those things, but I don't because… well, because I don't plan on dying anytime soon."

"What?" Oscar asked simply, he was still wondering how Bruno conveniently managed to stumbled and found him.

"You want to rob a bank? For a… memory quartz? Wait, what's up with the creepy mask?"

"Yes! And more!" Bruno said with ample amounts of enthusiasm while ignoring the comment on his mask.

"If we're to rob someone's private locker, then we might as well rob the others as well, right?"

"More gold is good, I suppose."

"Sure, but not really what I'm after. Even though Dynarus has effectively shutdown it's support of the Adventurer's Guild, plenty of adventurers themselves were born here. And when they return back, where do they place their haul of artifacts? Inside the District Four bank."

"Even though this is the lower city, surely even a bank is going to have good security, right?"

"Sure, but we're capable enough, and besides, the bank [Guards] have likely gotten fat and lazy. No one ever tries to rob this place." If Oscar were being honest with himself… he actually wanted to do this. Perhaps it was the spaghetti of remorse making him want to do anything to forget, or maybe his corruption was making him more prone to extreme actions; whatever it was, he was on board with the plan. There was just one problem.

"We can't do this on our own. You weren't planning on robbing a bank… alone… were you?" Bruno cracked his knuckles while giving Oscar a cocky grin.

"Nope… Plank is coming too." The way Bruno delivered that was like it was the most incredible thing in the whole world. Oscar believed that Plank had been some kind of elite [Thief] or whatever once upon a time, but he was an old man now. This wasn't the ace that he'd been expecting.

"Okay, Plank's going to rope Ariesa into it as well. Is that better?"

"It's better, yeah, but… what about Gita?" Bruno grimaced and bit anxiously at his nails.

"Um… I mean… she could come, but do you really want that?"

"What's the problem with Gita coming? This would be good experience for her to level up from, right?"

"Yeah, sure… It's just that she got a class evolution, and…" he rubbed at his wrists.

"She can pack a punch now, alright? And gods can she take one now as well…"

"Bruno, get Gita. Let's be serious, yeah? I'm down to help, but for once I want something to go smoothly," Oscar said.

"And to help make that a reality, I have some friends of my own that'll be helpful for this type of job, I think."

"You made friends?" Bruno asked incredulously.

"Did you go see Kiera too and hire one of her girls? Was it Nightly? She seems your type and works well with those on a budget."

"What? I don't… Wait, are you asking if I hired a [Prostitute]?"

"I mean… you just don't seem like the sort to make friends. Then again… I don't know how Nightly would really help with the robbery, so maybe that was a bad guess on my part. Ah, but wait… I bet a few of those [Guards] could be persuaded to—"" Stop!" Oscar shouted.

"Holy shit, you're so annoying. Just… go get Gita. I'll have Cry lead me to the bank, okay? And also drop the mask. The people I'm bringing are good at distractions."

"Fine, fine," Bruno sighed and hopped off the roof. Not wanting to linger on Bruno's insane statements, Oscar left as well. Cry and the other Lamenters should likely be done with their reattempt at stealing from the church by now. Hopefully this time things had gone smoother and they'd be up to doing another job. After he had fumbled his way into unlocking the Lamenters' base, he walked in to find all five were happily munching on some delicious-smelling food.

Sob was first to notice him and let out a sound of genuine delight.

"Oscar, come in and grab a bite!" she yelled happily.

"Sorry that we didn't invite you to come along this time. Oz really wanted you for whatever he had to do today."

"Oh, it's fine. Looks like this time you all managed to successfully break into the [Treasurer's] office. Congrats," Oscar said, which evoked a round of whoops and claps.

"But… I'm here to ask if you guys are willing to help me with a job of my own." The excitement died down, and it was Cry that asked for more details.

"Aye, we could, depending on the job and the potential pay. It'll take a lot to get us out of our celebration…"

"We robbin' a brewery?" Weep asked.

"Oh! We are, we are! I can tell from his eyes!" Wail said and performed a lazy dance whilst still being seated.

"Uh… no. Tell me, do any of you guys have any experience robbing banks? Specifically, the District Four bank?" Each of the Shiftlings looked at one another anxiously. Oscar felt himself start to blush from the potential embarrassment of being told to fuck off. After a few more agonizing seconds, all five looked back at him with wide, toothy grins.

"No, but we've dreamed of it," Bawl said.

"Oscar, you've come to the right people, let me tell you that right now."

"Aye, Oscar, because not only have we dreamed of doing this… but we've planned for it," Cry said, and then stumbled over to a nearby chest and pulled out a long, rolled-up parchment, which he unfurled over the table.

"We've infiltrated the damned place so many times that we've created a blueprint. Plus, I've got the perfect disguise to help get you down below the bank."" We?" Sob asked in outrage.

"It was my memory that created this, Oscar, not them." This evoked a heated discussion amongst the group, but Oscar didn't concern himself with it. Instead, he just looked in awe at the detailed blueprints. Sob must have the best memory in the world because damn, it was detailed. And just like that, this had evolved from a simple bank robbery and now into a genuine bank heist.