Chapter 66: Playing Thief
Several hours later, the sun had already disappeared beyond the horizon.
Roderic stood on the roof of the building across from the Wayfarer Merchant Guild, staring down at the dark streets below.
His body and face were completely covered in dark robes, yet a hint of amusement was visible in his eyes.
Most of Ravenport had grown considerably quieter.
Even Victor’s merchant guild had been closed to the public for around two hours now.
’Finally,’ he thought, watching Victor lock the door behind him. ’He’s leaving.’
Roderic had spent most of the afternoon preparing.
After separating from Edmund, he’d taken care of several things before eventually returning to the area surrounding Wayfarer.
He watched who entered and left, checked the nearby streets, and most importantly, waited to see how many people remained inside after closing.
The answer had been rather pleasant.
Nobody but Victor stayed inside.
’He probably can’t even afford guards at the moment,’ he thought, leaning closer to the roof’s edge.
Roderic remained on the rooftop for several more minutes.
Only once he was certain Victor wasn’t coming back did he climb down into the narrow alley beside the building.
He carefully glanced around the corner once more.
But upon seeing no one, Roderic quietly made his way towards the back of the Wayfarer merchant building.
There were two wooden windows on the ground floor, but both were locked tightly.
Then there was the back door.
It too was locked by a built-in metal lock.
’Of course,’ he thought, nodding once. ’But it’s useless.’
He reached into his cloak right away, taking out a set of small metal tools.
Roderic held them up to his face for a moment, a smile flashing across his face.
’Oh System,’ he thought. ’I truly love you.’
Both the minor trait that increased his lockpicking talent and the tools he’d purchased flashed through his mind.
It hadn’t even cost him many Throne Coins either!
’Almost feels like it’s pushing me to be the bad guy,’ he thought, leaning down in front of the door. ’Heh, how ridiculous would that be?’
Without another thought, Roderic inserted the tools into the keyhole.
Despite the trait, it was immediately clear that this wasn’t going to be as easy as he’d hoped.
He understood roughly what he needed to do, but understanding something and actually doing it were two very different things.
Several times, he felt something inside the lock move, only for his tools to slip a moment later.
’’Fuck!’’ he cursed. ’’This is some bullshit!’’
Roderic kept trying again and again.
Each attempt was more hurried, as he feared getting spotted.
Finally, after nearly two minutes, the lock turned.
CLICK!
Roderic paused for a moment, his eyes widening.
’I did it...’
Then he quickly shook his head, snapping back into concentration.
He pulled his tools out before carefully slipping through the opened door.
Click!
The door silently shut behind him.
Finally inside, Roderic let out a quiet breath.
His gaze swept through the room as his eyes got used to the darkness inside.
Crates covered most of the first floor, alongside several tables and shelves filled with various goods.
’Now, where would you keep your money?’
He quickly began searching around the place.
And fortunately for him, the building wasn’t particularly large.
It took him less than ten minutes to search the first floor and realize there was nothing particularly valuable there.
With a sigh, he moved on to the second floor.
There were only a couple of rooms there, both of which were mostly empty.
’Aha, what do we have here?’ he thought, his eyes lighting up. ’This must be Victor’s office...’
Roderic pushed open the door to a smaller room.
Inside, many documents and ledgers were spread out over a wooden desk.
Several more cabinets containing documents lined the walls, only making Roderic’s smile widen further.
Without a thought, he began searching through the place.
Roderic opened drawer after drawer and swept through every cabinet.
But much to his frustration, there was no sign of Victor’s money anywhere.
’In this day and age, no one in their right mind would store their money at home,’ he thought, standing in front of the last cabinet. ’It has to be here then.’
Roderic quickly reached into the cabinet.
As he pushed aside a few stacks of documents, he suddenly paused.
A wide grin spread across his face immediately.
’’Bingo.’’
A square metal safe, roughly half a meter tall and just as wide, sat hidden behind the documents.
Roderic took out his lockpicking tools as his grin widened.
Another grueling five minutes passed by.
Then finally, this lock also turned.
CLICK!
Roderic wiped the sweat off his forehead.
’’Fuck,’’ he muttered. ’’He bought quite the thing for such a shabby place.’’
After letting out another sigh, he shook his head.
’’I really hate all this precision work with a passion... let’s hope I don’t have to play thief often in the future.’’
With that said, Roderic pushed all his thoughts aside.
It was finally time to check out his spoils!
Flicking the door open, several bags of gold coins alongside some documents immediately appeared in his sight.
’’Jackpot!’’
Roderic pulled out the sack he had brought with him and began transferring all the gold coins inside.
The moment he’d cleared out the final coin, a blue window appeared in front of him.
[Main Quest 2 Completed!]
[Reward: Golden Appraisal Eye + 20,000 Throne Coins]
[Would you like to receive your rewards now?]
[Yes / No]
Roderic stared at it for a moment.
’’That was... all?’’ he slowly said. ’’I could just put the bags back again, you know...’’
But the System didn’t offer him a response.
Roderic just shrugged.
’’Whatever,’’ he muttered, shaking his head. ’’I have other plans for this money anyway.’’
He dismissed the messages for a moment.
There would be plenty of time to claim those rewards later.
Roderic lifted the heavy sack of coins before glancing around the office one final time.
A wide grin slowly spread across his face.
’’Now for the fun part,’’ he muttered. ’’Time to make your best friend a whole lot richer.’’