女神归来的夏天

Chapter 185: The Heist of Bellvia X

We have been searching all damn day and not a single piece of useful information from any bartender. It\'s already late evening, and I\'m pretty mad that we couldn\'t get anything remotely done. "Asking around the people who know the most about the criminals didn\'t work. That only leaves us a few more options to find a crew we are looking for. The next set of people to ask would be the older population here in Bellvia. They have been around the longest and know things too." I speak the next part of our search out loud so Sally can hear it. She groans and slumps forward just a bit. The amount of talking done today has really drained her, and I\'ll admit I\'m quite tired myself. This whole search has panned nothing so far, and we wasted an entire day.

We walk down the slightly busy road and pass places we already checked. After a few minutes, we come to one of the better-looking inns here in Bellvia. Sally has kept her hood on all day, and we haven\'t gotten any problems regarding her. So I think it\'s safe to say the chances of getting found out are low. We walk into the inn and notice that a party is just starting to ramp up. "We should get a room before any of this gets out of hand..." I agree with Sally. This is going to get out of hand very soon. We walk up to the innkeeper, and she looks at us. She is almost middle-aged-looking. Before I say anything, she closes her eyes and turns around. I watch her go into a little cubby hole and pull out a key.

She places it on the table and looks back at me. "That\'ll be 5 silver." All I have is gold, so I pull out a gold coin and place it on the counter. I pick up the key and wait for her to tell me where the room is. "Upstairs all the way down the hall on the right. It\'s the farthest away from the party that\'s spiraling out of control." I turn towards the stairs with the key in hand and begin walking. We climb the stairs and make it to our room. I unlock the door and open it. We walk in and notice that it\'s decorated and clean. A queen-sized bed that looks as soft as it is big. Sally quickly flops down on the bed, releasing a deep relaxed sigh. The first thing she takes of is her boots. I watch her rub them and try to make them feel better.

I walk towards the bed and lay down. I unequip everything except for my underwear. It\'s nice to relax after a long day of no results. I watch Sally stand and begin to undress. I turn on my side to give her privacy. I close my eyes, wondering if we\'ll even find a crew for this job. I already have the plan all worked out. I need a crew to hit the treasure room while I cause the distraction. In my thoughts, I feel Sally climb back into the bed and quickly press her body on my back. She has her underwear on, but she might have ulterior motives. "I hope you aren\'t trying for anything, old woman." She pinches my cheek and twists it. She is technically an old woman at 103 years old, but her elf blood keeps her from aging.

I hear her giggle slightly and stop pinching me. It didn\'t hurt. Of course, my high stats prevented it. "You\'re lucky I like you. So what\'s the plan for tomorrow? Other than talking to old people. Cause if that doesn\'t work, we might have to go back into that underground town and ask around. I don\'t want to go back down there as much as you do, but we might not have another choice." Sally brings up a great point. After this, our only options are finding a bribed official or going back into that underground town. Nobody saw our faces last time we were down there, but I\'d rather not risk anything dangerous. The hardest part of this entire operation is getting a crew together—one with enough skill and talent to do this heist as fast as possible.

I roll on my back again, and Sally readjusts so she can still hold on to me. "This is the first time in a long time that I\'m are going to be stuck. This heist of the treasure room, it\'s too important. I might end up overlooking a crucial part of the plan, and that could spell disaster for us. Everything we have come to gain in our travels, I fear that this city could cause certain calamity for us..." Bellvia is a pit of lies, chaos, and corruption I have never witnessed before. I can only imagine what this place was like when they cursed the dryads. Sally hugs me a little tighter from my words. I have so much more to lose now. Sally has become far more important to me than I ever thought possible. She is the one I\'m most worried about losing.

I stare at the ceiling as we lay on the bed in silence. I slowly close my eyes and clear my head. All that remains in my thoughts is a vast whiteness. Completely clear and free of thought. I find myself asleep before long. While Cera and Sally sleep, other conversations are happening in Bellvia. A certain group of three has heard whispers that a person is searching for a capable crew. These three are in their hideout under an abandoned orphanage in Bellvia. The one leading this discussion is Creatureman, after all. They think that whatever this person is planning might line up with what they are planning to do. In the dimly lit hidden room, a discussion begins about a potential conversation with Cera.

Both Ghostzero and Krialder are thinking the same thing I am. This person asking around could be useful in our plans for revenge. We don\'t exactly know what he is planning but from the sounds of it. It needs a crew as good as us. "I think we should watch him for a day and find out all the information we can about him. If he proves to have some skill in helping us, we can see if we can combine plans." Krialder speaks before any of us can. I agree with his idea. I\'d rather learn as much as possible from watching him before we make any contact. "If anyone else has a better idea, I\'d like to hear, cause in all honesty, it\'s the first thing that came to mind." Krialder speaks with honesty. However, I like this quick plan.

I can\'t immediately think of anything much better. It\'s not like we can read the guy\'s thoughts. "He was also traveling with a woman. She wears a hood, so I don\'t know what she looks like. The best guess is they are concealing her identity, so it doesn\'t cause any problems. She must be a non-human." Ghostzero gives some information about the person he is traveling with. "It\'s not a coincidence that these two arrived here in the same timeframe as the massacre in the town underground. It\'s safe to say they are strong, but no one knows how much. All the ones that could say are dead." Ghostzero is giving a lot of great information. He has spent the most time outside this hideout, so it goes without saying.

I lean back in my chair as I process all this information. We need extra people to help pull off this plan, and they sound like they can fit that role. All we need to do is test their power. "I suggest after we are done watching them, we see how strong they really are. Hiring some mercs to attack them won\'t be hard." Both Krialder and Ghostzero nod their heads in agreement. We have an executable plan now. All that\'s left is to wait for them to pop up again. They aren\'t too discreet, so that means they are in a hurry. "Let\'s go over our targets again." Krialder lays a map of the palace out, and he points to three rooms, each with different names in them. Each one has the subject of our revenge in them. Just seeing their names makes my blood boil.

The meeting continues under the abandoned orphanage. The night in Bellvia passes slowly as crime runs through the streets. After a busy night for the guards, the sun rises, and a new day starts as the long shadows are cast from the barely rising sun. Many people are just getting up, including Cera and Sally, since today marks another day of searching.

I wake up as the morning sun shines through the window. I lean up, and Sally rises with me since she uses me as a pillow. We didn\'t even sleep under the sheets, and I gentle peel Sally off me and lay her back down. I stand up and equip my armor. I\'m pretty hungry, and the inn should start serving food soon.