The skill that let an assassin vanish had, due to its obvious power when used against players, only a very short duration. A running person reappeared only a couple paces away, well aware that they couldn’t hide their reappearance in such an open space.
Normally, a thief wouldn’t dare steal in such an open area with a good overview, but the temptation must have been too large.
Bloody didn’t wait for any of his friends to say something. He was already running, cursing non-stop, when Dead Rabbit snapped out of it and hurried after him to catch up.
“We have to go after them”, Little Droplet called out to Ice, patting him on the back once before following.
Both Bloody and Dead Rabbit had good agility stats. Obviously there was no catching up to them for the two mages, but they tried their best not to let them out of their sight. The easiest sign of where they were going was Bloody’s loud and increasingly angry cursing, next to the visible path they were cutting into the larger growing crowd.
The moment the NPC guards figured out that the one affected was a Foreigner, they didn’t get involved. While they interfered with fights, it was rare for them to help out with a thief unless one of the involved parties was a citizen.
“Huh?” In passing, Blackstone saw Bloody rush past. Ice stopped next to her, catching his breath and leaning on his knees while Little Droplet continued running. “What happened?”
“My… staff…” Ice wheezed and pulled a face.
Further up ahead, the thief was attempting to get rid of his followers by using his skills. Darting ahead or to the side, lowering his presence, causing a mess by pushing over people.
Bloody jumped over a fallen NPC that shrieked nervously, completely focused on the dark-clothed figure in front of him.
Whether it was pure fury or just the difference of a ranked player compared to a common thief, Bloody managed to catch up bit by bit. What the thief lost in speed whenever he had to decide on how to move, Bloody didn’t. He jumped up onto the roof of the stalls, running over them and ignoring the shocked screams of the owners.
When he jumped down, right in front of the thief, the player spit out a curse in shock. The thief tried to break, but ultimately ended running right into the beastman, who grabbed his collar, kicked the other’s legs away and threw him onto the floor face down.
“How long did you do parcour again?” Dead Rabbit wheezed, coming in only seconds later.
“A year”, Bloody snarled as he dragged the player to the side.
Stealing was easy when players left their things unwatched, but Haven also wanted to give the players a chance to get their things back. After all, if another player just logged out or refused to give the item out of their inventory, it would be impossible to get it back.
To deal with this issue, Haven had a simple system.
In the background, the owner of the system was divided into owner and possessor. Ownership was kept track of by the AI; sales, trading, renting and similar actions would update the current possessor and owner. Unless there was an official intent of the item being permanently given over, the ownership would not change in the background.
When stolen, the ownership of the item would stay with the original owner for 48 hours of the possessor’s ingame time. In this time, the item would have a sort of protective aura, making the thief unable to give it away or hide it somewhere. That meant, they had to keep it on their body or inventory.
Friends and party members of the owner could take the item back by force if it was out, or in the case of it being in the cash inventory, demand a PvP duel with the item on line.
Thieves also couldn’t log off while being chased and 10 minutes afterwards. if they did, they’d automatically drop the item!
Well.
Thieves had enough advantages. There had to be some way for a player to get their item back.
Besides, Haven didn’t really like thieves very much. That was why it wasn’t an official job, either. They were simply assassins that decided to turn against other players.
Bloody lifted the dazed player by the collar and pressed him against the wall. Teeth bared like a wolf, he looked just about ready to rip out the player’s throat. With a dark, snarling voice, he closed in on the thief. “Are you going to give it back? Or do you want me to beat you up until you’re willing?”
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
The thief looked into the furiously blazing eyes and smirked. He spit forwards.
Gfjv Ejyyla remxfv lc j ygfjat, atfc abbx j ijguf rafq yjmxkjgvr.
Qtja Pmf rjk ktfc tf olcjiis gfjmtfv atf mbgcfg klat Dijmxrabcf jcv Vqlvfgilis lc abk, kfgf Olaaif Ggbqifa jcv Gfjv Ejyyla rajcvlcu ja atf fvuf bo j gjatfg gfvvlrt mlgmif.
Pc atf wlvvif, atf atlfo kjr rmgfjwlcu obg wfgms jr tf kjr yfjafc lcab wert. Ktf rajoo kjr islcu bc atf rlvf.
Ice sighed softly to himself. “Bloody.”
The beastman’s ears turned to the voice. Lips pressed together, he stopped his work to turn towards Ice.
The mage could see how the emotions in Bloody’s eyes had switched from anger to something like awkward guilt. He let the thief fall, wiped a hand on his pants and picked up the staff. Trudging over, he held it out to Ice with a lowered head.
“I got it back”, he mumbled, ears pressed down and tail hanging low. Hopefully Ice wouldn’t think of him as violent because of this episode. It was just, it was hard for him not to get angry when someone took something belonging to Ice. He didn’t like it.
Ice took it back. A small wave of relief went through him at having it back – although he wasn’t too attached to his items, he still didn’t want to lose them like this. With a quiet voice, he gave his friend a small smile. “Thank you.”
The elven mage didn’t like conflict with players or NPCs, which Bloody was well aware of, but he had still run after the thief and beaten him up.
It couldn’t be helped. He couldn’t stand the thought of someone taking away Ice’s belongings.
“Do we know him?” Blackstone peeked out from behind Spiderlily, eyeing the thief who had yet to move away from the corner. Dead Rabbit kept an eye on him.
The Ice Emperor rubbed a thumb over his staff, glancing at the thief. He didn’t look familiar.
“Why did you do that?”, Little Droplet asked, leaning forward to look down on the thief.
The thief, visibly confused at the question, actually answered. “Money? What? Why are you asking me that? That staff is worth tons, not to mention if I sell it to a fan.”
“Fair enough”, Little Droplet ended up agreeing.
Still clearly pissed at the man’s behaviour, Bloody picked him up by the scruff again and dragged him to a guard. Even if the guards weren’t going to help, now that the Foreigners had done the job, they’d certainly throw the man out. Under the wolfman’s watchful eye, the player was dragged off.
Ice held his staff tight. It was his first time running into a thief, actually. His heart was pounding uncomfortably, like having a safe space violated.
Bloody went back to his side, lips pursed and tail lowered. “I won’t let that happen again.”
“I should watch my own things.”
“But four eyes are better than two. I’ll watch over them with you.”
The solemn promise made Ice smile warmly. It was the way that Bloody just naturally kept an eye on his things as if they were his own. He hadn’t expected to find a friend who would integrate into his life like that.
In the background, Blackstone suddenly held onto Dead Rabbit’s pants. The assassin frowned at her. “What’s up?”
“I’d say you shouldn’t go over there right now”, Blackstone answered in a kind tone, patting his leg. Dead Rabbit humpfed.
Once that was taken care of, the group wasted some more time before finding an inn to book a room and logging out. They all met up again the next day in the morning, and had a large breakfast first. They went outside, glancing around.
“We do have a bit more time. Let’s check out the armor sellers if there’s something there for you. There might be new equipment now that there’s a higher-level area unlocked?” Blackstone suggested it more to Spiderlily, Dead Rabbit and Little Droplet rather than Ice and Bloody, who managed their equipment regularly.
“You could buy new clothes, you know?” Dead Rabbit squinted at his older brother.
“My clothes are comfy. They’re staying.”
“Even the Ice Emperor keeps on changing his clothes!”
To be fair, that was a habit. His mother was too fond of navigating his outfits so as soon as he left the house, he always had the desire to ensure that his clothes looked alright. He rarely wore the same combination twice, even if the clothes themselves were simple.
In Haven, he felt odd once in a while, so especially if he moved to places with different temperatures, he didn’t dislike buying clothes.
“I don’t need armor, but I could look at clothes”, he agreed quietly.
“Shopping!” Little Droplet laughed.
Blackstone ran up front.
The… you could call it shopping district, was rather colourful. Dwarves were originally more interested in useful designs, but the Foreigners? They liked odd stuff, it sold well, so selling it they did!
Surprisingly, they all stopped in front of one store together. It was simply too eye-catching – white, black and red with gold, shining with jewels, intricately decorated with lace…
“They’re also selling some of the last competition’s designs.” Spiderlily looked through the window at the wedding dresses. Lusanna Corp would have competitions once in a while where people could hand in designs, with the winner being put into the game. Not as a cash item or anything, but as one created by a common NPC.
No matter how interested they all were in marrying, the outfits were nice. The last ones were designed in a more eastern fashion, flowing lines and embroidery.
“The new outfits are so pretty”, Blackstone sighed wistfully. “I’d love wearing a wedding dress like that. Ice would suit those new designs, too.”
Ice ducked his head under Blackstone’s scrutinizing gaze. So far, he had avoided taking any ads with this sort of topic out of sheer embarrassment. He had been asked quite often though. Including the last ad he had somehow avoided.
Hiccup.
Next to Ice, Bloody who had been zoning out started to hiccup.
Blackstone giggled, still thinking of it as a bit funny, while Ice was about to ask Bloody if he wanted some cold water when Dead Rabbit’s sharp intake of breath stopped him.
Confused, he looked at the assassin, who was pointing at his own brother. “Y-You! You-You-You! You’re having hiccups!”
“Sh-hiccup-ut up!”, Bloody quite literally growled.
“Is that so bad?”, Blackstone asked in confusion.
Dead Rabbit appeared to ignore or not notice her. “You, even though you said you weren’t-”
Bloodless Sunset wrapped an arm around Dead Rabbit’s face, blocking his mouth. The young man screamed, the sound muffled, while Bloody dragged him off. The beastman’s hiccups had clearly vanished again.
“Now I’m curious.” Blackstone rubbed her chin, watching the two squabble a bit farther away.
Ice tilted his head.
He was, too. Was there something weird about hiccups?
“How about it, Ice? Are you going to marry someone in the game? It gives you nice buffs.”
Ice shook his head. He didn’t want a fake marriage, even in a game.
“What about you, Little Droplet?”
The healer made a surprised sound. Dazed, they stared at the clothes, then chuckled as they shook their head. “No. I’m not going to marry.”
The last one, Spiderlily didn’t need to be asked. She had already mentioned that she would like to marry. An elven marriage, specifically.
Ice watched Bloody scuffle with his little brother from farther away, letting the others talk.
“Once they’re done, we should go see if the Machinas family responded”, Little Droplet mused, joining Ice in staring at the brawling brothers. Dead Rabbit was pouting badly while Bloodless Sunset appeared to quietly scold him for something.
It took a while until the brothers had stopped their mini fight. Together, they all made their way back to the museum, searching for the familiar guard.
“Good morning.” Little Droplet was once again the one who talked to the guard. “I hope you still remember us? We wanted to inquire if there are any news from the Machinas family.”
The guard gave a nod. He took out a piece of paper, holding it out to the healer, “Seems their youngest is willing to meet you. Here’s the meeting time and address.”
“Thank you very much!” Little Droplet bowed after taking the note, then jogged back to the party. Together, they took a look – the address was in the residential area, meaning it was a private house, and the time was on the same day at noon.
“Good thing we asked early”, Blackstone noted. “We’d have missed it otherwise.”
“Actually, they might be hoping you do”, Dead Rabbit mused, rubbing his beardless chin.
Author’s Note
So close.
Little Theater
Bloody: “You assuming that I’m into Ice because of my hiccups is totally incorrect.”
Dead Rabbit: “But you are into him.”
Bloody: “That still doesn’t have anything to do with my hiccups!!”
Dead Rabbit: “Yes, it does. Because you’re shameless.”
Bloody: “???”
Dead Rabbit: “So if you get nervous-embarrassment-hiccups, then you gotta be head over heels.”
Bloody: “….Touché.”
THANK YOU FOR THE CHAPTERRR
hiccups uahhh adorable 🥺💞💖 I wanna squish
the thief felt familiar squints
Ice: not gonna marry
Looks at platform stares
The focus is on, he doesn’t want a fake marriage~~~~
The hiccups uwu so cute
I guess it will be a true marriage then~
Thank you for the chapter!! ❤️❤️
»Ice sighed softly to himself. “Bloody.”« Now’s the question: Did he call out his name or called the scene bloody xDD
Aww~ I was just awwwing when Bloody came back with dropped ears and tail :3
Siblings could be your death when you least expect it lolol
Thx for the ch (ㅅ˘ㅂ˘)
Bloody with his ears pressed down…..!!!! Forgive Bloody of all his crimes!!!
…so cute that Bloody hiccups when….he feels certain emotions? XD
And here we point out that the first time he’s shown having hiccups is when Ice is worried about his torn ear and rubs his head. xD
how cute! the hiccups are his tell sign!
I’ve finally caught up ^-^
thanks for the chapter <3
Thanks for the chapter
Bloody is being cute xD
Thank you for the chapter