The mission received by Vance was to steal a crate from a transport carriage. On what the contents were they had no idea, the file given by Vance specified the location, route and nothing else. Aeris led the way, weaving through the alleyway, towards a tunnel which led to the surface.
“Where exactly is this transport carriage?” Edric asked
“They fill the transport carriages near the gate but we aren't going there” . Before Edric could ask a question she clarifies. “ The carriage which has the crate will go through a forest area near a district . There will be more places to hide and less guards too”
“Makes sense,” He nodded . “So, what’s the plan? ”
“Your the plan”
“Me?”
She nodded “You can turn invisible, I’ll distract them , you grab the crate and hide. Simple enough “
She must be referring to Ghoststeps. Her plan sounds fine but It only lasts 5 seconds and a cooldown for who knows how long. Sometimes it takes 5 minutes, other times it’s 10 minutes depending on my mana capacity .
“Sounds fine but here's the thing , I can only do it for 5 seconds at most before recharging”
“Hmm” Her face was visibly disappointed. “Why don’t you absorb the mana stones which innkeeper gave you”
She must be referring to what Lester gave me. Hmm… Absorbing Mana stones, I never thought of that, well it does make sense.
“Ahh, I didn’t realize that,” he said.
“Seriously , it doesn't make sense” she scoffed and for the first time her voice sounded audibly irritated. Edric got scared shitless . He didn't piece together why. He didn’t do anything wrong at least he thought.
“I-Is anything wrong”
“Well, you look like a noble bastard. Your mana is abundant better than 90% of people but your efficiency is garbage” . Those words hit Edric's heart. “You don’t even know the basics of mana but you somehow can shoot ice and become invisible. Either you're just a dumb fuck or a con artist. ”
Damn, I didn’t think I was that bad. I thought I was getting the hang of this.
“Well, you see . I kind of lost my memories. The other stuff is just instinct if you believe that”
“Makes sense I guess.” Her expression said she didn’t believe an ounce of what he said. Edric didn’t press her further .
They continued to walk down the path, they reached an empty road where the carriage should pass through. The surroundings were covered by tree, bushes. The roads weren’t in the best condition either, the nearest building was at least 1 km from them.
“Lets hide here” she pointed at a pile of bushes, walked forward and crouched down.
Edric follows her lead , crouched down behind a few bushes. “How long do we have to wait”
“Not long, it should arrive in about 20 minutes or so,” She said. “When the carriage arrives , I will go throw a smoke bomb and attack the guards in front. You go through the chaos and grab the crate. Do you understand”
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He nods in agreement. “ But how am I supposed to identify the box”
“According the file, it should have the metal bracing and the box should have signs written fragile”
“Alright got it”
The area was silent with the exception of the rustle from the wind. Soon the sound of the creaking of the wheel became louder and louder. The carriage arrived-there were 6 guards in total, three on each side along with a driver sitting on the carriage. The carriage itself is painted in a shade of dark blue, almost looking camouflaged with the night .
The carriage came closer towards Aeris and Edrics location. It’s time to execute the plan. Aeris gives a gesture signaling him, then throws a smoke bomb at the carriage.
It explodes, the smoke envelopes the carriage completely. The guards go into a frenzy. Bashing the swords left and right.
“What the hell ? Who goes there” one of the guards shouts, waving his spear in the air to disperse the smoke.
Then immediately a slice of fire goes past the guards.
“An attacker, get them.” Four guards rush in front , one of them swings their spear at the silhouette but it was only an after image. The other guards looked around, Aeris carefully nicks around the shadows. Causing chaos with her sword, careful not to cause too much harm to them.
While the commotion occurs, Edric from behind watches as the scene unfolds. Only two guards remained guarding the carriage, the smoke still lingered. He saw an opening , he walked through the smoke. Careful not to cause any noise or draw attention.
He reached the carriages at the back , looked around- no one was there. He activates GhostSteps and phases through the wall. He reached inside, stopped his skill and looked around. Boxes of various sizes, shapes and colors were stacked together , all not in any particular order.
He recalled the signs Aeris described- metal braces, blue color and a sign written frigle.
This one , no. This one… Found it.
A box big enough for one person to carry but small relative to the surrounding boxes was at the corner. Edric grabbed it with his arms. Scanned the surrounding one more time, in case you took the wrong one.
Heavy, what is in here. Edric heard the commotion from outside, it was getting a bit too loud .
There’s no time to waste , Edric activates his skill and phases through the wall with the box in his hand. He had hoped for an easy get away but alas fate was not at his side. He had never tried phasing through walls with an object in his hand before. He had thought it would be similar to his clothes but his skill got exhausted the second he got to the other side.
The smoke cleared up, one of the guards heard Edric’s panting breath and turned back. He runs to the source to spot a panting Edric holding a box.
Crap, what do I do now? Drawing any attention is a no go. Ghost steps is still in cooldown. Hmm. wait.. Edric takes his left hand and grabs a small mana stone. How different would absorbing a mana stone be different from meditating.
Quickly he closed his eyes , recalled the sensation of how he felt meditating, The mana stone energy flowed through his body, Edric felt a slight energy boost like drinking an energy drink. He couldn't waste time any longer, the guard was coming to attack.
He opens his eyes , tries to activate the skill and makes a run for it. The guard attack phases through Edric who seemingly disappeared .
“What the hell? Where’d that thief go”
Edric ran towards the side, making sure he was in view of Aeris. He slides towards a bush just in time before his skill deactivates again.
Aeris notices his presence, and the plan is completed successfully . Now all that's left to do is escape. She takes her saber and swings it around like a tornado. The dust and soil spread across- blinding the guards temporarily.
While the guards squirm, rubbing their eyes- Aeris had escaped into the darkness.
“She disappeared.”
“There was another, he stole a blue box.”
“Only a box , what about the rest”
“There all fine. What should we do now? Should we chase after them”
“Leave it, We ain't paid enough for this shit.”
Edric’s ability wore off as he made haste to escape, he stuck behind a tree large enough to block him. He nudged his ear closer to hear the sound of the carriage fade in the distance.
Edric let of a deep sigh, “Huh that was close” He muttered.
“Not bad but a bit to close”
“Ahh!” Edric looks up at Aeris who appeared from the bushes without a single sound. “ It was you, phew. Let out a noise next time”
“Hmph” She snarled. “Well at least you got the box. Though you were a bit slow ”
“Ya, sorry about that. ” he said as he stood up, lifting the box. “ what’s in this thing, it heavy”
“Doesn't matter, let's go give it to Vance” she says as she walks past him. “Curiosity will only lead to pain”
Sounds like she is speaking from experience. He thought as he followed her.
Aeries lead the way back, retracing the pathway towards the alleyway into the market. She weaved through the underground market to get to Vance’s shop. Edric still had a hard time remembering the path and was surprised by her memory. With made him question her relationship with Vance.
Maybe they had a past, or is she being blackmailed by him. Well it could be anything, finding Xantha comes first.
Eventually , they arrived in front of Vances shop. THey barged through the door, went down the spiraling stairs and dropped the box on the table. Loud enough to catch his attention.
“Oh, you completed faster than expected,” Vance chuckled.
