My name is Akatosh,

I slept in Songard.

—4E, 201, Last Seed, 30th, 2:47 p.m.

Surrounded by heavy and rough stone walls, as far as the eye can see, clumps of vines and gray weeds illuminated by dimly lit torches, parallel to the underground river that flows forever to the low-lying place, there are many corridors and rudimentary iron gates that lead to no one else.

This is the Rat Passage, a network of sewers beneath the town of Rift Valley, which takes its name from the slurical name of the surface dwellers, which presumably means "rat-like people burrowing around in it." ”

Since there is always living water flowing from the underground river in the sewers, there is no special smell other than the air feeling a little damp, otherwise, Palasos desperately tries to get the princess to discourage himself from joining the Thieves' Guild.

"It is said that Rift Valley was originally built as a frontier fortress, and these old underground passages were the underground warehouses, barracks, and escape passages of the rulers of the time, so there are many suitable places to live." Bryenchov hunched over and scrept through the rat path as he whispered to Palasos behind him.

"A lot of people choose to live in sewers?" Even though it was the dead of night, Palacus could faintly hear echoing scolding, laughter, and whispers of not knowing what to say from the depths of the rat tunnel.

"Unlike other towns that deliberately plan civilian areas, this sewer network is a natural civilian area in Rift Valley City, and those who can live on the surface of the city can basically be regarded as large and small nobles - with the exception of those in the Harga Bun Chase Shop." The veteran thief continued, "The Black Thorns' contract with the Thieves' Guild includes a clause that 'if a move is made against a mansion on the surface without permission, the guards have the right to shoot the culprit to death'. ”

"This 'without permission' sounds quite profound." Palasos followed Blinkev around a corner, and the sound of the underground river gradually became quieter.

"That's right, the Black Thorns will update their 'No Offense' list for the Thieves Guild from time to time, and we'll have to send someone to make some trouble for those 'families who have fallen off the list', and if they don't understand the hints, the Black Thorns will issue some more specific 'commissions' that will ensure that those families know what they have done wrong." Brinchev's voice was a little helpless.

"This seems different from the thieves' guild I've heard of?" Parasos asked, confused.

I have heard in the capital province of Sailodil that the thieves' guilds in Skyrim Province have noble protection in every city, and you can find merchants to provide services to sell stolen goods by just turning around...... It's completely different from the status quo.

"The apparent reason is that the Imperial Legion and the Storm Cloak are fighting, and both sides have stepped up the investigation and punishment of criminal acts," Blinkev said as he pulled out a thin wire and pounded a locked rusty iron door, "but the actual reason is this! ”

Zheng! At the same time as Blinkhov jumped back, three sharp spears suddenly poked out from the side of the iron gate, and if he was still in place, he would definitely be pierced.

"You go and try it, and you'll understand." Blinkev wiped a cold sweat and said to Palashos as he looked at the slowly retracting spear.

Palacos watched vigilantly at the hole that the vicious mechanism had poked out, took Brychenchev's wire and tried to pick the lock, "I don't ...... the skill of unlocking"

A small sound sounded, and the iron door opened.

"That's it," said Bryencchev, shrugging his shoulders and pushing open the iron door, to a somewhat sluggish Palacos, "that a veteran like me would be planted on a lock that is mostly rusty and can be opened with a single hook, and this kind of thing is not accidental but universal." ”

Palacus remembered that Princess Emilia said that she wanted to come to Rift Valley, and it was not after Baron Ericourt successfully opened the lock to cause trouble for Baron Bai Ling, but when an old thief who should have been very senior failed to open an ordinary door in the noble district with almost no defense, and was surrounded by guards.

"Did you anger some Holy Spirit or Demon God?" Palacos asked.

"We've guessed so, but there's no Holy Spirit who has a crush on thieves," Bryenchov said as he crept ahead again, "and there are too many demon gods supporting our actions, and if anyone inadvertently provokes a certain demon god, he won't show up to point it out, so we can only be prepared to remedy the failure before each operation, and recruit some new people who have not yet been affected." ”

"Hmm...... I think a lot of newcomers will probably be scared away after hearing that you provoked the demon god. The newcomer Parry snorted.

"But you didn't run, and that's enough." Blinkev casually said something to increase loyalty, but unfortunately it didn't work for Palacos.

Since Her Royal Highness wants to join the Thieves' Guild, he must follow up, and in addition, her sentence "God will kill you", after confirming that the Demon God has intervened, Palasos has to make sure that Emilia does not take it seriously.

"So, about this operation?" As Blinkev's movements became more and more cautious, Palacos judged that his target was close.

"The target is a mercenary who lives in the Rat Tunnel, called 'Boxer,'" Blinkev whispered, "He was hired to assassinate the 'Kind Guiro' of the Hall of Glory but the other party had been killed in advance, after which he refused to return the mercenary money and prepared to flee the Rift, and his original employer wanted to get his prepaid commission back." ”

"This shabby commission doesn't sound like something the Black Thorns family can come up with." Palacos raised an eyebrow.

"It seems that it is an alien nobleman named 'Eritino', since he is from Windhelm City, Black Thorn is just a little face-saving, but after this kind of unstylish commission spreads, they will probably be excluded from the list of 'no offense'." Blinkchev stopped, and Palasos heard staccato snoring in the corridor ahead.

"He looks insecure." The Sharp-Eyed Eagle Scout Captain looked at the dense bear traps on the ground in front of him and smiled slightly.

——2:53——

Deep underneath the Rift City's rat tunnel, there was a huge circular plaza, a little higher up on the side of the southern ridge, where a turbulent dark river was cut off in the air, and the water gushed out like a small waterfall, and the water pooled slightly in the middle of the circular space, and soon flowed in all directions along the narrow channel preset by the four walls.

If viewed from the outside, it must look like a leaking kettle, but in fact, the square was indeed named "Broken Flask" by the thieves' guild that occupied the area.

Around the cistern, there are living and training areas that have been built much higher to prevent the water volume of the dark river from suddenly increasing one day, and there is even a small tavern.

"How's the rest? What is your impression of the flask? We mostly work at night, but are we still used to it? In the corner of the tavern, Sapphire, one of the two biggest talkers of the Thieves' Guild, was talking to himself—at least as it seemed.

“…… OK. Emile was nibbling on a doughnut, just nodding slightly.

"All I can say is that your talent, which disappears at the slightest glance, is a natural fit for us." Sapphire said, "Although we are not in very good condition right now, hahaha......"

“…… Well. The girl winked in response.

"I mentioned the guild's predicament to you before, so let's explain it in a little more detail." Sapphire saw that Emile was happy to eat, so he took a doughnut and nibbled on it: "The 'traditional activity' of stealing property that originally belonged to someone else can easily fail, but the new action that Xiao Fu and I came up with has no impact, which is to 'take away property that does not belong to that person'." ”

"For example, the ship we sank before, although the 'fir trees' nominally belonged to Shad, he didn't know that the wood had turned into tree spirits, so we intercepted the 'tree spirit sap' and the 'erect roots' very smoothly, and if we wanted to take the whole ship, it must have capsized." Sapphire ate the doughnut in two bites, revealing a "what's so delicious about this thing" expression.

"In the same way, if we do things according to the commission of the Black Thorn Family, because they are above the thunder, our actions will be very smooth, but if we want to make extraneous branches, we will directly fail, and we cannot determine the cause of this phenomenon, so we can only carry out corresponding activities under the condition of understanding its rules." Sapphire reached out to get the doughnut, but the plate was pulled away by Emile, who was obviously reluctant to share dessert with Sapphire who didn't like the taste and just ate casually.

"Hmm...... For example, stealing personal belongings from a specific person and putting stolen goods in someone's cabinet are all used by the client to throw things in someone's face or report them to the guards in order to threaten the other party, and if we change the items, it is not only easy to fail, but also attract the client's retaliation. Sapphire spread his hands and picked up an apple instead.

"But secretly changing the ledger, as well as the target is not limited, and the task of stealing anything at will is purely troublesome, there is a loophole to drill, after all, it is impossible for the entrusting party to know the details of the accounts, and what we have taken, it should be noted here that we cannot directly benefit from the victim, but must be delivered to the client, in the principal's oil, this part is 'property that does not belong to him'." Sapphire clattered and gnawed on the apple.

“…… Oh. Amir seemed to understand and blinked as if he didn't understand.

"For a recent example," Sapphire said after eating all the apples in his hand, wiping his hands and pointing to the bee guards and fire starters that had been set aside, "Our upcoming mission requires burning the beehives of the 'Golden Manor' in Santen, and the honey and royal jelly that should have been burned together belong to us. ”

“…… Got it. Emile nodded with a twinkle in his eyes.

No, she just understood that there would be honey to eat...... Sapphire covers his face.