The Insider System

Chapter 100: Aftermath

Ry felt someone shaking him and opened his eyes to see his wife's face only a few inches from his. "Honey, wake up, we were robbed. I think they got into your safe." Ry was fully awake as soon as he heard this because there was really only one thing in his safe, and if they took it he was sure they had gotten into both of his safes.

Once he was in the Hallway he saw there was a hole right next to his son's room. How did they do this without us waking up?" He was confused but he didn't dwell on it too long because he had more important things to deal with. Getting to his safe and seeing his key was gone he was out his front door in less than a second later.

He knew he would already be too late, but he thought maybe there was a chance they hadn't known what the key was for, and had just taken it because it was the only thing in the safe that looked remotely valuable. Getting to his store he didn't see anything going on, but that was normal for this early none of the employees would be in yet.

Inside he only briefly glanced at the cases in the front because he didn't really care if they got stolen from, most of this stuff was less than 50 gold. Inside the office it didn't take long for him to see the open safe and the hole through the roof. Covering his face with his hands, Ry just barely kept himself from screaming.

He didn't understand how someone could have gotten through so many detection formations and how they had opened both safes without setting off a single alarm. He had been broken into more times than he could count, but this had never happened before.

It looked like he would have to start paying the Thieves guild for protection after all because that would be less expensive now that they had someone who could do all this. If someone got into his safe just a few more times he would be out of business so the 400 a month they were asking was nothing.

"But why did they go through the roof?"

...

Lake had just left after picking up his knife. He couldn't tell the difference, but it was back to its original shape, so he was happy. Sadly he couldn't wave it around like he would like to because the streets were completely packed. The level of unrest was palpable, it could devolve into chaos at any moment like he had predicted.

The amount of guards and other strong looking people had also increased. Lake wondered if the king had asked for help from the Fighters guild or something. It seemed like a smart thing to do so he wouldn't be surprised.

Lake wondered if the Temple of Light was aware of the amount of people they had sent into the capital, and if they were the fact this was the best thing to do was crazy. He wondered how many were sleeping on the streets because there had been no rooms two days ago, and people were still arriving.

It was to a level now that he wouldn't be surprised if they stopped letting people in soon; he also wanted to know where they would be getting all the food that would be needed to last till the war was over. It seemed food was already starting to become a problem because every time in the last few minutes he passed a place that sold food there was some form of commotion happening.

It looked like he had made a good choice when he had bought food earlier because to get it now he might have to fight a few families out of the way. He decided there was no reason to stay out here anymore and after he went to the weapon store he failed to rob last night he would find the cart driver and head back to the guild.

Lake wanted to see what form of reaction his break-in had caused for the future when he needed to know if he could hit the same place more than once or not. Walking by the shop, Lake could tell the hole had been discovered because there were quite a few guards standing by the door into the office where the stairs up to the attic were.

He wondered if they would think it had been a breakin at all because there were multiple ways a hole could be caused and the fact he hadn't taken anything and the guard saw nothing could make them think it was just a coincidence that something had hit a hole in their roof.

If that was the conclusion maybe he could come back sometime once he could wander the streets again. He hadn't really gotten anything from that, so he thought he could make one more stop real quick before heading back to his cart.

Just a few seconds later he walked by the jewelry store he had successfully robbed to see something more like what he had expected the first time. There were royal guards all over the place, he guessed they were looking for any clues because the thieves guild didn't guarantee the safety of its members the way the Assassin guild did.

It was a funny thought that the guards would probably give up on a murder case faster than a robbery. Lake also saw Ry, the owner who his skill had shown him last night. The look on Ry's face told Lake he was very upset about what had happened and Lake could understand, he had stolen more than a lot of people made in their life in this world.

Lake had to stop himself from snickering. There was no way someone could feel bad for a rich person who had just lost a bit of their money and took it this hard. He was still rich, just slightly less so now. Ry's face almost made Lake want to do it again as soon as he got the chance but he would give him time to procure more items and maybe some new safes.

It would only be fun if there was a challenge, and it would make Ry's reaction funnier as well if all his new precautions were useless. Now that he was done with this, Lake went to get his driver. He was actually very close to the cart, so it wasn't that hard and they were on the way back to the guild.

It was too bad that the city was so hectic but Lake no longer felt it was a good idea to stay outside the guild even if he wanted to level up a few more times before any fighting started in the city. He would probably regret his safe approach as soon as he got into a fight but he was sitting on a massive amount of free stat points so in the worst case he would use those to get him through.

Once he was back inside the barrier he and his driver were both checked by the same old wizard guy that had checked him last time and were given the green light to go inside. Lake waved bye to his driver and went to look for Lucas. He had some things he wanted to ask him about.

The main one being what it was going to be like once the fighting started then he wanted an estimate on how long the war would last. He knew it would probably be nowhere close to correct but it was good to have goals for the future.

Inside Lucas's office Lake took a seat because he could tell by the mark he had placed on Lucas's amulet that he would be here in just a few seconds. "Hello, did you bring the cart back or did you abandon it because the streets were too packed?"

Lake thought it was funny that Lucas became more sarcastic by the day so he said. "I sold it." Lucas didn't react and sat down at his desk. "I'm busy right now, so if you need something just ask so I can get back to work."

"No, I was just wanting to know what the fight would be like if we get attacked tomorrow." Lucas really seemed to think he was wasting his time by the way he answered. "Why tomorrow specifically?" Not really an answer at all, just more sarcasm.

"So there's no chance at all?" Lucas shook his head and said. "No, we'll know in advance because there will most likely be a siege first." This made sense to Lake so he shrugged and got up to go up stairs to his room.

"You got a new neighbor today, they seemed to know you so I put them on your floor since there was room and there was no sense in putting them any further from my office than necessary." Lake couldn't think of anyone who he would know that would come here so he asked. "Who is it?"

"Some guy named Wallace. He had a good idea and I agreed to fund his research." Lake nodded his head in approval. It was good Wallace had made something of himself in the time he had been away.