RotDG Chapter 65: Stealing and Dealing

It had been a long day for Sonia Redheart. She hardly even understood what was going on at this point. All she had wanted was to finally learn who her father was supposed to be— it was something her mother had refused to ever tell her.

Every time Sonia asked the question, her mother would deflect instead of giving an answer. Most of the time, the conversation would end with her mother dismissing her by saying something along the lines of, “Does knowing who your father is really matter, Sonia? Your mom is Natalia Redheart— the Crimson Vale herself! Isn’t knowing that you’re the daughter of a Ruby Rank adventurer enough for you?”

But that was exactly the problem for Sonia. Her mother was a Ruby Rank adventurer. This meant that Natalia was hardly ever around at home, spending most of her time away taking on jobs that would take months to complete.

So that left Sonia at home alone with nobody who truly cared for her. Sure, she was treated like royalty— in fact, she was certain she lived a life better than even most other nobles in the Holy Academy. She had servants who tended to her every need, bodyguards who always kept her safe from harm’s way, and private tutors who taught her everything she ever wanted to know.

But they were all simply adults doing their jobs— paid to take care of a famous adventurer’s daughter. She could never truly connect with any of them like she would with her mother. And since her mother was never around anyway, she thought that if she found her father… he would be there for her in ways her mother never could.

At least, that was the reason why she had always wanted to meet her father as a child. Now, she was almost an adult— she was seventeen at the moment, but in a few short months, she’d be eighteen years old. And as a student of the Holy Academy, it wouldn’t make much of a difference in her life if she reconnected with her father now.

After all, she was used to being alone for all her life. It was something that was now almost… comforting to her. That was why even though she now had the chance to make friends— to actually connect with people around her who were her age— she didn’t even try.

Because she didn’t care about making such pointless connections. They were unnecessary. Completely irrelevant. When she was growing up, being alone didn’t make her life any worse, so what difference would making friends have now?

All she wanted was to figure out who her father was, just to understand why her mother kept it a secret. Was he such a terrible person that it was better off for a child to not know about him? Or was it because he was also an adventurer— but one who met a terrible fate? Just who exactly was he, and why did Natalia refuse to ever speak about him?

Sonia didn’t know. But these questions had plagued her mind for her entire life. And she wanted answers now that she was soon turning into an adult.

That was why she had sought out Wyll about half a year ago— to hire his services as an information broker to figure out who exactly her father was supposed to be. Most other information brokers she had approached already turned her away at that point, and he was the best one who was even willing to hear her out. So she was desperate. She was willing to pay him anything to get what she wanted. 

But he had made a strange request instead.

He had seen her desperation and rejected the bag of gold coins she had offered him. Since he was an information broker, he knew about her, and he knew she was soon enrolling into the Holy Academy of the Church of Life at that point. So he had asked her to collect a few… illegal items that were currently in the possession of Headmaster Kaelen Angelus himself.

Wyll hadn’t revealed what they were supposed to be right away. He had simply probed her willingness to do this for him in exchange for the information she was looking for. Even though Sonia had her apprehensions, she eventually accepted this job.

And when he filled her in on the details of what she agreed to do, it was already too late to back down. So she did as she was told. But it took time for her to gather the illegal items he had asked her to gather.

To steal the Artifacts of Death from Headmaster Kaelen Angelus.

But when she finally got Wyll what he asked for… well, the events of the last hour or so was what played out. Wyll had betrayed her and tried to get her killed, before she was saved by two of her classmates from school. She knew their names— Eli and Myrla— and she knew of their reputation. 

The both of them were the two child prodigies of the Holy Academy: they were the two youngest students in this year’s batch of Initiates. In fact, Myrla would have been the youngest student to be enrolled into the Holy Academy in the last few years… if not for Eli, who was the youngest student in the Holy Academy’s entire history. 

The two of them were friends. Sonia had seen them spending most of their time together— such as during lunch break, or chatting during class. But while they certainly had seen Sonia around too, they had barely even interacted with her. And yet, for whatever reason, they both had risked their lives to help her.

Even when Wyll had somehow summoned a greater demon to kill them, the two never ran away, despite being completely unaware of what was going on. Or so Sonia thought.

But, somehow, Eli had realized that Sonia was carrying something she shouldn’t be carrying in her Bag of Holding. Was he aware what the exact contents of the bag were exactly? Sonia didn’t know.

However, he had helped her store her Bag of Holding in a Dimensional Storage Unit while everyone else was distracted. And now, he was dragging her with him down to a distant side street as she tried to process everything that happened.

Finally, when the two of them were just alone in the dark corner of an alleyway, Eli came to a halt. He spun around and met Sonia’s gaze with a serious look. It was almost an odd sight, considering that the young boy was over a full head shorter than the black-haired girl. 

But Eli paid no mind to their height or age difference, instead just raising a brow expectantly at her. 

“So…” he started.

“So… what?” Sonia countered.

She didn’t exactly know how much he knew when he decided to help her hide her Bag of Holding. It was entirely possible that he saw her body language and could simply infer there was something inside there that she shouldn’t have. But for him to know that she possessed three different Artifacts of Death inside?

It was extremely unlikely.

Or so Sonia thought. And that was why she remained obtuse.

But Eli just chuckled as he waved a hand dismissively. “Come on, there’s no need to pretend with me. You and I both know what kind of… illegal items you possess inside of your Bag of Holding. Your little toys of…”

He leaned closer as she backed away, practically pressing up against the alleyway wall. She stared at his lips as they moved and mouthed the words, “Death.” 

Sonia’s eyes widened when she heard that. Her heart practically jumped out of her chest. But how? It was impossible— there was no way he could have known what was inside of the Bag of Holding. Unless he somehow had a Skill that let him detect any kind of death magic residues, even if they were hidden away inside layers of concealment spells.

But… was that even possible?

He is a [Healer], Sonia thought. Maybe it is possible with some kind of life magic Skill…

Shaking her head, Sonia watched as Eli drew back from her with a grin plastered on his face.

“...what do you want?” she asked, trying to keep her cool.

“I just want to know why,” Eli replied as he peered into her. “Why exactly do you have these items with you? How exactly did you get them? And what were you hoping to achieve by meeting up with that thug?”

Sonia glanced around the empty alleyway. Even though the two of them appeared to be alone right now, that didn’t mean there couldn’t be anyone eavesdropping on them. So the black-haired girl took in a deep breath and looked back at the young boy.

“Are you sure we should be talking about this here?” she asked hesitantly. “Someone could be listening.”

Eli nodded as he gestured at the air around them. “That is true. That is the reason why I casted a simple silencing spell around us before we entered the alleyway. Now, someone can still eavesdrop on us, so I suggest we still remain as… vague as possible. But you can answer my questions without worrying too much.”

Sonia blinked. She hadn’t even noticed Eli doing that— but it was true. When she looked around them with a discerning eye, she saw a magical distortion. Like a subtle spell was in effect, and its mana was causing a minor disturbance in the air.

When did he do this? she wondered, but the young boy’s voice immediately drew back her attention.

“So are you going to give me answers? Or will I have to turn in your illegal items and report you to the guards?” Eli said as he took a step back.

Instantly, Sonia tensed. She grabbed him by the shoulder as he just raised an amused brow.

“You can’t do that!” she exclaimed, losing her composure completely. “Please, I’ll tell you anything!”

“Then answer my question: where did you get that Bag of Holding?” Eli asked as he brushed her hands off his shoulders.

“From the Holy Academy,” Sonia answered as she took a step back.

Eli tilted his head. “So you stole them?”

There was a moment’s pause, before Sonia nodded. “Yes.”

“I’m surprised you are capable of stealing from the Holy Academy,” the young boy said, tapping a finger on his chin. “I’d have thought security measures are tighter than that.”

“They’re usually well-guarded, except for last weekend,” Sonia explained as she shook her head. “These… items… they’re sent to Headmaster Kaelen Angelus to be purified. But it requires a difficult ritual to do this, so he usually waits until he has a few dozen of them in the school’s vault before he carries out the purification process.”

Eli nodded along as he listened. Sonia continued.

“Last weekend was when the purification process was supposed to happen. Most of the security was focused on the vault or escorting these items to the ritual chamber, but the ritual chamber itself was left mostly unguarded until the purification process was to begin. Since they brought these items to the ritual chamber in different groups, I snuck in in-between groups and stole a few of the items that were just lying there on the ground.”

“And there weren’t any guards at the vault?” Eli asked, giving her a dubious look.

“There were some guards, as I said,” she replied. “But they were Inquisitor Guards— most of them aren’t too adept in magic. So all I had to do was down a Potion of Invisibility, and I could sneak past them into the ritual chamber with ease.”

“Right, right. Makes sense.” Eli nodded in response. Then he gave her a suspicious look once again. “But why exactly did you want them?”

“I didn’t,” Sonia said simply. “Wyll wanted them. And he had something I wanted. So I was making a trade.”

“Until he betrayed you,” the young boy pointed out.

Sonia sighed as she closed her eyes. “Yes, until he betrayed me.”

“I think I understand it now,” Eli said as he crossed his arms. “You must’ve been really desperate to be willing to do this, huh? Especially since you used a Potion of Invisibility for this— those are rare and expensive…”

“...yes, I was,” Sonia whispered. She remained silent for a moment, before she raised her head and opened her eyes. “Anyway, I answered all your questions. Are we done now?”

She hoped that he would say yes, return her Bag of Holding, and leave her alone. But he just smirked as he replied casually.

“Nope, we’re not done here.”

Sonia pursed her lips when she heard that. Her fingers inched towards her rapier hanging from the side of her belt as she stared suspiciously at Eli. While they were classmates— and he had saved her life— it was starting to seem like he wouldn’t drop this subject.

Like he was going to blackmail her with this information.

And if that was what he was going to do, then she was willing to do whatever it took to protect herself. Even if it meant—

“How about we make a deal?” Eli said, interrupting her dark thoughts.

“What?” Sonia blinked when she heard that.

Eli just smiled as locked eyes with her. “I’ll help you extract the information you want out of Wyll. And in exchange—”

Sonia’s head spun as she processed what he was saying. But she was not prepared for what he was about to say next. He placed a hand on his chest as he finished.

“You let me keep these… toys of yours in my possession.”

Next chapter