The Insider System

Chapter 113: True Chaos Pt.3

It wasn't long after Tiff knocked that she was let in by someone she was pretty sure was just some bum the thieves paid to act like a servant. Being led down a set of stairs Tiff expected to see whomever she was being led to but instead the servant opened another door that had another stairway down.

Tiff guessed this was why the thieves here had felt safe in staying in the city; they had built some sort of underground bunker in preparation for situations like these. It was probably also used as a base for them to meet with clients they didn't exactly know. It was always a good idea to meet people you couldn't trust on your terms if they would agree with it.

It was a trust building exercise, if they wouldn't walk into your fortress to meet they probably had plans to screw you over, or they thought you were going to kill them meaning there was no reason you should be working together to begin with. Tiff wasn't too scared of walking into their den though because even though they would have the upper hand, most thieves wouldn't risk a fight with someone like her.

The most dangerous thing here would probably be some form of defense formation and it would probably be the kind that would trap her and give the thieves time to run because the type that could kill you were usually much more expensive because they dealt with more violent magics that were harder to make and contain.

Also most people saw offensive formations to be stupid when you could just cast a spell to kill someone for almost free while something like a shield that could protect your property was very valuable. There were still plenty of offensive formations but they were usually only in really big things like castles or guild buildings.

Stepping through a doorway that had a very thick metal door on it Tiff couldn't help but think it would close behind her right after she entered but when it didn't she looked forward to see three people sitting in the very dimly lit room. She couldn't see their faces but she could see enough to know they were very successful for thieves.

Their gear was much nicer than what she was wearing and she was in a fortunate position within the Temple meaning her stuff was already very expensive. This made her think she might not have brought enough money to buy the information she wanted. Under normal circumstances with normal people it would have been more than enough but she hadn't known just who she was about to meet.

It was still worth a shot though it wasn't like they would start a fight just because she had wasted their time. All they were doing was sitting in a small dark room. At most she had interrupted a conversation. "Hello, I'm here to buy some information about something that was stolen from the Temple of Light."

Tiff heard some very subtle whispering but couldn't hear what was being said. "How much money do you have with you?" Tiff was happy to see the three were willing to do business but was a little unhappy they didn't just set a price. The way they were doing it she would have to give them everything before she got the info.

Tiff didn't throw the money at them and just handed it to the servant who brought it over. After a few seconds Tiff heard some more whisperings then the thief in the middle said. "It's good we don't know anything because the amount you brought would have made you give us your gear as payment."

Tiff understood they were done and turned to leave when she heard some more whispers. "One second, we don't know anything, but there seems to be some overlap in what we hope to accomplish. When was the thing you were looking for stolen?"

Tiff didn't know the exact date but she knew it couldn't have been more than a week because that was the last time the weapons had been checked. "Within the last few days." Tiff answered like she was keeping the date secret to not give away the fact that she didn't actually know.

"Well if it was within the last few days it lines up. A few days ago a master class thief came through town and pulled a few jobs. The main one being a jewelry store where they got past over twenty different security measures without triggering any of them. We were hoping to make contact with them but the only thing we know about them is that they are a member because some of the jewelry they stole was sold to the guild. We wanted to make contact to cut them in so they wouldn't just keep doing random robberies but we would much rather that they be dead because they are now our number one competition."

Tiff could kind of see where this was going. They were going to use the fact that the Temple was looking for the thief as a way to get them killed for free. They had probably been going to use the Assassins guild originally but they were very expensive.

"We have a way to track their guild badge so we will give it to you. We were going to have it taken care of once the thieves guild returned to normal but now that you are here there's no reason we have to wait. All we ask is that you return after you are done so we know it's over and you succeeded."

Tiff nodded and when one of the thieves held out a small coin she took it from them and inspected it. "That is a guild communication device that the guild usually only uses when someone is doing a job for the guild but I had one of my friends in the guild office set it to track the badge issued to the person who sold the jewelry. This is a secret function powerful people in the guild use to find members. All you need to do is activate it and it will tell you which direction you need to go to find their badge."

Looking down at the tracker, Tiff thought it would probably be best for her to bring this back to the Temple and let them handle the rest but the thief hadn't finished talking. "If you finish this job and bring the tracker back without spreading news that something that can track our members exists we will pay you 100,000 gold. It's not really something we want anyone to know about because once the news gets back to the members they will stop keeping their badges on them making this function unusable."

Tiff nodded and said. "I'll keep it to myself." She couldn't really trust what the thief had just said because they would most likely do other things like kill her when she came back to return the tracker so they could make sure she didn't spread the information after she received the money but there were ways she could force them to pay her and let her leave with her life.

For example if she told someone to spread the news if she didn't return alive and she told the thieves that they would have to pay her and let her leave.

Once she was back outside Tiff didn't use the tracker right away and instead headed home. The streets weren't exactly safe right now so her going on a wild goose chase now would be kind of reckless. It also gave her time to think about her plans for the money she would receive. The temple paid them very little to keep them dependent, and what she had just paid for this information had been her savings for if she ever had to run away.

The lack of money had always been one of the biggest problems with her, and whoever she could talk into coming with her, leaving the temple. As Holy magic users they were constantly tracked by the Demon Worshipers making it impossible for them to work for money because they could never stay in the same place for long.

With 100,000 she would be able to feed them as they ran plus buy whatever they needed for the road. Medicine was expensive, and the constant fighting would definitely require large amounts of it if they wanted to survive as a group. By herself she wouldn't need much because she was good at hiding, but the others weren't like her and they would occasionally be found, and be injured during the resulting fight.

She could also buy a nice cart they could use to move at a faster pace, and if she had it enchanted to conceal them it would make it much harder for the Demon Worshipers to track them down in the first place, but it would be hard for her to set this order up without it giving away she planned to run away, so it would have to come after they had already left.

The hard part was definitely going to be actually convincing the others that they were just throwing their lives away by staying with the temple and if they came with her they had a better chance of actually living to see the end of the war

Once one of the three swords died the rest of them would die soon after and there was no way the God of Light would find the Demon Lord before that happened, and while she thought the God of Light would win the final fight, there was no guarantee. What she was getting at was there was no way any of them would live if they stayed even if the God of Light won, so they should just go before they died for no reason.

She knew it was heartless, or at least it would seem that way to everyone else, but the people they were protecting were going to die, so there was no point in standing in the way, and forcing the Demon Lord to step on them first. Getting inside the safehouse, Tiff went to see if there had been any losses tonight. It was unlikely, but she still needed to confirm it to make herself feel better.