Surrounded by blue-black stone walls made of heavy and rough stones, what you can see are clumps of vines and gray weeds illuminated by dimly lit torches, parallel to the underground river that always flows to low-lying areas. Who knows?
There are many corridors and crude iron gates in disrepair leading to where.
This is the Ratway, a network of sewers beneath Rift Valley towns. Its name comes from the derogatory name given to surface dwellers, which roughly means "there are people like rats crawling around in it."
Since there is always running water from the underground river flowing in the sewer, there is no special smell except that the air feels a little damp. Otherwise, Parasos would have tried his best to make the princess give up her intention to join the Thieves Guild.
"It is said that Rift Valley City was a border fortress when it was first established. These old underground passages were the underground warehouses, barracks and escape tunnels of the rulers at that time. Therefore, there are many places suitable for living." Brynjolf bowed his waist.
Sneak in the rat passage while whispering to Parathos behind you.
"A lot of people choose to live in the sewers?" Even though it was late at night, Parasos could still vaguely hear the echoes of curses, laughter and people who didn't know what they were saying coming from the depths of the rat tunnel.
Whisper softly.
"Unlike other towns that deliberately planned civilian areas, this sewer network is a naturally formed civilian area in Rift Valley City. The people who can live on the surface of the city can basically be regarded as nobles of all sizes - the people of Harjia Gongpeng Datongpu
Exception." The senior thief continued: "There is a clause in the contract between the Blackthorn Family and the Thieves Guild, 'If a mansion on the surface is attacked without permission, the guards have the right to kill the criminal directly'."
"This 'without permission' sounds quite profound." Parasos followed Brynjolf around a corner, and the sound of the underground river gradually became quieter.
"Yes, the Blackthorn Family will update the 'no offense' list they give to the Thieves Guild from time to time. We will have to send people to find some trouble for those 'families that fall off the list'. If they fail to understand this
With this hint, the Blackthorn family will issue some more specific 'commissions' that can ensure that those families know what mistakes they have made." Brynjolf's voice was a little helpless.
"This seems different from the Thieves Guild I heard about?" Parasos asked doubtfully.
I heard in the Capital Province of Cyrodiil that the Thieves Guild in Skyrim Province has noble protection in every city. If you just go around, you can find merchants to provide services for selling stolen goods. When caught by guards during the operation, they said "I am a guild"
"People can leave directly if they can open up a little bit," and every member is extremely rich...completely different from the status quo.
"The apparent reason is that the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks are fighting, and both sides have stepped up their pursuit and punishment of criminal acts," Brynjolf said as he took out a piece of thin wire and fiddled with a locked door.
Rusty Iron Door: “But the actual reason is—this!”
Zheng! At the same time that Brynjolf let go and jumped back, three sharp spears suddenly protruded from the side of the iron door. If he had still been there, he would have been pierced.
"Just try it and you will understand." Brynjolf wiped away the cold sweat and said to Parasos while looking at the slowly retracting spear.
Parasos looked at the hole poked out by the vicious mechanism with vigilance, took Brynjolf's wire and tried to open the lock, "My lock-picking skills are not..."
Click, a small sound sounded, and the iron door opened in response.
"That's it," Brynjolf shrugged and pushed open the iron door, and said to the somewhat dull Parasos: "A veteran like me can actually stumble into a lock where most of the locks are rusty and only need one hook.
The door lock can be opened, and this kind of thing is not accidental but common."
Parassus recalled the situation when Princess Emilia said she wanted to come to Rift Valley City. It was not after Baron Ericul successfully opened the lock and caused trouble for Baron Ghost. It was an old thief who should be very experienced.
The moment when an ordinary door with almost no defense in the noble area failed and was surrounded by guards.
"Did you anger a certain Holy Spirit or Demon God?" Parasos asked.
"We have also guessed this, but there is no way that any Holy Spirit will be interested in thieves," Brynjolf sneaked forward to explore the path again: "And there are too many demon gods supporting our actions. If someone accidentally angers someone,
The Demon God will not show up specifically to point it out, so we can only make preparations for failure before each action, and recruit new people who have not been affected yet."
"Hmm... I think many newcomers will be scared away after hearing that you have provoked the devil." Newcomer Pali laughed.
"But you didn't run away, that's enough." Brynjolf said casually to boost loyalty, but unfortunately it was of no use to Parasos.
Since Her Royal Highness wants to join the Thieves Guild, he must follow up. In addition, after confirming that the devil is involved, Parasus must ensure that Emilia will not take her seriously.
Go implement it.
"So, about this operation?" As Brynjolf's actions became more cautious, Parasos judged that the target was very close.
"The target is a mercenary named 'Boxer' who lives in the Rat Passage," Brynjolf whispered: "He was hired to assassinate the 'Mercy Guillot' of the Hall of Glory, but he had been killed by others in advance.
, then he refused to return the employment fee and prepared to flee the Rift Valley. His original employer wanted to get back the commission he paid in advance."
"Such a shabby commission doesn't sound like something the Blackthorn family could propose." Parathos raised his eyebrows.
"It seems to be a foreign noble named 'Eritino'. Since he comes from Windhelm City, Blackthorn is just a little bit more face-saving. However, after this unsightly commission is spread, they will probably be excluded.'
It's off the 'no offense' list." Brynjolf stopped, and Palathos heard intermittent snoring coming from the corridor ahead.
"It seems like he is very insecure." The Eagle Scout Captain looked at the densely packed bear traps on the ground in front of him and smiled.
——2:53——
Deep underground in the Rat Road of Rift Valley City, there is a huge circular square. It is close to a slightly higher position on the side of the southern mountain ridge. A rapid underground river is intercepted there, and the water flows out like a small waterfall, and the water
After the water pool in the middle of the circular space gathered slightly, it soon flowed in all directions along the narrow water channels preset on the four walls.
If you could observe it from the outside, it must look like a kettle leaking water everywhere. In fact, this square was indeed named "The Broken Jug" by the thieves guild that occupied it.
Around the reservoir, there is a living and training area that was deliberately built much higher to prevent the water volume of the underground river from suddenly increasing one day, and there is even a small tavern.
"How was your rest? What's your impression of the big wine pot? We basically 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
It looks like that.
"...Not bad." Emil was holding a donut and biting it, and just nodded slightly.
"I can only say that your talent, which disappears if you look away for a moment, is a natural fit for our profession." Sapphire said, "Although our situation is not very good now, hahaha..."
"...Hmm." The girl blinked in response.
"I mentioned the guild's predicament to you before, now I'll explain it in a little more detail." Sapphire saw that Emil was eating happily, so he took a donut and gnawed on it: "Stealing other people's property
'Traditional activities' are easy to fail, but the new action Xiaofan and I came up with has no impact, which is 'taking property that does not belong to that person'."
"For example, the ship we sank before, although the 'cedars' nominally belonged to Shad, he didn't know that the wood had turned into tree spirits, so we intercepted the 'tree spirit sap' and 'upright roots'
The behavior was very smooth, if we wanted to take the whole boat away, it would have capsized." Sapphire ate up the donuts in three mouthfuls, showing an expression of "What's so delicious about this thing?"
"Similarly, if we do things as entrusted by the Blackthorn family, since they are on top to support us, our actions will go very smoothly. However, if we try to create extra problems, we will fail directly. We cannot determine the cause of this phenomenon. We can only
Carry out corresponding activities after understanding its rules." Sapphire reached out and wanted to get the donuts, but Emil pulled the plate away. Obviously, Emil was not willing to eat Sapphire who didn't like the taste and just ate casually.
Share dessert with her.
"Well...for example, stealing belongings from a specific person and putting stolen goods in someone's locker are all done by the client in order to throw the things in other people's faces or report to the guards to threaten them. If we
If you exchange items, not only will you fail, but you will also attract revenge from the client." Sapphire spread his hands and picked up an apple.
"But secretly changing the account books, and simply stealing anything with no limit on the target, such as purely troublesome tasks, there are loopholes to exploit. After all, the client cannot know the details of the accounts and what we have taken. We need to pay attention here.
The only thing is that we cannot directly benefit from the victim, but must take advantage of the client when delivering the task. This part is the 'property that did not originally belong to him'." Sapphire gnawed on the apple.
"...Oh." Emil seemed to understand and blinked his eyes in confusion.
"For a recent example," Sapphire ate the apple on her hand, wiped her hands and pointed to the anti-bee protection gear and fire starter put aside, "The mission we are about to carry out requires burning down the 'Golden Manor'
Thirty percent of the beehives were not taken seriously by the client, and the honey and royal jelly that should have been burned together belong to us."
"...Understood." Emil nodded with bright eyes.
No, she just understood that there would be honey to eat... Sapphire covered her face.
