Walking with a humanoid dragon and a witch, all now wearing disguises (they stole the clothes from the houses at night.), Nur proceeded to reevaluate his strategy for survival.

It was a fine morning, but unbeknownst to all, for Nur this was the thirty first time seeing the same exact morning.

He knew how exactly things turned out when he visited the apple shack. The most probable thing would be that the witch would attract attention from bounty hunters, thus leading to the capture and execution. That was the reason for the disguise, and in case of Sariu, Nur made a wig from the heads of corpses of knights. Although she was disgusted by the way the wig was made, she agreed to wear it if it meant concealing her identity. The second most probable outcome would be, them having so many high quality swords and armor would be seen as suspicious and they would be followed. Everyone inside the apple shack was a spy of some kind, a bounty hunter, an outlaw; they would surely do something in order to get them to lower their guard and strike at a precise moment. From each loop, Nur learned more and more about the inhabitants of the Apple Shack, now it has gotten to the point that he knew each one’s name and basic habits, but it still wasn’t enough to guarantee success.

The goal was to sell the swords and armor, get some money and get out of the city, but there was one huge problem- Nur had no idea where to go afterwards. Thus, he thought of using the spy network of Apple Shack to his advantage. The good thing about the cutthroats is that they can be bribed if the price is high enough, so he planned on hiring the first outlaw who would target them. Using Aida’s physical strength, it would be easy to subdue the outlaw, and then it would be the matter of whether the outlaw valued his honor to the guild more or his life and a fairly good deal that comes with it. In a sense, it’s a bribe. Nur needed a map, but apparently the detailed maps are only possessed by noblemen, the maps were expensive and ownership of one signified ownership status, not something that commoners usually would have. But of course, there is always black market, the thieves and outlaws of Guild of Three Apples. One apple to kill, one apple to pay, and one apple to keep. That was their motto, as Nur found out after walking in to the guild headquarters located underneath the Apple Shack. The Three Apples is one of the largest illegal guilds in the kingdom, its existence is only known by its members and now Nur who interrogated a member in the previous loop. They were hired mercenaries who did everything for money. Theft, subjugation, arson, espionage, murder, any vile act, you name it, as long as you pay they will do anything. Nur knew that they, as resourceful as they are, would have a map of the kingdom, or at least a map that would help them escape this city.

The city in many senses was a death trap. Nur remarked that he must have already died and sent back in time more than fifty times. He was tired of redoing things again and again and again. It had to stop at some point, but the wheel of life kept going and going, never ending cycle of torturous deaths that keep coming towards him. When he blinked, he could still see the flames on the bonfire upon which he was burned alive, or the lance that pierced his chest, or how he was dismembered by knights. And now the one way he wanted to avoid death by- poisoning.

The dark guild members use magic based poison on their blades and arrows that has the effect of coloring the blades that they coat in color of green. It was obvious to tell whether the weapon was poisoned or not, as Nur personally found out.

Each member of the guild inside the Shack killed him already, at least once. He memorized their hooded and masked faces, knew their names, and knew how strong each one was. Surprisingly, they were nowhere near as strong as knights. Majority didn’t even know how to use magic; they mainly relied on their skills and poison to accomplish their goals. In a sense, they used their ability to blend in to the shadows in order to strike quickly and lethally. That was their power, but if they are brought out of their shadow into the light, they are rather pathetic. But the trick is anticipating their moves, Nur now knew what they would do, so in order to accomplish his goals he had to act accordingly.

As the trio entered the Apple Shack, Nur silently went over the plan in his head, before whispering “Yosh, let’s do it!”

* * *

They entered the place, with disguised Aida an Sariu, the only one who was not concealing his face and body was Nur, who proudly walked forward.

“Welcome to Apple Shack, how can I be of service to you, sire?” Then the fat man looked up and saw Nur. “Oh! It is you, dear customer, back so soon? You were gone for less than a weak, but you are back already? What brings you here? Don’t tell me it is another gold coin?” at the mention of that many outlaws turned their head towards the customers. Nur knew the shop owner phrased the statement deliberately in order to draw attention, now the thieves were alerted. The shop owner had a plan. But unluckily for him, Nur had a plan as well, and currently everything was going perfectly, just like in previous loops.

“Old man, Marto. I came to make a trade.” Nur gestured to Aida who was carrying the goods in a bag. She spread the contents of the bag across the table. “High quality armor and swords, for a meager price of twenty silver coins.” That was the minimum price Marto was willing to give in the last loop. If he tries to make a price lower then Nur would be sure he was up to nothing good.

“Well, aren’t you someone interesting? Stated a price I thought of right off the batt…How do you know my name?”

“Everyone knows of you, Marto Leon, the owner of Apple Shack” Nur calmly replied.

“Then you do know what I could do instead of paying you…I could just call the knights on patrol duty and have them arrest you or I could get the goods free of charge. This armor and swords obviously belong to their members; the emblems are the solid proof. So, it is your choice, leave the goods or get arrested.” Marto Leon, also known as Poison Tongue. A skilled negotiator who uses dirty means to get what he wants.

Nur smiled. The fish took the bait.

“Of course, you could do that. After all, the knights would be more interested in a thief like myself rather than you, one of the masters of Three Apples guild, isn’t that so?” Nur smiled as Marto Leon cringed.

“How do you know that? Only members of the guild know! Identities of Guild elders is a tightly guarded secret!”

“Then apparently, the secret wasn’t secretive enough. The word gets out you know. So let me ask again, I came to make a trade. Shall you oblige or shall you call upon the knights? If you do, I can’t guarantee I will not spill the beans…” Nur indirectly threatened the member of one of the most notorious criminal guilds in the kingdom.

“I see. So that is how you play it. Very well.” Marto made a small signal with his left eye towards someone. Nur saw that signal countless times, he just ordered an assassin to kill Nur. There were many people inside the shack. The assassin would use a throwing knife, aimed at Nur’s head.

“Of course, you should know” Marto started counting silver coins. “In every game, you either win or lose, and you my friend, just lost” he whispered the last part.

Nur knew that at this moment a knife would come flying at him. So in a split second he caught the knife, by the handle, just inches away from his face. Then he proceeded to throw the knife behind him, without even looking.

The sound of collapsing body made Nur aware that his tactic worked. There were two assassins from the start. One would use a knife as distraction while the other would cast invisibility spell on himself to sneak upon Nur. He knew that all too well. He fell for this trap countless times before, now he knew a perfect counter and executed it accordingly. The knife had paralysis poison on it, so it would have made it easy for them to beat him senseless if the knife made contact. But now, the assassin who threw the knife looked in shock as his partner in crime fell on the ground, stabbed with the knife he threw, convulsing, unable to control his limbs as he succumbed to paralysis. Nur looked at the assassin who threw the knife and smiled with his eyes closed, as if to say ‘Scram’. The assassin proceeded to run away and quickly exited the shack

“I prefer to win, thank you very much.” Nur now looked at shocked Marto who now was sweating profusely. “I reaaaally hope that was not an underhanded attempt at robbing and killing me, right? He must have been just someone who doesn’t belong here, isn’t that so?”

“Yes! That is exactly the case! He is not from around here! I am not even sure of who he is, I am very sorry this almost turned into an incident!” Marto now found a convenient excuse in order to make himself look innocent. Nur knew better than that. Now that outward assassination has failed, Marto will try something else, but not right there, when Nur had his guard up.

“Your payment sire” Marto handed twenty silver coins in a pouch.

“Aren’t you going to charge me for the bag?”

“It is free of charge, sire!” This attitude of his was complete opposite of what he was like when Nur first met him. This man, Marto Leon, he was the embodiment of avarice. He would find an excuse to pay less if any situation allowed it, but now seeing that Nur was willing to and was able to easily kill his assassins, he had to reconsider his choices.

Of course, Nur, on the other hand, knew that if a fight broke out he would now be able to kill Marto. Marto was a large man of almost two and half meters, fat, and large, but not immobile. The earlier killing of assassin with a knife was in fact to avoid a confrontation with Marto. In the previous loop, Nur did not kill the assassin, but instead injured him, allowing Marto to strike him down. This time, Nur made sure to have Marto see that he was willing to kill, a clear display of killing intent. As he learned from previous loops, while Marto is greedy bastard with penchant for betrayal, he was also a huge coward. The minute the knights showed up in one of the loops, he proceeded to scram as fast as his fat legs would carry him, leaving Nur injured and left to be captured and executed.

With a smile on his face, Nur led his two comrades out of the Apple Shack. The phase one of the plan was accomplished. Now it was time for phase two.