The leader was true to his word.

He delivered the payment in full, though it was clear they didn’t have much left once it had been paid. The amount fitted into one chest, which we placed in a wheelbarrow for easy transport. It would have been easier to place it into my inventory, but such a move would raise many questions from my followers.

They didn’t trust me to that extent, at least not yet.

Most of the group were ecstatic at my success, but Leah glared at me as the chest was carried over to us. She stepped next to me and leaned in close.

“How did you do that?” She whispered in my ear. Her hand clamped on my arm as she stared at me. “Tell me… Did you threaten him?”

“No, I didn’t. We made a deal, one which will help him more in the future than he loses now. I can’t say any more than that.”

Leah narrowed her eyes for a moment before she released me. She didn’t seem to believe my words entirely, but she trusted me enough to let things run their course. Either way, it wasn’t like she could return the money after the other bandits had seen it.

Why does she care this much? It doesn’t make much sense… unless…

That revelation had to wait as we moved back to the bandit camp. Each member was intensely aware of the goods we carried. The total far exceeded the gains from the goblin and wolf fights that Ron had taken credit for.

Ten people suddenly seemed far too low a number.

“Grrrrr!”

Two wolves appeared out of the bushes to our right. It was unlikely they wanted to steal our loot, but it was possible. This world worked in weird ways, and they had appeared at the worst time.

“Accelerate!” I yelled as I dashed towards them. Our archers fired a volley, which slammed into the nearest wolf. The other, upon seeing it’s friends demise, turned to flee into the forest.

“Buffed strike!”

My staff crashed into its back and buried it in the dirt. It wiggled for a second before it dropped down. I stopped the voice as it tried to collect the loot from the bodies, and moved back to the group.

“Let’s go, we don’t have time to loot trash mobs.”

The group nodded and set off down the path again. As we moved on, I tested my inventory collection. Once I had moved more than five feet from the bodies, it stopped working. Maybe it could be upgraded at a later time, but for now I would keep the distance in mind.

Transmutation and inventory. The only limitations are my imagination.

We got back to the bandit camp without any further distractions. Clive came to meet us again once he heard of our success. The chest was packed with coins, which ran through his fingers as he dug into the contents.

“Well then… that was unexpected.” Clive glanced up at me with a wide grin. “They paid in full? How the hell did you manage that, Cub?”

“I just asked nicely.” I kicked the chest nonchalantly. “Can I take this into the storage, I kind of want to put it there myself.”

“Sure. Come on, I’ll go in with you.” Clive closed the lid with a thud. The crowd glanced at the chest before they moved off into the distance. Bandits wouldn’t be called bandits if they weren’t easily attracted by money.

Clive lead me to the centre of the camp. We walked into the stone building and down into the basement. The entrance was flanked by a pair of guards who watched me suspiciously until they noticed the identity of my guide.

“Welcome, Vice-commander.” The guards nodded and opened the door in unison. Clive ignored them as he lead me deeper into the building. We walked for several minutes before we reached the end of the corridor, which was blocked off by a huge, ornate door.

“Here we are.” He pulled out a key and placed into the lock. “I have one key, and the commander has the other. No one can get into this room without our permission.”

“So I’m allowed in? Will you let me take some of the stuff out?” I grinned at Clive. “Obviously, I need your permission to try, right?”

“If you can reach through a solid chest and steal them without me knowing, then you have my permission to keep them.” The vice-commander chuckled as he turned the key in the lock. “If you can manage that, then I’d personally give you the key. What’s the point in keeping out a godlike thief like you, right?”

He pushed open the doorway and lead me into the room. It was basically a continuation of the corridor, but slightly wider with heavily fortified walls. Anyone who tried to dig their way in would be met with an impassable wall of stone.

Each side was lined with several rows of chests, and the central aisle held ornately designed cabinets. Some of them were fronted by glass, especially those near to the doorway. Those cases showed off various items such as weapons, pieces of armour or other trinkets of equal value.

“Your seeing the full collection of my wealth.” Clive waved at the chests around us. “This is the total amount we have collected over the many years. It would be enough to fund many wars, and is one of the reasons the continents leaders are so scared of us.”

“Wow.” I looked over the many containers. “This is amazing. How long did this take to gather?”

“Many, many years.” Clive rested his hand on one of the glass fronted cabinets. “One day, this will have a use. We have some funds in circulation still, but this room is our backup.”

I placed the chest on a nearby shelf and pulled it open again. I pulled out a single copper coin, winked at Clive and placed it into my pocket before I closed the chest once more. Clive laughed as he watched me pilfer from his treasury before he moved further in.

“I have a few things to show you. Come here.”

“Sure.” I nodded, but my hand was still placed on the top of the chest. This was the main point at which my plan could go south. I focused my mind on the contents, closed my eyes and thought a single word.

Gather!

**Collected ten gold coins, twenty three silver coins, seventy two copper coins.**

My heart hammered against my ribcage as I lifted my hand from the chest. Outwardly, it appeared as normal, but I knew it was barren of all goods. With a thought, I fused its lock with transmutation. It wouldn’t last against any sustained assault, but it would cause a delay at least.

“So, what do you want to show me?” I asked as I followed Clive further in. My voice wavered a little, but the vice-commander didn’t notice as he opened a cabinet at the rear.

“This is my pride and joy. A full set of high rank armour.” He rested his hand on the chestplate. “High defense, three utility skills, and you don’t lose any mobility. I can’t bring myself to bind it because it would sell for so much.”

“Oh.” I looked over the armour. It was a fully matched set made of plated silver and burnished bronze. The material was metalic, but it still flexed under Clive’s hand as he pressed against it. It even had a hood made of the same dull silver material, rimmed with bronze.

“What do you think?” Clive turned to me with a grin. “Amazing, isn’t it?”

“Very spikey.” I glanced at the shoulder plates. “I wouldn’t want to get hit by someone wearing that, never mind whatever weapon they have.”

“Ha!” Clive shook his head as he closed the cabinet once more. “Save up enough money, and you might be able to buy it… if I ever sell it.”

“Sure.” I stared at the cabinet as I contemplated the idea that bobbed up and down for my attention.

It can’t work, right? Technically the last chest was mine, but these things are clearly owned by him. He was only joking… but I wonder if he was specific enough for this to work.

“There are a few other things, but they aren’t as impressive as the set. Do you want to see them?”

“Sure.” I nodded, though my gaze was still fixed on the cabinet. Clive glanced back at it before he moved past me.

Gather!

**Collected Drakelord’s Finest Overarmour set (advanced).**

“No way.” I muttered. Clive turned to face me, so I shook my head and moved beside him. “I don’t think I’ll ever save enough for that. Shame, I loved the look of it.”

“That’s another thing we can agree on. I have a few other items which might be in your price range, one day.” Clive pulled me towards the centre of the room. “Here, look at this.”

Clive showed me item after item. My attention was only partially focused on his egostistical bragging. One word echoed back and forth across my brain as my eyes flitted from chest to chest along the walls. He ignored them as he opened the cabinets along the interior of the room, which gave me free reign on the rest of the treasury.

Gather! Gather! Gather!

**Collected twenty gold coins, sixty four silver coins, tweleve copper coins.**

**Collected three scrolls of fireball (intermediate).**

**Collected thirteen gold coins, twenty two silver coins, forty one copper coins.**

**Collected five silver daggers (intermediate), three silver rapiers(intermediate), four silver axes (intermediate)**

**Collected-**

The voice overlapped due to the speed of my collections. At first I tried to fuse the locks with my Transmutation, but that quickly fell by the wayside as I worked my way along the room.

Clive continued his show and tell as we moved back towards the door. I nodded animatedly and smiled along with his bragging, feigning my full attention as he moved around like an excited schoolchild. After he placed each item back into its case, I spared it a glance to gather the item before I turned back to the containers at the side of the room.

It was true the items in the chest chests at the side of the room were less impressive than those in central aisle, their sheer quantity more than made up for it. As we reached the entrance once more, Clive turned back to me with a slight smile.

“You know what, I think I owe you something.” He moved back to a chest around half way down the row. My heart froze as he reached towards the lock. It was one of those I hadn’t jammed, but its contents were currently in my ethereal inventory.

What the hell was in that box…

My lack of attention came back to bite me as time slowed to a crawl. Clive flicked through the keys on his chain as he searched for the one which would open that specific chest. My brain rolled over as I wound my memory back forcibly.

That was the dagger chest. Was it three, or four? Damn it, I’ll go with four.

“Tell you what, I’ll give you…” Clive opened the chest with a grin. His expression froze over as he stared at the contents of the chest. “What the hell…”

“Whats wrong?” I moved up beside him and glanced into the chest. “Is there a problem?”

“There should be three daggers in here, but there’s four.” Clive pulled out the offending items and stared at them. My hands clenched as I moved closer to the daggers.

“I remember you showing me these, I saw another at the back. Are you sure there was only three?”

Clive glanced at me before he turned back to the daggers. He placed three of them back into the chest carefully before he locked the lid and turned to me.

“I’m sure.” He said as he looked at the dagger in his hand. “I’ll ask the guards, maybe the commander came in earlier. He has no sense of order at all.”

“I guess that makes sense.” I smiled and turned my back on him. “You said he has the other key, maybe he needed to pick something up?”

“Mhmm.” Clive moved behind me. I tried to ignore the fact a man armed with a dagger was walking right behind me. I knocked on the door and waited for the guards to open it again, which lead to the longest five seconds of my life. After we had left, they closed the door behind us and watched as we walked back along the corridor side by side.

“Thanks for showing me all of that. It was inspiring.” I smiled at Clive, who ignored my words. “So, do you need me for anything else?”

“What? No.” Clive woke from his stupor. “You can stay here for tonight, I’ll get you a captains dwelling tomorrow. We can’t have you sleeping with the rank and file, right?”

“Thanks.” I nodded, though a cold sweat formed on my forehead. All hell was about to break loose, and he wanted me to sleep right above the bomb I had just planted?

“Here, you can sleep in this room.” He waved at a nearby doorway. A guard stood ready on the other side of the corridor, though I wasn’t sure if he was there to keep an eye on my or keep me safe.

Clive walked away without another word. The guard grunted at me when I glanced at him, so I entered the room and latched it closed behind me.

That was too close. I need to get out of here as soon as I can.