It had been another week since Hannah and Esme had become [Thieves]. Hannah hadn't liked it at first, in fact, after their first time stealing apples from that poor old lady, she had completely opposed any more stealing. She still couldn't believe a single action had given her a class. It felt like an insult by whoever was in control of these classes and levels. But after some convincing by Esme, and also the fact that the city guard now knew their faces, she knew there was no going back.

Yes, the girls had been caught stealing some bread and chased by some members of the city guards. They were now considered criminals in the city. As a result, they stuck to the slums, where the guards had much less influence.

Hannah was a level 3 [Thief], and she had two skills. [Lesser Distraction] and [Lesser Endurance]. They were pretty self-explanatory. Esme, however, who did most of the stealing was level 6, and had three skills. They were [Quiet Step], [Pickpocket] and also [Lesser Endurance]. Their strategy regarding stealing was usually this:

Hannah went to distract the owner of whatever they were stealing—be it money, or food—with her [Lesser Distraction] skill. Then Esme would sneak behind them with [Quiet Step] and then use [Pickpocket] from behind. If they got caught, they'd run for it. But the tactic usually worked if the streets weren't too busy.

Right now, they were staying in an inn in the poor parts of Winsor called the Oak Pipe. It was obviously cheap, and they weren't eating there. But the girls had gotten used to being poor. They had eaten earlier with the food and money of their latest victim, an old man. They usually targeted older people. They couldn't chase well. They went up to their room and Esme started talking.

"Good day today, maybe when we sleep you'll level up."

"Yeah. I know I'm not doing much to get us out of this hole. I feel useless around here, you're doing everything."

"No. Without your distraction skill, we wouldn't be able to do anything. But I'd like for us to level more. Skills are... useful. and I heard that the most powerful skills come at level 10. Maybe once we're at that level we can move on to bigger fish."

It worried Hannah. The way Esme seemed to think that they were going to be thieves forever. What would her parents say? They'd be disappointed when she got home. If she got home. Hannah had wanted to find work after they managed to stabilize their lives, but they were wanted now.

"Right. Maybe. We could also change cities and live honest lives."

"You know there's no way to get out. Guards are at each exit and we're stuck in here. The moment we go out of the poor parts of town we get arrested. And people that steal a lot like us, they don't just put us in jail. They cut off our dominant hand."

The prospect of only having one hand flashed through her mind and she flinched. Esme went on.

"I know you don't like stealing, but we're committed now. Our only hope to get out of here is to level up. That does two things. One, we can maybe get... I don't know, a stealth skill maybe, which brings me to my second point. The city library is on Main Street. We need to get in there somehow. Get some books."

"I'm sorry. I know it's necessary now. I'll suck it up. It's fine."

Contrary to what she was sad. Disappointed in herself. Thievery was wrong, that had been hammered into her by society since the day she was born. It was hard suddenly having the world make you into a [Thief]. Esme put her hand on her arm. She was feeling tears come up now. That's how she spent her nights these days, crying herself to sleep.

But she held on.

[Thief: Level 4]

[Skill - Lesser Persuasion Obtained]

-------------------------------

The next morning, Esme was ecstatic to hear of her new skill. It looked like Hannah was becoming even better at distracting people now. They didn't wait too long to test it out.

They walked around town to look for a good target. They usually weren't many good targets here, but everyone had some copper coins on them at least. The girls couldn't find anyone good though and then they decided to go to the market.

It was full around this time of the day, but a street that was full could be as good as an empty one when stealing something. Hannah was a bit reluctant, but she was resolved after yesterday night. She had decided to do some stealing as well today, and not just distracting. She'd certainly level faster, as it showed with Esme.

She strode up behind another young woman nonchalantly. She peeked inside her bag and thought she could see a dozen copper coins in there. And a silver coin. That was big. They had to go for money today or they'd be kicked out of their inn. Hannah knew what it felt like living paycheck to paycheck now.

She had to be quick, and decisive. She slowed her walking speed to the woman's own. She was right behind her now. Hannah quietly put her hand in the bag, aiming for the silver coin. She grabbed it along with a few copper coins and managed to take it out quietly. She felt an adrenaline rush and quickly put it in her own bag. Her bag from Earth. Her pulse slowed down and she went to look for Esme. She forced her way through the crowd and went to their meeting place, in a back alley. Esme was already there.

"Hey. You look happy. Did you get something good?"

Hannah slowed. Then she stopped completely. She didn't realize she was smiling. It disturbed her, but she felt good, like she had just conquered something. It was only her second time stealing herself. Her happy face grew into a frown and she answered.

"Um. Yeah. I got a silver coin and five copper coins. That should let us get by for a few days right?"

Esme's face beamed. She ran and hugged Hannah, which surprised her. She instinctively hugged back.

"Oh my god, that's great! I was worried since I only got forty-six copper coins. I stole from a lot of people but they were all carrying very little."

They let go and Hannah handed Esme the money. She was the one that handled finances. She continued.

"Regarding food, we're still not able to sustainably eat. We should wait for the market to clear up to move in and get something."

"Agreed. It's probably going to end up being bread. Ugh."

They kept talking, waiting for the sun to go down. Some of these conversation topics were about what drakes or lizardfolk looked like. They still didn't know all the races of the world, but they had recently learned about Elves. Well, Half-Elves. The real Elves had apparently gone extinct a long time ago. Hannah also brought up men, but was quickly shot down by Esme.

The sun was setting, and the stalls were closing. The streets were emptying. It was time to strike. Esme went out of the alley and took a long way around to get behind the stall they were targetting. The man was selling bread. Hannah was getting tired of eating bread every day. Nevertheless, she walked up to the man. It was time to test her new skill capabilities.

"Good evening sir. Can you please help me find the way to the nearest inn? I'm new to the city and I'm completely lost."

"Uh, sure ma'am. Just keep going straight that way and take a left the second street you see, then... take a right afterward."

It was time. She used [Lesser Persuasion].

"Please, I'm terrible with direction. Could you just walk me halfway there?"

"I'm sorry ma'am but I need to close my stall fir-"

"Please."

"Um, you know what, sure."

They started walking out of the market. That was Esme's signal. She took as many loaves of bread as she could and shoved it into their bag at record speed. She walked away as fast as she could to not attract too much attention.

Hannah was led to the inn. She thanked the man and watched him walked away. She ran back to their inn. It was their designated meeting place. Esme was already there, and she looked very happy. Hannah looked at her with a smirk.

"Glad you made it."

That made Hannah laugh.

"Look who's talking!"

They kept laughing and joking together long into the night. Talking about the past in their world, and the future here. The girls went to sleep after a few hours. They were miserable here.

But they were also happy. They were friends.

[Thief: Level 6]

[Skill - Pickpocket Obtained]