Chapter 18: Robin versus Rize.

Thieves’ Guild Leader POV, Some days ago.

I am currently in my office, in front of a massive pile of papers. If I only I had known it would be like this fifteen years ago, I’d have never started this stupid business.

In fact, the problem didn’t arise as soon as I formed the Thieves’ Guild. Oh no. It began when I and the now deceased Vice-leader decided to transform this into a business, taking requests, doing the dirty work for many officials who wanted to find proof of their wives’ cheating, guards who wanted to give a certain someone a hard time, and such.

Me and my best friend— who is now dead, didn’t take long to rise to prominence, after all, nobody had made a business out of dealing with the underground before us. but with that, came the office work.

Having chosen to make a business out of the mess that was the underground, we first had to take all the lowly idiots who had nothing better to do. It didn’t take long to reform them, mostly because they, being nothing but a bunch of ruffians, and us, being somewhat strong, only had to show our might, promise them gold for their work and, more importantly, strength in Unity.

Still, it took a little over a year to do so.

I’d say, that’s a great time frame when you take into account that most of them had shit for brains— not even muscles for brains, as most of them were a scrawny bunch that didn’t know any better than bullying the weak and poor.

We weren’t some sorts of heroes, no, we even accepted the fact that what we started up was wrong, immoral and wicked.

We basically took any scum we could find, gave them a show of might and some, at the time, empty promises, and when they had dug right into our fairytale… half the job was done.

Training them in how to lockpick.

Training them in how to fight many versus one.

Training them in how to do surprise attacks.

Training them in how to lie undetected, and how to ‘lie’.

Have you noticed a pattern? Yes.

We fucking forgot to train someone to deal with the paperwork.

A—

“Leader, Leader!” (Sergio)

 Sergio comes in screaming his lungs out, while almost tearing the door out of its socket...

Ahem, anyways. Sergio, one of the first few we took in, he was a fairly small, 1.65-meter tall teenager with a scruffy and unkempt beard. He had never received any form of education, and he dedicated his every waking moment to rob food posts so both he and his little sister could have something to eat.

15 years later, he is now a bulky man of 1.80 meters. His sister is no more, died to a disease ten years ago, but he still managed to hold on.

“What’s the matter, Sergio? you look so distressed” (Barque)

“Something bad happened! The girl the prince seemed fond of, Seras, was murdered!” (Sergio)

Seras, a child of common origin. She and the Prince had a relationship which the Prince ‘tried’ to keep secret, although everyone in this city and I’d say even kingdom, knew of.

“Uhm, So? did one of our guys mistakenly attack her?” (Barque)

“That’s the thing, Leader! We didn’t, but the blame is on us!” (Sergio)

What!? but that’s impossible— I don't do all this fucking paperwork for nothing!

“The blame? who put the blame on us?” (Barque)

Sergio scratches the back of his head before an answer I saw from a mile away—

“Uh… I’m not sure” (Sergio)

I massage my temple— I knew I should have given them a proper education.

“What do you mean ‘I’m not sure’? Where did you hear the blame was put on us?” (Barque)

“I was doing my round around the city when I heard some guards talking amongst themselves. one of them mentioned the incident and about how her carriage was spotted by another guard right outside the city. Its door was smashed in and he saw two corpses inside, one of them being the girl’s. Later on, they found the driver dead on the floor, not far away” (Sergio)

...That’s less than half a proper explanation, but— Ah, forget it.

“How did you gather from all that the blame was put on us?” (Barque)

“Uh… Weren’t they describing the way we usually do business?” (Sergio)

…

Am I over exhausted? Did the coffee have something mixed in?

Did— did this guy just make an informed assumption!?

“Beg your pardon?” (Barque)

“Uhm, don’t we always send people to ambush carriages, making sure to get rid of the driver or the horses before actually attacking the target? And… then leaving with the carriage to avoid leaving any unwanted proof of identity?” (Sergio)

…

I Approach Sergio and put my on his forehead—

No, he doesn’t seem to be sick.

“L-leader?” (Barque)

“Uh? Ah, sorry about that. so you were saying the will soon make the connection and throw the blame onto us? Hmm… we will have to spend some resources to investigate this matter. We don’t want the Prince to try and wipe us out over a misunderstanding, now do we?” (Sergio)

I walk back to my chair and sit down, after which I write down:

Group A: Parlor City

Scarecrow, Pilgrim, Jack, Ace

Group B: Salom City

Klein, Carrows, B, Navel

Group C: Burst Town

J, Tyke, Barba, Nube

Mission: Find who set the thieves guild up. more information from Sergio.

Allocate to each group:

12 gold, 4x concealing capes (common), 10x serum of truth.

Password first half:

Dead peacock.

```Baroque M.```

I grab the paper, and tell the guy standing awkwardly in the room, probably trying to guess what I wrote up— but too socially anxious to actually ask.

"Sergio" (Baroque)

"Leader?" (Sergio)

How should I explain this to Sergio, I'd rather not have to deal with it if he were to wake up tomorrow and not be able to differ left from right once more...

"Hold on a second" (Baroque)

"Oh" (Sergio)

I go back to my seat to write a second paper.

Other half:

A thief's worst enemy.

Mission brief:

Lady Seras, the Prince's 'secret' fiancee, has been murdered. the modus operandi of her murder was eerily similar to that of the thieve's guild. find who was responsible for her death and inform Baroque. Rewards for the success of this mission will, as always, be ample.

A personal note from Baroque:

This contents of this mission are not to be spread out, and it is very important to find the culprits, as this matter affects the livelihood of every member of the guild.

```Baroque M.```

"Okay, I first need you to post this paper on the Mission Bulletin, while you gather the people on this list"

I Say while showing the first paper I wrote to Sergio. None of those guys should have anything to do these few days— and then, while showing the second paper on my hand I speak

"And this one you have to keep on you and show it to whoever on the first list asks for it. Remember, don't throw this paper away, as you may forget its contents and I don't want to see the people on the list coming to me one by one to ask this and that, I'm already extremely busy as is" (Baroque)

...

He's processing the information... I think.

"G-got it, Leader!" (Sergio)

"Alright, now go. I still need to deal with that pile of paperwork— Good job Sergio" (Baroque)

"Thank you leader" (Sergio)

Present, Doraig's POV.

I said this before and I will say it again, Rize really knows how to cook a good meal!

Meat that melts in your mouth, a chicken soup which warms you up and somehow won't bloat you no matter how much of you have, and to accompany the meat, the best mashed potatoes I've ever tasted. creamy potatoey goodness rich with flavor that gets even further enhanced by absorbing the meat's juices.

Ahh, this is so good.

After we spend a bit over half an hour more to finish eating the meal, we wash the dishes in the river (don't ask me the specifics of how I can wash dishes with these big ass claws, I have a lot of experience)

"Well then, let's keep going. If we can kill 50 monsters more I think it will be enough for today" (Rize)

"Yeah, I really want to get five more levels so I can use this!" (Rob)

I look at Rob and spot him pressing in mid-air. This guy keeps taking out his new shield and hugging it like a crazy person—

"Wait for me baby!" (Rob)

...

Unknowingly, all of us look at Robin with a certain disgust while he kisses his new shield—

"Hey, don't look at me like that! I've never had any items like these before!" (Rob)

...

"Ahem— Anyways... Rize, spar with me for a bit, I might die if I continue to get hit this much" (Rob)

"Alright, let's go" (Rize)

Kelsi takes her blob form again and sits on my head, and we follow Rize and Rob to watch their pre-hunt spar. I don't think I've ever watched Rob fight one on one with something other than a power struggle, so this could be interesting.

"Let's put down some restrictions beforehand, let's not make Kelsi work more than she needs to" (Rob) 

Rize nods and waits for Rob to put forth some suggestions. 

"Uh, give me one of those crappy swords we got from killing the butterflies. why don't you use a low-level dagger?" (Rob)

Rize fiddles with his fingers and looks up left and right before taking out a completely unadorned sword. by the color of the blade that should be basic steel. He grabs the sword and throws it at Rob who catches it nonchalantly.

"I'll fight you using a bow, I haven't seen you fight against a ranged plus speed enemy yet" (Rize)

"Oh, alright" (Rob)

After saying so he takes out a dark brown wooden bow that is adorned where the wood meets the string. He tests the string which is understandable as he hasn't used a bow in more than a month, since he got that scythe, to be more exact.

when he is done testing the bow he takes out of his inventory a completely unadorned quiver made out of something that looks akin to the roots a tree that were cleaned using water to wash out the dirt, filled with basic wooden arrows which seem to be of a pretty bad quality so he doesn't end up one-shotting Rob.

Rize and Rob stand fifty meters apart from each other, and I stand on the sidelines in the middle of both, as it is decided that I will act as the judge for the spar.

While this seems to be a simple spar on the surface, both Rize and Rob eye each other and I can see they both tense. We've never fought each other before, so they might be nervous without knowing it, thinking about which one of them is stronger.

"Cast Slime barrier so we don't get hit by random arrows shot by Rize at Rob" (Doraig)

"Okie Dokie" (Kelsi)

"Well then, Begin!" (Doraig)

BOOM!

Rize takes the initiative, Jumping backward to further the distance between them. While he's flying in the air he aims the bow upwards and casts Rain of arrows. Tak Tak Tak Tak! Rob is—

Rob?

I look upwards and I can see he took out his wings, he's now flying rapidly while he evades some arrows, and at the same time blocking or deflecting the rest with his sword.

Rob tries to close the distance but, while moving fast, he fails to catch up to Rize, who doesn't have to mind countless projectiles falling from the sky.

Rize is running around Rob, maintaining a distance of fifty to seventy meters, while he continues to cast rain of arrow. 

"It seems like Rize is getting rusty with his bow" (Doraig)

"What do you mean? Robin can't even get close to him, isn't he being completely dominated" (Kelsi)

I shake my head slowly, which make Kelsi move side to side.

"Not exactly. Rain of arrows is a great skill at controlling fast moving targets and in one versus many situations, but there is no way the mana expenditure will allow Rize to keep this on infinitely" (Doraig)

"What about Robin? doesn't it take a good amount of his mana to keep the wings on?" (Kelsi)

"The wings cost a lot less when compared to the arrows, and I think Rob's wings can be maintained all the time, as his own mana regeneration offsets the expenditure" (Doraig)

As I told Kelsi, the arrows stop falling down and Rize seems visually exhausted, he's still at a good distance from Rob but he's panting and trying to catch his breath. Meanwhile, Robin floats mid-air and I can see he's scrutinizing Rize up in case he has a trick up his sleeve. After locking eyes with him for a few seconds he convinces himself that Rize is truly out of mana. Robin takes the chance to close the distance, flying in a straight line towards Rize. Rize turns to the left side of the arena and runs backward while facing Rob, and begins shooting single arrows

Robin takes the chance to close the distance, flying in a straight line towards Rize. Rize turns to the left side of the arena and runs backward while facing Rob, and begins shooting single arrows in hopes of slowing him down to maintain some distance, I think so he gets some mana back?

Rob sidesteps the arrows, dodging them easily, and continues to close the distance.

Slowly, the distance between them shortens and not before long, they are standing only 10 meters apart from each other. 

"Isn't this too one sided now? Rize will surely lose now that he can't keep his distance" (Kelsi)

"No, this is where his mastery over the dagger will play out, remember his bow is to him just his secondary weapon and he's mainly a melee rogue" (Doraig)

Robin kicks the ground twice to boost himself towards Rize, but when he's at a distance of 2 meters, Rize kicks with his left foot and evades Robin's charge. Rize turns to face Robin just as he passes by and aims with his bow towards the stopping figure of Robin.

Tuk!

A single arrow hits Robin on the back and its momentum forces Robin forwards, making him fly for 15 meters before stopping by the action of his friction with the ground.

"Ah!" (Kelsi) 

Rize doesn't continue to shoot and waits for Robin to regain his footing. 

When Robin stands back up, he uses his arm to take out the arrow that is stuck on his armor and takes it out. He holds the arrow in his hand for some seconds before throwing it on the floor. 

"I lost. one more time!" (Robin)

"Let's spar tomorrow, we have stuff to do right now and besides, you and I will be too exhausted to fight in the lava zone if we fight again like this" (Rize)

"...fine" (Rob)

With the spar finished, we walk towards each other and Rize jumps on my back, while Rob prepares to take flight. I cast 'Fly' so the system makes it a bit easier on my part and along with me taking off, so does Rob. Kelsi takes on her human form and is now wearing her clothes, although I couldn't see her put them on.

Being now in mid-air, we all fly towards the lava zone to fight again. Once we hit the boundary between our resting zone and the hunting area, we put on our masks and drink the potions to resist the heat and some damage from the beasts.

All of us are scanning the ground for clusters of enemies, so we can 'split the bill' and get this over with faster. We are not really fighting as a team yet because these enemies are not really hard. we will probably gather up when a higher enemy shows up, like a lord or something.

It looks like this time the first person to find enemies is Kelsi, as she nudges my head weakly "There are... 10? 12 enemies down there"

"There are... 10? 12 enemies down there" (Kelsi)

She leans forward so I can see where her arm is pointing to—

to our northwest, there's a small group of Hellhounds... but why do they look different?

These dogs look red instead of black, are bigger and bulkier and at the same time, the skull covering their faces have tusks protruding out of them...

"Why are all those leader class Hellhounds together? usually, there's only one of those in a pack of 20 normals..." (Rize)

"All of those are leaders? do you think we can fight them?" (Robin)

"Let's examine the situation for a bit, it's not usual for them to meet like this" (Rize)

Using our height, we can get closer without them noticing, and when we near the distance we can see them looking around, all of them are scanning for something, although saying what would be nothing but a random guess from my part.

The dogs all jolt at the same time and look towards the distance, what did they find?

Rumbling

the ground seems to be shaking, as we can hear the soil creaking and can see how there are crevices forming.

BOOM!

the ground splits apart 15 meters away from the group and out comes a massive, 40 meters tall towering and imposing worm, no, it's a larva!

Screech!

"Bark Bark Bark!" (Hellhounds)

The dogs all seem terrified of the larva, but at the same time, they are not retreating. it seems like they will fight against it whether they want to or not.

"Woof Woof Woof!" (Hellhound #1)

the one standing at the foremost, the only one that doesn't look ready to shit a bunch of bricks, says something in hellhound language. once he stops barking, all the others seem to calm down a considerable amount and then just begin to growl at the larva.

"Should we intervene in their fight once they are worn down?" (Rob)

"well, do you want to go through that? I mean, we only need enemies to die in the zone for the king to spawn, and we don't really need things below unique quality, especially you, in particular" (Doraig)

Rob smiles wryly before letting out a faint chuckle, everyone else is not really paying attention to our small interchange and instead have their eyes stuck to the fight that will start sooner or later.

"Bark Bark, Woof Woof Grrr Grrr" (Hellhound #1)

"Bark Bark Grrr Grrr" (Hellhounds)

Once they say that, they all move out with a lightning fast dash. the 12 of them split into two groups that circle left and right around the worm-like beast, and completely surround it. 

In an extremely coordinated manner, all of them jump towards the beast and stick their claws into its body, after which they begin to climb towards its head, leaving traces of burning fire dealing continuous damage to its innards.

Screech!

The larva seems to be more annoyed than actually suffering any form of damage, but as it lacks any form of limbs it can just wriggle around to try and throw off the ants that are biting into its body. Halfway into the chaotic climb, the larva seems to remember its ability to control the lava, which it now uses to form hands made out of fire which continuously circle its body. One of the hands aims at two of the dogs which are particularly close, but right before the dogs get splattered against its body, they jump off.

The dogs that jumped down, run towards the body once more and begin the climb again, which is now harder due to the existence of the fire hands.

The beasts which didn't get thrown off, have by now reached the head of the larva and are starting to attack it without qualms, which now seems to be actually damaging to it. it wriggles faster than before and summons extra hands which now move more erratically, it appears to be harder to control them now that the quantity has increased.

One of the dogs that was climbing again gets hit by one of the hands covered in fire which makes it fall down to the ground. once it hits the hard soil it lets out a whimper before it stops moving. the fire of the hand burning on its body slowly consumes it as it turns into ash that drifts away.

The rest of the dogs get incensed after hearing this cry, which makes their blue flames to gain an extra hint of fervor. the flames grow biggers and the blue becomes a deeper color, hinting at its increased heat property. The Larva receives more damage with each hit, and thus becomes even more frantic, this time striking itself against the ground to get rid of the pest that is on top of him.

The Larva hits the ground and this act makes 4 of the Hellhounds fall down with a speed that makes it noticeable that they receive some form of damage, albeit little when compared to receiving a direct hit from the hands. The hands in the meanwhile continue to fly all over the pace while the other 7 continue to evade while clawing and gnawing at the body of its enemy.

The struggle continues on, but finally, the Hellhounds manage to win. In the end, seven out of the twelve perish along with the larva. One of the Hellhounds, the one that seemed to be their leader figure, walks toward the corpse of the larva, more specifically, its mouth.

It goes inside of its dead body and after a few minutes, it goes out of it again, holding with its mouth what looks like a blue gem about the size of a fist. 

"What is that thing?" (Robin)

"I— No clue..." (Rize)

"It's so pretty..." (Kelsi)

The Hellhound drops the gem on the ground and looks at its mates, who have by now walked and stand next to it. 

"Woof Woof, Bark Bark" (Hellhound #2)

the one closest to it, says something to which #1 lets out a low growl, before looking at the ones next to it.

"Bark Bark Bark" (Hellhounds #3 and 4)

"Woof" (Hellhound #1)

the other hellhound doesn't participate in this interaction and just stands there posturing.

number one looks at the 4 other Hellhounds, and lets out a small Bark! before throwing the gem back into its mouth and swallowing it in one piece.

Rumble

there's an earthquake, no, it's not the earth!

"The hellhound is making the earth quake with its own body!" (Rob)

the ground cracks around number one, while all of the flames disappear leaving just a trail of smoke, while the body that was previously red in color begins to change, from red to pink, from pink to purple, and from purple to blue, before stopping its transformation when its body hits a dark hue of blue. When the body finishes transforming, the skull that previously had tusks coming out of it, begins to change as well. the tusks go back into its mouth and right after it disappears inside, a horn pointing down comes out of its forehead.

when the horn, which is so large that it goes to nose level stops growing, dark black flames protrude out of the dog's shoulders, back, belly and limbs. It seems that its transformation is finished.

I look at Rob and Rize and all I can see is them staring with their wide open eyes and gaping mouth, shoulders drooped trying to process what the hell just happened. Isn't this just a rank-up of sorts?

"Why are you guys so startled, isn't he just ranking up or something?" (Doraig)

"W-wha? are you from this world, even? how could you ask something like that?" (Rob)

"How uninformed of worldly matters are you, Doraig?" (Rize)

...Uh, was it so bad what I just said?

"Don't be mean to Doraig, guys. what is so wrong with the doggy ranking up?" (Kelsi)

"...you don't understand. There has never been a recorded case of a monster ranking up before! all the records that show us how a creature different than 'Normal' type appears, explains the conditions for them to come into this world. this is, after all, why we are engaging in a massacre here to have a king get out, after all" (Rob)

Well... I'll be... damned?