The guard looked really young, around 20-25. Being a guard for the nobles is a really cushy job, he must be the son of someone important to be there at this age. I straightened my jacket and made sure my badge was visible, then walked towards the guard.

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Carle was new to the noble guardsmen but he already could tell that everyone outside the noble part of town hates them. Whether is was an old lady spitting at him as he passed, or the child that was so terrified after bumping into me he wet himself and ran away. His father was the captain of the guard so he was expected to become a guard even though he would much rather do anything else. Plus it was one of the most boring jobs in this town. The most exciting thing to happen for weeks just happened. One of the senior guards, whose name i can never remember, apparently got sick out of nowhere and started hallucinating and puking everywhere during his rounds. I wanted to go and check it out with them, cause standing here sucks. But they said that since i was the new guy i had to stay and guard the gate. They must be bored too and this was the closest thing to excitement they would probably get.

A couple minutes after the guards left, a man started walking towards me. He wasnt very tall, but he wasnt short either. He had a jacket covering his head and I think i see a mask on his face under the hood. I raised my weapon as he apporached and prepared to say the usual but a sparkle on his chest catches my attention. Its a guild badge! those are only given to the best in the guild. The ones that have proven that they can handle almost anything. Why is he here? this town doesnt really have much to offer the adventurers.

I realized i was staring at his badge and straightened my posture.

"Good morn sir, What buisness have you with the nobles?"

A quiet and raspy voice responded to me which was a little suprising. But i didnt let it show on my face.

"Urgent buisness...Summoned by.....the earl."

I could feel the blood drain out of my face. I hate that name, That man terrifies me. Of those who have met him none have talked to him face to face. Everyone only knows him as the earl. Of all the nobles he is the one that no one knows anything about other than that name. Everyone thinks he is involved in some very dark and nefarious things, but no one can prove it. His identity is one of his closest guarded secrets.

"I-I-I didnt know h-he was here sir. Please go in."

I bowed like an idiot and let him through the gate. I dont want anything to do with the earl. Growing up as the son of the captain, ive heard stories about how people who have messed with him have a bad habit of losing their families to tragic 'accidents'. Those stories always stuck with me as a kid and when i learned that he was real. I had nightmares for weeks.

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That was a lot easier than i thought it was going to be. Well this guild badge I stole probably helped.

The nobles part of town was beautiful, The street was paved neatly. The buildings were all built well, with plenty of space between them. Most of them had small yards but the farther in I walked the larger the houses and the yards got. I could practically hear the servants bustling about, doing their many duties in service of their respective masters. Extravagant carriages could be seen parked near the houses, some were probably worth more than all of their servants wages combined. None of these seemed to be good targets. They were all flashy, but none of them were flashy enough. Probably some minor nobles or some high ranked official that barely was able to get a house here. None of them seemed like they would have anything of value that I can steal and sell in a hurry.

Every now and then a passing noble on a stroll would glance in my direction but one glance at my badge and they ignored me. Thinking I was just an adventurer here to try and sell my services to some noble. My aimless walking took me to the center of the noble district, where the houses were massive. Way too big in my opinion, no one needs that much space. Unless they were hiding something, i thought to myself. The sun was fully out by now, but it wasn't hot yet. Which was good cause this jacket wasnt meant for this weather or time of day, neither was this mask. If I start sweating too much I was afraid my mask would fall off.

My aim was a house with tons of decorations. A noble that likes to show off his wealth will have lots of goodies around his home. My search took me to the biggest house with the biggest yard. There seem to be people getting into carriages and leaving. They must have had some sort of party that just ended and are now leaving. Not everyone was in a hurry to leave though and some were hanging around chatting. This seemed like a perfect opportunity, the host would be here sure. But he would have his guard down as he is surrounded by his friends and neighbors. I cant wait till tonight. This has to happen now.

I walked fast cloaking myself in a thin but strong layer of black mana, as long as i didnt give it a function all it would do is cover me in a weird cloudy shadow. Hopefully im the only one to figure this out, most people just avoid using black mana seeing it as bad luck. Since the sun was out and shining, lots of nice dark shadows sprung up everywhere and being cloaked in shadow made it almost impossible to see me. I dodged from shadow to shadow, getting closer and closer to the house. Crossing the front yard took a while but it was worth it. I reached a side entrance to the mansion, the door was locked obviously so i forced the tumblers to move with a little blue mana. I slowly opened the door and peeked around. All the guards were busy in the foyer watching the guests. They moved with the party goers so all I have to do is avoid the party guests and the servents and I can steal as much as i can carry without looking weird. I walked down the hall in the opposite direction as the foyer. I was straining my ears just in case of a servant coming but I heard nothing. The halls were covered in beautiful paintings and many decorations but none of them were worth taking even though they were no doubt expesive. I opened every unlocked door and peeking inside until i find something interesting. I continued until I found a secondary staircase for the servants to use. On the second floor everything was different. The decorations were priceless up here. He must only invite important people or people he wants to impress up here.

I wandered around keeping wary of anyone not at the party. Walking down the hallway my stroll was interrupted when i heard footsteps. I ducked into a nearby door closing it slowly so I dont make any noise. I crack the door to peek through as the foot steps approach. They pass and I see what has to be a giant. How it can fit in the hall i dont know. Its hands drag along the floor and it had to bend its head in order to not break the ceiling. Other than its size it looked normal. It was dressed in a fancy suit so I assumed it must be a guest at the party that decided to wander around. None of my buisness so I just ignored him and looked around the room I was hiding in. Turns out i decided to hide in some sort of office. An office that was the victim of a tornado and an explosion. Papers were thrown everywhere. Trash cans were overflowing with spreadsheets and official looking documents. I thought maybe there would be something in one of the drawers. I begun searchig throught the papers on the desk before i went for the drawers. They were nothing super interesting. Just some financial reports and notes on some people he wanted his subordinates to keep an eye on.

I started opening the drawers, but they were all locked. I just forced the locks with mana like before. I want to leave as little evidence as possible. The top drawer only had some sort of metal weapon and some old mail. The second one was a little more interesting as it contained a couple little bags of gold. I put those in my pocket and worked on the third drawer. Which was the best one of the three. It had more little bags, but these were filled with gems and large crystals.

This was a good idea.