Greed itself isn’t a sin until you sacrifice morality for it.

~Dzbog, the God of Fortune

Lily roused Crow from a deep slumber. It was surprising how easily he fell asleep, and it wasn’t a light slumber. Considering how much mana he was using, his fatigue was understandable. Not to mention his internal clock told him it’d been almost two days since he’d slept last. Despite seeing in the dark, it was muted and detrimental to his mental state.

“How is it?” Crow asked, knowing that Lily had already taken a peek. It was evident that the little fae’s curiosity outweighed her common sense. Still, he trusted she would avoid trouble, so he did not mention it.

In response, Lily’s little arm rose, and she gave him a thumbs up. A moment later, she pinched her nose and waved her hand in front of her face. Her antics kept Crow from being able to suppress his laughter.

“Let’s go explore.”

Pushing the door all the way open, he entered cautiously. He trusted Lily with all his heart, but that didn’t mean he’d stupidly rush in. A pile of human bones lay in the entryway, most shattered, but he could pick out a half dozen skulls. It looked like they were trying to get out, but couldn’t get through the door. The scene left him a little uneasy, but after searching the walls, he found the hidden switch. If the stone veneer hadn’t loosened, he would’ve struggled to find it.

His safety was paramount, so he completely removed the veneer from the wall and exposed the switch that opened the door. If he had to flee suddenly, he didn’t want to worry about it later. It must have been bad luck that the skeletons didn’t locate it because the veneer was right against the switch. They would have escaped if those people had pushed anywhere on the half-meter wide veneer.

Using his boot, he pushed the bones aside to check if they hid any treasure. Except for a few rusted weapons, Crow could not find anything of value.

Lily flew down the hall, leaving Crow behind. He rubbed the ground with his toe and exposed the polished stone of the smooth, seamless floor. There were no tool markings, so Crow was positive this tunnel was manipulated by a Stone Breaker or someone with a similar talent. Who or why didn’t matter because it was a sign that he was no longer lost.

During his exploration, he found several gold coins among the bones. Yet, he kept his greed in check because the arrangement niggled at the back of his mind. There was something off about this place, and he felt a faint threat emanating from the coins. Curiosity drove him to touch the gold with a finger covered in Night Flame. Before he touched it, he could feel a force exploding out of the coin in response to the incoming heat.

Using her hands to attract his attention, Lily mimicked a being he had already encountered.

“Are you talking about a Lucharacháin?” Crow found a Far Darrig during his shield trial. There were more Lucharacháin than just those little Ratmen who once belonged to the peaceful rodent-like people called the Lavellan. Following Lily’s nod, he scanned through various resources and examined the characteristics of all Lucharacháin.

Most were fae, but the only ones he could think of that had a thing for gold coins were the leprechauns, most of which were the bankers for Tuatha De Danann. While none of the clans were particularly evil, some had a twisted sense of humor. One trait remained the same, they were all highly protective of their gold. That said, each clan of leprechauns had varying temperaments.

The most dangerous and sinister was the Munster clan, and these kinds of traps were just their style. Munster leprechauns were highly social, and it was unfair to call them evil, but they weren’t saints. However, if they’ve been drinking, they were downright nasty. By picking up that coin, Crow would be marked by that clan as having stolen from Tuatha.

“Do you think it’s still down here?” Crow whispered, and Lily shrugged. In any case, he was confident that all these people had died due to that leprechaun and these coins. He was sure his heavenly flame could cleanse the coin but didn’t feel it was worth it. After stopping at Darkstar Farms and the keystone, one thing he didn’t lack was gold, and these coins weren’t as valuable as Mana Crystals.

A nervous itch arose in his body, giving him the sense of being watched. There wasn’t any danger, or his instincts would have been screaming at him. It compounded the issue because he wasn’t sure if it was just paranoia or if the person watching had no hostile intentions.

Lily was good at sensing mana and various things that were dangerous to her. The question was whether her abilities were as strong as other beings from Tuatha. From his understanding of the hierarchy there, the only thing lower than fae were the mindless fairies. Fae even lost to the annoying pixies who pestered him almost daily from the Pixie Relic. If those idiots had a higher magic quotient, from the relic higher. He wasn’t sure where leprechauns ranked, but the bankers of Tuatha definitely had higher ranks.

Crow put aside those thoughts as he continued to explore. It wasn’t a good time to be distracted, considering how many dead people there were. Even if the threat had died or left long ago, no one had disturbed the bodies, which left him feeling more cautious than not.

At the end of the tunnel was a smashed door, or at least the remnants of one. Piled up around it was more bones, but there were other things besides humans this time. Crow wasn’t sure what they were, but based on the skull, they might be canine-type beasts. It was just that the bones were huge, and it probably stood as tall as a human.

Beyond the entry was a large room that looked more like a warehouse or storage area. It was empty except for the occasional bones. Three other doors could be found at the end of the cavernous room, but one had remained intact. Lily waited for him just outside the closed door, but her head was cocked as if contemplating it.

“Enter?” Crow asked softly, not wanting to disturb the solemn atmosphere. Lily shrugged in response but pointed toward the middle door and shook her head. It didn’t matter what door he went through because he only wanted a way out.

Finally, he grabbed the door handle and lifted the lever, only to have it disintegrate in his hand. Even the door shuddered before it came down, and Crow was thankful the noise that followed was light. Beyond the entry was another hall, but it was lit up. The light wasn’t all that bright, but it was enough for regular human sight to navigate. It was really the strangest thing he’d seen down here so far, and he worried that there were still people living down here.

Following the light, the hall curved once, and he came to an open room and stopped. A short middle-aged man sat on a crudely made stool reading a picture book, and Crow’s eyes roamed toward it while the man looked up at the same time. The hand-drawn women were quite lewd, and Crow coughed to hide his embarrassment. The man slowly closed the book and stowed it in a nearby pack.

Oddly, Crow couldn’t care about the book because he saw piles and piles of gold stacked up in the back part of the room. It was so much gold that he lost some of his rationality for a moment.

“Been waiting for you!” The midget exclaimed. His tenor was a little high, which was borderline shrill.