章 63: Chapter 63: ROCKS!
Chapter 63: ROCKS!
After walking out the doors of the manor I notified the guards outside that the owner of the house was dead.
After they took me in for questioning I just told them a bit of truth. I was there for a trade deal. Once I opened the front door, the servant fainted and I started looking around, checking the pulses of a select few.
"It just sounds like you were checking the women? What else were you doing to them?" One of the interrogators asked suspiciously.
Needless to say I had to stay overnight in jail until the next morning.
…
Guards POV
"Mark him down for suspicions of perversion, sexual assault, and harrasment."
"Huh, looks like somebody already did when he decided to migrate here." Another guard said.
He pulled up a sheet of paper with Jessups name that marked him as suspicions of perversion.
"Damn degenerates. It's people like him that make me sick."
…
After settling my affairs I decided to head to the closest restaurant. If I knew I was going to be interrogated I would have eaten something beforehand.
Rookie move.
It's been so long since I've been accused of something by the police that I completely forgot to smuggle some snacks in.
After walking into the nearest restaurant I sat down to order something to eat. After a few minutes the waitress stops by to ask for my order when a feminine voice pops up from behind her.
"And I'll get the Pajarete. Thank you, Trixie."
I glared at the stranger for a few seconds until I spoke up, "So will I."
The woman sits down while 'Trixie' gets my order.
When the waitress leaves, the woman speaks up again, "Pajarete was first introduced by an otherworlder. They may be degenerates but they know their food."
I used to love the stuff in my old world, the best way to get energized and drunk in the morning. Who would've thought I would see it here.
"I noticed you grabbed the safe while you were in there." The woman said.
"Hmm, that's a serious accusation detective. There I would have thought you were just asking me out on a morning date."
That's right, the woman sitting in front of me was none other than the detective and interrogator who forced me to stay up all night asking questions.
It was pretty surprising actually, this black haired demoness wearing a human face was asking me such a dangerous question off the record. It almost makes me think she's here for more than that.
She stared at me with her crystal blue eyes before deciding to speak, "I'm sure you're wondering what I'm doing here."
"Not really." I looked at her for a second before receiving my food. "Thanks Trix, that was quick."
After looking at my food to see if there was anything fishy I decided to dig in.
"Mister Grove. I can assure you I'm speaking to you on a completely independent basis. I would like to know what you've found while exploring his Master Eli's house."
"You mean like the assassin? I promise, detective. I saw nothing."
I could tell the lady was starting to get angry. I could see her tapping her fingers on the table and her dead eyes. I wish I could hear her heartbeat but most pugilists are very good at controlling their own bodies.
The more I thought about it, the more my brows started to scrunch up.
"Wait, who would be stupid enough to have a pugilist as a detective?"
Oh shit.
The woman looked at me again this time with a small smile.
"Allow me to reintroduce myself. My name is Forma. My real title is 'Involuntary Correction Officer.' It is my job to 'handle' any characters of threat to the state."
In other words this was the assassin from yesterday.
That makes way more sense. I would have expected more traffic on the roads or more soldiers stopping people. Instead the people were going about their business like nothing happened.
"And what kind of threat was Master Eli?"
"Simple. He was rich."
I looked at her confused. I didn't think the ruler of this city was an anarchist.
"Let me be more clear. King Bore'um fears the results of excess exportation. Which is something Mater Eli was participating too much in. instead of selling to us he would instead take our limited resources and sell it to others. Mostly the elves. Don't ask me how all of this works. As you said, I'm a pugilist. Not a politician."
Unlike her I understood fully. This is a common method in economic warfare. Basically the more you export the less you have. The problem is that all great societies were built off of trade, and the more we give away the less leverage we have.
Although exporting is usually never much of a problem unless you're selling at a reasonable rate. The thing is, I know for a fact that he was overcharging on his goods. This might be bad for me but it's great for the economy if he's buying from local traders.
Now that I think about it, most of his belongings were elvin in nature. From his clothes to his enchanted jewelry. My appraisal skill already tells me so. In other words he was most likely buying in excess from the elves and charging anyone else with ridiculous prices.
"That bastard! He was stealing from me so he could sell everything for cheap to his own people!"
Now that I know this I feel like wringing his neck, if he had one.
"So you understand. Good, most of this political stuff goes right over my head so I'm glad I don't have to explain it, but yes that is the gist of it."
"So what do you want from me then?"
Forma the corrections officer just looked at me while drinking her pajarete.
"I want the safe. It held important paperwork, legal documents, deeds, that kind of thing. You only gave me 5 minutes to get my affairs in order. I could've killed you or knocked you out but I assumed you would grab the safe for me. I did see your other… Handiwork after all."
She saw me rob the place blind.
"I still have my money in there…"
When I was still in his office I looked everywhere for the money I gave him but couldn't find it anywhere. So I assumed it was in the safe.
"That can be returned to you in due time. How much was it?"
I was about to give her my answer until I thought about all those coins stacked up together.
"Oh let me do the math." I grinned a little when I said that.
Good thing about pugilist is that she probably thought that the guy owed me money.
So after thinking about how deep the safe goes, how tall it was and how many coins there were I would say he had approximately 30,000,000 dollars worth of Garden coins in there?
"About 300,000 Garden coins." I said without breaking a sweat.
Forma looked at me in shock!
"I only make 1600 in silver coins! How rich are you?!"
After this? Very rich.
"Only 1600? You're a B Rank super who specializes in stealth. Isn't that a bit cheap?"
Forma looked a bit nervous until she had a eureka moment, "Of course not. It's the market rate around this area. If I wanted more money then I would have to go to a richer city."
Her logic was sound if it weren't for one thing.
"This is the richest port city on Rosary. I was told that no matter how hard I tried I wouldn't be able to find a stealth operative because of how exceedingly expensive they are… I think you should ask for a raise, Miss Forma."
Her face paled a little when I said that until she got up from her chair and furiously walked away. Before she left out the door I called out her name and she paused.
"If you're ever looking for a job, you know where to find me!"
She nodded her head before leaving.
"I did all that stupid math for nothing. I guess the safe is mine now?"
I finished my food and headed out.
I couldn't forget about the rest of my errands so I left for the storage facility outside of town.
I didn't think I'd be leaving town so soon and after walking a few steps past the gate I quickly realized how dark and depressing everything is. The ground outside the gates are charred black, the air feels moist and sticky, almost humid.
There is a huge contrast between here and five steps closer to the city gate.
"So this is miasma poisoning."
I'm surprised anyone can live out here. I looked in every direction and noticed the run down houses and shacks. After taking a good look I wondered why people were still so hesitant in eating the food I was offering.
"It looks like the people could eat whatever they could get."
I saw several homeless people on the street. None of them were out begging though. I guess they realized there wasn't a point to it.
I kept walking until I saw the warehouse district. All I had to do was look for the STONES logo and be on my way.
After finding the spot I step inside and spot the receptionist.
"COUGH COUGH, welcome please take a ticket."
I look around me and notice I'm the only person here. Instead of responding or grabbing the ticket, I walked through the double doors behind her. I was half expecting her to complain but all I heard was the sound of her sighing.
I looked around the empty office and walked past anyone with dead eyes and directly into the storage area. I noticed a few workers sitting on a couch in what I assumed was the break area.
"Where's the limestone?"
One of the guards just looked at me with dead eyes before pointing in a certain direction. After going that way without passing any guards or any other work I realized something.
"They probably don't have any anti-theft measures because… well their rocks. Big heavy slabs of rocks. Most people probably don't have the time or storage space to steal half of what's in this place." I looked around and sighed.
Am I really gonna do this?
"Yeah I think I am."
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