Restarting From Genesis
chapter-168-30041322

Bell nodded in response and began pointing Merlin in the direction of the new base. The two traversed the rooftops, with Merlin assisting Bell over any large gaps.

The directions that were given eventually led Merlin to another dead end down a dark alleyway. Although there was a small door made from iron bars that lead down to the sewer, which surprisingly was not locked, rather it was merely held closed with a small rock.

Bell led Merlin through the door, closing the door behind him and shifting the rock in place once more.

The door led into a small hallway which quickly descended down a flight of stairs into the sewer system. Bell was now covering his mouth with his shirt, and he signalled for Merlin to do the same before they continued.

After reaching the bottom of the staircase, the room quickly widened, revealing a familiar hallway with a deep canal running down the centre. Although this time there was actually liquid in the canal rather than it being blocked off like in the last thieves guild hideout.

The duo traversed the sewer by walking along the walkways on either side of the canal. They walked for quite a while, making Merlin suspect that they were no longer underneath the area of the city labelled the slums.

It was rather dark in the sewer, but before Merlin could summon his light spell, Bell had pulled out a small bead bracelet that featured a larger white bead. Upon tapping the larger bead it suddenly began glowing and illuminated the area around him.

'Oh, that's neat.' Merlin thought to himself as he continued following Bell through the sewer.

Eventually, they stopped at a ladder that led up to the surface, one of many exits that they had passed along their travels.

Bell climbed up the ladder first and knocked on the manhole cover above, he seemed to knock in a pattern. After a few seconds, a knock came from the other side, they also seemed to knock in a pattern and were continuing on from when Bell left off. After the other side stopped, Bell continued the pattern one last time before Merlin heard a clunking sound, and the manhole swung open.

Bell climbed inside, and Merlin followed. He seemed to find himself in a dark basement of sorts, the walls were made of stone brick and there were several large sacks and boxes piled up on the other side of the room.

The man who had opened the manhole for them quickly closed it behind them, locking it back up before returning to his wooden chair.

"Welcome Ghost. How do you like our new hideout?" He asked with a toothy grin.

"Well the entrance was a little stinky for my liking," Merlin retorted.

"Well, it gets better. Trust me," The man laughed at Merlin's response. "Enjoy yourselves."

Bell led Merlin up a set of stairs that were illuminated by the light that was leaking in from the next room, he cast cleanse on himself before climbing the stairs, not wanting himself to smell of sewage.

Bell turned around and indicated that he would like the spell cast on him as well, so after the ten-second cooldown was done, Merlin had also cast the spell on Bell, removing the layers of filth that had formed on him as well as the stench that was sticking to his skin and clothes.

The two climbed up the stairs, and Merlin was rather surprised to find himself inside what seemed to be a noble's mansion.

"Where did you guys get enough money to buy a mansion?" Merlin couldn't help but blurt out in surprise.

"Courtesy of Lord Glawfol, yet another stupid noble with more money than sense," A familiar voice emerged somewhere behind Merlin. He turned around to see nothing but the staircase behind him, and there didn't seem to be anybody else besides Bell on either side of him so he instinctively looked up.

There he saw, leaning over a fancy indoor balcony, a familiar-looking elf enjoying a glass of his favourite whiskey. Although he seemed to be having too much fun with his character, he was dressed in a tailored light grey suit with blue accents, complete with a top hat and cane.

"Could I offer you a drink? A cigar perhaps?" The elf spoke with a clearly fake accent that mocked the nobility.

After taking all of this in, Merlin couldn't help but chuckle in response.

"Just business works for me, thanks." He responded, "After you catch me up on what's been going on."

"You're no fun... Oh well, come on up." The elf said before walking away from the balcony, vanishing from sight.

Merlin looked around until he found a staircase leading up, and Bell seemed to vanish into one of the many rooms of the estate.

On the top floor, he found what was essentially the gambling hall from the last hangout, but with much nicer scenery and tables that didn't look as though they were moments away from crumbling into splinters.

Merlin greeted all the members of the guild who were enjoying their new hangout as he slowly made his way towards the fancy table where the elf was sitting. Merlin took a seat at the table and just stared at him with a face that clearly had several questions but didn't know where to start.

"Well, first of all. You're probably wondering why..." The elf began speaking.

"Alongside who, what, when and where, yeah." Merlin retorted.

"Right, so let's begin with Glawfol, an earl, alongside one of the spider's legs." The elf began explaining, and the mention of the spider caught Merlin's attention even more so than it already was.

"Out of the eight legs, there were three whose purpose was just to be an easy source of wealth for Kilo and her operations," The elf explained, "Two of those legs are dead, one of which was killed by us on accident while the other seemed to have been killed sometime last night and left in the slums to frame us and incite a witchhunt against us."

"We've found the last of these piggybank nobles, well actually, he found us." The elf said with a smirk. "It turns out that Earl Glawfol's son had been one of the blackmailed victims of the drug, and he was killed in the slums while following the orders of a minion of the spider's legs, but we'll get to that in a second."

"Either way, Earl Glawfol had begun putting out excessive bounties in his moment of grief, and the prices for finding the hideout and identities of those who killed his son were also rather excessive." The elf paused for a moment to see if Merlin had already caught on, which he clearly had. "And it just so happened that a few honourable fallen nobles living in the slums at the time had gone out of their way to locate the hideout and identify several core members of the team."

"Of course, they only received half the payment for now as the information wasn't confirmed, but it was more than enough to do a little bit of shopping," The elf laughed. "And we've blocked up the entrance to our old hideout, so that location will no longer be suspicious after the investigation is complete."

'How sneaky.' Merlin sighed in relief, it was fortunate that the guild hadn't been betrayed as he thought at first.

"So, on the topic of Earl Glawfol, is he my next target?" Merlin asked.

"Oh, definitely not," The elf remarked, "There's still so much money to milk from such a foolish man."

"Rather, my spies have learnt much about this drug dealer, it seems as though they are one of the main forces behind Kilo's sudden expansion into the criminal underworld and while we still don't know his identity, we've heard from his clients that he goes by the name of Ashen." The elf explained, "The drug in question is commonly referred to as Ashen's Kiss amongst young nobles, or Ashen's curse amongst those who have been blackmailed by Kilo and Ashen's minions."

"I don't yet have a target for you to assassinate just yet, but I do have a task for you." The elf stated, he briefly began explaining his plan, and moments after a quest window appeared before Merlin.

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[Hidden Rare Quest]

Infiltrate the temple.

The thieves guild leader has given you a mission to infiltrate the temple of Macedonia, joining them and obtaining a higher position within their ranks.

The thieves guild leader believes that someone of high rank within the temple is working with Kilo. He states that becoming a cleric within their ranks would allow you to confirm this theory and that climbing the ranks within the temple would potentially give you plenty of access to the spy which may make a future assassination easier down the line.

Infiltrate the temple and become a cleric.

• Reward: 500 EXP, 600 Thief Soul EXP

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"Becoming a cleric to murder a cleric, that's a new one, even for me.." He muttered to himself while accepting the quest.