The Collection of The End

My name is Akatosh,

I slept soundly in Songarde.

— 4E, 201, Last Seed Moon, 30th, 2:47 —

Surrounded by blue-black stone walls made of heavy and rough stones, as far as the eye can see are clumps of vines and gray weeds illuminated by dimly lit torches. It is parallel to the underground dark river that always flows to the low-lying places. There are many corridors leading to where and the simple iron gates that have been in disrepair.

This is Rat Lane, a network of sewers beneath the towns of the Rift Valley. Its name comes from a derogatory term for the surface dwellers, which probably means "there are people who look like rats crawling around in it."

Since there is running water from underground rivers flowing in the sewers from time to time, there is no special smell except that the air feels a little damp. Otherwise, Parathos tried his best to make the princess dispel her intention to join the Thieves Guild.

"It is said that Rift Valley City was a border fortress when it was first established. These old underground passages were the underground warehouses, barracks and escape routes of the rulers at that time, so there are many places suitable for living." Brinjov bowed his waist Sneaking through the rat lanes, he introduced in a low voice to Parathos behind him.

"There are many people who choose to live in the sewers?" Although it was the dead of night, Parathos could still vaguely hear the echoing curses, laughter, and what he was saying from the depths of the rat tunnel. Whisper.

"Unlike other cities and towns that have deliberately planned civilian areas, this sewer network is a naturally formed civilian area in Rift Valley City. Those who can live on the surface of the city can basically be regarded as nobles, large and small——the people from Datongpu in Haerjia Workshop Exception." The senior thief continued: "There is a clause in the contract between the Blackthorn family and the Thieves Guild that 'if the mansion on the surface is attacked without permission, the guards have the right to shoot the criminal directly'."

"This 'unauthorized' sounds quite meaningful." Parazos followed Brynchov around a corner, and the sound of the underground river gradually became smaller.

"That's right, the Blackthorn family will update their 'do not offend' list for the Thieves Guild from time to time, we have to send people to make trouble for those 'families who have fallen out of the list', if they fail to understand this If there is such a hint, the Blackthorn family will issue some more specific 'commissions' to ensure that those families know what mistakes they have made." Brynjov's voice was a little helpless.

"This seems to be different from the Thieves Guild I've heard about?" Parathos asked suspiciously.

I heard that in the capital province of Cyrodiil, the thieves guild in Skyrim Province has nobles in every city to protect them. You can find merchants to provide services for selling stolen goods if you just turn around. The people who can't afford it can leave directly, and each member is even richer... It's completely different from the status quo.

"The obvious reason is that the Imperial Legion and the Stormcloaks are fighting, and both sides have stepped up the investigation and punishment of criminal acts," Brinchov said while fumbling for a thin wire to fiddle with a locked rusty door. Tiemen: "But the actual reason is - this!"

Zheng! At the same time Brynchov let go and jumped back, three sharp spears protruded from the side of the iron gate. If he was still in place, he would definitely be pierced.

"Try it and you'll understand." Brynchov wiped off his cold sweat, looked at the slowly retracting spear and said to Parasos.

Parasos watched vigilantly at the hole protruding from the vicious mechanism, took Brynchov's wire and tried to open the lock, "My lockpicking skills are not..."

Click, there was a small sound, and the iron door opened in response.

"That's it," Brinjov shrugged and pushed open the iron door, and said to the somewhat sluggish Parathos, "An old hand like me will fall into a place where most of the locks are rusted, and only one hook is needed." locks that can be opened, and this kind of thing is not accidental but common."

Parasus remembered the situation when Princess Emilia said she wanted to come to Rift Valley City,

That was not after Baron Erikul successfully opened the lock and caused trouble for Baron Bai Ling, but the moment when an old thief who should be very experienced failed to open an ordinary door with almost no defense in the noble area, and was surrounded by guards.

"You guys, did you offend some holy spirit or demon god?" Parathos asked.

"We have also guessed that way, but there will be no Holy Spirit who has a good impression of thieves," Brinjov sneaked ahead again to explore the way: "And there are too many demon gods supporting our actions. If someone accidentally angers someone Demon God, he will not show up to point it out, so we can only make preparations for failure before each action, and recruit some new people who have not been affected."

"Hmm... I think many newcomers will probably be scared away after hearing that you have offended the demon god." The newcomer Paliha let out a sigh.

"But you didn't run away, that's enough." Brynchov casually said something to boost his loyalty, but unfortunately it didn't work for Parasus.

Since Her Royal Highness wants to join the Thieves Guild, he must follow up. In addition, she said "God will kill you too". After confirming that there is a demon god involved, Parasus has to make sure that Emilia will not take it seriously. to implement it.

"So, about this operation?" As Brynchov's actions became more and more cautious, Parasos judged that the target was very close.

"The target is a mercenary named 'Boxer' who lives in the rat lane," Brinjov said in a low voice: "He was hired to assassinate the 'Glorious Guiluo' in the Hall of Glory, but the other party had already been killed by others , After that he refused to return the employment fee and prepared to flee the Rift Valley, and his original employer wanted to get back the commission he had paid in advance.”

"This kind of shabby commission doesn't sound like what the Blackthorn family can propose." Parasus raised his eyebrows.

"It seems to be a foreign nobleman named 'Eretino'. Since he is from Windhelm City, Blackthorn is just trying to save face, but after this kind of unstyled entrustment is spread, they will probably be excluded from the ' No offense' list." Brynchov stopped, and Parathos heard intermittent snoring from the corridor ahead.

"It seems that he is very insecure." The captain of the sharp-eyed eagle scout looked at the densely packed bear traps on the ground in front of him, and smiled slightly.

—— 2:53——

Deep in the ground of the Rat Road in Rift Valley City, there is a huge circular square. It is close to the side of the southern mountain at a slightly higher position. After the reservoir in the middle of the circular space converges slightly, it will soon flow in all directions along the preset narrow water channels on the four walls.

If it could be seen from the outside, it must have looked like a leaking jug, and indeed, the square was named the "Broken Large Flagon" by the Thieves' Guild that occupied it.

Around the cistern, there is a residential and training area that is deliberately built up to prevent the water volume of the underground river from increasing suddenly one day, and there is even a small tavern.

"How are you resting? What's your impression of the jug? We basically work at night, but we're still used to it?" In the corner of the tavern, "Sapphire", one of the two major talkers of the Thieves Guild, was talking to himself—at least It looks like that.

"...It's okay." Emil was holding a donut and biting it, but nodded slightly.

"I can only say that your talent, which disappears when you move your eyes a little, is a natural fit for our job." Sapphire said, "Although our situation is not very good now, hahaha..."

"... Hmm." The girl blinked her eyes as a response.

"I mentioned to you the plight of the guild before, and now I will explain it in a little more detail." Seeing that Amir was eating happily, Sapphire also took a donut and gnawed on it: "Stealing the property that originally belonged to others 'Traditional activities' are prone to failure, but the new action that Xiao Fan and I came up with has little effect, which is to 'take property that doesn't belong to that person'."

"For example, the ship we sank before, although the 'fir trees' belonged to Shad in name, but he didn't know that the wood had turned into dryads, so we intercepted the 'dry sap' and 'erect roots' The behavior is very smooth, if we want to take the whole boat, it must have capsized." Sapphire ate up the donuts in three bites, showing a "what's so delicious about this thing" expression.

"Similarly, if we act according to the entrustment of the Blackthorn family, our actions will be very smooth because they are above the thunderbolts, but if we try to make extra troubles, we will directly fail. We can't determine the cause of this phenomenon, we can only Carry out corresponding activities under the condition of understanding its rules.” Sapphire reached out and wanted to get the donut, but the plate was pulled away by Emil, obviously for Sapphire who didn’t like the taste and just ate casually, Emil was unwilling Share dessert with her.

"Hmm... For example, stealing belongings from a specific person, and putting stolen goods into someone's cabinet, are all for the client to throw things in someone's face or report to the guard to threaten the other party. If we If you exchange items, not only is it easy to fail, but it will also invite revenge from the client." Sapphire spread his hands and picked up an apple instead.

"However, secretly altering the ledger, as well as the task of stealing anything, which is purely troublesome, has loopholes to exploit. After all, it is impossible for the entrusting party to know the details of the accounts and what we have taken. We need to pay attention here. What's more, we can't directly benefit from the victim, but we have to take advantage of the client when delivering the task, and this part is 'property that didn't belong to him'." Sapphire gnawed on the apple.

"... Oh." Amir seemed to understand and blinked his eyes incomprehension.

"To give a recent example," Sapphire ate up the apple in his hand, wiped his hands and pointed to the bee protection and firelight that were put aside, "the mission we are about to carry out needs to burn the 'Golden Manor' Thirty percent of the beehives were ignored by the client, and the honey and royal jelly that should have been burned together belonged to us."

"...Understood." Amir nodded with bright eyes.

No, she just understands that there will be honey to eat... Sapphire covers her face.