'Stealing, huh?'
It was a subject he was new to, while not entirely oblivious to it.
He had spent more than enough time scamming in the Withered, but whenever he did, it would lead to their victim doing it willingly or being forced by Clarisse.
So he had never directly stolen anything in his life.
'I am a child of purity!'
Very pure... he had only killed more people in a short period than others do in their entire lives.
If anything, he was everything but pure.
But back to stealing.
Avrie's plan was for her to get everything she needed, while he got everything else.
He, of course, was against it, feeling like he was being used.
But he knew he could never have changed a stubborn mind like hers.
So he gave in.
And while he didn't like doing most of the work. It was good news that he could do it alone, since if they did it together, his bane would have activated.
He wasn't sure what effect it had on shadow speech yet, and neither did he want to find out; it couldn't be anything good.
He also knew that he would have to use it quite a while in his scheme; it was always the center of his plans, from the day he got it.
After he and Avrie split ways, he strolled around the town and struck gold.
'A pawn shop.'
Meanwhile, he doubted the owner sold any food or water; they definitely sold weapons, and if he was lucky, even firewood.
To his surprise, the shop actually had guards, indicating that it was making a substantial amount of money to afford hiring personnel.
But, maybe call it ego, he really wanted to try stealing from it.
It was his first time; it had to be special.
'Now, how should I handle it?'
It has already been established many times that he doesn't have experience in doing it; that was why he decided just to do the things he did in a scam, but on a larger scale.
The shop had two floors.
The first step was to investigate what was inside.
With that, a cloak manifested around his body and a mask shivered into existence, taking its rightful place on his face.
[...]
After a huge success, Kyle was happily examining the sword he had bought for only four coppers.
While the owner didn't know that this sword was used by a decently known historical figure, he did.
"I can easily sell this for one silver!"
It was a good day at work today.
How long has he been working here? Hard to know when times are frozen.
Well, it was a long time either way. But damn, did it not disappoint.
He still remembered his first sale; it made him so happy.
Of course, till this day, if he compared his sales to his competitors, he wouldn't be close.
It was still a lot, but he couldn't ever compare.
This pawn shop worked a little differently in the fact that it wasn't really one.
It was more at once.
The owner of the building rented stands and, for those who gained the most, even rooms.
After renting, you are free to do whatever you want to your shop, but at the end of the month, you have to give back twenty percent, plus one percent for every new customer.
The thinking was simple.
The shop was known throughout the whole outskirts, and so had many loyal visitors.
Meaning the people who rented stands could take advantage of the popularity of the shop, and rise to easily rise to glory.
Maybe even start their own stop outside.
This rule didn't quite matter that much now, but at the start, it was a nightmare, since every one of your customers is supposedly new.
In his first month, Kyle hadn't made any money.
Not because he didn't have customers, heck, his first month was probably the most filled, but because there were too many of these new customers, and his return fee ended up at one hundred percent.
He even considered giving up.
How proud he was that he didn't do such a thing.
'From a small stand to my own room. It feels like I have my own little store.'
And while the store was made to be a pawn shop, interestingly, others had started to build other things. Though he didn't know how that worked, with the rules.
But as he was enjoying his new purchase, the bell of the small store rang.
He turned to the door, ready to meet his new customer.
But the smile on his face quickly vanished as he saw a cloaked figure instead of a normal human.
It also had a... rock in his hand?
'Hey, a customer is a customer... as crazy as they are.'
He cleared his throat before speaking.
"Hello, sir... ma'am? How may I help you?"
But the figure didn't respond; instead, it looked as if it was examining its surroundings, and it was suspiciously diligently doing it.
It was strange... very strange.
"Um, hello?"
Kyle asked again, but the figure continued, paying him no attention.
At this point, he was clearly annoyed, and since it seemed he had no intention of selling or buying anything, why was he still letting him look around?
"You know, if you aren't going to buy anything, then you should leave."
The figure turned to him, half of its face completely dark, while the other was an atrocious mask.
It then lifted up its rock, and to his surprise, it talked...
"Yes."
Then it took its leave. Leaving a dumbfounded Kyle behind.
And for some reason, the rock, too.
[...]
"That's the last one."
Aether whispered, leaving the store.
After understanding how things worked. He made preparations for when he would be entering.
He left rocks around so he could use echo word.
He used hair extensions to grow his hair, cut it with one of the rocks, and attached them to peddles to act as trip wires.
He placed them in places where they wouldn't be noticed, but also where people walked around the most, to know the position of those inside.
But it was now the last step before he was finally confident to enter.
While the inside was done.
The outside was not.
He needed to study the guards, to know their routines, when they switch, and more importantly,
their blind spots.
The store didn't run nonstop. He owner lived on the second floor, and so didn't want to be disturbed while he slept or just spent his time.
That was closing hour, and his signal.
That was why he needed to know every movement of the guards, and to have the inside under his control.
There was bound to be security inside during closing hours, and he couldn't know where they would stay and how they would move.
He didn't have to, though; he just had to manipulate it to his liking using everything he laid inside.
For examining the guards from outside, he had two options.
Doing it manually.
'Or shadow speech.'
It was a little funny that I was the last to be used, even though he said that it was going to be the center of attention.
And while he doubted the shadows of the guards were unloyal, many without masters sat here all day watching them.
With a smirk on his face, he turned to the shadow of a lonely pole.
"Hello there, you wouldn't mind me asking some questions."
Talking to the shadow of an object was a little different than talking to shadows of humans, or just the wild ones.
It was very weird.
You don't know when they are looking at you. And just the idea of talking to an object... wasn't it.
In the end, the shadow responded. Which was again odd; it didn't have a mouth after all.
Well, shadows in general don't use them, but it was another time when they didn't have one at all.
"Hm? Ask away, child."
Aether smiled, a little irritated at being called a child. Even if he was very much one.
And compared to the shadow, which was probably ancient, he was a toddler.
"Thank you, Grampa. You wouldn't mind telling me of your days of watching this shop. Specifically about those that stand outside of it all day."
The pole's shadow laughed, actually finding humor in Aether's very serious question.
"Ah, how interesting of you to ask me this. How could I say no?"
It paused, recalling its past memories.
"Back in my days, the owner of the shop was so small. Ah, how much time has passed? Look at him now, doing great things with his life. Did you know he used to cry every time his parents took his toys? This shop used to be a house, and I watched how he played outside all day."
Aether continued to smile, trying not to show his true side.
"Really, how interesting. Tell me less."