Knight of Corruption (LitRPG)

10 - Paydirt

We were down at the crossroads by eight the following day. We sacrificed a lot of sleep, but I wasn't going to let Bell steal the money we'd been promised. We approached the tree, stranded on a grassy knoll and surrounded on all sides by dirt roads. Bell was already waiting for us with a trowel in his hand.

"Morning. Ready to get paid?"

"Did they really bury it here?" I asked, "Quick turnaround on getting this money together."

"He showed me the cash when he hired me. Had it on hand." He turned to the grass embankment and clambered up using the roots of the tree. We stood below and watched him inspect the ground beneath his feet, until he spotted what he was looking for, a patch of ground that had been disturbed recently. He eagerly dug into the soil using his trowel, fishing out a small metal box and waving it in my face.

"What did I tell you?"

"Make sure there's something in it first."

Bell dangled his legs over the edge and unlocked the case, his eyes lit up in excitement as he lifted the lid. "Oh man, oh man." He dipped his free hand inside and retrieved a solid gold slab, holding it up to the light for me and Cali to see. I was shocked that we hadn't been ripped off. But just to make sure, Bell cast [Inspect.]

"These are the real deal. I can't believe it, and I'm the one who picked up the job." Bell handed out two of the bars to me and Cali, before pocketing the last one and the change for himself. It was common that the job poster got the biggest cut. A gold bar was good enough for the work anyway, perhaps a little too good.

"You sure this is okay? I feel like we're getting away with something here."

"Pft, we just did."

"I mean this payment," I reiterated, "Didn't he ask you to do anything else?"

"If he did it's not your problem," Bell shrugged, "I just wanted a hand with burning those barns down. Take it or leave it."

"Bell..."

"Don't give me that look!" he pointed down at me, "I know what I'm doing, jeeze. You act like my Mom sometimes."

I scowled, "If you just want to screw yourself over, that's fine – but if you're tangled up in business that puts everyone at risk, then it's everyone's problem."

Bell was the type of Rogue who rarely considered how his actions would affect other people. While you might think that it's a strange thing for a full-time criminal to worry about, Rogues were meant to have each other's backs against an oppressive and classist system. We exploited those systems to survive and stuck together in solidarity.

Going against that principle was a dangerous road to go down. At the end of the day, a noble or knight is just as treacherous, if not more so than any looter or robber you'll find on the battlefield. They aren't your people. They don't have your best interests at heart. They use you and throw you away like a tool.

Bell was the kind of person who you had to be aware of. He was eager to be 'more' than a rogue, but there were a lot of people out there who didn't want rogues being anything else but rogues. And it just so happened that those people were the ones with all the money, the very same money we were now sharing between each other.

Bell took a deep breath, "I promise. There's nothing else to this. We did a little sabotage for the Royalists, and they paid us in kind."

"Alright. If you say so. Let's go Cali."

I'd decided to take a day to myself and relax after two well paying jobs. My biggest concern now was finding souls to feed Stigma with. If only there was a battle ongoing that I could sneak into and eat some of the dead from the periphery. That wasn't the case – so I grabbed a table in the tavern before drinking hours and started to read through my magical tome to learn something new.