Chapter 169 - Leaving The Sewer

"Alright, I'll gladly do so," Merlin said, "Do you have anything else for me?"

"Oh, right. I almost forgot," The elf spoke up once more, and his face had stretched into a wide grin. "That Baron Doolmet you spoke of a week ago, how did things go with him?"

"I actually passed by him on my way to Megalopolis, but he was surrounded by armed guards who seemed to be looking for any excuse to attack me, so I couldn't even approach him." Merlin sighed, "I haven't seen him since."

"Oho, well good news," The elf spoke, "I received word that Baron Doolmet had been arrested a few days ago."

"Oh? That is good news," Merlin said with a smile before it crumpled again, "Although, I assume that he will find himself declared innocent when he gets placed on trial."

"Actually, no." The elf retorted, "It seems your previous actions are already paying off and the little criminal network of theirs had begun falling apart faster than expected."

"It seems as though several figures within Madame Hartlace's faction wish to rearrange the hierarchy with them as the head, so they've been caught in a power struggle and have been unable to coordinate another conspiracy." The elf explained, "They're also quite wary of what Kilo has planned for them, so they're clearly trying their hardest to not stick out as much in fear of being cut down, much like their late leader."

"Whereas it seems as though Kilo herself is in a state of panic due to Ghostsaw's sudden betrayal," The elf laughed, "My spies have caught wind of prominent figures ordering their vassals to hunt down the assassin. It seems as though you had a little bit of fun while using your new persona."

Merlin sheepishly scratched the back of his head. He wanted to cause a slight bit of confusion as he left, but it was clearly more effective than anticipated.

"We'll continue hunting down the location of this Ashen character while you complete your mission, We'll contact you when we have his information." The elf spoke one last time before returning to his drink.

"Thank you," Merlin said before standing up and leaving.

Now that he was walking around at his own pace, he began looking around the mansion as he slowly made his way back towards the basement. All the windows within the mansion were blocked off by curtains of moderate thickness, so while they prevented anyone from peering through them, it allowed some level of sunlight to seep through.

Along the bottom floor, it seemed as though the windows were protected by fancy wrought iron grills, or at least that's what he could make out by the strange pattern silhouettes cast on the curtains.

And as the last security measure, it seemed as though any doors that led outside were both locked and barricaded with a piece of furniture, but other than that it seemed to be a normal mansion.

Merlin eventually made his way down the staircase into the basement where he saw the same thief who let him in previously.

"You leaving so soon Ghost?" The man asked, to which Merlin nodded. "Right, well I suppose you should learn the code."

Merlin spent a few moments with the man while learning the secret code, and once the man was satisfied he was let back into the sewers.

This time around, Merlin had summoned his little ball of light to accompany him and illuminate his path. He noticed a faint marking on the wall next to the ladder, which must have been some form of indication that the thieves guild was located above.

Merlin made his way through the sewer system, there were several ladders leading out into buildings, locked on the building side, but only a few staircases leading out into the streets, all of which seemed to be hidden in back streets and locked off with iron doors.

The sewer system itself seemed to be several years older than even the oldest buildings that Merlin could see, and quite a few of the newer buildings didn't seem to have a ladder leading into the sewer.

'I wonder what the original plan behind the sewer was... Was it even intended to be a sewer in the first place?' Merlin thought to himself as he made his way up yet another staircase.

Looking through the iron bars, he noticed that the surrounding buildings began looking less expensive, it was likely that he had found himself in a more commoner-friendly part of town.

Making sure that nobody was nearby, he pulled out his beginner lockpicks and started picking the iron door open. He heard the click, followed by a rusty metal squeak as the door slowly opened.

'Finally, fresh air!' Merlin thought before casting cleanse on himself.

He was about to walk out of the alley he found himself in when he realised what he was wearing. He took off his conspicuous outfit and threw it into his inventory before pulling out his basic looking black cloak and equipping it.

"System stream, unpause." Merlin chanted, only now remembering that he had been paused for the past several minutes. It seemed as though his viewer count dropped substantially, but his chat erupted as it came back online.

'Oh right, I should probably put this one away too.' Merlin thought to himself as he grabbed hold of Ghostsaw's dagger. He unequipped it and threw it back into his inventory before pulling out the goblin blade that he had neglected for a little while.

Merlin threw his hood back up over his head before stepping out of the alley into the street. Fortunately, he had stepped out into a back street and there weren't many individuals around, Merlin quickly picked a direction and walked in a straight line until he eventually found the crowded streets that he was familiar with.

Merlin slipped into the crowd once more, this time making his way towards the temple.. It seemed several players were also caught within the crowd or were gathering around the mercenary guild building.