Chapter 2

Finding a mark was usually easy. Vennoa scanned the tavern searching for her prey. There! A human that already had one drink too many, and was half-asleep. He didn’t have any companions with him, and just needed a little more encouragement to drink more.

“Hey, mind if I join you?” Vennoa said. Without waiting for a reply, she sat on the stool opposite the human.

“Huh? Wha— sure,” the human replied. From the slurring of his speech, Vennoa was certain she had found the right target.

Vennoa locked eyes with Miri, the barmaid of this tavern, and nodded slightly. Miri quickly walked over with a few mugs of ale.

“Here you go, sir.” Miri said as she placed another round of ale in front of the human. She bent over in a suggestive manner to pick up the empty mugs laying on the table.

“Wha— I didn’t order any more ale,” the human complained.

“Surely a man as strong as yourself can handle a little ale?” Vennoa chimed in, as Miri scurried away. “Here, I’ll drink one with you.” Vennoa leaned over suggestively to pick up a mug, and locked eyes with the human.

As drunk as he was, the man could not live down the challenge and what he thought was a promise of more to come. He picked up a mug and downed it in a single gulp.

Vennoa put down her almost-full mug, and clapped her hands excitedly. “Wow, you’re amazing! Let’s have another.”

Before long, the man was slumped over the table, snoring and oblivious to the world. Vennoa smirked. She locked eyes with Miri again, and nodded at her. Vennoa put some coins on the table for Miri, and then wandered off, slipping the human’s heavy coin purse into one of her pockets.

Outside, Vennoa opened the coin purse and fiddled around with the coins inside. That was a good haul for such a quick job. I must be really lucky tonight. Is there time for another? It wouldn’t do to go back to that tavern, but there were other places where she could find potential marks.

Since Kakte was pacified, for now, Vennoa could head to the adventurers’ guild. All sorts of people hung out there, and there were always a few who thought they knew more than they actually did. Those kind of people made the best marks. Not to mention that adventurers tended to have more gold and valuable items.

The adventurers’ guild welcomed adventurers and wannabes alike, so Vennoa had no trouble just walking in. She hadn’t been there in a while, but it looked like nothing had changed. The big hall in the middle, with corridors that went to presumably different sections of the guild house. Vennoa had only stayed within the hall, since the corridors were usually empty and she didn’t like drawing any attention to herself.

Although the guild hall layout was identical, the atmosphere was radically different. There was a sort of buzz in the air. People were excited over something. Vennoa had mixed feelings. Excited people were more alert, but their minds were also not thinking about the present moment. However, it wouldn’t do to get caught in the guild. She didn’t want to be beholden to Kakte again. Who knew what he would make her do this time?

Vennoa stared at her palms, and sighed. After that night, try as she might, she couldn’t figure out how that half-elf had burned to a crisp. She was certain that she did it, but she had no idea how that was possible. She hadn’t felt anything when it happened, other than relief and a burst of joy when she saw what had happened to the creep.

“Hey! Have you heard?” said a middle-aged human who walked up to her. He was dressed in some sort of chain mail, and a mace hung loosely at his side.

Vennoa shook her head. The human didn’t look like he’d be easy to trick, but she couldn’t just brush him off either.