A Story of Evil

Chapter 133: Catching Thieves

Hendrickson needed to stop by the bathroom thrice.

The steel user enjoyed the food made by the old woman. This was his genuine response after gobbling all the exotic delicacies down. However, his stomach couldn't handle the sudden change on what he was taking in. Not to mention that there was basically a flood of it. Drowning his stomach in the weird meat and substances that were continually entering.

This prolonged the time which the three needed to take. But Sol didn't mind because, he knew that what he needed would be prepared by that time. Something which was given by a soldier who stood below the Inner Wall's elevator.

"Is everything here?" Sol asked.

"Yes my lord. Not a single information is missed."

"Good. You may take your leave." Sol said, with the soldier bowing down as he finally left.

With this, Sol's team went to the top of the inner walls again. To the same spot where Alice and Sol stayed before the ruckus raised by Hendrickson and the thieves. The same agenda which they discussed as soon as they settled down.

"Right, let's discuss how we can catch those thieves."

"Don't we need the permission of the king for that?" Hendrickson asked, not wanting to violate any more rules than he already did.

"Well no. With our ranks rising to Paladins, we can act autonomously. Executing justice when we see it fit." Sol said in reply.

"You have paladins on your domain too right? You should know about that." Alice remarked.

"Of course we do! In fact my brother is part of the three paladins of the Steel Domain." Was Hendrickson's proud remark.

"Wait, really?" Alice asked, actually surprised upon hearing this.

"Yeah. My big bro won the Culling with his overwhelming strength and his superior tactics. So much so that, he found favor with King Sylas.

"Isn't that supposed to entail that you should know more about the Paladins then?" Sol rebuked.

"I really didn't have time hitting the books. This may come as a surprise but I'm actually not that smart."

"Oh yes. Very surprising." Sol said in a sarcastic tone.

"Right? I might seem like a genius to both of you but I'm actually just an average Joe."

"He can't even understand sarcasm." Alice thought to herself.

"At least you became really capable as a fighter right? Anyway let's go back to the discussion." Sol said, cheering Hendrickson before they proceeded.

As always, Sol was the one who made the explanations. While it was true that Alice knew more of the league of thieves, Sol was the one who was better at explaining making things understandable depending on the level of intelligence of the one he was speaking to. Plus, he already made Alice reveal everything to him regarding what she knew about the enemies. Meaning, he knew just as much of the league of thieves as the girl did.

"Damn they're a scary group then." Hendrickson remarked as soon as Sol finished.

"Yeah. They'll use any method they can in order to get what they want. Adding to the fact that they are masterful in their craft makes them even more frightening. They're on a higher level of threat than any monster we encountered beyond the walls." Alice explained.

"So if that fight continued would I have won?" Hendrickson asked, with Alice looking at him before giving her honest response.

"You'd lose. They'd drag the fight to a point where you exhausted your mana. They'll use hostages; your attendant being a potential target at that. And once your out of mana, then they'd kill you."

"Wait. Doesn't that make this even more dangerous then?"

"It's only dangerous if you charge in by yourself. With me and Alice being by your side, we can definitely take them down."

"But how do we do that? I thought we have no clue on their current whereabouts?"

"That's true. But during the past five months, the group continued changing from one location to the next. That means they have a pattern and, as long as there's one, I can track them down." Sol said, finally unfolding eh piece of paper he got from the soldier a while ago. Revealing the whole map of the outer wall. With places marked in red.

"I asked one soldier from the prison to take all the information and bring it here. That's why we needed to take a short break and eat. The amount of time it took for him to prepare all that I needed was placed into consideration so that, when we arrived here the map was already prepared."

"Man you really thought this through huh." Hendrickson said, amazed once again by the amount of planning and preparation which Sol made use of.

"Of course I did. Anyway, let's get to it."

Sol began discussing all the areas with the two. They were brainstorming because Sol needed Alice's perspective as a former member of the group. Plus, he also needed to think outside the box. And by outside the box, it means things he would never consider because it was highly unlikely. The only person fitting this criteria is Hendrickson. Widening Sol's variables even more.

It took a whole hour. With both Hendrickson and Alice getting hungry again from all the thinking but, were nevertheless not complaining.

One by one, they placed markers on areas. With written notes being added by Solomon as well as percentages. With Sol being a master of using maps, the task became even easier to finish. With the group finally completing the map after a few more minutes.

"I gotta hand it to them. They were a bit more challenging than I expected." Sol said right after the map was completed.

"A bit?" Hendrickson commented in unbelief as, he himself didn't even understand half of what was going on as they made the map.

"I know. I feel the same way as you." Alice said, already used to Sol's logic and thinking ability going beyond normal human limits.

"Anyway, with this we have everything that we need." Sol said as two locations were left on the map.

"Are we going to ambush them right now?"

"Not yet. There's a right time to strike." Sol stood up and looked at the crowd that have greatly reduced in numbers compared to the morning.

"We'd cause too much panic if we go in now. There are still some visitors passing by the outer wall and if we act, they might panic."

"Yeah that would be trouble. If they come back to their domains saying that the Void is dangerous, then we won't be having too many visitors in the future. Plus it would ruin public trust on King Jubilee which still stands on thin ice."

"What do we do then? We can't allow them to roam freely right?"

"Of course. Like I said, there is a time for everything. And for this specific operation, the time is at nighttime."

Sol explained that no visitors come at night. It is also at this time that the visitors stay within Inns within the inner walls.

"None of the visitors are at the slums at nighttime. They all have the idea of danger imprinted in their head when it comes to that part of the Void. Hence, without us causing any panic or making them worried, they would naturally be at a safer spot."

Sol stood up. Looking at the slums which was still continuing in its development. Happy citizens filled the streets and, children were finally able to play in the streets with less worries. With everyone getting a bit more flesh because of the increase in food supply and clean resources such as air and water.

"We've come a long way. I won't let some people stuck to their old ways ruin the progress we've worked hard for." Solomon commented.

"Damn right. Plus, I need to pay them back for hurting Seth." Hendrickson commented.

"Agreed." Alice added as the three proceeded to the planning. Ensuring their complete and utter victory.