That Unique Monster Who Just Got the 'Consciousness' Passive Skill

The fact was, the thief guild, if one even existed in Roerdenville, might not have been here. And, if one didn't exist, then I might have needed to take a look at the nearby villages and towns outside of the capital if I wanted to join their brotherhood. But hey, as long as I enjoyed it all.

For the time being, I pulled back and simply continued to observe around. Clouds started to stall over in the sky. That might have played a role in darkening the dark, filthy area further, but mostly, the sun was diving down toward the end of the horizon. After I spent around fifteen more minutes exploring the lawless area, against all odds taking quite a liking to it, I had to rest for a moment. Or, rest, maybe not so much, but I did wait till it became darker.

Despite the occasional ruckus of fights and conflicts, the area was too calm, when I didn't expand my senses everywhere around. There were few people living around, it seemed to me. With [Mana Perception], I had surveyed the area beforehand, so that didn't come as a surprise. I imagined it was probably safer for people to either lay low, very low, in the lawless area, or to just not stop by if you weren't familiar with it. In any case, the number of people here was clearly underwhelming.

So I laid down on top of some rundown structure, making sure not to move around too much, and stared up at the cloudy sky for hours. I watched it turn grayer and grayer until it started to lightly rain on me. By then, the thickening night was wrapping itself around the earth, and I slid to someplace else.

If, during the day, the lower district was plain lawless, at night, it became hostilely lawless. That meant it was my time to go on a treasure hunt.

"So…" I tilted my head to the side. "I got eight, nine, and ten of you guys." Paying close attention to my ten pieces of cloth, I blinked many times, and repeatedly let them know what strong interest I had in them. On top of a different sturdier rooftop, I held my chin high as I glanced down. In the large alley in front of me, despite the fact that most of the abodes looked abandoned, a few lights lit up here and there.

"Mm-hm," I nodded again, crossing my arms upon my chest. My pieces of cloth were lying by my feet after I stuffed them out of my pockets. "It'll be time." With slow, sharp movements, I picked one cloth up at a time. "Yes. Be ready. Ah, but who wants to go first? To whom will I do the honor? …So? Ah, I… speak to a bunch of pieces of cloth I stole from strangers. That's probably why I do need these 'friends' I'm after…"

It will be you, I thought. I picked up a torn cloth and stuffed the bunch of others back into my pockets. Pensively, I jumped down into the alley, held the cloth to my nose, shut my eyes tight, and gave it a sniff. I didn't bark, but I more or less knew where to go.

The alley was empty and dark. Once I jumped on the street, I felt and heard some movements around me. A wooden porch creaked, the sound of glasses touching was overheard in the opposite direction, and two cats hissed in the distance. I stayed motionless for a moment. After a second, the direction from which the sound of glasses was heard, a door creaked open. On the front porch of the run-down house, an old, uncombed woman showed up with tremulously slow steps. Her quivering lips were gaping at me. With no teeth to show off, she grimaced at me. In her hand, the elderly woman held a bottle of ale, she made sure it was empty by flipping it upside down, and then tossed it at me.

"...Aaaway with ya, good folks o' the rich!"

Looking straight into the crone's eyes, I didn't bother to evade the empty bottle flying my way. It missed me and shattered next to my feet. I felt oddly comfortable with the present atmosphere, so I smiled with amusement and said yes ma'am. The old ma'am's dried lips quivered some more words at me;

I walked away. Once I picked a fresh trail of my prey, my crazy doggo instincts knew exactly just where to go. With dashing steps and mid-air jumps, I was fast on my legs, as usual. My first destination was as random-looking as the cloth I held in my hand. This abode, if you could call it that, wasn't as rundown as the others, but its door still creaked my presence away to the owner when I gently pushed it open. I heard words coming from inside and allowed myself in.

The man was alone. When he heard someone inside, he called out to the intruder again, and I pinpointed his location. The man didn't seem to have an idea about who I was and confused me for someone else.

Leisurely walking my way to him, I observed all around me. The place was thick with dust, broken down, and not much furniture was in. When I finally arrived to the man, I set predator's eyes on him, and watched him go crazy ape rage.

The moment the man saw me, his face was instantly twisted with a dark glare, he briefly glanced all around him, figured I was alone, and nearly tripped over himself by standing up so quickly.

"Easy, old man."

With an ashen-dark face, the man repeatedly asked me about who the hell I was. "W-Who're ya?! Thought you was that prick from th' pub!" From a nearby table, he drew a dagger at me. The man seemed to be experienced with that. His moves were good.

I just repeated to the old man to take it easy as calmly, and tossed his cloth to his face.

"Y-You… crazy bastard," on his guard, he stooped and picked the torn piece of cloth, "d-dunno what sorta crazy retard ya is, but ya told me ya'd come back, didn't'cha…?"

Of course he remembered. You wouldn't just forget it if someone ran you down in a back alley, threw some punches at you, then bit a cloth off of your shirt.