Chapter 39: Assassin's Greed
The two glared at one another for a couple of seconds before the teenager finally breaks the silence. "You... Who are you? Why are you stealing our food!?" he demands, picking up another rock and doing his best to look menacing with it.
This doesn't work very well however, even discounting Michael's rune-enhanced mental state, the teenager was only a head taller than Michael, plus his thin, almost gaunt figure, and Michael would struggle to be intimidated, even if he wanted to. His skin was dirty, as if he hadn't bathed in a year, with long black greasy hair that direly needed to be cut.
Michael sheathes his weapon but keeps his hand on its pommel to keep the runes going, "I'm looking for the one known as 'The Orphaner'." he says, causing the teenager to grimace at the name. Michael nods, "I see you know who I'm talking about..."
The teen shakes his head, "No. You are mistaken... Now leave! Stop taking our food, or... Or I'll fight you!"
...
Michael feels slightly put out by this, here he was all suited up and ready for battle, yet he's still getting underestimated by this guy... Was it his height?... It's always his height... "Look, I want to help you guys. Clearly whoever it is, is no saint. Just let me deal with him for you." he says.
"D-deal with him!? You don't understand! N-no! I won't let you!" he shouts in response, throwing another stone while scrounging around for a few more to toss.
Michael dodges the first couple but quickly loses his temper, breaking into a sprint for the teen. they flee in response, leading to them both running through the maze-like alleyways. Michael was faster, but the orphan's familiarity with the area made the chase significantly harder.
The teen leaps atop an abandoned wheel barrel and throws himself towards an indentation in the wall two stories up. Their thin fingers dig into the crevice, allowing them to quickly shimmy along it, eventually jumping off from the wall onto the roof on the opposite side of the alleyway.
Michael tries to follow but fails the first time, his stats decreasing as he removes his hand from his sword. For his second attempt, he holds a dagger in his mouth and attempts it again, actually managing to reach the roof this time.
He arrives just in time to see the teen jump across to another building, but, bringing Michael here was his first mistake. The rooftops provided an ample place for him to reach his top speeds, allowing him to quickly close in on the teen.
A few people who were wandering around the city at night noticed them, but other than a few shouts of surprise, nothing else occurred.
When the teen notices that Michael had almost caught them, they stop and look around for a moment before jumping off of the roof.
"Wait! STOP!" Michael shouts upon witnessing this, watching in vain as the teen plummets from the third story rooftop... Down into a stable where a large haystack had been stored... Michael's eyes widen at this, before he throws himself off towards it as well, doing his best to mimic the main character from assassins creed.
The teen jumps off of the haystack just as Michael lands ass-first onto it. They try to run again but Michael had already recovered, jumping on the youth and pinning them to the ground as the nearby horses neigh at the disturbance.
Michael sits on the teen's chest as he holsters his dagger as they try futilely to free themselves. "Why'd you do that? Making me parkour across the city?... Haaaaah..." he takes a moment to catch his breath. "Look, I just want to know who the Orphaner is. Tell me and I'll leave you alone... I'll even pay you... Look." he says, flashing two gold coins in front of the teen's face.
This quickly catches the teen's eyes, as they cease their attempts to escape. "B-both of those coins if I tell you?"
Michael nods, realising he should've tried this method first... "Yeah, tell me who the Orphaner is and I'll pay you."
The teen nods, "C-can you get off of me first? I promise I won't run."
"Alright, but if you try to run again, I'ma take you down like the Undertaker..." Michael warns.
With that, the teen gets up and throws themself at the haystack, laying there languidly with a tired look on their face. "The Orphaner's name is Lateef... He's a jewellery seller that-"
Michael almost does a spit-take, "That guy!? That fat merchant I sold my stuff to!?" he exclaims, feeling stupid for not putting two and two together.
The teen nods, "But you can't hurt him! Without him, all of us will starve! He's the only one who looks out for us!"
...
"He looks out for you by making you steal from people?" Michael asks with a dull expression.
The teen nods, "Without him, the guards would find us... And the gangs..." he mutters with a fearful look.
"Gangs"? Michael parrots.
They nod, "Lateef pays them to stay away from us... Without him, I-... I don't want to think about it." he states.
...
"Mmhm..." Michael hums, resting his hands on his hip and leaning backwards in thought. Clearly, he'd misunderstood the situation. Probably... Looks like the Orphaner is the orphan's benefactor, still, that doesn't explain why their situation seems so dire. If they'd succeeded in stealing from him earlier, they'd have enough gold to live comfortably for many years, depending on how many orphans there are.
"How're the profits split between you and the Orphaner? How much do you keep of the money you steal?"
...
"If we're lucky, we get silvers... The rest goes to paying the guards and gangs." the teen states.
"Is that so?" Michael murmurs, feeling as if he'd found the way to better the orphan's situation. As well as his own. "If I took care of the gangs, that'd mean more gold for you guys, right?" he asks.
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