章 27: Pickpocket

A pair of two ears pushed against a wooden door.

A slightly chubby man in his early thirties with a light stubble curiously listened into the other side of the door.

"Should we do it, Ben?" He quipped, moving his eyes around as he tried to concentrate on the sound that might come from the other side of the door at any moment.

A skinner counterpart below him, a few inches shorter than the 6-tall fat guy, quickly retorted, "Do what? Enter? Don't be stupid, Bofus! Why would we disturb him? We clearly know he's cultivating in there."

Ben exclaimed, seemingly offended at Bofus' words.

"Y-you're right..." Bofus felt a little guilty, "Still, it feels like he's been in there for like five days!"

"That's cause he has been in there for five days..." Ben's eyes lowered, his expression shifting into an unimpressed look.

Bofus awkwardly laughed at this reply, realizing his mistake.

At that moment, the door to Sol's room suddenly flew wide open.

Both of the men who were leaning against the door tripped sideways as their support moved out of the way.

They fell face-first onto the floor, landing on their jaws.

Sol looked at the two of them with his hands on his hips.

"Eavesdropping eh? It's not a very gentlemanly thing to do." Sol said, seemingly disappointed but also indifferent.

The two quickly realized what happened and stood up straight.

Facing the ceiling, they both shouted in unison, "We are sorry! We won't ever do it again, master drinker!"

'Huh?' Sol's face suddenly turned a little sour, "That isn't exactly the most charming of titles..." He said in a low tone.

"Oh... is that so?" Ben laughed in slight embarrassment as he scratched the back of his head.

"Anyways, move out of the way. I have urgent things to do right now." Sol said as the two made way. Drenched in sweat, Sol walked out of the room.

After that, the two men, still in the room, looked at each other, "He's intense, huh?" Ben said rhetorically.

"Yeah..." Bofus answered in a slight daze. He turned to face the room, "Hey, isn't it oddly hot in here?"

"Yeah, now that you mention that, It definitely is," Ben replied, feeling the heatwave-like air in the room.

The two already had beads of sweat pouring down their foreheads.

"How the hell did he stay in here for that long? I would have straight up died!" Ben said, both shocked and impressed at the same time.

***

Sol made his way downstairs, where the bar of the Fried Fish Inn was. The place was cleaned up from the day prior when the Drinking Contest had taken place.

When he entered, his presence was greeted with an entirely different atmosphere compared to before.

Everyone he looked at gave him a nod and a smile, some even raising their glasses to him.

"Haha! The new master has arrived!" Some even cracked harmless jokes.

Truth be told, Sol felt like the rightful king of liquor that he was. It was a familiar feeling sort of forgotten.

'Haha... nice.' He thought, slightly proud.

As he headed toward the door, Hans, the bartender, greeted him.

"Sol! Where are we headed so early? Aren't you going to grab some grub? I'd be starving after not eating for over a week, especially after getting so hung over."

Sol turned his head past his shoulder to face him, "Nah, I'll be fine with this for now. I have to do something first before doing anything else. See you around, plumpy."

He grabbed a large glass jug of cold lemon water and a drumstick of meat from a nearby table.

"Hey!" A man from the table exclaimed, reaching for his stolen meat.

Another guy at his table grabbed his shoulder, "Let him be. He earned it if anything."

"I guess you're right... After that performance, he at least deserves some free food."

Sol chugged the water as he turned and walked out through the half-doors.

"Heh! Alright then, do whatever ya' want kid!" Hans returned to his duties, as the bar gave their farewells.

"See you around, great master!"

"Come right back! I wanna see what other funny stuff you'll do!"

"What a hilarious kid man..."

"I know... that grandfather's wrinkly balls line still makes me laugh hahaha!"

Hearing this, Hans' eyes shadowed as he gripped the glass he was holding tight enough that his hands shook.

"What did you say about my grandfather!?"

"Oh shit!"

"N-nothing!"

***

After chucking the finished jug of water and cleaned bone of meat into the street trash, Sol quickly made his way to the closest clothing store he could find.

He stood outside of it when he got there, staring at the large establishment.

"From what I remember..." He began to say to himself under his breath, "This is the only clothing store for a few miles. It's quite an expensive one."

As he contemplated this, a man nearby him in the thick crowd of people abruptly shouted in anger.

"Hey! Someone catch that thief! He's a damn pickpocket!" A street vendor flailed his fist in the air, walking in front of his apple stall.

A few from the crowd moved out of the way from a boy running at full speed, bumping into people as he struggled to not drop the handful of apples he had tucked in his shirt.

Finally, this thief saw another kid the same age as him. It was Sol, who was nonchalantly staring at the clothing shop.

'What's wrong with him? Does he have zero survival skills? He isn't even paying attention to what's going on around him.'

The little thief thought to himself as he neared Sol, sizing him up and down.

'Looks like he isn't that rich. He must not have a backing... if that's the case, he'll be the perfect victim.' He quickly analyzed in his mind, dropping the apples on the floor as his eyes scanned Sol's pockets.

The little thief brushed past Sol, pushing him forward a little bit.

After that, the kid disappeared into the crowd, and the apple vendor arrived where Sol was not long after and stopped.

He put his hands on his knees and panted, "Damn... he got away. He even dropped the apples and ruined them. Little bastard."

At that moment, with the same uncaring look as before, Sol turned away from the vendor and pulled out a small pouch of coins.

He scanned through the bag, "40 spirit stones... not bad I guess."