Odesday, 22nd of Augustus, 470th Year of the Fifth Era

Josias had observed the thug Brendan's movements from afar. He couldn't follow along too closely as Brendan walked through the party on the first floor. No matter how drunk they were, they would notice half a dozen masked men in dark cloaks scurrying about.

Regardless, from his higher vantage point, Josias could clearly make out where Brendan was headed. Near the entrance of the warehouse was another door to its side. Because of its location next to other piles of crates, it wasn't too noticeable.

Josias quickly scanned for the best route to get to that door. He couldn't let Brendan go out of his sight for too long, but he couldn't be reckless either. As he was searching, Josias noticed Hesekiel tapping his shoulder before pointing towards a certain direction.

It was in the direction of a descending pile of crates that would lead all the way to the main entrance. Josias nodded, silently thanking Hesekiel's insight. He then signalled to the others to follow him.

Josias crouched as he sneaked along the platforms before taking a leap onto a crate. He and the others then slowly climbed their way down. He did his best to try and match his movements to the rhythm of the music. All this to mask any potential noises with the clapping and singing of the partying workers.

The biggest challenge came when they had to run across the warehouse doors to the other side. Each side had crates where he could hide behind, but that narrow hallway formed by the cargo exposed them to view.

After thinking about it, Josias noticed the open warehouse doors let in quite the draft of wind. He then turned to Sadrach and made a motion towards the lantern at the far end of the warehouse. It sat above the musicians' stage and could be knocked over.

Sadrach had gotten the message and quickly hurled a small ball of wind towards the lantern. The magical hit had knocked over the lantern. The hit to the lantern surprised some of the workers. Sadrach had added in more gusts of wind to give off the impression that it was a natural wind.

As the workers were distracted, Josias and the rest finally put some aura in their movements. They hastily moved across the hallway and arrived safely in front of the door. Josias put his hand on the handle and turned it but unsurprisingly, the door was locked.

He was already this close and wasn't about to let a locked door get in his way. Once more, Sadrach's skills came in handy. He got the spellsword to heat up the door handle. Josias helped along with the procedure as he used his own flaming aura.

It didn't take too long for the metal handlebar to glow red and start to damage the surrounding wood. Josias then took out a small canteen of water to pour it over the door handle. He placed a cloak around it before quietly applying pressure to break it.

The door soon opened and they made their way through it. The door had led to some stairs heading downwards. It looked to be the entrance of some sort of cellar. Once everyone made it through the door, Josias closed it and moved a drawer to put in front of it. It would at least afford them some time if some other worker decided to come down.

Each step taken upon the rickety stairs threatened to give notice to their presence. Even with muffled boots on, they could do little to stop the stairs from creaking. At that point, Josias had given up on stealth and opted to descend in the quickest way possible.

Through the stone walls of the cellar, the sound of waves was clearly heard. Splashing and crashing against the walls. The structure of the cellar must have been built directly upon the ocean. Perhaps they wouldn't be detected after all. Hopefully the waves would drown out any noise they made going down.

The scent of the sea permeating the air was also much more pungent down there. Did these people also throw down their sewage there?

Light seemed to be scarce within the cellar with few lanterns to light the way. Not that there was much to see either. Besides the odd crate or wooden barrels, there was little much of anything there.

It didn't take long before Josias had reached another door at the end of the cellar. Josias was this close to just bashing down the door, subterfuge be damned. However, he stopped himself when he heard a conversation through the doorway.

"...Don't touch the goods, you idiot!" Brendan's voice could be heard berating someone.

"I ain't touching nothin'." Another gruff voice responded "I'm just checking to see whether this poor bastard's still breathing."

"Tch. Damned guards were too rough with these ones. They won't be worth anything when the boys from the capital come for all this."

"Well that ain't my problem. It's hard enough to keep a dozen people fed, not least big men like these. The sooner we're rid of them, the better. Damn shame there weren't any girls this time around. Could've had some fun with her at least."

"Girls don't make for good galley slaves and they scream louder anyways. The less people who know about this the better."

"We've got the guards here in our pockets anyways. Who's gonna do anything about it even if they found out? Besides, these are criminal scum. Ain't worth keepin' alive anyways."

"Whatever it is, we should go back up now. Wouldn't do to spend a moment longer in this Godforsaken shithole."

"Aye. Need to check those damned stairs too. Blasted structure might just fall apart the moment we step on 'em."

Josias quickly signalled to his other companions before standing directly to the side of the door. The door's locks clicked as the handlebar turned. When the first man stepped a single foot outside, Johannes had already struck at the man's throat.

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"What in the-..!!" Brendan didn't get to complete his sentence before Josias had landed a solid, aura-filled strike on the side of his face. Capitalising on the confusion, Josias put the thug into a chokehold and took out a small piece of cloth from his belt. It had been doused with a sedative concoction courtesy of his wife.

He looked up to see that his companions had already dealt with the other thug.

"This one didn't seem like an aura warrior." Johannes gave the head of the thug another kick for good measure "But you can never be too sure."

"Don't kill anyone." Josias said curtly. His focus then turned to the room the two thugs had just left. That was where all the 'goods' were.

If the pungent smell on the outside was bad, the inner room was downright nauseating. The smell of piss, shit, and the ocean all gathered up in one place to produce such a putrid odor.

The room itself was sparsely lit, with only a single lamp atop a cupboard providing any light to see. But even with that, the dismal conditions of the room were all too glaring to avoid.

A single cell – separated by wooden bars – made up a third of the room. Behind the bars, about a dozen emaciated men were sat on the floor. Sitting upon what could only be their own puke and filth. Not that they were any less filthy than the floor they sat upon.

"Yabbag. Na bau te ma dison. (Fuck, it smells like shit here.)" Sadrach held the bridge of his nose. Josias couldn't help but agree. Even with their faces covered by cloths and masks, the scent still managed to assault their nostrils.

But while the smell was concerning, what still drew most of Josias' attention were the prisoners that lay within the cell. The poor sods were no doubt facing a life sold as slaves. Even their current condition made them look no better than scared animals. Chattel to be traded like common livestock.

Their wrists and legs of the stronger-looking men were shackled to the walls. The older and frailer ones were left as is. Many of their bodies had horrible bruises and wounds. Wounds that looked fresher than a babe out of its mother's womb. Poor bastards, the lot of them.

Many of the doomed men already had listless looks in their eyes, but some still had that small glimmer of hope. Hope that was perhaps hanging only by a thread, but rekindled with the appearance of Josias and his companions.

"...Please… Please let us go…" One of the prisoners called out to Josias as he stood pleading. This prisoner looked younger than the others and still had some spirit in him. Even with the fact that the young prisoner's wounds looked worse off than the others.

"We came here to loot these poor bastards of their wealth." Mateus reminded Josias while pointing to the metal safe and strongboxes at the corner of the room. "...But it leaves a bad taste in my mouth to just leave these folks here like that."

"Didn't you hear what the thugs said earlier? These men were criminals anyway. It's none of our business and we should just take the goods and leave." Sadrach protested.

"...Technically, we're also criminals. You realise that we're robbing a legitimate business right now, don't you?" Mateus answered him.

The two each had their own points and Josias could understand them. The men were – based on the information they had – sourced from the city's criminals. But it was obvious from the method, they were sourced from no less unlawful a mean. But did he really have to think that hard about it?

Josias pointed towards the safe and strongboxes. "Take those things in its entirety. It will be too much of a hassle to try and break them and sort them out here. Mateus, Johannes. You two are our strongest, so you'll carry it."

"Ah, this bitch is going to be heavy." Johannes shook his head as he lifted the safe with a huff. Aura could be seen exuding from him as he carried the metal box over his shoulder. "Bujanginam, I was right. This better be filled to the brim with coins."

Mateus gave no quips and immediately hoisted the two smaller strong boxes onto his arms.

"Sadrach, Hese, break down that damned wall. Judging from the direction of the warehouse, over there should be facing directly towards our boat. I don't care how much noise you make, just make it quick. We're going to be getting out of here."

The two men nodded as Sadrach immediately started gathering mana within his hands while Hesekiel readied a hammer. Josias then turned his attention towards the prisoners in the cell. He unsheathed his sabre and unleashed his fiery aura, covering his sword. With a single strike, he had broken the wooden bars of the cell.

"I know not who any of you are, nor you I." Josias spoke to the prisoners as he came in and proceeded to break the chains off the stronger prisoners. "Neither do I know whether or not you deserve this fate placed upon you. But, consider this a final act of kindness. Me and my companions expect to escape through that wall now. Whether you swim and die, or stay here to be sold then die, it matters not. I have done my share."

Loud bangs and crashes could be heard as Hesekiel was smashing the brick walls with his hammer. Sadrach had frozen over parts of the wall beforehand to make it more brittle and malleable. Cracks had already appeared and the shine of moonlight were already passing through them.

The cheer and music from above had ceased. In its place, sounds of panic and confusion could be heard. Josias had closed the metal door and locked it. The key was then thrown through the cracks on the wall into the sea.

Unwilling to waste anymore time, Josias gathered his flaming aura in his feet and legs. He then started stomping onto the walls, loosening up the bricks from each other and breaking it.

"Oy!! Who goes there?! Ah shit! Brendan and Dicky are down!"

The entrance door to the cellar had been forcibly opened by the other workers. A flurry of stomps could be heard rushing down the rickety stairs.

It didn't take long before the metal door to the cell started getting rammed. Josias and his companions were running out of time.

Mateus and Johannes had put down the safes and strongboxes before joining in to break down the wall. With their combined efforts, eventually, a massive hole appeared. It was large enough for two people to go through at the same time.

Exactly as Josias had predicted, they could spot Timotheus and Nalom on their boat. The commotion had caught the two reverends' attention as well. They immediately began untying the boat from its support and turned the boat around for an escape.

Sadrach and Hesekiel were the first ones out, jumping across the wooden pillars and beams beneath the wharfs to get to the boat. They cleared out any loose strands of rope and broken pillars, slashing left and right, all to clear a path for Mateus and Johannes to jump over.

As Josias was watching over them, the bolts to the cell doors were already loosened, with every strike threatening to undo them. Josias couldn't wait any more. He had to leave.

Following along with the others, he also made the jumps and landed upon the boat.

The boat was almost at its full capacity as it seemed lower than before, all due to the added weight of the loot. Despite that, it was still floating.

"Hatop ma!" Josias roared in a panic before sitting down and grabbing an oar. Reverend Nalom had once more cast a mist spell to obfuscate their escape. Reverend Timotheus put his hands in the water before conjuring up his wind spells, this time helped by Sadrach.

The boat moved faster than Josias expected and soon enough they were heading away from the warehouse.

Casting one final glance back, he could see a few guards were already heading there. They had made it out just in time. All he could hope for was that what they acquired was worth the hassle.

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