Klaus’s mind raced as he remembered who she actually was...

The Raven Thief headed the Thieves Guild in the Capital who were an illegal organization of assassins that handled dirty work for the nobility and anyone that had money; Political assassinations, discrete protection, contracts that couldn’t be traced, they did it all.

In the game, she was a haughty, insulting NPC that players couldn’t recruit but that didn’t change how dangerous she was.

She was physically strong with stats in the high 300s and her only weakness was low aura reserves. She focused on clean assassination techniques that had speed and lethality.

The fact that Klaus had met her here in Galen Town spelled his doom. She’d just killed those people so she would be cleaning up witnesses.

Another thing about her character: she hated weak people with a passion especially men who weren’t confident. If Klaus wanted any chance of surviving, he had to show no fear.

Which was easier said than done with a legendary assassin’s blade at your throat and he couldn’t try to escape either... She was too fast.

In Artemis Online, she was ranked Top 3 assassin in the world even without stealth magic. That was how insane her combat ability was.

Klaus had one shot at this.

’Iron Skin.’ He thought desperately.

He slowly willed Iron Skin to activate around his neck, focusing the spell on the exact area where her blade rested against his skin.

The transformation happened beneath his protective suit with flesh and bone transmuting into solid metal. He felt the familiar numbness spread as his neck became iron hidden completely by the black fabric of his sewer gear.

Strangely, he could still breathe as usual even after turning his entire neck into metal.

His windpipe was metal now, technically, but air still flowed through somehow. It didn’t make logical sense, but he wasn’t going to argue with a spell that might save his life.

Magic was bullshit like that sometimes, after that, Klaus told her the honest truth.

"I’ve been down here to kill slimes as a mission."

The woman raised an eyebrow and glanced around the sewer tunnel, taking in the scene.

The slimes that had plagued these sewers were completely gone... All that remained on the ground was green residue and shattered cores scattered everywhere.

She laughed. "You actually cleared this shithole? You look like an adventurer, I’ll give you that."

Klaus confirmed it. "Yes. I’m an adventurer. I just came here for honest work."

"Honest work." She repeated sounding amused then her voice dropped several degrees. "You’re in the wrong place at the wrong time. Are you aware of that?"

Klaus nodded carefully and she pushed her blade harder against his neck.

The edge bit into the fabric of his protective suit then hit metal beneath. Her eyes widened slightly. Instead of slicing through flesh, she was cutting into iron or rather, she was barely cutting at all.. the blade scraped against transformed metal with a small screech.

"What the—"

In an instant, everything changed. Klaus didn’t even see her move... One moment she was in front of him, the next moment he was flying backward. She’d kicked him or punched him, he couldn’t tell but it was with enough force to send him crashing to the ground.

His head slammed against the stone floor of the sewer.

CRACK!

Pain exploded through his skull. His vision went white, then blurry, swimming with spots. A splitting headache tore through his thoughts scattering his concentration completely and with that lack of focus, Iron Skin came undone.

The metal reverted to flesh instantly. The small cut she’d made on his neck that was barely a scratch against the iron was now an open wound on vulnerable skin as blood trickled down.

Klaus felt the cold edge of her blade press against his forehead now, ready to drive straight through his skull and into his brain.

He blinked hard, trying to force his vision to clear and slowly, his vision returned.

Klaus found himself staring up at a very beautiful black-haired woman with crimson red eyes looking down at him. Her face was inches from his, framed by strands of dark hair that had fallen loose during the brief exchange.

’This is the Raven Thief’s real face?’ Klaus thought distantly through the pain.

She usually wore a mask in the game which was a black raven design that covered everything but her eyes.

He’d never seen her actual appearance before, now that he was looking at her beautiful face properly, he had to admit she was genuinely stunning.

Well, except for the part where she was actively trying to kill him.

That kind of ruined the aesthetic.

"Fuck." She cursed as her eyes narrowed. "You’ve seen my face now, That makes you a dead man."

She pushed the sword harder against his forehead. Klaus felt the tip break skin and blood trickled down into his eyebrow.

"Give me one good reason why I should let you live and I might consider it... Might..."

Klaus gulped, his throat working against the pain in his head. He was unsure of what to say at first then he remembered her backstory from the game so it was time to exploit it.

"Because I’m nobody." Klaus said, keeping his voice calm despite the fear coursing through him. "I don’t have parents... No family... I’m just a commoner trying to make an honest living in this shithole town. You kill me, and nobody will even notice I’m gone." 𝒻𝘳ℯℯ𝑤ℯ𝒷𝘯ℴ𝓋ℯ𝘭.𝑐ℴ𝑚

Well, Taula would notice but the Raven Thief didn’t need to know about that.

"That’s supposed to make me SPARE you?" She sounded genuinely amused, a dark smile spreading on her lips. "That just means no one will look for your corpse when I dump it in the sewer water."

"I’m not asking for mercy." Klaus said, meeting her crimson eyes directly. "I’m just saying... I heard what that guy shouted before you killed him. The Raven Thief. Yeah. So what? You think I give a fuck about some legendary criminal from the Capital?"

He took a breath.

"I’m an orphan commoner trying to scrape together enough coin to not starve to death." Klaus continued, putting emphasis on the words. "The nobles don’t give a shit about me... The guards don’t give a shit about me. Why the hell would I risk my life reporting someone who... honestly? Probably has better reasons for doing what they do than the nobles have for half the shit THEY do to people like us."

The Raven Thief paused.

Her sword pushed harder against his forehead, making more blood trickle out from the spot. The woman clicked her tongue, looking like she was deciding something internally. Klaus smiled inwardly, careful to keep his expression neutral.

She had the exact same backstory.

The game’s producers hadn’t made it clear whether she grew up in Galen Town specifically or somewhere else, but the broad strokes were identical... orphaned commoner girl who suffered as a child and lost her older sister who had tried her hardest to take care of her but eventually died from the stress and starvation.

Did Klaus feel guilty for using that backstory to manipulate her sympathy?

Fuck no!

As long as he was weak, it was survival of the fittest. If he wasn’t fit enough to survive, then he would die and the absolute last thing Klaus wanted to do right now was die again... not when things were finally starting to look upward in this bleak new life of his.

The Raven Thief suddenly let out a series of loud curses... they were not directed at Klaus specifically, but at the situation in general.

"Fuck! Shit! Goddamn it! Fucking hell!" She cursed creatively, each word punctuated with clear frustration then she looked down at him again, her crimson eyes boring into his.

She removed her sword from his forehead.

"I’m letting you live." She said flatly. "Only because I feel sorry for your pathetic self... You remind me of..."

The woman trailed off, then shook her head. "Doesn’t matter. Listen carefully Adventurer...."

She leaned closer.

"If you mention a single fucking word about what you saw down here... if I hear even a whisper about the Raven Thief being in Galen Town, I will hunt you down personally. I will cut off your dick, stuff it in your mouth, and hang your corpse from the town gates as a warning to anyone else who thinks about talking. Crystal fucking clear?"

Klaus nodded very carefully.

"Good boy." She stood up while stepping back then she disappeared.

She had just vanished in a puff of dark mist that dissipated instantly, leaving no trace she’d ever been there.

What was left behind was a small glass vial on the ground where she’d been standing which looked like a healing potion.

Klaus stared at the vial for a long moment, then picked it up carefully then he smiled slightly.

"Thank you." He said aloud to the empty sewer.

Inwardly, he wanted to curse her out for the terror she’d just put him through but she was possibly still listening from somewhere in the shadows, so he kept that thought to himself.

Klaus uncorked the vial and drank the healing potion down. If it was poison, well, he had an antidote potion that came with the protective suit but the liquid tasted bitter and within seconds the wounds on his neck and forehead vanished as if they’d never existed.

The splitting headache faded too.

He picked up his sword that had fallen during the exchange and returned it to his storage ring then he left the sewers as quickly as possible.

The bodies of the men she’d killed would probably be cleaned up by the Raven Thief herself, so Klaus didn’t want to stress himself out thinking about it.

It was not his problem.

...

Klaus climbed back up the ladder and emerged from the sewer entrance.

As he left, the same guard who had let him down earlier came over to check the sewers... The man descended briefly, then came back up looking surprised.

"It’s completely clean!" The guard confirmed. "Not a single slime left... Good work, adventurer."

Klaus just nodded, too mentally exhausted to respond properly as the man tapped his card and confirmed the mission complete.

How long had it taken the Raven Thief to dispose of those bodies so thoroughly? He had no idea and didn’t want to know.

Klaus put that thought at the back of his mind. All he wanted to do now was submit his completed mission to the Guild, collect his payment and points, and go home to rest...

"Klaus!" Astrid’s voice called out the moment he entered the Guild hall.

She waved enthusiastically from her reception table.

"I recommended you for a Dungeon Raid!"

Klaus nearly face-palmed himself right there in the middle of the Guild. Was she fucking with him right now?