Nisha was quite surprised to see the Golden Heel Carmen waiting for her at the exit the Alchemist had pointed out to her.

She had assumed that an important seat of the [Thieves Guild] would have many affairs to attend to, rather than wait for her to finish a discussion.

Seeing that the girl was deep in thought, the beautiful woman accompanied her without asking questions while they walked back through the road of thieves.

Together, they passed several turns before Nisha gathered her thoughts and spoke first.

“Do you know why the Alchemist insisted on seeing me? I learned more about the coming plague, yes, but he did not particularly emphasize a specific request or hidden danger.

Perchance, do you know what he wanted to tell me?”

After speaking to the pepper haired elder, the elf had a rough notion that the man insisted on seeing her to impart the graveness of the situation and give them a heads up.

Only being prepared would help them weather the coming catastrophe, but aside from buying and storing grain, the dragon did not know how else they could prepare for the [Blackroot Plague].

“Don’t take his words too seriously, that old codger is more or less insane from sniffing potion fumes all day long.

He is good at what he does, nearly more than half of the guild’s needs are met by him alone, which is insane thinking of the scale.

Like this, his motivations might be anything, from a flightful fancy to see the one in charge of acquisition or maybe the old man thought of something else related to the plague and wanted to pass it on.

Because of him, we had to gather old records, some even from the church records that are not open to the public.

Nevertheless, his research into the area is likely the best in the country, maybe the continent.

Through comparing the symptoms, he figured out that there were instances of the [Blackroot Plague] in the past, once in the far east in the dwarf nation and another time in a country that has since ceased to exist.

However, they called the disease [Treant Rage] and [Forest God’s Fury] respectively.”

After she ranted and vented her dissatisfaction with the Seat of another branch, the Golden Heel blushed slightly as she revealed an unsightly side of herself to a girl much younger than herself.

Nisha, on the other hand, did not mind listening to the tirade as her words supplemented some of the information she got from the Alchemist.

Together, she almost could see the whole picture and understand the message left to the elf.

 

“He mostly spoke about the plague to me and demonstrated ways how the disease spread.

Perhaps it will help with transporting the foodstuff purchased all over the country to the capital, but I can’t help but wonder if there is not another hidden message left.

Speaking of the meeting, there were two test subjects - the two men behind the glass - which he used to demonstrate the progression of the [Blackroot Plague] to me and gathered samples.

I was wondering where the two came from to end up in the hands of the Alchemist.”

In theory, the elf had had the chance to ask the same question when the meeting with the Alchemist ended, but she had the premonition that the elder would have looked down on her for asking about his test subjects, since he treated them as objects rather than living people.

Sera Carmen, on the other hand, portrayed herself as a more compassionate conversation partner than the old man.

It had been a shock to see one of them die right in front of her, then getting cut open by the elder like he was peeling a fruit.

The second one also entered the fourth stage of the plague, which did not bode well for his future.

“Oh, those two? I think I remember one of them, he worked as a grunt for the protection racket group, but I don’t recall the other one.”

Seeing the obliviousness on the girl’s face, the Golden Heel elaborated further.

“Basically, they are members of the [Thieves Guild] that got a harsh sentence.

Just because the guild has traditions and rules, that does not mean that there is no crime outside of the guild’s reach.

Petty theft between members is seen somewhat as a sport, because if you can’t even protect your own property, how are you supposed to do the same for guild assets?

If the value isn’t too big, there is no real harm done and better thieves get greater respect.

But not everything is so mild, sometimes conflicts escalate or the greed of a member grows too big.

Once a body appears, the guild has to show a strong response, or people won’t accept the rules we impose.”

Waste water constantly ran through the canal next to them, the pitter patter turning into a constant background noise.

Nisha contemplated the words and had to agree somewhat.

Even the [Royal Academy] had a set of internal rules and punishments for breaking them, much less than a big organization composed of criminals and thieves.

 

“There are harsher and milder infractions. For most of the petty crimes that go over the line, the overseers can issue fines, which turned out to be the most effective punishment for most of the guild members.

Those that can’t pay up get work arranged for them, but it’s mostly in line with their abilities so it’s not too bad.

Medium cases are often bad enough that a Seat has to preside over the decision of the punishment.

Which also means that the degree of judgement varies widely because each Seat only has jurisdiction over their own branch.

Some of the Seats are more popular, while others keep strict discipline, but it’s not my place to comment on their decisions.

Only the harshest infractions are overseen by a council of Seats, making sure that the punishment fits the offense.”

By now, the Golden Heel and the elf returned to a stretch of the sewers that Nisha was familiar with.

In theory, she could return alone from this point on, but the insights offered by her companion gave her deeper knowledge about the inner workings of the [Thieves Guild].

She slowed down her pace to stretch out the time left until they returned, and Sera Carmen matched her pace.

“There is a certain balance between the city guards and the guild.

Of course they investigate thefts and crimes, but as long as no one steps over the line too badly, only the involved parties are jailed.

If corpses show up, the nobles behind the guards get angry and crack down harshly on all branches of the guild instead.

It’s in the best interest for both sides to prevent deaths, but sometimes things go out of control or an individual does not care for the consequences.

Or there is no reason at all, these deranged murderers hungering for blood only for the sake of blood are not something we can understand easily.”

 

The Golden Heel slowed at the last part and thoughtfully recalled memories that Nisha was not privy to, yet the message overall made sense.

As a member of the Grand Marshal’s household, the elf rarely heard about murders or deadly accidents occurring in Thurgau, albeit some cases might not attract the attention of the guards.

For all that the [Thieves Guild] engaged in illegal and shady businesses, not once had they advocated deadly violence in front of the girl.

Seeing that there was not a lot of way left for them to squander, Sera Carmen broke out of her reverie.

“For the heaviest crimes, the judgement is mostly unanimous and the offenders are either dealt with or turned over to the guards to placate the populace if there is public attention.

But there are also the rarer instances where it’s not so easy to come to a conclusion.

For example, there might be circumstances beyond the control of the involved parties or the victim forced the attacker to use way too much force by refusing to back down, these sort of things.

Given that the accused convinces the Seats of extenuating conditions, there are a few methods for the verdict to be lowered.

Being sent to the Alchemist for the purpose of experiments is one way to redeem your freedom by surviving the number of assigned experiments.

Another path is the arena, where you need to remain victorious through a determined amount of fights to the death.

Few chose to labor for long terms, often upwards of tens of turns, in positions that are either outside the capital city and in dangerous locations of interest for the guild.

Those are the most common heavy sentences, giving the Seats sufficient threat to keep the extreme members under control.”

After perusing the road of thieves for a fair bit of distance, the duo returned to the hidden entrance in the noble districts and proper cobbled streets instead of dank stone paths and murky sewage dominating the air.

Nisha stretched her limbs after trudging through the clammy narrow space below the city, she enjoyed being beneath the sky.

At the same time, she also noticed that Sera Carmen still appeared as a lovely red flower in her dress, whether they walked among the nobles on the street or moved among the criminal elements in the shadows.

 

“Ever since the first news about the [Blackroot Plague] surfaced, all branches started looking for likely targets to be infected among the mid and big time offenders.

The men you mentioned should be part of those given a stay on their sentence in exchange for undergoing experiments.

Although no court sentenced them, they are serving their verdict in this way.”

Sera Carmen stretched her hands above the head and cocked her hips to the side, shaking off the stiffness from being underground and enjoying the sunlight at the same time.

Countless gazes from the male passants gathered on her body, drawn by the curves under her red dress.

Nisha did not have the same troubles and rather enjoyed the walk back, as it reminded her of the [Dragon’s Den] and the first burrow the four dragon siblings dug together all those turns back then.

“So they’re similar to prisoners then?

Wouldn’t everyone want to agree to such an arrangement instead of getting a harsher punishment?”

Serving in an undesirable job instead of a harsh sentence made sense to the elf, even if the work was demanding or back-breaking.

 

“Do you really think so?

More than once, I have seen men and women stand before the council of Seats and break down in tears, begging to be spared - and at the same time too afraid to choose any of the arrangements.

Each choice is nearly a death sentence on its own.

The dangerous outposts in the Wilderness do not have protection from the guild and are in danger of being overrun by monsters every night.

In the arena, you fight with the hope of making it through the number of duels arranged to you, but every wound and every injury becomes a chain that drags you down, stealing a bit of your life until an opponent spills your heart blood on the sand.

The Alchemist might not harm you directly, but every experiment has risks and few last through them all.

Just like the man you described, he probably had a number of experiments to last through left, but this time the plague broke out and killed him.

I don’t have much hope left for the other one.”

Despite smiling, the Golden Heel’s words chilled the dragon to the bone.

It made a certain amount of sense that an organization like the [Thieves Guild] did not suddenly become charitable and dispensed lesser sentences.

Necessity only made them use available resources more efficiently.

Suddenly realizing that the two men inside the glass compartment were already considered dead before she even visited, Nisha lost her illusions about the guild and their Seats.

No one extended kindness for no reason and her deal to secure grain only happened to meet the current needs of the Seats.

Once the situation changed, they would not hesitate to drop Nisha and her merchant house and carve them up for benefits.