Testing My Luck in the New World

With several issues still needing to be addressed, we decided to defer to the most experienced of our group and tackle Elane's suggestion first. Namely: we needed to recover any valuables the thieves left behind.

According to her, killing a thief meant you had the right to take their possessions, no matter what they were. Doing this would not earn you the Thief tag, it wasn't stealing, but it wasn't quite as simple as it sounded.

Anything a thief stole becomes their property, but only in a sense. The stolen object still technically belonged to its original owner as well, obviously. But it was the fact that the object also belonged to the thief that allowed them to exploit the rules.

This little loophole of sorts is what allows thieves to give, trade, sell or horde their stolen goods however they wish, instead of spreading the Thief tag like a plague by trying to hand their loot to someone else.

Conversely, the trade-off for earning the Thief tag affected the thief negatively in another way as well. Nothing they owned previously or would ever own again would be entirely theirs. Stealing from a thief wouldn't earn you the thief tag, either. But as they were so hated, nobody cared if you stole from another thief regardless. If caught doing so by a third party, it could almost be expected for them to look the other way.

However, should the thief die, ownership over a stolen item is more or less thrown into limbo. It's reset, and the item belongs to nobody because its "current owner" no longer exists. So, it becomes as free for the taking as any pebble you'd find on the side of the road.

Most of the time, a thief-hunting quest sent to the Adventurer's Guild demands a specific item's return, and not returning it if you found it could land you in hot water. But that's only because you accepted the quest as it was written. Otherwise, it was up to you if you want to return it.

It was because of this that the cat-kin's essence crystals were at risk. As they were without an owner and effectively just a part of nature, anyone could walk up and take them. We had to act fast.

Not that this truly mattered. The only people in the forest were the cat-kin and us, but it was still best that we remove the potential danger. So, we teleported straight into the middle of the thieves' camp to begin our search.

I witnessed Tillmann's death with my own eyes, while the girls saw to the rest of the thieves, so when we arrived back in their campgrounds, it was eerily quiet. We'd waited long enough for Yua to be sure the Brawler Bear and the other surviving animals had left the area, so we were definitely not in danger anymore. Still, the air was thick with a tension that seemed to only affect me. But I dealt with it.

"This place is a mess," Yua said, casting a somber look over the damage our fight caused.

"You think your father's going to be mad? It is his forest, after all."

"No. At least, he better not be."

After lecturing me for most of our trek through the forest, and after several near-death experiences at the hands of her verbal tongue lashing, Yua finally made time to question why Tama hadn't shown up. He'd promised her he'd be ready to fight and he clearly broke that promise. And unfortunately for him, there was no amount of "but we made it out okay" that could stay her anger.

I believe this was why she decided our return trip to the village was going to be our last stop before we left the area. As doting a father as he was, seeing Yua again no doubt would have overjoyed Tama, but making him happy was the furthest thing from her mind right now. Instead, she helped me search the thieves' tent.

Unfortunately for the thieves' old belongings, Yua tore through them as though they were made of paper. Watching her clench her teeth as she ripped crate lids off with her bare hands instead of using a crow bar made me desperate to change the subject as soon as I brought it up.