Commercial District
I put down a golden pocket watch on the counter.
"I wanna sell this. It's a family heirloom. Made of real gold. I'll take five gold coins for it."
"Oh, a customer… Eh! Wait, you're that brat?! Do you know how much trouble you caused me?!"
Seriously? Those words coming from the same guy who sold me out.
"Tsk, I've dealt with those people already."
"Sure… A scrawny kid like you dealing with those guys? Anyways, that's a family heirloom, you say?"
"You'll actually buy it? You don't care that they could come for you again?"
"Why would I? Most of my items here are stolen anyways."
I guess that's a fair point.
The shopkeeper reluctantly picked up the golden pocket watch and inspected it.
After a while, he put it down with a sigh.
"…Lang Company? Really? Your 'family heirloom' is from that company? And… you left some blood on the back."
"Does it matter what company it is? All that matters is that it's a good product. Just do your job and buy it. I'm giving you a good deal here."
I tapped on the counter impatiently.
"…Well, it's definitely not your family heirloom. It's dirty, and I'm not sure who'll come knocking on my door next — so how about three gold coins?"
"Three gold coins?! Do I get a foot massage with that?! At least give me 5 coins! You know this is worth way more!"
"Ahem, I guess you've made a good point."
Five gold coins clattered onto the counter, and I snatched them, turning on my heel to leave.
"There's really no morals in any of these stores."
I left the store in a poor mood despite making a good amount of money.
After I used my skills and managed to escape the guards stationed at the checkpoint for surface tolls, the first thing I did was try to sell the pocket watch before any sort of news got out.
I went to other stores at first.
But most of them, seeing a kid, either lowballed me or believed I was selling a counterfeit, so I had to return to that traitor in the end.
Although he sold me out to those gangsters, I knew he had a good eye for things and would pay the highest.
Anyways, with my new money in hand, I went to rest up.
'Status.'
Once I was in my room, I checked my stats.
'Nice, I made a decent amount of XP.'
Killing the merchant only gave me thirty XP, but his guard with the rifle gave 500.
Although I wasn't able to level up, I'm definitely close.
It's fine. I can take my time. This money should last me a long while.
***
5 Years Later
"This is the kid that's been giving them so much trouble?"
In front of me stood two haughty Military Police officers.
"Looks like the merchants tipped you off? Well, it's not like it matters anyways—the Military Police are too incompetent to catch me."
"What would a little sewer rat like you know?!"
They launched towards me with their ODM gear.
Sparks flew as the gas canisters scraped the floor.
Reacting to the oncoming threat, I activated [Enhanced Evasion] and ducked underneath him.
I saw his expression change in slow motion.
"What?! How did he dodge that?!"
Contrary to public perception, these guys are actually quite skilled.
It makes sense, given that they have to make it into the top ten recruits to become Military Police, after all.
But the luxury of the inner walls just makes them lazy and corrupt.
Anyways, I used Quickstep and leapt onto the roof of a building.
I jumped from rooftop to rooftop, one after the other.
Those two points in Dexterity are really coming in handy.
After the fifth rooftop, I used Conceal and used another Quickstep to hide in a narrow alley.
Their voices echoed as they got further away.
"So quick! I'm starting to understand why those merchants sent us."
"We don't get paid enough for this. Let's get out of this dump."
"You're right. This is way above my pay grade. Let's go."
After a while of half-hearted searching, they left.
"Finally. They're gone. I should probably leave those merchants alone for a while, before nobles start to get involved."
But seeing ODM gear in action stirred something in my heart.
I really want one. For convenience, but also as a fan of the anime.
Anyways, how much SP do I have left after that chase?
[Name: Lucian Edelhart]
Level: 8
HP: 20/20
SP: 35.3/40
Stamina: 5/5
Skills:
[Quickstep]
[Backstab]
[Conceal]
[Enhanced Evasion]
[Vigilance (Passive)]
[Pilfer]
[Blackjack]
EXP: 560/6400
Attributes:
Vigor: 4
Focus: 3
Endurance: 1
Strength: 1
Dexterity: 2
]
I've only gained three new skills over the past five years.
The first one, Vigilance, is like a continuous threat alert.
If there's any threat, it's highlighted in my vision and my body automatically senses it.
The second is Pilfer, which, as the name suggests, is used to steal.
But the issue is I can only use it after I deal damage to an opponent. So in terms of stealth, it's useless.
The last skill, Blackjack, is by far the best skill yet.
It delivers a guaranteed knockout blow to my opponents as long as I'm a higher level than them.
I don't know what constitutes as a higher level in this world, but I'm assuming the system quantifies their physical attributes into stats.
But since Blackjack is so powerful, it uses a proportional amount of SP, ten to be exact.
As I was thinking about my skills, a commotion broke my thoughts.
I peeked out of the alley to investigate.
"What do you think you're doing trying to sneak past the stairway toll?! This is under the jurisdiction of Sir Lobov!"
The Eleventh Stairway, huh? I've grown quite familiar with that area.
A lot of merchants use that stairway, so naturally, I've become somewhat of a pest to those guards.
At the source of the commotion, there was a girl about my age with red hair, and she was clutching something to her chest, running towards my direction.
"Sorry! But get outta my way!"
She ran towards me, but as she tried to slip through the narrow alley, her shoulder hit the wall, and she tumbled onto her backside.
"Owch!"
Eventually, the men chasing her from earlier stopped in front of me.
"There she is!"
"Huh? Who's that? Isn't that the same little shit that's been making our job hell?!"
"You're right! Looks like it's our lucky day."
The red-haired girl decided to yell after hearing this.
"Leave him alone! You're after me, right?"
But that only made the guards break out into laughter.
"Is she stupid?!"
"I'll handle the little thief. You go after the girl, but don't kill her — I'll wanna make sure she pays extra with her body, hehe."
I was about to use Quickstep to leave, but I hesitated after hearing their exchange.
That's strange. I could easily escape, but for some reason, I found myself blocking their path.
It must've been the fact that they're blatantly threatening to molest an innocent girl. Obviously, it didn't sit right with me.
When I stepped in front of her, I noticed her eyes widen for a second.
"Why aren't you running away?! You still have a chance!"
"Haha! Look what we have here. Wanna be a hero for your little girlfriend?"
"Can you keep it down? It's annoying."
"What did you say?!"
One of them grabbed my cloak by the collar and pinned me up against the wall.
But a second later, he collapsed to the ground with foam coming out of his mouth.
I used one of my new skills.
[Blackjack]
My hand had struck his chin at the perfect point, gaining an unnatural surge of strength only possible due to the system in order to incapacitate him.
I finished him off with a stab to the jugular.
The other guard stood there, confused.
And before he could process anything, I was already behind him.
"—Agk!"
A damp squelch echoed in the narrow alley, and blood spurted out of the upper left side of his torso.
[+1000 XP]
Shit. I've really done it now… I've killed the stairway guards.
Normally, I avoid killing those who work directly under the nobles and the government.
If word gets out about what I've done, I don't think he'll let me off with my head intact.
"Hic—"
What's that noise?
I turned to look behind me.
The girl behind me was shivering. Her face was slightly flushed, and her eyes were buzzing almost.
Oh no… should I have warned her to leave first? That sight must've been too gruesome for her.
When I got closer to check up on her condition, she suddenly jumped up.
"Big bro! That was seriously so cool! How did you do that?! Can you teach me?!"
It was so sudden that I got startled and fell back.
I also noticed something ruffling in her arms.
Don't you have something more important to deal with?
She noticed my gaze and spoke up.
"Oh, you mean this?"
She opened up her palms to reveal a little injured bird.
For some reason, I felt like this scene was familiar, and a shiver traced up my spine.
"You… what's your name?"
"My name? It's Isabel Magnolia! What's yours?"
"What the fuck…"
"Huh? That's a weird name? Well, nice to meet you, Watdafuk."
***
It's been thirteen years since I've been down here.
So it's only natural some of my memory of the plot has faded.
But one part of Attack on Titan that left a mark on my memory was from the OVA episodes.
In particular, the No Regrets OVA.
Perhaps it was because I was trying to keep the memories of the parts which are most relevant to me fresh.
How Isabel joined Levi's gang, the scheme by Lobov in order to get close to Erwin, the scene where Levi was rampaging on an abnormal Titan after it had killed his closest comrades.
And… one of those comrades was sitting right in front of me.
Having a cup of tea I made for her.
"Uhm… I see. So your name is actually Lucian…"
At first, when I realized who she was, I tried to leave her behind and simply hope that I didn't do anything significant enough to deviate from the plot.
But there was a fear that was creeping into my mind.
Surely this could cause a butterfly effect?
Didn't I already disturb the scene where she joins Levi's gang? Can the plot remain the same?
Will Levi still get recruited by Erwin?
Most likely, yes.
But it would probably just be him and Furlan.
If Isabel doesn't die, maybe Levi won't have much of a conviction when listening to Erwin's speech.
Or even worse, Furlan survives during their expedition, which causes Levi to follow through with his plan and kill Erwin?
All these unanswered questions swirled in my mind, and I felt dizzy.
I don't want to do it, but…
The best solution is to introduce her to Levi's gang.
I was unsure what to do with her since she's homeless, exactly like I was before I made money, so I decided to let her stay at my new house in order to enact my plan.
I felt a tinge of guilt at my selfish thoughts.
Because ultimately, she'll just end up being a sacrifice to get the main plot going.
"So~ are you gonna teach me how to get strong like you?"
The answer is a resounding no, but I couldn't just say that.
I need a pretext for her to stay, and until I figure out how to make her join Levi's gang, I made up an excuse on the spot.
"Maybe after the bird is healed up. Wasn't it the reason why you went up the stairs in the first place?"
"H-How did you know?"
She's right? How did I know? I'm pretty sure it was in the anime, that's why.
"Ahem. It was just a guess. You look like someone dumb enough to do such a thing."
"Wha—!"
"Anyways, let's get this bird's wings bandaged up. When it's healed up, I'll sneak it to the surface."
And then ditch you at Levi's door…
"Really?"
Isabel smiled so joyously that I felt needles prick my heart when I remembered my true intentions.