<h4>Chapter 353: Rushed Negotiations</h4>


    Lake wasn''t sure why it was that every now and then it felt like someone was watching him intently or what it was that was after him but he was starting to think he shouldn''t have robbed the store in the way he had. It hadn''t been thought out like he had wanted it to because he had let his greed get to him in a way that hadn''t happened in a long time.


    His actions while in the store reminded him of how he had been before his parents had been forced to put him in therapy when he was younger. No impulse control whatsoever and he felt like he was about to pay the price again but unlike hisst life he didn''t think he would get to just talk about his problems before heading home.


    "After a while he felt eyes on him constantly and he knew whoever was after him was at least as fast as him at the top speed he could go and was about to go faster knowing he would end up hitting into things when he heard a distant voice that sounded like it said the word gold.


    This was a weird thing to yell at him because he hadn''t stolen anything that was gold directly and it made him want to let the person yelling get closer so he could hear what they were saying. After slowing down a bit he heard the voice again closer and was able to make out exactly what they had said. "We''ll pay you gold."


    Lake was sure he was about to be offered a job and stopped so the person after him could catch up to him. He didn''t fully drop his guard though and started to use Detector to look for people trying to hurt him. After the older man got close enough to be inside Detector''s range and didn''t light up he finally dropped his guard and got ready for the negotiation.


    He wasn''t surprised a turn of events like this happened since most people would think about how they could use his skills when they saw him do something like fly away while summoning three giant pieces of a building with him. He did have a question he wanted to know the answer to before he was ready to talk about what they wanted.


    "How were you able to track me?" So far no one had been able to do this because of his skill Trespasser and while he had always wondered if it affected the items on his body over time he had started to think it did. "I can show you but I''ll have to use magic. Are you ok with that?"


    The man didn''t light up when he asked this so Lake nodded to give the old man permission. A secondter there was a giant blue thing looking down at him that the old man had summoned with the use of a formation. "I made this a few years ago in the hopes to use it to look through solid things. It works well enough but the ce I hoped to use it had defenses that stopped it from seeing what was held inside."


    Feeling the eye on him, Lake knew the older man was telling the truth because it was the same feeling he had been getting while trying to run away all of this time. With the older man being so honest with the method he had used to find him, Lake decided they were showing a real want to work together so he said. "Alright tell me what it is you want me to steal."


    Lake needed to get this over with as quickly as possible because before this old man found him he had been nning on returning to the Holy Domain to sell his new goods and return the dagger to the Temple. "No stealing, we want you to use that skill that lets you go through solid items for us. You were the one in Shallow correct?"


    Hearing the name from the town before thest he robbed Lake was slightly surprised to find out this old man had been following him for so long but it made him realize who he was. This was most likely the person who had cast the light over the town and who owned theb he had stolen from.


    "Yeah I was there. You don''t n to make me give back anything I stole do you, because I already sold it all." Lake had no interest in this old man''s request if it involved getting back everything he had stolen because that would also mean he had to give back the stuff he had just taken which was what he would be using toplete his mission.


    "No, keep it. What we want your help with is more important." Hearing this man had no interest in his other activities he switched the conversation to what he was going to be paid even though he really didn''t think he would need the money with all the stuff he had stashed in the woods. "What will you be paying me for this job?"


    "I have just over fifty thousand gold right now." Lake thought that was pretty good but then remembered he had no idea how hard the job was so he was unable to know what a fair price would be. He didn''t really care about the gold though so he said. "Alright but I have one more thing I want from you."


    "What is it?" The way the man said this made Lake think he could ask for almost anything and the man would say yes but he decided to just ask for something easy in the hopes they would keep their word. "Don''t tell anyone what I look like." This was much more important to him since he hadn''t bothered to change what he looked like before going into the store thinking he wouldn''t take anything with force.


    This meant everyone was seeing the armor he had been wearing back at the Temple and any sketches of him would give his identity away. "I can do that but a lot more people than me have seen you." Lake didn''t think the people who had only vaguely seen him while he was flying away were much of a problem because he knew how faulty brains were at remembering small details.


    "As long as you keep my current armor to yourself I don''t see anyone being able to find me using a description. So, Shallow is our destination correct, lead the way."


    "Thankfully you already got us pretty close to the town during the chase so It won''t take long to get back. Make sure you stay close I don''t want to have to stop to find you again." As soon as the man turned, Lake changed his face and took most of what he was wearing and threw it into the forest.


    With this they would know a fake face and the old man would be the only one who knew what his current armor looked like. After a while the older man turned around and saw Lake was following him in almost nothing and asked. "Would you like some clothes? It''s just a robe but it''s better than nothing."


    "Yes please." The older man took his robe off and passed it to him and Lake happily put it on when he felt the quality of the fabric. The robes he had just stolen were probably better but he hadn''t had the time to break the barrier yet so it was still unassessable to him and even if it did juste off of an old man he had worn stuff off of corpses plenty of times.


    Now that he was presentable again he felt it was time for him to start talking to the old man to gain information on what they would be doing once they made it back to Shallow. "So you didn''t really tell me any details earlier. Is there a reason you''re trying to keep it a secret till we get there or did I just agree too quickly."


    "I don''t n to tell you anything you don''t already know. After you get us through the obstacle your job will be done." After he heard this Lake started to wonder if Ghost Touch was going to work as well as the old man thought it would and asked. "What if I''m unable to do what you want?"


    Lake didn''t want a fight to happen the second he failed since all he would be at that point was the person who had stolen from them so he felt asking now would be for the best. "I won''t pay you and I''ll have the guards arrest you." Lake didn''t think the guards would be able to get him even if he was surrounded but he knew the old man would tell on him if he failed then ran away.


    ...


    "Bring word that help will be here in ten or so minutes to all the guards and people. I don''t want anyone to panic thinking we''re going to be overrun." Seeing the guard run out of the room after receiving the order he quickly moved back to the window to see if the situation had gotten worse in the time he had been negotiating with the Adventurers guild.


    It took him a while to scan all the streets below and was happy to find the normal problem area seemed to be fine with the people he had hired doing a good job but the areas that the guards were in charge of were getting kind of bad. Trying to gauge what it could be like by the time help arrived he decided to run to where the few guards he had left in the keep as guards and have them go out as well.