Exalted Warlock 34 Chapter 23: Infamous Menace

"Magnus," Erhan shouted as he waved his hand towards Magnus to capture his attention and run up to him with the other boys silently at his heels.

For a single keen and discerning moment, Magnus noted how they have gotten so used to his new name now, and only a few moon turns ago they kept on tripping all about it.

How adaptable humans are!

"Hey, guys," Magnus uttered with a shake of his head once they were in spitting distance of him.

"We got all the information you wanted just like you asked, here it is," Mazhar said as he handed Magnus a few dozen rolled up parchments.

Magnus unfurled the papers and then looked it over, it contained everything he asked of them. On some sheets, he saw Erhan's hand writing as it listed all the guard routed he knew of. Then there was the information that Etkin wrote of, which included all he knew about the gangs.

He also saw Mazhar's writing as he listed all the historic details he knew about the city and any knowledge he could scrounge up from the city's library that he worked at. He even saw listed everything that Tamer and Andrew knew about the city, which was a fair deal since they made numerous friends out hunting.

"Thanks guys," Magnus said as he showed genuine grat.i.tude on his face. This intelligence would go a long way in helping him and his new thieving friends accomplish much. Even though Magnus knew the city like the back of his hand, that did mean he knew what lay underneath it and all its covenant secrets that it held.

But these young gentlemen have a well of it at their grasps, and he could include himself into it.

Above all else, he wants to prove his worth to his new a.s.sociates and show them that they did not make a mistake including him into their craft.

"We will bring you updates every week. How does that sound?" Etkin asked in his bland usual tone.

"You got a deal," Magnus replied. "Just keep me updated if any changes are made."

"Still, I can't believe you are working for smugglers," Tamer stated.

Magnus couldn't tell them what he was really up to thanks to that binding contract. Thus he had to make something up because the stuff he requested of them is a bit suspicious. There was one plausible idea that came to mind and he did sort of find it poetic since their hideout is a smuggling den.

"Well, it pays handsomely," Magnus said with a shrug, a gold lion a day is a kingly sum to commoners like them. "Plus," Magnus added, "I can use that money to get the kids to find an apprenticeship."

At that mention of a brighter future for the other kids, all of them had nothing more to say. They knew what awaited them; one of the three holy professions as Magnus likes to call it which they know from experience stinks.

"Still, I should be arresting you for blatantly admitting that you are committing crimes," Erhan stated in a grave tone, but Magnus could see the merriment in his eyes.

"But you won't," Tamer p.r.o.nounce as he playfully smacked Erhan on the back. "You are already on your way to becoming corrupt."

That got a good round of laughter out of everyone, except Erhan who humorless. Andrew even decided to add to the mood by saying, "Now all that is left is for him to become fat and lazy."

"I hate you guys," Erhan grumbled at them.

Once everyone got a grip on themselves, Magnus once more thanked them from the bottom of his heart. "Thanks again guys," he said. "With this, I will be safer and I will be worth more to the crew."

"We owe you a great deal, this was the least we can do," Etkin remarked as he placed his hand on Magnus's shoulder for camaraderie.

"Even if we didn't owe, we would have done this freely," Mazhar stated for everyone as they nodded their heads to that.

"Yea, anything to get anyone of us out," Tamer professed with a shrug.

"At any rate, tread carefully," Erhan urged. "None of us-- especially the Mothers, the Matron, and the little ones want to ever find out that you got catapulted off the mountain or even worse yet, publicly beheaded."

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"Good, you are here," Soykan announced as Magnus made it down the stone slab steps and into the hideout. He could see that the man was not in the best of moods, Magnus could already guess what was offsetting him; their conversation from yesterday.

It was thanks to that delicate mood that he was in that Magnus did not dare to do a Perception Check on him. The young fledgling thief did not know what powers Soykan had at his fingertips or the Matron for that matter.

Therefore he knew it would not be an easy matter getting their data down. Plus he had this sneaking suspicion that kept on nagging at him that they would somehow feel his intrusive scans.

He did not know how he came to that conclusion, but it was there at the back of his mind.

Ultimately, on one of these days, he will do a Perception Check on either one of them, during an ideal moment that he could find. First to test his hypothesis out, and also because it would be wiser to try it on friendly people who would not kill him on the spot for prying into their secrets.

"Anything new going on?" Magnus asked as he gazed upon the lounging area with the fireplace, everybody was present and attentive today.

"Yep," Taylan replied as he tipped his chair back a bit, "We are going out for a bit of information gathering."

"Oh, really," Magnus uttered, feigning surprise to hide his excitement and eagerness.

"Information gathering is vital in any enterprise, especially so in our line of work" Shui stated, getting into his role as a teacher, perfectly. "We need to know what we are getting ourselves into, uncover the location of what we are stealing, get down the particulars of what is guarding it, see about each and every intricate detail and so much more."

"Yes, Shui is correct!" Bulut remarked with an inclination of his head. "The more we knew the safer we would be, and all the much more easier it would be to pull off the job."

"Well in that regard I might have something that would be useful," Magnus stated as he handed over all the parchments with all the information that the older boys wrote down on, to Shui who was the closest person to him.

"What is it?" Shui asked as he took the parchments into his hands and unfurled it.

"Just read," Magnus stated, feeling a bit smug.

And then Shui did so, as he read the parchments the only thing that should his astonishment was that his eyebrows slightly rose.

Then without a word he pa.s.sed it on to the next person which was Bulut. He also showed a nonplussed att.i.tude but Magnus could make out the delight on his face as his lips slightly upturned into a concealed grin.

Though on the other hand, Taylan wasn't as patient or disciplined as his companions, "What does the parchments contain," he asked as he tried to look over the large man's shoulder but couldn't make out anything.

Bulut ignored him and his jesting antics then handed over the parchments to Soykan after he was finished reading it.

As Soykan read it, the frown that light his face started to ease up, "Where did you get this information from?" he asked once he was done reading.

"I have my sources," Magnus responded with, trying to act all mysterious and the like.

"Wow, so you guys are going to be like that, huh?" Taylan demanded as he crossed his arms together like some drama queen.

"Here," Soykan simply said, handing over the sheepskin and letting Taylan got to it.

"Wow," Taylan stated as he looked at the information listed, not hiding his shock like the others. He looked up to face Magnus and inquired, "Did you gather this on your lonesome?"

"Sort of," Magnus answered as he gave a so-so gesture with his hands. He was the one that came up with the idea and noticed the older boys' worth, but they were the ones that did all the leg work.

"What do you mean by that?" Soykan asked, not understanding what Magnus meant with his gesture since he did not know the prior preceding.

"Well I had friends in high places that helped," replied in an ambiguous way, as he did not want to include the boys into his own little criminal life.

Taylan snorted in amus.e.m.e.nt and did not look up from the sheep skins he was reading as commented, "Well, if that is true than I am best friends with the President of the of the Starry Union!"

"Well even if you had help, well done," Bulut voiced, thankfully not wanting to part into his secrets.

"What do you mean well done! This was spectacularly done!" Taylan declared. "He gave us the guard routes and their placements, even some personal information on some of them-- which we could put to good use as good blackmail material.

Much of the city's history, background, and long forgotten secrets, all that we can use to learn the lay of the land. Then there is all gangs' territory in the city written here, a good portion of their hideout, and their channels. Finally, we have here a whole lot of connections inside the city, that can be good hired hands!"

Shui held up his hand to try and silence the man, "Taylan we are not simpletons, there is no need for you to spell it out for us, we know the weight that these parchments carry."

"And here I thought that you guys did not understand the value of what he brought forth, or where you just underappreciating the kid and taking his effort for granted?"

Magnus looked up to face the man, who knew that he had this sort of side, he was always so impish and basically a joker. Despite the new revelation, Magnus was still grateful that he took to his side so adamantly.

Soykan held up his hands in an appealing manner to calm the man down, "Taylan, do not get yourself into a tight fit, I already have the proper reward in place."

Then the man turned to look down at Magnus as he brought himself to his full height and clocked himself in all solemness and gravitas that he could bring to bear and then declared, "Magnus, thanks to the efforts that you have shown, as well as the ingenuity, and resourcefulness; you have saved us many moon turns of effort, research, money, and so much more.

For that, you have proven yourself more than ideal to take up the mantle of an Infamous Menace!"

Magnus looked around in confusion, everybody was nodding their head and acting all pleased and happy. However, Magnus had no clue what was going on, nor for that matter what an Infamous Menace was.

Bulut must have seem Magnus's disorientation because he explained, "You are officially one of us, an Infamous Menace, but that does not mean your training ceasing. As a matter of fact, it means the opposite; we will have to up your training in intensity so that you will not be an embracement to the name you now carry."

At that explanation from Bulut, Magnus groaned and thoughts of how to pleasantly decline the so-called 'honor' without causing offense pa.s.sed through his mind. His training already works him to his bones and he is strained to the max with no room for nothing else. Now, how frightening would it be if more was added? Would he break down or simply just collapse? That is a likely possibility with how he runs himself ragged every single day now.

But when he heard Taylan's next few words he did a complete 180 degree flip, "What Bulut means to say is that you will not get paid like an employee anymore, but like an owner, a certain percentage of all our earnings."
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All Magnus heard was MOARRR money, if they could pay him a gold lion a day, what would their earnings be like. There was one simple answer for it, a lot!

With a slight bow of his head, Magnus uttered, "I thank you from the bottom of my heart for giving me this gracious opportunity furthermore it would be my honor to gain your ill.u.s.trious and secretive group!"

"What a pretentious and conniving boot licker you are Magnus," Codex said off to the side with an amused chuckle.

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"So why did you bring me out this late?" Magnus asked. He was once more back in the hideout for the second time in a row in a single day. Once he finished all his training with all his instructors, Soykan told him to come back after he finished making himself present at his home.

Hence after Magnus concluded his lessons for the day with the Matron, he snuck back to the hideout.

Thank G.o.d for small favors! It was only thanks to the Mothers making sure everybody turns in early, that he made a clean getaway. But he knew he would pay for it later, just as the former is true so is the latter. Not only are we early sleepers at the orphanage, but we are also early wakers.

Anyways he was dead tired on his feet, thanks to his physically excruciating training with the thieves and then his mentally exhausting lessons with the Matron.

The Matron was not kidding when she said that learning a magical language was tough. Arretic has 56 letters that makes up its alphabet and each of them looks so arcane and abstruse, he thought the letters where pure gibberish when his eyes landed on them.

And here he thought that the Common Tongue was nonsense, at least it is similar to Latin than anything else.

Also what makes this Arretic so hard was that each letter stands for something, it basically has a deeper meaning and that nonsense. For example, one stood for s.p.a.ce, another Karma, and so forth.

Still though, he put in all his effort to learn the language and the Matron even admitted it was a good first lesson. He did not want to be stuck with this language for ten years, but he had to lessen his hopes of finishing this in a year or two.

Once he learned that the Great Sage was the one who created this language, Magnus had sacrilege thoughts of strangling the man if he ever ran into him.

At Soykan's words, Magnus immediately got back to the present, "Even though we have plenty of information on the city and its occupants, we still need to gather information on our latest job," Soykan answered back as he put on a cloak to hide his weaponry.

"Well, you guys look like you are going to war, more than anything else," Magnus pointed out. He saw Bulut rig on a pair of monstrous axes on to his back and Taylan sheath two wicked looking curved daggers.

"Well, better be safe than sorry, aye," Taylan a.s.serted as he too donned a cloak.

"The honest truth is that this is our first meeting with this informant, thus we do not know how it would turn out. So we best be prepared for any outcome," Shui said as he put different vails into his cloak.

"Then am I to come?" Magnus asked, excitement babbling and hopes rising.

"Yes, best start getting some real experience in our line of work," Soykan affirmed, nearly causing Magnus to jump in joy.

"So where are my weapons?" Magnus inquired, as he jumped off his chair and glanced around the place.

"Where is the dagger I gave you?" Taylan grilled him.

"You gave him a WHAT!?" Bulut shouted.

"Woah, calm your horses down, I only gave him a little knife to protect himself with," Taylan said as he gestured his hands in a soothing fashion.

"He is more likely to poke his eyes out than anything else!"

"HEY," Magnus said off to the side, but he was promptly ignored as the so-called adults got back to their arguing.

"That is enough out of the both of you," Soykan growled out as he brought the argument to a resounding end. "We have work to do, gentlemen, or do you want to stay here all day arguing like little children?!"

That finally silenced everyone, Bulut and Taylan even had the decency to look sheepish and ashamed. No wonder Soykan was the leader, the man was not only the most powerful but he had the qualities of a leader.

"Magnus, you, on the other hand, are only coming with us in observation and learning capacity. Am I clear?" he asked which Magnus hastily nodded his head to in agreement.

"You may bring along your dagger to defend yourself if things turn nasty, but if it comes to you fighting it out. Then all hope is already lost."

Magnus's face reddened at that final remark, he knew what the man meant. He was the weakest in the group and there was no point denying that, but that did not mean he liked that being pointed out.

"Alright let's head out!"