Now Terrance was the last thief left standing...

His hands were shaking so violently he could barely hold his pickaxe and sweat dripped into his eyes, but he didn’t dare wipe it away... he needed both hands just to keep his grip.

He positioned the sharp point against his stomach with the metal cold even through his shirt.

’Just do it quick,’ Terrance told himself. ’Fast... like ripping off a bandage... Fast and it’ll be over and then borrow a healing potion and—’

He drove it in and the pain was immediate and overwhelming as well... It was worse than anything he’d ever experienced in his entire life.

It was worse than the time he’d broken his leg falling from scaffolding and even worse than the infected wound that had nearly killed him two years ago.

This was agony on a level he hadn’t known existed as blood gushed down his legs, hot and sticky, soaking through his work trousers instantly.

He forced himself to pull the pickaxe sideways, cutting through his own flesh with small sawing motions because his hands were shaking too much to make one clean cut.

Each movement sent fresh waves of pain through his entire body as his vision went white at the edges. The wound opened with a ragged gash across his lower abdomen as blood poured freely, and through the opening he could see the pink-grey surface of his intestines beneath the torn muscle.

But as he looked down at the horrible mess he’d created, he couldn’t see the silver and panic set in immediately, overwhelming even the pain.

"Where is it?" Terrance muttered frantically. "Where is it?!"

He dropped the pickaxe with a clatter and reached down with one trembling, blood-slicked hand. His fingers pressed carefully into the wound, searching desperately.

The pain made him want to scream but he forced himself to keep searching.

"Where is it?! Where—"

His fingertips brushed against something hard and metallic, wedged just inside the wound opening nd caught against torn tissue.

Terrance grabbed it carefully and pulled, extracting it with a wet sound that made his stomach turn and the bloodied silver chunk finally came free, clutched in his gore-covered hand.

He held it up, staring at it with a mixture of relief and horror then his stomach clenched violently with the trauma and stress finally catching up to his body.

Terrance threw up with vomit mixing with blood on the ground creating a truly horrific mess and Klaus’s sword suddenly transformed with the metal flowing like liquid.

It became a metal whip that branched into several tendrils as each one moved with precision. The whips wrapped around the bloodied silver pieces that the thieves had spat out, lifting them away from the spreading pool of blood and vomit.

"Don’t you dare throw up on my silver..." Klaus said with clear disgust. The metal whips deposited the cleaned chunks directly into the crate, then the weapon reformed back into a sword.

Klaus made another gesture and three healing potions materialized from his storage ring, dropping to the ground in front of each of the three thieves since Joss had healed himself.

The glass vials hit the dirt but didn’t break, protected by a thin layer of Klaus’s mana.

"None of you will be paid a single coin," Klaus announced. "And if you don’t get back to work after healing yourselves, I will kill you where you stand."

He hopped down from the crate, landing lightly on his feet.

"Take the potions and get to work."

Klaus walked away without looking back and all three miners immediately grabbed for the healing potions, uncorking them with desperate speed and chugging the red liquid.

Terrance finished his first as the wound in his stomach sealing shut rapidly and he immediately ran over to where the old man Treth lay motionless in a pool of blood.

’He’s already dead from blood loss...’ Terrance thought with hatred burning in his chest as he stared at the Heavenly Commoner’s retreating back.

’...F-f-fuck yo—’

Cough!

The old man suddenly coughed wetly as his chest rose with a shuddering breath and Terrance’s eyes went wide.

"Old man! You’re still alive!"

He immediately tilted Treth’s head back and poured the remaining healing potion down his throat, massaging it to make sure he swallowed.

The old man’s stomach wound began closing with color slowly returning to his pale face. Meanwhile, Klaus walked toward a different section of the mining crew.

There stood a woman in her thirties with her mining clothes dirty but her hands notably clean compared to the others. She’d been working, but not as hard as the rest.

"I gave you time," Klaus said, stopping in front of her. "But you didn’t take the opportunity to confess."

The woman immediately raised her pickaxe defensively, holding it between herself and the masked man.

"I-I have a family to feed!" She stammered. "And b-besides, you’re a commoner too, right? So you’re s-supposed to understand the struggles that other commoners face! What’s yours should be ours too, right? Sharing opportunities? Didn’t your mother teach you?"

Her words came out in a rush, stuttering with fear but also with a strange note of entitled righteousness and Klaus stopped mid-motion.

He blinked behind his mask, processing what he’d just heard.

’What the fuck?’ Klaus’s thought was absolutely incredulous. ’Why does she think she has entitlement over MY stuff? The stuff I earned? Because we’re both "commoners"? Is she actually serious right now?’

The sheer audacity of using shared social class as justification for theft was genuinely baffling and Klaus turned his head toward where Zephyra stood watching.

"Can you help me out?" Klaus asked and Zephyra perked up immediately with her entire posture straightening with excitement.

She placed her hand on the hilt of her blade and the moment her fingers wrapped around the grip, a wave of wind exploded outward from her position.

The sudden gust blew at everyone’s clothes and hair, forcing miners to shield their faces and the woman looked down instinctively as a thin red line appeared across her stomach that was perfectly horizontal.

The next instant, her stomach opened and the cut was so clean and precise that for a moment, nothing happened then blood sprayed outward in a pressurized arc, and silver chunks came tumbling out along with her intestines.

She collapsed to her knees with her hands trying desperately to hold her stomach closed however Klaus looked down at her with complete indifference.

"You should have some shame..." Klaus said then he turned away, addressing the rest of the workers who stood frozen in horror.

"As for the rest of you," Klaus announced clearly, "get back to work and don’t dare swallow any more of my silver. Do that, and you will be paid fairly."

A chorus of terrified voices responded immediately.

"Yes sir!"

"Of course, sir!"

"We won’t steal, sir!"

The woman left behind continued struggling, her blood spreading across the dungeon floor.

"Please..." she gasped weakly, her hand reaching toward Klaus’s retreating back. "Help me, sir... please..."

Klaus ignored her completely, walking toward where the main mining operations continued.

...

Some time later, a miner approached the Heavenly Commoner nervously.

The man had always assumed the masked figure was male, but today he’d discovered the truth: the person behind the Heavenly Commoner mask was actually a woman.

And not only that, but she was...

"Come on, Hubby~" Zephyra said in a sweet, playful voice extending a fork toward Klaus. "Eat this..."

They were sitting on a large flat rock near the dungeon’s entrance, taking a break from supervising the mining operations.

Zephyra had apparently prepared lunch for both of them and Klaus stared at the food on the fork with barely concealed horror.

"Are you even seeing what you’re serving?" Klaus asked flatly. "It doesn’t even look good. Who the hell would marry you? Even Taula can cook better than this."

The thing on the fork looked like it was having an identity crisis. Was it soup? Stew? Some kind of bread pudding? The colors were wrong, the texture was questionable and it smelled vaguely like burnt leather.

"Well, we’re engaged," Zephyra said cheerfully, holding up her left hand to show off the ring that still sat on her finger. "So you’re the dummy who’s going to marry me anyway."

Klaus sighed heavily, accepting his fate. He looked to the nervous miner who’d approached them.

"What’s the issue?" Klaus asked, grateful for the interruption and the miner shuffled his feet.

"We’re, uh, we’re done with everything, sir," the miner reported. "All the silver has been extracted and loaded into the crates. The only thing that remains is... well, the Boss Room needs to be cleared before we can transport everything out of the dungeon safely."

Klaus stood up immediately with his cloak billowing dramatically behind him as he walked forward and Zephyra followed from behind, still holding the terrible lunch she’d prepared.

As they walked past the mining crews, the four thieves who’d been healed avoided Klaus’s gaze completely, staring at the ground as their fully-loaded cart sat nearby.

Klaus had decided he’d pay them exactly half of what he’d originally planned... They’d live, but they’d learn.

His eyes briefly passed over the woman who’d claimed entitlement to his wealth. She sat with her back pressed against the dungeon wall, her stomach wrapped crudely with torn pieces of her own clothing as blood had soaked through the makeshift bandages.

He wasn’t paying her a single copper coin!

They continued past all the miners toward the massive sealed door at the far end of the dungeon. As they approached, old runes carved into the stone began glowing with ethereal blue light and the door recognized them as challengers, preparing to grant them entry.

"Hey," Klaus said, then paused awkwardly.

He couldn’t use Zephyra’s real name here... Not in front of witnesses since he wanted to keep her identity secret.

"...Babe." Klaus finished and Zephyra stopped walking as her entire body went rigid.

’Did he just call me babe?’ Zephyra’s thoughts spun wildly with her face brightening beneath her mask as a massive smile spreading across her features.

She didn’t know which one she liked more... Klaus insulting her with creative cruelty, or him actually calling her a loving pet name. Both made her heart race, but in completely different ways.

"Yes, darling~?" Zephyra responded, blushing furiously underneath her mask. The Boss Room door began creaking open.

"Can you handle the Boss?" Klaus asked.

"Will you give me headpats if I do?" Zephyra countered immediately.

Klaus raised an eyebrow. "I thought you didn’t like headpats."

Zephyra shook her head vigorously.

"It’s amazing~" Zephyra said dreamily. "It makes my heart flutter every single time."

Klaus sighed but nodded. "Fine. I’ll give you headpats after you kill the Boss."

"Yes!" Zephyra pumped her fist in the air victoriously.

She walked ahead of Klaus, entering the Boss Room first with confident strides. The massive chamber beyond was circular, with a high vaulted ceiling. Unlike the silver-rich outer cavern, this room was bare stone and in the center, coiled in a massive spiral, was the Boss.

A giant snake.

Its body was easily forty feet long and as thick around as a tree trunk. Scales the color of deep purple poison covered its entire form, and toxic mist rose from its body in visible waves.

The creature’s eyes snapped open as Zephyra entered... it had slitted pupils that glowed with intelligence.

Purple mana began gathering in the snake’s mouth with the concentrated poison so toxic that the very air grew thick and hard to breathe as the stone beneath the gathering energy began to corrode and bubble.

Zephyra placed one hand casually on the hilt of her blade looking completely unconcerned and the snake reared back, its massive head rising high before it shot the concentrated glob of poison directly at her.

The projectile was the size of a cart, hissing through the air and melting everything it passed over while Zephyra smiled beneath her mask.

’I don’t even need a sword style for something like you..’ she thought as her blade left its sheath in one smooth casual motion.

An invisible slash followed the draw in a perfect arc of cutting intent that carved through the air itself and the slash bisected the poison glob cleanly, splitting it into two halves that splashed harmlessly to either side of Zephyra.

The snake’s eyes widened in what might have been recognition or fear then the invisible slash continued forward, passing through the Boss Monster’s body.

For a moment, nothing happened as the snake blinked with confused eyes then a thin line of red appeared horizontally across its massive form.

The creature split perfectly in half, the two sections falling apart completely and they hit the ground with wet, heavy thuds.

"Hah!" Zephyra laughed, turning to look at Klaus. "Did you see that? One strike!"

"I did," Klaus confirmed, genuinely impressed though it was normal. The gate at the dungeon’s entrance shimmered, indicating the Boss had been defeated and the dungeon was now clear.

Zephyra immediately began shouting orders to the miners waiting outside.

"All workers, move toward the gate! You’ll be paid immediately upon exit!"

Klaus started to speak. "Can’t we at least use the bo—"

The two halves of the snake Boss suddenly burst apart. Instead of normal blood, highly corrosive poisonous fluid exploded outward, steaming and bubbling as it ate into the stone floor as toxic fumes rose in choking clouds.

"Its blood and everything about it is extremely toxic and unstable," Zephyra explained quickly, grabbing Klaus’s arm. "That’s exactly why Guilds don’t like buying this particular monster. The Boss Monster is worthless... its corpse destroys anything valuable."

She began dragging him toward the exit.

"Alright, let’s go~!" Zephyra said cheerfully.

Klaus sighed but didn’t resist.

He reached up and patted her on the head as they walked together toward the dungeon entrance as the miners were already filing out ahead of them.

It was time to pay the workers and finally leave this whole mess behind.

...

Klaus landed on a rooftop in the middle of the hot afternoon sun beaming down on Rivera City. The heat was oppressive making the air shimmer above the clay tiles.

’Shit,’ Klaus thought with his good mood evaporating instantly. ’Just my luck.’

He looked around slowly, taking in his situation... He was completely surrounded.

Three Rivera City Guard Captains stood in a triangle formation around him, cutting off any easy escape route and each wore the distinctive cloak that marked their rank as all three had their hands on their weapons.

The first Captain... a stern-faced woman with short-cropped hair stepped forward and pulled out her badge. The metal glinted in the harsh sunlight as she held it up.

"By the authority vested in me as a Captain of the Rivera City Guard," she announced formally, her voice carrying clear authority, "you, known as the Heavenly Commoner, are hereby under arrest."

She paused, letting that sink in.

"The charges are as follows..." the Captain continued with her eyes hard. "Evading lawful capture. Assaulting multiple members of the City Guard and being an accomplice to the masked woman associated with the purple beam of light incident... the same individual who murdered Captain Hendricks and seventeen other guards."

’...Fuck.’