Chapter 108 A Thef (2/2)

”...urgh, enough of this, let's just head back to the Captain with the bad news,” Tank grumbled. The others agreed and turned to walk away, only to pause when they realised Aaron wasn't following.

”Aaron?” asked Kite.

Aaron's gaze had turned to the docks, where a warehouse could clearly be seen on the side of the street despite the fog.

”What if they didn't buy the bottles?” asked Aaron, ”I mean, if they were up to no good as the Captain said they appeared, why would they buy that many bottles, even if it was from a tavern full of people like themselves? I mean, any one of them would have easily spilled the beans for a few coins”.

”Well, yeah,” Peter said, ”But where else would you find that many bottles?”

”The same place you find any large amounts of alcohol in brown glass bottles,” Aaron said, he pointed at the warehouse, ”In a warehouse”.

The group of sailors turned their eyes to the warehouse. Tank grinned, ”You mean to say that it wasn't alcohol meant for drinking”.

Aaron nodded, ”Only one way to find out”.

Tank planted a hand on the top of Aaron's head ruffling his hair, ”I like the way you think kid”.

Aaron frowned, sighing as he fixed his hair and jogged after the others. In the end, he was still a cabinboy.

The group arrived at the Peony warehouses and began scouring them, asking the guards if anything had been stolen. The Guards were reluctant to talk though, so it took some more persuasion to let the group inspect the warehouse stock lists. They even had to call the Dock Master, who was none too impressed by the summoning.

Eventually, after an hour of searchin in the dark with only flickering torches to light the way, they found that one of the warehouses had missing medical-use alcohol, and a few of the wooden boards at one of the back corners had been conveniently loosened and moved.

From a nearby rooftop, a pair of dark eyes watched their progress with a cold expression. When they'd located the warehouse, the pair of eyes narrowed despite the happy faces of the sailors. They'd located the source, not the culprit, there wasn't much to celebrate there.

The figure on the rooftop turned away and disappeared into the night.

***

Author's Note:

Just like to drop this note here to thank my readers for their continuous support. Read through all of your comments today and was made quite happy by the majority of the responses. I also think that I tend to lose readers between chapter 20 and 35 where the story turns significantly darker. Understandable, though I was a little disappointed by the abuse in some of the comments, whether directed at me or my work. If you don't like it, you don't like it, no need to be so toxic. I by no means think I will be able to stop those people from leaving those comments and reviews, but would just like to let them know that their comments are but a drop in a vast ocean, lost as soon as they join the whole...

With that said I'll see you all next week!

-Jelim