Guan cringes when the front door makes a small 'creak' sound, and he prays it doesn't alert anyone in the house. Well, the woman should be in a deep sleep now, clueless of the horrible fate life has in store for her. Once again he feels remorse, but once he steps inside the house those thoughts are erased from his mind. Seisho whistled softly, impressed, and even Iloyd is taken aback.
"Wow," Seisho whispers, his eyes gleaming with joy. "this is even better than what I expected!"
While it looks modest from the outside, the interior of the house is gold; not in a real sense, but close. Coming from a carpenter's family, Guan can quickly measure the worth of the furnitures. They are all of a top-notch quality. Painted white, the wall is old oak with exquisite carvings. And he suspects the fur carpet under his feet is real bear's, not some cheap rabbit's fur they usually sell in the market. But Guan knows the things that attract Seisho's attention are the gems: they seem to be attached on everything: from a flower vase sitting on the coffee table to the handles of silver cutlery. There is even one dazzling, enormous emerald buried on the floor in the corner, its surface so shiny Guan can see his own reflection there.
"What the hell?!" The sinister man exclaims. "Honestly, who the hell is she? A jewel smuggler? A nobleman's mistress?"
"Sshh!" Iloyd shushes him, but he too is clearly fascinated. His eyes light up in greed.
For a few minutes they just stand there, try to absorb all the excess wealth around them. Then finally Seisho snaps back into reality.
"What the hell are you imbiciles doing, just standing here?" He whispers angirly to the others. "Iloyd, you bring the woman here! Everyone else, get to work!"
Iloyd, after looking surprised and slightly annoyed, goes to secure the woman.
Without another word, Seisho starts to sweep anything that has a jewel embedded on: the vase, cutlery, goblets and plates, photo frames, a small clock...
Hurriedly, Guan mimicks his action and put everything in a huge sack they've prepared. However, when he nearly finished ransacking the kitchen shelves, a scream echoes throughout the room.
"Arghhh!"
His head snaps and he turns around in horror, ready to reprimand his partner on how loud he's been, but when he sees the view in front of him his jaw drops.
The sinister-looking man is hanging upside down, his foot tied up by a rope dangling from the ceiling.
Guan gapes, as well as Seisho. What have just happened?
After recovering from the shock, Guan automatically jumps and tries to pull him down, followed by Seisho. But the man continues screaming.
"No no no! Get away! Look down!"
His mouth still gaping, Guan looks down, and with a dread realizes the floor is freaking moving.
They get away in time just as the floor cracks open, revealing a series of sharp needles poking from the basement. The hanged man shrieks like a banshee, while the two of them just go real quiet, their faces pale.
"What the…?" Seisho murmurs.
"What, what did you just do?" asked Guan to the hanged man.
"I-I, I was just trying to break the giant emerald from the floor…." The sinister-looking man is really crying now, an ugly sight to see. His rope is swinging dangerously, but there's no safe way to release him now with those stakes below.
"Ah," Guan murmurs. "Well, a gem as big as that will definitely be given enchantments… we should've checked before."
Seisho spits, his face contorted in anger. "That bitch! She'll pay." His expression darkens. "Where's Iloyd? Don't tell that bitch is really a magician and she's able to overpower that moron."
Naturally, no one answers. But then suddenly a high-pitched voice, one belonging to a woman's, rings out in the room.
"Actually, that 'bitch' is a healer. And she's way stronger than you guys."
Their heads spontaneously snaps towards the voice's owner, and there she is, dressed in white nightgowns and light blue robes, with her one hand holding a clerical staff and the other wielding a short knife - which is resting right on Iloyd's throat.
