First thing first was to change into the Shadow outfit he had set up so he slipped into a dark alley and began to change.
First, he ate the voice modulation candy and felt his throat tingle as his vocal cords adjusted.
"Testing, testing. One, Two. One, Two." He said and an unfamiliar voice came from his mouth.
It was deeper and rougher than his normal voice and has a slight rasp that made him sound older and more dangerous.
He dressed in his dark clothing, strapped the curved dagger to his belt, and pulled on the black gloves and face mask.
The leather vest went underneath his shirt, providing some protection while remaining concealed. Finally, he pulled up his hood and checked his reflection in a dark window nearby.
The transformation was remarkable.
Between the voice change, the hiding clothes, and how he was standing differently, he looked like a totally different person. No one would connect this guy to Lucas Estellan, lazy rich kid.
Perfect. Time to fight crime like I'm Batman and this is Gotham City.
Lucas came out of the alleyway and started searching for crimes to stop.....or help with, cause you never know. Sometimes the criminals are in the right.
It didn't take him long to stumble across a robbery taking place in a dark alley. A different one than he had changed in.
This city has too much god-damned dark alleys.
Anyways, Three men had cornered a woman against a brick wall.
The cornered woman was well-dressed in wealthy clothing, while her attackers wore the rough garb of common laborers. It was obviously a robbery in progress.
"Please," the woman was saying, "I don't carry much money when I travel at night. Take what I have, but let me go unharmed."
"Don't try to fool us, woman," one of the attackers growled.
"You're obviously a noble. We know you're kind have been skimming pay from the dock workers' wages for a while now. Now that we've got one of you were not letting you go."
Lucas frowned. This wasn't just some robbery. It sounded like nobles had been screwing over workers, and they were trying to get back stolen wages.
The situation was more complicated than it first looked.
"And since we have you here, I wouldn't mind having a taste of your sweet, sexy body." Another of the men said in a lustful voice.
Or maybe not.
Lucas pulled out one of his throwing knives and took careful aim. The blade flew true, embedding itself in the wooden wall inches from the lead attacker's head.
All four men spun around, searching for the source of the attack.
"Who's there?" the leader called out.
Lucas stepped into the mouth of the alley, keeping to the shadows so his features remained hidden. The voice modulation candy made his words come out in a raspy voice.
"Well, well. What do we have here? A bunch of men assaulting a lady. Do you have no shame." He said in a tone he assumed a knight in shining armor would use.
"Who the hell are you?" The leader of the group said.
"I'm Shadow. Don't you know?" Lucas said.
"Shadow? What kind of stupid ass name is that?" One of the men said and they all started laughing.
"Listen here, man. I'm sure the lady appreciated your attempt to help but don't bite off more than you can chew or else you'll have to deal with the consequences." The leader said.
Talking to them obviously isn't working and I don't have the strength to send them packing so I only have one thing left to do.
"System," he said, "activate Intimidating Presence."
[Skill Activated: Intimidating Presence]
[Effect: Temporary boost to perceived threat level and opponent confusion]
[Duration: 30 seconds]
Lucas's aura changed in an instant. The aura he radiated now made him seem like a psychopath who was just itching for a reason to tear someone limb from limb.
"I dare you" Lucas said. "Say that again."
The leader actually took a step backward in fear. The other thugs shut up as well because they sensed something was wrong.
"Wha.. what are you?" The leader stuttered.
"Didn't I tell you before." Lucas said."I'm Shadow."
"Please, don't kill us. Spare our lives. Please. I don't wanna die." One of the thugs cried out in fear.
"You should have thought of that before." Lucas said.
"No...no...wait a moment.. I'm sure there some kind of deal we can arrange with each other." The leader said.
Lucas pretended to think about it.
"Well, for one: it would be good if you left the lady alone."
The thugs had moved so far from the woman by the time Lucas had finished, they might as well have teleported.
"And second: leave all your money behind."
"Wait, your robbing us." One of the criminals said in disbelief.
"Of course I am. Why wouldn't I?" Lucas asked.
"But aren't you supposed to be the hero?" The leader said.
"Being a hero doesn't pay the bills. Enough talk, hurry and drop the money."
The thugs complied and emptied the contents of their pockets onto the ground. Seeing the three sacks of money, Lucas almost salivated.
Seeing that the thugs were still hanging about, Lucas said:"What are you waiting for? Scram!"
"You're letting us go?" One of them asked in disbelief.
"I am. Or do you want me to kill you instead?" Lucas asked in annoyance.
"No..no.... It's just that-" The thug began but when he saw Lucas glaring at him, he shut his mouth.
"We'll just go." The leader said.
The thugs slowly walked away but as soon as they were far enough away, they absolutely booked it out of the alleyway.
Seeing that the thugs had left, Lucas released a sigh of relief and went to collect the bags.
[Ding!]
[Achievement Unlocked!]
[Achievement: Greedy Bastard]
[Conditions: Rob a fellow Villian]
[+20 Villian Points
+Gained skill: "Greedy to the Bone"]
Another skill? That's great! Let me see what it does.
[Skill: Greedy to the Bone]
[A 1% chance to get a skill from a killed opponent.]
Sweeeet! It's like those OP skills the protagonists of Isekai always have.
Mine is trash in comparison though, I'd have to kill around two to three thousand monsters a day in order to definitely get a skill and the skill might even be garbage.
Besides, there's no where to kill that many monsters before the invasion begins but all in all, it's still a decent skill.
"Alright, let's open the bags." Lucas said to himself.
He opened the first one and counted all of the pieces inside. "14 copper pieces. Not bad." He said.
He then opened the second one. "17 copper pieces. This one is even better."
Finally, it was time to open the last bag. It obviously belonged to the leader of the thugs since it looked way more luxurious than the other bags.
Unfortunately, it felt lighter than the others when he took it up so he wasn't really expecting much.
Lucas opened the bag and his eyes almost popped out of his head.
"7 gold pieces." He said in astonishment.
Now you might be saying that it's "merely" 7 gold pieces but that is because you don't understand.
1 gold piece was equivalent to two months of food for a family of four so it was outrageous for a so called dock worker to be casually walking around with 7 gold pieces in his pocket.
The transfer rate of coins on the Ralzath continent goes something like 20 copper pieces = 1 silver piece and 50 silver piece = 1 gold piece so with that knowledge you could see how much more money the leader of the thugs had compared to his accomplices.
Was this guy selling drugs?
Anyways, with the money collected, it was time for Lucas to leave.
Oh wait, the victim!
Lucas turned to the victim of the would be robbery and said half-heartedly: "Ma'am, are you OK."
"I'm fine. In fact, I'm more than fine. I'm absolutely ecstatic. I've finally found a worthy husband!" The lady said, raising her head.
Upon seeing her face, Lucas' eyes widened like saucers and almost popped out of his head.
He couldn't help but blurt out, "Holy sh*t, it's you!"