"Where the hell did he go, and why is he ignoring my calls?! He even took Leah with him!" Zaria's fuming voice raged in the Alchemy Shop as the atmosphere was oppressive.
She had returned three days ago from her 'mission' and was in an extremely foul mood. On top of that, when she came back, Ace wasn't present in the shop, and neither was Leah.
Although she knew Ace should be keeping Leah in the Thief's House Space and wouldn't leave her alone, she couldn't help but feel worried when Ace didn't return and wasn't answering her calls.
Nonetheless, she knew he was alive since if something happened to him, she wouldn't be either.
A few moments later, she started to cuss again as she suddenly remembered something unpleasant, "Damn son of bitch! How the hell did he vanish under my watch!"
At this moment, Zaria was suddenly startled when a familiar interface appeared in front of her, and her eyes brightened, 'About damn time!'
She thought Ace was calling, but her eyes suddenly dilated when she read the unexpected name.
[Incoming House Call!]
-Caller: Freya (Evil Thief)
-Accept/Ignore/Reject
'A senior member of Thief House is calling me?' Zaria could read the names and titles of the house members. She even has the option to call them.
Furthermore, Ace had already given her general information about them without revealing their secrets since Zaria wouldn't want someone else to divulge her secrets to others without her permission.
Nonetheless, Zaria was very curious about the rest of the senior members of the Thief and secretly looked forward to meeting them. But calling them never worked well for her since she can't just bring herself to act friendly with others nor look like an attention grabber. She knew in due time, Ace would introduce her to the rest of the house members.
But she wasn't expecting someone else to take the initiative to contact her instead, and the person who was calling happened to be one of those she was most wary of because of her 'Evil' title.
According to Ace, the thief genres were granted by the 'Goddess' based on a member's innate talent, bloodline, and, most importantly, their mentality. So, Zaria had formed a prejudice based on that. She thought that someone with the Thief Genre of 'Evil Thief' wouldn't have a 'mortally good' mentality, and 'Thief Assassin' was the same.
Nonetheless, Zaria knew she didn't need to worry about getting backstabbed by anyone in the Thief House because of the absolute rules. Just like she can't harm Ace or other members, the same rules apply to others except for Ace.
'Freya Witch, he said she's a strategist, a schemer, and a witch on top of that. More importantly, she knows how to manipulate others to her own advantage…but he didn't seem to be wary of her. Instead, he was praising her…'
Zaria hesitated for a moment, 'What I'm afraid of? Even if she's the evilest of them all, didn't she still fall under that scoundrel's schemes? Hmph, let's see what you're scheming!'
With a confident look in her eyes, she accepted the call but didn't speak first, while the other side was also silent, and a strange suffocating silence covered both sides.
After a while, Freya's bewitching voice finally rang, "Lucky Thief, Zaria Fei Amber, welcome to our little family."
Zaria suddenly felt relieved for some reason, and a strange feeling arose in her heart before she replied, "It's quite late for a welcome, but still, thank you. You are the first one to greet me." "Forgive my tardiness and not reaching out before, but to tell you the truth, I just found your name in the member section when I opened the interface to call our busy leader. The others are probably the same or busy doing their things like me." Freya casually replied in an easygoing tone, as if talking to an old friend.
'Well, she didn't sound like a twisted maniac like I imagined her to be…' Zaria mused before she spoke as she felt more confident, "No worries, I can imagine that guy working you guys to bones!"
"Hehe~ just as I thought." Freya giggled in amusement as she ambiguously asked, "Tell me, how much did you torment him before he tricked you into the Thief House?"
Zaria's eyes widened slightly when she heard this unexpected question, "How the hell did you know!?" She blurted before her eyes widened as a realization struck her, "C-could it be, you're the same?"
"Correct," Freya answered without hesitation, with a hint of nostalgia.
"Tsk, tsk…" Zaria clicked her tongue in vexation, "No wonder he refused to tell me anything about you guys in deeper detail. He probably tricked everyone, right?"
Zaria instantly felt kindred with Freya since both had gone through the same experience, and her opinion of her and the other house members changed. She felt all of them were fellow victims of that 'Evil' Leader' schemes.
"Well, not everyone. Two members join on their own free will despite the Leader's dissuasion, and since you're new, I'll give you friendly advice: don't oppose them, especially the Abyssal One." Freya subtly warned.
Zaria's eyes narrowed as she felt something amiss, "Why is that? Did he favor them over others?"
Freya curtly replied, "Something like that, and since he hasn't told you yet, it's not my place to tell you either. But you'll figure it out soon enough, and it's more interesting this way, hehe!"
Zaria pursed her lips as she suddenly felt Freya was up to no good, but since Freya didn't want to continue any further on this topic, she didn't push either. After all, Freya didn't seem to have any ill will.
In the end, they start talking about their experience of 'joining' the Thief House, and Freya even tells her about her thief genre and solves Zaria's confusion.
Zaria also told her about her thief genre, and Freya seemed quite surprised after learning about Zaria's thief genre's effect on the entire Thief House, just as Zaria after she learned about the Evil Thief's terror.
But Zaria could tell that Freya was avoiding topics related to other members just like Ace and presumed that, just like Freya, they would tell her on their own if they wanted to.
After all, trust was based on mutual understanding and after talking with Freya, Zaria understood that because of the strict rules of the Thief House, the house members weren't wary of each other, it was simply meaningless.
As they were talking, abruptly in front of Zaria, another small interface appeared out of nowhere, startling her.
[Lucky Thief, you have been summoned to a House Meeting by the House Leader!]
[Accept/Delay (3 Days)]
[NOTE: You can only delay a House Meeting three times continuously before you will be forcibly summoned the fourth time!] =====
Zaria was astounded by this interface as she also knew about House Meeting when Freya's somewhat surprised voice rang, "It seemed I've been summoned…"
"Wait, you too?" Zaria inquired.
"Oh?" Freya sounded surprised, "So, you're being summoned as well? I thought you were with him…?"
"I was, but he's gone somewhere without telling me," Zaria replied begrudgingly.
"Heh, it seemed we could meet after all. See you in there…" Freya chucked before she ended the call.
Zaria pursed her lips as she looked at the notification before he declared, "Accept!"