Elemental Cats

"Who sent you?"

The thug was struggling to deal with his pain and, with his muddled mind, didn't really hear Toz ask the question. He was also wondering if he should scream and try to get help or if that would only lead to his death.

After Toz pushed down on the area around the thug's shoulder to push him out of his daze and asked the question again, the bearded man's gaze cleared, and he looked at Toz crouching next to him.

"N-no one," he whimpered.

Toz naturally didn't believe him and pressed down harder on his injured shoulder, eliciting a groan muffled by the cloth Toz put over the injured thug's mouth.

The thug looked pleadingly at Toz to make him stop, and when it finally seemed like the thug would pass out from the pain, Toz lifted his hand.

"Ready to talk now?"

"Do you have a grudge against muggers?!"

The thug couldn't hold back his outrage at the pain he was experiencing due to Toz, and it cost him dearly as Toz pushed down again.

"Fine! Fine! I'll talk!"

Eventually, the thug caved in. It wasn't unexpected, and Toz's expression didn't change.

"I'm waiting."

"Ugh. Okay.

"A few days ago. Ugh, me and my friend, someone beat the daylights out of, over there. Mhm, we were approached by some weirdos in hoods and capes."

The pain made it difficult to talk, and the thug had to constantly take deep breaths as he answered Toz's question.

"And..? What did they want?"

"This was after you started coming back from that forest with all those materials, by the way.

"Their voice was distorted but from what we could tell, they told us to find an opportunity as soon as possible to kill you."

Toz wasn't surprised at that.

"And you two usually listen to people in weird attire like it's your hobby, I presume?"

"?? No, not at all. They gave us five thousand gold and said there would be more if we killed you."

"Okay, and where is that money now?"

"We split it, I don't know where he hid his share, but I have mine on me."

It seemed like it had become easier for the thug to talk, and he easily answered every one of Toz's questions. After finding out that the two thugs had gotten five thousand gold, Toz eagerly rummaged through their pockets and found a bunch of spatial rings whose contents he emptied out on the ground.

After looking through the contents of everything on the ground, aside from discovering the weird hobbies of the skinny thug, he soon found two bags that looked like the only thing that could contain money.

And the bearded thug's poorly hidden look of reluctance as Toz grabbed them was further evidence that they were indeed what the thugs thought was the money. When Toz grabbed the bags, there were no clinking sounds that were a necessity for all money pouches, and the contents of the bag felt more like sand than coins of gold.

And when he opened both bags, that was what he found in them. T.wo piles of sand.

Toz didn't know if the thug was an idiot for trying to trick him or an idiot for falling for the hooded weirdos' trick.

When Toz pulled out a fist of sand and let it fall through his fingers as he glared at the bearded man, the thug didn't know how to respond, and he simply stared at the bag of sand in shock.

Based on how the thug reacted, it was the latter. The duo had been fooled into trying to kill Toz with sand disguised as money.

The thug had probably said everything he knew and would be of value to Toz, so there was no need for him to remain in the alley, and he headed for the inn where he could gather his thoughts.

As he left, he didn't bother telling the thug, that was still awake, that the two of them would most likely be in danger from now on. They had failed their task and possessed information on who had hired them.

Mysterious groups, like the one the hooded individuals seemed to be a part of, most likely wouldn't hesitate when tying up loose ends. And rough-looking explorers that took banditry and assassination as side gigs wouldn't exactly be missed by a lot of people.

Although the duo had been fooled and taken advantage of by the group of people in hoods, they had tried to kill Toz, and while killing them himself, right in the middle of the city could be risky, he didn't mind if someone else took care of it.

The cats had let Toz do the questioning, they also let him have a moment of silence as he pondered a bit.

Finding out someone wanted to kill Toz was pretty alarming. But based on what the ruffian had said, it wasn't personal. It was because of his success in entering the forest and coming back out repeatedly.

It seemed like there was more to what was going on in Tumbling Thunder Forest than most people thought.

Maybe the reason so few had made it back alive wasn't that they were killed by the rampant beasts. They could have been murdered either by the group of hooded people who had hired the thugs or someone else who had been hired.

But then, why had they used some weak ruffians to try and kill him instead of doing it themselves? Did they really think he used some kind of treasure to evade their detection?

In any case, Toz and the cats would have to be a lot more careful whenever they moved around. Although, if they stopped going to the forest, it would take a lot longer for them to buy their grimoire.

So they pretty quickly agreed that they would get as much money and do it as fast as possible before skipping town and leaving whatever trouble the Tumbling Thunder forest entailed behind them.