Chapter 9

A few banks had offices in Ambolt with various degrees of reputability, but Peter was looking for a specific one. They were less bank and more safe, they didn't give any special benefits to their customers and they rarely gave out loans, and even when they did they had borderline criminal interest rates. They had one huge positive to them that other banks couldn't really say about themselves.

As long as they got their payments they wouldn't ask questions. To Peter who was technically still underage, despite not looking like it, and who had to hide the fact he was making money in the first place, this bank was a perfect choice.

One day while on a walk with Sarah he guided their route towards the Stonesafe Finances building at the town center. It was a long walk away from their house, which seemed like something negative at the time but was real blessing in disguise considering Anthony's ability.

When they arrived Peter tried to think of something that would distract Sarah, but she was already preoccupied with a dead hedgehog, so he just went in.

The staff was surprisingly patient with him, they explained how their services work in great detail and the contract he ended up with was short and clear. The only thing he had some problems with was when he learnt his new accounts upkeep cost.

His account had a weekly 20 UC upkeep cost and that was only if he stored money below a threshold that was, as they put it, up for negotiation. Peter was sincerely hoping that bounty hunting paid well, otherwise he would use up all their shared money in two weeks.

When he got out Peter found Sarah waiting for him with a few hedgehog quills sticking out of her pocket. He felt something was off about the situation but he disregarded the thought after a short while.

During the walk home Peter spent a significant amount of time looking at his phone, trying to find targets for his first intentional bounty hunting. He came to the unfortunate conclusion that individual targets won't do him any good.

When an individual got a bounty on themselves it was usually because average people couldn't handle them, average people who were stronger than him. Groups on the other hand didn't have this problem.

In Alliance territory an organization would usually get a bounty one of two ways. They could either have one placed on them by the general population, usually the people they were causing trouble for, or they could get one from a section of the government that found them particularly annoying.

Their little town had an example of both. The Firefly gang had one placed on them because they were full of vandals and some of the wealthier citizens suffered significant damages because of them. The Green Dragons on the other hand managed to draw the ire of the local tax department, mostly due to tax evasion.

The Green Dragons had a much larger reward on their heads but only if they caught an executive. If their rank was any indication of combat power, then Peter had no chance with them. While the payment for the Fireflies wasn't that great there was a reward for any regular thug, so the choice was obvious.

The preparations were mostly complete so all Peter had to do was find the right moment to start working and maybe finding a weapon, since the pickpocket was only caught because Sarah was there to help with a stick.

A few days later, both Anthony and James had to leave for the entire day so this was the perfect chance to go out and start working. The only problem was what to do with Sarah. He wanted to be honest with her but then she would want to tag along, and while she was obviously stronger than Peter, she was also more immature.

He believed that his sister's innocence should be protected, but when he thought about it he had that weird feeling again. Something was definitely wrong but he couldn't quite wrap his head around it.

The final conclusion he came to was that he should still keep her in the dark and sneak out with some excuse.

"I'm going out for milk, please stay here!"

Without thinking about his terrible excuse, he headed out towards where the Firefly territory was said to be. He was running because his excuse didn't give him too much time, and he had to find milk on his way back.

Peter finally arrived at the place he designated as his first hunting ground. On the way he also picked up a sturdy looking branch to use as a weapon. All he had to do now was find someone to fight with, which was not the easiest task in the world, and would probably end up being the most time consuming part of the whole operation.