Corvus replied rather testily "I'm not 'acting' anything. I'm coming to logical deductions based on the evidence before me and past knowledge. And if I'm going to drop my 'pompous' attitude, I suggest you drop your bratty 'I-don't-give-a-damn' attitude. You're not impressing me. Being gutsy is one thing, being rebellious is quite another. Ares, you would make terrible soldier."

Favouring neither anger or joy, he straightened up and continued "Look, in the nicest possible way, you're a total novice. A noob. A neophyte, fledgling, rookie, tenderfoot, greenhorn. You tricked a bunch of drunks temporarily, but if you truly want to be an assassin, you've got to work on a metric tonne of skills. It's not easy, it's often uncomfortable, and unless you go into bounty hunting, highly illegal. If anyone there was paying even the smallest ounce of attention downstairs, you would be languishing in a cell right now. Again, no offence or presumption intended, but that's the conclusion I'm forced to come to. So here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to head back to my safehouse. Feel free to follow me - I recommend it. If you want to wander off, that's fine, but bear in mind if we meet like this again, I won't show any mercy. I'll tell you more on the way. Let's go."

He went out the same way he went in, through the window. This time, though, he didn't bother climbing down. Instead, he dropped, catching the window ledge as he went past. He let go and fell to the ground, barely keeping balance but staying standing. After checking that the area was clear - it was - he beckoned the half-elf to follow.