Crow looked up at Penelope again as she went on to make a proposition with him. He raised a brow in surprise when she practically offered to use her high rank in the king’s army to work as an informant for the thieves. He knew her well enough to expect that she would want to come up with a compromise, but this suggestion was quite a bit more than he was hoping for.

He took a moment to think about her words before giving a reply. If she went through with it, she would be risking everything she had worked for. All it would take was one knight at the wrong place at the wrong time, and she would be discovered and probably lose her rank at the very least. In addition to that, the position would likely force them to see each other often, and he didn’t like that at all. He wanted to stay as far away from her as possible, not get closer. The thought of continuing to meet with her, even if it was only in a formal setting, was more than a little off-putting.

However, as the leader of the thieves, it was his responsibility to do what was best for his companions. He knew they were willing to fight, but it would be better for everyone if they had a way to avoid such dangerous situations in the first place. They already had enough trouble dealing with the battles between Younis and Brerra. Having Penelope working for them on the inside would bring him some peace of mind when handling the knights outside of war conflicts.

“I still can’t promise that I won’t defend myself against the knights if I need to,” Crow said, crossing his arms over his chest. “But, it would be helpful to have a set of eyes on the inside… Very well then. If you work for us and keep us updated on the knights’ activity, I’ll make sure my thieves don’t go out of their way to kill any of them.” With a satisfied smirk, he held out his hand to her. “Is that a deal?”