[Creature devoured. Gained 64 363 EXP.]

I licked the stray drop of blood from my lips and scowled. Sixty-four thousand? That was barely more than from the street thug I caught on my way there. That was disappointing, to say the least. Why didn’t adventurers give me more EXP? They were more powerful. In the past—in Hell—’Devourer’ ability always gave me more EXP from corpse when I ate stronger creatures.

Bigger, stronger, with more powerful abilities. But… I narrowed my eyes, thinking. It was important to eat the entire corpse. If parts of it got destroyed or lost, I would get some EXP, but much less of it. Especially if the lost parts were related to the abilities themselves…

Maybe this was it. Teren didn’t have any extra parts, nor did any other adventurers. They didn’t grow them with their levels, they just got abilities… From gods, supposedly. I didn’t believe in gods’ generosity. Of course, now it turns out even their adventurers weren’t very generous to me in their deaths.

Or maybe it was just Teren. I had to try another one at some point. For now… I looked at the items of clothing I tore from Teren’s corpse. He was much bigger, more built man than me. Even his feet were bigger. A pity, because his boots were better even after I cleaned mine from his shit.

After I finished eating Teren, I took my time going through his house and gathering together all the valuables I could find and that weren’t too bulky for the bag I was throwing them into. A nice stash of coins, including gold, a couple of silver goblets, an elegant knife with an ivory handle, a new cloak—much better than my old one and of common enough design to wear without raising suspicions, a shirt out of fabric that was smooth as water.

I was just looking if Teren had any more of these or it was all leather belts, when there was a loud knock at the door. I froze with my head in Teren’s wardrobe.

“Teren, are you in?” someone shouted from the outside. “Are you still asleep? Wake up, it’s gonna be noon soon! You didn’t drink that much yesterday!”

The man who shouted didn’t sound very patient. What were chances that the visitor grew worried and decided to break in? I hauled my load over my shoulder and quickly, but quietly, went to the bedroom. It had windows on the back of the street. The view wasn’t pleasant, but, as I looked outside, there weren’t any gawkers to see me getting myself out of that window.

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I hooked a length of my web around a leg of Teren’s bed. It held my weight well enough for me to use it as a help in getting down on the street without having to take off my new cloak. Then I just had to release one end of the web rope to get it all back to me. No traces were left.

I had no idea and no care for what people will make out of this when they find no trace of Teren. As long as I didn’t show his things to just everyone, I should be fine. What kind of detective work they were doing in the middle ages?

It’s not like they could take my fingerprints, ha. Fingerprints. I glanced at the tip of my thumb. Where did I even came with that from?

It didn’t matter. I had a hot date now, a hot date with a hot girl. With a grin, I began to walk down the street toward Rosha’s home and store. I had money now, enough to actually buy something from her—like this new equipment she talked about, or lots of delicious food.

I also had more EXP to put into abilities. There was plenty that I had my mind on for a while. ‘Camouflage’, ‘Keen Smelling’, ‘Hidden Claws’… Forest creatures were full of the useful abilities that I not always had EXP to evolve. I could pick up ‘Berserk’ again, though I was unsure if it would turn out to be that useful. An ability with that name could easily turn out to be uncontrollable. Plus, I had to think about the cost. I only had EXP for an ability with base cost 2 if I planned to level it up to level 15…

I was still calculating and contemplating when I came to Rosha’s store. It was open now, so curious about the insides, I entered from the front door with a chime of a doorbell.

It was a small but tidy place. Weapons and armour laid each in their place, sorted by type. There were no glass cases, and none of the flashy magic items from the Guild’s store, but every piece looked solid to me. There was no counter, just a chair in the corner where Rosha sat.

At my entering, she stood up with a bright and sincere smile that made her beautiful eye shine even more. “Welcome, how—”

Then, of course, she caught my face, and the smile disappeared like it was never there. “Voren!” Rosha lifted a hand to her chest. In the huge eyes of hers, emotions flew like leaves in a storm. Surprise, confusion, suspicion, shock, disbelief. “Did you… do it?”

“Oh, yes.” I beamed at her, already imagining these same eyes clouding with lust instead. “Your problem had just… disappeared without a trace. I don’t think it will be long until this will become news, if you don’t trust my word.”

“So fast?” Rosha blinked, then hardened her expression and eyed me warily. “Now you came for your reward. Are you sure you don’t want a new shirt instead? Or biscuits. You liked them, didn’t you?”

“There will be time for those, too, Rosha. But for now…” I prowled towards her, my blood heating in my veins in anticipation, “I really want my reward.”