The wounded vampire Aiden had met the other day stood high on top of the walls of the Bluris town.

The wounds he had the other day were nowhere to be seen. His arms folded in front of his chest and back straight, his eyes were looking in the direction of Ketchup house. To be more specific, behind the store in the narrow valley.

It seemed that his eyesight was strong enough to ignore the distance and witness directly what happened in the alley.

He was a super too huh. He hid himself really well. Did he only just get his ability, maybe he isn’t exposing himself because he doesn’t trust the people from the Bureau?

Well, he is indeed a promising lad. Let’s see if he can realize the clue I set up. This special ghost has the highest chance of making him realize the truth, not many special ghosts, or even any type of ghosts are this time constrained.

The vampire had already snooped around and found bits and pieces about how brilliant Aiden had been in aiding the team into finding conditions. Both of the normal helping ghost and the Crimson Devil which they’ve started calling the special ghost.

There was a minute hope that his master would be free. He could only hope that the message he left on the short sword could be delivered to his master. She needs to know that I didn’t betray her.

The vampire closed his eyes and opened them once again with greater determination.

Well, I did my job here. I know Karl will kill the other servant soon, and then come after me, since he can’t leave any witnesses or traces. I need to lead him out of here, somewhere far.

Karl killed the mayor of this town so that the town wouldn’t move and have any supervision. All the killing this ghost causes would have turned the town chaotic. Enough for him to continue hiding and find the short sword. Maybe even bait more teams from the Bureau, so that the ghost could kill them and continue growing stronger, all so that their master could never escape, or better yet, die.

But it seems his plan didn’t work. The town isn’t chaotic and he won’t be able to do much without leaving traces. Leaving traces for someone like him who wants to run away from a vampire baron would be disastrous. Killing the mayor was already a risky move for him.

The vampire looked around, taking one last look at the town before his gaze shifted at a figure rapidly approaching him.

He looked at the other side of the wall on the wide expanse of the land filled with jungle mixed with remains of the past human civilization.

With the sole thought of wishing for his master’s safety, the loyal vampire jumped down the wall. Strange red mist decreased the speed of his descent, making his fall from such a great height extremely safe.

As soon as his feet touched the ground, the vampire accelerated at insane rate, undoubtedly believing that Karl, the betraying vampire would follow.

Indeed, a dozen seconds later another figure jumped down from the wall and headed towards the inhabited lands.

*****

Aiden took a nice long bath at aunt Hellen’s house. He was afraid if he went back to his own home, then the ghost would follow him. It didn’t follow him when he spent an hour in the morning there but what if he spent more, and it really followed? He didn’t want to take any risk.

The ghost attempted to help him again, which he of course didn’t accept. He had begun paying attention to his surroundings at all times now since he had been thrust into this strange world.

It was gradually taking a toll on his mind, keeping his guard up at all times, being alert and cautious and all the other such things. Being on the edge all the time was detrimental to his health as even his eyes looked less spirited than before.

Aiden heaved a sigh as he left the bathroom. Feeling extremely fresh after scrubbing himself off of all the dirt and grime he had almost rolled around in, he changed into a new set of clothes he had transferred over from his home.

There was no one in the house currently, except the helping ghost.

Oh no, it isn’t something I’d like in the house either.

He knew everyone must’ve been working hard to find more clues about the Crimson Devil. He would go there after getting some rest, since he really really needed it right now.

Heading towards the kitchen, he made himself a cup of coffee, a little on the bitter side and settled down on the sofa to think about the ‘money’.

I felt the same energy of ‘money’ when aunt Hellen and Mimi thanked me.

He took a sip of his coffee, feeling cozy and clean after spending plenty of time surrounded by garbage. The bitter taste of coffee jolted his mind which had been exhausted after all this while as he continued his train of thought.

I need to experiment more on this. From that one instance, I can only derive that if someone showed me genuine gratitude, it gives me ‘money’. More specifically, the ‘energy’ which can be used as ‘money’.

No wait, are they actually giving me any energy? Both times, when I felt the energy after aunt Hellen and Mimi thanked me and after feeling it gone when I got the ability. Both the times it didn’t ‘go’ anywhere.

He took another sip of the coffee, while his eyes constantly looked at the surroundings, staying alert at all times. His brain worked hard to reconstruct the four instances where he felt the energy of ‘money’.

Royal Road is the home of this novel. Visit there to read the original and support the author.

Two times when he felt them disappear after getting the ability, and two times when aunt Hellen and Mimi thanked him.

Especially the most recent one. Even if he might have misunderstood the earlier three due to not being experienced or familiar with the energy, from the most recent one, he was definitely sure of it.

The ‘money energy’ wasn’t going anywhere. It simply disappeared when he spent it on getting abilities and he just had an increase in it when aunt Hellen and Mimi thanked him.

From all the points, he could conclude one thing.

This energy belongs to me alone.

Aiden finished his coffee and left the house, heading towards the fourth site of murder after taking a quick look at the two little girls. Mimi was quiet now, happy even, when she saw him.

Standing quietly on the bus stop, he thought about the earlier conclusion. He had a cheat, and it ran on a type of energy which belonged to him alone. At least for now, as he heard of anything related to it yet. And his cheat was designed in a way that increasing this energy was related to gratitude.

He wasn’t sure about the last part, and he sure did intend to test it. He almost couldn’t wait.

When the bus arrived at his stop, he took a look at his number and didn’t board it. This one didn’t go through the route which would take him to the fourth site.

After leaving another two buses, finally the bus he was waiting for arrived. Quickly boarding it, he paid for his ticket and went to the last seat.

It was almost always empty but someone was sitting on his spot today. It was his classmate, Nessa. She was a beautiful brunette, with tanned skin which complemented her hair. High cheekbones, and a small, straight nose only added to her beauty.

She was the typical popular girl, with an extroverted personality to go along with it. As expected, as soon as she spotted him, she kept her phone by the side and greeted him.

“Aiden! How long has it been since we last had a good talk? What are you up to nowadays?”

And, she was also his ex-girlfriend.

He was the one who had broken up with her, because the longer he stayed with her, the more he found out how different their ideals were.

She was the only close friend he had managed to make after his close group of friends with whom he had established the secret society had all moved away.

He knew she might have genuine feelings for him, and he did too, at some point. But they reduced the longer he thought about her, about their relationship. He inwardly shook his head to remove those distracting thoughts and replied,

“Nothing much. The usual, roaming the town, doing homework, looking for work.”

Aiden did have plenty of inheritance money left after the disappearance of his parents. It was enough that his sister and him could eat comfortably for decades to come, but he couldn’t have always relied on that.

He used to search for jobs so that he and his sister would have plenty of money even if some unexpected situation cropped up. But now it was different, he had abilities.

Even though he didn’t have a favorable impression of the Bureau, he had to acknowledge that they were indeed working to resolve threats against humanity.

He could consider becoming a field agent, as that would have certainly been a lucrative work. There was no way there would be normal people going after ghosts if hunting them wasn’t such a profitable thing. As for people who simply liked to do good? Aiden had no comments on that.

“Hello? Are you here?”

Nessa asked while waving a hand in front of him. He rapidly blinked his eyes in response, snapping out of his thoughts. It seemed he had completely ignored everything his ex had talked about.

“Yes…yes, wandered off into thinking about a few things. All good now.”

She had a concerned look on his face but quickly thought of something,

“You know, maybe I can actually help you with your job. You know my dad is a manager at a factory on the outskirts of the town right? He was talking about his employees at the dinner last night and expressed how distressed he was about his employees.

“A group of overtimers had suddenly started speaking nonsense, and one of them hadn’t even come to the factory for a few days now. He is considering firing the employee, so there will be a vacancy. You can apply for the job, since no one else would know about it so quickly, maybe you’ll be able to snatch the job for yourself.”

Aiden nodded, but suddenly stopped midway as he asked in his usual tone.

“Can you tell me about what those overtimers were saying?”

Nessa tilted her head to the side. “Why would you ask that? Are you scared that there might be some problems? Do you not trust me? Would I suggest a shady job to you?”

He simply chuckled, “It’s nothing like that. It just felt so out of place that I thought it would be interesting to hear what they had to say.”

Nessa thoughtfully nodded. “It’s not much. Dad has spoken about it at dinner more than once. Apparently, those overtimers keep saying that they saw the factory burning at this one time they were working overtime. The fire was all over the factory, and was so large that it should’ve burned down. They panicked and ran home that day.

“No one believed them of course. The factory shouldn’t have been in the same state as it was the previous day if it was supposed to have been burning all over. There was also an employee who mistakenly slept the night there, although he was in a closed room, the person said he didn’t feel hot, heard anything, or felt anything even remotely wrong.”

Nessa clenched her fists as an expression of annoyance crossed over her features. She was always one to express herself openly. She continued, “But why are those over timers so stubborn? They insist they had seen the fire that day.”

Aiden’s mind once again began working to put together the information he had just received.

They ‘saw’ the fire burning.

The employee who slept there didn’t feel hot or hear anything different. I mean, fire should’ve at least made some noise right?

His brows furrowed, as he asked Nessa who was going off about how annoying they were. “Did the overtimers have anything over their ears? —”

Before he could even justify his reason for asking, Nessa had already opened her mouth. “My father makes sure to implement the safety standards strictly if that’s what you’re worried about. All of them were given noise canceling earplugs. And also had heat resistant suits.”

Aiden fell deep into thought as soon as he heard that.

Now it makes sense why they thought the fire was real. They only ‘saw’ the fire, forgetting to remove the earplugs amidst their panic, during which they also failed to notice how fire might not have been affecting anything, including their own body, since they were in heat resistant suits.

And the employee inside didn’t hear or feel anything.

What’s the thing which only affects your sight?

Illusion