“Jacob, right? Come here.”

The man is staring straight at where I am hiding. I hesitated but forced myself to come closer.

I have witnessed the entire event, and it’s chilling to watch.

The people who usually beat me are frozen like statues. Then, a bright flash from the silver item did something to them.

I didn’t resist when the Gravekeeper took the square-shaped silver item. I can’t hold it.

Suddenly, several banging sounds can be heard from the man’s baton. It was quiet enough to not be heard outside the alley, but from this close, it was loud.

The thugs fell to the ground. Five of them instantly died. He hit the last thug on the head.

Am I mistaken? Is he not a Gravedigger but a Black Magician?

Well, after seeing his following action. I am convinced he is neither Gravekeeper nor Black Magician.

He is a Demon. Cultist class, to be exact, since he is making an offering to the Evil god.

I ran.

And come back. But in hiding.

Despite the man being a Demon, on the entire chase, he didn’t put any curse on me. He also helped me and let me leave just like this.

Sister said to not discriminate against people with either Demon Class or Race despite all of them being inherently ‘Evil’.

‘Them being evil doesn’t mean they will direct their evil to you. They are individuals, not objects. Each individual has a different evil to which they are directed. Individual has Desire, while objects will be consistent with their true nature.’

‘In the future, if you meet a Demon. Try to remember whether they have ever directed their evil to you and whether they will be evil to you. Please don’t hate your sister for saying this, I know our parents...’

The second most important part was that he had the same aura as that old Gravekeeper. Ominous, but something in him screams the word ‘kind’. This made me think the man wasn’t dangerous.

I haven’t said my thanks for helping and sorry for pickpocketing the man, too. If my sister found out about it, I would get severely scolded regardless of the man’s Class.

So I stay.

I watch him do two offerings, both surprisingly accepted by the Evil god. I heard offering rituals to the Evil god rarely being received, requiring significant sacrifice.

There is also the sacrificial offering still on the ground. So, is it successful or not? What does the light from his book mean then?

The man then took the remaining thug for an interrogation. The question he asked is weird.

“I have a secret background?”

I am positive both father and mother are just ordinary peasants.

The way the man asks those questions makes it look like he knows something. My thoughts swirl with questions, and I can’t help but take a few steps closer.

I was distracted for a moment, and it looked like the last thug was killed too.

The man called me once again.

“Pretending to be hiding? I know you are there, Jacob.”

Since he had already called me for the second time, I calmed down and decided to come out of the pile of garbage dump.

With quiet steps befitting a thief, I went to the man.

Why is he staring at my right side wall?

“Jacob, do you think people would investigate if these people lie dead around here? Like the person responsible for this city security or maybe their gang member?”

A person responsible for this city’s security? The guards? Why did he call them so complicatedly?

“The guards don’t care about this particular district if it is about a gang member dying. As for the other gang members… they would be sent someone to investigate, and the residents around here would also help.”

Hearing my answer, the man bent down to his bag and took out two bottles.

“Which one is blue coloured?”

“Right one?”

Why did he ask that? Don’t tell me… is he colour blind? Why use expensive coloured glass if he is colour blind?

The man momentarily stared at the blue bottle before placing it back into his bag. On his left hand is a yellow bottle. He stood up and carried the bag in his free hand.

Is he going to leave? He isn’t going to take care of the corpses? I should try to take care of it after I speak with him.

“Mr. Cultist. I want to say thank you for helping me in my predicament, and I am sorry for pickpocketing you. Here is your pouch of candies.”

I bowed my head and thrust the hand-holding pouch toward him. Hearing no answer, I bit my lip. I should stop targeting normal people from now on and focus on despicable nobles.

“No problem. But please take my candies, it is my gift.”

Gifting top-quality candies. Isn’t that a bit extravagant?

“But from the quality…”

“Please take it. I just remembered that I don’t like sour candies. Ah, those candies on the pouch are sour. If you don’t want it, you can sell it for money too.”

“Accept it, or else I will throw it away.”

“Alright… I don’t need candies. Can I truly sell them?”

So, in the end, I am securing a fortune.

“Of course. You know a shop that buys candies like that? Can I go with you?”

“Umm… You can, but I need to take care of this first. I don’t want to be found by the gangs.”

Support creative writers by reading their stories on Royal Road, not stolen versions.

I pointed at the corpses of the thugs. There has been a secret war between Wild Boys and an unknown organization this past month. Throwing the corpses in random garbage should suffice.

“You mean disposing of the bodies? No need.”

“Mr. Cultist, maybe because you are not from here, but the resident of this district is deeply entwined with the Wi-“

The man opened the yellow bottle, and as I spoke, he took out one white pill and flung it among the corpses.

After a few seconds, the blood bubbled with a weird odor. The man suddenly dragged me away after pocketing his yellow bottle.

“Look carefully. We don’t need to do anything. It will clean up all of the biological traces.”

Just like he said, we watch the bubbling spread to the corpses, and it’s all melting. From the look of it, the ground and the metal don’t melt.

“Jacob, Let’s go to that shop you speak of.”

I can’t resist to ask.

“What is that?”

“I don’t know. But apparently, it’s neither Irregular nor its by-product. A pure scientific invention. We call them Clean-up pills, the Biological version.”

“Irregular? Clean-up pill?”

“…It’s nothing important. Come on, Jacob, lead the way. I want to go to that shop before it’s too dark.”

The man dragged me to the main road. On the way out, I keep glancing at the corpses. Half of them have already melted away.

One of the man side classes should be an Assassin.

~~~~~

Old Man Yarn shop is close to where they are, but due to the fact I haven’t paid my debt yet, I use the main road where the crowd gathers the most to avoid another encounter with Wild Boys gang members.

“Ouch! Watch where you are walking!”

“Sorry, sorry, I am kind of drunk right now.”

Peeking to my right, the man once again bumped people. It is the third time. He also stumbled over rock and uneven roads about five times.

That’s when I remembered the man previously wearing large glasses similar to what the Priest system I met today. Yet now, the glasses are nowhere to be seen.

I whispered to the man.

“Mr. Cultist, where are your glasses? Do you need help to walk?’

“Aha, you noticed it? My glasses are in my pocket, and wearing them too long isn’t good for my eyes. Quite literally. I don’t need help, though. I am sure I won’t fall just cause of this.”

The man continued.

“Jacob, why did you call me Mr. Cultist?”

“Because isn’t that your Class? Cultists usually do sacrificial offerings like you just did…”

~~~~~

“Hmm… Jacob, tell me what you know about Class.”

“Yes? Class is class? The Class in your System. One main Class and three side Class.”

Class? Is this place so strictly based on class hierarchy that all people are divided between their classes? But even including both Cultist and Gravedigger classes?

What is this System? There is also that Holy Kingdom of System. For now, let’s answer vaguely.

“I am not a Cultist.”

“So you are a Black Magician? Or don’t tell me you are actually really a Gravedigger? Ah, sorry if I sound too intrusive. Please forget about it.”

From the sound of it, Class seem like what is a job?

“It’s okay. What I do isn’t what you think of. I mainly work for a library.”

“Library? I see, Mr. Librarian.”

There is a Librarian Class. Class wasn’t a class hierarchy but a job, but what did he mean by Class in your System?

Is Class intrinsically connected with the bloodline or the human body? There are twelve systems in the human body. That’s the first hypothesis in my mind. The second one is more probable, though.

Game-like world. That’s a very hilarious hypothesis.

I want to confirm it now, but something more pressing happened.

I forget to introduce myself.

“My name is Rivan.”

“I am sorry?”

“Call me Rivan.”

“But it’s rude to call Mr. Librarian with your name…”

“I prefer being called by name than useless title. No mister too.”

Jacob has a confused face but accepts it in the end.

“Alright… Rivan.”

Due to my persistence, I lost my chance to ask about the game-like world hypothesis. Since there is a Librarian Class, there should be a library. I should visit this city library if it’s available.

It’s much safer and more efficient to learn about this world from books than people. It will also not arouse suspicion.

In no time after that, we arrived at the shop. It’s an indoor type of shop, so we entered it. The inside was dark, with only a few candles lit on the merchandise.

“OLD YARN, I AM HERE TO SELL STUFF!.”

Jacob shouted to the deeper room while I was looking around the shop.

During this time, my vision is partially restored. Enough for me to vaguely identify what was in the shop.

It’s interesting to see familiar everyday materials and items being sold here.

There are no modern devices like phones or any kind of electric devices, but there are pieces of equipment that shouldn’t exist without the help of modern devices and knowledge.

Deep purple cloth, a Stack of modern paper, clear glass, decorative ornaments, and other stuff. There is also the fact Jacob can identify my candy as ‘Candy’, although categorising them the highest quality candy he has ever seen.

He also knew modern glass’s existence but didn’t know about cameras and guns. How he stares at both of them makes it look like he misunderstood them as something else.

Haphazardly advancement of technology and the people here seem to have unknown technology.

It’s fascinating.

From the inside of the shop, a very old man came out. His dirty white hair, crumpled shirt, and jeans combination make me think he is unorganised person. Especially added with the condition of his shop.

“Jacob, is that you? I thought you wouldn’t pay your debt today. As usual, 1 Gold is for this month’s debt and another 2 Gold is for your sister’s medicine and bandages. Do you have enough?”

Sister medicine? Jacob’s sister is sick?

“Old Yarn, Is the medicine really rising that high? Last month, it was 1 gold, but suddenly, the price doubled.”

“Didn’t I tell you? The war with the Demon is intensifying, and apparently, the Saintess went missing following the death of Duke of Valoy from the recent battle.”

“I wouldn’t increase it that much if it is just that, but my main channel, the Wild Boys territory, was attacked by an unknown organisation.”

The old man continued rambling and complaining about the rising prices. It was an unexpected information gain for me. Although I directed half of my focus to beside me, Jacob’s muttering could barely be heard.

“So the territory war is true… the Boss shouldn’t be too suspicious six of the gang members were dead.”

“Jacob. You brought a new face here, who are you? And why are you here?”

Old Yarn finished his complaining by asking my name. I looked at Jacob. Seeing my gaze, Jacob introduces us.

“His name is Rivan the Librarian. As for why he is here…”

“I am here to sell some stuff.”

After telling him my reason, Jacob continued.

“This old man is Yarn the Shopkeeper, my intermediate in selling my haul and where I usually pay my debt and medicine.”

The Shopkeeper is evidently curious.

“Selling? Why sell here?”

“I am completely new to this city and don’t want to get scammed. Before that, Jacob wanted to sell something first.”

Receiving the attention, Jacob gave me an unsure stare. I just nodded it’s okay.

“Old Yarn, how much should this pouch of candies should sell?”

Oi oi, in the trading world, asking that question is foolish, except if you are aiming for something greater.

I can’t stop him. If I stop, they would ask how much my candies should be worth, and I don’t even know the currency used here yet.

Jacob showed the old man my candy. Giving it a quick glance, he suddenly picked it up and scrutinised it more closely.

“This… I remember seeing this kind of candy. At that time, it was specially made for the king.”

“Jacob. Where did you get this? Don’t involve me in your problem. Take it back and leave my shop now!”

Panicking, the man pushed the candy back to Jacob. I stopped him.

It seems candy tech isn’t that advanced, considering homemade candy is viewed as a king delicacy.

“Mister Yard, is it? No need to worry. It’s the candy that I give to Jacob. My employer gave me that candy for a snack while writing a book for her.”

“Your employer gives such candy so easily? Is she a royal?! But the king has no daughter, and the former queen died long ago. The king also has been sick of sweet food.”

“Please, Mister Yard, I guarantee you I received this pouch of candies as a gift. My employer also asked me to hide her identity.”

Well, it was indeed a gift. It looks like both Jacob and the old man come to some conclusion and then continue their bargaining.

I wonder if it means some high noble love such candy in their mind?

“Are you sure you are going to sell this here? You can get over 50 gold if you sell it to a noble.”

“It’s okay Old Yarn, I would be in big trouble if I sold it myself. I don’t want to get into trouble.”

“Jacob, you need to stop being a coward. You have already stepped into criminal life, yet you stubbornly work as a clerk most of the time. What a waste of talent.”

That’s such a rude thing to say.

“Old Yarn, using provocation today? I told you I only want to be a criminal for a while. I don’t want to disappoint my sister.”

Oh. Anyway, it seems their trade has ended. Maybe it’s time for me to sell my stuff.

“Mister Yarn, I want to sell this, please. Give me a price for this perfume.”

I gave him perfume from my bag. It’s kind of embarrassing, but it’s a blue love-shaped perfume bottle.

A waft of rose scent lingers around.

“…”

It’s the only thing I could sell without bringing a loss. Kind of happy because, from the look of it, perfume exists here. There should be no problem. If only there is no “but”

Jacob. Why are you staring at me like that?

“Your name is Rivan, right? Are you the secret lover of the Duchess?”

At worst, I thought both of you only guessed it as a particular taste of mine, yet thinking as far as a secret lover of a Duchess…? What.