It was unknown if Cia was joking about the gigolo thing, but the new mission sounded very disturbing. He walked around the house and made sure that all the windows and doors were locked.
Stalker... Was it already following Rena? If so, then was it already lurking around the house?
"I don't like the sound of that." Cia wasn't even sure if he had the resolve to kill someone. He was not a bloody murderer and had a normal sense of conscience. "Also, that reward. I don't even know what the EXP meant. Like where does that go? At this point, I'm just doing tasks to avoid punishment."
[I can help Host. I can do basic detection.]
"Great. But Rena has school tomorrow. Should we follow her?" Cia was a bit confused as to what to do.
[Ahem... Are you asking me?]
"Sorry, that was dumb of me to do that."
...
The Town of Syrencrest.
Two drunkards were walking staggeringly in the middle of the streets. They reeked a sour and stinky smell. Clearly, they were the type of people that didn't pay attention to hygiene.
They were topless. Their ribs were visible, signifying that they probably came from poor families that had a shortage of food. Or maybe it could be that they were not eating anything else except alcohol.
One of them was a middle-aged man with a greasy mustache. He was on the thinner side. He spat on the side of the road and complained, "Damn! Life is hard when you have a scourge at home! I lost three silver coins at the casino. It must be that unlucky bitch's fault. Useless woman. Can't even cook decent food and couldn't give birth to a son!"
"She even dared hide money from me. Who does she think she is?! I'm the one supporting this family, so I do what I want! Keeping so much money, does she want to run away?!"
An average worker in the town earns about 50 copper coins a week. Three silver coins was basically a month and a half's salary. His wife earns a bit from her laundry job, but he didn't think that was real work like what he was doing.
Beside him was a fat man. He was short and balding. He sneered, his tooth yellowish because of all that tobacco. He scratched his stomach and agreed with the man beside him, "If you struck gold in the future, then your first goal should be to get rid of her and marry a young and beautiful wife!"
"Hahahahaha! Sure sure! A beautiful one. Just like that old woman's daughter. I heard she planned to send her to the city to study? Why would a woman need to study?"
He licked his lips, thinking about that gentle and well-educated girl. "I could just sleep with her and make her pregnant. If that's the case, then that old woman won't have to worry about sending her to study!"
A man like him couldn't even go to the city. Why would a girl deserve that?
The two of them talked lecherously about which woman they thought was the most beautiful in their town. They didn't notice that far ahead was a tall shadow waiting for them in the distance.
The fat man was the first who noticed it. He stopped and pointed at the silhouette. "What's that?"
His companion, clearly still inebriated from all that drinking, did not realize that the black figure didn't look human.
He pointed at the shadow and screamed, "What are you looking at?! Wanna die?!"
"I think we should head the other way." His friend, the balding fat guy, was clearly more sane. He pulled the man, his eyes darting at the monstrous figure cautiously.
"Who do you think I am?! I'm not scared of it! This man would become an awakener if not for the fact that I'm born in poverty." The middle-aged man was still above the clouds. He pushed his friend away and walked towards the figure.
"You!" He taunted the creature in front of him. "Who do you think you are to block my way? Those people at the casinos feared me! Even Ain will give way if I bet! Now kneel down and cower or I'll beat you to death!"
Then, the silhouette moved. The moment it took a first step, they realized that its legs were bloody long. As it walked out of the darkness, they finally got a clear look at what it was.
It was a demon. The two of them were illiterate, so they hadn't read books about what those demons looked like. But for something inhumane as that, clearly that could only be a demon.
It had three arms. One on each shoulder socket and the other on its left head. The arm on the top looked like a horn. It was long and was just hanging freely on the side.
The monster was tall alright. It had a very tiny head but a long torso. On its chest was a gaping mouth that had its tongue swirling around. The muscles that were connecting the shoulder and neck looked like gills, but the monster was clearly not an aquatic creature because it had a skin-like texture.
"This— AHHHHHHHHH!" The closest one, the middle-aged man, was the first to scream. He wanted to run back, but his body became stiff. A single step backwards toppled his body. His butt hit the ground.
It was easy prey. The demon dealt with him first. Its two hands pinned the man on the ground. Then the hand on its head grabbed the man and stuffed him into the mouth that was on the stomach.
The man screamed and resisted, but how could a malnourished man defeat a demon? When he was finally stuffed inside, the demon digested food like a snake. On its back was a human-shaped hunch.
Before the man could even scream, the rotund balding man had already run far. He didn't care about his friend who was eaten. It could be out of disloyalty or the knowledge that he couldn't beat such monstrosity.
But alas, all that running was futile. The demon caught up to him.
"HELP! AHHHHHHHHHH!"
It was silent. On the demon's back were two human-shaped tumors. The road was stained with blood, the only evidence that something gruesome had happened here.
It looked around. It needed to find a good hiding place to digest its food... or should it go back to Master?
The demon's spider-like eyes flickered. It wasn't just some hungry beast, but an intelligent predator.
...
"I don't wanna go to school! Big brother! Don't leave me!"
Cia had a terrible headache. He failed to realize that Rena was still young and would probably be very resistant about going to school.
[No wonder Sam was quick to escape.] The system expressed sympathy. Crying cubs were the worst.
When Cia wanted to get angry, Rena would give him that cute look. After his heart softened, she would continue whining. It wasn't a loud cry, but like a kitten's meows. This child clearly knew how to soften her brother's heart. An expert.
The little girl hugged his neck, her voice still filled with grievance. "I don't want to go to school, I hate Sister Lily." Remembering that nun who had a permanent scowling look on her face made her cringe with fear.
Cia glanced at the Nuns looking at them. He smiled apologetically. Heck, was Sister Lily among them?
He placed Rena down and rubbed her hair. "Brother won't leave you. See those benches over there? I'll sit there together with other parents." He needed to guard against the stalker. Actually, he had been deliberating as to whether he'd let Rena stay at home or send her to school.
The task was 'Eliminate' the stalker, not 'Avoid the stalker.' Clearly, even if they avoided it, Rena would still be in danger.
When it comes to that type of task, waiting at home for the stalker sounded like it would lead to a bad ending. If the stalker was already inside, then it would be too late. Cia decided to be proactive.
Although he still had a hurdle about murdering a person.
"Really?" Rena peeked through the door Cia pointed at. There were many parents sitting there, also guarding their children. "Then don't leave! Don't sneak out! I'm going to peek through the door to see if you are still there."
"Focus on your class... Now go inside, the Sisters are already burning holes in your brother with their gaze."
After sending Rena inside, Cia walked towards the gathering of parents and found a vacant seat. There were no phones in this place.
Sitting here, he'd either stare dazedly at the passersby or talk with the parents. Clearly, he was not yet familiar enough to talk with the parents, so he chose C: to listen to what they were talking about.
"Hey, have you seen the notice posted at the town hall this morning?" An older woman with a huge mole near her lips spoke. She seemed to be a grandmother of one of the students.
Beside her was a woman, probably in her twenties. She looked young but was already quite haggard.
Hearing what the older woman said, she nodded. "Yes, they said that no one is allowed to go out at night. If someone disobeyed that new law, they would arrest that person and fine them five silver coins!"
"Alas, what a sin. Why would they do that?" The grandmother sounded very exhausted. "My son works late at night. How can we live with that new law?" Her son was the breadwinner of the family. Without his salary, they'd starve to death.
"That's a pity. But life is more important than money. Although I'm not sure if what I heard was real..." The younger woman whispered, afraid that she might accidentally cause a panic. "They said there was a serial killer on the loose."