"Book of Sins"
"IV. tome"
"Sloth"
"Great, makes me want to read it…"
I opened the book. The temperature in my room became colder, making me see my breath while the candlelight started to flicker, not that affected my sight, naturally, since I could see in the dark.
The pages where all yellow and dried up. On the pages there where random letters everywhere written in red ink.
"Is this some sort of code?"
I started to read the first page.
The letters started to dance before my eyes forming words.
When my eye moved so did the words, giving me a three-dimension vibe.
The first page was a summary.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
"Book of Sins"
"IV. tome"
"Sloth"
Owner: .....
Page 2-5: Pre-word and warning.
Page 6- 30: Analysis and utilization of different energies.
Page31- 53: Why is holy magic is actually bad for your health?
Page 54- 72: Geography of the mind
Page 73-108: Skills names, their abilities, and how to easily learn them.
Page 109-153: List of monsters and their habitat that naturally uses slothfull powers (The animal called Sloth not included.)
Page 154 – Last words.
____________________________________________________________________________________
This isn't what I was waiting for. My money was on a grimoire filled with riddles and enigmas, but this is a textbook.
It even gives me the feeling of a textbook, i could feel my eyes getting heavy already! I hope it's interesting at least since, its about magic.
I flipped to the next page. It was empty with only some letters here and there.
I continued to flip the pages only to find the same thing till I reached the last page.
There the letters jumped together creating a short text.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
One last thing.
This book is dedicated to my old friend who went down the wrong path paying his sins in blood.
It's because of him that I write these.
And to those who read this book.
My name is ******
These are my teachings before I went down also that path.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
The rest was illegible.
So this is a journal doubled with a textbook?
I flipped back to the first page and I started to think. The part where the name of the owner should be was empty. Maybe I should write my name since I was its new possessor.
I looked around to find something to write with. There was no fireplace so no coal, nor did I had a pencil or ink.
I stud up and knocked on the door. Minutes later a man wearing black cloth opened the door.
"What y'a want?"
"Can I have something to write with?"
The man stayed there for a second before closing the door, only to return in a few minutes with a pencil.
"Here. The lady from before sa'd tha' she will bring ya stuff in an hour."
"Thank you."
I toke the pencil and reclosed the door.
"Well then, let's see."
When I wrote my name on the lines the letters floated and mixed with the others creating a huge mess, before returning to order, without my name.
The other pages stayed the same.
"What? Do I need to write it again?"
I did it again and the result was the same.
"Shit, come one."
I looked at the other pages for clues but nothing.
In frustration, I lifted the book to throw it in a corner before I saw its cover.
Then it hit me.
It had blood marks on it. On the last page, it makes the illusion of blood.
Do I need to write my name in blood?
Well, it can't hurt.
I took out a knife and made a small cut on my middle finger. With the red liquid, I wrote my name on the line. The letters started to do shuffle again except my name. Slowly the pages started to move on their own, filling themselves out with words and images.
When it reached the last page, the book closed, and the cover changed color. It became dark blue and looked new.
[Requirements met.]
[ "Book of Sins" been connected.]
[New title received: [Cursed Book Owner]]
Well, that was easy. The guy who made this wasn't good in puzzles.
I took the book and started to read.
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Pre-word and warning.
If you are reading this then you have solved my puzzle, or in the guise of something to write with you used your blood. In any case, the book became yours. This also means that all the contest of the book is open for you. On these pages, you can found some of my teachings as well as my wisdom.
It will grant you wisdom but also cause you -
_____________________________________________________________________________________
Knockings on my door brought me back to reality.
"Sir, we have brought your luggages."
Before I opened the door I hid the book in my pocket.
At the doorstep, I faced the lady from the brothel. Behind her there were a dozen people wearing something close to what ninjas wear, holding heavy-looking chests.
"Put them in a corner."
The girl from the brothel, Jenny(her name came back to me) went inside, followed by the porter ninjas.
"Was there any problem?"
"None at all. We took your affairs and left. The receptionist wanted to ask questions, but she shut up when we presented her some money."
When I heard this, I took out a handful of coins from a different pocket.
Man, i really need to get a valet or something.
"How much did you pay?"
"Sir, don't worry about expenses, our lady instructed us to make your stay comfortable before we can find you a safe place."
"Then accept this as my thanks. Please, partage it with your helpers, they surely deserved."
I forced the coins in her hand.
With this, there is a lower chance of being sold out by the people surrounding it. Why would they get rid of someone as generous as i am? I even added some edge to my voice so that the peoples surrounding us could hear it.
It worked better than i thought, everyone was eying the money in her hand.
"Oh, eeeeh thank you, i will tell them," She put the money between her balloons, then she acted as nothing happened.
Following her example(i tried not to look or ask her how the hell that worked), I asked the most pressing matter.
"The next meeting will be in 2 days. I don't know more, I'm only an assistant."
"Hmm… There is an enjoying knight who is following me. Are you peoples able to keep her away from me?"
I had no personal feelings against her, yet she was an obstacle that needed to be dealt with. Wait, scratch that, I have personal feeling against her, she is super annoying!
"… Are you referring to the knight assistant Ana? She has been after our lady and her partners for a while."
… Wait she what?
D-Did I asked shelter from the Mafia that's controls everything?
I thought her [Mafia Boss] title meant she was in some shady business!
… Well, this changes nothing if I think about it if not makes thinks better.
If I get protected by the strongest organization in the city, then I'm almost invincible, and even when they are discovered I can always run away as a nameless nobody.
Jenny took out an empty glass bottle
"We have sprayed cheap pig blood in the room, looking like a crime scene. Our lady wanted to make sure no one was following you, sir."
Pig blood? Good idea, now I can rest easy that no one was after me. Wait…
"Aren't you worried that they would recognize your faces?"
She shook her head.
"We took all precautions. There was a magician with us who made our face hazy, virtually unrecognizable."
"Is that so…"
When everything was in place I found myself again in solitude.
The moment she exited the door the man that came with her followed her like a pack of hungry wolves.
I looked around and let out a sigh.
*****
[…]
[Requirements meet]
[Updating future evolutions…]
*****
Tomorrow morning a carriage came to town.
This wasn't so surprising since the city is situated on an important merchant rout, carriages aren't rare.
Yet this particular one was eye-catching.
For starters it was white.
Carriages around the area are brown with dirt on them, from the journeys.
This one was perfectly white without a spec of dust on it.
Its wheels where made out from the finest wood and on its side was the sign of the church, the golden cross. This holy construction was pulled by two white horses, with black eyes, proving that they weren't albinos. Even the coach itself was in a perfectly white suit.
It went on the main street of the city till it stopped before the church.
From the carriage, three-figure emerged.
The first one was a 16-year-old girl with blond hair and pale skin. She wore a cloth that made her look like a nun, except it had a white base with silver contour and as expected a sizable golden cross.
After her, another girl came out. She was maybe a year older, with brown skin and black hair. Contrary to the nun she wore a black leather outfit with a bow and a quiver full of arrows on her back.
And after her, a young man came out. He wore a regular outfit looking very common except the sword that he had on his waist, made out of silver.
The first one to speak was the nun looking girl.
"Goddess, thank you for protecting us during our long journey."
"Let's go. The sooner we get this over with the sooner we can go home."
"…Belinda, I know that you have no respect for anything, but please compose yourself. We are on a holly ground."
"It's enough that we are wasting our time here! What we should do, is to get to the duke who is here and get as much information as possible!"
"Could you two stop arguing with each other? This has been going on for the entire trip!"
The young man went by them and entered the church. The two girls stared at each other for a while before following him.
For a normal person, this please would feel oppressed by the huge building, yet he went forward unfazed.
Compared to the ones in the capital, this is nothing.
When he reached the end of the row of seats, two men were waiting for him.
One was the Mid- priest of this church.
The followers of the goddess had a strict hierarchical rule. They were divided into 4 groups. There where the Low-priests who were the most common ones. Above them where the mid priests who dirige churches in gig cities and fought evil spirits. Then there where the Hight-priests who gathered at the capital. They where the elite of the elite in church obeying only the one above them the Pope, who was in pare with the king.
This Mid-priest wore the uniform of his rank, which is a white robe with a golden cross. His face was wrinkled, but his eyes still looked young.
Next to him was the son of the duke. Like his father, he had brown eyes and hair. When the young man came in, he scanned them with its eye, a skill that he obtained by his lifestyle.
"Dear guests welcome to our church please give me a second."
The priest quickly ended his conversation with the duke's sone and turned towards them while he left.
"How may I help you?"
The nun took out an envelope and handed over to the priest. He accepted it and run through it. Each line made his eyes bigger until it looked like they would fell from there orbit.
When he was done, he looked at the trio and made a sigh with its hand.
"Follow me."
He led them to a hidden door behind the altar that led them to a stair that was illuminated by torches.
At the ned of stairs, there was a metal door without a lock nor a handle. The priest touched it with its hands and murmured something. Sliver letters appeared on the door and it opened without a sound.
The trio found itself in a basement that was filled with scrolls, books, chests, and other strange objects.
The only source of light was a candle that was situated on a table.
The priest took a sit on a chair next to the candle and made a sigh that his guest should do the same.
ˇ I'm sorry to bring people at your standings at a place like this, but it is soundproof and only I can open the door, so it's best to discuss this type of thing here. My name is Father Andrew."
"I'm Joshua Von Elburn first son of the king. These are my companions. Belinda a Master Witch and Selma the Saint. I believe that we don't have to explain why we are here."
"No, of course not your majesty, the later was pretty clear! But this priest does not know why you turned to me."
"Well…" the prince turned to Selma.
She quickly got what he meant and she explained in his place.
"The church is closer to the people than any other organization. We believe that you or one of your men known or heard something that might help us."
"I understand but… Now that I think about it there are a few things."
"Please tell us!"
"Well… Alright. One of them is about the sl… Poor district."
This was the name of the slums that nobles and priests used between each other to describe it.
"The peoples living there are talking about a strange figure that started to appear recently. There are multiple descriptions, but its actions remain the same. It founds someone at their weakest state and offers them to make there wish come true."
"What happens to them?"˙(Selma)
ˇWell, we are not sure. Some of them disappear while others become healthier. We checked some of them and we found a temporary title they all gained[ Contracted]."
"This sounds like a Crossroads Demon to me," Belinda said" But they usually only appear when they are called and they don't look for contractors. How did it even get inside? The barrier supposed to fry any demon or monster."
"We are not sure. There was a monster horde not so long ago. Maybe it used the confusion to slip in."
"What are the other things you noticed?"
"There is only one more, but this one isn't so strange. An adventurer was killed in his room. The room has been covered in blood and we cant find its body."
"Sounds rough. Is there anything that tells us who did it?"
"No, all his belongings have been taken. The receptionist said she didn't remember anything, so we believe magic was involved."
"Why is it our problem? Sounds like a normal murder to me." (Belinda´)
"He was seen multiple times there and he even brought a girl from here to here. She was checked before we did anything and we found traces of demonic energy on her.
"Did she made a deal? (Joshua)
"She didn't have the title, but her parents were able to get a lot of gold and had the same energy on them. And also-" He got up from his chair and went to a corner and was searching for something before returning to its place. "This is a drawing she made. I put it here not really thinking about it, till now."
On the picture was a crudely drawn figure that was cut into two. On the left end, it was colored black without any facial features while the other part had an eye and a mouth.
"So you believe that this is how it looked like when she met it?" (Selma)
"I believe it now. She is still here if you want to talk to her."
"… Thank you, father, this did help us. Maye, I ask you to let us speak between us?" (Selma)
"Yes, naturally!"
The priest bowed before left them alone.
"What do you girls think?"
"It's easy. The guy tried to find the demon and he got killed, by it."
"I believe the same thing, but I wish to talk to the girl before we make something concrete, maybe we can learn something."
"Okay, then we split up. You talk to the girl and Belinda will go to the slums. In the mean, while I want to talk to the adventurer's guild about this adventurer, maybe he knew someone who could actually help us."
"Sounds good to me."
"Let's do this."
*****
I was sleeping on the world's most uncomfortable throne when I heard footsteps coming in my direction.
I opened one of my eyes when a figure came in.
It was Bernadette Soles the owner of the brothel.
"Excuse me Mr. Dealmaker, but there is someone who I want you to see. He might be able to help you."
"… I don't see any reason not to see him right now."
She nodded then stepped away letting the one behind her to enter.
It was a man in his 50tie wearing a black and white suit. He had brown hair with its side being grey. He also had a monocle on his right eye.
A butler?
"Mr. Dealmaker it's a pleasure of meeting you. My humble name is Dex and as Layra has told you I'm a member of the organization that we are leading.
Dex? Layra? Codenames? Yep, this is a mafia.
"It's a pleasure of meeting you sir as well. As I believe Layra told you I go by the name of Dealmaker. How may I help you?"
Will talking my consciousness started to go foggy. I could tell that my skills are starting to become active.
"My reason for visiting is quite simple, really. I was told that you seek shelter in exchange for your services. Am i wrong?"
"No, i did say that and it is so below me to go back on my words."
Until it's profitable for me...
"Ah, Mr. Dealmakeri can see that you are a gentleman! Its been so long since i met someone so young as you being so polite to an elder like me."
"Please, don't exaggerate Mr. Dex, you are not as old to call you an elder."
While we were exchanging pleasantries, I looked upon his status with [Appraisal].
The result was surprising.
His real name was Lexter Defo, 56 years old, head butler of the Duke. He had no offensive skills except foe poisoning. And his wish is…
"Mr. Dex as much as i appreciate talking with a man at your standing, i believe that you didn't come to see me only to chat."
"Yes, yes Mr. Dealmaker you are absolutely right I came with an offer. We or at least I, want to help you. You see I tested your poison and I have to say it's wonderful! My best man couldn't even find any trace of it in our test subject!-"
Will, he talked he didn't stop moving his arms adding importance to its words.
"-I believe that you and I need to work together. Imagine! With your expertise and my influence, we can take over this town!"
"… You want me as a subordinate?"
"No, of course not. You will become my right hand, a partner! I will give you everything that your heart desires! Money, woman, power! What do you say?"
"Wait Dex, this isn't what we agreed!"
"Hush woman!"
Soles tried to interfere but was shut down by Dex.
So, he's higher standing than she's.
"We had no agreement whatsoever. I only said that I might support him and I am. By offering him a great opportunity!"
What great opportunity? You want me next to you as a lackey, making potions for you. Let's see how you will react to this old man!
"Mr. Dex, might i propose a counteroffer?"
"A counteroffer? Well, i don't know what that term means, but by all means please tell me what is in your mind!"
Here we go, [Sweet Talk] i counting on you!
"My offer is simple. I offering you life."
"... A life? and whose life that might be, if i may ask?"
"Your wife."
Silence fell in the room. Dex's face was pale and shocked will Layra left her mouth open.
I pressed on.
"You have a wife, no? It would be quite admirable for a person at your standing to not have one."
"… Yes, I do have one. She is fine, a little tired by her age."
"You mean dying?"
Hearing my blunt words, a vein popped out from his forehead.
Scary. Should I stop?
"I believe Layra has already told you that I have some skills in healing the human body. I might be able to help her."
"… Are you proposing a deal?"
"Naturally! That's why I'm called the Dealmaker!"
For the first time during our conversation, I got up from my throne. I made myself slightly taller tp look more imposing.
"I give your wife a hand and in exchange, you will do a little thing for me."
"...And what that might be?"
"Let's see…Is there any free place in your little gathering?"
____________________________________________________________________
Name: Desmond ˙(Temporary,)
Race: Slave Maker
Age: 16
Job: Alchemist
LV: 1/50
HP: 70/70
MP: 80/80
STR: 40
VIT: 40
SPD: 60
MRES: 30
Skill PT: 44
Physical attributes: [Dark Vision] [Tail Swift]
Skills: [Alchemy: LV:1] [Deal Making, LV:1] [Wish Granting (Small), LV:1] [Herbology; LV:1] [Mapping, LV:1] [ Appraisal,LV:1] [Mind Palace, LV:1] [Slave Mark, LV:1] [Sweet Talk,Lv:1] [Familiar Summon, Lv:1]
Unique Skills: [Body Physic Manipulation] [Harvest]
Titles: [Broken Soul] [Novice Summoner] [Heretic] [Cursed Book Owner]
____________________________________________________________________