Asher followed the old man, who led him up a set of stairs built into the restaurant's walls.
At the top of the stairs was a long hallway, with doors built on both sides like an inn. The man led him down to the last room down the hall and opened the door for him.
"This will be your room for now, alright? It's a bit dirty, please don't mind it."
Contrary to what Hal said, Asher was greeted to the cleanest room he had ever... seen? He couldn't remember anything, courtesy to that dang System, but even he knew the room was spotless, simply from common sense.
After thanking the man, who went back to his meat stand, Asher immediately crashed onto the soft, downy bed, too exhausted at all of what happened to him in a matter of hours.
'I met a murderer, died, revived, met that same murderer... And there's this weird System in my head!'
He checked the 'Punishment Mission' that he supposedly had to do when he died again.
[One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds]
"One Sin and... What even is that name?"
The System did not respond.
Although the bed was comfortable, Asher's body wasn't actually tired. He quickly became bored out of his mind.
So he went downstairs again.
The old man was still at the meat stand, humming quietly as he took an order from another customer. Asher waited as he wrapped a steak in some white paper and put it in a bag.
Only when the customer had left did the man notice Asher standing in the corner.
"Hm? What's wrong, you hungry?"
"Ah- no, I'm not-" Asher's stomach grumbled, much to his embarrassment. The man nearly choked on his laughter.
"Don't worry! I'll whip something up for ya, free of charge!"
Next thing Asher knew, a succulent pie and a fork were placed in front of him.
"Oh, no... I have nothing to pay you back with!" The pastry smelled delicious, but he forcefully tore his eyes away from it.
Then he remembered that the man said it was free, and turned his head back to the savory pie.
Everything about the meat pie was perfect, from texture to flavor. The pastry was flaky but not dry, and the meat coupled with bits of vegetable combined to create a taste that could only be described as... delicious.
The man smiled as Asher tore through the pastry in mere minutes.
The boy looked up between bites of pastry.
"What's your name, old man?"
"The name's Hal; I named this rundown place after me! Finished now?" Asher beamed, bobbing his head up and down, thanking the man breathlessly.
Hal grinned, making a small motion with his hand.
"Go on, get back to your room."
After eating such a delicious meal, Asher was satisfied and sleepy.
His room beckoned him, with its soft sheets and fluffy mattresses.
Crashing again onto his bed, this time he fell asleep almost instantly.
...
When Asher opened his eyes, it was already evening. Scarlet rays beamed through his window, informing him of the incoming dusk.
He ran to the bathroom to take care of his bladder, but as he was finishing up, he heard a peculiar noise coming from below.
It sounded like some people chatting.
Tiptoeing down the stairs, the faint conversation became more focused in his ears.
"You said you found my purse?" A young woman spoke, her voice mellow and somewhat listless.
"Yes, yes, I found it on the ground and put it in the back of the kitchen. I noticed you weren't carrying it today."
Hal led the woman into the kitchen, closing the door behind him.
'Huh? Why does he need to close the door?' Even after waiting for a while, Asher still didn't see the two of them come out.
Just as he was about to leave-
"HELP!" A shriek rang from inside the kitchen, jolting his senses. He stared at the door in shock. He heard nothing else after that. It was like the outburst from earlier was a hallucination.
The sound of wet crunching and grinding echoed in the previously silent room. Muffled screams assaulted his ears, becoming louder and more desperate.
Asher stood completely still, his mind whirling with hundreds of thoughts.
Hal, the owner of the meat store, grinding meat? And the circumstances...
Asher burst through the door.
"What are you-!" A nightmarish vision greeted him.
Hal calmly turned the switch off, and the grinder clanged to a stop. The unconscious woman was still alive. However, her legs were already pieces of ground meat. Her upper body fell out of the machine, landing on the ground with a sickening crack of skull on hardboard. Blood oozed onto the floor.
Bits of finely ground flesh made their way onto the porcelain plate at the end, its crimson hue painting the plate a savory red color.
Asher began to vomit, unable to think straight. The meat here, the pie he ate... must've been...
"Oh, seems like you found out so soon~" The man grabbed an axe near him as he approached Asher steadily.
"P-Please..." Asher's legs turned weak, and he slipped into his own bile. He raised his arms in sync with the rise of Hal's axe.
"-!"
The axe head buried into Asher's skull, splitting his head into two neat halves.
Grayish matter leaked from his brain, seeping into the wooden boards.
"Phew! What a harvest!"
The grinding noises continued well into the night.
...
[TT2 Protocol Activated]
[Punishment Mission: One Sin and Hundreds of Good Deeds]
*Cough Cough*
Asher opened his eyes again to find himself in a white void, completely empty except for a giant skull floating in front of him, dozens of feet tall and nearly half as wide. The skull had a cross lodged inside of its forehead, equally magnified in size until the skull's jawbone was forced open by the bottom of the cross. The amalgamation emitted a holy aura even brighter than the white void.
But Asher didn't react. Instead, he closed his eyes.
He wanted to throw up, but his mouth wouldn't open.
[Objective: Confess one sin to the skull.]
He stood up in a daze.
'Right... This is the 'Punishment' for dying...'
However, there was an immense problem: he couldn't remember anything. How was he supposed to confess sins if he didn't remember any sins to confess?
He raked his mind for anything that he could think of.
"Um, I don't have any sins that I can remember, so I'm sorry for wasting your time, I guess?"
[Analyzing Confession...]
Just as he was sure that he failed the objective-
[Acceptable]
[Completion: D grade]
[Reward: Temperance+10, Insight+5]
[E.G.O not obtained due to low completion.]
His vision faded away, and he found himself on the soft bed that he slept on earlier.
[Next Punishment: Fairy Festival]
This time, he immediately sprang to his feet.
'What time is it right now?'
He needed to save her.
Asher technically didn't need to, but if he didn't save her, he would have to live the rest of his life thinking about the human strings, the flesh-speckled blades of the meat grinder...
Though he did not even know the woman, he could not even fathom leaving someone behind to such a fate, especially when he had already seen the aftermath.
With all the seals on his mind, Asher's mental state was only a few hours old, creating an almost ugly sense of blind justice. In reality, these events were all too common in the City.
He ran straight down the stairs, stopping as he saw Hal serving another customer, wrapping a steak in some white paper and putting it in a bag.
'Whew... There's still time.' As he sighed in relief, Hal noticed him standing in the corner.
"Hm? What's wrong, you hungry?"
"No I'm not-" Asher's stomach grumbled, much to his despair. Hal nearly choked from his laughter.
"Don't worry! I'll whip something up for ya, free of charge!"
Next thing he knew, a succulent pie and a fork were placed in front of him.
Asher's hand trembled. This meat pie that he ate before was almost certainly made from human meat. He politely shoved the pie and fork back into Hal's hand and rushed upstairs to calm down.
"Hm." The old man's eyes sharpened as he stared at Asher's back.
"Ha... Ha..." Asher sat down heavily on the bed and buried his head into his hands. What should he do?
'If I just leave right now, I should be safe... But then that person will-' The sight of her mutilated body resurfaced into his mind, causing him to empty his stomach again onto the floor.
Yellow bile seeped into the floorboards.
His heart tightened. He truly didn't want to die again, but every time he closed his eyes, the sound of crunching bone echoed in his ear.
...
He opened his eyes.
Something in his pupils compelled him to act.