A bright smile, reflecting all that was good in the world, shone. "Here you go!"
A middle-aged woman with indiscernible features patted the young amiable Ajax's head. "Thank you so much, sweetie."
The two of them stood at the doorway to their house as the young boy eagerly watched as the woman opened the door.
With a creak, the door opened to reveal a dark house. As the woman turned on the light, a small whimper of joy came from Ajax.
In front of him, all those he cared for stood with red ribbons, a cake, cone hats, and balloons. "Suprise!"
Cheering roared through the house as the boy stood in surprise and happiness.
A girl his age came over and patted his shoulder. "Happy Birthday, Ajax!"
In his stupor, Ajax turned his head to look at the face of everyone shouting and cheering. The large mix of colors and purely happy smiles were truly infectious.
Ajax finally recovered from his surprise as he wiped his eyes and smiled. "Guys… You didn't have to-"
The girl who just patted his shoulder immediately interrupted and seriously spoke, "Shut your mouth, Ajax. It's your birthday and we're celebrating it how we want!"
Everyone turned to the girl in surprise at the serious tone, then immediately broke into a fit of laughter.
Amidst the joyful and warm environment, the middle-aged woman, his mother, took two plastic wrappers from her pocket.
They had the respective 1 and 3 candles. She immediately placed them onto the cake and, with the help of her sister, brought it up to Ajax.
Ajax who was talking with one of his teachers frequently glanced at the cake and when the others lit up the candles, he resisted the urge of blowing them immediately.
"Make your wishes!"
The instant the last word was uttered, Ajax closed his eyes. "I wish for mama and papa to not work so hard!"
He blew as hard as his lungs would allow him as the flame flickered away and extinguished.
As cheers erupted, the world grew hazy with colors mixed and reality seemingly being erased like a pencil mark.
Out from the world of mixed colors, came a red filter that covered Ajax's entire vision.
"Ah." A small whimper of pain and confusion slipped from Ajax's mouth as any indication of pain such as groans or cries seemed simply insufficient. The pain was too great.
His eyes rolled back as he faintly saw a tree-like figure with intersecting branches and five red circles that looked like eyes. It seemed to speak as something below those eyes moved around and roared a command into Ajax's eardrums. "Welcome, son."
With a stressed brain and a literally aching heart, Ajax fell lifelessly onto the floor, signaling his death.
Then a faint crimson shine blinded his eyes as he woke up breathing heavily.
...
Ajax pushed off a bed as he glanced around with an indifferent expression and gnashed his teeth. 'That dream again, huh?'
A low roar resounded inside a small shelter that could be called a hut. Hints of that young boy's voice lingered in it.
"Damn."
He slowly stood up, grimacing in pain as he covered a wound on his waist.
Tsk.
He walked over to a bucket he put in a corner of a room and washed his face over the white floor.
On the entirely white wall, a mirror hid in the same corner as the bucket. As Ajax looked up at it, a figure with goat horns and scale-like skin revealed itself.
Ajax stared at his face for several minutes before worms wriggled underneath his skin, squirming around to form a more human-like face.
He washed his face and manually guided these "worms" to somehow change into a face he recognized better.
The pale white skin, black hair, and hazel green eyes attracted his attention once more for a few seconds before a loud knock echoed through the empty room.
Ajax groaned in discomfort once more as he dragged himself to the door.
At the right of the door, a small screen revealed what was knocking outside.
Recognizing the knocking figure to be one of the residents of the Origin Settlement, Ajax visibly frowned. He immediately massaged his skin to look more clear and spirited. He pulled over his long jacket to cover his wound and opened the door with the faint mental connection he had with it.
The white door with black lines slowly slid open as Ajax sat on one of the three chairs in the room.
He looked as if he was in a comfortable condition and position.
The figure looked at the smiling Ajax and, as if infected, smiled in return. "Hey buddy, how are you doing?"
This was Eric, who was more of an acquaintance of Ajax. They traded at one point in time with Eric paying exp for an enhancement to his weapon.
This enhancement was a premium service that only Ajax and the reputable female Workman could provide. Though, now that the Workman was mysteriously missing, Ajax was the only one that could provide such a service.
He had a fortunate monopoly in this field.
Ajax, who was wrapped in a blanket and rocking on a chair, nodded at the guest, Eric. "Wonderful. In fact, I'm more interested in how you are these past few days? Working as a Hunter is one stressful job, for sure, isn't it?"
Knowing beforehand how much of a talker Ajax was, Eric cut straight to the point. "The Hunter Group and I will each need a two-star enhancement before we leave for our next clear."
Ajax didn't show any change in expression and nodded. "And the payment?"
It was known in Origin, as the residents called it, that an enhancement for a weapon came at an expensive cost. The very act of enhancing a weapon by an entire star is a great and impressive feat, but to do two stars was previously unheard of.
Only the last Workman had such talent, and to go missing was a devastating blow to the settlement. Now, immediately after she went missing, Ajax had similar talent as a Workman.
To have two Workman of this caliber was simply a blessing from fortune itself from what the others saw.
Now, Eric requested a two-star enhancement for the entire Hunter group's weapons. There were at least 50 Hunters in each group.
To do 50 at once was not unlike requesting a single man to construct a skyscraper.
It had to be mentioned that the next hunt was in 6 days. Building a skyscraper in 6 days with just one man doing the work was clearly an insane request.
The payment has to be appealing enough to even budge anyone in the slightest.
Ajax knew, though, that Eric wouldn't pay him anything.
In response to Ajax's question, Eric laughed out loud, almost mockingly.
Ajax just watched as Eric laughed, remaining silent with a slight smile. He didn't seem bothered by this at all.
Rather, he seemed entertained...
As Eric calmed down, Ajax exchanged pleasantries while Eric tried his best to avoid them.
Once he rushed out the door, out of sight, Ajax stood at his spot watching ahead with a blank expression. The smile previously formed, wiped from his face as cleanly as if it never existed in the first place.
Eric was walking quickly into another pyramidical home that was covered in black stripes like a zebra.
Above all of the almost infinite amount of huts of similar design, a cold dark stone roof supported by the occasional pillar remained.
It was dusty and covered in vines just as the pillars were as it stood there since time immemorial, unmoving.
The floor and the seemingly advanced civilization below set a sharp contrast to this aura formed since ancient times.
The shining lights, the crossing roads, and the sharp white-coated paint looked as if a specific part of an all too monotonous civilization was transported to an unknown location.
This civilization remained operating as shop owners yelled at the top of their lungs for attention, cars sped past hut after hut to their locations, and as pedestrians walked on the elevated stone floor known as a crosswalk with their similarly designed yet absolutely unique clothing.
One of those people walking was Ajax, who looked to be praying for others. He had his hands clasped together as he walked by each person, blessing them by the words from his tongue.
Many thanked him on their way as Ajax walked to one specific hut. Once at the door, he knocked, and before he could finish knocking, the door opened.
A grin crept its way up Ajax's face as a result once he took a step in the door.
The place looked very similar to his own, but the arrangement was just slightly different when it came to the bed. The bed was just moved to the side and where it originally was, there was a tall rectangular box.
He looked around for a moment before tugging at his collar and opening the metal box. There stood a woman with tears flowing over the dark circles under her eyes from catching sight of Ajax. This woman greatly resembled the last Workman, the one with such exceptional talent.
The woman shook her head, muffling some indescribable words through the tape on her mouth, trying to beg.
That wasn't going to work...
He grabbed her hair and swung her down on the bed.
Counter to Ajax's intentions, she curled up into a ball on the mattress, groaning in comfort occasionally.
The sharp pain brought about a pull on her hair didn't seem to bother her enough to ruin the experience of the comfort of a bed.
Ajax watched a smile fall on her face as she tried to cherish this moment before he grabbed her tied hands by a rope, pulling her off the bed by tugging on her wrists.
She didn't resist, but her expression returned to an emotionless state drowned by dried tears. She seemed to have experienced this same situation countless times.
He pulled her to another side and tore off the rope tying her hands.
After dodging her weak attempts at resistance, he threw different materials ranging from wood to iron near her. She gave up on attacking, so Ajax clicked his tongue and said in a low raspy voice, "Get started."
She quickly started a sort of procedure that worked like clockwork.
Ignoring her actions, Ajax hesitantly sat on the bed after spraying a lot of disinfectants on it. Feeling comfortable, he laid down on it and looked at the thin blue square that's been floating by his side the entire time.
Every time the woman finished one set of the procedure, a mix of golden sparkles and confetti would fly out of her making a sort of applause noise from an unknown audience. And whenever that noise appeared, Ajax would find that a certain bar he's been eyeing was increasing steadily.
Gaining benefits without doing any work was something Ajax loved the most.
Words would appear in the background of the bar on the blue square, but Ajax was patiently waiting for that certain bar to fill up, ignoring the words that would appear.
That was until...
Ding!
[Criminal Job fully digested!
---
You've advanced to a Devil!]
Ding!
[Devil Job consumed]
That was until the Devil was fully awakened.