"I want you to… kill yourself!"
The charlatan stared blankly at Sebastian's face before showing an intrigued smile.
"You said that you would offer me a deal that I couldn't refuse. Deals require both giving and taking. What do I get in return for killing myself."
Sebastian pointed towards himself.
"You get me."
"What is that supposed to mean?"
Seb smiled charismatically as he leaned forward.
"What I am trying to say, is that I want you to invest in me."
"Why would I ever do that?"
"I am pretty sure that you understand what I am trying to do by asking you to kill yourself in the middle of my tutorial."
The Charlatan nodded knowingly.
"I am aware of the fact that I probably classify as the 'final boss' of the tutorial stage. Killing me would mean that the hidden boss of the tutorial would be summoned."
"Yes, and if I were to kill the boss that would prove my worth of being invested in. How many people can kill the hidden boss in the tutorial before entering purgatory anyway?"
Charlatan chuckled in response.
"It's not a lot. If you succeed you will basically become a super rookie."
"Now isn't investing in a super rookie like me worth it for your organization? If I manage to clear this tutorial, I will return one favour unconditionally to your organization."
The charlatan leaned back in his chair and stroked his chin as he pondered Sebastian's proposal.
"Since this is a tutorial, you will be the only one who remembers this conversation. How can I ensure that you won't go back on your words once you leave."
Sebastian snickered in response.
"I am pretty sure you must have some ability that can circumvent that situation. Even if you don't you have no choice but to accept my proposal."
"And why is that?"
"If I am not your ally, that means I will become your enemy. With an infinite number of times to re-run our encounter, I am sure that I can slowly dig out the secrets of your organization. Are you confident that you will never reveal anything sensitive to someone you deem interesting but are planning to kill anyway?"
"Hmm, I am indeed not confident about that. I do have a bad habit of monologuing. Now that I think of it, how can I be sure that you haven't done that already?"
"That's your problem to figure out."
The Charlatan glared at Sebastian for a while before grinning and spreading his hands.
"I do know that this is the first time we are meeting since I left a marker on your soul once you picked up the business card. In fact, we would be able to recognize it if we were to ever meet again in reality."
It was now Sebastian's turn to glare at the Charlatan.
Damn.
He couldn't help but sweat at how sinister the person in front of him was.
The man was just pretending to be carefree.
Turns out that he had been plotting since the very start.
However, there was no way that Sebastian could have known about it.
He had no idea how the abilities from the world of Purgatory worked after all.
It was a significant difference in knowledge and experience.
The gulf between them couldn't be crossed with just infinite tries and ingenuity.
While it may be possible to defeat the hidden boss ... the man in front of him was way more dangerous than the hidden boss ever could be.
The charlatan chuckled at Sebastian's response.
"Don't worry. It would have only told me that I had met you before but don't have any memories of it. This won't be the first time that something like this has happened after all."
"What do you mean?"
"Since it's our job to send people to purgatory, we often end up creating other sinners in the process as well. It's an occupational hazard that can't really be avoided. In their case, we often end up becoming a part of their tutorials. Hence having the ability to recognize such people is essential."
Sebastian couldn't help but sigh in relief seeing that he had literally just dodged a bullet.
If the mark was something like an order of kill on sight...
Sebastian wouldn't even be able to understand why he died.
"Coming back to your deal, the benefits you would receive from killing the hidden boss would help increase the level of your primary trait by a level, but… your synchronization rate will be incomplete due to not completing the tutorial properly."
"I don't really understand the concept of 'primary traits'. Is that a bad thing?"
The Charlatan gave Sebastian a pitiful look before shaking his head.
"Let's just say… Purgatory will assign some nasty quests in order to help you complete the unfinished business."
"Quests?"
The Charlatan couldn't help but chortle loudly.
Sebastian however only felt frustration at all the new terms he was hearing.
The member of the double ouroboros, however, didn't have any intentions of easing Seb's frustrations.
"You will understand what I am talking about once you get there. It won't really make a difference learning about it now. That would just spoil the fun."
Sebastian's frustration did ease a little as he caught onto the message hidden in the previous sentence.
"So you accept my deal?"
"Yes. You are an interesting fellow. It doesn't really hurt me to invest a little in you. Considering that I am not really giving you anything substantial in return."
Sebastian nodded his head in understanding.
The people from Purgatory were a different breed after all.
This man didn't even consider killing himself as something substantial.
Agreed that this was just a simulation and the man knew that his current form wasn't even real, killing yourself or even willingly putting yourself in an uncomfortable position is always a hard thing to do.
Especially for men in power.
Bringing his attention back to the matters at hand, Seb decided to try and push his luck a little further.
"Since you will be investing in me anyways, why don't you help me a little more and give me some useful information about Purgatory."
The Charlatan mused for a moment before raising up three fingers.
"Three questions. I will answer three questions for you. Answering three questions and killing myself in exchange for only 3 favours once you are strong enough. How's that for a deal?"
Sebastian nodded hurriedly.
It didn't matter how many favours he ended up owing the double ouroboros.
He had a lot of questions about Purgatory, and this was a golden opportunity for him to learn about it.
Looking at Seb's approval, the man passed over another card to Seb.
"Pick it up, this will mark your soul to show that you owe us 3 favours. The mark will be removed once you approach us within Purgatory."
Seb picked up the card and looked over it.
This one was black in colour and had the roman numeral three etched onto it beside the infinity symbol.
Sebastian passed the card back to the man.
After putting away the card, the Charlatan dropped an essential piece of information.
"Now that we are officially in a business relationship, let me tell you something for free."
"Do not call our organization 'The Double Ouroboros' in front of any of our members. That is just a slur that people use behind our backs. Our official name is 'The Infinity Faction'."
Sebastian nodded nonchalantly while flinging thousands of curses within his heart at the Charlatan.
Just how many traps had he laid down for Sebastian during the short conversation they had so far?
To think that Sebastian mistakenly felt that he was the one in control for even a second.
Sebastian mentally noted to never underestimate these old gingers from Purgatory, or else he would end up being completely played within their hands.
"Let me ask my first question now - What are the golden rules I must keep in mind in order to survive in Purgatory."
The Charlatan grinned with satisfaction at the question.
It had been a long time since he had found such a promising prospect.
Since they had agreed to a deal, the more potential Sebastian showed, the more the organization would be able to get back in return.
"There are 5 golden rules of survival that you must keep in mind."
"First. Trust no one."
Sebastian nodded in understanding. It made sense. Everyone who was sent to that world was basically a sinner and a criminal.
Only a fool would place their trust in murderers.
"Second. Nobody can survive alone."
Wait, what! Didn't that contradict the first point already?
Well... you didn't really need to trust someone in order to work together.
"Third. Don't talk about the past."
That seemed more like a polite thing to do rather than a rule of survival.
"Four. Beware of Women, Children, the Elderly and the Disabled."
Sebastian nodded as at least this one made sense.
As the saying went – 'Beware the old man in the profession where most men die young'.
"Five. The only escape is insanity."
Sebastian just shrugged this one off.
He was already halfway there himself.
"Then, for my second question- What exactly are those spirit slaves that are floating behind your back."
Sebastian was referring to the samurai with the katana and the clown with the puppet strings.
Having been stabbed to death by such a creature repeatedly and still having no feasible means to deal with it unsettled Sebastian to no end.
He wouldn't have the ability to restart the game outside the tutorial after all.
The Charlatan glanced back at the floating creatures behind him before snickering.
"These… aren't exactly spirit slaves. I just like to call them that. These are the avatar forms of my secondary cores. It's something cores generate after reaching level 50."
Sebastian couldn't help but sigh in frustration at the unfamiliar terms he kept getting assaulted with.
Cores... avatars... what the hell are these things?
"Since you would have found out about it once you reached Purgatory anyways, let me tell you something else. You won't have to interact with high-level sinners until you are strong enough. Purgatory likes to keep its newbies safe. From the high-level sinners at least."
Level 50 was already considered a high level? Did that mean that the level cap was around 100?
"Is the level cap at 100?"
"Is that your third question?"
"No!"
Sebastian almost messed up.
While he was curious about it, it wasn't worth wasting a question on.
"Here's my third question – What can you tell me about an organization called 'The Weepers'."
The Charlatan couldn't help but stiffen up at Sebastian's question.
His joking and frivolous demeanour were instantly gone, replaced by a grim and strictly business-like tone.
"How did you learn about them? They don't leave any witnesses."
"I just did. What can you tell me about them?"
The Charlatan sighed once he realized that he wouldn't be getting any answers out of Sebastian.
In fact, he was also very curious about that organization.
They were extremely secretive and not much was known about them.
Except…
"They are a bunch of crazy lunatics. The worst kind."
"Aren't most people in Purgatory crazy? You are the one who said that the only escape is Insanity."
"Not everyone is crazy, and..*sigh* that's not what I mean. The Weepers… these people... also like to call themselves 'Servants of Despair'. They are a special kind of crazy. They are basically what you would consider a cult. The type that you never want to associate with. The type that is 'dangerous'."
The Charlatan groaned as he recalled the memories he had of that crazy organization.
"They all wear tragedy masks that are like some sort of mass-produced artifact. They are trying to achieve some sort of crazy goal of cleansing the world of all sadness and taking on the sorrow for themselves."
"…"
"Their leader is even crazier. He calls himself 'The Griever' and his abilities are as unreadable and mysterious as they come."
"…"
"This much should give you an idea of what type of organization they are. In short, don't mess with them. Don't talk to them. Don't join them. Maintain as little contact with them as possible."
Sebastian sighed as he heard those words.
It was already too late.
His life had already been deeply intertwined with that organization.
At the very least the school shooter that had spared him would recognize Sebastian.
Perhaps joining them was the 'choice' that guy was talking about.
"I am done with my questions, let us follow through with the deal."
The Charlatan gave a perfect customer service smile in return.
"Pleasure doing business with you!"
He then picked up the pistol that Sebastian had offered him and placed the barrel in his mouth.
*BANG!*
… killing himself without any signs of hesitation.