The butcher twirls his mustache before he bends over and produces a bundle of documents. These are fake IDs that he could get his hands on. Of course, he didn't make it himself. He has little to no experience faking documents.
He gets the ID from elsewhere. From a gang or people selling them for money.
Most often time these IDs are from real people selling them. Some are desperate for money while some don't need it anymore. The gang that sells these to him in bulk often got it from faraway nobles.
This business is considered illegal but they are not going to spend time catching every one of these. As long as there is demand, someone will be selling it.
And the logistics aren't good enough to check and confirm whether every ID belongs to the right person or not. The best they could do is check if someone is a little different from their description or photo. Blending into the sea of people is easier than one would imagine.
"Any specific?"
"I want from a minor noble, preferably a brother and sister pair and a random commoner maid."
"Umm..."
The butcher half his paper and put it on the side. However, there's still a sizable stack left. After combing through a lot and a lot of documents, the butcher presented him with 3 sets of IDs.
"Since these were noble they have a picture ID. You need to at least look very similar are you OK with that?" The butcher ask glancing at the hooded guy that was talking with him.
"Not a problem, what's my option?"
The butcher slides the document over, there are two paper sizes of his palm. Inside they describe his appearance and have a long line of numbers attached, their occupation, and their photo.
"This one is Rudy and Sophia, they got lost in the forest and haven't been found yet. Have a Decent chance of getting found out since the people are dead and mostly on record. But they have a good reputation and the siblings have pretty high status"
The photo is a black and white of a blonde-haired sibling. They look no older than 16.
"Your second option is this Penu and Peru. a twin that sold their ID and left for the countryside. Their family had a downfall, so this one would be rock bottom in terms of reputation but a low chance of getting discovered since the real one couldn't be identified anymore."
Another ID was shown, John guessed that the maid's ID would be shown after his since it was easier to find one for the maid.
"The last one is just a forged document" The middle-aged man with a mustache slides it over "No photo, easily forged ID. Hard to get caught when checking but some place might not let you in."
John thinks a bit before picking.
"I'll take Penu"
"OK, here's one for the servant"
John spent about 2 minutes looking for one that matched Hilda the most and paid 25 Stac for the fake ID. 2 Noble for 20 stac and 5 for a commoner maid. A hefty sum that could buy a meal and support an entire family for over 8 months.
The church and his role in the story are the reasons he urgently needs to leave town. The death of Theia occurs near the end of Act One, while Reeva dies much later in Act Two.
The story now would still be in the early stage of Act One. Few days after Reeva got beat up. He just needs to show up and act like Theia is dead and make Onia angry. After that, he would lay around waiting for Act Two to come by and "Die" to the duke.
After that, he would be free to do whatever he wanted. At that point, he would like to start a business and make himself rich. He doesn't need mystic power. It's more like a curse than a power-up.
------------------
"Duke, we have a sighting of the young master, should we capture him?"
"No, let him be."
"But the sun chuch request....."
"I don't care" The duke read his daily newspaper while sipping coffee "They don't give us face and now that they need something they demand it from us. Such audacity"
"You might get executed at this rate, my liege"
"My sword is always ready."
The duke answered nonchalantly and continued to read the newspaper.
"Also there's a report coming from Haris saying that there is something weird happening at the Royal School, about the 13th prince"
The 13th prince and Reeva were part of the same group before Reeva got expelled.
"That little rat, what did he do?" This peak the duke's interest a little. Another reason why Reeva got rejected even before they found out that his circle was broken is because of the prince. He blames all his misconduct on Reeva and the Sun church backs him up.
"Brent the 13th prince is making friends with Klad, the kid that beat up young master"
The Duke didn't say anything but his face showed it all. The paper in his hand wrinkles and crackles out of shape. The duke could stop his hand before it ruined a perfectly good newspaper.
"Why did you have to ruin my morning coffee."
"The prince also lent his troop to finding Onia's sister who has run away from home. However, the result leaves much to be desired."
"um..."
The duke looks into the newspaper with a distant gaze, thinking about something.
"What is my disappointing son doing?"
"He got himself tangled with a heretic and the church is on his tail. It seems like they want to leave town to avoid the church."
"Continue to support them, I would like to see where that son of mine will go"
"Yes sir"
---------
With almost everything in place, John is almost ready to leave town. The only thing left is a way to spy on the main character, having an update on their situation would be pretty neat. That's why he is here at a cafe inside of Duke Antores' territories.