Chapter 749: Ghost Man
Sylas slipped into an inconspicuous shop. Wares lined the walls, displayed quite crudely. The shelves they sat on looked like they might collapse at any time, but there was a steady flow of customers in and out. There might not be a large number of them, but they were consistent, and each one had a small conversation with the middle-aged woman behind the counter that warmed the atmosphere and made it clear they were repeat visitors.
This was a shop that exuded a quaint sense of peace, a mom-and-pop shop that formed the heart of a neighborhood.
But rather than comfort foods or simple dry cleaning services, this shop sold Elixirs and various consumable items at an extraordinarily competitive market price.
"Oh? I haven't seen you around here. New?" the middle-aged woman smiled.
She had the valiant air of a middle-aged housewife, but the kind smile of a mother. She was overweight in the she-knew-her-way-around-a-kitchen sort of way, carrying an amiable smile that made her both want to protect her and not disappoint her at the same time.
"I've been here for a while," Sylas said softly. "It's just that I haven't come here before. I've heard many good things so I thought I should."
"Oh! You must be the mysterious ghost, haha!" the jovial laughter of the middle-aged woman filled the store.
"The ghost man?" another middle-aged woman in the process of placing her items on the counter looked over toward Sylas with a chuckle. "Are you really?"
"Ghost man?" Sylas asked, pretending not to understand.
"We live in a small little neighborhood and most people who live here can't afford to live anywhere else. Even so, accommodations are very scarce and we're often packed together tight like sardines. But your apartment is the only one that's vacant. Let alone vacant, yours is the only one that doesn't have at least four people sharing it."
The confusion that played in Sylas' eyes belied the calmness of his heart.
In a small community like this one, anything that was out of the ordinary would stand out. Sylas had bought this shabby apartment months ago with the money he had scrounged up. It cost him 10,000 F-Coins at the time, and now, it was even more expensive than that, easily being ten times the price.
He then used the fact he owned land in the city as a springboard to earn his way into the military and rank up, not to mention get himself a Noble Title.
All of these actions seemed benign enough. But in a small little community like this one, anomalies stick out like sore thumbs.
Sylas' "confusion" was slowly ebbing away as he eked out the details.
"Ah, I see. Yes, that apartment is mine. I only return to rest every few months. Most of the rest
of the time I spend in the wilderness hunting and looking for opportunities."
The lady behind the counter smiled a bitter, understanding smile. Her chubby hands ran through her greying hair, a sigh escaping her lips.
"I know you're young, but you've got to take care of yourself better. Sometimes ambition isn't enough to get you through in life."
Sylas nodded. "Yes, ma'am."
"So polite, hoho. Why don't you give the young man something nice, Eness?"
"Look at you, always trying to get free stuff."
"Hey, hey, hey," the middle-aged customer rebuffed. "I'm just trying to help a struggling boy out."
"Yeah? And then if I give him something for free, you'll come wringing your hands later." A laughter filled the small shop.
"Tell you what, young man. You look like you've got a strong pair of shoulders. I've got some inventory in the back that I need help sorting out. Can you do that for me? I'll pay you well."
A Quest window popped up before Sylas and he casually accepted it.
"No problem." Sylas said with a nod.
...
The day waned and Sylas finally finished up on the inventory when Eness was about to close up shop.
"Oh! You're finished for the day?" Eness asked. "You can come back tomorrow to finish up. I know it can be tiring. My brain isn't what it used to be, I completely forgot you were working back there."
"Nono." Sylas shook his head, a bit of fatigue between his brows. "I've already finished everything."
Eness' brows shot up, feeling somewhat skeptical. She was also a little bit worried. She really had forgotten Sylas was back there.
She might be kind, but she wasn't a fool. Letting someone she didn't know fiddle around with her inventory for so long without supervision was a recipe for disaster.
Especially when it was a recluse like Sylas.
But when she went to check, she was floored.
Not only was everything meticulously organized and labeled, but she didn't see a single cobweb or speck of dust. The place was completely spotless.
She was so stunned that tears began to brim in her eyes.
Ever since her husband died, she hadn't had much help running the shop. Between staying on her feet all day and actually forging the Elixirs and consumables, she didn't have any time to keep things organized and clean like she liked.
In the end, her shop became more and more shabby until she didn't even recognize it
anymore.
Just Sylas' act of diligence had moved her so much that she forgot to actually check if he had stolen anything. Quite frankly, even if he had, she might look at it as repayment for a job well
done.
But by the time she actually did go on to check, she found that not a single thing was missing and her heart was more moved.
"... What a good kid..." she muttered.
Eness suddenly shook awake and she rushed out of the inventory room to find that Sylas was already gone. Not only that, but even the outer facade of her little shop had been cleaned just
as beautifully.
She patted her somewhat wrinkled forehead, cursing to herself about being muddled with age
again.
"I'll have to give him a good reward next time he comes. Hopefully he was happy with the Quest rewards, though."
Eness smiled and rolled up her sleeves. She was going to make a nice little care package for the
ghost man.
Their little community had been gossiping about him for so long. Who knew that he would suddenly appear and then disappear inexplicably like a real ghost?
What Eness never expected, though, was that she would never get the chance.
Two days later, news that left the little community shell-shocked spread.
General Broussard led an expedition against the Demons encroaching into their Amazonian
Wilds Territory, conscripting a large number of eager young men.
Today, a list of the dead had been returned.
Most didn't think much of it...
Until news that the ghost man had been among the dead spread through the quaint little community of stacked apartment boxes.
...
Eness sat behind her counter, shell-shocked when she heard the news. A little gift basket had been sitting on her counter for these last few days already, but never did she think that it
would become a reminder of a lost chance at life.
Tears fell from her cheeks, following the deep trenches of her lines of age.