"Wake up and sing, little vampire!" — shouted one of the smugglers, pulling me from a sweet slumber. I opened my eyes, barely able to stretch before receiving a kick in the rear. Surprisingly, it quickly brought me to my senses. I brushed the dust off my clothes and noticed that the sun was already setting on the horizon. Under the mocking gazes of the representatives of the "gray zone" of the law, I hastily left the ship.
Glancing around the foggy dock, I confirmed that I was indeed in England: nearby, a man was buying fish for pounds sterling. My first task was to gather some information. After two hours of wandering about, I finally understood where I was, what was around, and, most importantly, I found a place where I could rent a room for the night. With my spirits lifted, I continued my journey toward the hotel, asking for directions from passersby three more times and nearly getting lost in the twilight. At last, I reached the coveted hotel.
With a confident stride, I entered, and the first thing I noticed was a half-asleep girl at the reception desk. Realizing that night was approaching, I didn't prolong the conversation. After exchanging a few words with her, I rented a room for one night for 20 pounds, took the keys, and headed upstairs. Closing the door behind me, I finally surrendered to exhaustion. No sooner had my head touched the pillow than I was already plunging into the realm of Morpheus.
Crowing
I woke up with the first crowing of the roosters. Oh, wait, here I am, still in bed and still asleep. How is that? Oh, right... I didn't sleep last night. Ahem, ahem. When the sun was already shining high, my eyes slowly opened, but I wasn't in a hurry to get out of bed. My first task was to figure out how to increase my level of understanding of the abnormality. The system provided another hint:
[To increase understanding of the abnormality, the host must perform actions closely aligned with the spirit of the abnormality, enhance skills related to the abnormality, or imitate the abnormality.]
"Actions closely aligned with the spirit, huh?" — I thought, propping my head up with my hand and continuing to ponder while lying down. "The abnormality is called The Funerals of Dead Butterflies..." — shielding my eyes from the sunlight pouring in, I focused on this thought. "If it's a funeral, then someone needs to be buried. If someone needs to be buried, then I need a grave, and a place where I can dig graves..." — and then it struck me: "!!!" Exactly, a gravedigger! Realizing I shouldn't waste a good idea, I quickly washed my face and rushed down to the reception.
The sound of my hurried footsteps echoed through the hall, and after checking out of the hotel, I nearly skipped my way to the employment center. Oh joy! After sifting through a dozen useless ads, I found the one I needed:
(Gravedigger Needed:)
Work Schedule: 5/2
From 8:00 AM to 10:00 PM
Responsibilities:
- Digging graves
- Guarding the cemetery
- Cleaning tombstones
- Filling in graves
Holding the paper like a treasure, I walked lightly toward the address on the back of the sheet. On the way, I bought a hot dog from a food cart, and now, feeling full, I knocked on the door of my future employer.
Shush-shush-creak.
After a series of rustling sounds, the door creaked open, revealing a woman in her forties. She had tangled hair, bags under her eyes, and clothing reminiscent of an ancient vampire.
"Hello, I'm here about the ad" — I said, not giving her a chance to respond, and forcefully handed her the advertisement. She examined me with her gaze, looking me over several times, and then nodded, as if confirming something for herself, and opened the door, waving her hand to invite me in. Not wasting time inspecting her home, I quickly made my way to the living room and sat in the seat she indicated.
"Well, I'm glad to see that in our time, there are still young people willing to work as gravediggers. Mr...?" — she mumbled something indistinguishable, which you might hear during any job interview, and asked me a question.
"Morfo, Mr. Morfo" — I replied clearly while she poured herself some tea.
"So, Mr. Morfo, I believe you have the strength for such work, but we still need to discuss your pay... Do you have any ideas?" — she quickly got to the point, and for that, I was ready to express my gratitude on behalf of all workers who had ever applied for jobs through ads. Carefully considering how much I could ask for, I proposed my amount.
"1200 pounds a month" — I boldly stated, but immediately felt a bucket of cold water poured over me.
"740" — her tone shifted from soft to quite cold, but I wasn't just any fool.
"1060, my workday is longer than that of a regular worker, and I'm also combining the duties of a gravedigger and a guard" — I noticed a flicker of surprise on her face at my words. Not every day does a 14-year-old (actually 11) kid try to negotiate with serious arguments.
"930, not many people are dying lately, so you won't have to spend most of your workday digging graves, thus the workload is lighter" — a good argument, I was almost ready to agree, but at the last moment, another thought struck me.
"990, it's winter now, and the ground is frozen, making it harder to dig" — I smiled slyly, realizing I had negotiated quite a solid salary for a typical gravedigger.
"You've got me there, little devil. Here, sign the contract and don't you dare slack off at work" — she sighed tiredly, acknowledging her defeat, and handed me the contract. After quickly reading it, I signed it.
"To fruitful cooperation~" — I said, to which she merely nodded slightly. Then followed a half-hour tour of my responsibilities, and after taking me to the cemetery, this strange woman left me. From this moment on, my first day as a gravedigger began.
[T-01-68-W: progress +4%]
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P.s I updated the zero volume, and now it has information about roulette