The way back (part 3)

"...~"

He smiled to himself with satisfaction as every time the Skill activated properly, eradicating every trace of the black mist from the area.

"..."

The elderly priest of earth had a rather sour expression, but he couldn't say anything – although the black mist could not be seen by players with Class that weren't dealing with death, the effects of the prayer-type Skill could be clearly witnessed.

The light coming from the graves was an undeniable indicator that all of them were purified.

"Prayer."

*Haaa~*

[EXP points granted]

"Huh?!"

At the very end, Zorey faced the elderly man again and cast the Skill on him, making him call out in shock as some invisible weight had been removed from his shoulders.

"This was for the cost of the sachel. I will go to the spot where malice gathers. Be so kind and tell the people irresponsibly tossing the monster remains at that place to come there. If someone from that area is sick and normal medicine isn't helping, they should meet me there too."

The boy said while passing the grumpy old man.

"TSK! No respect for the elderly – I am not your errand boy!"

The priest of eath scoffed angrily but ended up complying with the youth's request.

Zorey was waiting quite a bit by the village's wall, but the only affected patient that showed up was a couple with a young child about four years old running a fever.

"O-our priest told us that you could help our son...!"

"Please, no matter what medicine we get him, the fever is back in a few hours...!"

The pair cried out while the child in the woman's arms kept shivering despite the blankets he was wrapped in.

"..."

Zorey raised his hand but ended up hesitating for a bit after watching the family.

Indeed, there was no doubt that the child had quite a lot of malice stuck to him – so much in fact that it was a bit odd that the parents weren't affected at all...

"It is because of malice."

"Then you can help our boy! We beg you...!"

The young priest of death confirmed that it was something he could do something about, and the child's father pleaded, taking a step forward...

"Before that, give me the amount that you would spend on the next dose of medicine for your son as compensation."

"...huh...?"

...but stopped dumbfounded when the black-haired boy's hand appeared in front of his face, and he requested.

"If I wasn't here, you would keep spending money on medicine that would help only for a little while anyway."

The boy pointed out with a smile and waited expectantly while the couple looked at each other in bewilderment.

"But... but you are a priest...! How could you demand payment for using our skills?!"

The man took a step back and gasped in agitation.

"Do you not compensate your local priest for his work...?"

Zorey asked, raising his brows as the evidence that the elderly priest of the earth was being reimbursed for his time was resting safely in his robe's inner pocket.

"...!"

"N-no! Of course not! He's doing it as his obligation to the World System that bestowed him with such a noble Class!"

The woman reacted first, she made a guilty expression and looked away in embarrassment – her husband stuttered and stepped to the side to shield her from the priest of death's eyes, but he was too late, and his agitated act wasn't good enough to fool even a youngster such as Zorey.

"Is that so? But he can't help your son now, can he? But I can, and the services of the priest of death cost money."

Zorey steeled himself and stated coldly. Such actions would be unthinkable for him in the past, but coming so close to death in the cave together with the Iron Fang wolf made, he was more resilient.

"!!!"

The villager's face turned pale as he started to back off from the twelve-year-old boy.

"Eric...! Let's just pay him...!"

"...!"

The woman with a child reached out her hand, put it on the man's back, and asked, making him sharply turn his head to her in disbelief.

"...papa..."

"..."

The action was then reinforced by the child's weak voice calling out to his parent, making the man grit his teeth and walk off.

The black-haired boy and the woman holding her child were standing there in silence until his return.

"Here!"

The angry man reached out his fist, and as Zorey stepped forward with his hands extended, he received four copper coins.

"...you were paying a lot..."

"...tsk...! It better be worth it, or you'll regret it...!"

The boy pointed out, pocketing the payment to which the man spat through his teeth.

"Oh? So you're saying that you got the money back for all the inefficient medicine you bought? Prayer."

"You...!"

*Haaa~!*

[EXP points granted]

Zorey wondered innocently, getting the man riled up but only for a moment as the Skill activated the next second, and the child in the woman's arms was basked in a warm glow.

"Nnnh...? Papa...? Mama...?"

"Sweetie...!"

As the light subsided following the erasure of the clump of black mist trying to sip into the child's body, the young boy fidgeted and let out a confused voice before looking between his parents with clear eyes, making his mother tear up and gasp.

"Alright. With that done, could you hasten up the people responsible for that pile of remains over there? If I don't clear up the malice from there, someone else will become like your son was."

"!!!"

Zorey nodded his head with satisfaction seeing the instant improvement to the child's health, and asked the boy's parents, making them flinch.

"You won't do that for free?!"

"..."

The man gasped, making the black-haired boy's good mood disappear just like that.

"You clearly can't do anything about it yourself and want someone to clear out your mess for free?"

The young priest of death asked, actually confused. While living in New Herbal, it was normal that an action that one person couldn't accomplish and required help had to be paid off – either by repaying the favor later on or by actually paying back the helper with money or goods. It was something so obvious that even children knew about it.

Even without Gael's warning, Zorey would expect to be compensated in some way, but apparently, that would not be the case if he didn't voice it out.

It felt so odd!

Such a thing could not be that different from village to village – after all, the traveling merchants were also behaving accordingly.

The only thing that was different now was that the black-haired boy became the priest of death.

Apparently, having a Class that's necessary for keeping the balance in the World System somehow equated to free labor in other people's heads, and it was blowing Zorey's mind more and more.

The pair left without saying their farewells, not to mention that the man kept glancing over his shoulder, sending Zorey hateful glares.

"...haaa... I started to understand what the teacher had in mind when he warned me..."

The black-haired boy breathed out, climbing the ladder and getting on top of the village wall to check the pile of slowly decaying monster parts that were releasing a rather putrid smell on top of the steady flow of black mist.

"...uh-huh...?"

Zorey furrowed his brows as a few stacks of remains that would require a lot of luck to end up so neat if thrown over the wall got his attention.

"Hey! You there! You are the priest of death who refuses to do his damn job without squeezing the money out of people?!"

"..."

But the black-haired boy didn't have too much time for observation as, apparently, the people he was waiting for showed up – with a short but stout bearded man leading them.

"Well, you're not getting any more money from us! Do your damn job as you are supposed to, or we will throw you out of our village!"

The man called out confidently, despite the fact that when Zorey got down from the walls and stood on even ground with him, the difference in height was mere few inches in favor of the adult villager.

"Okay."

Zorey looked at the man, then at the black mist rising from behind the wall and coiling above the village, and then he nodded, turning around and walking off.

"Hey! Where the hell are you going?!"

The confident man scoffed and called after the leaving boy.

"Out of your village. I am not going to work for free, so I am leaving as you requested. I hope you will make some sort of breakthrough in dealing with malice without the help of priests of death."

Zorey glanced over his shoulder for a moment and shrugged before declaring and continuing to walk away.

"Oh, but you should definitely stop children from sniffing through those remains – you might think something stupid, for example, that malice will not stick to innocent children who aren't registered in the World System yet, but that's not true. Without properly defined stats, unregistered people are EVEN MORE susceptible to malice than even a level 1 player with 1 point in MDF."

"!!!"