Cooked.

Most people present trembled in fear, but Loki did his best to stay calm and pretend to be arrogant so he threw a smirk onto his face and spoke nonchalantly trying to joke around.

"Ha! Was he a sacrificial lamb?"

The shack owner looked at Loki with raised eyebrows but said nothing and lifted his hands from the slip of paper that was now lying flat on the table.

"Why thank you. I shall be back soon." Loki said as he picked up the slip and walked away with a spring in his step, trying to keep his composure to the very end.

As Loki walked away, he realised that instead of one he had gotten two slips of paper.

'Huh? Two? What is the other one? Did he give me two targets?'

Unfolding the paper to look at it, Loki began reading what was on the paper.

'Rules.'

'Oh?'

'Do not try and outsmart the dealer.'

'Do not attempt to steal more than once a month. Targets are carefully picked and handed out so that thefts do not occur too often in an area and the operation can be kept under cover.'

'Oh wait! So was this why the man who employed me was killed?'

'Because he tried to outsmart the dealer by employing me and stealing more than once a month?'

'But how did he get two targets for us? Did they give it to him as a test or something? Or maybe he had it from his last sidekick who died?'

'Whatever it is, they're pretty strict.'

Moving onto the third rule Loki read it with caution.

'Do not harm any other person in a similar occupation following the rules of the black market.'

'Ah…so what that man was doing to me was 'illegal'. Was that why he got sent to the gallows the second time he tried to outsmart the system to gain more money?'

'Poor gu- wait why am I feeling pity for him? He did something wrong and got served the result of his own actions. Not my fault he died.'

Loki read the rules again and again so that he would always remember them and so that he wouldn't end up in a situation like his previous employer even by mistake.

A few minutes before Loki walked away with his target.

"Where's Mr. A?" Ludwig asked.

There was a slight pause in the actions of the man in the shack as he looked up and seemed to keenly pay attention to Ludwig who was covered by a black jacket and a white mask.

His eyes showed a faint hint of recognition after which he said, "Ho? In a hurry are you? Mr. A is waiting inside."

The fear that emanated from Ludwig was palpable and the man behind the counter licked his lips as if trembling in joy at the dish that Ludwig was presenting.

Ludwig looked in the direction of the door that the man behind the counter pointed at and felt his blood chill at the thought of having to meet the person he so dreaded meeting.

With an almost imperceptible nod, Ludwig walked towards the door and stood in front of it. He tried calming himself down but he couldn't cool his nerves.

Before he could knock on the door though, a faint whisper that only he heard carried out of it.

"Come in."

Pushing the door open slightly, Ludwig slipped into the pitch-black room, with no source of light even as much as touching the inside.

As he closed the door, a faint candle flickered to life, throwing light on the hooded-robed man who was sitting on a high stool seemingly waiting for his prey in this dungeon.

Gathering up some courage, Ludwig walked to the man held out his hand and greeted, "I'm Ludwig. You must be Mr. A. I've been wanting to meet you."

A dainty hand from underneath the rob slipped out and held Ludwig's hand but ignored his introduction and instead carefully examined the rough hand.

Ludwig felt a little weird at having his hand examined but he remained calm and allowed Mr. A to do as he wished.

After a few seconds, a faint whisper echoed in the silence of the room.

"You must not lie in front of the lord."

Mr. A brought Ludwig's hand under the hood and before Ludwig could realise what was happening, bit of a finger.

"AAAAHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!"

Ludwig held his hand and collapsed on the ground screaming while Mr. A calmly crunched the finger in his mouth, bones and all.

*Crunch* *Crunch* *Crunch*

Ludwig looked up at Mr. A with fear growing in his eyes as he stared at the man and started crawling on the floor to escape the room.

'Mad man! He's a madman!' Ludwig thought trying his best to leave the room before Mr.A tried anything else.

But to Ludwig's misfortune, Mr. A spoke just as he reached the door.

"Where are you going."

The sentence was more a statement that reminded Ludwig of his position instead of a well-meaning question that inquired of his plans for the morning.

He tried to run away, trying his very best to escape using the door that was just so close, but it felt like something was holding his body in place, something that wouldn't let him go in any other direction than the crazed hooded man sitting in front of him.

Ludwig holding his stubbed finger stood up slowly, dragged his feet and appeared in front of Mr. A once again.

"The paper." Mr. A asked.

Ludwig pulled out the paper from his pocket and instead of handing it to Mr. A directly he placed it on the table in between them and moved back a few steps in fear.

A ruby ring on Mr. A's hand glimmered as he picked up the paper and folded it open on his dainty palm. When he did Ludwig heard him mumble something but he could only make out a few words.

"Who...owner...paper."

The happened seven times before Mr. A tilted his head slightly upwards and entered a state of cogitation.

The locker where the money was kept first came into view, rolls of cash were strewn about with a single book.

A blurry hand moved into the picture as it picked up all the rolls of cash but just when the scene changed again to show the face of the person connected to the hand everything became shrouded in a dense grey fog.

Mr. A broke out of his divination attempt and looked at Ludwig who was standing a few steps away from the edge of the table, his finger still bleeding.

Mr. A's cold red eyes shone through his hooded face which was shrouded in darkness, giving them an eerie glow.

"Do you have any other clues?" Mr. A asked Ludwig but he shook his head quietly.

"I see."

A sombre silence set into the room and it felt suffocating to Ludwig.

Just as Ludwig thought about breaking the silence to ask for permission to leave, Mr. A spoke up.

"Give me your hand."

Ludwig shivered with fear as he involuntarily took a step backward.

"W- Wh- Why?" Ludwig questioned but Mr. A gave no answer instead his red eyes just peered at him through the darkness.

Holding his left hand out Ludwig resigned himself to fate and accepted that he would lose another finger.

But to his surprise, Mr. A calmly said, "Other hand."

Holding out his bleeding hand Ludwig stood in fear as blood pooled on the table.

Mr. A casually held the bleeding hand once again with his clean dainty hands that had the ruby ring on it. He covered the bleeding finger and miraculously the finger healed enough to stop the bleeding.

Ludwig feeling the pain in his finger subside grew shocked.

'Is this what a beyonder can do?'

Though, before Mr. A returned the hand and let it go, he licked all the blood around the finger and wiped it clean.

Ludwig felt disgust creep up from the very depths of his being as Mr. A's slimy tongue wrapped around his finger stub but he made no external move to push him off, partially because he was still astonished but mostly because he was still subconsciously rooted with fear.

After a minute of licking his finger clean, Mr. A finally released Ludwig's hand.

"You may go." Mr. A ordered.

Ludwig stepped back with a stumble but seeing that Mr. A was no longer focused on him he immediately stepped towards the door, flung it open to throw himself out of the room without looking back.

But as soon as he reached the door, a knife flew through the air and stabbed his head, causing him to drop dead before he could leave the room.

Mr. A walked up to the corpse and spoke barely above a whisper, "Too bad for you, flesh tastes the best when it is cooked with fear and seasoned in hope."

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