The graveyard

"Cough Cough! That's it for today! I need to rest now!" An old man with a tired expression slowly pushed the desk away from his bed. The desk had small wheels attached to its legs and easily rolled a few centimeters when it was pushed.

"Alright! It has been hard for you! Please take a rest, I will ask the servants to bring a hot meal!"

"Thank you, Sherman! I know I can rely on you!" said the old man. He slowly pushed his long white hair and took a more comfortable position. "Cough cough!"

Sherman bowed before quickly leaving the room. He quickly signaled the servants outside to go to the kitchen and bring back a hot meal.

The two servants promptly nodded before disappearing into the corridor. Sherman wanted to close the door immediately, but he was interrupted by two young men standing near the door.

"Sherman! How is our father? Is his health improving?" asked a tall man with brown hair.

"Young master! The Earl is resting! He has just finished his daily work; would you like to come in?" respectfully said Sherman. Although his tone and attitude were respectful, his eyes were full of disdain towards the two young men in front of him.

"There is no need. Since my father is resting, we should not disturb him. After all, his health is fragile," answered the other man with nonchalance.

'What a pity! The Earl has two sons but none of them even cares about his health! All they think of is their father's title,' said Sherman in his heart. He naturally could not voice out his thoughts. Although he was the personal butler of the earl, he was in the end just a servant of the household. Instead, he simply bowed, "In that case, please excuse me. I will return to the Earl's side."

Sherman slowly closed the door and returned to the old man's side.

"Was it Mans and Adam?" asked the old man.

Sherman looked at the earl with regret and pity, "Yes. It was the two young masters."

...

Outside the room, the two young men looked at each other before silently walking back to their own quarters. They walked down the corridor together but at that moment, the servants were coming back; one of them was pushing a trolley containing food while the other was holding a tray on which a letter was placed.

"Wait a minute! What is this letter?" asked Mans.

"Young master! This is a message from the capital. It just arrived a few minutes ago. The manager asked us to bring it to the earl."

The two young men's eyes shone, "The capital? Give me this letter!"

Without waiting, Adam stepped forward and grabbed the letter. His movement was quite fast. He inadvertently pushed the young servant. Although it was not intentional, the servant had a frail body and could not maintain her balance.

"Young masters. We need to deliver the letter to the Earl," respectfully said the other servant.

"Silence! One of us is going to be the next Earl anyway! Go bring the food to my father! Don't waste time. His health is already declining, and you want to make him starve!" angrily shouted Mans.

The servants were scared by his actions. They both clearly knew how violent the two young masters were. They appeared flawless in public but in private, both of them revealed their true character. Due to their status and to the influence of their father, only those working for the household knew about their real nature and these people were all being generously rewarded to maintain the secret.

"And don't say anything about the letter! We will deal with it," declared Adam as he stared at the two young servants like a wolf looking at his preys.

The servants hurriedly pushed the trolley and rushed to the Earl's room. They both hated being in presence of the Earl's sons. If they were not seriously in debt and needed the money to help their family, they would have long left this place. They knew it was their duty to get back the letter, but they could simply tell Sherman about this incident.

The threats of the Earl's sons did not have much weight but if they stayed there, they might lose their chastity. Things like that happened in the past and the servants were well aware of that.

With the two servants gone, Mans and Adam opened the letter and read the content. Their eyes shone as they finally arrived at the signature at the bottom.

"The 6th prince and the 7th princess are coming!?"

...

Graveyard of Verdan Town

Li Wei was walking next to the graveyard keeper, Oleg.

"I will just make a quick round and then I will show you my house. I spend most of the night there, but I go out to make patrols occasionally. I don't have any specific pattern since I am trying to catch the grave robbers off guard. But despite all my attempts, I never saw them," said Oleg.

Li Wei nodded. He found that Oleg's character really did not match his appearance, but appearances could be deceiving. The two men walked around the graveyard. The landscape was quite monotonous and gloomy.

Gravestones of different sizes could be seen everywhere. It was quite intimidating to see the different names and writings. Some were clearly better maintained than others and a few even had some flowers.

Quickly, they turned into another alley where larger tombs could be found. There, 5 to 6 corpses could be buried together; these were mostly used by families to bury all their members together. These tombs were also the targets of the grave robbers. In most cases, it was the tombs that were ransacked.

The graveyard keeper Oleg pointed at some tombs and explained that they had recently been looted. He had to come there the next day to repair the damage and clean up the place.

At that moment, Li Wei recalled that there was a possibility that Oleg was the one behind all these graverobbing.

He silently followed Oleg as he went through the graveyard. Fortunately, the graveyard was not very large. It only took 10 minutes to cover the perimeter of the graveyard. They then went to the center of the graveyard which was clearly of much better quality.

This was the place where rich families were buried. Strangely, none of the tombs there had been the target of looting.

"These tombs were not robbed because they are protected by some runes and arrays! The graverobbers are clearly aware of this or else, they would not have been able to resist at looting these tombs," explained Oleg.

Li Wei carefully observed the place. This area was better decorated with a few statues here and there with bushes and flowers everywhere. There seemed to be some boundaries within the area, in the form of bushes, separating the different rich families from each other.

"Now, let's go to my home."

Quickly, Li Wei and Oleg arrived in front of Oleg's house. By itself, it looked quite cozy, made of bricks and well lighted. But when adding in the graveyard, the house looked more like a horror house.

"This is my place. Come in," said Oleg as he pushed opened the door and invited Li Wei in.

The latter hesitated before nodding. Inside, the house looked absolutely normal. Li Wei stood in the kitchen. On the side he could see a living room and a small corridor, probably leading to the bedroom and bathroom.

Oleg entered and poured some coffee in two cups, "Make yourself comfortable! I usually stay here for a while and then heads out about eight times per night?"

"Thank you," answered Li Wei as he picked the cup of coffee but he did not drink it. He remembered the last time he accepted food or drinks from strangers, it always ended up badly. Besides, Li Wei was still suspicious of Oleg. Even if he was interrogated about being the culprit, maybe he was simply in cahoot with others!

Oleg naturally noticed Li Wei's behavior, "Sigh... It looks like it is hard to gain the trust of strangers... You know? One of those adventurers blamed me for being responsible for the graverobbing but thanks to the authorities, I was quickly found innocent. It is just sad that people judge me on my appearance. They had to pay severe fines for slandering after the incident," said Oleg, appearing full of regrets and guilt.

'Is he reading my thoughts or something?' thought Li Wei. He looked at Oleg with surprise and did not know how to react. He had just been invited into Oleg's house and yet, he was already being wary of his host.

"I am not blaming you. Take it just as a soft warning that people has accused me in the past and all paid fines. Also, just one week after being accused of committing the crimes, I was also accused of hiring people to rob in my stead. These people were still in the wrong and had to fork out even more gold."

"I am just saying that you can accuse me of anything, but I am innocent! And you might end up paying for your mistakes!"

Oleg appeared carefree as he drank his coffee. He looked at Li Wei to see his reactions and smiled with a pitiful look.

Li Wei was caught off guard by his statement, 'Is he really completely innocent? If he really was, then why is he saying that now...'

"Anyway, I think I should go and patrol the graveyard. It is the best way to catch the graverobbers," said Li Wei. He was clearly uncomfortable and just wanted to leave.

"Sure. I will also go out for a round soon. Feel free to come back here to rest if needed," answered Oleg.

Li Wei left as quickly as he could. Oleg was friendly and seemed genuinely worried about the state of the graveyard, but Li Wei could not help but feel some unease in this house.

He left without asking for anything and was once again facing the graves. The sun has just set in the distance and so, the graveyard was still well lighted. During the night, he would have to use a lantern to move around the graveyard.

...

The night quickly came, and the atmosphere of the graveyard drastically changed. It did not become scarier or gloomier but more mysterious. The moonlight was illuminating most of the graveyard such that Li Wei did not even need to use a lantern.

Since leaving Oleg's house, Li Wei walked around the graveyard, looking for some clues. But he did not find anything, the graverobbers left absolutely no trace aside from the massive hole in the tombs and the pile of dirt.

"Is this what security guards do every night? So boring!" thought Li Wei.

At that moment, "Thum thum thum", muffled footsteps were heard coming from one of the alleys.

Li Wei instinctively drew one of his swords and approached the area from where the sound was coming. The regular footsteps were becoming louder and louder; it was as if that person was carrying something quite heavy.

Li Wei stopped. The noises were coming from the alley right in front of him! As soon as he took a step and turned to the right, he would be able to see the culprit!

He held his breath and jumped into the alley with his sword drawn! However, he froze as soon as he saw the person walking towards him.

"Gravekeeper Oleg?" exclaimed Li Wei.

"Ah! It's you? You almost scared me by jumping like that. Did I not tell you that I would be making some patrols?" said Oleg with nonchalance. Although he said he was scared, he looked calm and composed.

"I am sorry. I did not know, when I heard those loud footsteps, I thought it was the graverobbers," said Li Wei. He looked at Oleg who was carrying the same shovel as before but there was nothing new that could produce that sound!

"Haha. It's those boots! I always wear them at night! They are heavier and rougher but this way, I am guaranteed that my feet will not be harmed if I walk on sharp objects. You never know what you can find in the graveyard. At night, it is difficult to see very far! You are lucky that tonight, the sky is very clear," calmly said Oleg.

Li Wei nodded. He did not know much about the graveyard and could not judge what Oleg said. He simply smiled, "Sorry to have scared you then! I will finish my own round!"

"No problem. Feel free to come to my house if you are tired," said Oleg with a smile. Without saying anything else, he walked past Li Wei and turned into another alley.

"Thum Thum Thum"

With Oleg gone, Li Wei put back his sword at his waist. It seemed he was too nervous. Oleg was just doing his job.

'Why do I have this weird feeling?' thought Li Wei. Something was definitely wrong, but Li Wei did not know what it was. He did not know what was different, but he felt that Oleg was not the same. He just did not give the same vibes as he previously did.

'Also... Why do I feel that his last smile was forced?' thought Li Wei. He did not have any proof but after all this time, Li Wei trusted his instinct to some degree and so, he decided to trail Oleg!