Scouting the Place (Please Subscribe~)

Several workers glanced at the older gentleman sitting on a nearby bench. He was leisurely tossing feed onto the ground, attracting a flock of pigeons. They looked at him with envy.

"Eat up. We have to get to work when we're done. Mr Belling said he'd deduct one penny for every minute we're late."

"What a demon. We're only getting three soli for today's work, aren't we?"

"That's because we're working for the embassy today. When else would we get so lucky? Getting that Vampire to pay us three soli would kill him!"

The workers laughed.

One of them, a man with a stubbly chin, sighed. His complexion was sallow, seemingly from long-term malnutrition. His eyes were sunken and shadowed, and though he was still young, he already had deep lines around his mouth.

"If only we could get work like this every day. Then my two children wouldn't have to work in the factory. I could even send them to school."

The workers fell silent for a moment.

Soon it was time to go. They hurriedly packed up their things.

The worker with the deep lines around his mouth was about to follow when a cane hooked around him.

He froze and looked at the older gentleman beside him, who was smiling at him.

"Would you like to earn a pound?" the gentleman asked.

A little while later, the worker ran off in high spirits, leaving behind his clothes and hat.

The old gentleman who had been feeding the pigeons took out a crumpled identity document. He glanced at it and read the name with a smile. "Sam."

He scattered the rest of the feed across the ground. A great flock of white pigeons swooped down, and by the time they had landed, the old man had vanished from