640. Better to Trust Puji

Remote, run-down, and rarely visited.

Even Will, who seldom moved about the city, felt something was off, but he desperately wanted to finish this last job before leaving, so he forced down the unease in his heart.

Seeming to notice Will's nervousness, the man who had brought him there took a bottle of liquor from beneath a drawer in the room and poured two cups.

"I've sent the boss to fetch the goods. Should take about ten minutes. They're all materials stolen and resold by clerks or apprentices from other shops. The source isn't exactly clean, so we can't put them out in the open. Hope you don't mind."

As he spoke, he raised the wooden cup and drained the liquor.

Will nodded and took a small sip as well.

After the liquor went down, the other man seemed to open up, chatting from the weather to the situation in the city, from other people to himself.

He spoke of his own helplessness, of how he had no clever mind and could never become a scholar or a pharmacist.

Nor did he have exceptional talent. His level would not rise, so he could not become an adventurer or join the army.

All he could do was run some gray business in the city. It looked profitable, but there were few customers, and once everyone above and below took their cut, not much money ended up in his hands.

Listening to him talk, Will nodded too, feeling more or less the same.

When he was young, he had also dreamed of becoming a powerful mage, a great warrior. If he had not lacked talent, how could he have spent half his life as a farmer?

Seeing that Will agreed with him, the man suddenly said, "Do you believe in reincarnation?"

A