Mystery: Death Singer

Edric glanced out the window and saw that the night was already deep. Just as he was about to get up and go to the bathroom to wash up before going back to sleep, a familiar, intense tearing pain suddenly surged from the depths of his mind.

Edric staggered back into his chair, raising his hands to clutch his head tightly, his teeth clenched together, his body trembling slightly as he managed to stifle all cries of pain from his throat.

This time, the excruciating pain came faster and was stronger than ever before, ranking among the top in Edric's limited memory.

That's why Edric's face showed no sign of pain, but rather an undisguised joy.

Based on the principle that "the stronger the pain, the more important the memory," he was certain that he had caught a big catch this time!

After enduring five minutes of both pain and pleasure for Edric, an extremely precious memory resurfaced in his mind, surfacing from the depths of his memory.

Edric, enduring the lingering throbbing in his brain, muttered to himself with a puzzled expression:

"It's not about mastering, it's about digesting."

"It's not digging, it's acting."

"The name of a potion is not just a symbol, but also an image, and even more so, a 'key' to digestion."

At that moment, he suddenly remembered the "Corpse Collector" potion he had completely digested, and his experience working at the Crescent Moon Town cemetery for the past three years, and realized with a start:

"So this is what 'playing a role' is all about. So what I need to do next is play the role of a real 'gravedigger'?"

Edric's expression turned somewhat strange. He didn't know if digging a pit for the deceased who was about to be buried counted as "grave digging," but he was certain that digging pits for those already buried in coffins could certainly be called "playing a role."

But this thought was fleeting. After all, Raphael Cemetery was the largest cemetery in Tingen. Even a newcomer like him, who had only worked there for a few days, had seen the pastors of the Church of the Night come to inspect and patrol.

Digging up graves in this kind of cemetery is like provoking the gods. Even if a few graves are dug up due to the lack of monitoring equipment in the past, it won't attract attention. But in the long run, you will eventually be caught by the law.

As for whether or not to gamble on digging fewer graves, in case it happens to be a successful digestion...

Edric thought about the "Corpse Collector" potion that he had spent three years digesting, and immediately abandoned this all-or-nothing, aggressive approach.

He is still young, having just been promoted to Sequence 8 Extraordinary, and has not yet been exposed to the sight of official Extraordinary, so there is no need for him to risk his life to speed up the digestion process.

Composing himself, Edric quickly went to the bathroom to wash up, then lay down on the bed and drifted off to sleep.

…………

The next morning, shortly after Edric arrived at Raphael Cemetery, he received notification that a deceased person was to be buried that morning.

For Edric, who was eager to test the role-playing method, this was undoubtedly good news. He and Alvin each carried a shovel and headed straight for the cemetery chosen by the deceased's family.

While digging the hole, Edric learned some incredible news from Alvin: this colleague, whose head was half white and whose body was bent like an old man, was only forty years old this year!

Noticing Edric's astonished gaze, Alvin chuckled and, while shoveling dirt away, said with feigned ease:

"Don't be surprised. Just digging and filling soil won't make you look like me. I used to make a living at the docks. I became like this because I carried too many huge things."

"But I was lucky. When I was about to collapse from exhaustion and die from the stress of those cargo ships, Swain, the owner of the Dragon Bar, introduced me to my current job. Although he was an alcoholic, he was a rare and good person."

Dragon Bar, Swain... Edric raised an eyebrow. He seemed to have seen these two names in his fragmented memories, but only briefly. They shouldn't be any important information... right?

Just then, Alvin stopped shoveling, wiped the sweat from his brow, looked at Edric, and smiled:

"Edric, tomorrow is Sunday. Except for the guards, everyone will have a precious day off. Have you thought about how you're going to spend it?"

—In Rune, or rather the countries of the Northern Continent, Sunday is a legal day of rest for the vast majority of people, even in cemeteries. If someone unfortunately dies on this day, they are often taken to a church for a short stay until a working day for formal burial.

Edric pursed his lips and said, "I heard that Hoy University doesn't refuse visitors on Sundays, so I'd like to go and check it out."

Erwin nodded with an "I knew it" expression, then chuckled:

"That's normal. Every young man who comes to settle in Tingen for the first time does the same. This is the famous 'University City' of the whole of Loen! But it's quite unusual that you chose Hoy University instead of the more prestigious Tingen University."

"There are many more days to come, and the order in which we visit the universities doesn't matter," Edric smiled, offering a casual excuse.

"You're right, there's still a long way to go." Alvin looked at Edric with a somewhat dazed expression, as if he saw himself back then, carrying the weight of his family's life on his shoulders. "Youth is truly wonderful..."

After a busy morning, until he had erected and secured the tombstone with the black and white photo on it, Edric still didn't feel much of the potion in his body being digested. He could only sigh inwardly and completely reject the guess that "digging a grave can also be considered grave robbing."

Therefore, although Edric works in the cemetery and has the advantage of being close to the source, it is still quite difficult for him to successfully complete his role by taking advantage of the environment.

Because he currently works the day shift, and his job is to do all kinds of heavy manual labor, he will never and could never be exposed to night shifts, which are almost like holidays.

So what if you choose to dig up those graves during the day? That's practically suicide; the graves are dug in the morning, and the people are arrested in the afternoon.

After realizing that he would have difficulty acting normally, Edric was extremely grateful that the Klein family had moved elsewhere, thus avoiding the possibility of him accidentally running into an official Extraordinary when he sneaked out of the apartment in the middle of the night.

Although digging up other people's graves is quite immoral, Edric never intended to do anything bad. After digging, he would put the graves back in exactly the same place, simply helping people "loosen the soil" for free so that the deceased could lie more comfortably.