Speeding through the land YuJu looked anything but concerned, as if his ploy wasn't exposed earlier on, in fact his mind was nowhere near the matter

'The Paradise Palace is an enigma that I don't want to loiter around, that fellow from Vehement is hard to find, only Death Row I can convince'

​​

Procuring more forces was his only concern, as for Mia's major slip up it was only secondary, if push comes to shove he could have her retreat while he paid Sofia a private visit, detrimental as it might be to the woman's growth

With hate he made his way toward that dead valley once more, this time wasting no words on the silence loving man, dropping a good chunk of corpses in front of his graveyard instead, along with a note stating this being a trade offred by his fellow humans who needed his help at the frontlines

'These should be enough'

Lonesome as that guy may be he wouldn't pass such an opportunity off, especially since this mist was everyone's common enemy

'Such a waste to have opened the pouch though'

All these corpses, as well as the top notch weapons, came from emptying the greed pouch, destroying it in the process

While he did want to try and find a way to open it without destroying it, time wasn't enough for that, and he wasn't a fan of hoarding anyway

'Death Row guild members are always scattered in the most dangerous place, so they should be fighting the other side of the borders'

Knowing those daredevils style he turned to the side and started running toward their supposed approximate location

On his way he passed way more human groups than normal, many strong beasts as well, the two could even be seen walking not far from each other without hostility, knowing that if they killed each other then there would be no one to stop the mist, or to be more exact, stall it while they make a run for it

All these did not concern YuJu much, if they were strong enough they would reach the settlement, only then would he pay them attention

"Hmm?"

That is until he noticed a certain shop set up in the middle of their retreat, how could he miss it with the flashing lights and loud noise

Approaching he could hear the cheesy voice of the shopkeeper garnering everyone's attention

"Step right up, step right up ladies and gents, upon my wares feast your eyes, under the simple cover of these instruments, you won't believe the wonderment that lies"

In an exaggerated manner, the colorfully dressed man introduced each and every item with a rhyme to his tone

"This spoon I present, is nothing short of disaster, worth every penny spent, even in the hands of a jester!"

Throwing it to a clown y the side he had the crowd watch as the jiggling fellow started moving objects telekinetically with the use of this seemingly miraculous spoon

"And this treasure before you, a testament of a world once forgotten, buying it you shall never rue, for even history can be unwritten"

A pen, used by the man over one of the audience caused the injuries dotting their face to be wiped away

""Ohhh""

Swiped off their feet the audience couldn't help but want to get their hands on this miraculous item

"How much for it!"

"Yeah, how do you buy this thing"

Asked a few, with money being useless there must be something to pay with since he was offering it

"Glad you asked, for the cheap price of two years, its all yours once you've paid, with it never fall behind your peers"

Honeyed words did wonders, especially in a time of crisis, when they didn't even know whether they would live till tomorrow or not the two years sounded cheap indeed

"I'll buy the spoon!"

"No, I'm taking that"

"Give me that pen and take three years!"

The crowd pushed and yelled, widening the grin on the man's face as he looked among them

"You young lad, you seem in need of some forgetting, two years for a memory gone isn't bad, maybe with it everything would stop hurting"

A boy of late age was pointed out, a gash apparent on his arm, more than enough reason to accept this trade

And so the boy stepped up to the man who took his hand

"This won't hurt"

He said, tracing a finger along the wounded arm, a slither of light taken out by the time his finger was off

'What? Is he an essence extractor'

YuJu's eyes went wide in doubt, such application of extracting life without bringing its holder much harm went beyond what humans should be capable of doing at this time and age, looks like enduring the incoherent rhymes paid off

Repeating this process the man chose another person to wield the spoon, and that person immediately set off moving objects at random, overjoyed with the newfound power

"We must now set off, live long live well till your purchases payoff"

Smiling still the man and his clown companion went their way, leaving the crowd to their awe

The two walked normally at the beginning but their speed picked up the further they got, up to a point where they were running like their tails were on fire

Whoosh Fuaah!

The clown even took it literally, the back of his swaying outfit suddenly rising in flames after a lit arrow stabbed into him

Pukpukpuk!

Following it came many more, poking into the still prancing fellow with a weird sound, at which point it suddenly turned its head a hundred and eight degrees, grinning ear to ear

"HAhahaHAha!"

Laughing wildly it rose up to the air like a balloon, and popped like one too, a spray of colourful ribbons filling the place, in it lost was the shopkeeper's figure

"Damn it he's gone!"

"Couldn't have run far, search around!"

Greedy fr power the humans who followed to rob the weak looking fellow gave chase to the wind, not knowing how out of close he really was

"Whew~, that was tiring"

"Not anymore tiring than having to listen to your drivel honey!"

A new clown greeted the man at the entrance of an underground cave just under those people

"Come one, I spent two nights writing those lines"

"Clearly your not meant for it, try a different career on your next disguise"

Another thing, this time a cloaked cripple, answered as he walked deeper into this man made burrow

One puppet after the other entered his sight every few steps, each unique in how they looked, their bodies gradually getting less and less finished, by the time he reached the end there was only a head laying next to a bed, on which there lay a body covered in cloth, wrinkled and old was the hand poking from under it

"My love, must you put down my dreams like so?"

"Clowning brings too much attention anyway, it's for your good honey"

Awsnred the heed, its voice sounding like a presenter from the radio

Smiling gently the man took ahold of the hand, holding it in his, staying silent as it slowly but surely lost its wrinkles and old appearance, replacing it with a youthful delicate one

"Mmm! It seems you've stolen far too much from those poor kids"

It wasn't the puppet speaking, but a womanly voice from under the blanket, the hand slowly reaching up to cup the man's face

"They won't miss it my love, by the time that mist creeps over all will be lost"

"This pessimistic view of yours, it excites me the most"

Her voice turning raunchy the woman unbuttoned the tacky costume as she pulled him under the sheets to get some good night's sleep and nothing more…

'Who are these clowns?'

YuJu found himself wondering, and while he did find them to be cheesy to an extent he couldn't deny their skills

'Manipulating those puppets from afar and even using the energy strings to lift objects, portraying an illusion of telekinesis, was quite the feat, got to hand it to this woman, the man on the other hand….'

He couldn't figure that fellow out

'Extracting life is one thing, transferring it is another, that's not the doing of the essence extractor class, unless he combined it with another to achieve such results'

For now it was a mystery, one thing was for sure however and that was the great value of this person, or the couple in general

'I'll have to keep an eye on them when I finish up my work, since I don't know who they are it can only mean they up and died somewhere'

It wasn't an exaggeration to say he knew of every prominent figure there was in the human race, if not by face then at least by skills, these two slipped that list somehow, most likely due to an early death

Not wanting to watch the late night show he made his way out and resumed the small recruiting journey