The Awakened One, Book 1: Remnant

Chapter 21: Thief in The Night

At the man's ignorance, the Reaper took one step forward, causing the old man to fall on his back in fear. The pure shock and terror from the Reapers single step forced all of the card's information back into his brain. "Value!" The Reaper spoke much louder this time.

The sound of his demonic voice boomed through the vacant store, forcing the old man's response, "of course! The retail value of all of your Dust is $26,872 Lien, but we order it from the Schnee Company at about a third of the cost."

The Reaper stopped for a moment, before he reached into his chest and pulled out a single black card with silver lining across it. He then placed the card in between his index and ring fingers and sent it soaring through the air. 

The card made its stop as it shallowly cut itself into the wall next to the scared shop owner. The Reaper then smoothly turned around and quietly spoke, "Pleasure." That was all the owner heard as the Reaper walked into the crates, absorbing them into his body, and vanished without a trace.

The old man slowly stood from his position on the cold floor, and he pulled the black card from the slot in the wall. He examined the weird object for a moment not exactly understanding the purpose of it, but as he checked the back, and thoroughly looked at the card's designs, his eyes widened in shock. 

He quickly pulled out his scroll and placed the camera over the card. What appeared on his screen left him in shock, "$30,000 Lien?!?!?!" For a moment he thought that it must have been fraudulent, so he added attempted to add it to the stores cash deposit up front, and sure enough it was real. 

As he slowly slouched down to the floor in shock and exhaustion, "The Grimm Reaper, what is your goal?" He suddenly recounted the card that had been left in his store one week prior. "Abiding by my Rules will bring you fortune beyond belief. I guess this is what they meant by that."

All across the district, The Reaper walked into various dimly lit Dust stores and committed the same actions. Some provided more materials, some chose to test his patience, and some couldn't even speak in his presence. 

However, the encounter's results remained the same, the people that he encountered were all stricken by terror as he entered but were shocked and confused as he left. He had given those that listened a massive pay day and for that a weird form of twisted respect and admiration had crept its way into their hearts.

Across the district, two women sat in a small office room, patiently waiting for a special guest to appear in their store. One of the women was incredibly calm, sitting at her desk, sipping on her coffee and typing away on her computer. 

On the other hand, across the desk was someone who was fidgeting with her fingers, and twirling around in her spiny chair, as she nervously waited for the inevitable. "Hey Boss Scarlet, do you think the Reaper is actually coming? It has been a while, maybe he forgot about us" the girl said shakily.

The much more mature woman turned from her computer to face her nervous right-hand women, "we know that the 'Reaper' is coming. One week ago, today we found that letter, meaning that they are coming tonight at some point. Who would create such an elaborate calling card just to not show up on time to collect what the asked for? Nobody professional, that's who, and this person is clearly at least thoughtful." 

As soon as the mature woman explained why the Reaper was coming, the younger woman shivered and slouched down in her chair. "Rouge, calm down. Nothing bad is going to happen, we did everything they instructed us to do and we avoided all the things the Grimm Reaper told us not to do."

Rouge rose from her spiny chair, and let out a long exhale, "yeah sure, but you think their gonna like the fact that you screwed them over? You are literally giving them like 2 pieces of gum, a used condom, and pocket lint in comparison to what we should be. You don't think that they'll notice?"