The open road connecting Blackwood Cemetery to Oakhaven Village was just as quiet as it had been yesterday.
B walked down the center of the dirt path, her high leather boots making soft, rhythmically steady thumps against the packed dirt. Her floor-length snow-white hair trailed behind her like a long blanket, swishing gently as she walked.
As usual, every time a cool breeze rustled through the branches of the tall trees lining the road, those weird, faint sounds echoed near her ears.
...sssshhhh... vvvvv...
It sounded like a hundred tiny voices murmuring in hushed, raspy whispers, swirling around her shoulders before disappearing into the leaves.
B didn't even turn her head.
Back in her previous world, whenever she was forced to work thirty or forty hours straight without sleep, her exhausted brain would regularly hallucinate sounds. The hum of the office air conditioner, the faint buzz of the fluorescent lights, or even the distant noise of city traffic would transform inside her ears into strange, hushed conversations. She was so thoroughly accustomed to hearing weird noises whenever she was tired that she simply treated the whispering wind as background noise.
'My brain is still recovering from my past life's overwork,' B reasoned casually, taking another easy step forward. 'Once I spend a few more days resting on my couch and reading books, these sound effects will probably stop.'
She kept walking, completely unbothered, until the tall stone archway marking the entrance of Oakhaven Village came into view.
The village was lively and peaceful under the bright afternoon sun. People walked along the paved stone streets, chatting pleasantly, while street vendors shouted out their daily sales from colorful wooden stalls.
B stepped onto the stone pathway, her void-black pupils scanning the street to look for a building that looked like a library.
However, actually reaching a library proved to be much harder than she expected, mostly because Oakhaven Village was full of unexpected distractions.
Her first distraction happened only two minutes after she entered the main square.
A large crowd of villagers had gathered around a large wooden tank filled with river water near the fish market. Curiosity getting the better of her, B shuffled through the crowd, carrying her long hair in her arm, and peeked over the wooden edge.
Standing beside the tank was a proud fisherman holding a giant net. Inside the net was a massive river catfish—a creature so long and thick that it was literally larger and heavier than B's entire fifteen-year-old body!
"Look at the size of this beauty!" the fisherman bellowed, laughing as the giant catfish splashed water everywhere. "Caught 'im down at the south river bend!"
B stared at the giant, slippery fish with wide, blank eyes. Back in her old world, the only fish she ever saw were small, sad fillets wrapped in plastic trays at the local supermarket. Seeing a living fish bigger than herself felt like looking at a small river monster.
She watched the fish splash for ten full minutes before finally remembering her mission and pulling herself away.
She made it another fifty paces down the street before running into her second distraction.
Sitting on a low stone wall near a quiet alleyway was an old man wearing a soft woven hat, surrounded by at least fifteen stray cats of all different colors. There were orange tabby cats, sleek black cats, calico kittens, and fluffy white ones.
The moment B walked past, three of the cats perked up their ears. An orange tabby stood up, trotted over to B's leather boots, and began to nuzzle its furry cheek against her ankle, purring loudly. A fluffy grey kitten even hopped onto the long train of her white hair, curling up as if it had found the softest rug in the world.
B froze, looking down at the furry creatures.
In her old life, keeping a pet was an impossible dream. She barely had enough time and money to keep herself alive, let above care for a dog or a cat. She carefully crouched down in her white dress, using her small pale fingers to gently scratch the orange cat behind its ears.
The cat let out a loud, content purr, leaning into her hand. B stayed there on her knees, petting the cats for another fifteen minutes, her tired, emotionless face softening into a tiny, hidden smile.
Once the cats finally lost interest and wandered back to the old man, B stood up, wiped her hands, and continued down the road.
She didn't get far before her third distraction occurred.
A kindly old nun wearing a dark blue habit was standing outside a small local church, distributing small paper bags of fruit candies to a group of village children.
As B walked past, trying to slip by quietly, the old nun turned her head. When her gentle eyes landed on B—a frail, pale girl with floor-length white hair, wearing a simple white dress—the nun's face melted into a look of deep, motherly warmth.
"Oh, bless your heart, what a cute, sweet little girl!" the nun grandma gasped gently, walking right over to B.
Before B could explain that she was actually a fifteen-year-old working grave keeper, the old nun reached out and gave B a series of affectionate head pats, gently stroking her soft white hair.
"You must be new to town, little dear," the nun said with a sweet smile, patting B's head once more before dropping a handful of bright red strawberry candies into B's small hands. "Here you go, sweetheart. Make sure to share with your friends, okay?"
B looked at the bright red candies in her palm, then up at the smiling old nun.
"Thank you..." B said politely in her soft, bell-like voice.
She popped one of the strawberry candies into her mouth, chewing the sweet treat as she walked away.
Her fourth and final distraction was by far the longest.
While passing by a small park bench near the bakery, B accidentally stumbled right into a gathering of local village mothers. Among them was a heavily pregnant woman resting on the bench, surrounded by four other women chatting about baby clothes and recipes.
The moment the pregnant woman looked up and saw B walking by, her newly awakened motherhood instincts flared up at absolute maximum power.
"Oh, look at her!" the pregnant woman gasped, holding her hands over her heart. "She looks so small and frail! Look at those big, dark eyes!"
"Is she eating properly?" another mother exclaimed, jumping up from her seat. "She's so thin! A breeze could blow her away!"
Before B could even take a step backward, the group of mothers surrounded her completely.
For the next thirty minutes, B became the absolute center of attention for the entire group. They patted her head, fussed over her long white hair, made sure her dress was clean, and relentlessly fed her all kinds of local treats.
One mother handed her a warm baked potato wrapped in foil, another gave her a sweet apple pastry, and a third handed her a small bottle of cold fruit juice.
B sat on the park bench between the mothers, her pale face completely blank, silently accepting every piece of food handed to her. She didn't mind at all. The food was free, delicious, and the women were very gentle.
By the time the mothers finally let her go, B stood on the stone path with a full belly, holding her last candy wrapper in her hand.
'Going to the village was a fantastic plan,' B thought to herself, a sense of quiet contentment washing over her.
In her previous life, the only time she ever felt genuine joy or won anything was when she entered an online giveaway and won a single free gourmet meal coupon at a fancy restaurant. Other than that single meal, her life had been a grey blur of endless work.
Here, in just two days, she had eaten candied bananas, vanilla cream buns, chocolate cookies, strawberry candies, baked potatoes, and fresh fruit juice, all while petting cats and getting head pats from kind locals.
"Now... where was the library again?" B reminded herself, shaking off her happy food coma.
Remembering the directions the mothers had kindly given her, B turned down a quiet, shaded side street near the edge of the town square.
At the end of the lane stood a quaint, two-story stone building with a dark wooden roof. Above the double glass doors hung a carved wooden sign that read OAKHAVEN PUBLIC LIBRARY.
"Found it," B whispered with a small nod.
She walked up the short stone steps, carried her long white hair in her arm, and pushed open the heavy wooden door.
Inside the library, the air was cool, quiet, and smelled delightfully of old paper, polished wood, and leather book bindings.
Sitting behind the wide wooden reception desk near the front entrance was a young man in his mid-twenties.
He had short, messy red hair, wore a pair of thick, black-rimmed nerdy glasses on his nose, and wore a simple brown sweater vest. However, despite his intellectual glasses and quiet librarian appearance, the sweater vest stretched tightly across a remarkably broad, muscular chest and thick, powerful shoulders.
His name was Agent Reed.
To the average villagers of Oakhaven, Reed was just the quiet, friendly guy who stamped book cards and organized dusty shelves. But in reality, he was a covert Tier 3 operative for the Aegis Sanctorum, working alongside Agent Baker to keep an eye on the region.
Reed liked his job as a librarian. It was boring, quiet, and allowed him to read books all day long. But he hadn't been placed here by accident.
Reed possessed a rare, innate spiritual ability called True Vision. Unlike standard Exorcist equipment that relied on measuring heat or energy spikes, Reed’s eyes could see spiritual entities even if they completely erased their ghost energy, wore magical camouflage, or disguised themselves as normal human beings. No spirit could hide its true form from his gaze.
Ever since he had been assigned to Oakhaven three years ago, no major ghost incidents had occurred, which suited his lazy lifestyle just fine.
Ring-ring.
A small brass chime rang softly above the entrance door as it swung open.
Reed didn't look up immediately. "Welcome to the Oakhaven Library. Please keep your voice down while inside."
He stamped a wooden card, then casually raised his eyes to greet the visitor.
The moment his gaze landed on the newcomer standing in the doorway, Reed’s hand froze solid over his ink pad.
Standing at the threshold was a tiny girl, no taller than his chest. She had a mountain of snow-white hair that reached all the way down to her leather boots, translucent pale skin, and huge, void-black pupils that seemed completely devoid of light.
Reed's heart gave a sharp, sudden thud behind his ribs.
He recognized her instantly. This was the exact girl Agent Baker had described in her emergency report yesterday, the mystery girl who had suddenly appeared at Blackwood Cemetery, claiming to be the new grave keeper after Agent Miller vanished without a trace.
Reed adjusted his nerdy black glasses, his eyes narrowing sharply behind the lenses as he activated his True Vision.
In his mind, he prepared for the worst. If this girl was an ancient Calamity-Class ghost wearing a human illusion, his True Vision would instantly strip away her fake skin, revealing the terrifying, towering monster hidden underneath. His muscles tensed under his brown sweater vest, ready to slam the emergency alarm hidden under his desk at a fraction of a second's notice.
Reed focused his supernatural sight, staring directly at the white-haired girl.
One second passed.
Two seconds passed.
Reed blinked. He took off his glasses, wiped them thoroughly on his sweater, put them back on, and stared at her again.
There was no towering demon. There was no horrifying aura of blood or malice. There was no magical disguise hiding her face.
Through his True Vision, all Reed saw was... a fifteen-year-old girl.
Her soul was infact tiny, pale, and remarkably weak, so frail and low-energy that it looked like a tiny, flickering candle flame that a light breeze could blow out. She radiated absolute zero malice, zero curse energy, and zero threat.
In fact, the only thing his supernatural sight picked up from her was a profound, bone-deep, overwhelming sense of exhaustion, paired with a massive wave of quiet contentment from having just eaten a baked potato and some strawberry candies.
Reed sat frozen behind his desk, his mind completely blank.
'What... what on earth?' Reed thought, his brain short-circuiting. 'She's not a monster? She's really just a normal, extremely tired kid?'
How could a frail civilian girl with a soul as weak as a flickering candle live alone inside Blackwood Cemetery, a high-density Calamity zone where veteran Exorcists vanished overnight, and walk out completely unharmed, carrying candies and looking for library books?
It made zero logical sense.
B, completely unaware of the inner panic exploding inside the librarian's head, shuffled slowly over to the front desk.
She stopped in front of the counter, holding her long white hair in her arm, and looked up at the broad-shouldered red-haired man with nerdy glasses.
"Excuse me," B said in her soft, bell-like voice, her void-black pupils staring directly into his eyes. "Can I read books here for free?"
Reed stared down at her small, tired face, swallowed hard, and carefully pushed his ink pad aside.
Remembering Agent Baker's orders to observe the girl without provoking her, Reed forced a friendly, professional librarian smile onto his face, though his heart was still pounding against his chest.
"Y-Yes, of course," Reed said, his voice slightly higher than usual. "All reading inside the library is completely free. What... what kind of books are you looking for, little miss?"
B's face remained flat and emotionless, but inside, her heart sang with quiet joy.
Free entertainment had been secured.
Author's Note
EliteToeCollector
Thanks for reading!