The rat on the middle charged at me directly. The other two circled around trying to flank me.

Pack tactics, huh?

Problem with using that tactic is that 3 rats barely cover all the openings. And I can retreat to a wide circular area that has lot of branching alleys where I can fight these abominations quite easily. Or escape if necessary.

I also got my secret weapon.

I peppered their approach with glass shards, courtesy of my Pockets of the Scavenger. I threw it all around me, denying them an easy way to attack me.

And the rats were charging too fast to stop themselves from stepping on them.

'SCREECH!'

Bloody hell! Screechy buggers eh... how about this to screech about?

'Whack!' Like that huh, you stupid rat! I got a nice blow to the chest on that one.

'Whack!' I charge and hit the rat on my left side.

'Squelch!'

Ugh... I may have hit that one a bit too hard. Its brain are spilling out, covering my stick and the surrounding area with its icky goo.

'SCREECH!' Fuck! Forgot about the last one. It's too close for me to dodge easily.

'Poof!' But my mattress will save the day! It instantly blocked the charging rat. Hah! Bet that surprised you, you filthy rat! Wanna blindside me huh? Good thing I brought the mattress with me and placed in my Quickslot. Now I have an instant cushiony barricade.

Then I stored the mattress back into my Quickslot, confusing the rat even more.

'Whack!' 'Whack!' 'Whack!' 'Thud!'

Oh... it's already pulped in and I'm already hitting the road with my stick.

Yuck! I might have been a bit too aggressive dealing with these things.

'Squeak!' Almost forgot about that one... the first one's still alive. He's trying to slowly crawl away, even with shattered ribs. Sorry bud, but you attacked me first.

'WHACK!'

And it's dead....

Oh God! The hell is that fucking stench!

Then I got a prompt to harvest or store the rat corpse.

Harvest it. Don't want those corpses stinking things up my Pockets. Fucking buggers can't even be decent in death.

Ooohhh... a rat pelt. I can process it into leather, if I had the necessary tools and equipment.

Ugh! Rat meat. Don't need those to feed myself. But I can turn it into mulch, I guess.

Some bone powder. Oh... it's a reagent for making some items.

A rat tail. What I'm going... 'Bounty Item'? Hmmm... that's interesting.

Blech! Assorted rat organs like eyes, heart, lungs and liver. Plus  a small amount of rat blood in one of my bottles.

But good news! Nothing remains of the corpse. Not even bloodstains remained. Hurray! Instant corpse disposal... nice.

I also harvested the other 2 rat corpses. Waste not, want not.

Same loot for the second one.

Same loot for the... wait, what's this?

That... that has so many possibilities. But what bonuses can it grant?

And now I can make a magical item.

Should I do it? Or should I save it for something better?

I'm tempted to do the merge. But if I merged my stick with this Essence Fragment, can I use other other Essence Fragments on it? That would a shame if it doesn't. Or if I find more Essence Fragment and miss out merging this one to make an Essence Shard.

Hmmm... what should I do?

==================================================

In the end, I decided to keep the Essence Fragment for now. It's now stored safe and snug on my Pockets.

Plus loot! Don't forget the loot. Even if some of the loot are a bit... icky.

I also did more scavenging around here. Can't waste the opportunity. Bottles of every shape and size. Scrap wood, cloth, leather and metal.

And more currency. I now have 5 shillings and 58 pence. My pocket are jingling with coins once more. I'm no long piss-poor again.

Even found an old and battered pocket watch. It even works, just don't know if it's accurate or not. I might take this to a watch-maker to check it out. Or scrap it for 'Clockwork Parts'.

"Hey! You there!"

"Me?"

"Yeah, you! Found some rats around here? Been hunting for them."

"Big ones with sharp claws and teeth?"

"Yeah, that's the one. Been hunting for them around here. They're too much of a pest that the Lord Mayor issued a bounty. One rat tail for 5 pence."

I could use the bounty... but I think this man needs it more.

I surreptitiously pulled the rat tails out from my Pockets.

"Here. You can have this." I gave the rat tails to the guy. Don't want him to lose his livelihood.

"Ah... thank you. Thank you very much. Three tails... I can buy a new coat for my little Isaac. Thank you for giving this to me."

"No problem, good sir. Since I stole your kill, I guess you can have the prize. You need more than I do." Then I inspected him.

Threadbare clothes. A gaunt frame. A face tanned by too much work under the sun. He must have a hard time in life.

"And i don't you could have fought them. Three of them attacked me at the same time."

"Three... at the same time? Oh Lordy, that's quite dangerous. I won't dare fight more than one rat. That would have been the end of me. You're quite brave or quite foolish to face all three of them by yourself."

"It's no big deal." I stretched out my hand. "Name's Henry. I was walking around when I accidentally bumped into them. These buggers almost got the best of me."

"Jacob Sanders. I know you... Henry Thompson, right? Mr. Carter's new assistant. I work at the docks every other day. Then go hunt rats when there's no work."

"You're not working full-time at the docks?"

"Too many people for little work. Boss Caleb made that schedule so at least all of us here can give some money in our pockets. Otherwise, half of the guys will be out of work. And Boss Caleb pays well, even for simple work."

"But still... idle hands and all. And rat meat id good enough to fill a man's stomach."

"Okay... here. Have this too." And I gave to him the rat meat. He needs it more than I do.

"Oh thank you, you're too kind."

And a spark of idea coursed through my mind. I can farm Black Rats and harvest for body parts and Essence Fragments. And this guy knows where I can find more of them. With his knowledge of the area and my trusty stick, we can hunt more Black Rats. Then we can split between us, while I keep the Essence Fragments for myself.

Brilliant!

"Say... how about we have a deal? You see... it seems I find hunting vermin a nice, relaxing, and very profitable sport. And you, my friend, you've been hunting for quite some time. You must know where these vermin tend to hide. How about a deal. You bring me to their hidey-holes. Then I hunt and kill them. After that we'll split the loot between us."

"I lead you my rat-hunting spots and you'll split the take with me?"

"Yes, exactly. Isn't it much better? Less work and less danger for you for better rewards. You lead me to them. I kill. We split the bounty. So... deal?"

"Deal! When do we start?"

"We can start now. I still got..." I looked at my newly-acquired pocket watch "...5 more hours until 7PM. Let's call it 3 to 4 hours until we are finished for the day."

"Okay! I know some good spots where we can find them mostly alone."

"Lead on."

==================================================

After 3 hours, we get to hunt 8 more rats.

 We could have hunted more, but we avoided any large groups of rats. That will be dangerous for Jacob. And I don't want to show my power to anyone yet.

I got 2 more Black Rat Essence Fragments for the trouble. Also, some assorted rat parts. Jacob was quite giddy at the loot. I even gave to him the Rat Pelts I harvested earlier. He says he knows a tanner than can turn them into leather. He'll take the cost of tanning from my share of the tails.

I found out that 3 Essence Fragments combine to an Essence Shard. I still don't know if merging it to an item locks it out of future merges. I'll just have to find out later if I get more Essence Fragments.

I also found out that I can Quickslot my clothes as a 'Set'. Everything I wore can be made into a 'Set' and loaded into a Quickslot. I can even do instant swaps of my current clothes with those on the Quickslot. Only problem is that it's a full swap. It means I have to swap ALL my clothes. If the 'Set' on the on the Quickslot has no shoes, when I swap to it I'll have no shoes.

I also lose a slot. Now, all four Quickslots are occupied now. My mattress, my blanket, my walking stick, and my new set of clothes.

I swapped my clothes and went back to the tailor to pick up my remaining clothes.

==================================================

"Ah, Mr. Thompson. Just in time. We just have finished with your clothes. Let me show you."

"Oh nice.... Really nice. Excellent work. Thank you. I really want to tip you, but I don't have much now."

"That's fine. No need for that, since you are a good friend of Mr. Carter."

"Really? That's a story I'll want to hear someday. But I got to get back. It's already dark out and Vincent and Aunt Marge will sure be waiting for me. I'll have to hear that tale later."

"It is a great story. And I would gladly tell it to you when you have the time."

"Good evening then, Mr...."

"Crenshaw. Elias Crenshaw."

"Thank you and good evening, Mr. Crenshaw."

"You too, Mr. Thompson."

==================================================

"You're back, Henry."

"Yes Aunt Marge. Where is Vincent?"

"Master Vincent is currently at his study. He has order to bring you there as soon as you got back."

"Can I do a quick wash-up. Give me 10 minutes to clean up."

"Very well. I'll tell Master Vincent. You best be prompt."

"Of course, Aunt Marge."

"I'll get back to my cooking, then."

==================================================

"Ah, Henry my boy! Splendid! Just in time."

"You need something from me?"

"I just received news from a business associate of ours. Great news. He's got a contract for us to use our docks as dropping point for his goods before being taken to their own warehouses. Now Caleb wants me to handle keeping a count of the items we deliver to them. But I'm not cut out to do legwork anymore, if you know what I mean. So you'll do it in my stead. I'll pay you 2 extra shillings for this job. You interested."

"Yeah. More money to me."

"Great! Oh and here's Margaret calling us to dinner."

"As perceptive to food as always, Master Vincent."

"It's one of the pleasures in my life."

"I've prepared roast chicken, mash potatoes and greens for dinner."

'Nice... my favorite! Thank you Margaret."

"Let us proceed to the dining room then. The food is getting cold."

==================================================

It's a new day already. My third morning in this world I found myself in. It's a bit old, since it's 1872, the Mid-Victorian Era.

"You're sending the new kid as the company rep?"

"Come now Caleb. He might be new but he's really good with letters and numbers. The client's German and he knows how to read German."

"Plus you will someone to watch the office while you're down there managing the workers."

"You up to it, kid?"

"The job seems easy enough."

"Easy on paper, but quite difficult due to circumstances. You will accompany the delivery wagons that will take the goods from here to the client's warehouse. Then you will do a final count to ensure nothing was lost on transition. Then hand the goods over, get their signature on the acknowledgement receipt, and get back here."

"The problem is the way between the docks and the warehouse."

"Hardin?"

"You know Hardin?"

"Vincent told me a bit about him."

"Then you know what kind of man Hardin is. And yes, we'll encounter obstacles due to him interfering. I expect roadblocks, detours, theft, sabotage... even an outright attack on the convoy. Hardin will stop at nothing to disrupt our business. Only good thing from this is that the client sent guards to escort the goods. That will him deter somewhat. But he might get desperate. And desperate men are very unpredictable."

"What will we do then?"

"Be prepared. The reason I want to send Vincent here is he will serve as extra deterrent. It will suicide for Hardin to try anything against Vincent."

"And that's why I stay inside the office when I'm here at the docks. Don't want them sneaking in here and burning the place to the ground."

"But with you doing the run might embolden the wanker. And we can't really afford to lose this job. The client's quite influential. We will lose a lot of credibility if we lose him as a client."

"We have any plans to deal with him?"

"A few. But it depends on what the blighter is planning."

"We'll let's hear it then."

"Are you sure kid? This will dangerous, even for me. I don't want you to suffer due to being caught in the crossfire between us and Hardin."

"When you hired, I'm already in his sights."

"He's right, Caleb. It will very easier for him if he knows what your plans are."

"I know Vincent." He then turns to me. "Kid... Henry, can you do it? This will be risky."

"I already risked my life when I came here to Londinium by myself. I risked it even more when I joined the company. I think I can handle one more risk."

"If you're sure then... I will send Bruce and Mike as backup."

"You'll be sending them even if I'm the one who's going."

"But they know you can handle yourself. Now, they'll have to watch the kid."

"Don't worry Caleb sir... I'm not worthless in a fight."

"Yeah. I heard from Jacob. Hunting giant rats is different from tussling with Hardin thugs."

"Hunting rats? My dear boy, what did you do?"

"Well they attacked me first... and I won handily. Not even a smudge on my clothes." Thank god for 'Set' clothes.

"It's still, Henry my boy. Just... be careful, okay?"

"Don't worry, I will." I turned back to Caleb "So... what's the plan?"

==================================================

"Good afternoon. I'm Henry Thompson, Wilson and Co. Shipping representative."

"Dustin O'Malley. Security for Cannalan Imports. And you escort for today. Don't know why the boss sent us, but orders are orders."

"This is Bruce and Mike." I point to the 2 guys Caleb sent with me. "They will be my companions for this delivery."

"Very well. We need to get a move on. It's already 4PM and we have a half an hour travel time to the warehouse."

"Okay. We're off then."

==================================================

We are already halfway there. No problems so far...

"Halt."

"Problem, Mr. O'Malley?"

"Yeah... rats. Thugs scurrying about the alleyways. They've been following us since we left the docks."

"Rooks. Hardin's boys. They've been trying to cause trouble with the docks."

"Really now... bloody bilge rats. Let them come, I'll blast them with my shotgun." And he pulls out a shotgun from his greatcoat. A pump-action shotgun... Browning 1893 or a copy of it, if I'm right.

What the hell's happening with this world's timeline? It 1872! That gun should not exist yet!

Something must be screwy with this world if the technology is more advanced. Something I should need to consider.

"Like it? I got this baby five years ago. Perks of working for a weapons importer. Just pump and shoot. No need for pesky reloading like breechloaders."

Shit... I want one too.

"Yeah... really nice gun."

'Phew!' 'PING!'

"Aw crud they shooting at us already? They're really that desperate, huh." Thank god for armored wagons. "Take cover!"

Eight of us - me, Bruce, Mike plus Dustin and his 4 men, against... at least 15 men. More of them are flitting around the alleys. I can't make an accurate count.

And then one of them rushes me.

Fuck it! You want to tangle with me? Let's dance, partner....