Chapter 74

Part 24: Test Subject (2)

After passing the intact entrance ceremony venue and the adjacent clinic, I continued walking and saw the main gate and the visiting room next to it.

I took a quick peek inside, but no one was there.

When I asked the staff, they said no one had visited yet.

It seemed that the visit with Piarr and Mirisa would have to wait a bit longer.

This time, I wasn’t late.

After expressing my gratitude, I moved to the back of the visiting room.

Beside the back wall of the visiting room, lush trees and untrimmed long shrubs grew.

I don’t know if it was due to landscaping or the laziness of the staff, but it was now a great help to me.

I bent down as if looking for something and moved into the shrubs.

After heightening my senses to confirm that no one was around, I stealthily hid in the shrubs.

I carefully moved along the wall and retrieved the bag I had hidden the day before.

The bag contained a cloak and ordinary clothes.

After changing into the prepared clothes and cloak, I put the school uniform I was wearing into the bag and hid it back in its original place.

No one was around, not even beyond the wall.

With a swift motion, I jumped over the wall and checked my clothes.

My appearance had changed, and with the cloak covering my face, there was no risk of being recognized.

I quickly headed towards the commercial street.

After walking for a short while, I saw someone I knew.

The man walking towards me was someone I had seen in my previous life.

He was the man who had blocked me on the first floor of the building where Piarr’s teacher was, the bearded man who had stood at the front.

‘He must be going to request a visit.’

At this time, it seemed to be the only reason for him to be heading to the academy.

Fortunately, we didn’t run into each other, and it also meant that the teacher was there.

I glanced around.

I hadn’t left the academy grounds yet.

A road paved with stones ran alongside the academy’s wall.

No one was on the road except for the approaching man; there were no people or carriages in sight.

Moreover, this place was far from the academy’s main gate, and the commercial street was beyond the hill, making it difficult to notice anything happening immediately.

I didn’t look at the approaching man.

He walked past without showing any interest, but I could clearly sense his tension.

We pretended to ignore each other as we passed by.

I could feel his tension immediately ease.

I subtly turned and touched the ground.

"Looks like you dropped some money?"

"Huh?"

As he turned, I stood up and showed him the silver coin in my hand.

"Huh? I don’t think I did."

He moved his hand to his side.

I extended my hand, holding the silver coin, towards him.

Then I showed him a small magic trick, or rather, a sleight of hand.

The silver coin instantly transformed into a dagger imbued with mana.

Thud.

He opened his eyes wide at the dagger in his chest.

For him, it must have felt like a bolt from the blue.

I explained to him as he fell towards me.

"This is payback for the entrance ceremony terror attack."

"Ah…"

He fell with a look of understanding.

I picked up the fallen man and walked to a deeper part of the shrubs beside the road.

I pushed the body into the shrubs.

"Killing someone on a road in broad daylight…"

Even though I made sure no one was watching, it was a bold move, even by my standards.

In my previous life, I would have been caught on CCTV and arrested within days, and it was a risky move even here.

Even if the security here wasn’t great, they wouldn’t just let a murder near the royal academy go unnoticed.

However, I couldn’t let Piarr and Mirisa go out on a day trip.

"I have to make sure this is buried."

I couldn’t spend time burying the body.

A small incident had to be covered up by a bigger one, and a small murder by a bigger one.

After searching the body, I found nothing special and quickly left the area, camouflaging the body with the shrubs.

After crossing a low hill, the commercial street appeared.

It was still before the academy classes had ended.

Just like no one was seen on the way here.

The commercial street, which mainly catered to academy students and teachers, was very quiet because the classes hadn’t ended yet.

"Come and take a look!"

Some shopkeepers tried to attract customers as I passed, but most of them just sat and sighed.

"Well, there are no customers this year."

"I thought it would be a good time with the princess entering, but it seems there are even fewer customers."

"It’s all because the capital’s security is unstable."

"Shh, don’t even mention it."

Listening with mana pushed into my ears, I could roughly understand why it was so quiet.

Is it really time for the king to die?

In my previous life, I heard that market conditions could reflect the political situation.

According to the people here, it seemed the king was going to die, and the princes would start a civil war.

'And there are strange people causing terror. Thinking back to the time of the Duke, the empire was also causing trouble.'

Moreover, I was seen as being deeply involved with the princess’s side.

I passed through the commercial street while listening to these stories.

The commercial street had various shops.

There were stores selling daily necessities and items for classes, weapon shops linked with blacksmiths, grocery stores, and restaurants.

There was also a souvenir shop that had been deserted since the end of the entrance ceremony.

I entered a souvenir shop inside the street.

It was an ordinary souvenir shop.

The shop, filled with small items displayed on shelves and walls, had a bearded owner who was dozing off in a corner.

I knew the sleeping man.

He was the second man who had blocked me before I died.

'He’s really sleeping?'

Last time, he had swung his sword at me with a tense expression, but now he was genuinely sleeping.

I wasn’t sure if he was a great actor or if he was just relaxed, but it was helpful for me.

I heightened my senses and scanned the inside of the building.

On the first floor, only the sleeping man was there, and on the second floor, two people were gathered in one place.

One of the people on the second floor was definitely the mana of the man who was Piarr’s teacher.

I approached the sleeping man while pretending to look at the items.

I tapped the sleeping man on the shoulder.

"Ah, a customer…?"

He was startled awake, but his eyes quickly closed again.

While tapping his shoulder, I had disrupted his mana, and the final touch was a deep pressure on the back of his neck with mana, causing him to faint.

I leaned the unconscious man against the wall.

With mana planted in his body, it would be difficult for anyone to wake him up easily.

I didn’t keep him alive out of a guilty conscience.

I had to kill him eventually, but it was hard to do so while people were passing by outside.

I approached the door again and quietly closed the shop door.

There was still no special movement on the second floor.

I immediately headed upstairs.

* * *

The first-floor corridor, where I had fought in my previous life, was empty.

I passed through the corridor and went up the stairs to the second floor.

The people on the second floor must have noticed something was wrong by now.

I filled myself with mana.

The mana made me faster and stronger, and the remaining mana flowed into the dagger, causing a red blade of energy to surge from it.

Feeling the power surging within me, I kicked open the door to the second floor.

Bang!

The door, which wasn’t locked, opened as if it would break.

I could see the two people in the room.

One was the last person I had fought on the first floor, and the other was the man who was Piarr’s teacher.

Both were surprised by my sudden entry, but this time, neither asked who I was.

The man who had held a crossbow on the first floor now wielded a sword and charged at me.

The teacher, on the other hand, spread his hands towards me.

What is he doing?

I tilted my head at the unexpected action but decided to deal with the charging man first, swinging my dagger at him.

The sword he swung was a very fine one, but it couldn’t withstand the blade of energy.

I intended to cut through both the sword and his body.

Clank.

'My mana stopped?'

The mana flowing through my body and the red blade of energy on the sword suddenly disappeared.

It felt as if the mana in my body had solidified.

The power that had filled my body vanished, and I could only feel the strength of my physical body.

I had no choice but to stop the sword I was swinging.

The man, seeing my sudden halt, grinned and swung his sword.

Thud!

"Damn, I didn’t even get to confirm who you were."

The teacher, Louis, lowered his arms with a troubled look.

"Well, there’s nothing you can do when you’re suddenly attacked. It seems this situation is completely messed up. Should we move to a different place?"

Louis, stroking his chin, spoke to the man whose sword had stopped mid-swing.

"Why are you just standing there? Aren’t you still alive?"

The response came immediately, but it wasn’t from the man with the sword; it was from me.

"No, he’s already dead."

I pulled the dagger from his neck, and the man who had embraced me fell, spewing blood.

"How? I stopped your mana."

Indeed, it was his ability.

The man who could burst people with a necklace could certainly have this ability.

'But, it’s a terrifying ability…'

Stopping the mana in one’s body.

The inherited abilities, the knight’s sword, and the priest’s healing all manifested through mana. Stopping that mana would be truly fatal for nobles and knights.

However, such an ability must have its limits.

His face, which had been full of surprise, was now drenched in sweat.

When I sent mana to Piarr and Mirisa, it seemed to work fine, but was it because of the necklace?

After he lowered his hands, the mana started flowing properly again.

I confirmed that the blade of energy was flowing properly and walked towards him.

"Losing because you don’t have mana would be a waste of all your hard work."

I had trained to continue fighting a knight even without mana.