How was I so sure that he didn't have any powers?

The answer was obvious. No superhuman would work as a butler for an auction house, and given that we had all been checked just a few moments ago, had he been a superhuman, it would've surely been detected by the guards present.

Thud.

And as expected, my deductions proved correct when his body fell to the ground.

"...."

A strange silence enveloped the surroundings.

Only then did I sigh in relief and approach. Of course, I made sure to keep my guard up. Who knew if this was an act or not?

Thankfully, I didn't come to this situation blindly. If things went south, I still had a means to escape.

That said...

The aftermath of such action wasn't something I was planning on dealing with.

I had just taken a step forward when something flickered in my vision.

"Um?"

[Evelyn's fate has been slightly altered. The assailant was found dead in the corridor of the auction house. The future is changing.]

[ Main Quest Activated : Prevent the Calamities from awakening or dying.]

Calamity 1 : Slumber

: Progress - 0%

Calamity 2 : Slumber

: Progress - 2%

Evelyn J. Verlice : Slumber

: Progress - 0%

My eyes widened at the sight of the third option.

'....It no longer says calamity 3.'

It now had a specific name.

Before I could process what was going on, my eyes flickered as another window appeared.

Game Progression EXP + 1%

Game Progression : [0%-[2%]----------------100%]

Character Progression EXP + 5%

Exp : [0%----[39%]------------100%]

A familiar warm current ran through my body, and I felt my mana reserves increase. Although it wasn't much, it was still something.

However, despite the sudden increase in strength, I was anything but happy.

Quite frankly, I wasn't sure how to feel. While I was happy with the increase in strength, I was also apprehensive about it.

While my body accepted it, my mind rejected it.

....I still didn't trust this 'system' or whatever it was. What was its goal, and what did it want from me?

I felt more satisfaction working for my own power than relying on this system for it.

I felt more in control that way.

As if I was controlling my own path rather than someone else doing that for me. At the very least, just as it could give me power, it could take it away from me. I didn't want to be overly reliant on such a system.

There was also another thing that bothered me.

'The assailant was found dead in the corridor of the auction house.'

"..."

I stood in silence, chewing on the words displayed in front of me, before casting my gaze downward to the butler's lifeless body.

He wasn't moving at all.

"Get up."

I tried using Emotive magic, but even that aroused no reaction from him.

"...Get up."

Regardless of how many times I tried, it just wouldn't budge.

I clenched my teeth and took a deep breath. This was the second time that I had witnessed death in this life.

It wasn't as jarring as the first time, mainly because it wasn't as gruesome.

In a sense, I also felt a sense of relief in the way he died. He had most likely killed himself the moment that I had attacked, but regardless of how things were going to work out, I would've had no choice but to kill him.

I knew that he knew about me.

The only reason I was sure he had been the one to create this entire situation was because I had been eyeing Evelyn most of the time. The only person who could've implanted the bone into her purse was him.

He was also one of the few faces I remembered staring at me back in the hall when I was talking to Evelyn.

His death merely served to confirm the obvious.

"Huuu."

Taking a look around me, I took another deep breath and moved toward the 'corpse'. I closed my eyes and started to pat his body to see if he had anything on him.

Any clues... Items... Or anything of the sort.

However...

"Nothing."

Regardless of how much I looked, he had nothing on him. I searched all his pockets, and besides a few tissues, he had nothing on him.

Absolutely nothing.

"This..."

I was unsure of how to feel.

I was mainly disappointed. I thought I'd be able to find some clues regarding the situation, and some items that I could use, but when thinking about it, he wasn't even a superhuman.

Why would he have anything on him?

Plus, we had all been checked beforehand, there was simply no way he'd have anything of value on him.

"....."

Once again, silence gripped my surroundings.

I stared at the body in front of me for a few seconds before flipping it over.

My hands twitched and I felt my knee shake a little. But... I ignored the weird sensations and brought my hand toward his throat.

I felt his throat at my hands. It was large, and I felt my heart race. Adrenaline was coursing down my body, and my hands felt tingly.

The next thing I knew, I was squeezing.

"Kh..."

I squeezed as tightly as I could.

He was dead.

The notifications suggested it. But...

I didn't trust it.

I wanted to make sure that was the case.

What if he was using some sort of ability to make himself look dead...?

.....I couldn't allow even the slightest chance of that happening.

Therefore, even as my stomach churned and I felt disgusted by my actions, I increased my grip on his throat.

"Kh."

Despite doing the choking, it felt as if I was the one being choked.

I felt suffocated and at some point, my hands started to tremble.

But I persisted...

In the silence, I continued to press my hands over his neck and squeezed with everything that I had.

Thud.

"Haaa... Haaa...."

By the time that I stopped, my breathing was rough.

I knew that I didn't have much time left and that I needed to leave. Given the circumstances, there were bound to be people coming soon. Thankfully, with everyone having moved toward the main hall after the incident, the area was still somewhat deserted.

"Huuu..."

Recomposing myself, I stood up and fixed my clothes. The entire time I kept my eyes lingering on the corpse.

If he wasn't dead before, I was sure he was now.

I imprinted the sight in my mind.

"I killed him."

I told myself that.

It wasn't going to be the last time I would kill someone.

That much I knew, and understood.

Which was why I burned the image and emotions I was currently feeling in my mind. Once again, I reminded myself of my new identity and situation.

Slap--

I slapped myself once in the face to remind myself of that fact.

Only then did I calm down. I was just about to stand up when I noticed something and squinted my eyes. It was dark so I couldn't see properly.

But there was something that grabbed my attention.

I slowly rolled up the butler's sleeve to get a better look. When I did, my eyes widened and my heart, which had just steadied, jumped up.

A familiar tattoo. One that I had.

Four identical leaves.

All in black.

"What is..."

***

The journey back to Haven felt like a blur. None of the cadets spoke throughout the entire way back, and the Professor was busy handling reports and calls from the other Professor at the Academy to care about us.

I was fine with such development.

I was in no state to talk with anyone. The only thing in my mind was the image of the butler's tattoo.

Rolling up my sleeves, I stared at mine.

It was identical in every way. Perhaps, the only difference between my tattoo and theirs was that mine was glowing. At least to me. From an outsider's point of view, mine was also not glowing.

I was the only one that could see the glowing.

'What is the meaning of this....?'

A wave of questions flooded my mind. They just endlessly poured into my mind like the water from a broken dam.

What was the meaning of the tattoo and why did the butler have it? Was it some twisted coincidence and the two did not correlate...?

'As if.'

I wasn't naive enough to think that.

There was something more to it. I was sure.

'....But what exactly?'

He had died before I could find any information. I had been so shocked by the development that I had only snapped out of it when I heard the sound of footsteps coming from behind me.

Only then did I wake up and hide the body away before joining back with the group.

Thankfully, nobody asked about my whereabouts when I returned. I had only been gone for less than five minutes. It wasn't suspicious enough to gather their interest.

....And in some way, most didn't have the courage to ask. Most weren't on good enough terms with me.

I guess there were perks to being anti-social.

Still...

"...."

I once again stared at my forearm.

My thoughts kept wandering back toward the tattoo. Just what connection does it have with the one that I have?

It felt as though I had finally found something. An idea to chase after. Only for me to find that the path was just as dark as the other ones that I had been following.

'Just how would I be ab--Ah.'

It was at that moment that I recalled something.

A certain conversation I had a while back. In fact, there was someone else that knew about the tattoo. Or had asked me about it.

I hadn't thought much about it back then but...

'Delilah.'

.....She definitely knew something.

What if...?