Tok Tok--

Calm and even steps.

They moved toward a small building where several people were gathered. All eyes fell on the dark robed man as he entered and took off his top-hat. Their expressions immediately shifted, and they all lowered their heads to address him respectfully.

"Inquisitor Hallowe."

"....Inquisitor."

But he paid them no attention. His eyes fell on the naked corpse that lay in the middle of the table.

A middle-aged man wearing formal attire stepped up to explain.

"....We've found him like this after the guests were all let out. We believe it to have happened in less than five minutes after we let them out. We were only able to find the corpse after one of our staff went in to clear the rooms."

He then went on to point toward the neck of the perpetrator.

"If you look at his neck, we believe that he died from strangling."

"....."

Yet again, the Inquisitor remained silent. He inched closer to the naked corpse in front of him and placed his hand over its chest.

"Inquisitor?"

Just when the others were questioning his actions, he finally spoke.

"He didn't die due to suffocation."

"Uh? But--"

He tilted his head and frowned.

"I sense traces of curse magic. Faint, but I can sense them."

"Ah."

"But even that isn't enough to kill him. They're too faint. A low Tier mage."

A picture of the scene replayed in the Inquisitor's mind. It was a scene he more or less was certain of.

He went on to open the eyes of the corpse before nodding.

"This guy killed himself."

"Killed himself?!"

"What? But...!"

His conclusion drew the shock of all those present, but as the Inquisitor's eyes wandered to the forearm of the victim, his expression changed slightly.

"Yes, he killed himself."

He was even more sure of it now.

The picture in his mind became clearer.

"Curse magic was used to detain him. However, before he could get anything answered, this guy killed himself. The strangling is probably something that was done to make sure he was dead. Quite meticulous."

A subtle praise. But that was all. He shifted his eyes away from the corpse and turned around.

"Uh...? Inquisitor?"

"My job is done here. I more or less understand what happened."

"....But what about the thief?"

"Thief?"

The Inquisitor blinked. Then, recalling the information he received from 'Central' he subtly smacked his forehead.

"Right."

He pointed at the corpse.

"It's probably him."

Before the people present in the room could even say anything back, he put his hat back on and pulled the door open.

"If you would excuse me. I have a place to be."

A place he looked forward to visiting. An interesting place.

He stepped outside of the premises.

Just before leaving, he left a few last words.

"Well... Probably?"

***

It was the next day and I came out of the bathroom holding onto a familiar-looking orb.

I set it down on the desk and sat on a chair where I took a book and opened it. For now, I decided to set aside the problem regarding the tattoo on my hand.

While there was indeed a chance that Delilah knew about my situation...

"No, she probably knows."

It made no sense for someone as powerful as her not to know about such an organization. It was probably why she had mentioned my tattoo back then.

If I were to ask she'd probably be able to give me an answer, but...

"Haha."

I suddenly laughed.

Leaning back on my chair, a few things made sense to me.

"....So that's why she made me her assistant."

It wasn't because I was weak or whatever excuse she had told me back then.

Far from it.

"She wants to monitor me."

That much became clear to me after thinking about the situation. This tattoo I had... While there was a chance that I was wrong, I was inclined to believe that my deduction was correct.

Now that brought rise to several more questions.

How much did she know? What sort of organization was this? Did she think I was part of that organization? If so, is she my ally or enemy?

"...How troublesome."

My head throbbed the more I thought about the matter.

The situation became even more complicated. Another reason why I decided to hold off on meeting her.

Until I knew what her stance was, I planned on taking my time to observe the situation.

"Haa."

I shifted my attention toward the book in my hand, [Bone Classification and their usage]. It was a book that was given to us as part of our course selection.

That turned out for the best since borrowing from the library would've been problematic.

Especially if someone came to investigate the Academy and found that right after coming back from the Auction the first thing I did was research bones.

Talk about suspicious.

Flip--

I flipped through the pages of the book and started to read. I knew the general information, but that wasn't enough. I needed to know more.

Which was what I did.

[Introduction: Dimensional bones and their usages]

There were three sections in the table of contents. Ranks and classifications, usage and integration, and types.

For the next hour or so I absorbed all the information in the book before finally summarizing all the information in my mind.

"Hu."

I took a pen and jotted everything down.

: Ranks. Bones were ranked based on the rank of the originating monster. An infant rank monster produced an infant rank bone and so on. Primordial ranked monsters existed, but no such bone had ever been found. The greater the strength of the monster, the more powerful the ability.

: Types. The human body could only accept a maximum of five bones and once integrated couldn't be taken out. Any more and the body would break down. There were only seven types of bones that could be integrated into the human body: Skull Bone, Rib Bone, Ulna Bone, Femur Bone, Pelvis Bone, Vertebrae Bone, and lastly Mandible Bone.

"...."

My pen stopped there and I shifted my attention toward the orb on my side.

Lastly, integration.

"This way, right?"

I pinched the orb in between my fingers and channeled my mana into it. The orb glowed a white hue as the room turned bright all of a sudden.

A magic circle floated in the air. It lasted several seconds before shattering.

Then...

Thud!

A long black bone fell onto the table with a dull 'thud'.

"....No wonder it looked so small."

In reality, it was merely a container for the actual bone which was about the size of my thigh.

I carefully observed the bone in front of me and stepped back. There was a certain aura that radiated from it that made me feel uncomfortable. It made my face winch. Not only that, but the smell it gave out was also anything but pleasing.

Still, after a careful look, I was able to understand what bone it was.

"The right Ulna."

The bone right beneath the forearm.

".....The rank also seems to be Junior Rank."

The bone belonged to a Metryl which was typically known to be a Junior-ranked monster. Even if it wasn't, the book stated that bones from Terror rank and up glowed and were extremely mana-dense.

This one wasn't so it was fair to assume it was a Junion Rank bone. Maybe Infant, but I doubted it was given the price.

"For a Junior Rank bone to be this expensive..."

Just how ludicrous were the prices for higher-ranked bones? The thought made me want to puke.

I really needed to find a way to make more money.

My progress would surely increase then.

"Huu."

I took a deep breath and reached out for the bone. The steps for integration were rather straightforward.

Place the bone on the respective area and create a mana flow between the two.

While I understood the principle behind the integration, I wasn't exactly confident I could pull it off.

I still tried nonetheless.

I followed the usual steps. Focusing my attention on my core, a certain warmth invaded my body.

I guided it toward the bone in my grasp.

"Hm."

I felt my brows furrow.

There was a little resistance from the bone at first, but with the passing of seconds, it started to accept my mana.

The first step that I needed to do was 'Assimilation'. In short, I needed to get the bone used to my mana. This was a necessary step before the 'Integration' part.

So I decided to be patient. This wasn't going to be an easy step.

"....."

I was right.

The 'Assimilation' process was taking a little longer than I expected.

However, as I glanced at the clock, I smiled.

It was Sunday.

I had all the time in the world.

In total, it took about thirty more minutes for me to finally be able to smoothly channel my mana into the bone.

"...Hah."

As soon as I reached that stage, I let out the breath I held in. It was now time for me to move toward the most important part.

"Integration."

This process was also not very complicated. However, the book described this next stage as the hardest. Not because it was hard to do, but because of the pain one would experience during the integration.

It was for this reason that the Institute tested one's pain tolerance.

Unless one reached a score of three, they wouldn't allow any of the cadets to try to integrate with a bone without any assistance.

But to me...

That didn't matter. Three, four, five, six... So long as my body didn't fail me, it was nothing.

Pain... It was something I could deal with.

So.

I didn't hesitate with the next step.

".....!"

The bone stuck to my forearm and an excruciating pain invaded my body.

The pain was hard to describe.

It felt as if the bones on my forearm had gotten crushed by a large boulder as it fell. The muscles twisted and squirmed as a result, and the bone attached itself to my skin.

Creak...! Crack...!

The sounds that came out of my forearm were all for me to hear.

My lips trembled and my heart squirmed in pain.

The pain was something that I could vividly feel in my mind.

But.

Even while getting baptized by this intense pain, I didn't let out a single sound. I simply refused to yield to the pain.

Pain.

It meant a lot to me.

Having experienced it so much, I knew all sorts of pains. And... screaming from this type of pain felt pathetic.

'There's worse. This is nothing.'

So.

"...."

I stood in silence and watched as my forearm squirmed and spasmed.

Creak...! Crack...!

The sounds continued but nothing came out of my mouth. I wouldn't let myself let anything out.

Such pain continued for the next hour.

The entire time I stood motionless and took in the pain.

Memorized it.

....So that the next time I experienced something similar, I could tell myself, 'I withstood this, why can't I withstand this?'

".....!"

Snap--!

As I heard a loud snapping sound, a sense of weakness finally hit me.

I stumbled several steps back before falling onto my chair.

The world spun and the edges of my vision started to become dark. Gradually, the darkness spread, reaching down from all areas before finally taking away my sight.

Even in such a state, I remained silent.

"....."

I felt my right arm twitch and something came out.

I wasn't sure what.

I couldn't see.

It took several minutes for my vision to return.

When it did, I stared around me.

All I saw were...

".....Threads."