Chapter 46: Taking it for myself [1]

Chapter 46: Taking it for myself [1]

It was just as the Professor was talking to me that it happened.

'Uh....?'

The world froze, and my vision turned dark. All of a sudden I lost control of my body.

It was a sensation I was all too familiar with...

'Another vision?'

The scenery shifted, enveloping me in the opulent embrace of a grand hall. Its lavish decor was blinding with all sorts of individuals present.

Such grand hall was silent.

It was as if the sound had been sucked out of the room.

"....."

All eyes seemed to be focused on a certain spot. Or more specifically, towards two people.

".....We've found it."

A towering figure with slender facial contours, jet-black hair, a long nose, and bushy eyebrows peered down at his palm, where a small orb, reminiscent in size of a glass pebble, rested.

'What's that...?'

There was something about the pebble that seemed intriguing. It had a strange allure to it. Almost as if it was beckoning me to take it.

But I had no time to dwell on it as the next set of events continued.

"Why did you steal it?"

The man's voice thundered down towards the other individual, a woman adorned with cascading violet locks and piercing blue eyes. She returned his gaze with a frozen look.

Her eyes trembled, and so did her body...

"I..."

He raised his hand to display a black purse.

"This is yours isn't it?"

Evelyn's expression remained locked in a state of disbelief, her mouth opening and closing repeatedly in a futile attempt to articulate her words.

"No, I..."

"There's no denying your crime."

He coldly cut her off.

"We've searched everyone and you were the only one that was found with this. Do you think you can talk your way out of this?"

He didn't seem interested in her ramblings. Coldly turning his gaze away from her, he looked toward the guard's station nearby.

"Take her in for questioning."

"No, wait...!"

The guards latched onto her arms from both sides.

"This is a mistake...!"

She tried to protest, but it was to no avail.

"That's not mine! I don't know where it came from! This is a...."

Under the scrutiny of all present, Evelyn was forcibly escorted by the guards out of the hall. Her eyes searched the entire hall, eventually falling on me.

Me...?

'Help me...'

Is what her gaze tried to imply.

I stood rooted to my spot, transfixed by her desperate expression, unable to tear my gaze away.

It sealed itself into my mind until the very end.

When her figure finally disappeared.

The vision ended there.

"....."

I stood in silence without saying a single word.

"Cadet?"

Only when I heard the sound of the Professor's voice did I finally raise my head. A screen appeared shortly after.

[ ◆ Side Quest Activated: Unmask the Fraud.]

: Character Progression + 5%

: Game Progression + 1%

Failure

: Calamity 3 + 5%

"Did you understand what I said?"

Anders Lewis Richmond.

Ever since that incident, his attitude toward me underwent a complete change.

He no longer seemed confrontational; in fact, he appeared to be making an effort to foster a friendlier relationship with me.

I was put off at first, but seeing how his intentions weren't malicious, I let him be.

"As you probably know, the House of Picks is actually a famous auction house. Although there is no auction today, the shop is still open. If you're interested in something, you can try buying it."

"Ah..."

I nodded slightly and opened the book.

'I wonder if there's anything I can buy...'

I was somewhat intrigued.

[Mana Association | Green] — 50,000 Rend.

[Essence Awakenening | Green] — 70, 000 Rend.

[Melton Mana Manual | Green] — 120, 000 Rend.

'Holy fuck.'

My heart almost jumped at the sight of the prices.

The currency within this world was called the Rend. If I had to make a conversion rate compared to my old world, then it'd probably be 1 Rend for one Dollar...? The purchasing power seemed to be about the same.

....And just looking at the prices of the Green Ranked book, I knew that I had no business here.

I may have been the son of a noble, but the amount of money that I had didn't even come close to letting me purchase a Green-ranked book.

What sort of corruption was this...?

I immediately skimmed past the first few pages, but...

'100,000 Rend.... 1,000,000 Rend.... 17,000,000 Rend...'

The deeper I went, the more absurd the prices became. It was to the point where I was just scrolling through the book for the sake of wasting time.

As if I could afford any of this stuff.

That was until I found myself pausing toward a certain section.

[Metryl Bone] — 4, 320, 000 Rend.

A certain image captured my attention and my eyes widened.

'This is...'

It was only a picture, but the overlapped with the image in my mind. The one from the vision.

Ah—

The more I looked at it, the more certain I felt...

'....It's the item that was found in the vision.'

The one that caused all of the commotion.

"....."

I blinked and took a seat.

"Huu.."

So it was a bone.

I swallowed my saliva and stared at the image once more.

'So the item that she was framed with was this bone...'

It looked nothing like a bone, but perhaps there was something that I was missing. Either way, I understood now.

The reason why the situation seemed so serious.

So then...

"Why?"

Why did my chest tingle at the sight of the item on the list?

It wasn't just that, my fingers... They were twitching.

Thoughts I wasn't supposed to have suddenly engulfed my mind. As I sat down on my seat seat, my foot started to tap against the ground.

As I continued to stare at the listing, I silently swallowed.

A thought crossed my mind.

One that I wasn't supposed to have.

"This orb..."

Can I take it for myself....?

***

There will be two more chapters later.