Chapter 44: A Surprise

'Spirit Technique!' Even Mary was wide-eyed in shock.

Unlike the mana extraction technique that anyone could learn, even from the Wandering Walkers, Spirit techniques were exclusive to the Noble families and impossible for a commoner to obtain.

Even Mary needed extraordinary results like this to get this technique as a gift.

At that moment, Mary felt tremendous pressure as she received the gift.

She knew Baron would not give her the spirit technique without expecting anything in return.

'He wants me to enroll in Crows Misery School at all costs.' The spirit technique was essential for achieving that.

Tens of thousands of students travel to the capital every year to take the Crows Misery School entrance exam, but only a selected few pass. The main reason was the difficulty of the tests.

One of the main entrance tests was the strength of spirit power.

Anyone with less than two spirit powers would be disqualified immediately, making it even more difficult for a commoner to enter the academy.

'There are still four months until the Crows Misery School entrance exam starts.'

However, with this technique, Mary could quickly accumulate her spirit power up to 2 points. After receiving the gift, she turned around and returned to her position with a proud look.

Meanwhile, Elizabeth shifted her attention towards Raven and spoke.

"Come forth, Raven."

As soon as she spoke, Raven nodded and started walking towards her.

He soon arrived before her and patiently waited.

On the other hand, a troubled look appeared on Elizabeth's face.

"In truth, Lord Baron thought Mary would get first place and gave me a common rank bracelet, a common rank sword, and a spirit technique—the bracelet for third place, the sword for second place, and the spirit technique for first place. That spirit technique was supposed to go to you, but I can't do it. You understand what I mean, right?"

"Yes, Teacher. That spirit technique must be exclusive to the Whitbard Noble Family and can't be given to the outsiders." Raven responded calmly.

"Correct. But I also can't give you that common rank bracelet because its value is only half the second prize. Haa, I'm in a dilemma." Elizabeth rubbed her forehead and soon took a pair of black boots from her space ring.

"I wanted to give this pair of boots to my younger brother as a present when I return to my homeland, but I'll give this to you." As she spoke, she approached him closer and whispered in his ears.

"These are 'Uncommon Rank' boots that cost more than 10,000 gold coins. Consider this an investment in you." Her words shocked him.

'10,000 gold coins? Why would she give such a precious gift to me?' Doubt appeared in his eyes.

Noticing his doubtful gaze, she chuckled and continued to whisper.

"I have good intuition, Raven. Although I don't know your background, your whole family seems to be from a noble bloodline. And I have never seen a genius like you in my life. If you manage to enter the Crows Misery Academy, I'm 100% sure you will become a great person one day."

Although Raven didn't know her real motive, he felt the sincerity in her words.

'Investment, huh?' Raven bowed his head and accepted the gift.

At the same time, she took out a strange velvet gem from her spatial ring and gave it to him.

"If you end up in a dangerous situation one day, crush it. I'll get your location immediately and arrive to help you once."

[She is way too generous. Kid, she must have some ulterior motive, so be careful.] Zera warned him.

'Of course, I know. But if her real motive doesn't harm me or my family, I won't mind helping Teacher Elizabeth in the future.' He said in his mind and quietly walked away from there.

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[Aren't you trusting her too much?] Zera couldn't help but complain.

'I'm not trusting her unquestioningly like before. Moreover, she is the only person who never gave up on me in the Knight Apprentice Academy. Even when Headmaster Agatha tried to expel me under the pressure of other professors, she was the one who stopped all their schemes and let me stay in the academy as the only Zeroth Circle student. In a sense, I owe her a lot.' Raven said.

After that, Elizabeth gave a final speech and told everyone to return home.

Meanwhile, the students started dismissing and walking to the town.

Raven joined Dante, Daisy, and Chris and returned to town while discussing his test results.

After reaching the town, Raven parted from his classmates and quietly walked towards Alm Street in Commoners' Borough.

At the same time, he stored the boots and velvet gem in the inventory and carried only his empty leather bag on his back.

Before long, Raven arrived at 15A Alm Street and soon noticed the house wasn't locked.

"What are they doing inside while keeping the door open?" He muttered while arriving under the porch.

Soon, he pushed the door open and walked into the house while shouting.

"Aunt? I'm home! But what are you guys doing without even closing the main door?"

To his surprise, no response came from inside.

He also noticed that no lights were lit inside, and the house appeared gloomier!

He hurriedly walked towards the nearby lamp and lit it, illuminating the main hall.

But as soon as the light descended to the main hall, his attention was drawn towards the sofa.

No, he looked at the torn necklace of gems and beads and felt a strange uneasiness.

[Something feels off, lad.] Zera also noticed the odd thing and warned him.

[Use the 'Past Finder' skill on it.]

Raven nodded hurriedly, moved closer to the fallen necklace, and grabbed it in his right hand.

Then, he activated the [Past Finder] skill and noticed that the surroundings started to break like a mirror.

A second later, Raven found himself standing in the same place.

But instead of him standing alone, three more people were in the main hall.

'Who is this man?' He saw Gavin entering the house and sitting on the sofa leisurely. But what startled him was the expressions of Athena and Shirley.

'Aunt is looking at this man with fear? And my sister is mad for sure!' Raven quietly watched the things that unfolded before him and soon went bloodshot as he saw a strange humanoid black shadow grab his aunt's neck.

Within seconds, he saw that the whole room was enveloped in complete darkness.

A few moments later, he only saw Gavin in the main hall and got panicked a bit.

Before he could process his thoughts, a black shadowy human came from the corner of the main hall and knelt before the man named Gavin.

After that, Raven heard the rest of their conversation and soon went pale.

'F*ck! Are they also after me? Moreover, that man wanted to kill me?' As his mind was in turmoil, the surroundings started to shimmer and soon broke into countless glass pieces, returning his consciousness to reality.

[What happened, lad? Did you find any clue?] Zera asked as she noticed his heartbeat skyrocketing.

'… We are in big trouble, Zera. No, the enemy is already watching our movement.' As he spoke, his eyes darted around and scanned the surroundings.

"Hoo! I didn't expect a little brat to sense my presence already." An eerie male voice came from his left ear, causing strange goosebumps all over his body.

He instinctively jumped towards the left and warily looked around.

"You are different from what Sir Gavin told me. Hmm, I also don't think you will die in a few years." As the voice resounded in the room, the sofa's shadow twisted and soon formed into a humanoid.

Before long, a human covered in a dark cloak appeared one meter before him and looked at him with interest.

Hiding the anxiety, Raven decided to play dumb and find a way to escape this situation.

"W- Who are you? Why are you doing this? Where did you take my sister and aunt?"

"Worry about yourself, kiddo. Well, you don't need to worry about your sister. I heard that the Emperor had already arranged a political marriage for her. As for your aunt? Well, she might have already ended up in the black prison by now." The dark-cloaked human's words angered Raven.

But before he could take his weapon from the inventory, a mysterious power enveloped his body and wholly bound him.

"Blame it on your bad luck, kid." As soon as the young man spoke, he disappeared from where he stood.

"May you rest in peace." His voice slowly whispered in Raven's ears.

Raven felt the entire world spinning before he could comprehend the situation. He was struck by an unbearable pain that left him disoriented.

As Raven's decapitated head fell on the floor and painted it in blood, a complete blackness covered his vision and even his consciousness.

On the other hand, his headless body also danced slowly and soon fell with a loud thud.

"Now I need to make this murder look like an assassination from Viser Kingdom."

As the assassin spoke, he walked closer to the headless body and was about to place a reddish headband in Raven's hand but suddenly stopped.

At that moment, he suddenly sensed a rise in temperature around him and retracted his hand.

'What is this?' An absurd scene unfolded before his very eyes as he was in confusion.

In two seconds, a unique reddish flame appeared around Raven's headless body and the decapitated head and started burning it fiercely.

"Fire? Is it some self-destruction spell? Damn it, it seems this kid became a disciple of some wizard!" What startled him more was the appearance of the strange fire.

'I also didn't sense any elemental fluctuation!’ The fire appeared without any warning and shocked him.

"Damn it, I can't let this fire burn away his corpse." The assassin named Jonas dashed towards the kitchen and returned with a large jug of water.

Without delay, he poured all the water on his head and body and tried to extinguish the fire.

But to his shock, the water didn't affect the fire.

The fire continued to burn more fiercely, and soon Raven's head and body burst into pure fire-elemental ember particles before disappearing into the thin air.

Jonas was left dumbfounded as there wasn't even a speck of ashes left behind.

…

End of Volume-1