Rain’s Speed was still limited to short bursts no more than ten steps; he wasn’t fast enough, he knew that much. What he hadn’t taken note of was his stamina.

For a person who was tainted with a Mark that turned his blood into a healing juice, his own body was rather weak and not reaping any of its benefits.

Still… He couldn’t stop. Sean’s life and freedom depended on him. He would not let anything happen to the boy. Especially not after Alice’s…

Tsk.

At that moment he arrived at the location he and Ella had chosen for their meeting spot, but the sight he came across was not something that filled him with relaxation.

Rain tensed up immediately and dug out his knives from his crossbody bag, the Plexus announcing the activation of his Skill as he the Plexus announcing the activation of his Skill as he dual wielded them and bolted past the cluster of the gathered children and into the center where Nun Cathleen stood looking down upon Ella and Sean with a wry smile on her face.

“You came faster than expected,” she voiced an unwarranted opinion Rain was not one bit excited to hear. “I applaud you for that.”

Panting, Rain asked, “What are you doing here?” A painful sensation suddenly twirled around his heart like a vine. Surely Alice wasn’t already… “What happened to… Why are you here?!”

“Rain,” Sean called from behind him, where he was standing beside the whimpering J. “Where’s Alice?”

Rain avoided looking back to see the boy’s face. Instead, he bit down on his lips while withholding the only reply that could be given to the boy.

Perhaps amused by the situation as a whole, Nun Cathleen chuckled ecstatically. “Honestly, this is more fun than anything Archbishop Jude and I could have planned. Thank you, handsome boy. Although, shouldn’t you be telling the kid what he wants to know?”

“That’s none of your concern.” Rain displayed his knives for the nun to see while taking a stance.

“Hey! What are you doing?!” Ray shouted. “Put those down! How dare you point that at those who took you in?!”

Rain wasn’t surprised. He had prepared himself for this reception while on his way here. To the kids, the nun and Archbishop were their lifesavers, anyone would rage if someone those lifesavers saved from dying brandished weapons at them. What they were oblivious to was the actual intentions of those lifesavers. That was why the only way he could stop the kids from butting in was by leaving that work to someone who could communicate with them and also knew what was beneath the mask of the lifesavers.

“Ella,” Rain whispered. “How long are you going to keep them in the dark?”

He was directly standing before Nun Cathleen, and as such couldn’t make out the expression of the girl, but that was hardly important. He already knew how she felt even though he didn’t know why she felt that way. Archbishop Jude and Nun Cathleen were no longer lifesavers in her eyes. They were monsters. And what they had done would undoubtedly make them monsters in the other childrens’ eyes as well, once they knew about it.

“I…” Ella hesitated. “I can’t.”

Of course it was hard, Rain knew that. Her words would destroy the home the children—her friends—knew. She didn’t want to be the one to bring down the bomb. So it was hard.

But Sean’s life going forward depended on her.

Nun Cathleen just stood, saying nothing. Her overconfidence was oozing out of her. She wanted to watch the current play completely before taking any action. And Rain had figured out the reason: Just like him, she did not know what Ella knew about her and the Archbishop, and was confused as to what the girl was doing. This whole act was as a means for her to find out what the little girl knew.

That was another reason why Ella had to speak up before Nun Cathleen subdued her. Because if it turned out that way, she would be interrogated in secret, and dealing with her would prove easy. On the other hand, if all the kids knew of the Archbishop and Nun Cathleen’s exploits right here and now, such things would prove cumbersome. After all, was she going to kill each and every child here? Rain doubted that. And in the instance where her mind had shifted to clearing the doubts of the kids, a chance would open up for him to escape with Sean.

You could be reading stolen content. Head to Royal Road for the genuine story.

It was selfish of him, but since he was certain that they wouldn’t be killed, after all the nun and Archbishop had invested a lot in them, he was going to come back for them with the help of the GEF.

As for now, he had to prepare for battle in case things went awry.

“Are you a fool?” Rain voiced as he pulled up his Attribute’s Interface in secret. “What you are doing isn’t the right thing. If you love your friends you will tell them the truth. They deserve to know the truth. This world is already shitty enough, imagine having to live under the same roof as people who are just as shitty? You have to tell them the truth.”

Nun Cathleen’s eyes narrowed at those words. It seemed like she now had an idea of what Ella knew about. This was why Rain had pulled up his Interface beforehand. It was not going to be enough, but it should at least help him a bit.

[Assign 08 Experience Points to Agility and 10 Experience Points to Speed?]

Yes…

[Records of persistent battling without assigning Experience Points has been taken into consideration]…

Here it was. The fruit of Alice’s battle-slave training.

He had not been expecting it to come in this manner, but of course he had never once stopped believing that something would happen.

Humans were adaptive beings, and restricting their bodies to mere stats wouldn’t stop such from happening. Rain’s body had long adapted without him assigning his points, so now that he was using them…

[Assigned Experience Points have been doubled]…

…

[Attributes]

Strength: 006.

Speed: 039 (Boosted).

Agility: 023.

Perception: 005.

Durability: 014.

Stamina: 006.

Experience Points: 00.

…He was being rewarded.

Rain felt a cool sensation bathe his body, and of course Nun Cathleen’s brows furrowed even further. She had noticed that he’d assigned points to his Attributes, and in return poised herself to take action immediately, which was shutting Ella up.

He knew he wasn’t faster than Nun Cathleen. Taking her build into consideration, it was obvious that she was a Lightweight just like he was, and so, recalling what Alice had told him about how a single Attribute was ‘boosted’ depending on the person’s weight class, it was obvious that her Speed would be off the roof compared to his.

But that didn’t matter. Not now. He was closer to Ella, and the steps between both of them were barely seven steps not to talk of the fifteen he felt he could now cover in an instant.

With that he moved first, closing the gap between Ella and him in a blurry flash just in time to put his face before Nun Cathleen’s.

She growled at him, but he was not yet done. Since she was quicker than he was, it would prove futile to try to attack her only after they’d come face to face, which was why he had already swung his knife in an arc before he’d even moved to protect Ella.

Nun Cathleen was fast, she could easily get around him before he could notice; but humans were humans at the end of the day. In the face of unexpected danger, even if it was one that could be easily subdued, their first instinct was to retreat for a moment.

Ray saw this and barked from behind, “Hey! What the hell?! Klein, why are you just watching?” Even though he was far away, Rain could hear the boy’s heavy puffs. He was going to try to attack any moment now.

“Stop!” It wasn’t Ella’s voice, and because of that Rain almost turned around. “Stop it, Ray. The nun and the Archbishop aren’t who you think they are.”

Rain’s heart pounded rapidly as he forced himself not to blink. Who would have thought? It wasn’t only Ella who knew about what had happened?

“Wh-What are you talking about, Klein?” the childrens’ voices cracked.

Nun Cathleen had a stony expression. “Klein, darling. You should not say nasty things that would require you to be punished.”

“Yes. Yes,” Ray, who had been silent, found his voice. “Stop saying such nasty things, Klein.”

“I am fully aware of what I’m saying, Nun,” Klein went on. “If you want to keep me from speaking, then try to stop me.”

Wait… What is he saying?! She’ll kill—Huh?

Nun Cathleen remained still.

What was going on here? Why was she not moving? She definitely had better overall Attributes, so Klein shouldn’t be a threat to her. Right?

Was it a Benefactor? Rain doubted that. After all, Alice had told him that Privileges could only be used through Golden Points, and those could only be gotten from monster Cores in the Glades. Compared to Alice, these children did not bear the mien of those who had ventured into the Glades. So what was it that made Klein so confident—

Huh? Golden Points… Privileges… Rain’s attention shifted for a brief moment there. Why did Alice ask me to give Sean those Golden Points?

…

Sean has a Benefactor?