Black String of Fate

The party members headed to the director's room, meeting up with Lilly on the way. He hurriedly led the way forward, not starting a conversation seeing the mood of the party. He quietly led the way, and when they arrived in front of the director's room, Xavier finally spoke to him.

"Head back to your room. Don't come back no matter what, you'll not like what I'm about to do."

Lilly nodded and did as he was told. When talking to Xavier, he felt as if the words he spoke were absolute, and he had to acknowledge him as the greater party, despite him being younger and smaller in stature than him.

The moment Lilly went away, Xavier barged into the room by kicking the door down. Inside, he could see the director peacefully sipping his tea, not having a care in the world. According to Lilly, he doesn't remember anything, for him, there were only three party members who came for a monster hunting quest in the first place.

But, all that didn't matter to him. If things didn't make sense, he had to force them to make sense.

"Oh, adventurers! What brings you here, is there any problem?"

"Yes, there is."

Xavier stepped forward and drew his sword, much to the director's surprise. Without wasting a moment, he put his sword up to the neck of the director, causing him to panic.

"W-What are you doing?! H-Help! Ryan! I'm being attacked!"

The director shouted for help, and just a few seconds later, the director's assistant, Ryan, barged in through the door. He was also surprised when he saw the situation unfolding in the room.

"Adventurers, what in the actual hell are you doing?! You can get excommunicated from the guild by acting like this! Why is this situation the way it is right now?"

Lafia, who was standing on the side, looked towards Xavier, and when she saw him nod, she responded,

"We, the adventurer's party, never came here for a monster hunt. We had received a report that children were disappearing from this orphanage mysteriously, and we were sent to investigate."

Hearing that, the director immediately shouted in response.

"Nonsense! Take your lies somewhere else, criminals! My children have never gone missing!"

Xavier, seeing the rebellious attitude of the director, pushed the sword even further up against his neck, drawing a line of blood. While this action may seem like a threat to shut up, Xavier's internal thoughts were different.

'That reaction truly seemed genuine. So far, he hasn't given me even a hint of a malicious vibe. In his eyes, from the outburst he just displayed, I can tell he really loved the kids here. He's truly a good man, just like Lafia said.

Xavier sighed, finding it unfortunate that he couldn't just threaten somebody and have the problems solved. He withdrew his sword, to the director's relief, but the next words he was about to say were going to change everything.

'I never expected I'd be using my regression like this. It's a shot in the dark, but I see no other options.'

"For how long have you been sacrificing to that fake god Laplace?"

His words were followed by a moment of silence, but soon the director replied,

"...Laplace? Fake god? What are you talking about? Are you part of some crazy cult or something?"

But Xavier wasn't even looking at the director right now. His eyes were deathly fixed on Ryan, who also had a confused reaction on the surface, but that mask soon came crumbling down when Xavier said,

"I felt your mana twitch. Was I somehow right? So it really is the Laplace bastards… Can't believe that you guys exist right now too."

Ryan frowned, and after a moment of that tense atmosphere, he sighed and said,

"...I really want to ask how you know about us, but I'm sure you won't tell. Someone like you being aware of our existence is big news for us, we need to take measures so that there won't be more of you at this stage."

Ryan put his hand inside his shirt, and before Lafia or Alina could react, he threw a dagger straight toward Xavier. He casually bent sideways, and the dagger precisely pierced the director's head.

"Unfortunately, I am not strong enough to subdue and capture you, so I have to kill you."

Lafia and Alina immediately jumped back and stood on Xavier's side with their weapons drawn. Alina was holding her staff and channeling her fire magic, while Lafia was holding her saber stance and channeling her earth magic. With their combined power and nothing to hide from their surroundings, they were comparable to a rank 4 expert.

Xavier, despite being uninitiated, stood with his sword drawn, a stable stance that somehow gave off more of a threat than the obviously powerful Elites.

Ryan, from his storage ring, summoned out a gold Morningstar. It was an unusual weapon choice, but when Xavier saw flickers of Aura on the spikes of the weapon, he knew this was going to be a tough fight.

"He's almost an Expert, but not there yet. He's so close to the point that he can become one during this battle, so be careful."

Lafia and Alina nodded, and all three of them decided to attack first. Lafia and Xavier rushed towards Ryan, and Alina supported them from behind.

*CLASH*

Their weapons clashed, blowing away the tables, chairs and the dead body of the director. Alina used this moment to cast a curving fireball from behind, aiming for his blind spot.

Ryan dodged the hit by using force to push the two of them away and turning his body at the last second. The fireball exploded and set the whole room on fire.

"Tsk, so the environment is to your advantage now, is it? Mages are annoying to deal with…"

"Heh, I'm just warming up."

While Alina taunted Ryan, Lafia from behind ruptured the earth from beneath Ryan, causing him to stumble for just half a second.

That half a second was enough for Xavier.