The Worldview Where Everyone is Destined to Die

Chapter 15: Shadow of Something (2)

I spent the night again with my eyes open.

I had been awake for nearly 60 hours now, and I felt like my eyes had sand in them, but there was nothing that could be done.

I was chasing off the sleepiness that was coming because of the thought that if I fell asleep, something bad would happen.

'The culprit hasn't been caught yet. Considering that the original target was me....'

Actually, being alone like this could be quite dangerous.

However, it isn't possible to ask the women, Shirley and Judith, to sleep in my dorm.

What's more, it goes without saying that I cannot go to Theodore's dorm when I only talked to him recently for the first time, even though we have been through a case.

'I don't remember ever being hated enough to get framed for murder.'

However, there was nothing apparent to point out.

For some inexplicable reason, I had been enduring relentless bullying for no reason ever since I first set foot in the school. Until now, I had dismissed it as a random incident, but this time was different.

'Did I suddenly cross the line? Or is it someone entirely different?'

No matter how much I thought, there was no way I could think of anything. I leaned heavily on the chair facing the window and glared at the moonlight coming in.

The pale and moon cast an eerie glow, magnified by my fatigue.

.

Knock! Knock!

At that time, something knocked on the window.

Since the upperclassmen resided on the third floor of the dorm, it was unlikely that the noise could be attributed to someone accidentally brushing against the window as they passed by.

I quickly opened the window and looked down before the second stone hit the window.

"Arthur."

I didn't think he had come secretly, but as soon as I called out his name, he frowned, looking flustered.

"I am coming up."

"Through the window?"

"Please step back."

Even though this is my room, I don't think I have the option of not having guests.

I hope both Shirley and Arthur don't forget that I am their senior...

Perhaps in the future,both Judith and Theodore will also visit my room this way?

As I was thinking that, the black shadow turned from the moonlight and appeared at the window, accompanied by a sound.

"The front door is open. Does the Crown of Thorns lock their dorm entrance at dawn?"

"Things happened a couple hours ago, so coming in through the front door would have been a foolish choice."

I wanted to refute that, but it was true.

I admired his animal-like movements as he climbed into the window without a sound, and I promised myself not to make a fuss with Arthur when Judith wasn't around unless I had a reason.

"But you didn't stop it."

"What? Are you coming?"

"Yes. It seemed like you were reluctant to meet me in the morning."

Was it impossible to fool his eyes?

Instead of forcing a smile to hide my anxiousness, I nodded.

"Well, right. Now I can be sure that you won't kill me."

It was a serious thing to say. Arthur just stared down at me, neither confirming nor denying the question.

I am quite tall, but seeing this guy looking down at me makes me think that he might be close to 2 meters in the future.

"Until then, did you think I could kill you?"

"Let's stop blaming each other. I am in a bit of a tough situation."

Now I was beside him and had a headache due to lack of sleep.

As expected, it was impossible for me, who barely had the strength of a normal man, to stay awake for more than 4 days straight.

The reason I was struggling to come to my senses like this was because of Shirley's warning.

"It would've been better if I came tomorrow."

"Forget it."

After inviting Arthur to sit down on the chair, I plopped on a chair across from him.

My eyes were hurting and my bones were burning, but it was better for me to hold my sanity and have someone around me than to not have any.

"Did you have something to ask? How much did you notice?"

"... The atmosphere around you seems to have changed a lot."

"Ahh...which one is the real one? If you guess right, you get a small prize... just kidding."

Even though I tried to give up the habit of joking to pretend to be calm, I just couldn't.

So, in an attempt to shake off the tiredness, I massaged the back of my neck by pressing it against the backrest of the chair and then relaxed again.

"The reason I felt suspicious about you was because of this."

I took out the falsified handwritten letter I had kept with me after Theodore gave me.

Arthur looked at the texts in the letter and scoffed.

"That is crude. If you misunderstood because my hobby is transcription---"

"Back."

Although I interrupted him, he didn't get angry.

He just did as I said, checking the back and looked puzzled.

"I wanted to buy some time until the blood stains had dried off. It isn't perfect, but it is noticeable as the paper dries."

Only then did Arthur seem to realize what my words meant.

"It looks like the same red, but the saturation and brightness of the ink is different, right? The part where the ink is mixed,"

The content of the letter itself was exactly as it had been handed to Theodore.

But the hand print on the back of the letter touched by the bloody hand was different from then.

Some parts are bright and clear, but some turn dark or have this light orange tint to them.

That is expected. The stain was the result of two different liquids being mixed.

"A high quality product that produces vivid color even with a small amount and has this minimal bleeding when exposed to moisture. This is the limited edition ink <My Scarlet> from the capital magic workshop, Moonlight. Right?"

Instead of giving off any dangerous feel by unbuttoning the shirt, I patted my chest.

"What is written here is the same thing."

After speaking till there, Arthur finally began to react.

He quietly folded the letter he had and handed it back to me in the original form, and sat cross legged.

"I don't know whether the murder happened first or the magic circle was drawn. I guess the ink came out when you searched the chest to check for the holster of mine."

"I did not write the letter."

"I know because I saw the book you were working on. It is quite a feat anyway, that isn't what I am curious about. I am curious as to why you were there and what you witnessed."

"Ahh."

Arthur tried to talk but then laughed at that.

Of course, it wasn't a happy laugh.

Arthur, who placed his hands neatly on the top of his legs, began to speak looking at me.

"Theodore started sleepwalking."

"... Uh?"

"This is a case that developed into a serious condition for him in a short time."

An answer which I hadn't expected, so the drowsiness which was in my head just vanished.

I closed the window and dragged a chair close to Arthur.

"Tell me the details."

Sleepwalking which turned severe in a short period of time and dreams of killing people which began recently.

Maybe there was a link.

"Symptoms of sleepwalking began in earnest around four days ago, but there were signs even before that."

"..."

Theodore began to sleepwalk the exact same day I had the odd dream.

"Sitting up in sleep or mumbling things which he doesn't remember the next day,"

Every time Arthur continued with 'strange things' which happened similar to me and Theodore was all I could focus on.

-Theodore White is in trouble because he lost his memory accidentally. It isn't Theo's fault though.

What Shirley said, four days now, and the strange things around him.

Maybe Arthur's words will bring some clarity to what is happening to me right now.

Arthur paused for a moment as if he knew what I was thinking, and then said.

"It wouldn't have been a problem if he had wandered around the room but wouldn't it be a problem if he used magic in sleep?"

"Especially so for the crown of Thorns class."

"Theodore took up a specialty in black magic, and that has an influence on the mind of the mages... I thought that there was something wrong and he began to sleepwalk."

"So you followed Theodore? That is why the time didn't sit well. You arrived right before Theodore did."

The reason why I was so sure was because of the evidence on the altar.

I laid out what I had and tried to infer the situation during that time.

"When I just woke up from the altar, the entire body ached and my head throbbed, so I didn't really think about another pain. But while I was washing up, I realized something."

Since I was so panicked about the murder and the blood on me, I didn't realize it then, but when I poured water to wash my body I realized that my chest, to be accurate, near my heart, was this burn mark.

A little bit of grease and a scar of burn, and a magic circle around.

And there was just one thing I could understand from it.

"You must have tilted the candlestick in the dark and dropped the candle wax on my chest when you were looking at the magic circle on the chest. Must be quite flustering since it isn't like you."

"Just from the candle wax?"

"It was white candle wax made from whale oil. The candle wax used in the chapel can be distinguished by its yellow beeswax candle."

"Man... that was a clumsy mistake."

As the story went ahead to this point, Arthur seemed to have no more thoughts pulling him back.

"Theodore is normally a very careful person, but when he received the letter with the name Arma Cruz on it, he was quite flustered."

"Must have been so because he and I barely spoke."

"Furthermore, the letter was sloppy and it would make anyone feel very flustered at the sight of it."

It would have been normal for Arthur Usher, who took advantage of Theodore's confusion to read the contents of my letter and appear in the chapel on the day of the incident.

Even if the letter was fabricated, it was clear that someone was targeting Theodore.

"And that is why you were embarrassed after confirming the identity of the culprit?"

"No. I couldn't see the face at first. I thought I was just going to look at the face of the guy who forged a letter, but suddenly I felt this magic."

"... Theodore?"

"Yes. But it is strange. There was a ban on us that prevented us from using magic, but at that moment, Theodore drew a magic circle and activated it without being affected by any ban."

"There is just one chance then."

Arthur nodded at my answer.

Within the academy no cadet is allowed to use magic in private.

Whether it is lighting a match or blowing away a bug that has entered your home. We are under strong control due to the ban on bodies, and tracking tech was installed throughout the academy to block the use of magic.

But there is just one way to avoid it.

"If you use magic outside the academy."

The problem is that I haven't stepped out of the academy since last year.