Bro, I'm not an Undead!

The old man walked a distance and the Discount Human followed until he saw the man stop.

Skullius felt tense.

Incredibly tense.

The old man turned and smiled at him, emitting a calm yet deadly presence. Mana flowed in a serene wave around his body, a subtle heat blowing in it as it swirled.

In this serene wave of mana, Skullius felt like there were hundreds of thousands of angry and crazy powerful beasts swimming within.

Was it merely the feeling his mana gave or was it real?

He couldn’t tell and neither could he entertain such a thought for long.

His [Elevated Mana Manipulation] allowed him to notice these details that hadn’t been present when he had met this man before.

Perhaps the man had wanted to present a less intimidating image that time.

“Come to think of it, I’d rather not go through the trouble of walking down some stairs again. The one who rushed to tell me of your return was not as subtle as I’d hoped,” Terian said, his words not making sense for Skullius.

‘So… what do you want me to do?’ the Discount Human thought._.

As the old man whose name was Terian, looked at Skullius, he couldn’t help but wonder if this was the same person he had seen just two days ago.

It was impolite to point it out but such a contrast was incredibly daunting.

The crowds in the hall all remained silent as they watched the two, Jarek’s never leaving the interaction.

The old man extended his hand to Skullius and the Discount Human figured that Terian wanted him to grab it, and so he did.

The moment his hand fell into the crusty yet warm hand of the old man, Skullius felt like he had fallen into a deep void!

His vision darkened for but a moment and in the next, he found himself in a large, well furnished room where two men sat while one woman stood.

It took a few seconds for Skullius to clearly grasped what had happened.

‘The hell?’

Wasn’t he just in the hall?

How did he get here?!

Was it teleportation?!

Skullius focused and saw the images around him get clearer. Terian was standing beside him, grasping his hand and he quickly withdrew it.

“I apologise for the sudden transit but an audience to clear up the situation with you is required,” said Terian as he then extended his hand, respectfully presenting the two men who sat down.

“Don’t be so tense, Festos. We just want to speak to you. Be at ease,” Silrat said with a casual smile that didn’t make Skullius feel at ease at all.

Erkus merely nodded with a light in his eyes that heavy suggested authority.

Damilla gave Skullius a harsh look as if she had already deemed him as the culprit responsible for the inexplicable fire at the College of the Esteemed which gave the Discount Human a hard time when it came to settling in this place that had some high authority figures.

“Please, sit,” said Terian as he pointed to a chair that was opposite Erkus and Silrat.

‘Alright. Calm down you sockethole and do as they say,’ Skullius thought to himself.

He walked over and sat down at the chair he had been assigned while trying to withstand the gaze of Damilla.

Why was he here?

Was it because of the library incident?

Skullius knew he hadn’t tended to that matter exceedingly well but to think that it would return to bite him so soon was… kind of unexpected.

‘If it’s really about that… I should have thought it through well enough…’ he thought.

Dealing with humans was always going to be different from dealing with Moronic Undead, unfortunately.

This circumstance was already starting to make him feel like it was him, against the world.

A lump of saliva squirmed in Skullius’ throat.

He was wearing his spatial ring right now.

What if he was thoroughly investigated and Red Rage, whom he had decided to hide in the ring when he was in the city was found?!

Or worse yet, if the Null Devil’s Aegis of Damnation was found?!

Would he really escape this in the same way he had done back in Eofel?

“Festos. It is a pleasure to meet you. My name is Silrat. I am the Head of the Guilds Association in Inhone City and this is the City Lord, Erkus Savont. I know you’re fairly new here but we have been looking forward to meet with you. In fact, Erkus and I were having a debate over who would get to speak to you first the other day but it seems none of us will be winning that bet, haha,” Silrat said with a gentle smile.

Skullius merely smiled back sheepishly as he simply couldn’t relax before he knew what the status on his safety was.

Erkus cut in upon seeing Skullius’ still tense expression.

“It would seem that you still feel pressured by our presence. That much I can understand. Well, to cut to the chase, we’d like to start by saying we appreciate your presence as a Mage in Inhone City. There’s a severe lack of Energy Formers among our forces and seeing an addition like you, whichever side you choose to join is a welcome benefit. Please, accept our welcome into the great folds of power in the system.”

Skullius nodded, not knowing what to say in this situation.

Erkus had an undisguised and distinguished air about him that made it easier for Skullius to associate with, compared to Silrat whose presence was like that of a snake.

Silrat kept eyeing the multiple dull Halos around him with a slight smile that gave Skullius’ cosmetic flesh the chills.

“Naturally, if it was only that much, we would have met you on different occasions but there is a pressing matter that we would like you to shed some light on for us,” Erkus said with a gentle voice as he leaned in from his seat.

‘There it is!’ Skullius tensed up.

“Alright,” Skullius said.

“I believe you have already had this conversation with Terian and Damilla over here and they have made efforts to verify your account. Your current teacher, Oliviana Highdirk attested to the fact that what you claimed was true and we verified your enrolment into the College of Battle Arts. Basically, we do not doubt your words.”

“However, what we intend to do now is to verify if there wasn’t anything we missed. Perhaps by using you, as the sole survivor of the incident who was there when all later events occurred, we can see glimpses into what happened that day through Damilla’s special abilities.”

‘The bloody flesh are you saying here, bro?’ Skullius questioned but didn’t show any of his emotions on his face.

“We will her peak into the past using you as an anchor to search for the oddity that has escaped our grasp. In the worst case scenario, it may be a powerful enemy,” Erkus stressed as Damilla walked forward with her gaze not leaving Skullius.

‘Jeez…’ Skullius grumbled as he saw the unveiled suspicion in the woman’s eyes.

“This won’t take long. If you’re not guilty, you have nothing to worry about,” Damilla said as she reached out her hand towards Skullius.

In all honestly, the Discount Human was extremely stressed.

Because he was GUILTY!

Naturally, he was the suspect and the inciter of the incident.

How was he going to get out of this?!

Was there no break for his character?!