Chapter 150: A String of Cadet Disappearances (4)

Inside the Hero Academy was a small cafe tucked away in a corner. It was so old and poorly furnished that cadets rarely ever set foot inside. And yet, that quiet cafe was currently filled with the sound of a heavy thud followed by a man’s pained scream.

I kicked Berald hard, scowling down at him. “You bastard! Didn’t I tell you to take this seriously? Huh?”

Berald curled up on the floor, shielding himself as he took the blows. “Argh! Agh! I-I was wrong, Brother!”

At that moment, the thought of Senior Sophia, who had seemed to show some vague affection for Berald, flashed across my mind. Feeling a twinge of guilt, I glanced her way, only to see her quietly sipping her coffee, flipping through documents as if to say, “Yeah, he kind of deserves that.”

With a short sigh, I sat back down in my chair. Berald cautiously stood, sneaking glances at me like a kicked puppy.

“Investigate properly,” I ordered.

He nodded quickly. “Ahem. Y-yes, sir.”

He returned his attention to the stack of files, and for once, he wore a serious look as he examined the list of victims. Then suddenly, he tilted his head in puzzlement.

“Brother! Look at this!” he shouted.

I braced myself for yet another pointless remark. “What now?”

However, it wasn’t the case this time.

Berald answered, “The victims have something in common. Some of them have the same type of soul stigmata!”

“The same type of soul stigmata?”

“Here, look. Three of the victims bear the Sun God’s soul stigmata. Another three bear the Star God’s. And three more bear the Sea God’s.”

“Wait!”

I quickly tallied the victims, just as Berald had pointed out. Of the twenty victims, aside from two who bore the Earth God’s soul stigmata, every other god’s soul stigmata appeared in groups of exactly three.

This wasn’t a coincidence. The number of cadets for each type of soul stigmata wasn’t evenly distributed. Since soul stigmata could be inherited genetically, some of its types, such as the Moon God’s and the Forest God’s, were considered minor and, thus, much rarer across the continent. In fact, my own soul stigmata, the Forest God’s, was so uncommon that fewer than thirty cadets in my entire year shared it.

Yet, the victims were neatly balanced by number. Someone had deliberately chosen them to match this pattern. This meant the next target would most likely be from the only group still at two soul stigmatas, the cadets bearing the Earth God’s soul stigmata.

“Nice work, Berald,” I said.

Narrowing down the likely pool of future victims was no small breakthrough.

Berald puffed out his chest proudly, nose high in the air. “Heh! See? I can pull through when it counts!”

I stifled a laugh at his smugness. “Even a broken clock is right twice a day.”

Puzzled, he asked, “Eh? How could a broken clock ever be right?”

I gave up explaining. “Forget it.”

I turned my attention back to the list of victims. The next target was likely a fourth-year cadet with the Earth God’s stigmata. The problem was that the Earth God’s soul stigmata was among the most common. Out of the five hundred fourth-year cadets, nearly a hundred and fifty had it. This alone wasn’t enough to pinpoint who would be next. I needed another clue to narrow the search further.

I was flipping through the papers again when Senior Sophia, who had been quietly studying the documents, said, “I found something.”

She laid the victim list out in chronological order. I scanned it from start to finish, but nothing stood out.

“There’s an error in these files,” she explained.

“An error?”

“The cadets’ overall ranking.” Her eyes ran over the names as she continued, “The ranks listed here are from last year. For example, I placed second in the evaluation last term, but this says I was third.”

“So, the files haven’t been updated with the most recent evaluations.”

That made sense. Cadet rankings weren’t generally public information, so naturally, the updates would lag.

Senior Sophia rewrote the rankings beside each victim’s name. “If we correct the list to last term’s results, it looks like this.”

Shocked, I asked, “Wait. How do you know the other cadets’ grades?”

By rule, a cadet could access only their own results. Of course, rankings did circulate unofficially, but usually, only the top few spots were common knowledge. Memorizing the entire order from top to bottom was something else entirely.

Senior Sophia replied, “Oh, I happened to see the official list once while running an errand for the professors.”

“And you memorized the whole thing in one glance?”

There were nearly five hundred cadets per year. And she remembered it all after seeing it once? I stared at her in disbelief.

She simply tilted her head, replying matter-of-factly, “Why not? It wasn’t that hard.”

Right, that was just the kind of person Senior Sophia was. Suppressing a wry smile at the memory of how she had always been, I watched as she pointed to the list she had rearranged.

“The first victim was Erica Jung. Ranked 438th. Next, Darian Vigilio. Ranked 387th. Then Hollis Buto. Ranked 273rd.”

By now, the clue she had discovered was clear.

“So, the culprit is targeting cadets with progressively higher ranks?” I muttered.

Senior Sophia nodded thoughtfully. “Exactly.”

Cadets with progressively higher rank, huh, I thought.

I turned to her. “What rank was the most recent victim?”

“Seventh. A cadet from the Republic named Bertrand Jin.”

“Then, the next target must be someone ranked sixth or higher.”

“Most likely, if our guess is correct.”

A fourth-year cadet ranked within the top six overall ranking, bearing the Earth God’s soul stigmata—with this much information, we could already predict who the next victim of the cadet disappearance incidents would be.

“If we follow this pattern, the culprit’s next target will be Raios Ryu.”

Raios Ryu was the grandson of Lionel Ryu, the current principal of the Hero Academy, better known as the Thunder God. As expected of the Ryu bloodline, he bore the Earth God’s soul stigmata. Among the highly competitive fourth-years, hailed as one of the strongest classes in history, he proudly held the fourth spot in overall ranking.

Berald cried out in shock, eyes wide. “W-what? You’re saying Brother Raios is the next target?”

Startled by his face suddenly thrust close, Senior Sophia flinched back with a soft groan, then turned her head sharply before replying, “Y-yes. If our deduction is right, the next target is Raios Ryu.”

“Hah! Brother Raios, a target….” Berald trailed off in a worried tone.

While he and Raios weren’t exactly on good terms, they were still family, both carrying the Ryu name.

I patted Berald on the shoulder. “Don’t worry too much. Even if he does get taken, it’s just a matter of fainting for a few hours before waking up again.”

Berald exhaled in relief, nodding. “Ah! When you put it that way, true enough.”

Then he slapped the table with a loud thunk, a broad grin on his face. “Alright! Now that we’ve figured out who the next target is, let’s put our heads together and start a good round of brain-breaking!”

“You mean brainstorming.”

Brain-breaking, seriously? This idiot!

“Besides, I already have an idea for how to catch the culprit,” I added.

“Oooh! That’s our leader!”

“Well, it’s nothing special.” I looked between Berald and Senior Sophia, a sly grin tugging at my lips. “To catch a fish, you need bait, right?”

“You’re saying we should use Raios as bait?” Senior Sophia asked, doubting her own words.

“Exactly. We can plant a tracking device on him ahead of time and wait until the culprit makes a move.”

She crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes. “Hmm. It’s a good plan, but… How exactly do you intend to attach a tracking device? Knowing Raios, there’s no way he would cooperate.”

Indeed, there was no chance Raios Ryu would willingly help us. After that messy clash he had with Berald, we knew his temperament all too well.

Despite that, I smiled and rested a hand on Berald’s shoulder. “There’s no need to worry about that. With Berald’s ‘magic,’ planting a tracker will be no problem at all.”

Senior Sophia’s eyes lit up, curiosity sparkling as she turned expectantly toward Berald. “Really?”

***

The next day, near Raios’s dormitory, Berald and I exchanged glances, both of us wearing masks over our faces.

“You finished altering your voice?” I asked.

He nodded. “Yes.”

When he spoke, the sound that came from his mouth was that of an unfamiliar man, not his usual tone.

We crouched near the dorm entrance for several minutes, hidden from view, until Raios finally emerged, walking outside.

I silently followed him at a distance, signaling Berald. “Let’s begin.”

The first move was mine.

“Phew!”

Berald Combat Style: Wind Step.

I closed the gap in a flash and immediately deployed a barrier spell, an advanced version of the magic-nullifying barrier I had used before. This one nullified all mana within a designated area. Of course, it had one fatal drawback. The user couldn’t access their mana either. But that was not a problem. After all, our team included a hero who could use “magic” even without mana.

Sensing the disruption in his mana, Raios froze, looking around in alarm. “What the…?”

Before he could escape the barrier’s range, Berald lunged.

“Guh! Who are—”

With a sharp jab of his fingers to the neck, Berald cut him off. “Silence!”

“Ugh!”

Clutching his throat and coughing violently, Raios barely had time to react before Berald’s hand came down in a clean chop.

“Sleeeeeep!”

Thwack!

With a dull impact, Raios collapsed unconscious on the ground. Berald straightened, gave me a proud thumbs-up, and grinned. I hurried over, slipping the tracking device into the inside pocket of Raios’s academy uniform.

Watching all of this unfold beside us, Senior Sophia narrowed her eyes, muttering in disbelief, “That’s… magic?”

Her face was filled with confusion, as if she couldn’t begin to comprehend what she had just witnessed.

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