"...

"

As soon as I posed the question, the room became tense.

Staring at Angelica straight in the eyes, I asked her something that had been bothering me since last week.

...why did she target me and how did she find out that I was the one responsible for killing Elijah when every news outlet and evidence pointed towards Amanda being the one responsible for killing Elijah?

Moreover, this past week I looked through the list of guests that were present in the party and none of them were targeted by her...something just didn't add up.

Staring at me for what felt like an eternity, Angelica slowly said

"Because I could feel how Elijah died...and it wasn't with a bow

"

Frowning slightly, I repeated in confusion

"Wasn't with a bow?

"

How did she know?

I made sure to hide all of my traces when I killed Elijah...so how was it possible for her to find out something that even the union couldn't figure out.

Noticing the confusion in my face, Angelica explained.

"...when one of our contractees dies, apart from having our souls became damaged, we are also subjected to the pain they experience right before dying

"

"Therefore, after Elijah died I was able to tell that what had killed him wasn't a bow...as the hit was far too clean for something that an arrow could do...

"

Listening to Angelica explain, the frown on my face deepened.

"Hmm, interesting. I didn't know that...

"

I really didn't know.

I don't ever recall writing about something like this in the novel...although I have come to realize that referencing to the novel too much was bad as things tended to become different...It still came as a shock to me to realize that I didn't even know such important information.

Especially since this piece of information was quite important.

Placing my hand on my chin as I fell into deep thought, I eventually looked at Angelica before asking

"...alright, I understand why you didn't target Amanda, but again, why me?

"

Opening her mouth, midsentence Angelica frowned. Thereafter a blank look appeared on her face as she looked at me in confusion.

"Well, that's because..hm?

"

Noticing the oddity in her behavior, I leaned forward

"Because...?

"

After a while, shaking her head, Angelica said

"...I don't remember

"

Taken aback, the frown on my face deepened.

"You don't remember?

"

Placing her slender fingers towards the middle of her brows, after a couple of seconds, Angelica shook her head as a blank look appeared on her face.

"No, no matter how much I try to remember, I can't seem to recall why I was targeting you

"

Sitting up straight, interlocking my hands on the desk and resting my chin on it, the frown on my face deepened even more.

"hm...strange

"

Staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, I leaned back on my seat and pondered.

...out of all the responses that I wanted to hear, this one was probably on the bottom of my list.

'I can't remember'

was what she said...

'was she lying?'

Staring at Angelica who seemed to be trying her best to recall, I lightly tapped on my desk.

-Tap! -Tap!

I wasn't sure...but I doubted it.

After all, she knew I could force the answer out when proposing for it to be in the mana contract...therefore, chances were that she really couldn't remember.

The real question was...how?

Did someone perhaps have a hand in this? Or was her memory that bad?

I doubt the latter was true...hence it could only mean one thing. Someone had a hand at this.

...As soon as my thoughts paused there, my face became solemn. Turning towards Angelica, I carefully asked

"What is the last thing you remember before forgetting your memories?

"

Glancing at me for a brief moment, Angelica's brows tightly knit as she tried her best to recall anything that she could regarding what had happened prior to targeting me. As she spoke, from time to time she would pause as an occasional look of confusion appeared on her face.

"...mhh, I remember--I remember fighting against my previous subordinates before eventually winning and then--mhh, from there my memories start becoming a blur...however, I do remember someone handing me a picture of you

"

Taken aback, seriously glancing at Angelica, I couldn't help but repeat

"A picture of me?

"

Nodding her head, Angelica confirmed.

"...yes, but that's all I can remember, I don't remember who gave me the picture...but I remembered them saying something like the person in the picture was responsible for killing Elijah...from there everything is self-explanatory as I started...

"

"huuuu...

"

Listening to Angelica speak, I couldn't help but take a deep breath.

This news was shocking...

...Someone was targeting me.

Realistically speaking, the only person that came to my mind at the moment was Matthew. He was the only person I could think of that would target me...no wait.

-Tap! -Tap! -Tap!

Tapping frantically on my desk, I realized that Matthew wasn't the only one that could've been targeting me.

...there was someone else that could've done this.

If we were talking about demons...it would be Everblood.

He was another demon that I had come in contact with back in the dungeon...but at that time I was wearing a mask, so chances of him not finding out that--abruptly pausing my thoughts there, I couldn't help but ask myself.

'Wait...did I have a mask on?'

Did Everblood see my face back in the dungeon?

Massaging my forehead, I started looking back at the incident in the dungeon. At that time, I recall almost dying at the hands of Everblood's clone...I was too busy trying to preserve my life at that time that I wasn't sure about what had happened afterward.

...did my mask fall off and he found out my identity?

mmhhh...if so, it seems that Everblood may indeed be one of the people that could've been targeting me...but something still didn't add up.

Glancing at Angelica sitting on her seat, I couldn't help but think

...why use her and not come personally?

If it really was Everblood that was targeting me, why did he use her instead of going personally?

After thinking for a long time and coming up with nothing, I helplessly shook my head.

...I didn't have enough evidence to find out who the real culprit was...but that didn't matter. It only meant that I had to be alert at all times.

I needed to be more cautious and grow stronger even faster.

I now knew that things beyond the plotline would start targeting me now...I could no longer be as carefree as before.

I needed to be alert at all times...especially for when the time that another similar situation arose.

'From now on I have to be prepared for anything...'

*Sigh*

Sighing out loud, I stood up and lightly stretched my neck. Glancing at Angelica whose face was still cold, I faintly smiled before saying

"Alright, I guess that's enough talking for now...I will come back later with a mana contract

"

"I will probably send it to you and after you read through the contents you can decide whether you want to sign or not. If you want to negotiate the terms that I posed, text me directly

"

Tilting her head to the side, Angelica looked at me and asked with a hint of confusion in her voice

"Text?

"

Seeing the confusion in Angelica's face, I couldn't help but lightly smack my face.

"Ah right, demons don't use phones

"

With a slight frown on her face, Angelica tried to recall where she heard the word phone before and slowly said

"...phone? are those the primitive devices that you humans use to communicate with each other?

"

Staring at Angelica for a couple of seconds, I nodded to myself.

"...hmmm, yeah, I'll leave that task to Smallsnake to handle

"

Wasn't going to have any part of this.

Inwardly shaking my head as I imaged the predicament that Smallsnake would find himself in, I put on my jacket and said

"Alright, I have to go back to the academy now. If you have any questions, you can ask Smallsnake

"

Tilting her head to the side, recalling the two individuals that were here before, Angelica bluntly said

"Smallsnake? which one is it? The primate or the stick?

"

"...

"

Pursing my lips, I tried my best to keep a straight face. After a couple of seconds, I slowly said

"...the stick

"

Nodding her head, Angelica said

"Very well, I shall take not of such individual. As long as I get my core back, I shall not care for such insignificant matters

"

"Good for you...

"

10:00 P.M.

Smiling at Angelica, I glanced at my watch. It was about time I returned to the academy.

Although I had skipped going through the details about what Angelica was going to do once she worked for me in the mercenary group, that was a talk for a later time.

After all, we still had to sign the mana contract first.

Once she joined, I will then proceed to tell her more regarding the mercenary group. Plus, with her now joining my group that would mean that we had a total of four members in our group.

...Only one member short before being able to start doing missions together. Thereafter from there, we could slowly increase the mercenary group rank as we complete more and more missions. Moreover, with Angelica in the group, rising to rank II would be a breeze.

Thinking thus far, I was reminded of Ava.

Yes, from what I read from the reports Smallsnake had given me, she along with Ryan were the two people that only needed a little push to join the group.

If I wanted to start doing missions with my group, I first needed to sign the fifth member.

...and aside from Ryan, Ava was the one that was easiest to recruit.

"huuu...

"

Exhaling out loud, I massaged my forehead before walking out of my office.

'....I really wonder how strong our group will be in the future'