Black String of Fate

The next morning started with a tragedy. The party, who had made plans to hang something belonging to them in the storage room whenever someone had a problem, had one already. It belonged to Rolan, their party tank, and one of his most precious belongings too.

It was his finger.

"I have searched the whole orphanage, but I can't find him."

"..."

The whole party was silent, with a grim fury internally brewing. They all wanted to lash out, but this was not the time for that. They cannot show the enemy their weakness. Xavier, too, was extremely furious.

'Even though I knew him for a short time, he was a good dude. He doesn't deserve such a disrespectful death. These types of behind-the-scenes enemies, I hate these insects the most. For the price of killing my friend, I'll hunt them down.'

Xavier then glanced at Lafia, whose eyes were ice-cold. He had seen these eyes before, it was when she confronted him for knowing about her true self.

'No, this is even worse than that.'

"...We'll abandon this mission. This is out of our league. Pack up your stuff and prepare to leave now."

"You can't. You guys are probably marked by now."

Suddenly, without alerting anyone, Lilly spoke from behind them. They turned around in surprise and looked at his dead-serious face.

"Why do you think I still live in this place despite the dangers it holds? It's because I can't leave. I'm also marked just like you guys. When I tried to run away, I somehow ended up back at this orphanage. You can try the same if you don't believe me. I thought I was the only one who could be cursed with this, but I can see the marks on you.

I'm sorry, I wouldn't have involved you in this if I knew such a thing could happen. I truly apologize."

Lilly bowed down and sincerely apologized, and even though the party wanted to get angry, they just couldn't. Taking out their anger at an innocent victim was not a depth they were willing to fall down to.

Lafia had her words stuck in her throat, but eventually, she sighed and said,

"Just sit tight and let us deal with it. It's not your fault, we adventurers take every quest knowing there's a chance of death. Since we can't run away, we'll make sure the bastard who did this to Rolan gets what he deserves."

Lafia stepped forward and carefully took the finger in her hands. She took out a cloth and gently wrapped it. It was the last thing left of Rolan and a huge clue to the killer.

"We'll stay together and keep watch. Nobody shall leave the sight of another. We'll check all the potential places of Rolan's disappearance in two groups. Is that clear?"

"I'll move alone."

When Lafia was commanding the whole party with a stern tone that demanded no objections, Xavier spoke up. She coldly turned to him and said,

"I am not in the mood to entertain your ego. If you separate, you might die. I cannot afford to lose any more party members."

"It's not my ego. I have a plan. I don't want to say my plan out loud, but I ask you to trust me. Moreover, I won't die so easily. You are unaware of the hassle fate has to go through to arrange my death."

Xavier looked into the eyes of Lafia, seeing a resolve he had not seen before.

'Hah. She talked about abandoning this mission, but I'm sure she wouldn't have forgotten this grudge.'

Xavier smiled reassuringly and turned around walking away. Adam and Alice wanted to call out to him, but Lafia held them back.

"Let him go. He's not stupid. If he's doing this, he must have a plan that has a solid chance of working. We all know his capabilities, so if he dies, we have no chance of surviving."

Adam and Alina reluctantly nodded and backed off. Xavier, who had heard the conversation, smiled internally.

'It's about time. I dislike playing such stupid games…'

Just like that, the party divided themselves into three groups, one with Alina and Lafia, and one with Adam and Thomas. Xavier, the leftover member, walked alone. Throughout the whole time, his hand was on his hilt, and his senses were tuned to the max.

'Just come out… Look at me, a helpless kid wandering alone… Aren't I just the perfect target right now?'

Xavier's plan was to confront the killer alone. For all the mysterious talk he did, his plan was extremely simple. It wasn't in his character to make complicated and elaborate schemes, and facing issues with such simplicity more often than not was the better option than convoluted solutions with many potential variables.

But unfortunately, even after 12 hours of walking around, he did not meet a single person. He decided to rest for the night, hoping to catch the killer off guard thinking that he was defenseless asleep.

Trying to assassinate the former demon king who lived his life on the edge was nothing short of utter foolishness. Xavier hoped that the killer made such a mistake.

Contrary to Xavier's expectations, morning arrived without any problems. He was rather confused as to why he wasn't attacked when he was alone and defenseless, he thought that maybe the killer had decided to take a break to catch him off guard.

'Hah, that'll never happen. Let's meet with Lafia and the others at the storage room.'

Xavier made his way to the storage room, and he found that Lafia and Alina were already there. He was about to greet them, but then he noticed the strange atmosphere.

'Wait, where's Adam and Thomas?'
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Xavier had an eerie feeling crawl on his spine as he ran forward to get closer. He sincerely hoped that what he expected wasn't true and did not really happen, but reality spoke a different tale.

He saw a finger of both Adam and Thomas hanging in the storage room.