Chapter 24: The Ten Shadows

Half past 8 of the evening on the stone pavement of the central town of the Edinburgh West Kingdom, the couple, Regis and Arias are walking on the same relaxed pace with Reena in between of them. Reena happily looks around the town as her hands grasped each one of Regis and Arias' hands.

From a single glance, they looked like a young couple walking with their child at the lovely night on the street if you disregard the academy uniform they are wearing.

The trio occasionally visits some small shops and boutiques as they leisurely walk on their way to a Romaria's pub based on Regis' preference.

As they are walking on the street, Reena is not surprised to encounter a large crowd as they are currently at the most extravagant town of the kingdom but she's very delighted to see lots of people because she slept for a long time these past years.

Amongst the crowd, they saw some merchants making highly discounted sales, some adventurers buying wholesale amounts of the discounted supply for their work, couples that having their night tryst and some students on their way back to the academy.

As for those students, they obviously don't want to be late on their dormitory curfew of ten o'clock in the evening which will lead them to experience some troublesome punishment from the unsmiling dormitory manager.

After walking for at least half an hour the trio finally arrived at the pub. Reena requested that they are not to use the special private room since she wants to dine with the others in public. Thankfully, the place is not that crowded so they were able to pick a table for four people near a window to enjoy the night view of the town.

From the beginning, Arias really wanted to sit beside Regis and sitting with Reena is also a good option too, but she never thought that the two options are not available

With Reena seated beside Regis, Arias had no choice to but to sit across Regis because although they can fit altogether on one side, from the view of the onlookers it would look very awkward.

This dinner is the first time for Arias, Regis, and Reena to eat together. So for this small celebration, Regis ordered everything from the menu without even looking at the price of the foods and beverages that made Arias quite shocked because of his luxuriousness.

Although she knew Regis and the bar owner are friends, the price will still make someone's wallet bleed even if the food is already discounted.

"Eh? I-Is this okay? You ordered everything… The price! I didn't have much money on me right now! Why did you do that?! Regis, how can we pay for everything?!"

"Don't worry about the bill and just eat your fill. There are some of your favorite desserts later so do reserve a space on your stomach."

"Yeah yeah~! There's nothing to worry about money if its Reena's big brother we are talking about~! All we need to do is to fill our tummy~!"

"I-Is that so… So it c-can't be helped... I won't hold back myself then."

All of them enjoyed the food because although it looked so simple, the taste is really good that it made even the picky eater Reena wanted seconds.

During that joyful dinner, with Reena and Arias having a small conversation while eating, the two grew even closer to each other bringing a smile in Regis' face.

After the trio ate their fill, it was already half past 9 so basically, they are close in being late on their curfew which is sharply 10 pm.

Obviously, Arias minded that they were late but Regis told her not to worry about it because there will be no one who will punish them. Reena even offered for Arias to spend the night with them so with the siblings assuring her, Arias decided to forget about the curfew.

After they rest for a few minutes, Regis went inside the kitchen of the restaurant, leaving Arias and Reena who are currently chatting happily and letting out cute giggles from time to time, and talked about something with Romario and his wife.

Of course, Regis doesn't have that much money in his pocket so he brought out a large piece of gem from his spatial storage and give it to them just like what he did last night for his candlelight dinner date with Arias.

At exactly 10 in the evening, the trio left the restaurant and decided to head back to the academy.

**********

On their way back to the academy, the three are still walking in the town when Regis suddenly sensed something weird in their surroundings.

Reena and Arias didn't notice anything as they are currently chatting happily, but for Regis who is always on guard, there's no way something like this will be left undetected.

'No matter what is their purpose, it doesn't matter since they dared to lurk like this in my vicinity.'

Almost frowning, Regis managed to reign his killing intent and maintain his poker face as to avoid disturbing the two girls. Normally, Regis won't quickly make a move himself for something like this instead, he will wait for something to happen first. But with Arias and Reena accompanying him tonight, he needs to handle it swiftly to avoid any possible danger for them.

'How laughable. Although they are quite skilled, there's no way they can hide from me.'

For the very first time since coming to the academy, Regis utilized his true magic faster and more silently as he can with his 'current body'. While walking leisurely like the two girls, faint black mists began to seep from the soles of his shoes.

At the same time, Regis activated his magic [World Presence], and he learned that there are ten enemies lurking in the shadows. Based on his deduction, the enemies started tailing them the moment they left the Romaria's.

—World Presence, one of the magic he developed after he became the Magic King. It is the magic he developed after combining the Highest Level of Magic Perception, Six Elemental Magic Perception, and his true magic, the Black Origin Magic. Based on its name World Presence, this magic enables Regis to precisely sense everything around him in the range of ten kilometers.

After confirming the exact location of the enemies, Regis finally make his move.

'Origin of Death—Rewind to Zero'

*swoosh!* *stab!*

"—!!!!"

Instantly, the ten enemies are pierced by a black hand that runs through the middle of their chest from their back all at the same time. And before they can move their head to look at the culprit, from something pure black suddenly enveloped their whole body swallowing it instantly. It doesn't even let them make any sound!

Origin of Death—Rewind to Zero, it is the first magic Regis learned when he began training his magic. It purely ignores the boundary of time and space. With that being said, the user will be able to pierce from one space to another, ignoring the time difference. And the main effect of the magic is to instantly rewind the time of the target until it ceases to exist.

So in just one stroke, Regis stabbed the ten enemies all at the same time and his magic swallowed the enemy, devouring their existence instantly.

An assassination leaving nothing even a hint of bloodlust!

A glint of bloodlust and excitement flashed on his eyes as a burst of contentment accompanied by a refreshing feeling filled Regis when he confirmed that the presence of the ten lurking people vanished.

'Ah... It's been quite a while since I killed someone. Those people... I need to investigate this matter soon. They might be related to those guys.' thought Regis when he suddenly heard what Reena is telling to Arias.

"Ne~h Big sister~ Did you know, big brother doesn't need to pee or poo-poo~! In fact, Reena never saw him use a restroom for that purpose you know~?" Said Reena with her voice sounding like an old aunty spreading some spicy rumors in the early morning.

"E-Eh?! Seriously? Regis! What did she mean by that?! I-Is that true?!" As expected, it earned a good reaction from Arias.

Arias quickly turns to Regis who's been silent for quite a while now. Caught off guard, Regis denied the claim while being slightly flustered.

"Huh?! That's not it! Seriously Reena, don't create some weird rumors or misunderstandings about your brother!"

"Eh~? But didn't big brother already told everything to Reena about that in the past~?" Reena tilted her head as she looks up to Regis showing an innocent expression that clearly said 'I'm not lying'.

"The heck I told it to you like that! I told you that ever since I reached the full mastery of my magic, I will never feel hunger, thirst or even the urges to use the restroom. But I still use restroom occasionally!" Regis begins to defend himself.

"Isn't that the same~?"

"No, not even close enough!"

"Uwaahh~! Regis~ so cool~!! I want to learn that convenient magic, too~!" Arias' eyes sparkled as she leans closely to Regis prompting him to turns his face away and reveal his slightly red ears.

"No. It's too early for you to learn it…" he muttered in a low voice.

They resumed walking side by side while Reena and Arias are cheerfully chatting. Regis sometimes joins their conversation and he even makes it lively when he retorts.

Unbeknownst to anyone else aside from Regis, the ten lurking people who were tasked follow the trio vanished from the surface of the world forever.