Confidentiality Documents

Maximus controlled his emotion well this time, he suspected Seraphina to be able to grasp the emotions of the target when she activated her ability but not fully deployed it, just like how he could sense what laws and principal the objects or people in his range consisted of.

Despite already doing it once, he scanned through information which William remembered when he died, aka his memory and realized that he didn't have any memory of this student. He warily thought,

'So the one who wanted to kill me was a student of the same university I go to? That's fucked up. Was seizing the land under my sister's name the only reason? Does he only want the land or something else? Considering how this is a world filled with supernatural stuff, could there be something special about that land? Something under it maybe? I'll have to check it out later. But this also exposes a bit of a problem about my killer, could he be a supernatural being as well? Or have connections with some? Or am I overthinking things? Argh'

He headed back into his tent and they all conversed for a while discussing their battle tactics then went to sleep. Maximus thought about Seraphina's ability and what Isabelle said when they said how I was exposed,

'They said I should control my emotions, and seeing how Seraphina can instill and delete emotions, could it be during that time when the blood red figure escaped the short man's body? Each one of us was in a state of battle so it isn't weird that she had her ability ready which allowed her to sense my surprised state, which could only be similar to Robin who — based on his weird actions then Sebastian's clearing of the area — they already knew to be a supernatural being.'

He shifted a little, draping the sheet over his body, making sure to tuck it under his legs and not leave the opening there, demons could be real here. He then continued to think,

'So she must've suspected me to have a soul related ability, right? Well, I could always say my range picked up another object suddenly emerging near the body on which probability manipulation could be applied. Does it mean she didn't pick up the emotions of the soul? Or does it not have any? Or did she sense that too but could better control her emotions? Fuck it. I am sleeping.'

*****

It was next morning when the six of them sat in front of Sebastian, he had a serious look on his face as he distributed non confidential documents to each of them and said,

"These documents say that you won't spread to the public directly or indirectly whatever you saw or heard the other day. Trust me you wouldn't want to know fall into this kind of thing. So?

Obediently, each one of them signed the documents handed to them. Although four out of six were already players in that kind of world, they didn't display anything outwardly to not rouse any suspicion. After they were done Sebastian smiled and the atmosphere suddenly changed as if a switch had been flipped, he jovially asked Adrian, "Do you have any plans to work somewhere after university?"

Adrian was startled for a second but quickly responded, "No sir."

"Hmm, would you like to work under me? The pay would be generous. You will also come across several opportunities to change your life."

Adrian smiled politely and replied, "I'll think about it and let you know."

It wasn't an outright rejection or acceptance. Sebastian leaned back on his chair and said, "Well, the field trip isn't over yet. Don't you want to make the most of your time here to enjoy it?"

It was a subtle hint for everyone to leave and they did. When they left their principal's tent, a soldier was waiting for them who led them towards their supplies which they hadn't packed while running. Everything was intact as it is.

After walking for about twenty minutes, they encountered another group who had already been camping there. They went on full alert before they realized that it was simply another group who was looking for a base and not someone who had come here to 'annex' them. Judging their reaction, Maximus asked,

"Did you encounter those people too? The one who wanted everyone to quit the competition?"

An amiable looking young man with platinum blonde hair answered to them as he cleared the now cold campfire,

"Yea, but I've heard that the one on the top who was directing all this has run away and the army is chasing him. I guess it will be peaceful from now on."

"Do you know who it was? Why did he run away though?"

"Ah, it was Aaron Kennedy, one of the members of the student council. I don't know the exact details but something dangerous was found in his bag and he refused to be caught and questioned, running away in the process."

Maximus thanked him for the information as they went their way. Approximately ten minutes later they found an ideal place and set up their camp. An announcement was made through huge speakers that the trip would be for a week this morning so everyone was spending their time accordingly.

Animals were occasionally released by the armies and groups which couldn't fend them off were disqualified from the competition. A night before the end of the trip, when Adam and Elsa had gone off to sleep, the four of them gathered together again to discuss their future plans.

"So? What do you guys plan to do?", Maximus inquired, to which Seraphina answered while eating the meat of their recent hunt.

"As usual, we'll find some trouble with the gangs and hope for someone to chase us. It would take a while for them to notice, during which it is important to not be exposed and caught during our daily lives. I don't need to remind you guys, but don't uselessly use your abilities, we have too few mana crystals left to use."

Maximus let his curiosity get the better of him as he asked, "Why should we not use it?"

Isabelle rolled her eyes as she replied, "Didn't she just say it? We have too little mana crystals left to use. Oh yea, you might not know it. Mana crystals replenish mana in your body, it doesn't happen naturally. Your abilities need mana as a fuel, when you empty the amount of mana in your body, very obviously, you won't be able to use your abilities which would be troubling during our missions. That brings us back to square one, don't use your ability uselessly."

'Huh?'

Maximus eagerly listened to her explanation but his inner confusion only grew with time. Towards the end, a whole bunch of questions popped up in his head, with a bunch of theories he was afraid of even thinking.