The Worldview Where Everyone is Destined to Die

I can assure you that I have no qualms regarding Arthur Usher.

The arrogant nature of the young masters of Aegis Academy was an acquired trait which came from their noble birth, so it wasn’t unusual.

To put it simply, it means that even if Young Master Arthur glared at me, I would not feel the urge to kill him.

-Clack.

…is what I think I thought.

I felt my heart sink when Arthur Usher opened his eyes and looked at me while being held at gunpoint.

Is this a dream?

Could it be that my paranoia, which deepened without my knowledge, has gone too far and now I'm about to commit murder in reality rather than a dream?

“Arthur Usher.”

It was Shirley’s hand, which looked long and thin but was firmly holding onto my trembling hand.

“Enough.”

The chamber was completely loaded with two live-round bullets, and based on the weight I felt, It will surely shoot when I pull the trigger.

The situation was very strange.

This whole situation was where I was trying to kill Arthur Usher, but Arthur Usher was the best swordsman and sword master in the academy, and the thing I was aiming at the sword master was a small gun for self-defense.

“Shirley…”

Shirley stepped into this strange standoff and glared silently at Arthur Usher.

The neat uniform, which was different from what Arthur Usher’s academy gave, was so clean that it was out of place in this situation.

But those eyes—the calmness within the gray eyes, which were almost white—had this eerie aspect that didn’t feel human.

“Senior.”

Shirley, who was looking at Arthur, frozen in place, quietly tapped the back of my hand twice.

This was my first time seeing Shirley act this way, but somehow, subconsciously, I realized that this behavior meant that I should run.

It felt like something that happened in a completely different world was being merged with mine.

“No.”

I shook my head despite Shirley’s hand signals.

Well, whatever it is, I have to do it myself. I knew the weakness Arthur Usher had, and I know that the moment when the Sword Master is at his weakest is now.

And because it was me, not Shirley, who messed up everything and sacrificed our colleagues by making the wrong choices.

Bang!

In the end, the bullet pierced through Arthur’s heart.

Meanwhile, Arthur Usher looked down at his chest with a helpless expression. Red blood was flowing down his black uniform, and it was clearly visible that the flame of life was slipping away.

“Senior!”

At that moment, Shirley pushed me away without giving me the time to draw back the muzzle.

I was blown away from where I stood. I might have pulled the trigger by mistake too, but before I could even think about it, I had to stop my ungainly tumble on the ground.

“Sher-”

The unfinished word ‘Shirley’ stayed at the tip of my tongue. The aftereffects of it were concussion and dizziness.

When I managed to get up, there was-

Ah, a dream.

The spirits of Arthur Usher and Shirley were no longer there. I walked over to where Shirley was before and sat down, holding a weapon so poorly made that it was a bit embarrassing for me to call it a spear.

In the end, this is what happened. We ended up hurting each other.

Is this a dream?

I decided to use the last bullet on myself.

Bang!

“Shirley…?”

The aftermath of the dream was a delusion.

I opened my eyes and remembered what had happened a moment ago. And then the dome-shaped ceiling with colorful paintings on it caught my eye.

“Shit…”

I truly felt like I was possessed by the devil.

‘Seems like a chapel.’

The light which came down from the ceiling was cut down according to the long geometric bars around.

There was this heavy air that was unique to chapels, the ashes of the incense burning, and this odd fishy smell.

And… I was lying on the altar at the front of the chapel, as if I was part of a sacrificing ritual.

‘Theodore White, Judith Taylor, Shirley Spencer and Arthur Usher.’

In my dream (which clearly wasn’t a dream), the four people I killed were these.

Now I wasn't in the state to think about what I was going through. I just rubbed my face with my hands to try and wake myself up.

I felt a nauseous rise from within, and the moment I checked my palms, I felt a rush of disgust.

“-Euk…”

If I wasn’t mistaken, the liquid which soaked both my palms was blood.

I felt almost resigned.

Actually, right now, I don’t have any explanation to give to Theodore.

But Theodore was carefully approaching me, one step after another.

The moonlight coming through the colored glass above in this dark room, wasn’t helping in changing the scene, but his sparkling eyes seemed to show something different.

Before my eyes completely closed, Theodore, who caught me as I was about to fall to the floor, asked me a few questions,

“Body?”

“I don’t know.”

“Weapon?”

“It isn’t me.”

“Yes. So where is the weapon.”

“I don’t know… not my pistol.”

As soon as I said it, Theodore looked at my arms. A moment later, he took my pistol and inspected it. He did the same thing that I did, put it back in the holster, and draped me, who was leaning back against the altar.

‘This guy, is he fearless…. Or maybe he is a bit too much of a nerd?’

Mages are known to be eccentric.

Theodore White was a particularly eccentric mage, so it was a very likely guess.

There may be extenuating circumstances since he wields a supernatural power which far exceeds the laws of nature, but it is insane to walk into a murder scene in such an innocent manner.

“Am I strange?”

“… A little.”

“Muscle relaxation, loss of eye reflex, excitement and drowsiness, and partial muscle spasms... Based on the estimated time of the incident and the current physical symptoms, we concluded that Arma Cruz isn’t capable of committing an act like this.”

It was intelligence that shined in moments of crisis.

Although he couldn’t understand most of what was being said.

Indeed, with the black mage major considered to be the closest to death at the academy, it was clear that the sense of reality of Theodore was stuck to an extent.

“A knife, or an axe.”

Since Theodore went through the same or more in depth educational process as me, his reasoning wouldn’t be much different from my own, but I still conveyed my guess.

Theodore nodded and added.

“There is also the probability that it is a farming tool such as a sickle or pickaxe.”

“Right, that too…”

“Do not sleep.”

“I think it is the medicine taking…”

“Yes, don't sleep.”

I could feel from a while back that our conversation wasn’t connecting.

I don’t know if this was because my judgment was clouded by drugs, as I guessed, or because of Theodore’s mysterious speaking style, but I wasn’t in a condition to ask.

'You brat, really have the consciousness to preserve the crime scene…'

Is that it? Sitting next to Theodore is the person who is currently mostly likely to be the murderer.

Nevertheless, Theodore was diligently going to the scene of the crime, looking for the corpses and weapons that were obviously there.

‘What an odd man.’

It was such an odd self-confidence that went above and beyond blindness, which seemed creepy to me.

I unconsciously realized that the young master in front of me was the kind of single-minded person who would be quite tricky if he turned into an enemy.

Theodore, who had finally given up on the search, came back to me and asked, “Is there someone you had a grudge against?”

“None… no one…”

Last summer, even when I was unintentionally making extravagant remarks, I didn’t make any enemies.

This is because I was accused of being with women; I had to laugh those rumors off with older ladies.

“The two bullets are all you have now?”

“It couldn’t have been a gunshot…”

“It isn’t, but Arma Cruz, who was at the scene of the incident, will be the first to be suspected.”

“You too.”

Theodore nodded slightly in respone to the answer.

At that moment, the unbearable desire to sleep consumed me again, but Theodore clapped his hands so loudly in front of my eyes that it made me wake up from the moment of doubt.

Theodore opened his mouth after pondering for a moment and said,“I think we both fell into a trap here, Arma Cruz.”