Episode 150. The Case of the Missing Candidates (4)

Inside the Reynaldo Hero School, there was a cafe notorious for its secluded location and outdated interior, often devoid of candidates.

There, a man’s loud scream echoed along with a dull thud.

“You punk! Huh? Did I seriously tell you to find it?”

I kicked Berald, my face twisted in anger.

“Ah, ah! I-I’m sorry, boss!”

Berald, crouching, was being beaten.

‘Ah, right.’

Suddenly, I remembered Senior Sophia, who seemed to have a soft spot for Berald.

Feeling a pang of guilt, I glanced her way. She, too, seemed to think, ‘Yeah, he deserves a beating,’ as she quietly sipped her coffee and flipped through some documents.

“Phew.”

I let out a short sigh and sat back down.

Berald, sensing my mood, slowly got up.

“Investigate properly.”

“Ahem. Y-Yes, boss.”

Berald nodded and went back to examining the documents.

“Hmm.”

Berald looked through the list of victims with a serious expression.

“Huh?”

Berald tilted his head as he scanned the documents.

“Boss! Look at this!”

“What now?”

I thought it would be another nonsense, but…

“The number of Holy Marks on the victims is almost the same!”

“The number of Holy Marks is the same?”

“Look. Three candidates with the Holy Mark of the Sun God, three with the Holy Mark of the Star God, and three with the Holy Mark of the Sea God, right?”

“…Wait.”

Dividing the 20 victims by their Holy Marks, except for two with the Holy Mark of the Earth God, there were three victims for each type.

‘This isn’t a coincidence.’

The number of candidates with each Holy Mark wasn’t uniform.

Due to the genetic nature of Holy Marks, the Holy Mark of the Moon God and the Holy Mark of the Forest God, often called ‘non-mainstream’ among the continent’s people, naturally had fewer candidates.

Especially the Holy Mark of the Forest God, which I possess, had fewer than 30 candidates in the entire grade.

Yet, the victims had an equal number of Holy Marks.

‘They deliberately matched the numbers.’

In other words.

‘Following this pattern, the next target would be…’

The candidates with the Holy Mark of the Earth God, the only ones with two victims so far.

“Nice, Berald.”

Narrowing down the next target was a significant breakthrough.

“Hehehe. How about that? I can be useful when I want to be!”

Berald puffed up with pride.

I stifled a laugh looking at him.

“Even a broken clock is right twice a day…”

“Huh? How can a broken clock be right?”

“…Never mind.”

I gave up explaining and turned my attention back to the victim list.

‘So, the next target would be a 4th-year candidate with the Holy Mark of the Earth God.’

The problem was that the Holy Mark of the Earth God was one of the most common, with many candidates possessing it.

Out of 500 4th-year candidates, nearly 150 had the Holy Mark of the Earth God.

‘This alone doesn’t tell us who the next target is.’

We needed more clues to narrow it down.

“Hmm…”

As I continued flipping through the documents…

“I found a clue.”

Senior Sophia, who had been quietly reviewing the documents, spoke up.

She arranged the victim list in chronological order.

Following her arrangement, I scanned the candidates’ information but found nothing particularly noteworthy.

“There’s a mistake in this document.”

“What is it?”

“The overall evaluation rankings of the candidates.”

Sophia scanned the list and explained.

“The rankings here are from last year. I was ranked 2nd in last semester’s overall evaluation, but here it says 3rd.”

“…It seems the latest overall evaluation rankings haven’t been updated yet.”

Well.

Generally, candidates couldn’t access overall evaluation rankings, so updating them took time.

“Adjusting it to last semester’s rankings… it looks like this.”

Sophia corrected the overall evaluation rankings on the victim list.

“But Senior, how do you know the other candidates’ grades?”

In principle, candidates couldn’t know others’ grades except their own.

Of course, that was just the principle. While ranking lists circulated, they only revealed who was in the top ranks, not the exact order from first to last.

“I saw last semester’s ranking list once when running errands for the professors.”

“You memorized it all after seeing it once?”

There were nearly 500 candidates in a grade, and she memorized them all after seeing it once?

I looked at her in disbelief, and she tilted her head, answering.

“Why? It’s not that hard, is it?”

“……”

Ah, right.

Senior Sophia was like that.

Recalling her past life, I gave a wry smile as she pointed to the list and spoke.

“The first victim of this case was Elika Jung. Candidate rank: 438th.”

“Next was Darien Vigilio. Candidate rank: 387th.”

“Then Hollis Buto. Candidate rank: 273th.”

By now, I could see the ‘clue’ Sophia mentioned.

“The culprit is targeting candidates with higher ranks… is that it?”

“Exactly.”

Sophia nodded.

‘They’re targeting higher-ranked candidates, huh.’

I turned to Sophia and asked.

“What rank was the most recent victim?”

“7th. Bertrand Jin, a candidate from the Republic.”

“Then the next target would be within the top 6 ranks.”

“That’s right. If our guess is correct.”

4th year.

A candidate with the Holy Mark of the Earth God within the top 6 overall evaluation ranks.

With this much information, we could predict who the next victim of the ‘Missing Candidates Case’ would be.

“Based on these conditions… the next target is Rios Liu.”

Rios Liu.

The grandson of the current Reynaldo Hero School principal, ‘Brain God’ Raonel Liu.

As expected of the ‘Liu’ family, he possessed the Holy Mark of the Earth God and was ranked 4th overall in the 4th grade, filled with outstanding candidates.

“R-Rios is the next target?!”

Berald asked, shocked.

Sophia flinched at Berald’s sudden closeness, her shoulders trembling, and turned her head to answer.

“Y-Yes. If our guess is correct, the next target is Rios Liu.”

“Wow. Rios being the target…”

Berald trailed off, sounding worried.

Though he and Rios didn’t get along, they were still family, sharing the ‘Liu’ surname.

I patted Berald’s shoulder and said.

“Well, even if he becomes a victim, he’ll just be unconscious for a few hours, so don’t worry too much.”

“Ah, now that I think about it, that’s true.”

Berald nodded, relieved.

He slammed the table and exclaimed.

“Alright! Now that we know the next target, let’s brainstorm how to catch the culprit!”

“It’s brainstorming, not brain-breaking.”

Why are you breaking your brain, you idiot.

“And I already have a plan to catch the culprit.”

“Ooh! As expected of you, boss!”

“Well, it’s not that great.”

I smirked, looking at Berald and Sophia.

“You need bait to catch a fish, right?”

“…You’re going to use Rios as bait?”

“Exactly. We’ll attach a tracking magic device to Senior Rios and wait for the culprit to make a move.”

“Hmm.”

Sophia crossed her arms and narrowed her eyes.

“That’s a good plan, but… how are you going to attach the tracking device? Rios won’t cooperate willingly.”

As Sophia said, there was no way Rios Liu would cooperate with us.

We knew his personality all too well from his past clashes with Berald.

But.

“Don’t worry about that.”

I smiled and placed a hand on Berald’s shoulder.

“With Berald’s ‘magic,’ attaching a tracking device won’t be a problem.”

“Really?”

Sophia’s eyes sparkled with anticipation as she looked at Berald.

* * *

The next day.

Near Rios’ dorm.

Berald and I, wearing masks, exchanged glances.

“Voice modulation done?”

“Yep.”

Berald nodded, and a strange man’s voice came from his mouth instead of his usual one.

We waited in hiding near the dorm entrance for about ten minutes.

Then, Rios walked out of the dorm.

“Let’s start.”

I quietly followed Rios and signaled Berald.

I’ll go first.

“Phew.”

Berald Martial Arts.

Wind Step.

I approached Rios at a blinding speed and immediately cast a barrier spell.

An advanced version of the Magic Power Blockade.

A barrier that blocks all magic power within a specific area.

Of course, it had the fatal flaw of preventing the user from using magic as well.

‘But it doesn’t matter.’

We had a hero who could use ‘magic’ without magic power.

“W-What the?”

Perhaps sensing something was wrong with his magic power.

Rios looked around in panic.

Before he could move out of the barrier, Berald struck.

“Gah! Who are you…?”

“Silent!”

“Guh!”

Berald struck Rios’ neck, silencing him.

He then chopped the back of Rios’ neck, who was clutching his throat and coughing.

“Sleeeep!”

Thud!

Rios collapsed with a dull thud.

Berald looked down at the unconscious Rios and gave me a thumbs up.

I quickly approached Rios and placed a tracking magic device in his uniform pocket.

Sophia, who had been watching the scene from the side.

“…Magic?”

She frowned, unable to comprehend what had just happened.