Chapter 35: Blame
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[Day 146 in the Engineering Room…]

Sitting down on the floor, my newly created gun in hand.

It looks as though it’s an old musket, where you’d have to manually put the ammo in.

I’ve optimized it though, and slightly changed the software running programming the mana output of the gun.

Technically speaking, it would’ve been accurate to call it a sniper rifle before.

Without a scope, or any other defining characteristics of a snipe rifle… besides the slow firing rate.

Now, though, it’s more like a railgun in games.

The gun charges up until I release the trigger, where it releases a bullet of mana toward the target.

Far more mana intensive… but, I doubt I’ll use this gun unless I’m in a situation where I require that type of power anyway.

...and if it saves my life, it’s worth it.

Either way, the gun is finished.

I can’t optimize the mana expenditure further without decreasing the power output dramatically.

Unfortunately, this leads to a problem.

I don’t have an excuse for staying in here any longer… but, I’m not ready to face Rin’s disappointment.

Also, my only shirt and jacket are covered in dried up blood.

Well… Considering nobody notices me, whether my clothes are covered in blood or not is probably irrelevant.

Ding… “All players, return to the lobby with 15 minutes.” An announcement sounded through the training room.

“Oi, Schrödinger? Why do I have to go for the main lobby for an announcement? Can’t you tell me here?” I complained.

Only receiving silence as a response, I gave up complaining.

Useless cat.

…Actually, didn’t Rin mention on the third day he would announce that killing people stole all their points?

Is that what’s happening?

Annoying.

The announcement probably meant fifteen minutes outside.

Giving me… potentially around 2 hours inside here.

I don’t need that long to get ready, though.

Searching through the various parts, I grabbed a leather strap and attached it to my newly made gun. (Or would it be railgun? Maybe musket?)

I stepped out into the hallway, musket secured behind my back and glanced in both directions.

Good, no one’s around. Don’t feel like dealing with people at the moment.

Err… Which way was to the main lobby again?

After spending time to get oriented, I found the way back.

The main lobby seemed packed with people.

Some, including Stanley, were talking to one another. Others were leaning against the wall, waiting for the announcement.

Rin meanwhile was staring at me, whilst standing beside Kara.

Damn. My ability is completely useless whenever I want it to work.

Hiding from Rin’s gaze behind starting rooms. I don’t want to deal Rin’s confrontation right now.

Fortunately, I was saved by Schrödinger, who was projected into the center of the room.

The cat flicked its ears, saying, “Nyow that everyone’s here. There are a few words of congratulations to give out.”

Unfortunately, Schrödinger seemed to have decided to continue with his overly exaggerated cat-like accent.

Congratulations?

…why I am getting a bad feeling?

“Nobody seemed to have died yet. Shame.” Schrödinger continued, “Nyo worries though~ It hasn’t been for lack of trying.”

He wouldn’t… Right?

Flicking its tail in my direction, Schrödinger meowed, “For example… Tobias here, attempted to stabbed someone in the chest. Shame it didn’t work out properly.”

All the eyes in the room turned toward me.

You damn bastard Schrödinger!

I can’t even deny it, I still have Kara’s dried blood on my clothes.

Schrödinger never provided the chance to dispute him anyway and continued his speech, “Still, I appreciate the effort. Thus, I wanted to give him my personal congratulations in front of everyone.”

You can take your personal congratulations and shove it up your… (Censored: due to excessive use of inappropriate language.)

Who the hell would want your personal congratulations?

You damn psychotic cat!

Finally reaching the point of this discussion, Schrödinger said, “In light of this, I decided to amend the rules slightly. Nyo need to thank me.”

“Amend how?” A male audience member called out.

“Good question, I was getting to it.” Schrödinger replied... before stating, “Before, there wasn’t a direct benefit for the killer. Unfair, right?” Glancing throughout the audience for confirmation that never appeared.

Still the socially inept cat confidently continued, declaring. “Thus, I decided to add a new rule. Nyow whenever someone completely eliminates a player they steal all the points from the deceased player.”

After finishing delivering his speech, Schrödinger promptly popped out of existence and people to begin searching for me again.

Fortunately, they couldn't find me without being directly pointed out.

That damn cat engaged in expert level manipulation there. Completely managing to direct public opinion against me without even telling a lie I could dispute.

Except for one... Schrödinger was already planning on amending the rules on the third day, regardless of whether I'd stabbed Kara.

Yet, he managed to shift the blame for everything onto me.

I can’t dispute with, Schrödinger was planning on changing the rules anyway... because it wouldn’t do anything to exonerate me. If anything, it would seem more guilty to dispute it like that.

Basically, Schrödinger pointed the blame toward me and said, "It’s all his fault. Don’t blame me.”

That damn cat.

How bloody annoying.

Noticing that Rin had gotten closer to me, I hide behind someone.

Kara and Rin seemed to be quarreling over something.

…This is probably the best opportunity to leave without getting involved with them.

[Decima Game: T-7 days, 20 hours… A few minutes earlier.]

POV Swap – Rin

Watching Tobias enter into the main lobby.

Tobias, you still haven’t changed out of those clothes?

Locking gaze with him, he quickly moved behind a container and out of sight.

Tobias, please… talk to me.

Interrupted by the sudden appearance of the game master, Rin went calmed herself.

She’d heard his speech several times at this point. She wouldn’t have even come if it weren’t for Tobias disappearing off somewhere.

Tuning out the announcement, Rin moved to a better position to spot and talk with Tobias afterward.

Kara followed after her, but Tobias seemed to be getting angrier and angrier about something.

Wondering what, Rin tuned back into the mostly finished cat’s announcement, “... Nyow whenever someone completely eliminates a player they steal all the points from the deceased player.”

Seems to be normal?

Should I wait until he calms down to talk to him?

Informing Kara of her decision, Rin stated. “Kara, he seems angry about something, I’ll talk with him once he calms down.”

“No, you don’t.” Kara argued, gripping down on her shoulder. Kara debated using illogical, slippery slope logic. “If you cower out now, you’ll always cower out once something gets in the way.”

Rin calmly replied, “It’s not a matter of cowering out, look at him. He’s angry for some reason. There’s no reason to bother him with this right now.”

“I don’t care, go talk to him.” Ignoring her protests, Kara demanded.

Rin’s stubbornness surpassed Kara's determination and simply said, “It can wait.”

“Till when?” Kara questioned.

“until…” Attempting to think of a time, Rin partly managed to say.

Before being interrupted by Kara, “He’s disappeared now. ”

POV Swap – Stanley

Stanley attempted to placate the crowd before him, “Easy everyone, we aren’t killing anyone.”

“Didn’t you hear what the cat said” Adin, a man wearing black clothed with a silver outline, frustratingly disputed.

“He can say whatever he likes. That doesn’t make it true.” Stanley replied.

“Even so, Tobias was covered in blood.” Edward pointed out.

“Old blood. When someone kills somebody, the first thing they would do is clean themselves off. Besides, nobody’s dead and nobody has mentioned this attempted murder before.” Stanley disputed.

Not receiving another complaint, Stanley managed to win the argument granting a moments reprieve.

What’s going on Tobias? Did you really attempt to kill someone?

I’ll have to talk to him later.

For now, we have the next challenge coming up in a bit.

I’m currently at 5 points.

It’s going to get harder and harder to prevent murders from here on out.

Once someone reaches something like 9 points, everyone else will panic. That panic will fuel their desire to survive and it’ll begin a slaughter to gain points.

[Decima Game: T-7, 14 hours…]

POV Swap – Tobias

That damn cat. If I ever get chance to properly punch him, I’m definitely going to… repeatedly.

I’ve gone to various training facilities and managed to find water and soap to clean off my clothes.

After cleaning them to a decent degree, they felt comfortable to wear again.

Now I’m wondering, though…. What should I do next?

I doubt anyone, beside Stanley, would be willing to talk to me anymore. Not after being exposed as a potential murderer.

Should I try another training facility? If I ask Schrödinger for a translation of the books in their Warding Room, he should be able to provide it.

I don’t know if Kara and Rin need my help for anything. It might be best to speak with them before attempting to do that.

Unfortunately, I’m not exactly able to easily do that at the moment.

Maybe, I should start by talking to Kara, but… Kara never really leaves Rin’s side.

I’m trapped in a stalemate, huh. Can’t move forward or backward.

…Let spend some time learning warding.

Then, I’ll… Talk to them…

Probably.

[Day 1 in Warding Room]

Well... after reading some books about magical warding, I discovered it requires the ability to use magic to use properly.

In hindsight, that makes perfect sense.

Theoretically, I can cast magic now. Considering my basilisk's manual is gone.

Unfortunately, I have a zero practice casting any spells.

Normally, you'd practice when you have a small amount of mana in your mana pool. This way, if you make mistakes, only a small fraction of mana would be wasted.

I'll have to be extremely careful while casting spells until I'm more practiced.

Fortunately, while magical warding seems to require the ability to cast magic, it works off entirely different principles.

Casting spells effectively using your willpower to power the magic.

Meanwhile, magical warding is like using math and natural principles of mana to create an effect similar to a spell.

I can see why it takes awhile to learn.

But... I have plenty of time.

 

Spoiler
Announcement

Well... I barely managed to find enough time to create this chapter.

And this is only the first week...

For the time being, I have decrease the number of chapters per week to 2.

 

Sorry... I really didn't want to do this.

But, instead of constantly cancelling a chapter each week, it's better to lower it to 2 a week for awhile.

Hopefully, once my schedule clears up, I'll be able to go back to three a week.

Anyway... until further notice, chapters be released Friday and Sunday.

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