A gruesome scene spreads out, a scene of carnage where bodies line the ground and a single girl, A.K.A. me, stands as the culprit.

Becca 「 Don’t look at me like that. They’re all alive, I swear. 」

I kick one of those bodies to prove my point and it jerks alive, except I forget to control my kick’s strength so on impact his body lifts a few inches from the ground. I hear a disconcerting creak in his bones and his face pales.

Becca 「 Ah, this one might be in bad condition. I swear it looks worse than it is. But the rest of them should all have no imminent danger of dying. 」

Hopefully no one can see the sweat drops on my head and the nervous twitch in my eye. I silently cast a healing spell controlling my mana to not show any outward emission. His face regains its color and luckily no one besides Brigid and Maeve sense anything.

I feel like I’m getting better at using heals in such a sneaky manner. It might be a useful skill to master and I can think of some situations it can be used in.

I turn my attention to Liberach who is unmoving as stone and his face pale and frozen like ice. Is the camera still rolling? I glance at the kid who recognizes my gaze and he nods slowly but surely. Good.

Liberach 「 ...This… this is… impossible… 」

M. Liberach’s legs wobble and he falls back on his posterior. He mumbles the words impossible a couple of times and looks at me like he’s realized something.

Liberach 「 You tricked me! Who—what are you? You’re one of those people, aren’t you? I knew it! 」

Becca 「 I am a hero, and that’s all I need to say. 」

I reply like it’s only a natural conclusion.

Liberach 「 This isn’t right. The Brotherhood swore that none of the other secret societies would interfere. They told me no one would find out. 」

Liberach breaks out in a cold sweat and mumbles to himself.

Brotherhood? I don’t like the sound of that. Speaking of, wasn’t the evil society that detective Raina warned me about called something similar? I open the Menu in the corner of my vision and open up the Codex tab.

I do a search of “brotherhood” and the top result sticks out in glowing bright colors. The Vile Brotherhood, right, that’s what they were called. I guess it isn’t all that surprising that I ran into them so soon after learning of them.

If I didn’t have the Codex function I might have forgotten their name. Although I didn’t create the Codex for that but it’s become quite the handy notebook. The notes I have on the Vile Brotherhood so far are just what I heard from the detective, that they pursue power without morality. I’ll leave it open in the corner of my vision as it updates.

Liberach 「 Right! The—the backup! Where’s the backup I was promised?! 」

M. Liberach seems to have come to some realization as he scatters his eyes around searching for his salvation. Hearing backup makes me wary so I focus on my senses and pick up on a life-sign nearby. The motorcade Liberach came in has one person still seated inside. Did he hide his life signatures causing me to overlook it?

The door pops open and a youth a few years older than me appears. He has a proud and aloof expression with his head tilted upwards. He seems an arrogant type of person, like nothing is worth his attention, the sort to be perpetually showing off his chin.

His features are of Asian descent and his sharp eyes denote his calm demeanor. The youth speaks to me, at least I assume so, it’s hard to tell when his head and eyes aren’t focused on me.

「 Lass, consider me impressed. You seem like a newborn infant new to the ways of martial arts. Still, don’t think that showing off your Low Tier 3rd Rank power against some trash is impressive. 」

So are you impressed or not? I resist the urge to retort to the contradictory message in his words. This guy mentioned martial arts, so he must be a martial arts cultivator type of person.

I appraise his status and see below his name Lee that his class is Qi Cultivator, but strangely he doesn’t have a level. In place of that is what is denoted as Qi Cultivation Level: Low Tier Peak 4th Rank.

What does that even mean? He speculated earlier that what I used was around Low Tier 3rd Rank, so am I supposed to be scared of his higher 4th rank? Looks like cultivators use a rank system in place of a level system. I suppose Low Tier will change in the higher ranks?

At least there’s no weird terms to remember like Nirvana stage or half formed dantian. Next to his 4th Rank is the words “Peak” which I assume means he is on the cusp of surpassing that rank into the next one.

Lee 「 Are you done cowering in fear? I’m sure you must be frightened by my strength. I am only one step from reaching 5th rank and advancing to a Mid Tier cultivator. Once that happens I’ll be the youngest Mid Tier cultivator in history! 」

Becca 「 Ooh! 」

I let out a gasp and clap my hands in sarcastic congratulations. Unfortunately this guy seems to miss that sarcasm as he basks in superiority and glory. I’m not admiring you so quit looking so satisfied.

Lee 「 Get out here, girl! I’ve been patient for far too long. My time is too valuable to be wasted. 」

Who is he talking to? From the crowd a girl comes forward, it’s the girl who I saw cooking in the kitchen, wasn’t her name May? She is one of the oldest of the kids and a bit of a mother figure to them.

May 「 What are you doing here? 」

She seems to be familiar with Lee and shows fear of him. Do they have history? It was recently that the kids were brought into the orphanage. Could be that something happened in the period of time before they settled here.

Lee 「 I told you, didn’t I? There’s no escape. If you had just gone with me willingly back then I wouldn’t have had to cooperate with trash like that Liberach. 」

The guy in mention is still here, but he just quietly keeps his head down. Liberach has completely withdrawn from the spotlight to blend into the background.

May 「 You mean you’re the reason the orphanage was targeted? Because you wanted to get me? 」

Lee 「 Correction, it’s all your fault that this happened. 」

So the reason for him to gain Liberach’s cooperation was so he could bring down the orphanage, and during so make one of the kids conveniently disappear without a trace. Sounds like a convoluted plan a villain would come up with.

Lee 「 You’re being unreasonable little girl. I told you already, you’re disposition is perfect for concocting a valuable elixir, and with it my chances of breaking through to Mid Tier 5th Rank will increase by 15%. 」

May 「 But I… 」

Lee 「 Granted, your body will not survive the process, but you should feel glad that your insignificant life can be used to better someone great like me. So don’t try to run away this time, or I’ll be forced to hunt you down once more. 」

I guess this is on par for what someone from the Vile Brotherhood would do, sacrifice an innocent girl just for a chance at attaining power. This whole scene makes me feel sick.

One look is enough to tell me what kind of thoughts are running through May’s head that I don’t even need to use mind reading. Despair, frustration, regret. I can see that she regrets bringing this trouble to Sister Therese who took them in without question, and despair that she will have to bid farewell to the kids she treats as her brothers and sisters.

In those emotions I also see one of conviction, of a selfless person about to offer herself up and sacrifice herself for the sake of others.

May 「 If I agree to go with you quietly, will you please spare this orphanage? 」

Lee 「 What do you think? You think you’re in any position to negotiate? All your worthless lives added up together wouldn’t be worth even the dirt on my shoes. Trash should be recycled like the trash they are! 」

His villainous sneer drops May’s heart to the bottom. Seeing that face looking smug and disgusting makes me want to smack it. So I use warp magic to appear in front of him and before his expression can even change to surprise I sink my fist containing roughly 350 points of Strength into it.

I send him flying into a trash heap, which I consider to be bonus points like frosting on a cake.