{An hour before}
"Haizz…. It's only the first day and he already got himself into trouble."
Staring at the chaotic room, I sighed at Fred's bad luck.
Looking around it was obvious that the state of the room wasn't from an accident.
Dirty shoe marks were all over the place. And the clothes and sheets all looked like they were torn by hand.
I know how capable Fred is, so it was either multiple people or a high ranker who did this.
{Looking at how they sure took their time, it seems that they've only destroyed the place AFTER beating Fred… not that it matters}
"Either way."
I looked to the center of the room and saw the smashed floor with a trace of blood, that I presumed belonged to Fred.
Thinking about the injury Fred might have, unknown to Jericho, his eyes began to sink. Growing colder and colder to the point where if someone were to see his face right now, they would shake in fear as they would only see two cold grey eyes staring at them with anger, completely blurring his face.
"They're dead."
...….
Taking a few minutes to calm myself, I left the room and started walking east. Reason? I came from the west so it would've been highly unlikely that I went past any clues.
{Calm down, remember sister Teresa's teachings, a clouded head will not lead you anywhere.}
Inhale…..exhale*
"Woooohh…. pheewwww"
Trying my best to calm down, I only succeeded after a few seconds of repeated breathing.
Now that my head was slightly cleared, I scanned my memory for any clues about where Fred could be.
I've already memorized the entire layout of the room with my "super" memory so all that was left was to find anything that might help me in my search.
Throughout my walk, I kept on checking my memories if whether or not I missed something, but no matter how hard I looked I couldn't find any clues.
"If only there was some sort of clue… anything, anything will do"
scanning the hallway's surroundings, I used every single sense I had to find him. From touching the walls in case of finding some clues to sniffing the air for the tiniest hint of blood.
"Tsk! They cleaned their tracks well."
Feeling like I was going nowhere I stopped in my tracks and crumpled my hair.
"so annoying! Where the hell are you-"
"inaudible talking*"
"!?"
Hearing a faint sound coming my way, I instinctively hid behind the closest pillar I could find.
Peeking slightly, I found two adults in brown uniforms walking my way while chatting with each other.
Seeing that they were getting nearer and nearer, I breathed in a lot of air and held it. I crouched down a little and stood there extremely still, making sure not a single sound escapes from my body as I lowered my presence to the best I could.
Thankfully the two men weren't on high alert as they didn't notice me, despite being at some point, just a few feet away.
Thinking that I was safe as I saw the two men walking past me, I prepared to immediately move as I didn't want to take any chances of being caught.
However, before I could do so, the two's conversation reached my ears and took my attention.
"Hahhh*… even though the pay is good, being bossed around by a child like this is frustrating."
"Oh, shut it. You should be happy that you were lucky enough to get a job like this. for normal combatants like us, getting this much money is a blessing."
"I know that but, that fat bat is getting on my nerves. Just because his daddy is a little rich doesn't mean he could do whatever he wants."
"Yeah… I feel sorry for the other kids, he's the highest ranked in the standard class so unless an "advanced" steps in they'll just be treated as slaves for the rest of their lives in here."
{Kids! Highest ranked!}
Gaining two important clues on who could've taken Fred, my brain started working full thrust.
In the library, other than reading novels, I also read some documents that I thought could be useful.
The librarian was kind enough to help me find what I want so thanks to this I was able to gather the necessary books or documents.
In one of the documents I read, there was a rough explanation of the different areas in the fortress. One of them being the lodging for the project participants.
The dorms we were staying in were actually, based on the map, just a few kilometers away from the main campus. Where we will spend our time trained to meet the organization's expectations.
In the document, it was shown that the lodging for the advanced class was on the opposite side of ours. Farther than the main campus actually. This meant that if I wanted to meet with Millie I could only do so within the campus.
But for now, that information is currently useless. Looking through my memory again I tried to remember the layout of the standard lodging.
"Hmm. The dorm rooms were arranged based on the time of arrival. Our room is on the upper floor's west side, while the early birds are on the lower floor's east. Based on those two men's conversations, I'm guessing that the culprit has quite a high backer. For someone like that, it would be obvious that he would arrive earlier than those who were personally recruited… Good."
Now that I had a general direction on where to go, I started to feel more at ease. I know where I have to go now so all that was left was to think about what I would do after going there.
I have to take into consideration the fact that I might go up against multiple opponents.
Although I was confident, I was not conceited enough to believe I could take on multiple superhumans.
"Heh…good thing I was able to take a quick peek at some documents from the librarian earlier."
In the documents, I was able to quickly see a word that stood out in my eyes.
[Armory]
...….
"…Hm, that was too suspicious."
I wasn't expecting the [armory] to be completely unguarded. I was expecting on having a headache trying to get in but it seemed that it was just a needless worry.
{For an organization like this to leave their armory completely unguarded, either shows their confidence in their men or their hypocrisy… either way thank you for the 'toys'.}
Unbeknownst to Jericho, his every move was being monitored. Sitting in front of multiple wide screens, a woman in a brown uniform with 3 armbands asked her superior who was directly behind her.
"Are you sure about this captain? If an accident were to occur the damages… would be catastrophic."
"That boy has been abusing the strength of his background for a while now, and as adults, we are limited in what we can do in this situation. So, we need someone his age to handle this situation, and the boy is perfect for that."
"But what about asking for an advance's help?"
"Too much trouble. Besides, do you know something?"
"What?"
"That boy…if we were to only base the ranking on the potential of gifts and current ability… he would be an advanced."
"What!?"
"Hehehe… just enjoy the show for now."
Said the captain to her subordinate. The captain was none other than the librarian Jericho met a few hours ago.
From intentionally showing the whereabouts of the [armory] to commanding two of her men to give him a hint.
Everything was a part of her plan to delete early cancers in the plan.
"Don't disappoint me now, boy~~~."