When the Serial Killer Next Door Gained Harem System

Chapter 131: Delivered to Justice

I had earned a ridiculous amount of EXP from the fight in the Circle, and sure enough, I had leveled up.

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> LEVEL UP!

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> You reached LVL 7

> +1 CASS POINT

> +1 PERK POINT

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I had a point to spend, and after a moment of thinking, the choice was obvious. Shadow Leap was already helping me way too much, but dumping points into Rogue still felt inefficient when I also needed more MP. Mage seemed like the best option out of the five classes for that.

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> LEVEL UP: CLASS

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[1] Warrior: Strong in melee combat, high HP

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[3] Mage: Masters magic, high INT and MP

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[1] Rogue: Fast and stealthy, excels in critical hits

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[1] Cleric: Supports allies, heals and wards

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[1] Ranger: Skilled with ranged attacks

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I confirmed the upgrade and checked the main menu again. My MP had gone up to ninety-five, which was a nice improvement. I also had a perk point left, and since I had already unlocked all the classes, I could take my time and choose something practical.

That was when I noticed something useful under the Ranger class: a perk that let me dismantle items. Dismantling would give me Common, Uncommon, and better materials, which meant I could upgrade my armor and weapons later on. That sounded like a solid deal, so I picked it without hesitating and watched the menu update.

"Now," I whispered to myself, "let’s check the shop."

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> SHOP

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> COMMON SKILL: 25 LC

> HP POTION: 10 LC

> MP POTION: 10 LC

> INVENTORY SLOT: 100 LC

> DRIED MEAT: 5 LC

> EYES OF AMBLY: 200 LC

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A common skill for twenty-five LC was tempting, especially since I needed more spells anyway. The only problem was that it looked like it would be random, which made it a little risky. Still, it was better than nothing, so I mentally selected the first option and confirmed the purchase.

A book appeared in the UI, then slowly opened on its own and flipped through its pages until it stopped on a single image. The page showed a circle covered in runes, and after a second the skill name appeared beneath it.

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> NEW ROGUE SPELL: Wall Runner

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• Move across walls and ceilings.

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Not bad.

It seemed to have a duration and a cooldown, but even with that, it was still a useful spell. Common or not, this would come in handy. If I had had it earlier, maybe I could have caught that pervert a lot faster.

I mean, I could have bought one more thing, but I decided against it. I wanted to save my money for whatever that Eyes of Ambly item actually was, because that sounded a lot more interesting than another random skill book. Eyes of Ambly. Maybe it had something to do with getting back to my own world. Probably not, but hoping was about all I had right now, along with a little sarcasm to keep me from going insane.

"Gods," Ken muttered. "We killed those guys."

"We survived those guys," I corrected.

"By killing them."

"By killing them before they killed us."

He shook his head and leaned back again, looking at me with a tired, unsettled expression. "How can you be so calm about it, though?"

"Who says I’m calm?" I shrugged.

"That man was begging for his life."

"And he tricked us," I said. "You can’t trust people like that. Scum. Worst of the worst. Trust me on that."

Ken looked away again and rested his head against the bench. "I get that we had to do it, but gods, I keep thinking about it. What if we’d gone somewhere else? Maybe if I’d listened to you and we hadn’t gone near the safe zone right away, we could’ve kept searching for the plants without running into them."

The silence hung between us for a while after that. Eventually, Ken pushed himself up from the bench and stretched his arms over his head.

"I’m going to take a shower," he said. "I stink like death. Coming?"

I shrugged. "Yeah, sure."

ꨄ︎ꨄ︎ꨄ︎

The next day, just before the first class, we were gathered around the elder tree by order of Mr. Marble. I stood near the edge of the crowd with my arms crossed, wondering why we had all been called there. Mio was somewhere in the middle of the students, waiting quietly, while Ken stood off to one side talking with a few of his friends. The teachers were there too, which made it even more obvious that this wasn’t just some random announcement. Something important was going on, and I already had a pretty good idea what it was about. Jelda’s murder, probably.

"Why are we here?" a student asked me from beside the crowd. "Did they say anything? I came late and thought I missed class."

I turned toward him and frowned for a second before I realized he looked familiar. Shit. What was his name again? I was pretty sure I’d seen him in the dormitory before.

"I... don’t know," I said. "What was your name again?"

"Jayden," he said with a long exhale. "You forgot about me? We even ate together back in the dormitory."

"Oh," I said, nodding once. "Right. Sorry. Yeah, I remember you."

"Everyone, be quiet," one of the teachers called out, cutting through half the murmurs in the crowd. "Please, calm down."

A moment later, the headmaster appeared on the upper floor. We all looked up at once. He stood behind the railing with one hand resting on it, staring down at us with the kind of stern expression that made the entire crowd shut up almost immediately. Yeah, he had some serious weight in the academy. Of course he did. He was the headmaster, and he was also the Queen’s brother.

"Students," he began, his voice carrying easily over the crowd. "I’m sure all of you have heard about the savagery and disgrace that happened."

He paused for a moment and tapped his finger against the railing, as if arranging his thoughts before continuing.

"But worry not. The reason why I gathered you here... is to give some good news. Thanks to the hard work of District Captain Sora, the culprits have been caught and delivered to justice."