Chapter 55: Change of Plan
"What's he doing right now?" Eliza muttered, feeling irritated by that person. "Did he not learn anything after he lost to you in that test, Arthur?"
I only shrugged my shoulders at Eliza's reaction.
The one who appeared before us was Adam. He looked rather haggard and worse than yesterday. I narrowed my eyes at him and wondered what had happened.
'Is that whore, Beatrice, did something to him?'
This could also be a trap. But this also sounded serious. I didn't have enough information now.
'Should I follow him or ignore him?' I glanced at Eliza, and she looked at me worriedly.
Even if Alexander tried to do something to Eliza, she would be able to protect himself. And the first class was Emilia's, so Eliza's safety could be guaranteed.
"Eliza, go to class first." I looked at her with a reassuring smile. "I will follow shortly after hearing what our friend has to say."
"He's not my friend." She denied it with a disgusted look. She didn't look worried like before; she probably thought I would be okay after she saw my strength yesterday. "And just a minute! I will wait for you in the class! Promise?"
I just nodded at her without saying anything.
Before leaving, Eliza looked at Adam once again with a gaze full of enmity, and then she walked inside the building.
"Hahaha, isn't she cute?"
I let out a laugh as I faced Adam, but he didn't say anything other than breathing roughly. This guy looked like he was at the wit's end of his life. Something really wrong happened to him. That was why I turned serious.
"Let's talk behind the school."
He nodded in response, and we changed our location.
The place I had in mind was the desolate garden at the corner of Virtue Royal Academy, where I saw Beatrice giving Alexander Bluerose some kind of power and charming him.
I thought maybe if I chose this place, then that whore would show up. I should really stop calling her a whore. Let's just call her Beatrice.
Anyway, my point was I was ready to pull out my sword from the inventory if this was really a trap. Adam immediately fell on the bench, looking really tired, as he looked at me.
"I... First, let me say sorry for what I did. S-Somehow, I did something rather stupid toward you, and I don't know why I did that. I didn't like you from the start when we first met... Haa... But I am not an idiot who would target you for that. I know the danger of an unknown opponent."
He forced his way as he took a deep breath between his sentences.
We didn't like each other; that much was clear. I didn't like him because he was the protagonist who could hinder my plan, though it didn't seem like he could do that now.
And he didn't like me because of my first impression. Our relationship was like that.
'So it's not a trap, after all.'
"And then. Are you calling me here to say sorry? Are you afraid of me because I am the Paladin now?"
"It's not that." Adam shook his head. But then, he suddenly clutched his chest with his hand and coughed violently. It only got worse as time passed, and I approached him while narrowing my eyes.
I didn't ask whether he was okay or not. Clearly, he wasn't okay, so I immediately worked to find the cause.
His skin was a bit pale. The cause of his coughing might be his internal organs, possibly his heart or lungs, as he held his chest.
Maybe <High Heal> could heal him, but why should I use it on him? As he mentioned, we didn't like each other. Besides, if he died, he could just revive.
So instead of asking a useless question, I asked the most important one. "What makes you like this?"
"B-Beatrice... S-She took something from me."
Took something from him? Could it be that something was the one she gave to Alexander?
I quickly used <Appraisal> on Adam to make sure of something.
It should've shown up in his title if he could still gain Sins double what normal people got. I understood that any special characteristic of people in this world would show up in their title, such as their job or Eliza's title, the daughter of Baron Rose.
However, when I looked at his status, there was something that caught my attention.
Name: Adam (Charmed)
Race: Human
Lv: 2
Sins: 10
Virtues: 0
Status:
HP: 100/100 (MAX 100)
MP: 5/5 (MAX 100)
STR: 4 (MAX 100)
VIT: 5 (MAX 100)
AGI: 4 (MAX 100)
DEX: 2 (MAX 100)
INT: 2 (MAX 100)
LUC: 1 (MAX 100)
Skills:
[Lv 1 Swordsmanship] [Lv 1 Charm Immunity]
Titles:
[???](Stolen)
Scratch that. Many things in his status caught my attention, such as his level, the word besides his name, his LUC, and his title.
This wasn't the status of the protagonist. His LUC was the highest amongst the people in this world, being 100. His Sins were 10; that was why Eliza looked at him with a disgusted look. And the fact that his title was 'stolen'...
'What the heck is going on?'
This was incomprehensible. Beatrice did this? What kind of skill did she use to steal Adam's status? And the fact she could use something like that... was dangerous. I needed to deal with her as fast as possible.
I thought she could 'lend' a part of her power to someone else. There was a support skill like that even back in Horizon Online—something like buffing other people by sacrificing one status for a certain period of time.
But this was Sins Paradise's status screen. And it was clearly said 'stolen' and not 'lend' or 'buff.' That meant it was permanently taken from him.
'Skill steals? Or rather, title steals? And the fact that he became Level 2... Can that woman also drain his status? I need to change my plan.'
Probably, most people knew about the decrease in Level when they got revived. It would be strange if they didn't notice it themselves.
But no one seemed to know the fact that people would start losing a year's worth of memory if they died in Level 1.
So I changed my mind. I should see whether I could treat this guy as an experiment. It would be bad if something like this happened to my allies.
"<Heal>" I used the lowest level of healing first to see whether there was any change in his complexion.
Adam looked at me with widened eyes. He must've never expected me to try to heal him. But I did it for an experiment, it was too soon for him to be happy.
No change, so it wasn't an injury or internal injury. Then I proceeded to <High Heal>, the next level of healing skill. It could even fix Sandra's bone from fractured and healed any internal injuries.
In terms of HP, it could heal 60 HP at once, which was really high compared to <Heal>, which could only heal 30 HP.
Once again, there was no change. So his pain wasn't related to any injury.
"How about this?"
Then I used <Cure>, and nothing changed, but his complexion improved a little bit. I see, so it was similar to the status effect. I used <Appraisal>, and his (Charmed) had disappeared. That was good to know.
Beatrice's charm magic wasn't as high as I thought if even <Cure> could cure it. And then, lastly, I used <Purification>, my handy magic that could erase any side effects and filth on the body.
There was no change, and so I looked at Adam with a grin.
"Thanks, that provides me with a lot of information."
"Y-Yeah, no problem. I... also feel a bit better thanks to you. Thank you." Adam replied with a small nod.
"You're welcome," I replied with a smile as I put my hand on his shoulder. "But there is still one way to cure you."
"Huh? What is it?" He asked, confused.
Without answering, I moved my hand at a fast speed and broke Adam's neck. It bent in a strange direction, not giving him any chance to reply. His body went limp, and he fell on the bench with a thud.
Looking at his lifeless figure, I wiped my hand with a clean cloth I took out from my inventory and muttered.
"See me again after you revive. Revival is the best way to reset your status and cure you from any skill effects."