Healing System

Reginald's cold tone sent shivers down everyone's spine, with the exception of Michael. It seemed like he had infused his own voice with mana.

'Infuse mana with my voice, huh... now that's a skill idea.' He smiled in response; there were a couple of applications he could try, some of which would likely improve his power by a lot.

What if, by infusing a certain word with a meaning, he would be able to bring that meaning to life? It definitely seemed like a possibility. After all, Reginald infused his voice with mana and made others feel his pressure more intensively.

It's a good ability to learn indeed, but focus on mana absorption first; once you master that, everything else will become much easier.

'Sure.' Michael nodded and glanced back at Reginald; he had been standing there in silence while looking down on the woman.

Meanwhile, Shingen was trying his best to remain calm, but his shaking hands were most likely noticed by each person present.

"Do you think you can do whatever you want here, Mira? The only reason you are here in the first place is because your family is very influential," Reginald said in a cold tone, causing her to shake, though Michael could not tell whether it was in anger or in fear.

After all, he was the one who put her in this situation, and if he knew any better, it was likely she knew that someone controlled her.

The pressure dissipated, and she was finally able to move her body again, which meant she could also speak.

However, the words that came out of her mouth sounded like nothing but nonsense to everyone present. "That was not me! The Saint was controlling me!" she shouted and pointed right at Michael.

'Quite the accusation.' He whistled inwardly and pretended to look confused.

"What? I apologized for calling you old, and then you freaked out. How did I control you?" His voice sounded as if he was talking down to a child, which caused her to grow even more infuriated.

But before she was about to act out once again, Reginald spoke up. "I did hear you apologizing to her. Quite frankly, I was paying attention to the whole situation ever since you taunted her," he said accusingly but did not proceed further.

Michael just shrugged in response. Even if he did taunt her, so what? Did it warrant that kind of reaction from her?

"Nonetheless, Mira, please head out for the day. I will be having a talk with you at a later date. As for you, Shingen, sit back down," Reginald ordered and walked back to his seat.

'Honestly expected a bit harsher of a punishment, too bad though.' Michael sighed and watched as the woman, Mira, stood in place, trembling in anger.

And then there was Shingen, who silently walked back to his seat and sat down. His heartbeat was still as fast as ever, though it seemed like it was slowly decreasing.

'I guess he feels relieved there were no further actions, but well, I am sorry to say, you will not be seeing Mira anymore.'

If he was correct, after she left the cathedral to head back to wherever she was supposed to go, Rebecca or Amanda would catch her and interrogate her since it was extremely likely one of them was watching the entire situation from afar.

And if they did, that meant they figured out she was one of the traitors. They might have even picked up on Shingen being one too.

Though as the quiet once again returned to the roundtable, the mana from right below him began growing much more intense, as if it was stirring and getting nearer.

However, as soon as he tried figuring out what that was, the mana completely disappeared as though it was never there in the first place.

'Strange... System, did you sense anything?'

There is something in the basement.

'Hmm...' Michael nodded and took that into mind. He had forgotten that there was a basement directly under them. It was certainly unusual.

But still, the mana he felt down there was pretty dense. He could not even imagine what could be down there. Quite frankly, he would rather not find out at all.

Mira took one last glance at both him and Shingen and began leaving, not even glancing at the other people gathered around the roundtable.

As she approached the barrier, she passed directly through it without any resistance, and as she did, her figure began slowly fading away due to the tint of the barrier.

Reginald clapped his hands once to get everyone's attention. "Now that the disturbance has disappeared, let's continue our discussion, shall we?" He shot a small glance at Shingen before returning to the paper, which still had a bunch of calculations left to confirm.

And now, there were only Michael and Shingen left, sitting right next to each other.

Since he now knew that Reginald was listening to them, he decided to not be as bold as before. Just slightly irritating Shingen would be enough.

"What a crazy woman, huh? Told you she was hotheaded."

However, no response came. Shingen was simply staring at the calculations and the hologram in front of him, completely ignoring Michael.

'Should I use Charm again? No... that would be too suspicious if they both lose control of themselves. What to do... what to do?' He thought for a moment. It felt like a minigame, one where all he had to do was piss someone off and his cleanup crew—Amanda and Rebecca—would deal with the rest.

"It was funny, honestly. To think that Mira would act so high and mighty despite not bringing anything to the table besides her family. Things like these work much differently in Vivum." Michael disrespected the roundtable a bit, but no one took it to mind. They knew that it was the truth.

I am surprised they are letting you get away with saying stuff like that. Is it because you are a Saint?

'That, or because I am still young... You also can't get rid of the possibility of Amanda telling Reginald about her plan. Maybe that's why I am being let off so easily.'

Michael took a glance at Shingen, and he could feel a bit of malice coming off of him. Even if it was contained, it did not manage to go unnoticed.

It was such a cat-and-mouse game, to the point where he considered just using Charm again, but this time less noticeably.

And that's exactly what he did. Casting yet another Charm, Shingen was immediately affected, though there was a bit of a struggle. If he were to compare between him and Mira, she was a bit easier to control.

But nonetheless, now that Shingen was under his control and the connection was strong enough to give an order through his mind, it was time to finish his little mission.

'Stop breathing until you pass out.'

As the order came through, Shingen emotionlessly stopped breathing. However, as the minutes passed, nothing happened.

That was until Michael realized he forgot to mention something. 'Stop using mana...'

At those words, Shingen's face began turning red, until finally, he slumped in his own chair, to the surprise of everyone present.

Everyone, except for Reginald, who stared directly at Michael with a conflicted look but then proceeded to nod, confirming his earlier suspicions.

'So he was in on the plan then, good.' Michael subtly nodded back and checked up on Shingen, before announcing, "Looks like he had a panic attack, I think it would be best if I took him out of here. Any objections?"

Before anyone could protest, Reginald spoke up. "Go ahead; I will look forward to the next time we see each other, Saint."

'Perfect... probably. I should have done this from the very start, but I guess I did learn a few interesting things.' He thought and picked up Shingen by the collar before walking out of the barrier and out of the cathedral.

Thankfully, no one tried stopping him, so he managed to make his way outside, until he eventually walked back to the spot where Amanda had first informed him of everything.

There, he saw two women standing, Rebecca and Amanda. However, there was also a disfigured body lying on the ground. He didn't need to guess who that could be, as a rapier was embedded into a nearby wall, the same one Mira had.

Amanda noticed him and instructed, "Drop him on the ground, I have a few questions to ask him."

Michael did as he was told and awaited to see what would happen. However, the two women were simply staring at him.

"Head back to the hotel, the tournament was rescheduled for tomorrow, you can't be late." Amanda said and walked up to Shingen before picking him up and bringing him inside a nearby house.n/ô/vel/b//in dot c//om

'Hmm...'

Michael glanced at Rebecca and hesitatingly said, "See you later?"

She merely smiled at him and waved back, not saying anything, to which Michael could only sigh. It seemed like they would likely not meet again.

'Well, nothing I can do... It would be very counterproductive to take her along with me on my journey after all.'

You seem to be forgetting that you will meet her again in the future; just become stronger until you reunite with both your adoptive mother and, well, Astraea too.

'...Yeah.'