The moment I saw the paper wedged beneath the door, the very first thought that crossed my mind was just one.
Again?
Today alone had been tumultuous enough.
Rescuing the count’s daughter, being treated as a witness, a one-on-one meeting with the count’s daughter.
A person would normally be allowed some rest after all this, but this world was truly relentless.
Mia pricked up her ears slightly beside me.
“What is it?”
“Dunno.”
I took my hand off the doorknob and stepped back.
The black line hovering over the doorknob was very faint.
Barely visible to the eye.
It wasn’t on the door panel itself, only stretched thinly across the metal handle and the paper below.
This was obvious.
It could just be a piece of paper, or a scribbled insult.
It could be an upperclassman’s prank to bully a Common Dorm freshman.
But my current situation didn’t allow for such optimism.
The Academy was a school, but also a screening device.
The students believed they came to learn; the higher-ups first observed who to classify and how.
For a freshman who’d gotten involved in rescuing a count’s daughter on his very first day to receive a paper slipped under his door?
Anyone who picked it up without a thought wouldn’t last long.
I took out a pen from my bag beside me.
Mia blinked.
“What are you going to do with that?”
“So I don’t die like a rich man.”
“What does that mean?”
“Nobles die because they reach out with their hands first; poor bastards poke first to check.”
When I tugged at the corner of the paper with the end of the pen, Mia’s ears twitched.
I flinched too.
Nothing happened.
Good.
At least it’s not an explosion.
It was pathetic, the things that moved a person in this world.
I pulled the paper out completely.
The black line vanished when I held it in my hand.
Rather than a direct trap, it seemed to be the sense of an “object with a problem attached.”
The paper was very short.
Don’t interfere.
You’ll die.
Wow.
Straight to the point.
I flipped the paper over.
Nothing there.
The paper quality was ordinary.
Similar to the stationery used inside the Academy.
The smell… ink, dust, and a very faint oily scent.
Mia sniffed beside me.
“This.”
“What?”
“It smells similar to before.”
Great.
The worst.
I couldn’t even laugh as I looked at the paper again.
“A threat letter?”
Mia asked.
“It’s a notice.”
“Different?”
“A threat is to scare you; a notice means they’ll really do it.”
Saying it out loud, it sounded truly ominous even from my own mouth.
But it wasn’t wrong.
This wasn’t an insult mixed with emotion; it was closer to information transfer.
Don’t interfere.
You’ll die.
In other words, the main gate incident wasn’t the end.
And the other party knew I’d gotten involved.
Just great.
I’d been put on the list of those related to an assassination attempt on a count’s family from my very first day.
I opened the door. The room was small.
Small, but not bad.
One bed, one desk, one cabinet, one washbasin.
Befitting a space where commoners and fallen nobles lived together, it was at the level of “at least letting you act like a human being.”
It had the lived-in feel of the Common Dorm, but it was nowhere near as safe and quiet as the Noble Dorm.
The problem was that the room didn’t look safe at all right now.
I looked inside from the threshold for a while.
Checking if there were any black lines.
Desk corner. Window frame. Bed leg. Cabinet handle.
Thankfully, nothing.
At least it didn’t seem like anything would blow up inside immediately.
“Can I come in?”
When Mia asked, I looked at her for a moment.
“Do you think you can just enter anywhere right now, whether it’s the Noble Dorm or the Common Dorm?”
“I’m in the Common Dorm.”
“So am I.”
“Then it’s fine.”
What kind of logic was that? It was absurd.
But somehow, it made sense.
I went inside for now.
Closed the door and locked it again.
Then I spread the paper on the desk.
Mia sat on the edge of the bed without permission.
Her tail wagged very busily.
She must have been trying to hide her nervousness, but it was too obvious.
“So?”
“So what?”
“What are you going to do now?”
It was a good question.
Just no answer.
I placed my hands on the desk and thought.
One.
This was very likely sent by someone targeting Serena’s side.
Two.
The other party was aware I’d gotten involved.
Three.
Sending a warning might mean observing me was a priority over eliminating me immediately.
Four.
Or it was bait.
Organizing it that far made my brow ache.
“Are you going to inform Serena?”
Mia asked.
“I have to.”
“Then go now.”
“If I go now, it’ll look even more suspicious.”
I was already suspicious enough, but that was another matter.
If I went to Serena at night saying “Someone left me a threat,” the knights would likely try to break my arms first.
Besides, how would I prove whether I received this paper or faked it?
What was most important at times like this?
Evidence.
I picked up the paper again.
The end of the paper.
Ink smudging.
The direction of the fold.
Folded twice to fit under the door.
The pen pressure was heavy.
Short text, but no trace of a shaking hand.
The sight of me analyzing these things was truly funny.
Should I have quit the company and become a detective?
Of course, even then I’d be in this other world now.
That’s just how life is.
Mia suddenly perked up her ears.
“Someone’s outside.”
I immediately held my breath.
Footsteps were heard from beyond the hallway.
Light footsteps, one person, stopped, then moved again.
The feeling of pausing briefly in front of our door before passing by.
I reflexively flipped the paper and hid it under a book.
The footsteps soon faded.
“Do you know who it was?”
When I asked quietly, Mia shook her head.
“Too many smells here to be sure.
But it’s not the smell from before.”
Good.
At least it didn’t seem like the one who delivered the threat was standing outside the door again.
Of course, that was no comfort at all.
I made a decision.
“I’m going out at night.”
“What?”
“The one who put this might not have gone far. Or at least their trail should remain.”
Mia’s eyes went round.
“There’s a curfew?”
“I know?”
Mia looked at my face for a moment, then spoke as if it were only natural.
“I’m going too.”
“No.”
“Why.”
“Why you.”
“I can smell things too.”
It wasn’t wrong, but precisely because it was right, it was more exhausting.
I let out a sigh.
“Do you normally stick your nose into other people’s business like this?”
Mia’s tail stopped with a thud.
Then she pouted.
“I don’t think it’s someone else’s business.”
Those words stuck deeper than expected.
Ah. She was always this kind of girl.
The type to quickly pull someone onto her side if she thought it was “real.”
Really troublesome.
Cute, but troublesome.
I gave up in the end.
“If we get caught, just say you came out because you heard a commotion.
Don’t try to corroborate my story for no reason.”
“Then you’ll just look more suspicious, senior.”
“I’m already suspicious.”
“That’s true.”
It felt a bit dirty, but I wasn’t hurt.
After all, the truth wasn’t the most painful thing.
We decided to kill time in our respective rooms until the evening bell rang.
Keeping Mia in my room for too long would become a rumor too.
Rumors spread fast in the Common Dorm.
This school had a strong sense of daily life, but in exchange, rumors spread quickly too.
The moment I was left alone after closing the door, I sat on the bed and rubbed my face.
I took out the money pouch on my desk, looked at it, then put it back in.
It was pathetic that I checked my money first even at a time like this.
But people touch what they have when they’re scared.
Because that’s the reality that remains.
I suddenly thought of the half-burnt paper Ethan had given me.
Valter. The erased record. The Academy. Serena. The threat letter.
They were all still separate pieces.
But the more separate pieces there were, the bigger the explosion when they finally meshed into one.
That’s why it was scarier.
As the night deepened, the sounds of the dormitory changed.
At first it was noisy and distracting, but after the bell rang three times and curfew approached, only the sounds of doors closing, low whispers, and fading footsteps remained.
And finally, when the hallway grew quiet.
I rose from my seat.
Tonight, I had to catch at least one thing.
Otherwise, the next turn might really be mine.
Moving secretly at night isn’t romantic.
It’s fucking exhausting, even a slightly wrong step is loud, excuses don’t work if you get caught, and above all, it’s the time when people are most sensitive so even trivial mistakes stand out.
That’s why in novels everyone moves coolly like shadows, but actually doing it is just two cowards violating regulations sweating cold sweat in the hallway.
I opened the door very slowly.
Creak.
“Ah.”
A small sigh escaped.
Why was the sound so loud?
The guys who secretly open and close this every day are damn amazing.
The hallway was dark.
The magic lamps hanging on the walls seemed to be left at minimum brightness.
They weren’t completely off, but dim enough to only make out a person’s shape.
That degree was probably perfect for creating a nighttime atmosphere per regulations.
From the perspective of someone hiding, it was dogshit.
Two ears poked up from the shadows across the door.
It was Mia.
“Why are you hiding like that?”
“I wasn’t hiding.”
“That’s even scarier.”
I meant it.
Seeing only white ears floating in the darkness with that physique startled people.
Mia immediately grabbed my sleeve.
“The smell is below.”
“Sure?”
“Completely.”
Nice.
Beastkin really are OP.
We moved very slowly along the hallway.
The Common Dorm was louder and more lived-in than the Noble Dorm, but at night it became even more sensitive.
If someone came out to use the bathroom and saw us, it would immediately become a rumor.
“On the first night after admission, some male student was walking around with a beastkin girl.” Something like this could spread to three departments by the next morning.
In life, rumors are scarier than incidents.
Going down the stairs, a black line flickered before my eyes.
End of the banister. Very thin.
I immediately took my hand off and detoured one step.
Mia looked at me with puzzled eyes.
“Why?”
“Don’t step there.”
“Do you see something?”
“…Yeah.”
It was a bit awkward to hide it now.
I thought it would be better to reveal to Mia at least that I had a “strange sense,” even if I didn’t explain everything exactly.
She was the type to believe senses first, not the type to nitpick logic.
Mia moved her foot without a word.
Good.
This was convenient.
When we reached the first floor, the air changed.
The mixed scents of the day settled, and the smell of floor-washing water, wood, and old cloth rose.
Mia sniffed a couple of times and pointed to the right corridor.
“There.”
We walked pressed against the wall.
The dormitory supervisor’s room was on the opposite side.
If caught at this hour, it was over.
Night outings were forbidden for preparatory course students, restricted even for main course students, and the more ordinary you were, the faster you got caught.
What I needed now wasn’t attention, but survival.
At the end of the right corridor, wooden compartments resembling mailboxes were lined up.
They seemed to be places where student deliveries, meal tickets, and notices were put.
The paper placed under my door was probably taken from there too.
Mia stopped walking.
“The smell is strong here.”
I looked around.
One wooden compartment was slightly crooked.
To others it might be something to pass by, but in my eyes, a black line floated at its corner.
I stopped my hand just as I was about to touch it.
I took out the pen from my pocket and used it again.
“You really like that thing.”
“It saved my life.”
“You’re just doing it because you’re scared.”
“….”
When I pushed up the compartment with the pen, a folded piece of paper fell out with a tap.
It was a small layout map.
Common Dorm first floor, west corridor, stairs near the back gate, and one short line marked in red ink.
Even I, who didn’t know the Academy’s layout well, could tell this was a trace of someone checking a route.
It wasn’t a line meant for a general student guide map.
It was too specific.
“This…”
Mia bit her lip.
“Whose is it?”
It was a good question.
Looking at the red line, I immediately thought of something.
Serena.
The count’s daughter was from the Noble Dorm, but after today’s incident, she had briefly come near the Common Dorm.
The witness room, the reception garden, the knights’ movements.
Someone might have checked that.
Or maybe from the start, since the Noble Dorm side alone was difficult, they might have included the Common Dorm or the main building connecting passage.
Then.
A very small footstep was heard from the end of the corridor.
Tap.
Mia and I turned our heads at the same time.
In the darkness, a shadow brushed past behind the corner of the corridor.
I ran before I could think.
Not because I was brave, but because if I missed this timing, I felt like I’d never catch them again.
“Hey!”
Of course they didn’t stop.
Especially not when my shout was barely more than a whisper.
The shadow slipped toward the back-door stairs.
They weren’t tall.
A grayish top.
Their build was roughly similar to that student administrative assistant I’d seen during the day.
I wasn’t sure, and the fact that I wasn’t sure pissed me off even more.
I grabbed the stair railing and twisted my body around.
A black line had spread across the second step down.
“Don’t step there!”
I called quietly to Mia, who was following behind me, and skipped three steps altogether.
My knee throbbed.
The pain from where I’d gotten hit earlier was still there.
Damn it.
I thought everything would be fine with a young body, but pain was still pain.
The back door was half open.
I saw the shadow slip outside.
“Fuck…”
Grinding my teeth, I shoved the door open.
It was cold outside. The night air rushed in.
Beyond the back door was a small loading area, piled with boxes and an old cart.
The structure was perfect for hiding a person.
So perfect it annoyed me even more.
Mia stuck close to my side.
“Left!”
At her words, I turned—and sure enough, there was the sound of someone on the left. I charged straight that way.
My running form still wasn’t pretty.
At that moment, the other person threw something.
It was a small glass bottle.
To my eyes, an extremely thick black line was floating over that bottle.
I was fucked.
“Get down!”
I shoved Mia by the shoulder, knocking her down, and rolled sideways at the same time.
Crash!
The bottle shattered on the ground, and gray smoke burst out.
A acrid smell. Bitter oil. A stinging, poisonous bite in the eyes.
Mia coughed lowly.
I covered my mouth with my sleeve.
It didn’t seem like poison.
If it were something meant to kill people, they wouldn’t have thrown it so carelessly.
But it was more than enough to keep our feet pinned.
The shadow used that opening to bolt toward the wall.
I moved to chase after them by reflex, then stopped.
At the base of the wall. An old drain cover.
And across the entire ground in front of it, black lines were spread out.
A trap.
I couldn’t step there.
“Ha…”
They really knew how to piss someone off.
The shadow disappeared quietly, like someone who knew about that trap.
Mia grabbed my sleeve.
“You’re not going?”
“I can’t.”
“Why!”
“There’s a trap set there.”
When I said that, Mia immediately shut her mouth.
Good.
She caught on fast.
We stayed pressed against the wall and caught our breath until the smoke settled a little.
My eyes stung, and my throat felt raw.
It wasn’t a complete failure.
We’d lost them, but they’d left behind one trace.
I picked up a shard of glass that had fallen to the ground.
Mia brought her nose close, then immediately frowned.
“I hate this.”
“Me too.”
“What now?”
Looking into the darkness beyond the back door, I answered briefly.
“It got bigger.”
“What did?”
“This whole thing.”
I rolled the shard of glass between my fingertips and added,
“The threatening letter came in under the dorm room door, and they even knew the route to the back door.”
Mia’s ears slowly flattened.
“……That means.”
“It means they know the inside of the school well.”