Inside the room, time was slowly returning to normal.
My breathing was still fast. My shoulder burned, and the torn book on my chest smelled faintly of paper dust. On the floor, among broken ceramic shards, lay a dead assassin with a triangle tattoo.
And I was still just a wounded stranger who didn't fully understand this world's rules.
"What do I do now?" I whispered.
Should I scream for help?Or try to hide the body?
Both sounded like bad ideas.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[QUICK RISK ANALYSIS]
– Option 1: Try to hide the corpse.• Risk:– Your physical condition is bad.– High chance you fail to clean all traces.– If caught, you look more like a "planned killer" than a victim.
– Option 2: Call for help immediately.• Risk:– You're a stranger, you'll draw suspicion.• Plus:– Higher chance of being seen as "the victim."– They "find" the body, not you hiding it.
Short recommendation:Scream.
I took a deep breath.My throat still burned like I'd swallowed acid, but I gathered my voice.
"H–help!" I shouted. My voice cracked."Someone… help!"
From the corridor came the sound of a chair scraping, hurried footsteps, and a distant "What's going on?"
For a moment, my knees felt like they might give out. I leaned against the bed and pressed down on the bandage over my shoulder. I gently pushed the book aside; torn or not, it had saved my life.
Footsteps stopped in front of my door.
"Kid?" a deep voice called—the innkeeper, I guessed."You alright? I heard a noise…"
"Don't… come in yet," I said. "There's blood. Someone tried to kill me."
There was a short silence.Then the door slowly pushed inward; this time, the stool slid aside almost silently.
The owner of the Copper Lantern was a middle-aged man with a bit of a belly and a trimmed short beard.He wore a hastily thrown-on shirt, and his face carried the tired anger of someone dragged from sleep.
But the moment he stepped inside, his eyes went straight to the middle of the room.
To the corpse.
"Azrael's…" he muttered, something halfway between a curse and a prayer."What in the… is this?"
Behind him, a tall, slim young man came in—a worker of the inn, judging by his simple vest.
"Innkeeper Garen, should I call the guards?" he asked.
"Run," Garen said. "Go get them. This isn't something we sit on."
The young man quickly rushed back into the corridor. His footsteps went down the stairs, then faded into the distance.
Garen walked in with heavy steps. After a brief hesitation, he tore his eyes from the corpse and looked back at me.
"Alright," he said."Tell me. You look like this, and there's a dead man on my floor. What happened?"
His gaze dropped briefly to the bandage on my chest, then to the bloody wrap at my shoulder.
"Did you do this with your own hand?" he asked, eyeing the blunt dagger on the ground.
"He… came to kill me in my sleep," I said. "When I woke up, his knife was already in my shoulder. I had a dagger by the bed. I think… I just defended myself."
Garen's eyes flicked to the wall, then the door, then the broken ceramic pieces on the floor.
"Smart," he said quietly. "The shards, the stool… Doesn't look like the first time you've done something like this."
"It's my first time…" I said. "First time I've killed someone."
Saying it out loud made it feel more real. The words left my mouth and pressed down on me like a weight.
Garen's expression didn't really soften, but there was a faint shadow of understanding in his eyes.
"In this town," he said, "if someone with a knife comes into your room at night, kid… the problem usually isn't you."
A few minutes later, the sound of heavier steps and clinking metal came from downstairs.
Two men climbed the stairs:
One was in his forties, with a short beard and the deep-creased face of someone who didn't get enough sleep. A simple emblem of Veldan was stitched onto his chestplate.The other was a bit younger, quieter, his eyes moving sharply around the room.
"I'm Guard Rian," the bearded one said. "This is my assistant, Terek."
They stepped into the room. First they looked at me, then at the corpse, then around the floor and walls. Rian wrinkled his nose.
"Middle of the night…" he grumbled. "And just after shift change, too."
He turned to me.
"Alright, stranger. Garen says 'one of my guests cut down an assassin.'"
"I didn't cut him down," I said. "More like… misdirected him."
Rian's eyebrow rose slightly.
"Keep it short," he said. "What did you see when you woke up? What did you do?"
I took a deep breath.I couldn't mention the System. I couldn't talk about Morgan, the cube, the watch, or the cave.
This world was strange enough already. The last thing I needed was to add "mechanical voice in my head" on top of that.
"I was sleeping," I said."I didn't hear him at the door. When I opened my eyes, I felt weight on my chest and pain in my shoulder. I think I rolled to the side at the last second. I had a dagger under the blanket. I swung on reflex. Then the bed broke, he lost his balance… You know the rest."
Rian slowly nodded.Garen, at the mention of the bed's broken leg, glanced at its foot and made a small approving grunt.
Terek, meanwhile, barely spoke at all.
He quietly approached the corpse, crouched beside it, and began checking it over with gloved hands.
"Weapon?" Terek asked in a low voice.
He checked the assassin's dagger, belt, boots.Then his hand moved to the left wrist.
He tugged the glove back slightly.
The moment he saw the hollow triangle tattoo, something in his face shifted. Jaw tightened. A brief glint flashed in his eyes. But it only lasted for a heartbeat.
He pulled the glove back over the wrist and turned his head away, as if not wanting anyone to notice.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[OBSERVATION MODULE – PASSIVE]
– Observation: Terek appears to recognize the triangle symbol.– Micro reaction:• Brief tension in facial muscles.• Slight dilation of pupils.– Behavior:• Covered the symbol again immediately.• Avoided displaying it.
Preliminary note:Someone knows the triangle.But doesn't want to name it.
Rian stepped over to Terek and glanced at the corpse.
"Nothing on him?" he asked. "No documents?"
"No," Terek said. "And even if there were… this isn't the best place to talk about it."
Garen's face tightened.
"What's that supposed to mean?" he said. "This inn is in the heart of Veldan. If killers are wandering around my rooms, I've got a right to know."
Rian turned to Garen and spread his hands slightly.
"We're not happy about it either, Garen," he said. "But there are some marks… where asking too many questions shortens your life."
The air in the room grew a little heavier.
I sat at the edge of the bed with my bandaged shoulder, watching them silently.Garen clenched his teeth, but said nothing more.
Terek checked the assassin's wrist one more time, but this time didn't pull the glove back at all.Then he stood up.
"Whatever he was," Terek said, "the kid was the one who got attacked. He defended himself. The shards on the floor, the broken bed, the wounds… the story holds together."
"Even if it didn't," Rian said, "if someone walks into a room at night with a knife, the one in the bed is usually the 'innocent' side."
He turned to me.
"Ethan, right?" he asked."We wrote your full name when you checked in, but you don't look like you're in shape to confirm the details."
"Yeah," I said. "Ethan."
Half-truths and things I left out… even for this world, it was a lot.
"In the official report," Rian said, "I'll write this:'At night, an unidentified attacker entered an inn room and attempted to kill a young foreigner. The foreigner neutralized the attacker in self-defense.'"
He paused.
"Is that version acceptable to you?"
I swallowed.
"Yes," I said. "That's as much as the truth can afford to say."
Rian gave a slight nod.Terek glanced at me from the side. It looked like he wanted to say "don't dig too deep," but no words came out.
Moving the body out of the room was quieter than I expected.
Terek didn't drag the assassin by the arms; instead, like someone who had done similar work many times, he grabbed the weight at the right points, and with Rian's help, they carried the corpse into the corridor with minimal sound.
Garen let out a deep sigh when he saw the streaks of blood on the floor.
"Tomorrow morning," he said, "I'll have to sand the floor in here again. This inn never makes me a profit."
"I'll cover the damage," I started to say, but all that left my mouth was a tired exhale.
Before leaving, Rian turned back to me once more.
"I don't expect another attack tonight," he said. "These kinds of 'jobs' are usually one-time attempts. But lock your door from the inside anyway. And tomorrow, stop by the guard station. We'll need a short statement."
"Alright," I said.
Terek hesitated for a moment.Then, as if the words were forced out of him, he spoke:
"If you've… seen anything 'strange' lately…Don't tell everyone everything you see. Some things should be talked about in the right place, with the right people."
It was a warning.But not the kind that said "shut up or you'll die." More like…
"There are shadows in this town. Don't burn your eyes staring at them."
I nodded.
"I was already planning," I said, "to keep some things to myself for a while."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[NOTE]
– Terek's words do not contain a direct threat.– But the subtext is:• "Don't ask the wrong questions to the wrong people."– Recommendation:• For now, keep the triangle in System records only.• Don't stir up Veldan until you understand the board.
"To be honest," I thought, "all I want right now is one night of sleep without someone trying to stab me."
After the guards and Garen left, I was alone again.
For a while, I didn't move.
I sat on the edge of the bed, holding my bandaged shoulder and staring at the thin lines of blood on the floor. The ceramic shards were now stained red.
In one corner, the torn and pierced book sat,"Beginner's Guide to Not Dying in Veldan."
"I can't deny," I said, "the book really lived up to its title."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[MINOR JOKE DETECTED]
– Note:• The book's physical integrity has decreased.• But its function exceeded expectations.
Recorded as:• Statistical outlier, lucky event.
"So I've got my first book sponsor, huh," I muttered.
I took a deep breath. The pain in my shoulder had dulled a little, but it still wasn't exactly comfortable to sleep. Even so, my eyes were getting heavy.
Just as I was about to close them, the panel opened one more time.
⟪SYSTEM⟫[NEW QUEST CREATED]
[SIDE QUEST – YELLOW]Quest: Learn to Breathe in Veldan
Description:– From your very first night, this town sent you an assassin as a "welcome gift."– I can't say that's a good sign.– But you're still here.
Objectives:– Survive in Veldan for 3 days.– Each day, at least:• Maintain your basic physical training.• Observe a different part of the town.– Go to the guard station and give your short statement.– For now, only record the triangle symbol with your eyes, not your tongue.
Rewards:– +3% System Synchronization– Small observation bonus for the Veil Path– An "unnamed" note in Veldan:• "More resilient than the average foreigner."
Failure:– If you die within 3 days, you lose the quest.– You don't really gain anything else either.
"Even your quest title is 'learn to breathe,' huh…" I said."Thanks, System. My motivation is… complicated."
⟪SYSTEM⟫[EXTRA NOTE]
– This event helped fill the "real danger" requirement for Break Sigil: First Veil.– As routine + material + experience accumulate, the first barrier will begin to crack.
Be patient.Power gets cheap when you rush it.
I slowly closed my eyes.
Tonight,a corpse had been dragged out of my room, carrying a triangle mark on its wrist and the beginning of a darker story.
But on the surface,it would just be recorded in Veldan as an "unfortunate incident" in an inn room.
There were very few people who could see the difference.
One of themwas a freshly awakened "foreigner" leaning against a bloody pillow, too tired to move.
Me.
And the gears of fate weren't just turning anymore…They were starting to drag me along with them.