"Could you elaborate on your journey in the dungeon?" Ash faced his first question.
"First, we entered and fought a pack of wolves—a tough battle. That was the first ti we t him. We didn’t have many points, so he just threatened us and left, saying we should accumulate more.
Later, after so smaller fights, we faced the boss monster. That battle nearly cost us our lives, but we managed to kill it. That was when we t the young master a second ti. We had no mana left, no strength to face a five-mbered party, so we handed over points to them and..."
Ash continued weaving his story, mixing lies between truths. Jessie had told the sa version earlier, but Ash had tweaked details, deliberately omitting certain parts. That way, their stories would line up but not appear rehearsed.
Gabriel studied him for a long mont.
"Pretty much the sa as your partner’s... if we overlook the minor differences," he said, his stare cutting through Ash.
"Your heart is calm—too calm for the situation."
Ash wanted to bite his tongue, but he held his composure.
"You two killed the boss monster. Doesn’t that prove you’re stronger than you claim?" Gabriel pressed.
"Of course we are," Ash replied, faking indignation as though his pride was wounded.
"You may go."
"I want to say sothing," Ash interjected, speaking when Gabriel gave a slight nod. "Maybe he died from a beast attack."
"Don’t say that again—or you’ll be dead without reason."
The next groups were cycled in. The questioning dragged for half an hour. Ash noticed the guild leaders growing impatient.
"Gabriel, did you find anything?" asked the grieving man with bloodshot eyes.
"I have, but I need more ti, Master Michael." Gabriel pointed at the squad that had ranked first. "These five are my main suspects. Their story is convincing, but either they’re innocent... or excellent liars."
Ash smirked inwardly. They’d fallen right into his trap, having taken points from Jennifer’s corpse.
The strange man in the middle rose. His aura crashed down on the room, pressing students to their knees. The air itself grew heavy.
Ash’s vision blurred. A haze filled his mind, as if he were being forced to confess the truth to any question asked. The thought chilled him—but then he felt sothing shift. His Luck stat stirred, pulling him back to clarity.
Without hesitation, he dumped three more stat points into Luck. Instantly, the haze lessened. He still felt pressure, but he no longer felt compelled to spill his secrets.
"Did you kill the Wilbert family mber?" The man’s voice bood—so solid it manifested like a physical weight.
"No."
The denials rippled one by one across the room.
Ash tid his own "No" sowhere in the middle, blending in perfectly.
Even Gabriel’s voice joined: "No."
Only the guild leaders stood unaffected. Ash realized the terror of the skill: a question so powerful it forced answers even from higher ranks.
A notification blinked on his screen.
[You have countered "Dragon’s Ask"]
[Title Unlocked: Infant’s Aura]
[Infant’s Aura: Ignore pressure from one rank above enemy.]
Ash’s heart thumped hard. He wanted to explore the new title, but fear of the next question gnawed at him. Jessie wouldn’t be able to resist like he could.
"Did you kill?" Jessie answered honestly: "No." She hadn’t killed him—Ash had. But if the next question had been Do you know who did? she would’ve broken.
The aura receded. Ash looked up, seeing a thin line of blood trickling from the faceless man’s lips.
The man glanced at his grieving brother and shook his head in disappointnt.
"You all may leave... except you five." He pointed at the winning squad. His voice was hoarse, final.
Gabriel’s eyes lingered on Ash. He wanted to say sothing, but Jacob’s skill had been absolute. If even he, a high D-rank, had been forced to answer, then how could anyone lie?
The hostages were released, each handed a glistening D-rank beast core infused with mana. A bribe—paynt for silence.
Ash caught Jessie’s grin.
"Let’s get back to the inn," Ash muttered. Too many questions swirled in his mind, but the open streets weren’t the place to ask them.
"Are you alright?" he asked, glancing at Jessie’s radiant, almost blooming face.
"I thought we were finished when he used that skill. How did you resist? How did you not say yes?" Jessie’s eyes sparkled with curiosity.
"I have my ways." Ash winked, leaving it at that.
He suspected why the faceless man hadn’t asked follow-up questions: the skill was too taxing. Forcing even a single Yes-or-No drained him heavily.
"Why didn’t they let those five go?" Ash asked.
"Why would they? They had enough circumstantial evidence. They know those guys aren’t the real killers, but the public doesn’t. The Wilberts’ na has to remain untouchable.
Imagine the rumors if word spread that the royal family couldn’t avenge one of their own?" Jessie chuckled. "It’d be hilarious—but their pride won’t allow it. If they can’t catch the real culprit, they’ll punish soone else instead."
"Of course, it all has to go through legal procedure. But with the Wilberts? Planting false evidence is child’s play."
"So... there are laws." Ash muttered.
Jessie gave him a strange look. "Where are you from? Did you grow up in the wilderness?"
"Kind of" Ash put hands behind his head showing embarrassent.
Jessie froze, " wait...have you even read paths for hunter profession".
Ash turned his head in confusion.
"I don’t know how did you survive" She took long breath calmig down.
Ash saw her old behaviour that she had before Ash killed a squad cold blooded returning. She was back to cheerful teenager.
"Hunter gets skills or talent choices every few levels. Your choices changes future options so with the generation wise data there is two-three solid paths according to one’s need to choose for every profession." She halted at that comnt then reconsidered.
"Not all profession but so famous ones. Because it’s hard to get data for rare profession, for example I am a mage and gets a choice of spells instead of skills every two levels but we also have spell upgrade. Using spell multiple tis level’s them up.
Unfortunately there is cap that could only be broken with main level up".
Ash digested the information and rembered the day he ca to this world.
There was notification that changed his profession from normal assassin to modern Assasin.
He was sure it wasn’t a normal profession so he needs to make his own way choosing every skill cautiously.
"What about the titles?" Ash asked curious to know if it was exclusively for him.
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