Deadline Is Raining in the Status Window - Chapter 147

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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“It’s been automatic this whole time! Why is it manual now!”
“Ah, well, since it’s a private residence, we can’t just let anyone come and go.”
Was that distant castle-like structure what she meant by a private residence? It looked like something straight out of a horror game—why were bats flying around it like that?
“Kanna’s house is quite spacious and lovely.”
“Oh, it’s just old.”
Only Eugene could spin that ghost-infested castle in such a positive light. Reina Letem and I took turns operating the manual cable car, creaking the pulley back and forth. Halfway up, we were both exhausted and resting when Eugene, who’d been conserving his strength, unleashed an enormous burst of power at the final stretch, allowing us to barely reach the gates of Kanna’s house.
“Come on out!”
Reina Letem was kicking the gate of someone else’s home with her feet—thud, thud. I was debating whether to let it slide since she hadn’t come with good intentions anyway, or whether I should stop her now, when her kicks shattered the gate and it crashed down with a thunderous clang.
“I… I have… a key.”
Well, of course she’d have the key to her own house. The logic was so obvious that Eugene and I exchanged subtle glances at Reina Letem, and she made a gesture as if to stand the gate back up. But with the hinges broken, that wasn’t going to work.
“It’s… it’s fine. I can just… ask Letem to pay for it.”
Letem’s reputation had become a liability instead. Because of his high credit standing, the banks would immediately dispense funds if presented with his card number, the cardholder’s name, the time of use, and his signature. Once a month, the banks would bring their settlement records to Letem and collect their money and fees.
It was exactly like the old manual credit card system where transactions were written down in ledgers. You wouldn’t find that in modern society anymore, but here, the card imprinting machine was still very much in use.
Whether fortunately or unfortunately, no one came out to scold us for breaking the gate. Crossing the shabby hall of the castle and climbing to the second floor, I finally saw signs of actual habitation. The decorated corridor and the light from the kitchen put me somewhat at ease.
Still, if Kanna was earning that much money through the Hashashin, she could at least get the house repaired. The old sections were falling apart, and drafts were whistling through the gaps.
“Kanna, you’re home?”
A middle-aged woman emerged from the kitchen, where something was bubbling away. She had Kanna’s facial structure and wore her long hair in a single braid that hung past her shoulders—what you’d call a single-braid hairstyle.
“I… I told you friends were coming!”
“I thought your friends would give up after riding the cable car once or twice and turn back.”
At first glance, it looked like a daughter complaining to her mother, but the content of the conversation bothered me. What did she mean by thinking Kanna’s friends would give up on the way?
“I’m Reina, Kanna’s friend.”
“I’m Eugene. Kanna has always been kind to me.”
“I’m Evan Laef.”
Since everyone had omitted their family names, I did the same. Part of it was that I had no intention of bragging about my family to Kanna’s Mother, but it seemed I wasn’t the only one sensing something odd about this woman’s demeanor.
“Thank you all so much for being there for someone like Kanna.”
This woman really was strange! My own mother had thanked my friends when she heard I’d made companions, but not to this degree of obsequiousness. As Kanna’s Mother bowed repeatedly, her eyes glistening with tears as she spoke of how much trouble we must go through because Kanna was lacking, I found her attitude almost offensive—since we’d actually received more help from Kanna than we’d given.
“That’s not true. Without Kanna, I would have quit the club several times this year.”
“What a refined young man, with such a kind heart.”
Was she being sincere, or was she testing us? For an assassination family that commanded the Hashashin, this place felt far too ordinary for a household.
“Mother, where… where is Uncle?”
“Oh my, not again. I’m sorry, friends, but Kanna is so foolish she calls her father ‘Uncle.'”
“Where… is Uncle!”
“You be quiet!”
This woman is terrifying!
Kanna’s Mother shouted at Kanna with a fearsome expression, then turned to us with a bright smile.
“You must all be tired. Go upstairs and rest. I have some things to discuss with Kanna.”
The woman who’d shown us to Kanna’s Room reached out to grab Kanna’s hand, but Kanna quickly dodged and approached us, speaking in a hushed voice.
“D-don’t drink a single drop of water unless I bring it to you myself.”
What is this place, a haunted house? It’s terrifying!
Kanna was so serious that we simply nodded and climbed toward her room. As expected, the unrepaired staircase creaked with each step, and at the entrance to a dark room stood a boy who looked identical to Kanna, hovering like a ghost.
“Ahhhhh!”
“Kyaaaah!”
“Mother, help!”
I called out for my mother as if she were my salvation, then approached the boy standing there like a specter. The small child, a head shorter than Kanna, stared blankly at me before speaking in a human voice.
“Are you… my sister’s friends?”
“Yes. We are Kanna’s friends.”
“You’d be better off not getting involved with that woman.”
With those words, the child moved silently like Kanna, vanishing into the darkness beyond the corridor. Perhaps a master assassin truly wasn’t so different from a ghost after all.
“Is this really an assassin’s house, or is it actually a haunted house?”
“I was thinking the same thing.”
“Reina, Evan, it’s not kind to describe your friend’s home that way.”
To that, Eugene responded warmly that Brandenburg’s main castle was half-destroyed for about eight months a year anyway, so calling it ruins wouldn’t be far off. We firmly disagreed.
“But at least people actually live there.”
“Ghosts don’t come out of it.”
“We haven’t encountered any ghosts here either.”
“They might appear! I’m sure they’ll definitely come out while we’re sleeping!”
We made a fuss, but Eugene, accustomed to ruins, let out a dry laugh. The moment we entered what appeared to be Kanna’s room and turned on the light, Eugene’s expression hardened and his lips pressed into a thin line.
“Did someone arrive before us?”
“It looks like she prepared this for us to eat. There are three cups.”
Three cups containing what appeared to be iced tea and some cookies sat on the table. With lacy curtains fluttering in what seemed to be Kanna’s taste, the scene looked like a ghost could emerge at any moment.
“Is this for us? Should we eat it?”
“Didn’t Kanna tell us not to drink a single drop of water?”
“Now I’m even thirstier.”
While Eugene and Reina chatted, I opened Evan Laef’s status window and drank the iced tea in one go. Experience points drained rapidly.
“Evan!”
“Wait, didn’t this guy consume poison regularly last year? Don’t you think he’s developed immunity?”
That was the right answer. I exchanged a glance with Reina and tried the cookies too. Sure enough, experience points drained steadily.
“Everything is poisoned. Deadly poison at that.”
Just from eating a little, my super rare skill Thousand Toxin Immunity lost 1,000 experience points. Since dried bracken that causes mild stomach upset drains 1 experience point, by simple calculation, this is a thousand times more potent.
“Is she trying to kill us?”
“It could be a brainwashing drug.”
It’s the same method Kanna used on me initially to make me her friend. She fed me poison and chanted best friend incantations, so it was probably a brainwashing drug. Given that my body felt no burden at the time, it must have been heavily diluted. Anyway, Kanna is a good person.
“Is this really Kanna’s room? It doesn’t seem to fit her.”
“Right, Kanna does like cute things, but…”
Kanna loves fluffy and pink things, but this princess-style decor is quite different from her taste. Just thinking of her dormitory room, what occupies a spot on her bed is a pink teddy bear wearing a heart blindfold and smoking a cigar—not an antique horror-game-style porcelain doll that looks like it could hide a map.
“S-sorry, d-did you wait long?”
Suppressing the urge to search like in a horror game, opening every drawer, I waited for Kanna. She entered the room carrying a large paper bag in both hands. In the meantime, something had happened—her hands bore fresh scratches, and blood droplets spattered her cheeks.
“Kanna. Are you hurt?”
“Huh? What? N-no! This isn’t my blood!”
Then whose blood is it? You’ve been terrifying me since we arrived!
Kanna rinsed her face at the sink in the corner of the room, splashing water carelessly, then opened the paper bag as if nothing were amiss. She clearly had no intention of revealing whose blood it was.
“F-fruit, and skewered meat. I also m-made some flatbread in a hurry.”
The provisions she’d brought were the sort Kanna could prepare quickly through simple cooking methods. I could sense her determination—she would never feed us the processed foods available in this place.
“A-and the water I brought.”
Kanna drew up a reagent from a vial on the side table with a dropper, then dropped a single drop into a bottle of mineral water and another into tap water collected from the sink, showing me the results.
“If the color changes like this, you can’t drink it.”
The water Kanna had brought remained transparent, but the tap water turned purple. Was even the tap water poisoned in this house? What kind of life had these people been living? Had coming here been the right choice? I didn’t regret it exactly, but Kanna—having survived this way her entire life—seemed both pitiable and admirable beyond measure.
“You’ve endured so much. Kanna.”
“You managed to escape to the Academy well enough yourself.”
I think it’s a miracle that Kanna turned out as well as she did.”
As we showered Kanna with praise, her face flushed red and she grew flustered, quickly reminding us of our purpose.
“Y-your uncle comes home at n-night!”
So he’d arrive within the next three hours. Then we’d settle this the moment he returned. We needed to change who ran this place—otherwise, I wouldn’t be able to bear the fear.

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This chapter was translated by Lunox Novels. To support us and help keep this series going, visit our website: LunoxScans.com
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