Chapter 30

Reaching Level 10 had dramatically boosted my stats.

Strength, in particular, was nearly three times higher than when I was at Level 1; when I tested my grip strength out of curiosity, the needle on the dynamometer easily blew past one hundred kilograms.

Thanks to that, carrying out murders had become much smoother than before.

Furthermore, I had learned two new spells.

Shiabinoshi was a spell to muffle footsteps, and Ngarinse was a spell that allowed me to track a person’s movements as long as I knew their face and name.

Honestly, neither spell was particularly useful for murder itself, but my physical abilities were already enhanced enough that I didn’t really need spells anyway, so it wasn’t an issue.

“…Senpai. Are you listening, Onitsuka-senpai?”

The voice of Okajima sitting in the passenger seat and the shaking of my arm jolted me awake.

“…Nnn, what is it?”

“What do you mean, what is it? You had your eyes closed. Onitsuka-senpai, you weren’t actually sleeping while driving, were you?”

“N-No way, of course not. I was just lost in thought for a second.”

“Well, as long as you weren’t, but give me a break, seriously.”

With that, Okajima resumed playing his smartphone game.

The moment the traffic light turned green, I got the car moving again and headed straight toward the office.

…Phew, that was close.

I had instantly shot back with a “No way,” but the truth was, I had no memory of the past minute or so.

On the way back from a client visit with Okajima in the car, while waiting for a red light at an intersection, I had somehow drifted off into a doze without even realizing it.

Even though the car was stopped, falling asleep while driving was crazy.

Could it have something to do with the fact that overtime at work had been on the rise lately?

Our company certainly couldn’t boast a white-collar, employee-friendly environment, so that possibility was entirely plausible.

“All right, leveled up!”

Beside me, Okajima was cheering while glaring intently at his smartphone screen.

Hey, Okajima, a part of my exhaustion is your fault too, you know.

――At that time, I still hadn’t realized.

That a killer who targeted only other killers was already closing in right beside me――