Soulless Players

After lunch and bidding farewell to Adolf, Philip swiftly headed to the College of Business and Economics building. He wanted to meet and closely observe the main antagonist responsible for his decreasing karma.

Along the way, he made several plans, including his original goal of planting the gun on Evans' property and later have it be discovered by someone.

'Yes, If I sneak inside the dean's office and place the gun in the professor's bag, I can then inform someone, a student perhaps, to make a report of this....'

Philip halted, thinking about whether this was plan viable or not. However, the more he thinks, the more he realizes the potential risks of this formulated plan.

'I seemed to be thinking as if this world is the same magicless world I lived in before.'

'If Professor Evans or someone close to him has a mysterious ability, my scheme could backfire. Not only would I implicate Conrad but also the student who would make a report.'

Philip frowned, he had not thought of this problem before and quickly realized his inexperience. He should change his habit of thinking that everyone is similarly ordinary.

'Good thing I realized it...' He heaved a sigh of relief. Thankfully, he did, or else he would be situated in a troublesome sooner or later.

As he made his way to the old building, he finally caught a glimpse of Professor Evans, followed behind him was a man who looked very familiar to him.

'That's the man who hired the woman to circulate the fake news two days ago...' Philip grimaced but quickly returned his expression to the usual.

He observed as Professor Evans was surrounded by students who appeared to be asking him questions about business courses. Of course, there were some students present just to boot-lick the professor.

"Professor, how did you come up with the double-entry method of bookkeeping?" asked one of the students.

"Hahaha." Ronald Evans chuckled and continued,

"It's actually very simple. You see, the Evan family has been merchants for as long as we can remember so we have already discovered the problem of one-entry bookkeeping before. It was only now that we have finally found a better alternative did we publish to it the masses."

The students around quickly showed appreciation.

"As expected of one of the richest families in the Northon Kingdom! Your wisdom is unparalleled..."

"Maybe you can call yourself as Father of Accounting with this, Professor Evans!"

Their talk lasted for a couple of minutes before they dispersed and Professor Evans, together with his secretary, returned to the dean's office.

Philip subconsciously followed them but later realized that he didn't know what to do yet.

He gave it some thought for a second before deciding, 'Gather information first before devising any plan, and whatever idea would come out from it, it has to be lawful.'

This was Philip's judgment so that even if there were some supernatural powers that could perceive that he was the mastermind, they still could not move him as everything he does is just and legal.

'Yes, this plan is inspired by Loen and Emile's Organization.' Philip chuckled upon remembering that this seemingly powerful yet hidden organization could only touch those who possessed supernatural abilities.

When they reached the office and entered, Philip discreetly stood outside, pretending to read his notes while using his exceptional hearing to eavesdrop on the conversation between the two men inside.

As he listened in, he heard a series of sounds, including footsteps on the wooden floor, the rustling of a trench coat being removed and hung up, and the murmur of voices.

"What's the news with Alisha's syndicate." Professor Evans inquired tersely.

Another deep voice responded inside the room, "It seems that after I delivered the funds two nights ago, she encountered a thief and robbed all the money she had. This made the spreading of the news slow down as she could not pay her employees. She's hoping for us to help her out by giving more..."

Suddenly, Philip heard a loud crash of glass echo inside, followed by Professor Evans' angry outcry,

"What! Why do we have to cover for her loss if she did it herself? If only she had been more careful, none of this would have happened."

Professor Evans paced around while venting his frustration on the glass table wares near him.

"Misfortune! I've been unlucky this past week!"

The secretary, Sid, rushed over with a glass of water to calm him down, "Sir, please be careful with the shards on the floor."

"ARRGGHHH!!"

However, despite Sid's efforts to placate him, Professor Evans continued to rage, making his voice slightly crack due to his intense cry.

"Not only my beloved child die but also our chance of becoming a noble become slimmer!"

He then went behind his office table and sat on the chair. He glanced at Sid who was looking at him worriedly and bemoaned,

"You must know that our family has been preparing to become a noble for centuries. But look, here we are, still a commoner without a fief!"

"We started earlier and became the richest before the Williams family. But look at them. They became noble much faster than us!"

Professor Evans laughed hysterically, his voice was filled with insanity.

"Yes, I know! The family has always known that there must be some sort of prerequisite to enter the high society. Something abnormal and out of the norm!"

"What the people said was wrong. You need not be a militant or be a public servant to become a noble, but it has to be something special and... magical."

He stopped for a while, his face and eyes increasingly becoming red the more he expressed his frustration.

"We finally have Stephen in our family. We have finally produced a child like those abnormal aristocrats! But what! But what!"

The table turned and the books and ink scattered on the floor.

"He died! Hahaha! He died!"

Professor Evans' voice then turned weak and had a tone of surrender within.

"Not only did he die but he also left a gift to us."

He stood up and picked up the scattered papers from the floor, which contained the company's financial and income statement of account.

Although the statements appeared normal and without any errors, only those who studied and were proficient in accounting could detect something wrong with them. Especially the absence of centavos at the end of every digit and hidden interpolation errors.

"Hahahaha!" Looking at the figures, Professor Evans burst into laughter and eventually collapsed on the floor. He could not help but lose his mind. How could he not? The child he carefully cultivated had misappropriated the company's account!

His proud protégé had embezzled the company's funds!

Seeing Professor Evans like this, Sid quickly ran and crouched down to help him out. "Please calm down Sir. I'm afraid someone might hear you outside."

Although Sid knew the room's insulation was thick and outsiders couldn't hear the chaos inside, he still said it hoping to wake his master back to sanity.

Unknown to them, Philip, who was pretending to read outside, overheard their conversation. His eyes slightly flickered as he mulled over some things.

Their talk gave him a lot of information and answered some of his past queries.

"First, it is likely that the high society is aware of the existence of magic and perhaps possesses them. They might be in control of the schools that Emile talked about yesterday. After all, he said that the northern continent is the home ground of mages and magicians." Philip deduced.

"Is this the reason why nobles don't mix with commoners and seldom show their faces?"

This has always been a wonder to Philip as to why most civilians seem to not know the faces of the members of the aristocratic families. It was as if their paintings and photos were hidden from the masses. All the common people knew were just their names and rank.

Philip had previously asked the Davies siblings if they knew anyone with supernatural abilities, but they had shaken their heads. He also questioned them about the high society, but they could not provide any useful information.

It was also at that time that he realized that they seemed to not know the faces of their leaders including the king of the county!

'How can it be possible if the leaders don't show their faces? Should they rely on charisma to rule the kingdom and assert dominance to maintain peace and order?'

Philip continued, "Second, while the Evans family has business transactions with the nobles in the creation of the Mall, they seemed to be not well connected to them. This is totally different from the gossip he heard in the past."

"Is the news about them being close to acquiring a nobility title a ruse?"

Philip then thought of such discrepancy, "Perhaps, it was the Evans Family's doing, just like how they spread misinformation that I was a terrorist. Are they pressuring the rulers to give them a title? But isn't that idiotic?"

As Philip was preoccupied with his thoughts, he suddenly became aware of a precise and orderly march coming from his left side. Unconsciously, he turned his head in the direction of the sound.

However, when he saw a group of men dressed in tight blue suits, his eyes widened.

"What are the policemen doing in this university?"