“I feel awful right now.”

  “Because he produces detergents, and you have to kill him?”

  “Partially.”

  Marcus let out a small ‘tch’ as he looked away from Stella. They were near the mayoral hall of Pinkerton. He was currently using [Mass Surveillance] to listen closely to the Marquis’s conversation with the city mayor.

  It seemed like Pinkerton and the surrounding towns were now mobilizing their men-at-arms, both knights and mercenaries, into a security force. The city militia and city guard were now also placed under high alert.

  All in all, it was expected that by tomorrow, there would be at least a thousand or so soldiers ready to ‘observe’ negotiations between the Marquis and Archbishop Selena. Of course, none of these proceedings was out in public, nor was the news of collaboration with the cult known by the local clergy.

  After all, should it be known that a high-ranking member of the cult was en route here, Stella said that inquisitors from the Order of Saint Helmuth, under the Ministry of Eternal Harmony of the Holy Church, would be dispatched to this region, which would place nobles like Hansa in hot water.

  She’s too naive, though. There’s a reason these nobles do all of this.

  He suspected that there was a lot of money involved high up that led to these nearly contradictory arrangements. Most likely, these ties festered because some of the bastards at the top of the Holy Church were in cahoots with the nobles bedding the cult.

  They may be enemies with the cult, but a little gold coin would certainly go a long way to make your average [Paladin] look the other way in many circumstances. Especially since most bastards up high seemed to be underestimating the cult.

  Even with the danger they presented here in the countryside, there were no roving armies hunting the cult down. There were no mercenary bands drunk on chasing massive bounties either. The only ones who dealt with them were underequipped local forces, and only under defensive circumstances.

  Even Stella was sent on a ‘training mission’ alone for goodness’ sake. If the Holy Church knew the true danger the cult presented, even they wouldn’t be stupid enough to send Stella on a suicide mission that might lead to her capture.

  That meant only Marcus and Stella had a good grasp of the cult's true nature.

  “The main reason I feel like crap is because it might be true that it’s just us who will lift a finger about all this,” Marcus said, turning off [Mass Surveillance]. “Tell me, who’s the current bugger running the St. Patrick Basilica?”

  “B-bugger?” Stella turned red. “Marcus, he’s the pope. At least refer to him respectfully.”

  “All of us mortal scrubs are equally corrupt buggers in the eyes of the lord, Stella,” he laughed. “Well, maybe except you. Look, he sent you on a suicide mission, and he’s overlooking this nasty crap under his nose. The way I see it, he’s a potential target in my book.”

  “But…he was nice…”

  “Was.”

  “I never suspected things, okay? He told me to trust in my abilities, and I will be able to prove myself worthy of my class.”

  “And then he sent you to your death alone.”

  “I…”

  Stella looked down.

  “I did say that I can’t trust him anymore. Still, it's strange that we both speak of the pope as if he's a common criminal.”

  “Because the truth is, it’s up to us, the White Watch, to clean shit up as a result of his craven incompetence. Don't expect anything from the Holy Church. I learned that lesson ages ago.” Marcus walked away. “Anyway, I have a plan, and it’s extremely simple. Are you with me or not?”

  “Of course I’m going with you.” Stella immediately straightened herself and followed Marcus. “Just give me your orders, and I’ll execute them faithfully.”

  “We’re going to kill that elven cultist first. Then, we’ll kill Hansa and his little cronies.”

  “...I hate how your plan always boils down to, ‘We'll kill ‘em all’.” Stella nervously chuckled. “It's somewhat disconcerting.”

  “Of course. I don’t want to waste time doing nothing to an active threat. Killing them all is the simplest, cleanest, and fastest solution out there.”

  “I…I see. No room for diplomacy, huh?”

  “Do I look like a trained diplomat? They can try talking to my sword.”

  “Hmph. Soldiers. How predictable.”

  It was nightfall.

  Hours ago, the two ate at a restaurant in Pinkerton, so they were now ready to execute Marcus’ plan. They positioned themselves at around ten miles south of Pinkerton, waiting inside a forest close to a town that led to Pinkerton.

  With [Mass Surveillance], it was easy for Marcus to gather almost all of the intel he needed for a perfect operation earlier. All the two needed to do was to go to deserted alleys near the count’s residence, city hall, and, of course, the headquarters of Pinkerton’s garrison.

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  Then, Marcus eavesdropped.

  He didn’t even need to infiltrate or interrogate everyone. Quite frankly, [Mass Surveillance] was truly his favorite skill. Even back in hell, as the main scout of the army, he always had perfect awareness of the demon horde’s movement and plans because of that skill.

  People talked a lot, especially to their confidants and aides. Things that wouldn’t be revealed even under the most painful interrogation methods always seemed to be revealed between higher-ranked individuals discussing plans with each other.

  This was true, whether with demonkind or mankind.

  Still, Marcus was starting to feel that his method was getting quite stale, and he was relying too much on his old methods. Quite frankly, he might be missing a lot of key pieces of intel with his current MO, and he didn’t have ways to improve his tactics because his stats and skills were already maxed out.

  It was why, right now, while the two camped in the forest for the ambush, he was reading a book he bought from Pinkerton while they waited. It was a beginner's guide to magic.

  He wanted to grind for that [Mage] class seriously. So much so that he even spilled the beans to Stella in the hopes that she had ideas on how to deal with his ridiculously rare problem.

  “Perhaps you just need a ridiculous amount of XP to make use of that second class option you received. Or, maybe the rules are different this time around? Did the system tell you anything?”

  “Nothing. I assumed that I would have received class options by now. Nada.”

  “That’s awful. Hmm…let me think for a second then.”

  “If you have any helpful ideas, I’ll hear them out.”

  Earlier, Marcus was banking on his kills securing him the basic class options for his system granted ‘dual-class privilege’. Unfortunately, at this point, he had already achieved feats that would have placed him at least at level 15 or something since he arrived in this world.

  Back then, all Marcus had to do was hunt a hundred monsters while operating in a party of newbie adventurers as their spotter. Then, how he received his [Scout] class and gained his first level.

  That method didn’t seem to work anymore with his case. It was why he decided to go grab a spellbook. Maybe, just maybe, if he figured out some magic theory, he could make the system think that he's worthy of the [Mage] class.

  He wasn’t quite sure exactly what he would do with it though. He could already cut basically everyone with his trusty rapiers. But, damn it, he always fantasized as a child that he would become a [Mage] one day. The only reason he picked the [Scout] class was because his two options back then when he needed adventurer money were [Scout] and [Tamer].

  But even now, his bad luck was still hounding him. He’d been here for nearly a week now, for Pete’s sake. Couldn’t the system at least give him some options or instructions?

  “Ah! Actually, Sir Marcus, do you have a mana core?” Stella curiously asked.

  “Of course. Why wouldn’t I? Everyone has it if they want to use their skills.”

  “Then why don’t you try using it to create a magic circle?”

  Marcus’ eyes narrowed.

  “Stella, you do know that you have to be a [Mage] first before you can create a magic circle around your manacore?” He grumbled. “Don’t get my hopes up.”

  “Well, I don’t have a [Mage] class,” Stella said. “Yet I’m capable of magecraft beyond healing magic.”

  “...Now that you say that, you are using light magic, somehow.”

  “And elemental magic!”

  “So you’re telling me you brute-forced your way into becoming a mage without a [Mage] class?”

  She smiled smugly.

  “Sir Marcus, you should have told me about your problem from the start. I can only scarcely recall this, but yes, that’s essentially how [Saints] and [Paladins] practice elemental and special magic beyond mana arts. It’s a part of our secret training course.”

  …There were things Marcus didn’t know then. Damned Holy Church and their secrets, he should have known about this!

  He’d assumed beforehand that [Paladins] and [Saints] employed by the Holy Church naturally used magecraft because of skills provided by their class. He didn’t know that they artificially gained it by brute-forcing things.

  “But, you never received a [Mage] class anyway,” Marcus said. “There must be a drawback.”

  “Of course. Unlike true [Mages], we cannot specialize. Even if you can use all of the four elemental magic types, alongside the special light and dark magic, there are no specialization buffs at all. For example, a [Paladin] who practices light magic won’t be as strong as a [Light Mage] at the same level and system rank.”

  “That’s a major limitation.” Marcus looked down at the spellbook he was holding. He was still stuck at the introduction section. “Hmm…it might be something that won’t affect me, though.”

  Logic follows that if I brute-force magecraft, I’d be able to gain access to the [Mage] class tree. Unlike Stella and the members of the Holy Church, who only have it on top of their single class…

  I’ll have everything in a separate class.

  He was practically salivating at this point. There was a solution!

  “I’m sure it won’t,” Stella smiled. “My, I would like to see it too. With Sir Marcus’ current strength, alongside a new class…my, it will be so wonderful!”

  “Stop gushing about me.”

  “But it’s true. I think you’ll be a very cool [Mage]. Oh! Maybe I can even train you myself. Spellcasting is so, so different from mana arts and skills after all!”

  “...Why will you do that? I didn’t receive proper education.” Marcus shook his head. “I’ll be a massive headache to deal with.”

  It’s why I’m trying to learn on my own. Just as I always did.

  “So what? You’re training me into becoming a full-fledged [Saint]. Why shouldn’t I help you out at becoming a proper [Mage]?”

  “I told you, you have no debts to pay to me.”

  “And I won’t be doing this to pay any debt. I know Sir Marcus doesn’t do ‘debt’ or ‘favors’ after all. Instead, I’m just doing this to help a good friend out who trusted me enough that he revealed his secret dual-class privilege.”

  Stella smiled so radiantly that he almost wanted to tell her to wear her damned mask before the light she emitted was picked up by their enemies. But he felt his cheeks burning slightly, so he could only look away and grumble.

  This was another thing he wasn't used to—receiving help.

  “Fine. After this, teach me how to brute force forming a magic circle.”

  “Right-o, Sir Marcus. You can count on me.”

  That was when Marcus closed the spellbook he bought before stowing it away.

  “Prepare yourself. They’re incoming. Horse plumes dead ahead.”

  Stella only needed one glance at the direction Marcus was looking at. The two immediately placed their white masks on.

  The White Watch soon emerged from the forest, ready for battle.