"Meow…"
"Um, Kitty~."
A soft sleepy voice echoed from behind Mikhail as he sat on the floor with his back on the bed frame.
On the bed, Olivia lay on her side with her hand clutching the yellow cat.
The cat turned to look at Mikhail to get her off him, but Mikhail ignored him and just gently patted Olivia's head.
It was already past nine and he was done with the day.
Even though Mikhail had to visit school tomorrow, he wasn't much worried.
There would be only one class and that would be on how to control and refine mana.
'….I should learn it now.'
Mikhail thought, reaching out for his bag and taking out the skill book that he got from the library.
Talking with Daniel made him realise there was so much he needed to learn.
His way of talking, his unintentional blabbering to sound smart gave out a lot of his information.
'I really need to get better control on myself.'
He thought as he broke the seal of the book and opened the first page.
The skill books were all made by the church and they were the ones who distributed them all around.
It was a really magical thing and the making process of the books was so secretive that only a few knew how they were made.
Mikhail took in a deep breath and began reading the book.
As soon as he read a word in his mind, the word began to vanish from the book.
A new set of information began to form in his mind as a set of rules.
It was foggy at the start but the more he read the clearer the information became.
The way of walking, standing, sitting and even talking, everything was written in detail.
And once Mikhail read the last line of the book, he closed his eyes, soaking in all the information.
He blinked away the tiredness and looked at his status screen.
=============
> Skills:
Enhancement [0/1]
Summon [1/1]
Steal [0/1]
> Additional Skills:
Scholar's Aura (passive)
=============
Mikhail let out a deep breath and stood up, noticing the immediate change in his posture.
He was different from before and it was obvious to him.
He walked around the room and noticed how his hands remained steady, his gaze calm and soothing.
It was like Mikhail found a really different version of his own self.
'Alright, this is amazing.'
He thought, smiling at all the implications such a skill could have.
Paired with his skill [Enhancement], such a skill would do wonders in interrogation.
Mikhail wanted to try how his voice had changed but he thought against it.
'I will see if I can fuck with Kevin tomorrow.'
He suppressed his excitement and walked towards Olivia.
First, he freed Methew who immediately ran away from the girl.
He then gently scooped up the girl in his arms and made her head gently lay on his shoulder.
Supporting her body, Mikhail took Olivia out of his room and into the hall room.
'Hm?'
But just as he arrived there, he saw his entire family sitting on the sofa, glued to the TV.
Mikhail walked towards them. "What happened?"
"Pastor David." Jasmine replied softly, glancing at him. "He was just assassinated."
"What?" Mikhail frowned and looked at the TV where an anchor was briefing the story.
"The death of Pastor David was a huge loss for the church. He was one of the youngest pastors to reach the level of influence he had.
The Red Crown Society has already taken responsibility for his death and they are openly challenging the church.
There has been no information about the assassin, but it was previously confirmed that he used poison."
'….What the hell is going on?'
Mikhail was beyond confused right now, seeing how the events had unfolded.
'Did Daniel already know this would happen, but how?'
He didn't really think that Daniel was aware of the event, but it would be a different case if they came to such a conclusion.
Mikhail's mind began to race as he looked at the news.
"They were already aggressively pushing for more holy knights." Ronic mumbled, sitting along with Emiliya. "This will only lead to more aggression."
"I am more worried about the budget." Eric said out loud. "It would be annoying if they cut down our city's budget as appeasement to the church."
"They won't do such a thing." Mikhail replied, gently patting Olivia. "Our city just produced a King rank, they would try appeasing him more."
It was really easy for someone who wasn't happy with his kingdom to change when they were powerful or had potential.
"Kevin, my brother…." Emiliya mumbled with a long nod.
Mikhail narrowed his eyes as he found the whole play a little too perfect.
The church got more holy knights, the kingdom killed a pastor with no practical consequences.
'The higher ups are more tolerant of each other than people think…..'
Mikhail remembered the line that Daniel said today. It made more sense to him now.
'Makes me wonder if Red Crown is just a state run terrorist organisation.'
He wasn't taking it out of the consideration from now on.
"Alright, all of you, go to sleep." Jasmine gently stood up from her seat and closed the TV. "You all need to wake up early."
Eric was the first to stand up, followed by Emiliya who came close to Mikhail for Olivia.
"Thank you for taking care of her." She said with relief in her voice. "It's hard to keep her still, I don't know what I would have done without you."
"It's fine." He replied.
'Hm, the last line wasn't something she would say….Did she say it unconsciously?'
Emiliya noticed it too but she ignored it and walked towards her room, followed by Ronic, leaving behind him and his parents.
"Ah, by the way. I am doing an internship from tomorrow onwards." Mikhail informed them. "Don't get worried when I come late."
"Internship?" Jasmine asked. "Where?"
"Under detective Daniel." He said. "And before you complain, I would mostly be in the office rather than on the field."
Eric let out a sigh and patted his shoulder. "Just be safe, son." He said. "I don't want you to overwork when you should be enjoying."
Mikhail smiled. "I will surely enjoy playing a detective."
Jasmine slapped him on his arm gently. "What a weird son I have."
'Not a very motherly thing to say, mother.'
Mikhail thought, looking at his mother who stood there surprised.
"I didn't mean to say that." She replied. "I will go sleep."
She quickly walked away and Eric walked just after her.
"Look at the taxes I left on the table, son." He said, without looking. "I don't want to get raided because of it."
"I will." Mikhail replied softly. "Good night."
"Good night."
Mikhail sat down on the sofa and picked up the tax files.
He also used [Enhancement] on his luck just to make an extra layer of security.
'Can't make mistakes in tax and get the old man in jail.'
He quickly flipped through them, looking for any flaw or dip in money.
There were a lot of orders this month and many of them were of high prices.
Eric was one of the best blacksmiths in the entire city, so it was a given why people flocked to him.
'Hmm…'
Mikhail narrowed his eyes when he noticed a custom made coffin in the list.
'What a weird thing to have custom made.'
He glanced at the name 'Robin Varbin' before throwing the information to the back of his mind.