Daily Rewards! Transmigrating into a novel as a side-character!

As I walked out of the academy, my communication crystal rang.

Already? I thought to myself, picking it up, expecting to hear a student asking to meet up with me.

"Hello?"

"Help... that beast... he killed one of the orphans!" A terrified voice came from the other end, it was Martha.

My blood ran cold.

I cursed inwardly, grateful there was nobody around me who could overhear this conversation. I immediately lowered the volume by reducing my mana input and spoke urgently.

"Don't do anything. Make sure no child leaves that place. I'm coming over now!"

"O-Okay," she stammered. I could feel her shock and terror even through the crystal's connection.

I pocketed the communication device and immediately made my way toward the orphanage. My mind raced as I cursed my terrible timing. I had been planning to visit the orphanage today anyway, intending to retrieve Kael before things escalated beyond control.

The changes to the story had forced me to alter my original plan of using him to infiltrate the Daybreak organization. Instead, I had decided to take responsibility for Kael myself, guiding his development into the formidable power he was destined to become while keeping him away from the villainous path.

But it seemed like I was late.

The fact that Kael had killed one of the orphanage children meant his bloodline had most likely awakened. Without that catalyst, I doubted he would have been capable of such violence, despite his accumulated resentment.

I took the nearest carriage and my way towards the slum district that was quite far.

An hour or so had passed, and I reached the outskirts of the slum district. I paid the driver of the carriage before leaving and making my way in. The living conditions remained as appalling as ever, cracked streets, broken streetlights, and the persistent stench of poverty and neglect.

I paid those details no attention and made my way directly to the orphanage. Fortunately, it appeared that news of the incident hadn't spread beyond the building's walls yet.

Inside the orphanage, I could hear the terrified crying of other children echoing through the corridors. Their voices carried fragments of panicked shouting:

"Monster!"

"He killed Tommy!"

"His eyes were glowing like ice!"

"The demon finally showed his true nature! Tommy was always right, Aunt Martha should've listened to him."

The situation was spiralling toward complete chaos. If word of this incident reached the authorities before I could contain it, Kael would be arrested or worse. The entire timeline would collapse into something completely unpredictable and unfavourable.

I needed to act fast before this high-stakes situation exploded beyond my ability to control.

...

I went inside and looked around the area. The only thing I could see was terrified children crying and clinging to each other. I couldn't find Kael or the deceased child named Tommy anywhere in the courtyard that led to the living room, or the living room itself.

"Where is he?" I asked with a cold tone.

Martha stammered, clearly confused whether I meant Kael or Tommy. "W-Who? Kael or Tommy?"

"Kael, obviously!"

Why the hell would I care about Tommy? That child was already dead, I needed to worry about the ticking time bomb that was Kael.

"I-I don't know...I couldn't stop him. He stood over Tommy's body for a few minutes before leaving nearly an hour ago," she said, her voice shaking.

I frowned deeply. "Where is the body?"

"I-In their dormitory room."

I walked toward the area where the children usually slept and pushed open the door. Inside, I found Tommy's small body lying motionless on the floor. An icicle protruded from his chest - the poor child had been unlucky enough to be struck in a vital area.

Kael wouldn't be in tune with his newly awakened bloodline enough to aim precisely at the heart.

Blood had seeped across the wooden floor around Tommy's body. I closed the child's terrified eyes while gritting my teeth in frustration. To say I didn't blame myself for this death would be a lie. But there was no time to mourn this child's demise - I needed to find Kael before this situation spiralled further out of control.

I searched the room until I spotted a dark stain on the wall away from Tommy's body.

I approached the bloodstain and activated my {Blood Control} trait. The blood separated from the wall's surface, it was a substantial amount, around five mL. The blood seemed different from Tommy's, and I found myself wanting to taste it, which confirmed it belonged to Kael.

I consumed the blood sample and immediately activated my {Blood Trail} trait.

My head snapped toward the south as the tracking ability locked onto Kael's location.

Shit. He's heading towards the forest.

Time to end this before it got worse.

I quickly held the kid's body in my arms and made my way out of the room, the kids that saw tommy's body held in my arms started crying even more.

"Relax, he's not dead. He's still alive, i'm going to take him to the hopsital now. He needs immediate treatment." I said to the children, whilst looking at Martha sternly.

The look on her face meant that she herself wasn't convinced, immediately she nodded her head and said. "See? He is still alive."

The kids weren't stupid, they immediately started to cry even more, the older children saying. "You can't lie to us! We aren't kids anymore! Y-You are just trying to hide the fact that he died from us." The kid wept between words, and i didn't have time to babysit but it was important to convince them before leaving, lest things went out of control and one of them escaped.

I controlled the blood flow of the kid in my arms and led them towards his throat. The kid's body instinctively made a gurgling sound because of nerves that were still alive.

Martha and the students looked visible shocked, every kid stopped crying as they stared at the scene in disbelief.

Signing in relief inwardly, I took the chance to get out, I had to catch up to Kael. "I don't have time, I have to go. Now!" I said and rushed out of the orphanage.

The kids now believing that Tommy was alive, immediately rushed after me but Martha luckily held them off.

"What do you think you are doing! Get back here, now!" She shouted with all the power she could muster and the kids froze.

Her voice scared them all.

Without question, they all returned back to the living room. In the courtyard, I stored tommy's body in my storage ring after checking that there was no kid looking and left the area.