To Be a Power in the Shadows!

I breached Zack's room with him completely unawares.

"—!? Oh, it's you. How'd you even do that…"

Once he noticed I was there, Zack's eyes bulged in shock.

Hehehe, nice reaction. I really liked this guy and his totally cliche reactions.

"Here's that meal. Have at it." He said, handing me a plate full of food.

"Thanks. I'll borrow the table."

"Be my guest."

Time for the moment of truth.

On the menu this time, we have bread and cream stew, along with steak and vegetables.

Simple and plentiful.

The bread was actually white on the inside and smelled pretty good.

The cream stew had a variety of veggies and lots of chicken in each spoonful. Not bad at all.

The steak was big. An 18 ouncer I reckon. The meat was lean with little fat, cooked soft and juicy. Just how I like it.

It was a far cry from real gourmet food, but it was delicious in a normal way. Best of all was the fact that there was so much of it.

"I didn't imagine there'd be food this good served at a concentration camp."

"The country may be fucked, but it's still the Country of Art. Our average quality of food is on the upside."

"Makes sense."

In the future, when it's all over, it might not be so back to move here.

I have a dream. A dream, to be a power in the shadows.

But once I do that, once I'm satisfied with it to the fullest extent, I wonder what I'll do with the rest of my life? I'd sometimes ponder such things during my days of constant training.

I could become a power outside of the shadows, I could become a demon lord set on destroying the world, or I could become something like a master who trains future heroes. I thought on a lot of possibilities and ended up on something very simple.

I'd want a life where I could eat good food every day and sleep to my heart's desire. I'd be happy with just that much.

I'd spend my whole life at full throttle only to end up at a slow cruise.

Yes, that, just makes sense to me.

"What if I poisoned you?"

"Who do think you're dealing with? I can tell poison by smell."

I really can't.

Doesn't really matter when I can break down any poison with mana.

"Good nose on ya. Wish I had one. Especially that one time, back when I was still in the business yeah, one of my boys tried to poison me. Not a fun time, let me tell ya. Made it out of that alive, but as you can see, it all went to shit and here I am."

Zack began talking despondently.

"Gimme a sword and I can fight. This damned country, I tell ya, magiswords aren't worth a damn. Stealing pays more than working for some retard noble. I honestly thought I'd make it like that… yeah, all in the past. Royalists didn't give a damn about magiswords and it bit 'em back in the ballsack when Doem used 'em to take over. Some irony."

Okay.

"Talk to me about that Clara girl."

I was done eating now, so I went on to the main topic.

"Why do ya gotta ask me. You should know all there is to her a lot better."

"Sure I do, but maybe I don't know everything about the here and now. No loss in making sure my own intel matches up with everything else. Apt diligence, leads to a longer life…" I narrow my eyes and smile meaningfully.

"Tsk, you know your stuff. I really can't tell you a lot."

"Not a problem."

"…Hmph." Zack let out a snort and started talking. "Should be obvious from the name, but Clara Oriana is that infamous Rose Oriana's little sister. She tried to go against the Doem Faction early on, got caught, ended up here. Still, she's royalty, and they can't execute her right away. Even Lord Doem is having trouble on how to deal with her, but that ain't the real story at all apparently."

"Go on…"

"Clara Oriana is a big face of the anti-Doem flag. She's got a lot of people listening to her. Even here in the camp…"

Zack raised a corner of his mouth in a smirk.

"Apparently, Lord Doem's tryna use Clara Oriana to gather in the people opposed to him so he can get rid of 'em all at once. That's it. What did I tell ya, it's not a lot. Don't you know a lot more?"

"Perhaps…" I hid my mouth behind my fingers and, with serious eyes, stared directly at Zack. "Care to know…?"

Naturally, I didn't know a thing, so I used some insta-mana release to add on the 'pressure'.

"—!! C-cut it out, I said I didn't give a damn about the politics!"

"—Wise decision."

My smile was a smile that implied dark, terrible secrets…

With an attitude as if I see all and know all, I acted the part of a power in the shadows. It's not a matter of my speech but also my mannerisms from my eyes to my fingertips.

This is it, this is perfection!

"Come on, man, this ain't good for my heart…"

Zack wiped off the sweat he'd been building up and got up.

"I got business to take care of. Boss called."

"Your boss…?"

"Yeah… Doem Camp boss."

Zack said with irritably before finally leaving the room.

"Good…"

Nothing to do other than tail him.