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 f.u.c.ked, 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 s.h.i.+t and here I am . ”

Zack began talking despondently .

“Gimme a sword and I can fight . This d.a.m.ned country, I tell ya, magiswords aren"t worth a d.a.m.n . Stealing pays more than working for some r.e.t.a.r.d n.o.ble . I honestly thought I"d make it like that… yeah, all in the past . Royalists didn"t give a d.a.m.n about magiswords and it bit "em back in the b.a.l.l.sack 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 instmana release to add on the "pressure" .

“—!! C-cut it out, I said I didn"t give a d.a.m.n about the politics!”

“—Wise decision . ”

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

With an att.i.tude 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 .

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 f.u.c.ked, 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 s.h.i.+t and here I am . ”.

Zack began talking despondently . .

“Gimme a sword and I can fight . This d.a.m.ned country, I tell ya, magiswords aren"t worth a d.a.m.n . Stealing pays more than working for some r.e.t.a.r.d n.o.ble . I honestly thought I"d make it like that… yeah, all in the past . Royalists didn"t give a d.a.m.n about magiswords and it bit "em back in the b.a.l.l.sack 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 instmana release to add on the "pressure" . .

“—!! C-cut it out, I said I didn"t give a d.a.m.n about the politics!”.

“—Wise decision . ”.

 .

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

With an att.i.tude 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 . .

 .