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 . .


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    "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 . .


    .