A Background Character's Fate

50. Zepdas' Confusion

A famished man stares at a wall in an alley, wearing ragged clothes and wielding a large box. Grey hair surrounds the scrawny face as the skin of his body sinks in to reveal the ribcage. One wouldn't think this beggar is a legendary criminal notorious for his truthful journalism. He is said to have exposed many things noble or the empire does not wish to show and gained significant credibility among the public. No one knows his true name or face except he is an expert magician in the area of illusions and escapes. At grey areas of supervision from authorities, he will circulate his newspaper through creative means and word will start spreading from people to people verbally.

Sometimes, a cat will appear from the sewage carrying the product. Other times, the newsletter is disguised as a book.

The free product will have a magic mark left behind impossible to forge for an ordinary magician, thus, granting the public reassurance. They call him "Truth News".

In my past life, I was a close follower of any Zepdas information. Two years from now in that timeline, his deeds were exposed by Mina Yvelle and she used Truth News to garner public support and forced investigations by the IAA. Any attempt to dodge or forge evidence was cleverly picked up by Mina as she dug deeper relentlessly.

I too will use this man.

I approach a suspicious beggar in the capital. In my sight, there is too much mana around his body, fluctuating and spinning.

...

He looks up at me as I lean forward. "I have news on Zepdas."

!

He widens his eyes and looks around. Afterwards, he stands up and walks deeper into the alley. I follow him.

He puts out his hand and I hand over official documents by the IAA.

"This..!" He mumbles as he flips through the stack of paper.

"There is the official stamp by the IAA with genuine magic runes," I say.

...

"He...hehehehe..." He starts giggling. "Finally, that fucking bastard..."

The beggar turns to me, eyes wide open with a crooked smile showing yellow slanted teeth. "I thank you for this, Loi Krist, whether it's the truth or not doesn't matter."

As expected, he knows me.

"I will be keeping an eye on you. I will find you if you have more to report," the beggar says and walks past me.

*Tap*

I turn and find him gone.

...

I sigh and scratch my head. I can vaguely hear his footsteps but I can't determine where, this is the power of magic.

Glancing at my hand, if I'm not careful, demonic mana overflowing in my body may spill.

Haha...I didn't know igniting chaos could be so much fun.

Now I just wait. Time to return to my father on the frontline.

I accomplished every purpose of my visit: To prevent any document forgery, to force my instructed confession from the assassin, and lastly to kill the captive assassin with demonic techniques.

As I leave the capital, word is already spreading of a black mage infiltration and the goal of the attack is to silence one man. People started linking Zepdas to the black mage and hence the black magic, erupting seeds of doubt among the public.

============

Zepdas sits in a spacious tent alone on a chair beside a table. He grips a magical crystal blue ball tightly, brows furrowed in anger. He channels his aura into the ball and a moment later, the ball glows.

"Commander Krist...what the fuck are you doing?" Zepdas says into the ball, trying to keep his cool.

"Pardon me, Chief Commander. I was simply worried about my son's safety."

"Safety? What about the citizens' safety? Your priority is to lay your life down for the glory of the kingdom and people, who are you to care about your life?" Zepdas replies with an intimidating tone.

"As for the safety of the citizens, I am well aware and made measures. With the help of splendid youngsters, we were able to secure a defence line near the city of Lorain."

"Youngsters...?"

"Yes sir, I believe you heard of them. The Fire Martial Witch and The Dragon Slayer. Did sir not approve of their participation?"

...

"Right...but still..."

"Rest assured, Chief Commander, the safety of the people will not be compromised any under circumstances. The only one that temporarily left was my son."

...

Both recipients could not see the expression of their caller. However, both can roughly make out what the other is thinking.

"Understood...do not let this happen again or capital punishment will ensue."

"Yes sir!"

And the call ends.

Zepdas clicks his tongue and glares into space, trying to control his rage.

"That lowly fucker kept poking into places he is not supposed to. How dare a mere commoner...now his son of a bitch is joining in. Where the fuck did he find a black mage?!"

Zepdas ponders for a while.

"No...is he...? That shouldn't be...I don't detect a cultivation base from him, so there are only two possibilities, either he has a master or artifact protecting him or...he is stronger...no no no...that cannot be..." he mumbles to himself. "Yes, it must be some other aspect that hid his cultivation base. Wait, fuck. But this makes no sense? How can Loi be a demonic cultivator? If he is one...we should be on the same side...?"

The confusing situation clouds Zepdas' thoughts the more he attempts to analyse. Yet, everything would make sense if Loi was a cultivator.

The crystal ball glows again, this time another caller. Zepdas reciprocates by injecting aura and a static emits and interferes with the ball.

"Zepdas." A sound calls out. The static hides the true voice.

...

Zepdas stares for a moment and replies "Yes sir."

"Report on your latest activity."

"..."

"Report on your latest activity." the sound from the ball repeats.

"Yes, I did send the assassin," Zepdas replies

"As expected. I assume you heard of the news. Do not jeopardise the years of planning. It was your honour to receive the Martial Master's blessing. You will not reach your current state with your measly talent, know your place."

And the connection immediately cuts.

Zepdas drops the ball as he leans back.

"Haah..." he lets out a long sigh. Cold emotions dwell within his eyes.