Magi: The Tale of Faith and Hope

Savior

"Man, the shit's really hitting the fan tonight, huh?" Faith remarked, making her way forward through the crowd with Sinbad, Ja'far, Masrur, and Morgiana, who they met up with along the way. They could see the new intruders and their carriage, and that Alibaba had already beaten them to them.

"Are you sure you wouldn't rather remain with your sister?" Ja'far asked her.

"Nah, she hasn't slept for the past few days, and she was running short even before that," Faith said, shoving her own anxiety over her sister's condition into a tiny box at the back of her mind. "She won't be up any time soon, and she'll want to hear about what happened while she was out."

"..." Masrur glanced at her out the corner of his eye briefly before turning his attention to the people up ahead again. He, along with Sinbad and Ja'far, recognized their faces when they could see them. And, with his keen Fanalis ears, he could already hear some of their conversation with Alibaba.

"Young master, even though the Deputy King is in this state, he insisted on seeing you... just to tell you something important," Barkak, General of the Royal Army of Balbadd, told Alibaba with a hand placed on Sahbmad Saluja's trembling shoulder to support him. "To us, this place is our enemy's territory. Please try to understand how the Deputy King is risking his life coming here."

"Ah! If it isn't Sahbmad!" Sinbad greeted the timid man, stepping forward to insert himself into the conversation.

"O... Oji-san," Sahbmad stuttered.

"For someone who is so afraid to appear in front of others, why are you  here?" Sinbad asked. "It's rather plausible that... this is just another one of Ahbmad's orders, right? Be at ease. I will prepare a place for our discussion. And I will ensure your safety as well."

"O... Okay," Sahbmad agreed nervously. "But... I have to apologize... to have you face such dangers..."

Faith raised an eyebrow at that.

"Hmph... I understand now," Sinbad said calmly. "Although I have already figured that for someone to hold such important information, it had to be someone who holds a key role... If it's you, I can understand."

"?" the Fog Troupe members were confused.

"In other words, the one responsible for the information leaks about the military and your location at the hotel... was this guy?" Faith said. She and Hope had had the same suspicions as Sinbad, and it didn't get much higher than 'Deputy King'.

"Yes. They were all your doings, weren't they... Sahbmad!" Sinbad said, pointing at the man. He could understand why he did it, but it still pissed him off a little that he had tried to throw him to the sharks.

Alibaba and the other troupe members stared at the Deputy King in astonishment, stunned by the revelation.

"... That was an inevitable move. At the time, I couldn't let you defeat the Fog Troupe," Sahbmad said.

"... You're partners with the Fog Troupe?" Sinbad asked.

"It's... It's not like that..." Sahbmad said, fidgeting. "I... I don't have any affiliations with the Fog Troupe, nor have I met any of its members. Even so, I leaked that information to save them... because Alibaba was there."

"!" Alibaba gasped, surprised. It was obvious from the look on his face that he hadn't known about any of this.

"If Alibaba was with the Fog Troupe, they could probably do something for this country... Because since the beginning, Alibaba has always been someone who could do things that I never could," Sahbmad explained seriously, doing his best to put on a brave face as he raised his head. The truth was, he really admired his younger half brother.