Chapter 38: Conspiracy

Noon, Saturday.

“Hmmm…. I think Alistair and the others should be arriving in the city by now.’ I hummed.

Currently I was in a jungle at the west side of Spira city. That was the name of the city where the first minor event happens.

You’d have to cross the jungle to reach the city. But that was the place I was supposed to complete my mission of procuring a bloodlust deer’s heart. So, about two hours ago, I took the train all the way from Bosco city, then before reaching the Spira city, I dropped off on the second to the last stop, which was in the jungle, and left a reflection to continue into the city.

The jungle was a low disaster site. The beasts within were mostly of the Theta rank and below, so there was no lethal threat against my life, and even if there was, I could just switch.

So to say, I’ve been having a hard time finding this so called bloodlust deer. I didn’t know if it was because it was rare or something, but,…. I frowned.

“No, this won’t do, I don’t have all the time in the world.”

With a mental tug, I became three. I was going to spread out and expand my search. Wonder why I hadn’t even thought of it before.

————–

On the other hand, in _city, my reflection was sitting in a famous local tavern. The reason I was here, was espionage. I was trying to fish for some information. I knew the general area where the heretics’ hideout was, but I didn’t know the exact place.

And what better place to fish for information than a place frequented and populated by drunk men.

But….now I was partly regretting that.

A few minutes ago, two drunk men got into a fight, and one of them got thrown onto the table of a quite menacing blond man.

The man didn’t say a word. What he did right then and there was;

Squelch Squelch Squelch!!!

He stabbed the drunk man on the table with his cutleries multiple times. Then he stood up, and walked menacingly towards the other drunk man. All this time, the tavern was extremely silent, so much as the flap of a mosquito’s wing could be heard.

As for me? I just sat there frozen, shocked at how easily someone had just been killed. Like what the hell man?

The blond man soon reached the second man, radiating an aura of pure malice.

He grabbed the drunk man’s neck, and slowly raised him up the air amidst his struggles, then brought him down crashing through another table.

Crack!

The table gave way under the force. The drunk man was left writhing on the floor. But turned out it wasn’t over just yet, as the blond man raised his foot,…. and stomped, that too, hard.

Then again, and again, and again, until all that was left of the drunk man’s head, was a cruel mixture of blood, brain matter, and crushed bones.

And the worst thing, my table was right beside where the action happened. So I was all but covered in blood and brain matter.

’Damn heretic.’ I cursed inwardly. This was the reason why I said I was partly regretting it. Sure I was covered in gore, but at least I had gotten a lead.

And yeah, the man was a heretic. How I could tell? After heretics get corrupted, they obtain this kind of dark baleful aura, and the moment they even try to flex their aura, they’ll easily be noticed by other aetherials.

Though, over the centuries, the heretics had managed to reduced the chance of them getting recognized, through the use of treasures and artifacts.

But clearly, the rag tag group in this city couldn’t afford such.

Most heretics became such because of one thing or the other. Some because of riches, some because of injustice done to them, and most, because of power.

Power was a deciding factor on how one was treated in this world. Reference to the way I was treated by my own family. So for most, the heretics that recruited them came at the time when they were at an all time low, bearing promises of riches and power like the devil, and eventually entice others into becoming heretics.

It was quite an enticing deal really, you get all that you want, and a boost in power, all just for the sole job of drawing more people into The dark cult.

But you’d have to join the member who brought you into the cult in worshipping his patron Darkwalker. Now that fellows, was the part I disliked the most.

Why do I have to worship some stupid alien prince or princess with a god complex? Bullshit it’s called.

Anyways, after the heretic finished stomping on the dead guy’s remains, everyone watched in silence as he walked out without so much as a glance at anyone.

Were it to be Alistair in my place, he would have impulsively decided to stop the blond man without weighing the potential risks. That kid didn’t have half a brain cell I tell you.

As for me, there were two reasons why I hadn’t stopped the guy from killing the two drunk men. Even as a reflection I could do that much, after all, he was only an Eta- ranked aetherial just like I was.

The first reason was that, I needed to tail him, and let him lead me to their hideout. If I fought him, there was no way that would happen.

Two, it would blow my cover. If I fought him, the other heretics would take note of me, regardless of if I win or lose.

Which was why I let him kill… Wait, since when did I become so comfortable with killing? Even letting some poor innocent souls,… no scratch that, they probably weren’t innocent souls. But still they were souls, and I watched them got killed just because I didn’t want to blow my cover.

Perhaps my insanity has reached new levels, either that, or this is just the mentality of almost every resident of Nahaar, with a few exceptions.

I was more prone to believe the latter though.

“Phew! at least my tavern is not beyond repair.” the rough old man behind the counter sighed in relief.

“….”

I went speechless, all this happened, two people were murdered in cold blood right before your eyes, and all you care about is your tavern?

Even the drunk men terrified out of their shits moments before, had gone back to their drinking.

’What the hell is wrong with the people in this world?’ I thought. And the worst thing was that the mentality was rubbing off on me.

’Aiiiiish.’

After my short bout of frustration, I quickly got up, and followed in the footsteps of the blond man. Not before cleaning the gore off my face of course.

My task as a reflection was to find out their hideout before my main body made it into the city.

Trudging through the city, I kept as far a distance as possible between me and the blond man, just so enough that he wouldn’t escape my tailing, and just so enough that he wouldn’t realize he was being tailed.

In the meantime, I also realized something. “It really does look gloomy.” I muttered. Calling the city gloomy was an understatement even. On the surface, everything looked normal, just like any normal city going through a normal day.

But I could read the underlying tension in the environment. Especially the way the residents looked at me with caution no matter how they tried to hide it.

When reading the novel, I didn’t quite understand. But now that I did, I just had one question. “Where are the fucking authorities?”

If people were being abducted left and right, then surely even if the city’s guards weren’t competent enough, the city lord could have requested for aid from the other big cities, or even from the Whetstone empire itself.

“Not unless…. the city lord is in on it too.” My eyes shone in realization. Now things had surely taken an interesting turn. In the novel, the city lord showered the main cast with praises and gratitude for relieving the tumor that was the heretics from his city.

But now that I looked at it from a different perspective, I realized the city lord must have been involved too. “Well, I guess it’s a change of plans again.” I said with a shake of my head.

But then,

“Oh no no no. Is that who I think it is?” From my peripherals, I had suddenly noticed a familiar figure. ’Got to hide before he sees me.’ But it was for naught, as it seemed like he had already noticed me.

“Hey man, I didn’t you also took a mission in this area.” the idiot practically screamed from about ten meters away. “If I knew…”

“Shut the fuck up!” I practically teleported clamping my hand on his mouth. At this point, if the heretic hadn’t noticed us already, I’d doubt his competence. Although it was part of my plan for him to notice me, it wasn’t supposed to be this early.

“Mmph!” “Mmph!”

“Would you lower your damn voice?” I unclamped the idiot’s mouth and cleaned my hand on his shirt.

“Hey what the hell man?” he jumped away.

“Stop being a drama queen, It’s your saliva.”

“Doesn’t mean I want it on my clothes.” Dion retorted. “Besides, why did you clamp my mouth?”

I gritted my teeth.

“I was tailing someone, and you made me lose him.”

“Oh….” he paused. “Ahem, my bad. I was just excited to talk to you.”

“Now that you’ve done that, you can go on your way, I still have some business to take care of.”

But he shook his head.

“Since I caused you problems on your mission, It’s only right that I stay and help. Besides, what type of friend would I be if I don’t?” he said with a grin.

“Ah! why does this world hate me?” I muttered under my breath.

***************

THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT.

HERE’S A FUN FACT THOUGH; AFTER I FINISHED WRITING THIS Chapter, I MISTAKENLY DELETED IT, SO I BASICALLY HAD TO REWRITE IT ALL OVER AGAIN.

IT WAS A REAL PAIN IN THE ASS, I TELL YOU.

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