To Be a Power in the Shadows! Chapter 150

Through empty hallways, Zack headed towards the basement .

Going past aged corridors that stank of rusted iron, he stopped before a large door . He retrieved a key from his breast pocket and turned the lock . Checking behind him to make sure he hadn't been tailed, Zack entered the room .

I heard the lock click as soon as the door was closed .

I too checked my surroundings and seeing no one there, I revealed myself .

I turned the door handle . Locked, as expected .

I jutted some slime into the keyhole and picked the lock . Lockpicking is something I learned in my past life so it was a breeze . What's a power in the shadows if he can't open a few closed doors?

Incidentally, I have my slimes hidden inside my body so they won't find anything even with a full pat down .

I checked the presences on the other side and, determining it to be safe, stealthily entered the room .

It was a large, dimly-lit room . A celler of sorts .

At the back of the room, there was a lit lamp with a number of men gathered around it .

I sneaked closer and hid behind a crate . I checked and the crate was empty .

The men were discussing something in the dark room . Zack was among them .

“Boss, we're all here like you ordered . ”

“Seems so…”

The man who the others seemed to defer to as their boss stepped forward . I'd imagined him to be something like a boss grunt, but he turned out to be a lot younger .

In his early 20s, most likely .

He had gray hair extending down to his shoulders and was well featured . He was no grunt . In fact, he even looked sort of intelligent .

From his musculature and posture, I could tell that he was trained in martial arts .

He didn't have the air of an prisoner at all .

I like it . Breaking the mold and all that .

“Well met, brothers . The Doem Faction is pleased with your various contributions . ”

The boss said with a practiced voice, casting his gaze over the surrounding men .

He then proceeded to ask each one of them what he desired .

I see, so the thing about giving it to a guard was a lie .

“Zack, what about you?”

“I want— food . Good food and more of it . Enough for two people at least . ”

Nicely done Mr . Zack!

“Gonna put on 'em pounds, Zack!”

Zack cringed from the surrounding jeers .

“Boss, let's have another stripper show with the boys!”

“That shit's great, boss!”

“Again? …Try to keep it in moderation, men . ”

Like that, Mr . handsome bossman listened to everyone's requests one by one .

And once he was done, his face turned serious for the first time .

“Brothers, we are in difficult times . Lately, there have been more attempts to cull our numbers . Why only yesterday, a coach carrying officers was assaulted, resulting in 7 dead . ”

For a moment, I thought that was talking about me, but I didn't leave the camp yesterday, so it must be someone else .

“He's skilled . Every time he's killed, he's done so without a sound . We've taken to calling him OWL . ”

OWL, eh… sounds important .

“And believe it or not, there are signs that this bastard OWL is in this camp . ”

That got a slight reaction out of Zack .

“Zack, something the matter?”

“N-nothin', boss…”

Zack lowered his gaze to escape from his boss's overpowering stare .

“This OWL likely wants to get in contact with Clara Oriana . We must find him before he does . Is that clear?”

All the men nodded .

“Then that is all for now… no, there is one last matter . We have a traitor amongst us . ”

The bossman drew a knife and poised it towards Zack .

“—You . ”

And with surprising speed, he threw it .

Other than me, none of the men gathered could dodge a throw like that .

The knife grazed past Zack's ears and sunk into the face of the man behind him .

“This is the fool who dared to leak our info to the Royalists . ”

The other men simply looked on silently as the traitor bled and died .

“That is all . You all may leave . ”

And leave they did without a moment to spare .

“—Zack . ”

Zack, however, was the only one told to stay .

“You're— not hiding something, are you?”

The bossman looked at Zack with chilled eyes .

“N-never, boss . ” Zack squeaked while seating bullets .

“—All right . I will believe you . ” The bossman patted Zack on the shoulder once, and left the celler .

Now left alone, Zack heaved a shuddering sigh and wiped off his sweat .

Which is when I decided to also pat his shoulder .

“Oo, ooooahh!? Wait what!! You!! What the actual fuck!!”

Mr . Zack got extremely freaked, and then seriously angry .

“Oops, didn't mean to do that . Thanks for keeping the secret . ”

“Like I have a choice . He'd kill me soon as I told . ”

“Likely, yes . ”

“But damn, so you're really that OWL…”

“Truthfully, I'm really not . ”

“… Wait, you're not?”

Zack didn't seem very convinced .

“I never went out yesterday . This OWL is likely someone similar to me . ”

“Yeah, sure . You think you can pass any info about OWL to me? You saw it right? Bossman's suspicious of me . Mainly 'cause of you . ”

“It shouldn't take me long to find out who OWL is . I can't guarantee if I can have you know, however . There are few people in my line of business… those of reputable skill often turn out to be acquaintances…”

I said this so he doesn't ask any more questions . Since I had no clue who OWL is .

“Fuck me . You gotta help me out, man . Boss is fucking ruthless, you saw him right? You might be fine . You can use your mana . But me, I got nothing' . ”

“Oh, by the way, your boss's mana seal coller . It's a fake . ”

“Y-yer kidding me!?”

“Nope . ”

“Fuuuck… so he's even stronger than you?”

“—What do you think?”

I did the instant mana release trick causing a small gust .

“Uh, yeah, maybe not…”

“It doesn't really… oh? What's this…”

Due to the sudden wind, a small piece of paper landed at my feed .

I picked it up— and got a brilliant idea .

“— Interesting . ”

I muttered cryptically .

“What's going on?”

“A note from one of my agents . I know have a very good idea who this OWL really is . ”

“What!? That's way too fast!”

“Take a look . ”

I handed over the blank piece of paper .

“I, can't see anything!”

“It only responds to very specific mana signatures . Namely mine . It's also an encrypted message . ”

“Seriously… looks completely white to me…”

Zack scrutinized the page from all sorts angles .

“Can't you tell me something, even a hint?”

“… You're sure?”

I closed in and whispered to him .

“Code 0 . ”

“Coat jeer?”

“Zero being the first of numbers, meaning—”

“Me-meaning what?”

Zack gulped .

“—All will begin at last . ”

I said while simultaneously erasing my presence and moving out of sight super fast .

“— HUH!? He's gone!? Fuckin hell, the door's still closed, how…”

Inside the empty crate, I stayed hidden until Zack left .

Chapter end