Chapter 243 - Scheming

In Walganus's study, he and his son Sagar were waiting for the people they sent to investigate return. While waiting Walganus was thinking of the different people that would oppose his family. It has been quite a while since he has done anything aside from relaxing, so people might have forgotten how powerful he was. 

'It could be that upstart Henrietta the so called genius. She has been getting a bit too c.o.c.ky lately becoming the seventh strongest mage in the kingdom. She keeps on saying that she's busy doing research, but it's possible that she's been scheming behind the scenes.'

'It could also be one of those old b*stards greedily eyeing my family's assets. Mages might have a great influence in this country, but we're still under the buffoons rule. The king might not have as much power as everyone thinks, but he still has enough power to do some sneaky moves in the shadows. Not to mention those greedy nobles of his.'

'There's also the warriors of this kingdom. They have tried several times to overthrow the mages but to no success. It seems like their plans are getting bolder by the day. We still haven't found where the rats are hiding. Now that the other kingdoms have been eyeing Serbek, they might start an actual rebellion.' 

'The Grand Mage is also acting suspiciously nowadays. If it was before he would never bother with such inelegant things such as war but now he was the one who's at the forefront in wanting to start wars...'

'It doesn't matter if it's those upstarts trying to bite more than they can chew or those old b*stards that are waiting to pounce at the right time. It doesn't matter if those rats that called themselves warriors come out. It doesn't even matter if the Grand Mage himself makes a move. Those that fight our Osted family will never meet a happy end.' 

Sagar who was observing his father felt his father's mana pulsating as he was deep in thought. While waiting, Sagar was able to calm down a bit. Even though his son just died, he was still the successor of the Osted family. He needed to look at the situation as calmly as possible. 

On the outside, the Serbek Kingdom was at war with different nations, but that wasn't worth much since this happens every now and then. The problem was the fights in the shadows were getting tenser and more chaotic. The hidden forces of the Serbek Kingdom were getting riled up and were using the changes that are happening with the Grand Mage to their advantage. 

'What's with this timing, why did they attack us in this timing? What's so important... The upcoming tournament, Evior was going to join that tournament. If that's the reason for the attacks then the force that might be against us could be a force that's not part of the Serbek Kingdom.'

'It couldn't be the elves, even though I dote on the boy I know his limits. He isn't a threat to the elves, nor is he any threat to the fairies. Then maybe he was attacked by someone that wanted to take his place in the tournament. Seeing as he is the best battle class mage in that school.'

The two were going deeper and deeper into their own theories. The more they thought about it the more insane the theory they came up with. 

...

The five spies Sagar sent to investigate finally arrived at the school. They separated and went to different places to gather information. It was quite easy to get the information they needed as the memory of the event was engraved in the minds of those who saw it. 

After talking to various students and teachers the three gathered in one spot. They shared the information they had gathered, and they couldn't believe it. The power of the student in question wasn't ordinary. If there really was such a student why did he just suddenly appear out of nowhere? 

The five of them needed to gather more information. Since this was related to the only son of Sagar if they come back with incomplete information, or they made a mistake, Sagar would kill them. 

They also agreed that it was entirely possible that Kretos was just a misdirect. A secret force made the unknown student famous so that they can operate more freely. So with that in mind, the spies of the Osted family decided to observe Kretos from afar. 

...

When they saw Kretos their first impression of the boy was he wasn't as impressive as they thought he would be. Kretos's looks were extremely ordinary if you place him in the middle of a group of people you wouldn't even notice him. The mana he was emitting wasn't impressive, it could barely be felt at all. 

Was this the kid that killed their young master and all of his subordinates? Maybe it was really just a misdirect after all. The five followed Kretos for a while, and then they noticed that he was heading to a deserted area. 

Could it be that Kretos was about to meet with the real masterminds of this scenario? The five looked at each other and nodded their heads. The four continued to follow Kretos from a safe distance, while one of them headed to a secret location. If the four don't arrive at the secret location after the allotted time the last one would assume the four have died and he would immediately leave.

...

The four followed Kretos into a deserted open area. Kretos stood in one spot silently and he seems to be waiting for someone. After a second Kretos then looked at the direction of the four spies. The four of them were surprised to see that they were spotted and before they knew it Kretos disappeared from their view. 

The four wanted to quickly run away, but as they were about to flee they saw someone was already behind them. 

"Why are you guys following me? Well, it doesn't matter since you guys don't seem to be my allies that would mean you're my enemies."

The moment Kretos said those words one of the spies was about to answer, but then he saw that he was pierced by something as he and the other three now had holes in their stomachs. The last thing they saw before their deaths, was the nonchalant look on Kretos's face. 

...

'Wasn't there five of them? Hmm, so one was able to escape... Well, it doesn't matter if he comes back I'll just kill him then.' Kretos couldn't be bothered to act more than he already did. The people that were following him were not at a level that could excite him, so he doubted that whoever sent them would even be a decent warm-up.