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Chapter 22

3 days ago

Seifer was stood in front of the Potions Guild. It was a cold and rainy day, the thunderclouds above rumbled deeply, as though they were a reflection of his sinister intentions.

He walked into the Members’ section, making his way over to an office on the second floor and knocked on the dark wooden door. The bronze plaque on it simply stated the word “Manager”.

“Enter” said a voice from within. It belonged to a a ginger haired man with a slim physique. He was in the Lower stage of the Second step and so, he bowed slightly when Seifer entered.

“I am here to inquire about the Dungeon Partnership program, Lord Manager” said Seifer simply.

“Of course, Your Excellency. The Dungeon Partnership program would allow you to make contracts with higher level Dungeon Exploration Teams. You would brew potions for them at a subsidized rate and they would bring you precious materials from the monsters. Especially the kind that need to be used within a few hours of harvesting” he said.

“I see, so the benefit is getting my hands on the sort of materials that are rarely sold or unreasonably expensive if I bought them?” asked Seifer.

“Yes, it is a very useful perk for a Potion-” he was suddenly cut off and dropped to the ground. Seifer stepped over him, it had been easy for him to knock the man out.

He reached down and hoisted up the unconscious Manager, laying him on the table before he quickly shoved several potions down his throat, ensuring he wouldn’t wake up until the antidotes were administered.

I only have twenty minutes or so he thought as he shaved the head of his victim. Bringing out a sharp scalpel from his space ring, he made several deep cuts, breaking through the skull and opening up the brain.

Now, his movements slowed down drastically. Over the next fifteen minutes, he slowly made extremely precise incisions, injecting various potions into the Brain as well as a few tiny needle like objects.

Before the twenty minute mark, Seifer had completed the surgery. He used a strong healing potion to instantly close the wounds, and a hair regrowth potion to grow back the hair. Finally, he poured a third potion into the man’s mouth.

Stolen novel; please report.

A few seconds later, he woke up in a slight daze. The Manager did not react at all to the fact that he had been unconscious, instead asking Seifer if he would like to join the program.

Soon, Seifer walked out of the Office. No one would suspect him, He was just a man who spent a little longer than usual questioning the Manager about the Dungeon Partnership program.

Hopefully, I will never need to use this thought Seifer.

Present day

A wooden cupboard creaked loudly as Seifer flung the doors open. The contraption inside looked more like a haphazardly arranged mountain of metal and wires than a functioning machine, which was what happens when one doesn’t exactly have the required materials.

This here was a sad imitation of a Navigator, a machine that was meant to control a fleet of airships. In classic villainous fashion, Seifer had repurposed it to control a human being as though they were a puppet.

What he had done to the Manager at the Potions Guild, was something he doubted anyone but him could have done. Only someone with his experience and knowledge could have perfectly altered something as complex as the human brain whilst being a mere Second Step Transcendent.

Before the kidnapping, he had made sure to have a contingency plan in place. Seifer knew that if he was unable to expose Arcturus for housing a vampire, he could still expose him for all his other dark activities. Despite the fact that even the Viscount was a Dark Transcendent, he would still be forced to act against Arcturus if it was publicly revealed that he was of the Dark Order.

The Light Order weren’t idiots, they knew they could not fully prevent the practice of the dark arts but wanted to maintain the illusion that everyone hated the dark to influence as many fools as possible. They would turn a blind eye to most dark activities done in secret, but if the Viscount did not maintain the illusion of being against the Dark, they would act against him.

If Seifer made it obvious that Arcturus was practicing the dark arts, the Viscount would have Arcturus executed at once to placate the Light Order so they wouldn’t start poking around Ceres and expose even more dark activities, including his own.

Taking the first steps to make that happen, he slowly infused his ether into the machine, activating the nodes that he had left in the manager’s brain. Thousands of miles away, a ginger haired man’s eyes glazed over for a second. Now, the view from the Manager’s eyes was displayed on the small screen at the very top of the machine and he could also hear the sounds the man could hear. Ignoring all of this, Seifer immediately had his puppet start phrasing a letter.

I have the vampire, Arcturus Harkes. You will meet my subordinate at the Ceres Potions Guild’s Laboratory 12 for negotiations tomorrow at midnight or you will be exposed.

Short and sweet thought Seifer, making the Manager mail it to Arcturus through the Confidential Post Service at once. Seifer was sure he would show up, he had no reason to be suspicious.

From Arcturus’ perspective, Seifer was just a man who kidnapped the vampire for some benefit, not someone who actually wanted him dead. It was good that Seifer had the forethought to refrain from revealing his true motives to Orion. Otherwise, things would have been much harder for him right now.