15 Deal

Without wasting any more time, Luke said "I suppose you have found your target." He said as he discretely pointed at the empty alley.

The man froze slightly for a moment before nodding, "Yes, and I must bid you farewell here."

"Alright, but before you go, I want to have a chat with your captain. Not the local one here, the one giving you and the other man orders from back in Sozra."

This MI9 officer's expression clearly froze for a few seconds before he said, "I need to ask permission first"

"Alright, but do not forget to mention that I said it will be a fun exchange!" replied Luke as he turned around and walked to a nearby mask store.

He couldn't maintain his body-magic for much longer. During this entire operation, starting from before the meeting with Zack, Luke had made discreet changed to his face.

His nose was changed to an aquiline nose, his eyes were curved down slightly, his mouth was pushed further down, while his lips were made thinner. His ears were also made smaller and his hair was shortened to make him bald. All of this was done to form a completely different person, to mask his true identity, since any mission could easily include some powerhouse, or secret organisation like this one.

Therefore, he had only used his true face during normal days to and from the Guild of Magic. However, holding onto this disguise was incredibly hard. He had to dispel it during the night on the train, since he had depleted all his energy. Thankfully, the MI9 members and Mary were half a carriage ahead him, and did not notice the change in appearance of a single passenger behind them for a few hours.

Luke had then put on the disguise once more using Energy to manipulate his skin, bones, and flesh. By now, most of his energy was depleted and he needed something to prevent any resistance members, or MI9 members from seeing his true face.

He found a relatively plain wooden mask. It was similar to the one from the Guild of Magic, but it had a single blue line going from the left side of the forehead, over the left eye, and across the cheek to end at the chin.

He then asked the shopkeeper to carve 'The Sage' on the right cheek of the mask and paint it with golden paint.

Within a few minutes, the mask was mostly complete, just the golden paint was left to dry. However, it didn't matter to Luke since it was on the outside.

He put it on and tied the string around his head, before walking back to the spot where he was conversing with the MI9 member, who was already waiting there with an impatient expression.

Upon seeing this, Luke chuckled and let go of his disguise. Silver grey hair began growing from his forehead at a visible speed, while all sorts of different changed occurred under his mask.

The MI9 member swallowed his words, as he saw the familiar man in front of him transform. Although many of the changes had occurred out of his view, he realized that Luke was at least an Apprentice, and had been using some sort of disguise to protect his true identity.

Being a member of MI9, this man was no stranger to the Magician pathway, and was just slightly surprised at the development.

He then took out a portable radio transmitter and handed it to Luke.

Luke picked up the phone-like device and asked, "Is this line secure?"

The person at the end of the phone was clearly surprised for a moment, but he soon recovered and said, "It is now"

'Now? So they weren't using encrypted lines all this while?'

"Sigh. The Leon Kingdom is too lax. Anyway, may I know who you are?"

"…"

"Oh, I completely forgot, you can call me 'The Sage' or just 'Mr. Sage'. You should be able to find out who I am by the time I return to Sozra right?"

Luke had purposely revealed some information for two reasons. The first reason was to gain the trust of the officer and his higher ups. The second was to have a name to put all his future achievements to.

"I see." The officer on the other side of the phone clearly understood Luke's intentions and accepted it.

"I am Barton, the executive commanding of MI9, and also the one heading this mission. You should know what we are searching for right?"

"Yes. Let's leave that aside for now, since I don't trust your secure lines. I need a way to contact you."

"Why?"

"Hmm, let's just say I have excellent luck, and I happen to chance upon a few such 'locations' in the future, I need a way to inform you about them right?"

"This-"

Before Barton could continue, Luke interjected with a smile on his face,

"Oh, I happen to be quite lucky just now and got to know the exact location of another such location. Are you interested?"

"Huh?" It took the executive chief quite some time to recover from his confusion and understand the underlying meaning behind Luke's words. He already knew the exact locations of a lot of bases, and has decided to slowly give them to Leon for rewards!

"I am listening."

"I would like some knowledge."

"Which one?"

Luke knew that the Guild of Magic's main headquarters was in Leon, and that many of the upper echelons of the Guild were part of the Leon Kingdom's Politicians and Army. With this in mind, he unhesitantly listed all the knowledge required for the Mage rank, along with all the specialisation knowledge.

"This… I will need to confirm it with my higher ups."

"Sure"

"beep… beep… beep…"

After a while of being on what Luke could only assume was 'hold' the executive commander came back on the phone.

"They agreed, however, you will be taken into custody for the next 24 hours until we confirm the authenticity of your information."

"Alright. Also, do not forget that killing me will only be your loss, and torturing me would be equal to killing me. Remember to pass this on to the Council of 12."

"You-"

Before Barton could question Luke on how he knew about the ruling figures of Leon, Luke cut the radio transmitter and returned it to the MI9 member, who had his mouth agape from the conversation that just transpired in front of him.

With this, Luke looked at him and said, "You are in charge of taking me back to Sozra. Don't forget to buy the ticket!"

Just as the man was going to rebut Luke for ordering officials around, the transceiver began to ring.

"Yes Sir! Of course… Immediately Sir! Thank you!"

With the call ended, the man's expression sank a little. He had already begun to regret meeting the man who called himself 'The Sage'