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Old man Gazardy or the merchant Gazardiel was not convinced that the stranger Kazu was not tempted by the rewards and recognition he would get if he revealed the ident.i.ty of a necromancer living in the capital to the church of light.

"I've lived for a long time and there are very few people, especially humans who are as selfless as that person…" he whispered to himself as he remained vigilant on the movements of the people that came in and out of the church.

If his experience has taught him one thing; it is that most people always put themselves first. No matter how much one person says he or she loves the other when it counts, one might even push their partner towards the jaws of danger just so they could have a better chance of survival. This was an instinct that many creatures, especially humans had.

Only in the presence of real adversity will one be able to find out who are the real people you can trust. This was why no matter how much of a good conversationalist Kazuya was, Gazardiel had never trusted him completely.

"I've let that kid enter the church because he was telling the truth about knowing my son but…" he felt a little nervous as the young lad had the perfect chance to tattle in who he was.

The old man did not linger too long and left the vicinity as soon as he was sure that there weren't any movements from the people who could be seen from where he was observing. From the looks of it, there hadn't been any signs of movements that indicated his ident.i.ty being revealed.

But of course, Gazardiel wasn't willing to risk it. He immediately went back to his home and prepared for the worst. He had always prepared himself for the slight chance that someone would discover him. The church of light was the most devious and hypocritical organizations he had come across with so of course he had several plans to secure his own safety.

"That lad eliminated my best contingency plan…" he gave a bitter laugh as he looked towards the slums from the window.

It might be the last time he would enjoy the view of the home he had spent the longest time in his current body so he felt a little nostalgic. He thought back on how he arrived in his current predicament and felt somewhat calm even though his life may already be in danger.

So that the church of light wouldn't notice, he had spent years taking advantage of the common people and sold products for cheap. These items would contain a seed of dark energy that would attach themselves to people.

These seeds would slowly grow inside the bodies of the people. If they die, they would immediately fall under the control of Gazardiel. This was why he had targeted elderly people in the capital at first. They would serve as a distraction while he made his escape.

It was only when the common selfishness of humans showed itself in front of him once again did his plans change into something that people would label him a villain for.

He had been known by the common people as a person who was unfit to be a merchant because of his kindness. The nickname 'Old Man Gazardy' was a warm nickname that was given to him because there have been many people that have been helped by him on numerous occasions.

Unfortunately, several people decided to take advantage of this old merchant. Many of them took advantage of his kindness towards the elderly and bought his wares at lower prices in the name of people that were not even aware of it.

These people were the first ones who had the dark seeds planted inside their bodies without Gazardiel's intention. When he had noticed this, it was already too late, the opportunists that had taken advantage of him had sold off their gains to other people who were not intended to have the seeds to be planted on them in the first place.

"(These people…)" he shook his head in disappointment. "(You brought this upon yourselves!)"

Though his intentions really weren't that n.o.ble, to begin with, being reminded of how some of the good intentions in his own plot had still been taken advantage of by those he tried to help, Gazardiel scoffed at their foolishness. He would not feel remorse towards the living people who would be turned into the undead if he had no choice but to put this specific contingency plan into action.

The actions these people took reminded him of how many times he had been fooled, betrayed and taken advantage of over the centuries. Though he had a little concern left for humans, this was only because he had sentimental feelings towards the race. He started out as one of them after all.

When he was still in his original body, he was part of one of the merchant families who established the city of Vane together with the hero Uriel. It was there that he was discovered by Natsu to have a rare affinity towards dark magics.

From there, the young merchant apprentice; [Ajin Inking] turned into one of the very first dark magic researchers under the hero Uriel. He had dedicated his life in the pursuit of improving his own craft so that he would be able to repay the new life that the hero who saved their world from strife had granted him.

Of course, as one of many who had been recognized by Natsu, the compet.i.tion to gain his attention was very fierce. Before he knew it, he had locked himself up inside one of the remote mountains and failed to get the news that the hero Uriel had decided to go back to his own world together with his wife.

Not very long after Uriel had left, a certain organization called 'the church of light' had taken advantage of the loss of one of Edea's beacons of hope. They quickly rose into power as they labeled dark magic pract.i.tioners as heretics and went on to publicly condemn them so that the people would have someone to recognize as villains.

Of course, there were those who knew the truth and condemned the church for their actions but unfortunately, these people were mostly those who had knowledge about magic or the truth.

With a limited amount of people to stop them, the church had taken advantage of the common people and formed an invisible rift between the territories and races once again. Being the ones who were responsible for summoning the heroes of the past, humans had started to become arrogant and think that they were the race that was above all.

"I'm home!" a voice that Gazardiel was very familiar with had come from the entrance of their house.

The old man did not sense anyone else coming back with Jorelle but still kept his guard up in case something would go wrong. He didn't believe that the son he carefully raised through all these years would simply agree to betray him in just a short while so at least this cleric was not plotting against him.

"What's wrong? Why are you all gloomy?"

"Dad, did you get the food you sell cheaply from a specific supplier?" Jorelle breathed in deeply before he asked.

"Not really. They are mostly from the farmers I've met through my travels. They sell the extra harvests they have cheaply because they know that I help out people from their villages who moved to the capital." He explained. "Why do you ask?"

"Well…" Jorelle started to tell his father about what he and Kazuya discussed together. It included the theory they had that there might be a specific source that made people ill.

The old man was a little relieved. The kid he met really did keep his word. This s.h.i.+fted his curiosity towards what Kazuya's purpose really was. He didn't believe that there was no reason why Kazuya would do such a thing.

Even the hero Uriel's achievements were because he had continued to study the mysteries of magic to feed his own curiosity. Though it may not all be the focus, everything one person does would initially have something to do with themselves.

Even when he sent his own son to clean up some of the scattered seeds, he had done so with the purpose of making Jorelle a significant person in the capital. It would be for the time that he was ready to transfer into a new body. He would be protected by the ident.i.ty of one of the church's people.

"That's terrible! Can you come with me to the store tomorrow so you can check?" he rea.s.sured Jorelle and volunteered to be the first one to have his wares checked.

He did not fail to notice the relief on his son's face when he said those words. The anxiety on his son's face reminded him of the person that his son had never met before, his mother.

Throughout the generations that he lived through, Gazardiel had never stopped trying to improve his dark arts. He even had a breakthrough in the taboo spell that no one ever dared to delve deeper into.

He had discovered a way to lessen the repercussions of the soul transmission spell. It was through transferring one's own soul into a container that was made from the caster's own flesh. In other words, Gazardiel had discovered that he would not only be suffering much less every time he transferred bodies, he would also be in a better state. All this required was for him to transfer into a relative or even better, an offspring.

Yes, Jorelle was not really Gazardiel's adopted son but his real son. The old man had already spent two generations transferring himself into the bodies of real seeds that he had scattered all around the human kingdoms.

This was all due to his continuous pursuit to improve his necromancy so that he may one day prove that it is a magic that should not be looked down upon. His pursuit of power was because he strove to protect the ideals that Natsu wanted everyone to follow.

"I feel like a fool. I've been going around the capital trying to help the less fortunate and focused on improving my skills that I didn't notice such a thing." Jorelle sighed.

The feeling of self-ridicule was something he never shared with Kazuya. He didn't want to admit it but he took pride in being recognized by the people even though he was not doing it for that purpose. He felt ashamed about this and this incident reminded him that he was still a long way from his goal.

"Don't blame yourself for this. If anyone needs to be blamed, it should be us merchants or if there are people behind this incident. This would not have been discovered if you and your friend did not go around helping people so do not ever feel bad about helping others." Gazardiel gave a stern reminder.

Though Gazardiel did not understand what Kazuya's purpose was, he knew that this was an opportunity for Jorelle's name to even be more well known. If they played their cards right, his name might even reach the ears of the newly summoned hero who was currently training in the royal castle.

"But…"

"Do not focus on what you were not able to do and focus on what you can do." He cut Jorelle off before he could speak.

He felt a little irritated at the boy's naivete. As he already looked at Jorelle as his future self, he did not want him to show weakness in front of such a great opportunity. There was only one matter that he needed to figure out.

It was how Kazuya would affect the opportunity that just appeared in front of them.

"(If I don't find out what you want from this city, don't blame me for chasing you out, kid.)"

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