The God of Jesters
Chapter 57 - 2.15.3 The ghost.

Chapter 57: 2.15.3 The ghost.

Being the one who handled recruitment and finding desperate people who would be easily folded into their belief. The assassin by the name of Pansar Calindi was always looking for new prospects.

Either by buying information from the underbelly of the city, or finding it through his resources. He was aware of the safe targets as well as those deemed too dangerous to ever be considered.

The man who stood in front of him was one of the most dangerous targets and not in his recruitment list.

And besides, there was not much Kairut can provide them besides strength. But even then, due to the desperation Kairut has shown to the world to extend his life by buying all kind of experimental potions.

It can be seen, Kairut would have been perfect for that reason alone.

That was, if not for the fact that Kairut seemed to be working for their partner already. A fact that the Rat King had never exposed to them. But the stories and accidents that usually happened in Lucien’s Abode, which were always ignored or set aside by Kairut. It can be easily seen who he was working with.

But that was then and now, the words that Kairut spoke made him consider.

Being who he was, Rat King and his purpose in their plan was no secret to him. Even the fact that he had betrayed Adam and in turn them was also known to him.

Which was why, when Kairut spoke those words, Pansar couldn’t help but show some interest.

"Do you truly know it?"

Hearing that question, Kairut smiled. Knowing full well that the fish has bit the bait. "I might lie a lot considering my position. But this is one thing I am not lying about."

"If you can promise me with the method of Rebirth with past ink. I will gladly tell the truth and sign whatever soul binding contract that doesn’t affect my freedom, as a proof."

"Then Principal Kairut, it would seem, we can have a deal."

This was it, the very thing that Kairut was looking forward to.

With this, he can get rid of his dependency over Jester.

With this, he can obtain a better immortality than the one Jester would have granted him.

With this, he can have a chance of breaking the ceiling of an archmage and ascend higher.

******

In the Mortuary of Army, where the corpse of Farhad was stored in cold storage, which was retrieved from the care of Radiance society.

"Hey, do you know what is going on these days?... I heard some bigwig came here?" The chaos of the city had not much effect on the barracks that were situated on Durum’s outskirts and hence the information that reached the common soldiers that stayed in the barracks was low.

And being the biggest city closest to the border with the Republic of Yethel, which was once known as the Republic of Sarvila. There were never days that went without going through training and war drills which would keep the minds of soldiers fresh and able to face any surprise attack on their border.

But this was why, the soldiers that worked here were usually unaware of the happenings in the city and hence were bored most of the time.

Hence, when something special did happen in the army, they rushed for it like hungry wolves in search of entertainment.

It was why the guard named Calvin asked such a question.

"Were you deaf these days? Everyone knows Marshall came here, it seems his song died." The other guard, who was aware of the events, proudly explained the situation. "It seems his son was murdered. Causing him to come here under some excuse."

"Some excuse? Why would he need an excuse when his son died?"

"Hah, it seems you don’t know Marshal Maisel, he is a well known ironhearted bastard in the army. And arrogant to the extreme... "

"The Marshall is not even here due to his Son’s death. Some say, the only reason he came here is because his ego was hurt?"

"What kind of man is this?... He cares more about his ego than his own son’s death?"

The two talk wildly about the Marshall Maisel in their free time.

Which, if found out by something, they would be punished according to Military code for dereliction of duty and dishonoring someone of higher post.

But as this was a morgue, none bothered to even come down and check if the soldiers were doing their duties properly.

And due to some past ghost stories, most used to stray far away from the morgue for the same reasons.

Giving the two enough free time to talk about random stuff, or even play some cards sometimes.

"Hah, but let me tell you something fun."

"?? What do you mean?"

"The son of that Marshall, his body is kept here."

"??"

After the Maxim was done with Farhad’s corpse, Maisel didn’t cremate his son and instead stored him in the Army morgue, wishing to incinerate his son’s killer, before sending his son away.

It was why the guard named Calvin was so surprised to hear these words.

"Brother, are you being serious?"

"Don’t you believe it?"

The two talked, before the other guard smiled and said. "Well, if you don’t believe me, I can show it to you."

"Don’t be stupid... its too dangerous and we might get court martial for this." Calvin said, shaking his head, showing he was not much interested.

But the other guard didn’t stop. "Its not like anyone comes here. I have done so before with a few other guards..." Due to the boring days of training and drills, the bored soldiers were seeked entertainment of any kind they could find.

Anything to talk about.

So, sometimes, they went against their orders and dared to mess with corpses in the mortuary. And it was a well known secret among those that had been given guard duty in the morgue.

"Don’t be so scared, just come and I will show you to him."

"?... Did you do this before?"

"Of course I did."

Calvin was somewhat new to this duty and the other guard was there to show him ropes. So the first few days, all they did was either do their duty or play some cards.

But when the other guard considered Calvin trustworthy, he intended to let him join their little game.

"Come with me, I will show you."

This was not a request, this was an order by the other guard. His reasoning was simple, either with us or against us.

The only way to make sure that Calvin doesn’t go parroting among the seniors was to make him an accomplice.

And besides, he was too bored with playing the cards, he needs to do more and it will all start with turning Calvin to his side.

And Calvin, knowing that he had fell into the trap, could only go and follow behind his senior, regretting asking such a question before.

But this was life, the most he can do is pray that any of the sergeant don’t find out about what he is going to do.

Unaware that his senior guard was already planning some illegal things in mind.

The inside of the mortuary was cold and silent. Even the lights in the ceilings flickered before finally opening, turning the atmosphere of the giant freezer a bit creepy.

But the senior guard was not so surprised by it.

"The cold here is 2 degrees celsius. While inside the cylinders, where the corpses are kept, its minus 25 degree celsius."

The guard told Calvin, who was trying to suppress his shiver.

"So, they are like...Human popsicles?" Calvin joked, in an attempt to suppress his worry. Which the senior guard laughed at. "Haha, Yes. You can consider them to be one."

Going toward one of the square shaped lockers on the wall. The guard imputed the code in a natural way. Which surprised Calvin.

It was only now he noticed that all these corpse lockers had a lock on them. Whose codes would be harder for soldiers like them to know.

"Do they tell us the codes?" Wondered Calvin, thinking that learning the codes would be something men in their post had to do.

But the senior guard just shook his head. "No, I know the compounder that works here, who knows the Mortuary assistant. It’s where I got the codes."

Hearing these words, Calvin shuddered over the fact that what they were doing might be highly illegal. "Brother, let’s stop here... "

*Bang

Before Calgin could complete his sentence, he was struck silent by a banging sound that came from the closing of the door of the mortuary.

"...?"

The other guard took his hand off the lock on the locker in which Farhad’s corpse was kept and turned to look at the door of the mortuary as well.

"Who is it?" Unlike Calvin, he was not scared. Instead, the first thing that came up in his mind was "Jeremy, did you come back?" He asked, while banging on the door, which seemed to have been closed.

But there was still no response from the other end.

"Fuck.. fuck... those ghost stories were true." Panicking, Calvin moved closer to the other guard with complaining eyes.