The Grand elders looked at Markan and didn't know how to react. After all, Markan was supposed to be the current leader of the organization. He should be having the status and power that the other young man is so daringly flaunting and everything Markan has obtained has been obtained with truthful methods following all the rules and traditions of the organization.
They thought he died and just gave the power to someone else. When they looked at Markan's face which is completely unfamiliar with them, they felt a bit less burdened by this as they were not completely at fault.
Granted they should have investigated more and looked into the incident on why it happened all of a sudden and why Markan disappeared without a trace, they just gave the position to the next best candidate since they felt that digging into the old matters is not worth it anymore. There is no one to question it anyway.
But now that the person in question himself appeared in front of him, they couldn't help but feel ashamed of their own actions.
Markan didn't care whether they are ashamed or not, he just stood straight as he waited for them to ask the questions.
"Markan, you disappeared a long time ago. We thought you were dead." One of the Grand Elders spoke to break the ice.
"I was indeed attacked and I almost died, but I managed to escape with the help of my crew."
"Your crew?" The one who asked is not any of the Grand Elders, it is the current leader of the Black Ghosts. There is a clear expression of shock on his face and no one in the room missed it. The Grand Elders clearly understood what that meant, but they didn't call him out on that.
"Yes, my crew. They managed to fake their deaths and escaped, but they were unable to save me. They were recuperating all this while. Meanwhile, I almost died and when I finally recovered and woke up, I was in the middle of nowhere, with my face changed. Not just that, I found a seal on my spiritual core and a parasite in my blood. They suppressed my cultivation growth and the parasite even made me unable to use my six elemental energies.
I was imprisoned by the Puppet Organization in some stupid case.
I lost my identity, but luckily, I managed to find someone that could undo the seal and kill all the parasites.
I got the elemental energies and also my suppression was lifted.
I noticed that the Black Ghosts cooperating with the Puppet organization are actually fighting along with them against the person that helped me and that shouldn't have happened as it is against the very core of our rules.
So, I changed my mind to return and started investigating the situation of our organization. The results indeed disappointed me.
The Black Ghost members, particularly several previous generations' and the current generation's successor candidates are running a parallel organization while utilizing our forces and are making money out of it.
They are dabbling in assassinations, prostitution, gambling, and even trafficking of slaves. All the trades that the core of the organization is opposed to.
So, I busted several of those branches myself and I came here with evidence so that you would act on it."
"Excuse me, before you do anything that is related to the Black Ghost organization, we have to confirm what you have been doing all this while." The leader finally spoke and his words caused everyone to be confused.
"What do you mean?" Markan asked coldly.
"I mean, you just disappeared into thin air all this while and we don't really know what you had done. You are saying you were attacked, you are saying that you were imprisoned. Why should we believe you? Even your face is not the same, we can even doubt if you are the real Markan at all."
Markan locked his eyes with him and didn't speak for a moment.
Then he turned towards the grand elders and said.
"I am not here to give any explanations. Whether you trust me or not, it is up to you. All you have to do is listen and decide. I will not try to prove my position. Whether you want to doubt me or not, I am Markan."
With that, he took out a Truth Cursed scroll and gave it to the grand elders.
"This is a scroll that I got from a friend of mine. I want you to call one of your most trusted subordinates and test the truth detection. You can also check the scroll yourself and see if there are any tricks."
The Grand elder didn't doubt him and did as he was told. He called for a subordinate in the enforcer team and made him sign the contract.
"Tell me truth. Any kind."
"I am the leader of the Enforce squad."
The enforced didn't feel anything when he said it.
"Now, say that you are not the leader of the Enforcer Squad."
Markan said from the side. Everyone looked confused, but the subordinate tried to do as he was asked for, but all of a sudden, he held his head in pain.
"I… am… ARGh."
He tried to speak, but he wasn't able to.
"Stop trying."
Markan said and finally, the enforcer felt relieved. Markan turned to the Grand elder and said.
"This is the scroll used for only getting the truth. The person who signed wouldn't be able to tell alike until the scroll existed."
After that, he took out another scroll and gave it to the grand elder to check, after making sure that it is the same scroll and there is nothing wrong with it, he decided to sign the scroll himself and started speaking.
"I do not know who attacked me and I do not know what their motives are. But when I came to myself, my face was already altered and my cultivation suppressed with my elemental energies sealed.
A person who had a use for me came to save me at that time and I asked that person to help with the seal and the parasite.
That person saved me and brought me back here. Even these scrolls are his creation."
He didn't even flinch as he spoke and then turned to the leader in askance.
The leader didn't know what to say. He couldn't just refute that the scroll was rigged when the Grand Elders are the ones that confirmed it is not. He would incur their ire if he did that.
But that is not over, markan continued.
"As for the investigation of these parallel rackets I told you about. I captured the people with the help of my current crew and many of them are from the Black Ghost organization, most of them being the successor prospects that got rejected in the current and previous generations.
I used the scroll to make them speak the truth enforcing all the methods to make sure they didn't commit suicide.
I have all the interrogation material and even brought the said people here with me. So, I would like the Grand elders to be the judges and resolve the situation."
The grand elders looked solemn and one of them asked.
"Is there anything else you are leaving out?"
"From the investigation results, I have a reason to suspect that the current leader is behind this parallel racket, he is the one running these businesses that our organization is completely against since the establishment.
I am here to apply for impeachment with my status as the Lord of the Black Ghosts."
The leader looked at Markan in horror. He is already terrified by the fact that Markan appeared out of thin air. But there is no way that he would have thought that Markan would be this daring.
When he heard that two to three planets have lost all of the rackets they are running secretly, he is already terrified, but he just thought that Markan is angry at the rackets, after all, he is so devoted to the Black Ghosts that it only rivals the brainwashed devotion of the subordinates.
Because of the chants and suicide methods of the subordinates, he is confident that he wouldn't be linked to all of this.
But what hit him in the face is the request for his impeachment.
This is beyond ridiculous.
He cannot contain the anger as well as horror in his heart. He couldn't even find words to react.
"Markan, you know the price you need to pay for accusing the leader of the Black Ghosts. There are many lords who did this in the past and not all of them had good endings.
We can understand that what happened to you is unfair and even the organization didn't do its part properly in searching for you. But you shouldn't take it out on the leader, it might backfire on you."
"I am not doing it out of spite. I am doing this with my responsibility as the lord."
