Ch.119Episode 6 – The Omniscient Spy’s Perspective

Like that engineer stranded on Mars.

I’m pretty much screwed.

That’s the conclusion I reached naturally, without much deliberation.

I’m screwed.

Episode 6 – The Spy’s Perspective

On my way back to the hotel. I was passing through an area just a few hundred meters from my destination.

A bright light suddenly poured out from a dim alley.

“…?”

Frowning, I turned to look and saw a vehicle parked in the alley with its headlights on, engine running.

A four-seater passenger car. It was a model I’d seen several times in the Empire, and considering that the Magic Tower was an imperial territory, it was quite a common vehicle around here.

Up to this point, there was nothing particularly concerning.

That is, until the vehicle started accelerating.

-VROOOOOM!

The driver must have floored the accelerator because the vehicle began speeding forward with a thunderous roar.

Straight toward me.

“…Huh, what?”

I had no time to dodge or react.

The vehicle approached in the blink of an eye and came to a rough stop. The back door was kicked open, and I briefly made eye contact with a man who roughly grabbed me and shoved me into the vehicle.

*

“Jake, have you seen the Section Chief?”

At his colleague’s sudden question, Jake shook his head.

“No? I was in the shower, so I didn’t see him. Isn’t he in his room?”

“He’s not there.”

Then maybe he went to the Hero’s or the Saint’s room.

When he said this, Pippin sighed deeply and slumped down on the sofa.

“You really don’t know where he is?”

“How would I know, Pippin?”

“Damn… where could he have gone?”

Jake hung the towel from his neck on a chair and said:

“Why are you asking?”

“Well, neither the Hero nor the Saint have seen him either. I called the embassy security, and they said he already left work. Shouldn’t he be at the hotel by now? He’s not even answering his phone.”

“He walks back, right? It might take him some time. How long ago did he leave work?”

“About 50 minutes…?”

“50 minutes?”

“Yeah.”

Jake tilted his head and looked at the clock.

It was already showing 11:58 PM.

*

“…36. …37. …38. …39. …40.”

Humans depend on vision more than one might think.

The human brain processes all sensory input from the outside world, with vision being the most relied upon sense. Hearing comes second.

The biggest problem when vision and hearing are blocked is the loss of time and spatial awareness.

“…41. …42. …43. …44. …45. …46. Right turn. …48. …49. …50.”

When vision and hearing are cut off, spatial-temporal cognition becomes severely impaired. Without external stimuli, proper situational assessment becomes impossible.

In such situations, the human brain creates new stimuli to somehow maintain sensory activity, even if those stimuli are false.

We usually call such stimuli auditory or visual hallucinations.

In psychology, this phenomenon is known as the Ganzfeld effect.

“…51. …52. …Uphill. …54. …55. …56. …57. …58. …Left turn. …60.”

According to my training and experience, intelligence agencies are the ones who most actively utilize these psychological phenomena.

No need to think too deeply about it. The company’s most preferred recruits were psychology majors.

Even if you weren’t a psychology major, you’d receive basic psychological training after being hired anyway. I know because I went through it.

With my hands neatly positioned behind my back, I objectively assessed my current situation.

“……”

I’m now in an unfamiliar vehicle. Specifically, lying on the mat between the front and back seats. Essentially stuffed in.

My wrists are tied behind my back. My ankles are free to move, but there’s a foot on my stomach and another on my legs. They’re not stomping on me, but if I try to move with even a little force, they jab me with their shoe heels.

And on my face, a smelly black cloth without a single hole.

The textbook definition of a kidnapping victim straight out of a 9 o’clock news report from Latin America.

“……”

There was no need for deep thought.

I’ve been kidnapped.

*

“…Yes, Operations Officer. Yes, understood. Goodbye.”

Jake hesitated for a moment before putting down his phone. Pippin, who had been watching, asked:

“…What did they say? Did they find out where the Section Chief is?”

“No. Nobody knows. He hasn’t shown up, and there haven’t been any calls.”

“Hah….”

Pippin slumped down on the hotel lobby sofa.

“How can nobody know where the Section Chief is?”

“If we don’t know, we don’t know. He disappeared without saying anything, so how would we know…?”

“He usually at least leaves a message when he goes somewhere. Where could he have gone…?”

The thought suddenly occurred—what if he was kidnapped?

But it seemed unlikely that any group in the Magic Tower would be bold enough to kidnap a diplomat.

Sure enough, Jake dismissed Pippin’s thought.

“Kidnapping a diplomat here would be insane, Pippin. They might have managed the aftermath with Agent 51, but the Section Chief is a completely different story.”

“…Couldn’t the Reconnaissance Command do it? The Section Chief recently had friction with them.”

“Even the Empire would find kidnapping a diplomat too risky. If discovered, it could trigger a war that very day. Remember when that assassination happened at the Church? The Defense Ministry was talking about going to war with the Empire.”

It was certainly a valid point.

“Then could he have had an accident?”

“That’s possible. I’ll call the nearby hospitals. Pippin, check with the local police station to see if the Section Chief is there.”

“What if he’s not at the hospitals or police stations?”

“…Then.”

We’ll have no choice.

“……”

“We’ll have to report it. Either to the Intelligence Bureau or the Delegation.”

*

After some time passed and I calmed down, my mind started working properly.

I shifted in my uncomfortable position and began to think.

Who kidnapped me? Why did they kidnap me?

First, I don’t know who kidnapped me, but they probably don’t intend to kill me. If they wanted me dead, they wouldn’t go through the trouble of dragging me around like this. They could just kill me—shoot me, run me over, stab me.

Following that line of thought, I naturally concluded that their objective was kidnapping, not assassination.

But questions remained.

“…9. …10. …11.”

No sane person would kidnap or kill a diplomat.

Kidnapping or killing a diplomat protected by international law would obviously invite international condemnation, so most countries avoid such risky ventures.

The only groups that take such dangerous risks are essentially terrorist organizations. But there were no terrorist organizations in the Magic Tower bold enough to do this—at least according to the information held by the Magic Tower police and the Avas Delegation’s police attaché.

So they’re not terrorists.

But there’s insufficient evidence to suggest that a government—specifically an intelligence agency—kidnapped me.

The Heresy Inquisition and the National Security Bureau each cooperated with Military Intelligence for their own reasons, so they had no reason to harm me. The same goes for foreign intelligence agencies. On the continent, some agencies cooperate with Military Intelligence while others are hostile, but none of them had any reason to specifically target me for kidnapping.

To be blunt, until three months ago, I was working at headquarters—why would anyone kidnap me when I hadn’t done any field activities? If they were targeting someone, they’d more likely go after an intelligence officer or operative assigned to another overseas branch. Besides, if they were caught kidnapping an official cover, it would immediately lead to war.

The only groups with any reason to kidnap me would be the Imperial Guard or the Reconnaissance Command, but neither needed to take such a risk.

The Imperial Guard had already suffered once for failing to control their operatives. Having taken a major hit to their foreign intelligence network, they had no reason to stir up another hornet’s nest before recovering from the damage. The Reconnaissance Command was likely in a similar position. There were also diplomatic risk issues.

Terrorist organizations lack the capability for this kind of operation, while intelligence agencies either can’t handle the aftermath or, even if they could, have no reason to do this.

So who kidnapped me?

“…57. …58. …59. …60. …1.”

I lay still as a mouse, continuing my assessment. As I formed hypotheses and matched them with circumstances, the vehicle kept moving.

I’m not sure how much time has passed.

It feels like about 40 minutes or so. That’s roughly how long it’s been since I was kidnapped.

I clocked out and left the delegation building at 11:12 PM. With my stride, it takes about 20 minutes to walk from the delegation to the hotel, so it must be past midnight by now.

During this time, I’ve been constantly counting numbers, trying to remember how the vehicle is moving. I’ve estimated our speed based on the vehicle’s vibrations and engine noise, and tried to determine our direction from the way my body shifts when the vehicle turns.

It was all futile.

Without being able to see outside, it was impossible to determine our location, and I couldn’t even properly calculate our speed, let alone our position.

The one fortunate thing was that we hadn’t stopped to change vehicles. If they had changed transportation methods, tracking would become even more difficult.

“…47. …48. …49. …50. …51. …52.”

As I mechanically counted numbers—

-Bump!

The vehicle gradually changed direction and began to slow down.

“…Left turn. 48 minutes 52 seconds.”

Vrrrm.

With the sound of the engine shutting off, the vehicle stopped moving.

“……”

The kidnappers have stopped.

We’ve reached our destination.