Ch.141Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

# There Are Many Ways for Intelligence Officers to Spend Their Vacation

There are many ways for intelligence officers to spend their vacation, but the most common is travel.

However, foreign travel is prohibited.

Due to the nature of intelligence agencies, staff traveling abroad entails numerous risks.

Therefore, intelligence officers typically save foreign travel for special occasions like honeymoons or after retirement, preferring domestic travel while on active duty.

In that context, my traveling within Abas while on leave shouldn’t have been problematic, but moving with colleagues was a different story.

After all, Camilla, Lucia, Francesca, and Veronica were far from ordinary civilians.

Nothing was certain yet.

But one thing was certain.

“…I’ll just make a phone call.”

This vacation wouldn’t be peaceful either.

## Episode 8 – Say Hello To My Little Friend

Two saints, a high-ranking Magic Tower official from a prestigious magical family, a hero, and an intelligence officer.

I was about to travel with four people who would cause trouble wherever they went.

In truth, the trip my colleagues proposed was problematic—mainly from political, diplomatic, and security perspectives.

Lucia and Veronica each required protocol and security details from Inquisition intelligence officers and holy knights when traveling alone. Francesca, a high-ranking Magic Tower official who dominated magical society, was no exception. The same applied to Camilla. With these four moving together, security and protocol naturally became concerns.

Moreover, the Church and Magic Tower were nations with such poor relations they might go to war at any moment. Despite Lucia and Francesca being bound as colleagues by prophecy, many people felt uncomfortable just seeing them breathe the same air.

Abas was in a similar position.

Being caught between the Church and Magic Tower was one thing, but if anything happened to these four within Abas territory, Abas would be the first to take blame.

Unfortunately, I was a civil servant receiving a salary from the Abas government.

I decided to report this issue to my superiors.

The government needed information to make judgments, and some decision was needed to resolve this situation smoothly. Despite a bad feeling, I felt I should at least report it.

About 30 minutes later, instructions came from Military Intelligence.

-“After consultation, we’ve decided to entrust this matter to you.”

“What?”

-“Sorry, Frederick. Somehow that’s how things worked out.”

Military Intelligence had decided to dump all problems on me.

I held the receiver with a dumbfounded expression, staring into space. Why were my bad feelings never wrong?

Clebins briefly summarized the conversations between the Abas government, foreign governments, and between government departments.

-“Requests came from the Church and Magic Tower diplomatic departments. They asked us to handle the situation as quietly as possible with minimal personnel.”

The Abas government, having received formal requests from the Church and Magic Tower, decided to proceed with this schedule unofficially. Since they weren’t entering for official business and wished to enjoy their vacation quietly, the Abas government agreed with foreign governments not to provide official protocol and security.

Of course, Clebins explained that while they wouldn’t provide protocol and security as for typical state visits, they would take all possible measures.

-“For now, we’re keeping their entry secret. We’re working to prevent leaks to the press.”

“Is that possible?”

-“You know, like when secret envoys come and go.”

The Abas government kept Camilla, Lucia, Francesca, and Veronica’s entry strictly confidential—like when deputy ministers or government officials were dispatched as secret envoys.

This was good news. If news of the four entering the country reached the media, all sorts of rumors and speculation would inevitably spread.

Fortunately, after consultation with foreign governments, the Abas government flexibly decided to mobilize minimal personnel.

The problem was…

“How am I supposed to handle this alone?”

That minimal personnel meant me.

-“Why did you get yourself into this? You seem to attract trouble. Causing problems just one day into your vacation…”

“Is that what you should be saying right now?”

-“Don’t overthink it. No one’s asking you to prepare proper protocol and security. Just do what you normally do.”

Do whatever? This isn’t some nightclub stage show. It’s absolutely maddening.

While I was speechless with shock, Clebins’ gruff voice continued over the receiver.

-“It’s an unofficial schedule anyway. Since it’s not official and considering the Church and Magic Tower’s positions, we need to resolve this quietly, and currently, the government has no one but you to do it.”

“What does that mean?”

-“It means you’re the only one who can simultaneously entertain the Church’s saints, the Magic Tower’s magician, and the hero.”

Whether diplomatic or social issues, I was the only one who could handle things quietly without causing complaints from important figures.

-“If a diplomatic official makes a mistake and receives complaints from the Church or Magic Tower, it only complicates the government’s position. Diplomats have no prior acquaintance with these four and officially represent the Abas government, but you’re their colleague, aren’t you?”

“Ah, yes.”

-“Even if you make some mistakes, they won’t complain behind your back. You’re bound as colleagues, not just meeting once or twice.”

“That’s certainly true, but…”

The implication was that if a diplomatic official representing the government made a mistake, it would be an unavoidable diplomatic disaster, but if I, as a colleague, made mistakes, they could be smoothed over through personal relationships.

Whether the Church and Magic Tower diplomatic departments would really consider my mistakes trivial, or whether the Abas government was just using me as a meat shield to somehow evade responsibility, was ambiguous, but that was the decision.

Enter a temple and recite poetry, get promoted to general and become skilled at politics. This was truly political maneuvering worthy of the next Military Intelligence Director. Classic Clebins.

-“Of course, that’s not the only reason we’ve entrusted this to you.”

“What?”

What did he mean now?

The Military Intelligence Counter-Intelligence Director sighed and continued.

-“Hmm… You might not realize this yet, but there are very few government officials who know much about those four. Little is known about the hero, the two saints, and the magician.”

“Ah…”

-“Neither the diplomatic nor intelligence departments have much information, so protocol and security issues are inevitable. In that sense, you, having spent months with them, are the most suitable candidate. You could even be considered an expert in that field.”

He was certainly right. There were very few people in the Abas government who knew as much about Camilla, Lucia, Francesca, and Veronica as I did.

Clebins advised me with a concerned voice.

-“Though you’re an intelligence officer, right now you’re their colleague. At least outwardly. When you think about it, this is also career experience.”

“…”

-“So don’t overthink it. As long as there are no problems, that’s all that matters, right?”

“…”

-“Anyway. Stop worrying and enjoy your vacation.”

*

After a whirlwind of activity, peace arrived. Following the government’s policy (Military Intelligence’s orders), I assigned rooms to our visitors.

“The rooms are upstairs, and bedding is provided in each room, so please make yourselves comfortable. Let me know if you need anything. Even when going out, please avoid actions that might identify you. Always carry communication devices wherever you stay, and remember the emergency contact numbers for the embassy, local police, fire department, and hospitals.”

After conveying the precautions (overseas travel guidelines) sent by the Abas Foreign Ministry and introducing the townhouse, it was nearly lunchtime.

“What would you like to do for lunch?”

Camilla, who was looking around the room, answered.

“I don’t have any particular preference. Let’s eat something simple!”

“You’re going to eat a meal after all those snacks?”

“Tsk…!”

Leaving Camilla fuming at my teasing, I turned to Francesca.

“What would you like to do, Administrator?”

“Going outside would be difficult, wouldn’t it?”

“Heading out unprepared would be a bit…”

Though the Abas government had kept the four’s entry secret, immediate external activities were unrealistic.

The government was using public information officers to prevent media coverage and had asked us to refrain from external activities until safe locations could be arranged.

That’s why we were quietly staying in the townhouse instead of a hotel. Hotels had too many watching eyes.

“The government is looking for a safe hotel, so please bear with the inconvenience for a while. It will be resolved soon.”

“Hmm. I wonder if this visit was too impulsive.”

“Oh, come on, it’s nothing… This is what civil servants are for.”

I joked while inwardly cursing the government. Dumping a major national matter on someone on vacation? I should report them to the Labor Department.

But as a civil servant receiving a government salary, I couldn’t voice my complaints.

“Just think of this as your home and make yourselves comfortable.”

“By the way, who uses this place? It’s too big for one person.”

“My brother and sister stay here when commuting to work nearby. They’re both civil servants. I stay in government quarters.”

“Ah, right. You’re military, I forgot.”

While answering Camilla’s curious questions about the townhouse, Francesca came upstairs with her luggage.

I took a few bags from her to help with her many belongings.

“Let me help you.”

“Thank you, Officer.”

“You have a lot of luggage. What’s that?”

I pointed to the long bag hanging from Francesca’s shoulder while lifting her suitcase. The bag, resembling a gun case, was clearly not for ordinary items.

Francesca glanced at the bag on her shoulder and spoke.

“Ah, this? It’s something I brought from my country.”

“From Fatalia? What exactly did you bring?”

Francesca opened the bag to show me its contents.

“A military sword…?”

It was a sword. Specifically, a ceremonial military sword.

After the advent of firearms, many armies replaced swords with bayonets, keeping only a few for ceremonial use. But in this fantasy world, military swords were still in active service.

Swords were good weapons for half-baked magicians who could only enhance their bodies with magic. That’s why in countries where gun ownership was restricted to hunters and border residents (those near uninhabited frontiers), civilians also commonly used swords.

Francesca gently smiled while caressing the distinctively patterned sword hilt.

“Yes. It’s a sword I’ve had since childhood.”

“I didn’t know you could handle a sword. Weren’t you from a prestigious magical family?”

“Being a magician doesn’t mean I can only use magic. Though I did hear that a lot growing up.”

Francesca said this while maintaining her smile, looking down at the sword.

It was slightly intriguing since this fact wasn’t in the Royal Intelligence files. I wanted to ask where she got her saber, but judging by her reaction, she probably wouldn’t answer that far.

I silently nodded and continued carrying the luggage. It seemed I had one more thing to report.

While organizing the luggage with Francesca, I suddenly realized Lucia was nowhere to be seen.

“By the way, where is Saint Lucia?”

“Ah, Lucia?”

Camilla, carrying her few belongings, pointed toward the back of the townhouse.

“I saw her heading to the backyard earlier.”

“Is that so?”

So that’s where she went.

“I’ll step out for a moment. Please call if you need anything.”

“Okay.”

*

The townhouse owned by my maternal family in the wealthy district takes the form of a detached house.

Although it has no front yard due to Abas Land Development regulations (if you have a front yard, you must pay extra taxes due to land shortages), it does have a backyard.

Originally, until a few decades ago, houses with backyards were subject to a “yard tax,” but thanks to persistent petitions and complaints from wealthy capital residents arguing that “a private space separate from living quarters is essential,” the regulations were relaxed.

Opening the door to the townhouse’s backyard reveals an open space. Low red brick walls surround the yard like fortress walls, with modest shrubs and herbaceous plants standing like fences in harmony.

In this secret backyard reminiscent of a small garden stood a person.

“Saint Lucia?”

When I called her name, Lucia flinched slightly.

She had been gazing into the distance, but now she turned her head slightly to glance at me, hastily bringing her left hand to her waist like a child caught doing something wrong by their parents.

“Did you call for me?”

“I couldn’t find you, so I was looking for you.”

I put my hands in my pockets and slowly approached Lucia. She smiled kindly, though somewhat uncomfortably.

As I suspected, what she was hiding was a cigarette.

Perhaps it’s because I quit smoking 28 years ago, but the faint smell of tobacco was quite noticeable.

“There’s no need to hide it. Please continue smoking.”

“…You knew?”

She didn’t ask what I knew, but everyone here knew what it was.

I nodded slightly, and Lucia smiled bitterly like someone caught in a lie, bringing her hidden hand forward.

I immediately recognized the cigarette in her hand.

“A cigarillo. I see you don’t carry a cutter.”

“You recognize it.”

“I used to smoke cigars. I switched to cigarillos once when I didn’t have a cutter or knife.”

“Ahaha…”

What Lucia was smoking was a cigarillo.

Unlike the thick cigars people typically imagine, cigarillos are thin cigars that can be easily found in convenience stores.

Being smaller, they can be smoked in less time than cigars, which typically take 30 to 60 minutes to enjoy. With both ends open, there’s no need to carry cumbersome cigar cutters or punches to make holes. Above all, they’re convenient because they don’t require toasting (heating the foot of the cigar to ensure it burns cleanly) with a special lighter. That’s why cigarillos are also called mini cigars.

I used to buy loads of them whenever I went on business trips to Cuba.

I didn’t expect to see them here.

Lucia, holding the cigarillo, asked me with an awkward smile.

“Were you a smoker?”

“I was. I’m quitting now.”

“Ah, I see. I’m sorry for smoking when you’re trying to quit.”

“No, it’s fine. I quit long ago, so it doesn’t bother me now. Please smoke comfortably.”

After 28 years, I wanted to borrow one, but asking for a cigar right after saying I had quit would look bad even to me.

I briefly went inside the house and returned with some Scotch whisky (my brother Jerry’s favorite) and two glasses.

“Have a drink.”

“You didn’t have to… Thank you.”

Lucia accepted the glass with an apologetic face. I sat down with her, looking around the well-maintained yard while drinking.

Lucia inhaled the aroma of the whisky and exclaimed.

“It’s Scotch.”

“Yes, it is.”

Whisky and cigars. A hobby I’ve enjoyed for quite a while after learning it from a British friend introduced by an American friend.

“This is my first time drinking alcohol offered by someone else.”

“I don’t think that’s true.”

“Who told you that?”

“Saint Veronica.”

“Ah.”

Lucia groaned softly, touching her forehead. It must have been embarrassing to have a secret she shared with her sister, carefully hidden from others, revealed to someone through that same sister.

“I told her not to tell anyone…”

“She’s quite talkative, so how could she not?”

“I hate to ask this, but can you keep a secret?”

“That’s my job.”

“True, you are military…”

Lucia smiled gently at my answer. While I was indeed military, I was an intelligence officer in an intelligence unit, not the soldier she imagined, but I didn’t correct her misunderstanding since it wasn’t entirely wrong.

Sitting in the yard under the bright sky with warm sunshine, we shared various conversations.

“Are you close with Saint Veronica?”

“As you’ve heard, yes. We’re quite close.”

“I heard you served Saint Veronica before being canonized.”

“Actually, I’m still not officially canonized, but I did follow Veronica since childhood. I learned a lot from her.”

The main topic of conversation was, of course, Veronica.

Since I wasn’t devout enough to have spiritual conversations with Lucia, and we were on somewhat distant terms, not knowing much about each other, I brought up Veronica, who was more familiar to both of us.

The conversation flowed easily, as my job often involved verbally disarming people.

“How close are you two?”

“I’ve known her since childhood, so we’re quite close.”

“You must be intimate friends.”

“You could say that. By the way, how did you come to know Veronica?”

“Saint Veronica treated me and arranged a meeting once.”

“Ah…”

Lucia sighed and apologized to me.

“I’m sorry. That must be an unpleasant memory.”

“No, no. Getting injured on duty is so common that there’s no need to worry.”

“What?”

“I mean, don’t worry about it. By the way, how do you two usually spend time together?”

“My sister and I… Well…”

Lucia seemed lost in thought, lowering her gaze slightly. After briefly interrupting our conversation, she pondered something with her chin resting on her hand before finally answering.

“We discussed scripture and history a lot… but mostly talked about things outside of faith and work.”

“Ah, gossiping about cardinals?”

“Yes. She always called them old fogies. I told her not to speak ill of others, but still.”

Lucia had been close to Veronica since before becoming a saint. She said she heard various stories from Veronica, mostly about Veronica’s travels around the world.

“We conversed on various topics. I learned a lot.”

“Did you also learn about alcohol and tobacco from Saint Veronica…?”

“Ah, that’s a bit difficult to discuss directly…”

I didn’t realize it before, but Lucia was fun to tease. Her reactions were quite varied.

Veronica typically teased me smoothly like a snake crossing a wall, while Francesca wasn’t someone I could joke with since our first meeting left a bad impression. Though our relationship had improved, both maintained a certain professional distance from me.

Of course, there were exceptions like Camilla. Though somewhat professionally connected, our relationship wasn’t strictly business.

Camilla was also fun to tease, with good reactions when prodded, though lately she seemed to have developed some immunity and become somewhat indifferent.

In contrast, Lucia, with whom I had a somewhat distant relationship, showed amusingly varied reactions to even slight teasing. It seemed best to become friendly with Camilla and Lucia, as long as we weren’t bound by purely professional relationships.

Come to think of it, I seemed to be surrounded by crazy people.

Saints and magicians who spy, an English girl who’s an arsonist and aspires to be a spy, and a saint who runs around healing people while secretly drinking and smoking.

How am I the only normal one? Perhaps it’s just a crazy world.

While I contemplated my strange interpersonal relationships, Lucia took out a portable ashtray and put her finished cigarillo in it.

“You carry an ashtray?”

“One shouldn’t litter, should they?”

“…But why are you taking out another cigar?”

“Just one more…”

“…”

A saint dedicated to smoking. It’s absolutely maddening.

Lucia carefully watched my reaction as she took out a new cigarillo. She seemed self-conscious about smoking in someone else’s backyard.

“Just smoke comfortably. Many people smoke in the backyard anyway.”

“Is that really okay?”

Lucia asked with an uncharacteristically awkward smile. I didn’t understand why she was being so hesitant when she’d already been caught smoking.

“If you’re concerned, let’s smoke together.”

I received a cigarillo from Lucia.

She skillfully lit it with her lighter. Without a lighter of my own, I had no choice but to borrow her flame.

“Can I get a light?”

“Ah, here you go.”

“That’s too far.”

“Then come closer…”

Failing at quitting after 28 years, and my first cigarette being from a saint—I couldn’t help but find the scene ironic.

As I approached Lucia with her permission, bending down to borrow her flame…

Someone suddenly clung to my back and whispered in my ear.

“What are you two doing?”

“Ah, shit! You scared me!”

“Let me smoke too!”

“Turn on your blinker before entering, you crazy woman!”

It was Veronica.