Ch.18Episode 2 – Heroes of the Continent

The agent began his report in an urgent voice.

“A shootout has occurred. The initial report came in at 07:16. According to what’s been confirmed, dozens of gunshots were heard in the southern outskirts slum. There were bloodstains at the scene and bodies that couldn’t be recovered.”

The slums, huh.

In today’s world, weapons capable of killing people are everywhere.

Illegal possession of weapons is clearly a felony, but what does that matter? We live in a world where monsters wearing human skin roam freely.

With a bit of money and connections, anyone can easily obtain weapons to protect themselves and those around them. This is especially true in slums where various organizations fight over their interests.

However, if a shootout occurred at the heart of the Order, the situation becomes extremely serious.

So I asked the agent.

“…Who reported this?”

“Agents who were setting up surveillance equipment on site.”

The southern outskirts of the Order.

Surveillance equipment.

That’s the office set up a few days ago to monitor Imperial Guardian agents.

Who was involved in the shootout?

I don’t know who fired the shots, but one thing is certain: the Order will be turned upside down by the end of today.

“Cancel all official schedules for now. Who was involved in the shootout? The Imperial Guardians?”

“Ah, that, we don’t know. The agents did take photos of the scene…”

“Did they get faces?”

“Pardon?”

“Did they photograph the faces of the bodies!”

“Yes, yes! They did. We’ve sent them back to headquarters for database comparison!”

They must have used secure communication channels.

It will take at least an hour to identify them.

“How far is it from there to here?”

“We can arrive within an hour. And the scene hasn’t been secured yet.”

I turned around and headed for the entrance.

“…Let’s go quickly.”

Episode 2 – Heroes of the Continent

We drove like madmen to reach the scene.

The police had already arrived. Currently, the Inquisition Department handles security within the Order. In other words, those police officers belong to the Inquisition.

I strode forward, lifted the police line, and entered the scene. Naturally, several officers approached to stop us. Judging by his insignia, one was the scene commander.

“Who are you! This is a restricted area… oh?”

“Ah, yes. Thank you for your hard work.”

“…Y-you’re the hero’s companion…”

“Yes, that’s right. May I take a look at the scene?”

I shook hands with the stunned officer while giving him a bright smile. He looked at his palm once, cleared his throat a few times, and stepped aside.

Pippin and Jake looked puzzled, so I waved my empty wallet at them.

“…Did you just slip him money during that handshake?”

“Smooth, right? You two should learn from this.”

I entered the scene with a grin.

The two guys followed behind me as we began to search the area.

The shootout took place in a slum alley.

It seems the police station was far away, delaying their response. Or perhaps they were too scared to respond.

Anyway, that’s not what’s important right now.

“Anyone here experienced with guns?”

Jake raised his hand with a bewildered expression.

“What did you do before joining intelligence?”

“I was recruited from a special forces unit.”

“Good. What about you, Pippin?”

“I’m from an intelligence unit. I worked on the analysis team.”

A combat specialist and an analysis specialist.

I gestured for them to follow me into the alley.

The scene was a disaster.

There were bullet marks on several walls and bloodstains scattered across the floor.

I surveyed the scene and spoke.

“Begin scene analysis. You have five minutes. Find out who shot from which angle and how many casualties there were.”

Pippin and Jake dispersed to conduct their search.

After watching them for a moment, I began my own analysis.

“…”

One particular wall in the alley had an unusually high number of bullet marks. At least 15 shots had hit the wall.

Why?

I suspected someone had used this wall as cover.

Peering around the wall, I found a space just large enough for someone to crouch in. The scene hadn’t been cleaned yet, as spent casings remained.

…No bloodstains.

I picked up a few casings, put them in my pocket, and slowly examined another wall.

The bullet marks were concentrated on the wall opposite to the one I had just examined.

This means there was at least one exchange of gunfire with both walls being used as cover.

“…”

Jake ran over and pointed to the opposite wall.

“There are a total of 8 bullet marks on that wall.”

“This wall has at least 15 or more.”

The difference in bullet marks is clear.

There was an intense firefight, and whoever took cover behind this wall was under concentrated fire.

It seems the person behind this wall was outnumbered.

While under concentrated fire, they probably had no one to provide covering fire.

“It looks like they were under suppressive fire. The bullet marks on that side show too much dispersion. They likely fired blindly without exposing themselves.”

“Bloodstains?”

“There’s a long trail of blood from that wall to the opposite exit. Someone may have dragged a wounded person away.”

Pippin approached us with a phone in his hand.

“It seems the initial shootout occurred in the middle of the alley. There’s a lot of blood.”

When we went to the middle of the alley, there was indeed a pool of blood, as Pippin had said.

There were puddles, long streaks, and bloody handprints on the ground.

“…At least three people died here.”

“How do you know that?”

I tapped the ground with my boot.

It was a spot with handprints and a pool of blood.

“Someone crawling got shot in the lower body around here.”

I pointed to bloodstains on the opposite side.

“At least two people died over there. One died instantly, and the other crawled before dying.”

The rest were minor bloodstains. Probably just people who were shot but managed to escape on their own.

Jake ran over to that area and began searching the ground, while Pippin hurriedly picked up his phone, talked with someone for a while, then spoke.

“Our agents have three bodies.”

I knew it.

“Major!”

Jake ran back with a pistol in his hand.

A familiar object.

“I found this.”

“…”

I silently took the gun, removed the remaining bullets, and compared them with the casings from my pocket.

They were the same size.

They were shooting at each other with the same ammunition.

In this world, ammunition standards differ by country. They’re not standardized like 9mm, .45 caliber, or .22 caliber in the modern world.

This means both sides were people who used the same ammunition.

Pippin said:

“If we analyze these bullets and casings, couldn’t we determine their nationality?”

“No.”

“Pardon?”

I handed the bullet and casing to Pippin.

He rolled them slowly in his palm, then nodded in understanding.

“They’re the same ammunition.”

“…So everyone here belonged to the same organization?”

“Probably. It’s rare for intelligence agencies to mimic local firearms.”

Pippin returned the bullet and casing to me, and Jake, who had been watching, spoke up.

“You know which organization they belong to, don’t you?”

“…I do. How could I forget these bastards’ guns.”

A bitter laugh escaped me.

“Wow… These bastards are completely out of control…”

I stared down at the pistol in my hand.

Imperial Army standard issue pistol.

The people who were here belong to the Imperial Guardians.

*

We mobilized agents to search all hospitals near the slum, but couldn’t find any emergency patients with gunshot wounds.

It seemed the Imperial Guardian agents had already fled and gone into hiding.

Since we weren’t making progress, there was no need to search further. We returned to the embassy, entered the conference room, and locked the door.

Then we checked the breaking news on the TV hanging on the wall.

As I expected, the Order was already in turmoil.

‘…A shooting incident occurred in the outskirts of the Order around 9 AM today. According to reports, dozens of bullets were fired…’

‘The Inquisition spokesperson only stated that they are investigating the background of this shooting incident…’

‘Some voices express concern that this might be a precursor to another terrorist attack…’

I checked carefully for any important details, but only found the usual mix of fragmentary information and speculation.

It seems no one has figured out the truth yet.

I finally understood the situation, albeit belatedly. The news currently being broadcast isn’t very reliable.

After gesturing to lower the volume, I operated the communication device in the center of the conference room.

I needed information with real substance.

So I contacted someone likely to have such information.

“Colonel Clevins? Can you hear me?”

-‘…I saw the report this morning. There was a shootout.’

“Yes. Judging by the casings and pistol left at the scene, it looks like the Imperial bastards had a go at each other. Both sides used identical ammunition.”

-‘The Imperial Guardians must have finally gone mad. Shooting at each other, of all things.’

A deep sigh came through the communication.

“At this point, isn’t it internal division? I saw 1st Bureau operatives active in the Order, and I think they clashed with the 2nd Bureau because of that.”

I proposed the hypothesis of an armed conflict due to territorial infringement.

I don’t know if this hypothesis is correct. But it’s the only reasonable explanation.

It’s the nature of this business not to encroach on each other’s territory, but the counterintelligence agents broke that rule.

Conflict was inevitable in such a situation. Of course, I don’t know if it was serious enough to point guns at each other.

What’s certain is that the Imperial Guardians are involved in the terrorism and shootouts happening around the Order.

-‘Division… I’ve heard that power struggles within the Imperial Guardians are intense, but could it be because of that…?’

“Has the department handling the Empire received any intelligence?”

-‘We have so much intelligence that it’s troublesome.’

Too much intelligence is troublesome.

This is the dilemma of intelligence analysis.

Analysis is ultimately done by people, so there are limits to workload.

When too much intelligence comes in, analysis accuracy drops significantly. Or analysts become too exhausted to analyze at all.

It’s similar to how people get indigestion from overeating.

The problem is that indigestion can be cured with a single pill, but if intelligence analysis is wrong, agents die.

That’s why intelligence analysis takes time.

But we don’t have time to wait for analysis results now. To ensure the hero’s safety, we need to quickly understand what’s happening.

“I’ve canceled all schedules for safety reasons. Have the bodies been identified? I heard our agents took photos and sent them.”

-‘After confirmation, they are indeed Imperial Guardian agents.’

Got you, you bastards.

I clapped my hands with a grin.

“They had a shootout in a foreign country, and we have their agents’ bodies? Since we have decisive evidence, we hold all the cards, right?”

Whatever these bastards are doing here, we need to strip them down to their underwear for information.

We need to catch and punish whoever planted that bomb.

-‘…Well, it seems that way, sort of.’

The response is oddly lukewarm.

What’s going on? It’s the first time I’ve seen the Colonel like this.

Pippin and Jake, who were listening to the conversation, exchanged puzzled glances.

Only the Colonel’s “Sigh-” echoed through the conference room.

“What’s wrong?”

-‘Well… They are Imperial Guardian agents, but….’

This doesn’t feel good.

-‘They are, but… Haah….’

I could hear the Colonel muttering, “How the hell do I explain this?”

Listening closely, I could also hear the sound of papers being thrown.

“What’s happening? You said they’re Imperial Guardian agents.”

-‘…They’re not from the same department.’

“Excuse me?”

-‘The dead men all belong to different departments.’

What does that mean?

“We already know that. Isn’t it a fight between the 1st Bureau’s Counterintelligence Department and the 2nd Bureau’s Foreign Operations Department?”

-‘No, that’s… Haah, fuck.’

The Colonel sighed, muttered a curse, then began to explain.

-‘The dead are from the Counterintelligence Department, the Counter-Espionage Department, and the Foreign Operations Department. In other words…’

Agents from three different departments gathered in one place and shot each other to death.

*

Regardless of the world, intelligence agencies have similar functions.

Intelligence collection and processing.

Security and counterintelligence.

Foreign and domestic operations.

Beyond these, there’s industrial espionage detection, supporting businesses abroad, sharing diplomatic duties, managing security for important national facilities, assisting policy makers, and investigating public officials’ backgrounds, among others.

Each department has its defined area of activity.

But as with all things in life, clear lines rarely exist in actual work.

Spies aren’t just domestic; they’re also abroad.

Domestic spies might suddenly flee overseas. Industrial spies who play both sides are even worse.

So to effectively catch these slippery bastards,

intelligence agency departments maintain close cooperation while focusing on their respective duties.

But now the situation has taken an absurd turn.

-‘…The Imperial Guardians’ 1st Bureau has three departments. The Counter-Espionage Department, which works with the 2nd Bureau on foreign counterintelligence. The Counterintelligence Department, which catches spies. And the Security Department, which manages international criminals, ideological criminals, and political criminals.’

The Colonel continued his explanation in a calmer voice.

-‘The 2nd Bureau has departments handling intelligence activities for each country. The guy who got shot was in charge of the Order.’

This is similar to our structure.

The Military Intelligence Agency also has several foreign operations departments for different countries. Among them, the department handling the Kiyen Empire has the most demanding workload.

-‘The problem is that the agents found dead with him were from the Counter-Espionage and Counterintelligence Departments. It’s suspicious that the Counterintelligence Department went abroad in the first place, but isn’t the Counter-Espionage Department supposed to work closely with the 2nd Bureau?’

Yet these guys shot each other in the face.

-‘The Counter-Espionage and Foreign Operations Departments, who got along well without conflicts. The Counterintelligence and Foreign Operations Departments, whose work doesn’t even overlap, shot each other dead.’

It’s a mess.

I have no idea what’s going on.

“…Surely it’s not an internal power struggle?”

-‘No matter how reckless they are, they wouldn’t shoot each other.’

Said Colonel Clevins, who was slated to be the next head of the intelligence agency.

He was a victor in power struggles who had eliminated his competitors through brilliant achievements and masterful political maneuvering.

-‘It’s strange.’

“Pardon?”

-‘If it were a territorial dispute, the leadership would have exchanged blows. Why would field agents have a shootout?’

A strange silence fell over the conference room.

No one made even a breath of sound, just rolling their eyes as endless speculation unfolded. Suddenly, the worst-case scenario came to mind. It was almost an instinctive deduction.

“…No, if it’s not a power struggle, and they didn’t shoot each other over territory…”

-‘….’

“…Counterintelligence agents killing foreign operatives—isn’t that a purge?”

The Colonel remained silent.

The mission of the Counter-Espionage and Counterintelligence Departments is simple.

To catch spies.

“…The 2nd Bureau guys haven’t, possibly, defected, have they?”

-‘….’

The Colonel’s silence was affirmation.

Silence meant yes.