Ch.29Episode 2 – Heroes of the Continent

The soldier says.

“Top secret? That’s something only generals with jade-level clearance can barely access. How would a civilian know about it?”

The lobbyist says.

“I-I’m an associate…”

“What are you, a Guardian Office agent? At best, you’re just a local assistant.”

The agent says.

“I was suspicious from the beginning. After the Director of the Second Bureau died and operatives were purged, it was too suspicious that they didn’t leave anyone by your side.”

“They clearly withdrew…”

“Usually the most trusted person is the most suspected person.”

The colonel told me. To doubt everything and be persistently tenacious.

That’s how intelligence agency people are.

And decisively,

“Do you think we’d lose a tail to a civilian with no training?”

This woman doesn’t have the ability to shake off surveillance.

“Holy Maiden.”

“…”

“You don’t know what will happen if you go back now, do you?”

Veronica nodded with a pale face.

I picked up her shoes and threw them far away.

“Let’s go on a little date.”

Episode 2 – Heroes of the Continent

Wiretapping isn’t as easy as it sounds.

Diplomatic missions, national security facilities, and even conference rooms are equipped with countermeasures against eavesdropping.

So espionage can be seen as an endless battle between spear and shield.

A battlefield without gunfire between those seeking information and those protecting it.

We call this battlefield the world of espionage, and those who fight in it, agents.

And here are the agents.

“Hey, make the sound more audible.”

“I’m working on it.”

These are people trying to obtain information.

Specifically, they’re the Imperial Guardian Office operation team supervising Holy Maiden Veronica. Essentially a task force.

For the past several years, the operation team has been active with the purpose of supporting lobbying activities. Now that Holy Maiden Veronica has become a proper lobbyist, they are monitors who prevent information leaks and interfere with foreign intelligence operations.

So as soon as they heard the Holy Maiden was going out, they began wiretapping.

The operation officer shouted.

“Do something about the sound!”

The wiretapping expert replied.

“I can’t hear anything because of the rain.”

Wiretapping is ultimately done by people, and wiretapping devices are made by people.

Naturally, they can’t be perfect.

When ambient noise mixes with conversation, there’s no way to know exactly what’s being discussed.

In other words, the wiretapping becomes neutralized.

“Sound analysis team. Have you figured anything out?”

“Analysis indicates the subject is attempting to defect.”

“Ah, this is maddening.”

Veronica is attempting to defect.

Upon hearing this report, the operation officer paced around the small room.

While he knew espionage was a frustrating battlefield that crossed between legal and illegal, intervening now without evidence would inevitably lead to diplomatic conflict.

The surveillance target was nominally a Holy Maiden of the Order, and the person she contacted was a hero’s companion.

First, they needed to separate the two. Then either persuade or threaten Veronica to prevent her from having foolish thoughts.

“Hey, send some people under the bridge. Make them look like they’re exercising.”

“What? It’s pouring rain right now.”

“Just send them, no arguments.”

If wiretapping doesn’t work, they need to attach surveillance.

The agent who unfortunately had to run around in the pouring rain sighed as he tightened his shoelaces.

And shortly after,

“There’s no one under the bridge!”

“What?”

A report came in that the surveillance target had disappeared.

*

Early summer dawn.

Under a night sky pouring with rain, an unexpected chase broke out.

The first to move were those who noticed the wiretapping and surveillance.

“Let’s move quickly. They’ll be after us soon.”

“Now? In this downpour…”

Veronica hesitated as she looked around. The shoes with the wiretapping device had already been thrown into the river, and outside, heavy rain was pouring.

Moreover, she was barefoot now. Running on the road barefoot would surely tear and injure her soles.

The major grabbed her shoulder.

“If we don’t go now, the Guardian Office will catch us.”

“…”

“I can return to the embassy, but you have nowhere to go.”

Veronica is a Holy Maiden of the Order.

She has a room with ironclad security at the Order’s headquarters.

But Guardian Office agents penetrated that security and infiltrated inside.

They even planted an operative in her inner circle.

And they weren’t caught.

“They probably made these plans from the moment you caught the Emperor’s eye, right?”

“…Let’s hurry.”

So the agent began to flee with the lobbyist.

Naturally, pursuit followed.

As soon as they realized the wiretapping had been discovered, the Imperial Guardian Office moved.

“Deploy everyone.”

“Yes, sir.”

Agents who had been lying in ambush nearby began the pursuit.

“Without shoes, she couldn’t have gone far. Check all the alleys.”

The pursuit team caught up, and the operation officer in the control room grabbed the microphone.

“Hey, send Team 1 to the embassy.”

“The embassy? You mean the Kingdom’s embassy?”

“Yes. That’s the only safe place right now.”

The person she contacted is a soldier from the Kingdom.

Though not certain, he’s presumed to be from Military Intelligence.

He would have anticipated pursuit and headed for the safest location.

And diplomatic missions are legally recognized as foreign territory.

So.

“If Veronica enters the embassy, we can’t catch her. Send people to wait in front of the embassy immediately.”

“We’ll guide them along the shortest route.”

The Kingdom’s embassy is treated as Kingdom territory.

Neither the Imperial Guardian Office nor the Inquisition can intrude there freely.

“Catch her before she enters.”

*

-‘Team 2. Search of alleys near the bridge complete. No unusual findings so far.’

-‘Team 3. Search of inns and hotels within 5km radius complete. No reports of male-female pairs checking in.’

In the Imperial Guardian Office’s disguised situation room.

The operation officer who confirmed the reports from all operation teams let out a slight sigh.

The surveillance target still hadn’t been caught.

Anxiously gripping his chair, the operation officer asked an agent.

“Did you check Veronica’s financial transaction history?”

“No transactions, including cash withdrawals, have occurred.”

“Does Veronica carry a wallet?”

“Yes. She doesn’t usually carry cash.”

“Damn it.”

They can’t track the funds.

The agent accompanying her seems to know that we would check financial transaction records first.

Someone with at least minimal knowledge of tracking.

-‘Team 1. We’re monitoring the embassy’s main gate, but no one has arrived.’

The operation officer looked at his wristwatch. Already 20 minutes had passed.

“Can they reach the embassy in 20 minutes while fleeing barefoot?”

“Impossible. Considering both the distance and current weather conditions, they can’t arrive with Veronica in 20 minutes.”

“Team 1. Stay in ambush near the embassy’s main gate and continue surveillance.”

-‘Understood.’

Despite tracking for over 30 minutes, not even a strand of hair had been seen.

Even though they were moving with a civilian.

The operation officer spoke to the agent sitting across the table.

“Have you tapped into the Inquisition’s communications?”

The sharp-witted interception agent replied.

“No news from the checkpoints yet.”

“What about the outer checkpoints?”

“No news there either.”

This means they haven’t left the Order’s central area.

The two are still staying in the center of the Order.

Just as he was considering whether to move agents to continue the search,

“Veronica’s phone is ringing!”

“What? Locate the position immediately!”

A ray of light began to appear. The experts succeeded in tracing the signal to determine the location.

“It’s a building 6km southeast from the bridge!”

The operation officer grabbed the microphone and issued orders.

“Teams 2 and 3. I’ll give you the building location, search it thoroughly. Right now!”

They succeeded in tightening the net.

*

Guardian Office agents enter the building.

“…13. 14…17.”

There were 17 in total.

I carefully examined the second hand of my wristwatch.

At exactly 1 minute and 51 seconds.

-‘Hands up!’

Through the communication device, I heard doors being broken down and shouting, and through the window, I could see agents with pistols searching the room.

They continued their rough search for quite some time, flipping beds, throwing open closets, and opening bathroom doors.

For a full 2 minutes.

While the Guardian Office agents continued their meaningless search.

I was on the rooftop of the opposite building, taking photos of their faces.

-‘Yes, Major.’

“Pippin, I took some photos. Send them to Intelligence later.”

-‘…Whose photos are they?’

Around the 3-minute mark, the Guardian Office agents, realizing they’d come up empty-handed, kicked a chair and left the room.

“Idiots.”

*

“…Is this a date?”

“What else would a date be?”

“I was expecting a restaurant.”

Veronica spoke nonsense lightly. She seems to be feeling a bit better now.

She’s currently wrapped in a blanket, drying her wet hair with a towel.

“Where did you take my phone?”

“I left it in the inn room. The Guardian Office people will probably take it. You can get it back later.”

“Ha.”

“You couldn’t use it anyway since your communications are being monitored.”

I brought Veronica to a ‘safe’ place.

A place even the Guardian Office wouldn’t expect.

“Is this really safer than the embassy?”

“Who would think a Holy Maiden would hide in an old warehouse?”

A place where I used to meet with Pippin.

A Military Intelligence communication interception office disguised as an old restaurant warehouse.

The Imperial Guardian Office doesn’t know about it, and even the Inquisition is unaware. It’s the perfect place to hide temporarily.

“They would have expected us to go to the embassy. Do you think I’m crazy enough to go there?”

Unless the Imperial Guardian Office can read my mind like some fortune teller, they would certainly have expected the embassy as our destination.

It’s essentially foreign territory recognized by international law and diplomatic conventions. Naturally, neither the Inquisition nor the Guardian Office can enter the embassy. Barging in would risk war.

It has security and is protected by law.

It’s a place where one would naturally assume we’d flee to.

That’s why we didn’t go there.

“What exactly is this place?”

“Military secret.”

“Am I trying to know too much again?”

“You catch on quickly.”

Veronica pressed her lips tightly shut.

Now that an outsider has discovered this office, it must be closed. Or the witness’s mouth must be silenced.

That’s for the colonel to handle, and I’ll do what I need to do.

I am a spy.

A person who collects information.

“Holy Maiden.”

“Yes.”

“Tell me everything you know.”

“…”

“You seem to know something interesting.”