Ch.326Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Wizards

The cat beastman, who cried with a strange sound, drove the car onto the highway.

Though the powerful engine noise and fierce wind beating against the windows came from outside the vehicle, inside there was only a suffocating silence.

I sat in the back seat, gazing with a curious look at the black tail swaying beyond the seat, lost in thought.

“……”

Why on earth is a beastman in the intelligence unit?

They say the world has become more favorable to beastmen, but the military is a conservative institution. It’s beyond being behind the times—it’s anachronistic.

And within the conservative and closed military, the intelligence unit is the most conservative and extremely closed-off place.

Though I haven’t worked at the Military Intelligence Bureau for more than ten years, I’ve never heard or seen beastmen working in intelligence units.

Is he really a Military Intelligence Bureau employee?

Just as I was wondering this, the car left the highway and began driving down a remote country road.

An isolated rural road illuminated by old magic lamps.

At the far end of that distant road, I could see a lone building standing.

At that moment, the beastman in the driver’s seat reported into the radio.

“Now passing through the main gate, nya.”

It meant we had arrived at the safe house.

Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Wizards

Until the moment the car slid through the main gate and entered the tent-covered parking lot, the beastman offered no explanation.

“Where is this place, nya…”

Just then, someone answered my question.

“It’s a safe house, sir.”

“Oh, Jake.”

“You’re finally here.”

“Pippin’s here too?”

It was Pippin and Jake.

As Leoni had said, all my subordinates were here. Pippin and Jake were leaning against a wall near the parking lot.

As I stepped out of the tent and looked around at the scenery, Jake pulled back the canvas and trudged over, breaking the silence.

“You’re late, sir.”

“I had some things to take care of. Why are you two here?”

“We’re not really sure ourselves.”

Pippin answered. He followed Jake out of the tent and began explaining in a tired voice.

“You don’t know why?”

“After returning from leave, we were waiting at the company housing when orders came to come here. Both of us received them.”

“Who ordered you to come here?”

“Director Leoni, sir.”

The person who had my team members waiting was none other than Leoni.

When I got the expected answer to my confirming question, I nodded and looked around.

This place where the safe house was located was very remote. The access road was barely wide enough for one car to pass through.

The surrounding area was dense with fields and trees, as if the building had been constructed on a clearing where forest had been removed. The building itself was a simple structure of slate and brick commonly seen in industrial complexes.

Just then, the beastman who had gotten out of the car went inside the building.

So that’s where we need to go. I moved toward the building with Pippin and Jake, conducting a basic inquiry.

“So Leoni gave you instructions to come here, but you don’t know why?”

“Yes. Did you get an explanation before coming, sir?”

“No.”

I was in the same boat, having received no explanation either.

Instead, Pippin and Jake, who had arrived before me, gave me a few pieces of information.

“There are people waiting inside.”

“People? Company employees?”

“I’m not sure about their affiliation. But they don’t seem to be from Military Intelligence.”

“Then they must be from the Royal Intelligence Service.”

Jake nodded, adding that he thought the same.

Combining Pippin and Jake’s observations, the situation inside the building was as follows:

First, there weren’t any special facilities inside the building. There were several rooms, but the people inside hadn’t come out for hours.

Second, equipment was piled up inside. There were rows of folding chairs, and in front of them, a screen and magic projector had been set up.

Pippin described the scene like this:

“It looked like an auditorium. Seems like they’re preparing for a briefing.”

“A briefing…”

A briefing where employees are gathered at an undisclosed location. Not exactly a welcome situation. Setting up a place outside the company means the operation is already on track, and they’re minimizing the connection between headquarters and the field team.

In other words,

“Looks like we arrived a bit late.”

We’ve joined an operation that’s already in progress as latecomers. Or perhaps a large-scale joint operation involving multiple teams is starting. Based on my experience, there were only these two possibilities.

When I mentioned this, Jake grinned and quipped:

“That’s why you should have come earlier, sir.”

“Shut up, you punk.”

Anyway, it’s not a good situation.

I hurriedly led Pippin and Jake into the building.

And the moment I crossed the threshold of the entrance,

I was shocked by the scene before me.

“What the…”

The inside of the building was in chaos. Folding chairs were scattered everywhere, and unfamiliar people were milling about uncertainly.

And against this backdrop, the cat beastman was running away frantically while Charnoi was chasing him, pushing chairs aside…

“This damned furball deceived Charnoi! Telling such a shameless lie to Charnoi’s convent schoolmate about joining a trading company…!”

“Nyaaaaaaaa!”

“If I catch you now, I’ll negotiate your skull down to three pieces…!”

“Meoooowww…!”

Between the nymph wielding a chair attempting to deliver a chair shot and the beastman fleeing on all fours, I felt a sudden dizziness rising and groaned, holding my forehead.

“Ah…”

I already want to go home.

*

Cleaning up the chaotic scene wasn’t easy. It took just over 30 minutes to set the scattered chairs upright and carefully check for any disconnected wires.

Only after removing the broken chairs, bringing in new ones, and placing them in the auditorium could I finally properly introduce myself to the people.

“Matthew, operation team leader.”

A man with a bluish chin, as if he had just shaved, extended his hand and introduced himself.

“Frederick Nostrim.”

The man who introduced himself as the operation team leader pointed to the man beside him, who wore horn-rimmed glasses.

“This is Deputy Team Leader Steven.”

“Nice to meet you.”

The deputy team leader also extended his hand for a handshake. As I exchanged greetings with him, I slowly examined the team leader and his deputy.

There was something peculiar about the operation team leader and deputy. The relatively younger deputy appeared to be in his early 40s, while the team leader looked close to 50, having passed his 40s.

Considering that in intelligence agencies, people who work in the “field” typically move to desk jobs after their 30s, it was highly unusual for these older men to be leading an “operation team.”

Of course, other characteristics caught my eye as well, the most striking being the team leader’s appearance.

“…Hmm.”

Setting aside the deputy’s old-fashioned horn-rimmed glasses, the team leader had a different aura about him. His gaze alone seemed capable of intimidating someone.

Lost in thought about his somehow familiar appearance, I raised my eyebrows as I recalled a purple alien from Marvel movies I’d seen decades ago.

Ah, yes. Thanos. That was the name.

Come to think of it, long ago, before the department store bombing, Camilla had mentioned something similar when she visited Abas. She said someone who looked like Thanos seemed to be following her from the arrival hall.

I thought he looked familiar. So we’ve met before.

After greeting the deputy team leader, I asked the operation team leader:

“Haven’t we met somewhere before?”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

The team leader, who appeared to be in his 50s, calmly played it off. Though his expression was composed, I could tell from the nuance in his words and non-verbal cues that he was lying.

I nodded.

“Let’s leave it at that, then.”

The horn-rimmed glasses-wearing deputy pointed to the people standing behind him and a room, speaking up:

“Over there is our team. And in the back are the analysis team and support team.”

One field team, an analysis team, and a support team. A simple but complete configuration.

Every face was unfamiliar to me. As I suspected, they seemed to be intelligence officers from the Royal Intelligence Service.

While my gaze swept over the people in the back and beyond the door, the operation team leader, having spoken with the deputy, turned his attention to me.

“Are those people your team?”

The team leader pointed at Pippin and Jake as he asked.

I nodded in response.

“Is that nymph also part of your team?”

“……”

The team leader’s question naturally made me turn around. Behind me was Charnoi, held firmly in Pippin’s arms, angrily munching on a honey candy.

The nymph, who had been chasing the cat beastman who entered first with murderous intent, was now calming down with a honey candy in her mouth. To be precise, Jake had captured Charnoi as she was about to deliver a chair shot to the beastman like a scene from Tom and Jerry, and Pippin had managed to pacify her anger by putting a honey candy in her mouth.

Still, something seemed to be bothering her, as Charnoi looked at me with a sulky expression before spotting the beastman standing behind the team leader and deputy, then snorting and turning away.

“……”

Breaking the silence, the deputy team leader casually joked:

“I heard that Caer and your team member are friends. The kid is quite energetic.”

So the beastman’s name is Caer. It was a name I’d heard before. Right after being released from the Inspection Office’s investigation, while eating pizza, a beastman who claimed to be Charnoi’s friend appeared at the pizza place, and his name was Caer. I clearly remember him having slightly tanned skin then, but now his skin was pale white.

I thought he looked familiar. I must have only glimpsed his face in passing, so I couldn’t recall immediately.

Regardless, overwhelmed by embarrassment and mixed feelings, I covered my face with my hand and mumbled:

“…I’m sorry about that.”

“Kids will be kids.”

As the operation team leader smoothly continued the deputy’s joke, a firmly closed door opened.

The door that had remained shut for hours opened, and a person appeared. A relatively young staff member came to the front of the door and shouted energetically toward us:

“Briefing will begin shortly! Please wait at your seats!”

“Finally starting.”

The operation team leader snapped his fingers, giving orders to his team members.

As the crowd bustled about finding their seats, I gestured to Pippin, who was still holding Charnoi tightly, and Jake, who was holding the container of honey candies.

“Let’s go too.”

*

The lights go out, and the magic projector illuminates the screen. In the dimly lit temporary building, not even a rustling sound breaks the silence, only the tapping of a cane echoing through the space.

“Ugh…”

The source of the sound was the man who had emerged from the room.

The man had thinning hair on the sides and crown, with a hairline that had receded almost to the top of his head—a classic case of male pattern baldness. Seemingly having difficulty moving, the cane-wielding man struggled to move his protruding belly as he stood in front of the screen.

Cough! Cough! The man coughed violently before even beginning to speak. He appeared to have a terrible cold.

After blowing his nose into a handkerchief, the man finally began speaking in a nasal voice:

“Phew… I feel alive now. Sorry, friends. It was an unsightly display, wasn’t it?”

The man with the cane waved his hand in a seemingly cheerful tone, apparently trying to lighten the tense atmosphere. But nothing happened.

“……”

“……”

Neither I, Pippin, Jake, Charnoi, nor even the presumed Royal Intelligence Service members showed any reaction to the man’s words. In fact, as soon as the man opened his mouth, the operation team leader and deputy openly sighed.

“Of all people, he got assigned here.”

“Tell me about it.”

“……”

From the exchange between the operation team leader and deputy, I sensed something was wrong.

Though their voices were too low to be heard, the man with the cane, sensing the chilly silence, blinked in confusion before forcing an awkward smile and changing the subject.

“Ah, um, yes… Anyway, thanks everyone for gathering on time. The director—formerly section chief—Director Leoni said he’d half kill me if I messed up the briefing, so I’ll explain briefly, clearly, and concisely. But since there are some new faces here, let me tell a bit of history… We were simple people, isolated in our offices, thinking only about our own work.”

As the man’s voice, mixed with nasal tones and unstable pronunciation, continued, the operation team leader shook his head and muttered:

“Good Lord. This is maddening…”

My bad feeling was correct.

The overweight man with the cane began gesticulating with his short arms, passionately continuing his rambling. It was such a sudden and disjointed narrative that I couldn’t grasp what he was trying to say, but I was able to determine that he was an analyst responsible for analysis work.

To be precise, that’s all I could determine.

“…That’s an analyst?”

I was dumbfounded.

The analyst, apparently not hearing my voice, continued talking to himself for quite some time. Watching from the side, a subordinate analyst called out to him in an urgent voice:

“Senior… Senior!”

“Oh, um, yes. I got sidetracked again.”

The man awkwardly scratched his head, tapping the ground with his cane.

“Thanks for letting me know. Now, let’s talk about why we’re gathered here. That is, the ‘project’ we’ll be working on together…”

With a click, the man twisted his body while leaning on his cane and aimed the remote at the projector. As he pressed the button, the screen changed, and text appeared.

The first page of the document, which I was seeing for the first time, contained only two phrases:

Operation Name: Magic.

Military Top Secret.

“…Friends.”

The man who had operated the remote grinned as he addressed us.

“Have any of you ever killed wanted wizards before?”