Ch.334Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Wizards (End)

# Francesca got into the passenger seat.

The diplomatic vehicle owned by the Abbas embassy offered a satisfying ride.

The foreign car, worth far more than a salaried worker’s annual income, was invincible, and the diplomatic license plate that could brush off police checkpoints was divine. There wasn’t a single thing to dislike about it.

Except that it wasn’t mine.

“Where are we going?” Francesca asked from the passenger seat with tired eyes.

I placed my hands on the steering wheel and asked her in return, “Just tell me anywhere you want to go.”

# Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Wizards

In the deep hours before dawn.

I drove through the brilliantly lit downtown of Petrograd and arrived at the place Francesca had mentioned.

The place she wanted to go was the riverside.

The dark brown river flowed through the city under the fallen darkness. The massive river, shifting like scales, embraced the city’s brilliant lights and scattered chaotic reflections.

The cold water flowing south drew a line between the old town and the new district.

The riverside I arrived at by Francesca’s request was a familiar place. It was exactly where I had met with Camilla just a month ago when I helped with the defection operation.

“…”

The riverside I visited after a long time remained unchanged.

The lights of vehicles racing on the road, the brilliant illuminations shining from different positions.

What brightened the darkness was the different lives of different people.

Sitting on the hood, I blurted out toward the night view of the two cities reflected in the river.

“It’s completely different. In the north, people can’t even light candles freely. Here, you can’t even tell if it’s day or night.”

Francesca, standing beside me with her arms crossed, responded.

“It’s the safest city in the Empire, after all.”

“True, turning on lights in Petrograd doesn’t cause trouble.”

“No bandits stealing rationed food, no soldiers barking at you to turn off lights. It’s practically heaven.”

Francesca kept her gaze fixed on the river. It wasn’t much different from how she had remained silent during our drive through the city, staring out the window.

With an expressionless face staring at the lights reflected in the river, she began to mutter in a casual voice.

“Did you get everything you wanted?”

“…”

“I’m asking because it seems you still have business with me.”

At Francesca’s urging to get to the point, I immediately responded.

“Thank you for your cooperation with the operation, Francesca. Thanks to you, I was able to wrap up the business smoothly.”

The operation was successful.

Regardless of how it happened, that’s the most important fact. I continued the conversation in a calm tone.

“I handled the cleanup neatly, but how did people react?”

“No one seems to know.”

Francesca began to share information about foreign investigative agencies.

“It’s uncertain how the military government headquarters that received the report will respond since I don’t have connections in the military, but the Imperial Magic Department and Imperial Police seem to know nothing.”

“And the Inquisition has nothing to say?”

“They’re the same as usual. For them, assisting Saint Lucia and dealing with the demon incident are the top priorities.”

“What about the Magic Tower?”

“The Magic Tower…”

Seeming lost in thought while staring at the river, Francesca took a shallow breath.

“They don’t seem to know either.”

This intelligence matched exactly with what I had been reported.

Intelligence officers stationed at the Magic Tower and the Kiyen Empire, under Leoni’s orders, conducted surveillance on various governments. High-ranking officials, intelligence agency staff, investigation agency executives, and even the families of civilian government employees.

The monitoring revealed that there was still no movement from the Kiyen Empire, the Magic Tower, or the Church, which meant my cleanup had been thorough and the operation had been “perfectly” successful.

But one problem remained.

“Magic Tower people are preparing to return soon. How long do you think it will take for the Oracle to notice that five Secretariat staff have disappeared?”

“…”

This operation wasn’t an arrest operation but an assassination operation. A paramilitary operation, one branch of covert operations. With force involved, it’s the most dangerous and difficult type of operation.

In other words, plausible deniability would likely not work.

While Jean Marboya’s death had already been reported to the Oracle, the deaths of Karim Boumediene, Gabi Schneider, Ahmad bin Rabani, and Juan Pablo Martinez had not even been reported yet. All four were eliminated by the Abbas intelligence agency—except for Gabi Schneider, whose head exploded during interrogation.

All five were staff of the Magic Tower Secretariat operating in the north and seconded to the Magic Tower delegation.

And Francesca was a high-ranking official of the Magic Tower Secretariat and the leader of the Magic Tower delegation.

So, naturally, the Oracle would hold Francesca accountable. They would ask where, why, and how five Secretariat staff went missing. They would also question why she hadn’t reported it.

After a moment of looking at the city’s night view, I began to speak with a serious expression.

What I was about to say required some consideration.

“They’re looking for someone to take responsibility.”

“…Responsibility?”

“Yes.”

Leoni had entrusted me with finishing the operation.

To minimize gossip. To ensure no responsibility fell back on the company.

At first glance, it might sound like self-serving nonsense, but it actually meant not letting the Abbas government be suspected as being behind the assassination operation. Even if the targets were necromancers, once firearms were discharged in foreign territory under martial law, the Imperial government would inevitably hold the Abbas government responsible in some form.

And intelligence agencies exist to prevent such situations from occurring.

She seemed to understand this.

“…So you’re saying I should take the blame.”

“You were caught on video eliminating Martinez. Why did you go that far?”

The answer didn’t come immediately.

After a brief pause, Francesca slightly raised her head and said:

“I saw Ahmad hurriedly leaving the hotel and followed him. I saw him meet up with Martinez, saw the undead attacking people, and saw Martinez fleeing alone. I went after him.”

“Were you trying to stop him?”

“Yes… maybe that’s it.”

It was a deflating response. Francesca, muttering something incomprehensible in a weak voice, didn’t properly explain why she had pursued Martinez.

Perhaps she herself didn’t know why she had followed Martinez.

That thought occurred to me when Francesca spoke.

“But that’s not what’s important, is it?”

Francesca leaned against the car with her arms crossed, looking at the river. Despite the terrible situation, she was muttering with an incredibly calm demeanor.

Her eyes drooped like those of an overworked office worker, and her hair was disheveled. With tired eyes gazing at the night view, Francesca’s voice sounded somewhat drained.

“What would you like me to do, Officer?”

“Would that be acceptable to you?”

I quietly looked at her profile.

“If things go wrong, your life could be at stake. Even if not, you could spend decades in prison.”

“Prison. Prison…”

Repeating the word “prison,” Francesca lowered her gaze. As her hair fell across her face, I suddenly noticed her lips curving into a smile through the strands.

“Rather than living in constant fear, wondering who’s watching me and from where, wouldn’t prison be better?”

With a bitter smile, Francesca muttered matter-of-factly. Her words were dry. She added:

“There’s video evidence. And in my room, there are several suspicious items that Martinez, Ahmad, and Karim kept. Books banned by the Oracle, illegal research records, black magic artifacts…”

“…”

“With this much evidence, I might not even go to prison. There’s a bounty on necromancers’ heads. Still, I’ll have to undergo investigation for months, and I’ll never be able to set foot on Imperial soil again.”

Francesca talked as if it were someone else’s problem. She had a mindset of not caring what happened.

Watching her silently, I suddenly asked her a question.

“Is this your first time killing someone?”

The smile disappeared from Francesca’s lips. The face that had worn a bitter smile visibly sank. In place of the seemingly painted-on smile was an undisguisable heaviness.

Come to think of it, she smelled faintly of alcohol. Whether she had been drinking heavily before meeting me, her eyes were strangely unfocused.

“When I go back to my quarters, I wash up, eat, and the next morning I drink until my head splits. Sleeping pills would work too, but I find alcohol a bit better.”

“…Does getting drunk like that make it better?”

“No.”

How could killing someone ever be okay? It just makes your head hurt from the hangover.

“Then why do you drink?”

“Because you get used to it.”

“…”

“You can’t forget painful memories, but you can get used to them. You might not be able to bear it, but once you get used to it, you’ll eventually learn how to live with it.”

I put my hands in my pockets and looked up at the night sky. The stars, obscured by pollution, had long since disappeared into the darkness.

But the brightest star.

That one star was shining in the dim night sky.

Gazing at the twinkling star, I spoke to Francesca.

“You might end up in detention during the investigation. Have you ever been in detention?”

“No. I’m more diligent than I look.”

“It’s not a nice place.”

“You talk as if you’ve been there.”

“I have.”

“When?”

“Briefly, for work.”

It’s not exactly a good memory. Not something to proudly tell others about.

Breaking from my thoughts, I pulled my hand out of my pocket. In my palm was a shiny crystal ball.

I placed it on the hood and slid it toward Francesca.

Francesca stared at it blankly.

“What is this?”

“That’s the video I mentioned earlier.”

“…What?”

Her gaze, which had been admiring the night view, turned toward me. For the first time since getting into the passenger seat, Francesca met my eyes.

“I’ll handle the missing documents at my level, so don’t worry about it. Keep this. You can destroy it, use it somehow, do whatever you want with it.”

“Why are you giving this to me…?”

“Take it.”

I held out the crystal ball to her. And in a casual tone, I continued:

“The operation is over anyway, and the cleanup is done, so I don’t need it. If I take it back, it’ll just rot in the company archives for about 50 years before being destroyed. What use is a video of a necromancer dying? I checked, and there’s nothing special in it. Just take it.”

With the operation over, what’s the point of worrying about responsibility? The concern that the assassination operation might be discovered by Imperial intelligence would have been raised when the plan was first formulated.

In fact, most intelligence operations were like that. How many counterintelligence agencies in the world weren’t red-eyed from trying to catch spies? The possibility that people might die or operations might fail exists in every intelligence officer’s mind.

What could the Imperial bastards do even if they found out?

Both the Empire and Abbas have been caught assassinating people in each other’s territories more than once. One more addition won’t change anything.

Even if the Imperial Guard or Counterintelligence Command discovers it, the dead necromancer won’t come back to life.

“Will you be alright?”

Francesca, touching the crystal ball, abruptly asked me.

“If your superiors find out, they’ll surely hold you responsible.”

“I’ll just take the disciplinary action and be done with it.”

If they’re upset, they can fire me and hire someone new.

I propped myself up on the hood with my hand and looked up at the night sky. The single bright star was twinkling, casting a soft light in the darkness.

Francesca, with her shoulders drooping weakly, began to look at me with a strange gaze. It was an unusually lifeless appearance, clearly different from her usual self.

She asked me:

“…Why are you doing this?”

Francesca continued:

“Couldn’t you just ignore it and move on? Didn’t we meet with the intention of using each other from the beginning?”

She smiled lightly. It was a mocking smile.

I couldn’t tell who she was mocking. Was the smile directed at me, or at herself? I wasn’t sure.

“If it were me, I think I would have done that.”

“…”

“It’s an opportunity, isn’t it?”

Yes, it is an opportunity.

Both death and responsibility eventually become opportunities for someone. Many people somehow squeeze into vacant positions to reach higher places.

“Going against orders, taking risks. Leaving the easy path to take a detour—I don’t understand it.”

To this, Francesca urged a response with a crooked smile.

“Is there a reason you’re going this far, Officer?”

I answered without much thought:

“Didn’t I tell you before? It’s my job to ensure your safety.”

“…”

“And even if it’s an order, I can’t just do what I’m told all the time, can I? I’m not some errand boy.”

Francesca silently looked at me with a strange gaze.

“Is that an answer?”

“I’m a wage earner. The company is just a workplace after all.”

So why would there be any special reason?

“If I don’t like it, I can quit and find another job.”

“…”

“That’s just how company life is.”

*

After maintaining silence for a long time, Francesca disappeared into the blue-tinged downtown of Petrograd as dawn broke.

That morning.

I received news from the Magic Tower branch of Military Intelligence that Francesca had gone to the Magic Tower Security.

The crimes of the five who had made pacts with demons were revealed to the world.

And she had turned herself in.

The charge was murder.

End of Episode 13 – There Is No Country for Wizards