Ch.435Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

A strange sound echoes through the safe house. It’s the cry of a cat beastman.

Charnoi paces around the box, holding grass plucked from the roadside in one hand and a flashlight in the other. Nymph is shining the flashlight at the box while talking to the beastman.

“Look here…!”

The bright light sweeps across the front of the box, but the beastman doesn’t react.

“Caer. Why are you just sitting there…! Hurry and chase the light…!”

Despite Nymph’s urging, the response is lackluster. Caer, crouched in the box, merely looks at his friend with an expression of disdain.

Just then, a passing Royal Intelligence Bureau employee intervenes between Nymph and the beastman. He proudly announces that he’ll “demonstrate an expert’s skill,” then shines a target designator he’d acquired from somewhere in front of the box.

As soon as the small dot appears, the beastman begins to react. Caer leaps out of the box and starts frantically pawing at the moving dot.

“Meoooww…!”

The beastman chases after the laser thinking it’s an animal, while the intelligence officers play with the expensive target designator. Not only Charnoi, but even Pippin and Jake are joining in, laughing hysterically.

What kind of intelligence agency employees are these? The country is truly doomed.

Sighing inwardly, I massage my neck and trudge inside.

“Matt. Can we start now?”

“Let’s do that.”

Episode 17 – The Blood-Drinking Tree

“How’s the situation on the ground?”

“Couldn’t be better. Everything’s going smoothly.”

“Is that so.”

In the safe house piled with equipment, I sit around a table talking with Matt.

“Could you explain exactly which parts are going smoothly?”

The conflict between Asen and Sanya. The Abas intelligence agency had been fueling the fight between the two warlords, with the help of Hassan, whose leader is Nasir, who was managed by Leoni.

The operation’s goal is to weaken both Asen and Sanya.

Attack Sanya, who cooperates with the Kiyen Empire, to diminish the imperial intelligence agency’s activities in the Moritani region, and establish stability by partnering with cooperative allies.

It was a project conceived by Leoni and implemented by me. And now, the Royal Intelligence Bureau’s operations team has taken over this project.

“You know that Sanya’s relationship with the Imperial Reconnaissance Command has soured, right?”

I nodded.

“Of course I know. I’m the one who made it happen.”

“After their relationship with Reconnaissance fell apart, the civil war situation changed significantly. It’s had a negative impact on Sanya.”

Matt continued in a calm tone.

After two intelligence officers dispatched to the detachment died, the Reconnaissance Command halted aid to Sanya.

Instead of heavy weapons and armored vehicle repair parts that burned up in the warehouse fire, they began supplying consumables like rifle ammunition, explosives, magazines, and military gear.

“If Sanya had properly received the heavy weapons and repair parts they were originally supported with, they could have overwhelmed Asen’s army. But with the warehouse burning down, they lost the momentum to push the front line. Their funding dried up, so they couldn’t even afford replacements from the black market.”

“Any news of additional support from Reconnaissance?”

“None.”

The imperial intelligence unit stopped aid after a small-scale supply of materials. They determined that the pro-imperial warlord had little chance of subduing the opposing warlord.

So, the Reconnaissance Command only provided Sanya with a bunch of mediocre consumables. Since their ammunition production facility was damaged by Asen’s raid, and they lost their drug cultivation sites and trading partners, they were having difficulty securing ammunition for the time being, so this was meant as an urgent stopgap.

Of course, with no additional support forthcoming, the small ammunition supply was like pissing on a forest fire. Sanya must have sensed that the empire had lost interest in them.

Without foreign government support, Sanya changed course to self-reliance.

“Sanya’s financiers are moving in the capital.”

Matt shared intelligence.

This was information on Sanya’s movements obtained by the Royal Intelligence Bureau.

“Looks like they’re searching for new sponsors.”

“Warlords begging for money isn’t anything new. It’s a waste of time.”

I sneered at Sanya for stirring up local notables in search of capital infusion.

“Most people who sponsor warlords on the Moritani continent have centralist tendencies. They don’t look kindly on foreign powers exerting influence on their land.”

In short, Moritani centrism. This is exactly why Wahhabi-leaning Middle Eastern oil barons support AQ (Al-Qaeda).

Although they’re mocked for wiping the bottoms of oil barons with the Quran, the help of local tycoons has been significant in allowing Middle Eastern extremist terrorist groups to operate for over 20 years. This support sometimes comes under government direction, with a prime example being Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps sponsoring Hezbollah and Hamas.

It’s very strange for Iran, a Shiite country, to support Hamas, a Sunni terrorist organization, from the perspective of the Sunni-Shiite conflict within Islam. But Iran’s desperate support for Hamas is because they share a common enemy: Israel.

After all, it’s Israel that sits in Jerusalem, willing to go to war with Middle Eastern Islamic countries. From the Iranian government’s perspective, it’s a thorn in their side they’d like to remove immediately.

But unlike the Middle East, there’s no common enemy on the Moritani continent. All countries worship Al-Yabd as their state religion, and since the Order hasn’t expanded there, there’s essentially no cause for religious conflict except for sectarian disputes.

In that sense, Sanya’s decision to borrow money from tycoons who support Moritani centrism is very stupid. After all, the Sanya warlord faction was enthusiastically doing exactly what those people hate most (receiving help from foreign powers).

Moreover, the Asen warlord faction fighting against Sanya advocates for Moritani continental centrism.

What sponsor in the world would fund a warlord attacking their own side? The very idea of reaching out to local sponsors is stupid to begin with.

Based on Sanya’s decision, I analyzed the war situation.

“Sanya must be desperate. Judging by their unusual behavior, the warlord’s situation seems quite dire.”

“With ammunition and drug production halted, they have no way to make money. If they can’t find funding, they’ll have to take out loans.”

Matt handed me a list of Sanya’s financiers operating in the capital. While I reviewed the materials, he moved on to another topic.

“While it’s true that Sanya is in trouble, I don’t think Asen will win. Sanya lost a lot of troops in the early battles when they led with sorcerers and armored units.”

“Being a Moritani centralist warlord, troop recruitment should be relatively easy. Of course, recruiting and training soldiers requires enormous funds, but Asen still has the capacity to handle increased troops. It’s Sanya who lost their cannabis fields and trading partners, not Asen.”

Rather, it’s the Group 2 warlords who are struggling.

I planned to contact Group 1 warlords through my still-maintained communication network with the Hassan warlord faction. Leoni wants either both Group 1 and Group 2, or at least Group 1, to come under Abas control.

I’m also looking into ways to entice Group 2 to our side, but it’s difficult to even attempt negotiations since I have no communication network or personally managed intelligence network with Group 2.

“So Asen is holding up reasonably well on the front lines. And while Sanya has lost many sorcerers, they still maintain a large-scale force.”

“Since Sanya’s royal guard remains intact, they would have the advantage if elite units clash. Losing their sorcerers, who were their greatest strength, is a painful loss, but they still have their armored units.”

Matt shared another piece of intelligence about Sanya.

“But it seems Sanya enjoyed the benefits of sorcerers, as they’re recruiting sorcerers in a new way.”

“Sorcerers? They can’t afford to employ as many sorcerers as before with their limited funds.”

“It looks like they’ve changed their approach to using a small elite force.”

“Ah.”

I nodded and spoke.

“If we interrogate a recruiter, we might find something useful. Information about other recruiters’ identities, areas of operation, or where the recruited sorcerers gather.”

“That’s right.”

“You’re suggesting we kidnap one?”

“Were you planning not to?”

“Just saying.”

Of course we should.

Matt spread a map on the table and took out a pen to mark a specific point.

He tapped the map with a red pen while looking at me.

“Currently, Sanya’s recruiters are enlisting sorcerers in the provinces. They’re operating mainly around refugee camps. And two days ago, one of Sanya’s mid-level recruiters appeared here.”

I checked the refugee camp Matt had marked. And naturally, a curse escaped my lips.

“Ah, shit…”

“What’s wrong?”

“This camp. My colleagues are scheduled to visit it.”

The refugee camp was the one Camilla, Lucia, and Francesca had arranged to visit.

And Sanya’s recruiter was operating right there.

When I explained the situation, Matt put down his pen and asked a question with a rather serious look.

“The Saint is going to be active in this camp?”

“Humanitarian work. Healing priests from the Order will be coming too. Of course, the holy knights who entered the country with her will be providing security.”

“When will they arrive?”

“Well…”

I checked my watch once.

“Since they left before we came to the safe house, they should arrive at the camp by dawn tomorrow at the latest. The actual humanitarian activities will start two days later.”

“We need to move first.”

Matt turned to look at the operations team.

“Everyone focus. Gather your equipment and prepare the vehicles. We’re moving out soon.”

*

A convoy of vehicles left the safe house and entered the busy road. They were vans with dark tinted windows.

Divided among three vans, we crossed the border avoiding checkpoints. Then we drove straight to the refugee camp.

In the rear vehicle, Matt conducted a briefing over the radio.

“Yunus Abdullah Mohamed. He’s an officer of the Sanya warlord faction recruiting troops in the camp. Today’s objective is to kidnap this guy and transport him to the safe house.”

He said to ask questions now if there were any. Then Bill’s voice, the deputy team leader, came over the radio.

-‘We need to tail the officer, but who are we sending?’

“Mojo, Sadif, and Zahir will go.”

Matt deployed three intelligence officers from the operations team to the field. They were Abas natives with immigrant parents from the Moritani continent.

“Jake, you go too. The more people, the better.”

“Yep.”

I decided to send Jake. Jake was an Abas citizen of Moritani descent, and thanks to his strong paternal heritage, he looked quite similar to the locals.

The intelligence officers purchased traditional clothing from a store near the border and quickly changed. Being of Moritani descent, they were indeed hard to distinguish from locals once they changed clothes.

“Do you speak the Moritani continental language?”

“Of course I do. What do you take me for?”

Jake answered with a grin. I conducted a simple test to see if he really could speak the common language of Moritani.

Surprisingly, Jake passed the test without issue. He even conversed with the intelligence officers in regional dialects rather than the common language. When I asked where he learned it, he replied that his grandmother taught him when he was young.

As I stared at Jake with wide eyes, the blonde-haired, tanned rascal flashed his rice-noodle-white teeth in a smile.

“Even in the special forces, no one could match my Moritani language skills. I was selected first because I can speak regional dialects.”

“Enough bragging… Just put on your clothes quickly.”

The intelligence officers who could speak both the Moritani common language and regional dialects finished changing and gathered their weapons. Since they would be operating inside a refugee camp, weapons were limited to pistols and knives for self-defense only.

The four intelligence officers disguised as locals disembarked 7km west of the refugee camp.

Just before they got out, Matt explained the situation to them.

“If there’s a problem, Frederick will extract you from the scene.”

“Yes.”

“Can you neutralize the peacekeeping forces’ surveillance equipment in the camp?”

“That would be difficult. Infiltrating security facilities isn’t easy.”

“Then let’s be careful not to leave traces.”

The four intelligence officers blended in with the refugees and entered the camp.

The vans that dropped off the intelligence officers began circling outside the camp, and I entered using my identity as Camilla’s colleague.

“Show me your ID, please.”

“Frederick Nostrum.”

“Ah, Major. We received word you were coming. What’s the purpose of your visit?”

“There are a few things I need to check before the Saint arrives. Nothing complicated.”

“Come in.”

As I passed through the checkpoint guided by the peacekeeping forces, I made eye contact with Jake who was ahead of me.

I nodded, and Jake turned his gaze away, disappearing into the camp.

*

Finding Sanya’s recruiter in the refugee camp was easy. Two intelligence agencies were jointly searching the camp.

Thanks to this, surveillance was a piece of cake.

“I can see Yunus.”

The observer with half his face covered by a scarf spoke into his sleeve. The target was at the far end of the direction the Royal Intelligence Bureau officer was looking.

The Sanya warlord officer was drinking tea with some local man. At what could barely be called a café.

The two sat at a table spread on the ground, engaged in a secretive conversation. I used binoculars to identify the recruiter and the local.

“Yunus Abdullah Mohamed. Confirmed. Who’s he talking to?”

-‘Black hair, brown eyes. Male of conscription age. Appears to be a recruitment target.’

Having climbed a watchtower under the pretext of checking camp security for the Saint’s safety, I monitored the scene with binoculars and a radio.

The Royal Intelligence Bureau officer who had been tailing the target was lurking near a tent with his face covered by a hood. Another officer waiting nearby relieved his colleague.

The intelligence officer who took position near the recruiter’s table concealed eavesdropping equipment under his raised hat. Technicians waiting in the van began rapidly translating the conversation between the two locals.

-‘The target is standing up with the local man. They appear to be moving.’

Matt, waiting outside the camp, grabbed his radio.

“Where are they going?”

-‘Seems they’re heading outside. A suspected Sanya warlord handler is walking with the local man toward the checkpoint.’

“I can see them from here too. A man in a brown dervish with a white coat. He’s passing through the northern checkpoint now.”

“I’ll follow.”

A van that had been circling the camp began tailing the warlord figure and local man who had left the camp.

The recruiter, heading toward the city, showed the man into a house. Caer, who nimbly jumped onto the roof, took pictures with a magical imaging device. Thanks to this, we discovered that 14 men were gathered in that house.

Even as the recruited men went to the city, the target didn’t leave his post. He killed time drinking tea, and before long, welcomed another local brought by a different man.

Watching this scene through binoculars, I reached this conclusion:

“Yunus has made contact with a new individual. Another male of conscription age. There’s one more local who brought the man, likely a Sanya recruiter. Seems to be a low-level one.”

As expected, Yunus was indeed a middle manager. Stationed at the edge of the refugee camp, he was constantly in contact with locals.

Here I glimpsed how Sanya recruited troops. Individuals presumed to be low-level recruiters would roam the camp bringing refugees, then Yunus would check if they were useful, give them a small travel allowance, and send them out of the camp.

The entire process was carried out with thorough division of labor. The initial recruiters who directly brought people, the managers who verified them, the transporters who took the recruited people out of the camp and into the nearby city, and so on.

About six Sanya warlord figures were operating in the camp. The person in charge of recruitment was Yunus.

I put down my binoculars and muttered.

“So Yunus was indeed the key figure.”

-‘Not the real mastermind. There’s a separate high-ranking officer overseeing sorcerer recruitment.’

Bill, the operations team deputy leader, responded over the radio. He emphasized that while Yunus wasn’t a high-ranking officer, it was essential to secure him.

-‘Though he’s a middle manager, he knows more information than the lower ranks. Interrogating Yunus would open a path to approach the higher-ups.’

Listening to Bill’s words, I nodded silently.

While Royal Intelligence Bureau staff evaluated Sanya’s recruitment of troops from refugee camps as a fresh approach, to me it was a commonplace warlord recruitment tactic. After all, the first place Al-Qaeda or the Taliban look when recruiting suicide bombers is refugee camps.

Of course, it’s a fresh approach by local standards. Sanya is the first to come up with the idea of recruiting soldiers from refugee camps in this area.

-‘Male of conscription age. Currently moving with the warlord recruiter. Direction is north.’

A Royal Intelligence Bureau employee who spotted a refugee leaving the camp with a low-level recruiter sent a radio message. They passed through the northern checkpoint and left the camp.

-‘The northern checkpoint seems to be the route favored by Sanya’s recruiters. Should we kidnap the target there?’

-‘I’ll consider it. By the way, what’s Yunus doing?’

I answered over the radio.

“Still drinking tea.”

The Sanya middle recruiter never left his seat. When his tea got cold, he called the waiter to warm it up, and when his cup was empty, he ordered new tea.

He also smoked cigarettes while waiting for his tea, looking quite relaxed. This probably wasn’t his first time doing this.

Four intelligence officers disguised as refugees and one military attaché observing from the watchtower. A total of five observers were watching Yunus.

Just then, Yunus, who had been drinking tea for over 10 hours, began to rise from his seat.

Finally, he’s moving.

Without taking my eyes off the binoculars, I radioed:

“Yunus is moving. All staff on standby at the scene, follow him.”

-‘Confirmed. Following now.’

A Royal Intelligence Bureau employee began pursuing the target who had left the teahouse.

The surveillance followed procedure.

The intelligence officer followed the target with careful steps, maintaining a precarious distance. When the target turned a corner, the following officer would continue straight ahead and leave the scene, while a new intelligence officer would take over the tail.

The four intelligence officers exchanged radio communications to maintain surveillance. Various voices were chaotically mixed on the radio network.

-‘Yunus is moving to the eastern 42-2 sector.’

-‘Zahir is on standby. Go straight ahead and exit.’

-‘Turning left at sector 18-6.’

-‘He’s starting to go down the stairs, but who’s at the bottom?’

-‘That’s me.’

Jake’s voice came over the network. I raised my binoculars to observe sector 18.

Jake, his blonde hair hidden under a taj, was waiting at the bottom of the stairs. After exchanging glances with the Royal Intelligence Bureau employee passing by the top of the stairs, Jake immediately began tailing Yunus.

I marked the recruiter’s movements on the map I had spread out. Having finished recruitment near the north gate, Yunus was moving southeast.

Matt and Bill analyzed that Sanya’s safe house existed in the southeastern sector of the refugee camp.

-‘Judging by the activity radius of a guy who doesn’t leave the camp, there must be a safe house inside the camp. Tail him and find out.’

-‘You want to kidnap him there? If someone gets kidnapped in a refugee camp, there will be talk.’

-‘We’ve kidnapped people in the middle of the city before, so what’s the problem? If there’s no way to lure him out of the camp, we’ll have to go in and get him ourselves.’

“Huh.”

I spoke up while listening to the radio with binoculars in hand. Matt, who was also on the radio with Bill, addressed me.

-‘What’s wrong?’

“What is he doing right now?”

My gaze was directed toward sector 18.

Through the binoculars, I could see Yunus and Jake, but suddenly Jake began to act erratically. Despite it not being time to switch, Jake abandoned the tail and changed direction.

I grabbed the radio and urgently called out.

“Jake. Respond.”

-‘……’

“What are you doing? Suddenly pulling out like that—”

Then a response came over the radio.

-‘I’ve been made.’

“…What?”

-‘The tail has been compromised. I’ll abort the operation and withdraw to the rendezvous point.’

I stared blankly at the radio.

*

The operation was halted following that communication.

The intelligence officers deployed to the field entered radio silence to prevent eavesdropping.

The intelligence officers who left the camp via different routes met at a predetermined point, boarded the waiting vans, and moved to the safe house.

Back at the safe house.

There I confronted Jake.

“What happened.”

I asked.

“Why did you suddenly leave the field without reporting? And what’s this about being compromised?”

“……”

Jake sat at the table in silence. Matt and Bill were having serious conversations with the intelligence officers who had been deployed to the field, while Pippin rubbed the back of his neck with a worried look.

“…Exactly what I said. The tail was compromised. We made eye contact.”

After maintaining silence for a while, Jake spoke up. Sitting down in a chair I’d pulled up, I looked at him incredulously.

“You made eye contact with the surveillance target. You abandoned the tail just because of that?”

For an intelligence officer conducting surveillance and tailing, there are various spine-chilling situations.

Sometimes the target who notices the surveillance suddenly quickens their pace, sometimes the route gets tangled and you lose the target. Occasionally, there are moments when you make eye contact with the surveillance target.

However, these unexpected situations don’t necessarily require terminating surveillance. The intelligence officer might be panicking and imagining things. That’s why all intelligence agencies recommend following the field commander’s judgment.

I judged that this incident stemmed from Jake’s misperception.

But.

Something was different.

“No. The target didn’t make eye contact with me. He didn’t seem to notice he was being followed.”

“…Then?”

“I made eye contact with someone else.”

“……”

“Someone I know.”

Jake, with a tense expression and clenched jaw, added:

“…And they know me too.”

I leaned forward, resting my arms on the table.

“…Who is it?”

“Ibrahim. A soldier I worked with before.”

Jake said.

“What does he do? If he’s a soldier, is he from Fatalia or Rushan?”

“Not them, but the Order.”

“The Order?”

Jake nodded. He spoke quietly.

“Holy Crusader Order Unit 92541. That’s where he was assigned, if I remember correctly.”

“…Did you say 92541?”

A voice from behind made me turn. Matt, who had been talking with Bill, was staring in our direction.

With quite a serious look.

“Hey. Are you sure the person you encountered is serving in Unit 92541? Are you certain?”

“I’m certain. We ran operations together during deployment, so I couldn’t forget. We even took photos together.”

“Wait.”

I interrupted their conversation.

“What’s this Unit 92541 or whatever that’s causing such a reaction?”

The answer to that question came from the lips of the Royal Intelligence Bureau’s paramilitary operations officer.

“Unit 92541. A special purpose unit operating under the Holy Crusader Order.”

“Special forces?”

“Not just any special forces unit.”

Matt added.

“It’s an assassination unit that captures and kills heretics.”