Ch.52Episode 3 – Fantastic Vacation

As the investigators began to move, the operation commenced.

There were at least five agents staked out at the scene. Each one had the spy in their sights without any blind spots, positioned in perfect locations to block escape routes at a moment’s notice.

It felt like watching an intricately arranged chessboard. Judging by how they conducted surveillance without being noticed, they clearly had considerable field experience.

“Coffee?”

“No, I’d prefer tea.”

“Tea is nice. What about you, Major?”

“Coffee is fine.”

I replied nonchalantly.

“How many sugar cubes would you like?”

“None, thank you. I don’t particularly care for sweet things.”

Giada Bianchi handed me the cup as if offering personally brewed coffee. I took a sip and slowly turned things over in my mind.

So far, there hadn’t been any major issues. Giada Bianchi hadn’t noticed the surveillance, and she was simply offering coffee to Camilla Lowell and me without showing any suspicious behavior.

Everything would be perfect if only the investigators who had gone up to the surface would come back down. That was actually the most important part, but I had no way to communicate with them, so I couldn’t know exactly where the team leader was.

Still, it was impossible to arrest Giada Bianchi as a spy right here. If she were an ordinary spy, perhaps, but trying to arrest a magician with “just” five people in the middle of a research facility full of civilians would be suicide. Fighting an armed spy in downtown Seoul would probably cause less damage.

Anyway, I couldn’t arrest her right now.

“……”

I needed to buy time.

Episode 3 – A Fantastic Vacation

Dealing with people is truly difficult. It’s even more so when you’re not treating them normally but trying to deceive them.

However, when you make something your profession and repeat it for years, you naturally become accustomed to it.

Moreover, intelligence agency operatives, whether they like it or not, have jobs that involve a lot of lying, and for someone like me who receives a paycheck from such an agency, backstabbing people was remarkably easy.

So I started spinning tales.

“…So your current work involves developing pharmaceuticals, correct?”

“Yes. I’m researching medications used to treat casualties that occur during combat.”

“That’s impressive.”

Since I had already memorized all the materials related to the spy, this wasn’t particularly challenging.

“Where does such technology come from?”

“The core technology emerged from the Magic Tower six years ago. I participated in the research during my studies abroad, working with alchemists on neural modulators, immune regulators, and glial cell-focused medications to replace traditional potions and healing spells. We’re using that as our foundation to…”

Of course, I couldn’t stall for hours, but the knowledge in my head would buy me at least ten minutes.

I continued asking questions about the project Giada Bianchi was currently overseeing.

This was possible because I had lied about having a senior from the military who was participating in a medical system improvement project at the Ministry of Defense.

“So is the goal to enhance physical functions? Or is it aimed at wound regeneration?”

Of course, this was half true and half false.

It was true that someone I knew was involved in the medical system improvement project, but I conveniently omitted the fact that this person was the head of the counterintelligence department of military intelligence, directing counterespionage activities to catch industrial spies.

Anyway, Giada Bianchi didn’t show any suspicion. On the contrary, she would eagerly ramble on at the slightest prompt from me.

This was expected. Despite being a spy, her essence was that of a scholar and researcher.

And people of this type, regardless of nationality or race, typically can’t resist talking about their field of expertise.

“Physical enhancement is a secondary goal. We’re currently focusing on wound regeneration. If progress is made, we’ll move on to functional enhancement research in the next phase, and ultimately, we aim to help with fatigue recovery through complex physiological regulation and overcome battlefield stress.”

“Is it possible to administer it to subjects other than the injured?”

“That’s a bit difficult to discuss due to security concerns… For now, we’re not conducting research in that direction.”

It was absurd for a spy to mention security, but since she was headed for prison anyway, I didn’t particularly care.

In any case, Giada Bianchi began to gradually reveal information about the drugs being developed at the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute.

As time passed, the conversation became increasingly difficult to follow with my liberal arts brain that had failed twice.

However, even after ten minutes had passed and people began to gather in the cafeteria, there was still no sign of the investigators, and my meager knowledge quickly showed its limits compared to her doctoral expertise. Eventually, the conversation began to falter precariously.

But,

As always, I found an answer.

“By the way, you mentioned you studied abroad at the Magic Tower?”

*

It was an open secret that the Magic Tower was our next destination.

This was because the Imperial Guard Office had stepped in to negotiate in place of the Imperial Foreign Ministry to clean up the mess made by reactionaries.

Although an embargo had been placed on the press corps of the Defense and Foreign Ministries, we couldn’t rule out the possibility that those demons obsessed with subscriptions and circulation might ignore it, so only journalists from major media outlets whose “identities” were certain and “trustworthy” had been tipped off in advance.

Of course, there were media outlets that, despite having press corps in various government departments, hadn’t heard the news and were spreading all sorts of rumors.

But since the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute had cut off all external communications for “security reasons,” most employees hadn’t even encountered these rumors.

Anyway, the fact that the Magic Tower was our next destination was classified information. An official announcement would be made soon, but still.

The important thing was that this classified information was indeed confidential.

“The Magic Tower?”

“Yes.”

Confidential information isn’t just limited to the top-secret classifications you see in movies. Highly personal elements like family relationships, acquaintance trends, areas of interest, hobbies, and preferences can also be crucial information.

And such information, when processed by a skilled analyst, can become excellent material usable anywhere.

“Ah, yes, I did study abroad there… Why do you ask?”

The Magic Tower is the leading group in civilized society.

Due to the long-standing persecution by the Inquisition, the foundation and basis of civilization has always been science (magic was systematized as an academic discipline just a hundred years ago), but after the war ended and the Magic Tower emerged, the age of magic began.

The magicians who gathered around the Magic Tower attempted to advance into various sectors of society, as if trying to satisfy their pent-up desires, and in the process, they displayed a hunger for knowledge stronger than any other group on the continent.

Whether this was a thirst for knowledge, a desire for revenge against the religious order, or intellectual vanity, nobody knows. They probably don’t know themselves.

But such trivial matters are completely irrelevant. What truly matters is that the Magic Tower’s desire for knowledge is beyond the imagination of ordinary people.

Would such people simply stand by and watch Camilla Lowell, a certified hero magician from “another world”? The Magic Tower had already sent an unofficial letter to our Foreign Ministry requesting to at least see Camilla Lowell’s face. I know this because I personally received that document when I was with the Order.

Those magic users wouldn’t just look at her face and leave, of course. Anyway, the Magic Tower was waiting for Camilla Lowell to come, and the Imperial Court, which had been sponsoring the Magic Tower, had also proposed through unofficial intelligence agency meetings to make the Magic Tower our next destination.

Of course, since these were unofficial meetings only between high-ranking intelligence officials, there was no possibility that the news had reached the Magic Tower.

So,

The Magic Tower was waiting for Camilla Lowell to come for some benefit,

The Magic Tower had been designated as the next destination through diplomatic talks and agency policy meetings,

But the Magic Tower itself didn’t even know if their request had been accepted and was left twiddling their thumbs.

“I think we’ll need to visit the Magic Tower soon. Given the situation as it is.”

“Ah…”

I was confident that the spy sent by the Magic Tower would take this bait.

And the spy proved my prediction correct.

“I see. What exactly are you curious about?”

Giada Bianchi smiled broadly, thinking she had caught a good lead, while I breathed a sigh of relief, believing I had bought some time.

As our conversation continued to meander in an effort to stall,

Suddenly, there was a commotion near the entrance.

The researchers who had been moving toward the cafeteria parted like the Red Sea, startled.

Wondering what was happening, I turned my head in that direction and spotted incongruous suits and military uniforms among the white lab coats.

“Huh?”

They were carrying guns.

What the hell?