Ch.53Episode 3 – Fantastic Vacation (End)

Suddenly, heavily armed soldiers barged in.

They were wearing military uniforms.

Next to a uniform was another uniform, and behind that uniform was yet another uniform. They were military police armed with bulletproof vests and rifles. Judging by their equipment, they weren’t ordinary military police on guard duty but a special operations unit.

Among the special ops team, I could spot several men in suits who seemed both familiar and out of place. They were counterintelligence investigators from the Military Intelligence Bureau.

Suddenly, I realized belatedly that they were walking toward us wearing bulletproof vests over their regulation suits and holding pistols—the same suits they normally wore for commuting and field work.

Only after seeing the pale faces of the agents who had been monitoring the spy from a distance did I realize that the situation had gone completely to shit.

Something was wrong. Terribly wrong.

As soon as that thought crossed my mind, I stood up and moved next to Camilla Lowell to protect her.

The military police special ops team and heavily armed investigators raised their gun barrels into firing position, investigators who realized the operation had gone sideways abandoned their surveillance posts and rushed out, and the spy, seeing the arrest team, jumped up from her seat.

However.

The team leader moved even faster.

In a situation where no one could see one step ahead,

-BANG!

The team leader pulled the trigger, aiming at the spy.

Episode 3 – A Fantastic Vacation

A sharp gunshot cut through the air.

The team leader fired as Giada Bianchi rose from her chair, and despite being called a magician, she took a bullet to the abdomen and fell backward.

No one had expected this—civilians, soldiers, and agents alike were all startled by the sudden gunshot.

However, the special ops team, as if they had anticipated this, flinched momentarily at the sound before pouncing on Giada Bianchi as she lay on the floor, twisting her arms behind her back to subdue her.

“Everyone remain calm and stay in your seats! This is a counter-espionage operation!”

“Sir! Don’t leave, please stay seated!”

“Rookie! Bring the restraints quickly!”

“We’re just catching a spy, everyone go about your business!”

The special ops team swarmed around Giada Bianchi like flies on a corpse, quickly placing anti-magic restraints on her. Investigators with pistols ran around trying to calm the startled employees.

Employees shocked by the sudden gunshot screamed and scattered in panic, while investigators whose stakeout had gone completely sideways wandered aimlessly, unable to grasp the situation.

As I stood there dumbfounded watching this entire mess unfold, I suddenly remembered Camilla Lowell.

“Camilla! Are you okay?”

She looked up at me with a spoon still in her hand and a bewildered expression on her face.

Then she asked me:

“Um… is this a hidden camera prank?”

Thankfully, she was perfectly fine.

At least physically.

*

Despite a week of effort and sleepless nights of worry, the arrest operation concluded remarkably quickly.

The team leader briefed the confused investigators on the situation and assigned them tasks. The investigators began silencing the research facility staff and sorting all materials related to the operation into categories for destruction or preservation.

The military police special ops team had subdued Giada Bianchi. They had placed anti-magic restraints on her, effectively crippling her ability to use any magic, sorcery, or divine powers, and gagged her to prevent suicide. As soon as they left the research facility, she would be handed over to Military Intelligence.

And so the arrest operation was wrapped up, and Camilla Lowell’s physical examination was also terminated. This was expected. What examination could continue when the senior researcher conducting it had been shot and arrested as a spy? Though arresting her had been the plan all along.

Anyway, despite the plan going awry, the arrest operation was successfully completed.

The investigators followed the Military Intelligence Bureau’s closure procedures, neatly clearing out the office that had served as the operation headquarters. Additional military police who had been guarding the perimeter were deployed inside to stabilize the research facility.

And Camilla Lowell remained unaware of what she had been caught up in even as she was leaving the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute.

To be precise, she didn’t properly understand what had happened. This was unavoidable. Everyone was too busy with their own tasks, and no one had time to explain the situation to her.

Finally, before leaving the research facility, Camilla Lowell heard my explanation that “Giada Bianchi was actually a spy who had been identified and arrested by security forces,” and only then did she realize she had been caught up in a security incident.

I had left out the crucial details, but what I told her was technically true given the circumstances.

Of course, I too was unaware of those “crucial details.”

I didn’t know why the operation had gone wrong, why the team leader had shot her, or why the team leader had taken more than half the personnel to the surface.

So I made up a plausible excuse and sent Camilla Lowell off to a safe location.

Only after countless cleanup operations were completed did I learn the full story of what had happened.

“…So you’re saying the spy who was shot and captured wasn’t actually Giada Bianchi?”

“That’s correct.”

Oh, hell no.

*

To be honest, I was dumbfounded. I thought the team leader was lying.

If I had to name the three most absurd moments since arriving in this world, they would be: becoming a hero’s companion, being appointed to the Duke’s mansion, and this very moment. That’s how ridiculous this was.

And for good reason—the person who had screwed up the operation and immediately opened fire was now claiming, by way of explanation, that “the spy we thought was Giada Bianchi wasn’t actually Giada Bianchi.”

Anyone could see it was complete nonsense.

Even though I was a liberal arts major who knew nothing about magic, the team leader’s claim was beyond common sense.

“How is that even possible?”

“It appears sorcery was used. They seem to have used body parts to transform their appearance into Giada Bianchi’s.”

The team leader, with a face worn by fatigue, spouted this nonsense with complete confidence.

Some unknown magic-user or sorcerer had supposedly worn Giada Bianchi’s skin and impersonated her.

What the team leader was saying was so absurd that if you asked any passing Academy magic student, they’d tell you to stop spouting pseudo-magical nonsense and go to bed.

However, as is often the case in life, nothing is absolute.

“This is a human body part found above the ceiling of the surface residence hall.”

“……”

The team leader held up a bag containing “evidence” using only his thumb and index finger.

“Fingers, toes, hair, skin tissue. Various things were found.”

“……”

He briefly lifted the bag as if he’d seen something he shouldn’t have, then quickly set it down without further comment.

Thud. The evidence bag fell onto another bag labeled “Evidence #37.” The impact caused an unknown liquid inside to slosh around, making something thin that looked like a cornea wiggle.

“And this is information we requested from a relevant agency. It’s a report on the interrogation of a sorcerer caught smuggling drugs in the south seven years ago. He used similar sorcery to help refugees cross borders undetected by border patrols after charging them large sums of money.”

“Ah, um. Yes. I see.”

This was straight out of a horror movie.

“Anyway, the situation was so urgent we had no choice but to make the arrest. Are you alright, Major?”

“Ah, yes, well. Yes.”

“I’m glad to hear that.”

The team leader, seemingly disgusted, pushed the evidence-filled bag aside. I asked him:

“…Then where is the real Giada Bianchi? Did she actually go to study at the Magic Tower in the first place?”

“The person who went to study at the Magic Tower was indeed Giada Bianchi herself. Her family saw her off at the warp gate, so unless someone was switched at home, it was definitely her.”

“Are you saying she disappeared from the Magic Tower?”

“That’s something we don’t know yet. We’re investigators, not fortune-tellers.”

Ah, right. If we knew that, we’d quit our government jobs and become shamans. I nodded repeatedly in agreement.

The team leader took out a cigarette and lit it.

“What the hell is going on here…”

He exhaled a thin stream of smoke mixed with a sigh.

“For now, headquarters will take custody of the spy for interrogation. Given the nature of the case, there will likely be a joint investigation.”

He meant that everyone—the Royal Intelligence Agency, the Cabinet Security Office, the Special Investigation Bureau, all of them—would gather to dig into this. What I thought was a simple espionage case had suddenly grown much larger.

I had no idea what the hell was going on, but there was nothing more for me to do here.

“A magician will arrive soon, but you can head up first.”

“Are you staying here, Team Leader?”

“Yes. I need to handle the cleanup, investigate Chief Fernand, and see if anyone else is involved. What are your plans, Major?”

Honestly, after seeing what was in that bag, I had no desire to be further involved in this matter. I had also been working intensely for two months. And my job was done once the spy was captured.

“I should head back for now. I’ll be going then.”

“Take care.”

“Yes, good work.”

And so I left the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute with an uneasy feeling in the corner of my heart.

*

“Where did you say you’re from?”

“I’m from the Royal Intelligence Agency. Please get in.”

“Oh, hell no.”

Episode 3 – A Fantastic Vacation -END-