Ch.564Episode 20 – Who Threatened You with a Knife?
by fnovelpia
When the sky finally laid down its clouds, it was already deep into the night.
Perhaps the heavy gray clouds had been too burdensome. The ailing city sweated cold.
The outside world remained dark and gloomy.
But when the bowed streetlights illuminated the world where dusk had settled, the shyly glistening dewdrops responded in kind.
Camilla moved away from the downtown that had brightened momentarily.
“Are you okay?”
As she retreated from the window and began to mutter to herself, a response came from behind the partition.
“No, not at all. It’s terrible.”
“Is it serious?”
“Nothing fits. Really. He says his expensive clothes are too precious, but he just throws me these cheap things.”
“Are you bleeding? You said earlier that it hurt from the scraping.”
“It’s so red. It feels like I’m going to die from pain even when I’m still, no, I just want to die right now. I’m not a child stealing my father’s clothes, what is this…”
An awkward smile formed.
Honestly, even she thought it was a bit much. Who could have known the disguise would suddenly start coming undone?
The complaint wasn’t an exaggeration. Camilla, who had brought clothes to change into, smiled awkwardly again at the sight visible through the gap.
Loose trouser hems. Sleeves that couldn’t be fastened, let alone match in length.
The bottoms that would have surely fit hung limply on her reduced frame, barely clinging to her hips, and the shirt that slid down her narrowed shoulders hung like a curtain with unbuttoned buttons that couldn’t be fastened.
Though she covered herself for fear of showing an embarrassing appearance, the lighting she hadn’t paid attention to cast a bulging shadow through the back of the shirt.
Even her black hair, which had looked short, had now fallen to her waist in its original form.
Each of these elements made her appearance in ill-fitting clothes look even more pitiful.
“…Did they arrive safely?”
Ayla.
Because of someone who had thrown her only uncomfortable outfits, she had to go around getting scraped here and there for a while.
Finally embracing the clothes she had missed even in her dreams, she asked the girl.
“My head is already in the yard because of that tasteless potion… My second brother, that eccentric jerk who made me memorize some weird script about Louvre or condom usage or whatever.”
If it failed after her sibling helped this much.
“Honestly, don’t you think he deserves at least one punch?”
“…”
“But I still think he’s innocent…”
At the sulky question, Camilla laughed silently for a moment.
Then, with a playful smile, she shrugged her shoulders.
“Unfortunately, it was successful.”
Episode 20 – Who Threatened You With a Knife
Looking closely, it seemed as if the whole world was covered in fog.
As the wind blew quietly like an echo, the shadows of the leaves that had yet to fall grew more precariously deep.
The two men sitting diagonally across from each other looked at one another.
While the commotion that brushed past the window frame was only desolate, the man who had been silent for a while suddenly spoke up.
“Let me greet you in the Livingston way.”
The intelligence officer said with a slight smile.
“Aren’t you Director Siegmund?”
“And you must be Major Frederick.”
The intelligence agent murmured in response.
His voice seemed both dejected and bitter.
Creating a very strange feeling.
“You know me?”
At the response, the intelligence officer tilted his head. It was a gesture as if asking just how much he knew.
“Well, more or less.”
“I know you more or less too.”
This time it was the intelligence agent who responded.
“Where did you hear about me?”
Siegmund, sitting diagonally with his legs crossed, asked the intelligence officer.
Although he didn’t particularly expect an answer since he had a good guess.
Still, curiosity lurked in a corner of his mind.
“…”
Seeing him sitting comfortably in a relaxed posture waiting calmly for an answer, the intelligence officer didn’t hesitate much either.
In the brief moment it took to inhale and exhale once.
A light answer flowed from Frederick’s mouth.
“The big house.”
At that short and concise statement, Siegmund felt one of his tangled curiosities resolved.
“So you were indeed affiliated with the military.”
A smile appeared on his lips.
It was a seemingly self-deprecating smile.
“There’s nowhere else. Among those in uniform, only people who call the Royal Intelligence Bureau that way.”
“Well, ‘big house’ isn’t wrong, is it? While our headquarters was built 50 years ago, the big house moved to a new building. It’s quite magnificent.”
“Since it was built much larger than the old, cramped office building. Well, there’s no reason to move to a smaller place when relocating to a new building…”
“The bigger, the better.”
He didn’t even try to hide it.
Frederick openly admitted that he was a military intelligence officer. Although he only mentioned the term “big house,” Siegmund was not so dull as to not know that it referred to the Royal Intelligence Bureau.
After all, the Royal Intelligence Bureau had been his workplace.
Even if it wasn’t anymore.
“…I see. So the Royal Intelligence Bureau told you about me. What did they say?”
“That you gave the company a good smack on the back of the head.”
Frederick replied without hesitation.
“Director of Major Intelligence at the Royal Intelligence Bureau. Previously in charge of overseas operations in Department 1 of the National Operations Bureau. Carried out imperial projects while traveling to various places, and the place you worked the longest was the Republic of Ashtistan.”
“…”
“After building your career there, you were promoted to five countries, and through the Kiyen Empire, which was your final post, to the position of Director of Major Intelligence…”
But well.
It’s all meaningless talk now.
Frederick didn’t bother listing things like family relationships or Siegmund’s achievements during his time at the Royal Intelligence Bureau.
Because that too had become unimportant by now.
“You’ve been looking for me?”
Frederick said.
“I have.”
“The attention from an uncle old enough to be my father is a bit burdensome. If you were a woman, I’d understand generously.”
“Do you like women? I heard you don’t associate with women.”
“I’m not the type to hit on just any woman.”
“You’re more shy than you look.”
As if telling him to think whatever he wanted, he raised an eyebrow once and nodded.
“I’m not a prostitute.”
His right hand holding the gun was neatly placed on his knee.
A gun without even a silencer attached.
Siegmund could easily predict what would happen if that trigger was pulled in the middle of Shizya.
And he could also gauge that the other party had no intention of pulling the trigger right now.
“If you knew I was looking for you, why didn’t you come meet me?”
“…”
“I’m disappointed that you didn’t even pretend to know me.”
Siegmund made a joke with a deliberately relaxed smile. Why didn’t you at least pretend to know me at the Mandala Spa, he asked.
To this, Frederick opened his mouth with a deep laugh.
“I’m meeting you for the first time today.”
“I see… So the Frederick Nostrum at the spa was someone else. Did the military send that friend too?”
“No. He’s from the big house.”
“I was completely fooled. Since his build and physique were perfectly similar, I thought you had come to make contact.”
“It was a completely magical experience, wasn’t it?”
“Yes. It was like magic.”
I’ve been properly duped.
Siegmund, having resolved his second curiosity, readily accepted his defeat. With a pale smile on his face, he muttered to himself with a somewhat dejected tone.
“You know that the ridiculous mistake of the Mage Tower’s talent development center has turned the Nastasiya Treaty into a scrap of paper.”
“Yes, I know all too well.”
“After that incident, rumors spread that the higher-ups would deploy mages for overseas operations. It was around this time last year.”
“…”
“They actually expanded the threshold for mage recruitment, which had been limited to security, investigation, and counterintelligence, to overseas… When I was younger, I sometimes imagined a future where we might rub shoulders with mages overseas… Well.”
Siegmund had heard rumors that many mages had been hired, and he had confirmed that there were mages among the new employees being trained.
He hadn’t expected them to be deployed to the field so quickly.
Siegmund shifted in his diagonally seated position. The chair was a bit large for his build, so there was quite a bit of space left, making it uncomfortable.
Suddenly, he was reminded of the high-ranking cabinet officials he had met in the past. They always enjoyed such chairs. With their plump buttocks deeply seated, biscuits and teacups placed on the armrests, they would lecture for dozens of minutes. The image flashed through his mind.
Indeed, this kind of chair is just not for me.
After catching his breath for a moment, Siegmund began to look diagonally at Frederick.
“Are my family members safe?”
Frederick nodded in affirmation.
“Your children seem quite mature for their age. Their names are Henya and Lucy… is that right?”
“That’s correct.”
“You must be proud as a parent. Your children have grown up well.”
“I raised them to be second to none.”
“…”
“How is Helen? Given her personality, she must have been quite shocked?”
To the question about his wife’s condition, Frederick gave a short and concise answer.
“She was surprised, but that’s all.”
Siegmund silently looked at the other person.
Seeming to read the implication in that gaze, Frederick reassured Siegmund, who was sitting diagonally with his legs crossed.
“Are you worried about your family?”
“Who wouldn’t be?”
“So that’s why you didn’t tell them. The reason you came to Ashtistan. Your family didn’t know at all.”
“Well, you could say that.”
He had already confirmed through the Royal Intelligence Bureau that his family knew nothing.
Why they had to leave their homeland and come here, why Siegmund had suddenly taken them and fled in haste. Siegmund’s family didn’t know the reason.
In fact, they didn’t even know that Siegmund had been the Director of the Royal Intelligence Bureau.
Naturally, they didn’t know the truth that his identity as a double agent had been exposed, and he had fled to the Republic of Ashtistan.
“The children thought it was a family trip, and your wife thought her husband was involved in a major crime. That’s what you told her?”
“…”
“You made a big mistake in the Magic Department. You came to Ashtistan to avoid legal punishment, you said.”
“…I suppose my wife testified.”
“She believed you were an employee of the Magic Department. She trusted you completely.”
“That was probably the worst scenario she could imagine from her perspective.”
“I think so too.”
This was information discovered by the interrogation technicians dispatched with Matt.
And it only took a few hours of conversation for the family to open up to those who had once been investigators for law enforcement agencies.
It was also information that had been verified again by the joint investigation team formed around the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the Special Investigation Bureau, so Frederick decided not to doubt its authenticity.
After all, the important person was elsewhere.
And that person was sitting in front of him right now.
“It’s still amazing to think about… How did you deceive them for 16 years?”
“…”
“Don’t double agents usually confide in people they trust? Like family or lovers, for example.”
Indeed, that was the case.
The phenomenon of revealing one’s identity to someone who could keep their secret, to relieve psychological pressure, often occurred even among double agents.
A Soviet KGB spy who had been cooperating with French intelligence had once been exposed after revealing his identity to his mistress, and Robert Hanssen, considered one of the FBI’s worst intelligence failures, had also had moments of contemplating and struggling with whether to reveal his secret to his subordinate.
But Siegmund didn’t do that.
He had deceived the Royal Intelligence Bureau for a full 16 years, concealed his identity from his beloved wife, and even after his identity was finally discovered, he still made up lies.
Frederick asked him why.
Why did he do that?
To this, Siegmund gave a sincere answer.
“I didn’t want to drag them into this. At least not my family.”
“…”
“For an intelligence officer, information is like life itself. Sometimes it becomes someone’s career, and sometimes it’s worth a life. For some, it becomes a debt heavier than steel.”
“Your love is truly devoted.”
Well, I probably would have done the same.
Frederick, who had started the conversation like that, began to smile softly.
“Who would have dared to imagine? That Siegmund of Shizya, that legendary person, was actually a traitor.”
As if he couldn’t help but ask out of curiosity, he sent a smile toward Siegmund.
“I read your records. They were impressive. The instructor who trained the intelligence department and secret police of the Republic of Ashtistan, the expert who sabotaged the Imperial Guard’s operations in Shizya for years, the person who returned here after everyone else had left due to the revolution and rebuilt the collapsed intelligence network.”
“…”
“When you were first assigned to the Republic of Ashtistan, you were about my age, right? If you had that level of skill already in your 30s, it explains how you rose to become the Director of Major Intelligence, surpassing your seniors. Director Leoni had reason to highly regard you, Siegmund.”
“…”
“But how did you end up becoming such a double agent? I honestly don’t understand. I wonder if even your wife could understand.”
Siegmund didn’t give any answer.
Silence passed between them.
Frederick calmly waited for his mouth to open. As if he really wanted to hear it from his own lips.
“…Let me correct one thing.”
Siegmund emphasized the word like a teacher correcting a significant error.
“It’s the ‘Kingdom’ of Ashtistan. Not the ‘Republic’ of Ashtistan.”
Frederick shrugged and asked back.
“Do you think there’s a difference between the two?”
Siegmund answered firmly.
“Very much so.”
“…”
“Having stayed here for a long time before this country changed, I pride myself on knowing better than anyone else.”
It was a tone full of conviction.
Frederick affirmed without much thought. He nodded quietly for a while, as if understanding Siegmund’s pride.
Staring at the nodding figure, Siegmund asked, “May I smoke a cigarette?” seeking permission.
Frederick gave his answer without much thought this time as well.
“As you wish.”
“Thank you.”
Just as he was about to take out a cigarette from his pocket, a pack of cigarettes was placed on the table.
A striking blue background with a winged helmet. The wings spread wide on both sides looked as if they might take off vigorously at any moment.
Gauloises Caporal.
The brand he had been attached to since his youth.
After caressing the cigarettes he hadn’t seen in a long time for a moment, Siegmund waved his hand in gratitude. Frederick also took out his share of Gauloises Caporal and put it in his mouth.
-Hiss…!
The sound of a lighter being put down is heard once.
The intelligence agent and the intelligence officer enjoyed their cigarettes without a word.
Watching each other through the whitish smoke.
Frederick, who had been staring at the other person intently, suddenly brushed up his hair. At the same time, Siegmund exhaled a long breath and tapped off the ash.
“Let’s end the small talk here.”
Frederick suggested with a bright smile.
“Shall we start now?”
“Let’s do that.”
*
The two intelligence officers gathered at the safe house conversed for quite a long time.
The solemn atmosphere that one might have expected didn’t linger.
It was hard to find the raised voices or tension that would normally be expected.
Instead, the conversation took place in a quiet and gentle atmosphere, which Siegmund thought was quite good.
“Siegmund. Do you like chess by any chance?”
“I’m somewhat good at it.”
“Then you know too. That conversation is a kind of silent chess.”
Before starting the main conversation, Siegmund and Frederick agreed on several matters.
“Let’s make one thing clear. There’s absolutely no reason for us to use petty techniques or shallow deceptions. As you know, and as I know. We’re professionals. This means neither of us will fall for such games.”
Frederick proposed to Siegmund not to use deception.
That meant the techniques used by intelligence officers.
“Psychological warfare that exploits weaknesses, rhetoric that conceals crucial information, acting as if you’re gaining favor and liking the other person. You’d agree that such things won’t work here, right?”
“I agree.”
“So let’s not do it. It just drains energy.”
Since conversation is a kind of chess, one can sufficiently gauge the cards the other will play and the cards one holds.
Siegmund had no doubt that Frederick wouldn’t fall for such shallow tricks, and at the same time, Frederick knew that Siegmund wasn’t an easy opponent who would fall for such games.
Of course, it wasn’t a decision made purely based on the other’s skill.
Siegmund knew that what he said in this safe house would be recorded and documented.
Frederick’s colleagues waiting in the next room might be running a recorder, or perhaps a magic crystal hidden behind that drawer was filming his every move.
Similarly, Frederick also knew the danger that shallow lies could be seen through by the information Siegmund held.
The two agreed to approach the conversation with sincerity.
It was a satisfactory negotiation for both.
“By the way, it’s unexpected.”
Siegmund laughed pleasantly.
“For someone who brought Gauloises Caporal to say such things. Didn’t you prepare them knowing they’re my preferred brand?”
“Don’t misunderstand. I brought these cigarettes because I wanted to smoke them.”
“I know you’re not the type to stick to one brand of tobacco.”
“I don’t discriminate, but I do like them. One of my friends loves Gauloises, and I was introduced to them through him. He says they’re cigarettes that appear in his favorite spy novel? And they happen to be the national cigarette in his country.”
“I guess you have a friend in the Frangia intelligence department. Their intelligence officers are quite something. Especially when it comes to women.”
Frederick tilted his head as if unsure whether it was the right or wrong answer.
“Well… It’s not Frangia, but it is a country that starts with ‘F’.”
“But was there a reason to bring a whole carton?”
“You know I’m a heavy smoker who goes through a pack a day. And I heard you’re quite the smoker too.”
“In the past tense, but yes.”
“Two chain smokers with one carton? That’s hardly enough. So smoke sparingly. It’s a hassle to go out and buy more.”
The two intelligence officers sitting diagonally across from each other conversed for a long time.
Although they weren’t meeting for a particularly friendly reason and weren’t acquaintances, as time passed, Gauloises Caporal cigarettes piled up in the ashtray between them.
The reason these two intelligence officers could engage in such a lengthy conversation was just one.
It was an exchange of information.
“You know that to meet your family, you’ll have to pay a price, Siegmund. A very expensive price is needed for this.”
“Of course. I need to appease the higher-ups, and it can’t be resolved with small change.”
Frederick said that if he wanted to see his family again, he should pay the price.
To put it more directly, he demanded confidential information that could quell the cabinet’s anger toward the traitor.
Siegmund decided to willingly comply with that proposal.
“Let’s start with who made the first move. Did the Imperial Guard seduce you? Or did you voluntarily cross over?”
“I made the first proposal.”
“Good. Let’s go into more detail.”
*
The double life spanning 16 years gave the Imperial Guard a wealth of information.
But those 16 years were closer to a transaction between Siegmund and the Imperial Guard rather than a one-sided courtship.
He survived much longer than other double agents and maintained contact with countless Imperial Guard officials.
He had seen much, heard much, and knew much.
That’s exactly what the Abas intelligence agencies needed.
“The first time I met them was at Timarshak Park in Shizya. Around March 1978. The weather was chilly with many clouds, and it was quite cold for spring as it had been raining for three days straight.”
“Who did you meet?”
“Joseph. An agent from the Counter-Intelligence Division of Department 1. He was of Serbo origin, so he should be called ‘Yosif,’ but in our first meeting, he introduced himself as Joseph to make it easier for me, an Abas person, to pronounce.”
“Did he have a colleague?”
“A person named Ludwik came to greet me as well. She was a woman, and her affiliation was Department 2, Overseas Operations, Section 8.”
Section 8 of Department 2 was responsible for overseas operations in the Kingdom of Ashtistan and other parts of the Moritani continent. At that time, the Imperial Guard had relocated its base to Shizya to minimize diplomatic friction.
The reasons were that it hadn’t been long since the regime had changed due to the revolution, and unlike the previous dynasty, which had been walking a tightrope between Abas and Kiyen, the revolutionary government supported a “firm pro-imperial diplomatic line.”
“As I recall, the female employee named Ludwik was the person in charge of the operational base that the Imperial Guard had relocated here. At that time, Shizya was practically a wasteland.”
Although the fervent support from the revolutionary leadership was welcome, the intelligence departments here couldn’t provide any help to the empire, and the Imperial Guard didn’t have any foundation in Shizya either.
“The mission the Imperial Guard entrusted to her was to pioneer that wasteland.”
“Yosif, or Joseph, what was his role?”
“He was one of the investigators who visited to check the security status of the newly relocated base. At that time, I knew that Department 2 of the Imperial Guard was taking root in Shizya, but since I hadn’t secured Ludwik’s personal information, Joseph was the only route I had to approach the Guard. He was also the person through whom I had transmitted information to the Guard before my defection.”
“Who was their superior?”
“Lisichin Popovich. He was the one who commanded Ludwik. He was the person who reviewed and approved the projects submitted by the Shizya base from the Petrograd headquarters, but I heard he died of cancer in 1982. I don’t know about Joseph’s superior.”
“Was he your handler?”
Siegmund nodded casually.
“My superior? You’ve got it exactly right. He was my handler. But Lisichin and I never met face to face. I did speak with him on the phone, though.”
“What was the phone conversation about?”
“An apology. After Ludwik reported to him that she had made initial contact with me, I received a message from Lisichin saying he wanted to meet me, but due to a sudden worsening of his chronic illness, he couldn’t leave the empire. He just apologized over the phone and said he would contact me through Ludwik for the time being. That’s all.”
“Good. Very good.”
Frederick nodded with a satisfied expression and said.
“Let’s focus on the story of these three protagonists for now: Joseph, Ludwik, and Lisichin.”
Perhaps because of his tone, each syllable, each word seemed to lodge in the eardrum.
Just as he had opened his mouth leisurely, Frederick moved his fountain pen slowly.
The smoke from the tobacco he had put down for a moment rose faintly, and beside it, the black ink fountain pen leisurely traversed the paper.
Although the angle didn’t allow him to see properly, Siegmund could tell that he was taking notes primarily with short sentences and a few words.
“What did Lisichin demand from you?”
“It varied by period.”
Frederick instructed him to list specifically what activities he had carried out for the Imperial Guard. To this, Siegmund stroked his chin as if deep in thought and let out a contemplative sound.
“Maybe because I provided useful information from the beginning, Lisichin wasn’t interested in small pieces of information. Things like the codes used by the Royal Intelligence Bureau, contact methods, communication methods, organizational charts. Such trivial things had probably already been handed over by those who had defected before me.”
“Then?”
“Most of the times he requested information from me were when major incidents occurred. Two come to mind right now.”
The two major incidents Siegmund mentioned were indeed “big incidents.”
When a Kiyen Navy cruiser sank without any warning in the waters near the eastern Moritani continent.
And when an imperial diplomat who had just been appointed to an embassy in a certain country was kidnapped without a trace.
“I still remember it. When I said the Abas intelligence department knew nothing about it, he asked me to search through our information network.”
Siegmund nodded calmly and spoke.
Frederick, who had been rolling his eyes to the side while pondering his memories, muttered.
“A cruiser… That would be the Nienshants-class cruiser that was swept away after entering the habitat of marine monsters that had become highly venomous during their spawning season. According to the investigation in ’79, it was a disaster caused by the malfunction of the underwater magic detection system.”
“He was curious about that part at first too. The Royal Navy wouldn’t touch a warship out of madness, and the Abas intelligence departments would also be investigating the cause of the cruiser’s sinking. If I found out anything, he asked me to pass it on.”
“Did he also directly request the diplomat case from you?”
“I reported to my superiors that I was investigating, then secretly went out searching. In the end, I found him and sent him back to the empire.”
Stroking his chin thoughtfully, Siegmund added that nothing else came to mind at the moment.
He said that something might come to him if a little time passed, but it was a hazy memory since it was so long ago.
Frederick said, “Let’s leave the detailed backstory for later,” and changed the question.
“Turning double agents is the job of Department 1’s Counter-Intelligence Division.”
After writing a slightly longer sentence with his fountain pen than before.
Frederick paused his hand and spoke again.
“But Ludwik from Department 2, which manages overseas operations, was assigned to you. Why was that?”
“Joseph himself refused to become my handler. Instead, he recommended Ludwik as the right person. Saying she was more knowledgeable about foreign affairs than himself and easier to get cooperation from the Republic of Ashtistan. Joseph was a humble man.”
“The leadership of Department 1 must have found it hard to accept?”
“Opinions were divided. At that time, I was responsible for the Royal Intelligence Bureau’s operations in the Shizya area, and the Department 2 handlers went crazy when an unexpected defector appeared in this wasteland they had just started cultivating, and the Department 1 commanders were annoyed at Department 2 for sticking their forks into the turkey they were about to eat.”
Siegmund described the conflict between the leadership of Departments 1 and 2 in some detail.
“Department 1 tried to assign a new handler using their authority. After all, managing double agents was their responsibility. But the Department 2 leadership actively persuaded the head of the Guard, and to prevent discord, the agency fixed my handler as Ludwik at the institutional level.”
The source of this inside story was Ludwik, he said.
Incidentally, she had also received this story from her superior, Lisichin.
Siegmund revealed that Ludwik and Lisichin had a relationship that was more complex than just superior-subordinate, and added this explanation.
“She was my handler for 1 year and 9 months. Around December 1980, she came to me to say that my handler would change soon, and she retired the following year, ’81.”
“The person in charge of managing a double agent and responsible for the intelligence network in Shizya suddenly resigned?”
“Lisichin was diagnosed with cancer. Soft tissue tumor.”
“With the medical technology of that time, it seems like it could have been treated with resection. Magical treatment or divine healing could also have been considered.”
“He probably didn’t want that. The tumor had recurred after he had already undergone marginal resection. The doctor recommended radical resection, but he gave up after hearing that even if his leg was amputated, he would only survive a few more years. The bishop of the Petrograd diocese could only pray. Ludwik returned to be with Lisichin in his remaining time.”
Frederick asked if he had ever met her again after she returned to the empire.
Siegmund said no.
Besides being a retired intelligence agent, even if he had attempted to make contact, Ludwik herself would have refused.
“I can still vividly remember how she looked at me with pain until just before she left. She might have felt sorry, but probably every time she saw me, she was reminded of Lisichin. After all, all the instructions she delivered to me over those 1 year and 9 months came from Lisichin.”
He added that Lisichin was his first superior, and Ludwik was both a contact person and the superior’s proxy.
Frederick asked if he had heard any news about her after Lisichin’s death.
“I think I was able to hear about her for about 3 years, but after that, the news might have been cut off. I’m not sure. It’s an old memory.”
“Who did you receive the news from?”
“My newly assigned handler told me. A man named Kowalski. Ludwik and Kowalski were friends, and he loved to talk a lot. A person who was talkative and often shared even personal news started to be reticent about Ludwik at some point, so I guessed that something not very good had happened to her.”
So he didn’t ask anymore or show interest.
That was the last story of Ludwik that Siegmund knew.
Frederick tentatively thought that she might have committed suicide or become a recluse. According to Siegmund, Ludwik was in a loving relationship with her superior, Lisichin, and was a lover who had thrown away her promising career with her own hands to care for Lisichin during his cancer battle.
He inscribed a number next to Ludwik’s name with his fountain pen to adjust the priority.
In any case, an investigation into her would be conducted, but there probably wouldn’t be anyone among the intelligence officers stationed in Petrograd who would zealously search for a retiree named Ludwik.
Frederick raised his hand to check if the ink had smudged, then continued with another question.
“So not Joseph, but a new character appeared. Anything more to say about Joseph?”
“At that time, Joseph didn’t have the capacity to handle me again. He had been promoted to a junior manager in the Counter-Intelligence Division. He seemed to be on the rise for several years, and I heard that he was still active, going overseas even after I was appointed to the empire, but he couldn’t rise any further from his position and eventually left his desk.”
“When did he retire?”
“I don’t know specifically when he left the Guard. Since he’s not in the department where retired senior officials go to receive pensions, maybe he opened a shop after retirement? Since he left relatively recently, it should be easy to find him.”
“I’d like to hear about Kowalski.”
Siegmund didn’t show much liking for the man named Kowalski.
This was in contrast to the detailed testimonies he had given about Joseph and Ludwik.
“That man was, to put it crudely, distasteful.”
For a moment, a look of disdain flashed across Siegmund’s face. The furrowed brow was an added bonus.
It was evident that he didn’t even want to talk about him. Siegmund began his testimony about Kowalski in an irritated voice.
“After Ludwik left, the handler assigned by Department 2 was Kowalski. His name was Witold. He was in charge of the Imperial Guard’s operations in the Republic of Latuan.”
“I’ve heard that name. Witold of Kovno.”
“It’s probably a familiar name to you too, Frederick. There couldn’t be another such fool in the world.”
Witold Kowalski.
A very famous figure among intelligence officers. Even Frederick had heard the name before joining the military intelligence service, so he was a spy famous even among civilians.
“I know. He’s the protagonist who turned the Kiyen Embassy in Kovno into a sea of water ahead of Nikolai VI’s visit to the Republic of Latuan.”
“It was quite a drenched party.”
Kowalski was a famous person who had transformed the embassy, which had been decorated for the Emperor and Prime Minister who were to visit on the anniversary of Kiyen-Latuan diplomatic relations, into a water park.
Since the incident had been widely reported in the media at the time, Frederick was also somewhat aware of the inside story.
“He accidentally touched the elemental magic of the furnace while intoxicated, causing an explosion. The fire detection magic device burst, flooding the embassy. Media coverage revealed that he had already been caught drunk driving before coming to the embassy, and eventually his head rolled.”
“Everyone at the Imperial Guard pointed fingers at him, saying he was a bastard who deserved to die. He had been causing accidents due to alcohol problems before.”
Siegmund mentioned a more detailed aspect.
“He was originally a person who caused accidents due to alcohol problems. That’s why he lost people’s trust, and when he first came to meet me, he was a full 4 hours late.”
“Where did you meet?”
“Summer of ’81. Kowalski entered Abas directly. Originally, he was supposed to come to Shizya, but he arbitrarily changed the meeting place while I was temporarily back in the country for debriefing.”
“The location?”
A cafe. Siegmund recalled for a moment before mentioning its name.
The cafe where he met the new handler from the Imperial Guard was located at the foot of a mountain in the northern region of Abas.
Although it was a remote area, climbers from other regions often visited, so they could meet without arousing the suspicion of the locals, he explained.
“From the first meeting, it wasn’t a good impression, but Kowalski was the worst among the Imperial Guard agents I’ve met. Apart from being addicted to alcohol, he had a petty and greedy temperament.”
Emotion filled his voice. The gesture of tapping the armrest with an agitated voice emphasized Siegmund’s assessment of Kowalski.
“Seeing that the Department 2 leadership appointed him as your counterpart in place of his predecessor, his work must have been good?”
“You ask such a question after seeing him turn an embassy into a sea of water? A coward who fled with his tail between his legs, using a meeting as an excuse to avoid the Emperor and Prime Minister who couldn’t even speak after seeing the devastation?”
“…”
With his eyebrows raised, Siegmund seemed to be asking if he was seriously asking such a question.
“Well… Still, the drenched show at the embassy happened quite a while after he met you…”
Frederick averted his gaze with an ambiguous expression. Even to him, it seemed like a rather lame excuse.
Regardless, Siegmund clicked his tongue with a disapproving look.
“He was a man without even a speck of business acumen. The only reason he could work as an executive in the embassy where he himself set off the water bomb was because he was my handler, and the reason Department 2 assigned me to him was simply because Kowalski was proficient in several foreign languages.”
A truth widely known through the media, Kowalski’s foreign language skills were above average.
He could freely speak at least four languages and could even hear and speak regional dialects.
Siegmund evaluated that the Abas language skills of his predecessors, Lisichin and Ludwik, weren’t bad either.
However, they couldn’t match Siegmund, for whom Abas was his mother tongue, and sometimes there were communication errors, so the Department 2 leadership employed Kowalski to solve that problem.
The issue was,
“He was a completely crazy person.”
“Did he make unreasonable demands? Ones that put pressure on your dual identity?”
“Kowalski wasn’t interested in this job from the beginning. He would inflate even the smallest bits of information that would satisfy the higher-ups as if he had discovered some enormous secret. And you asked if he made unreasonable demands to me?”
“Yes.”
“There was just one time. When he asked me, who was across the sea in the desert, to bring a list of those cooperating with the Royal Intelligence Bureau from within the empire.”
Frederick couldn’t help but burst into laughter.
This guy was completely insane.
“Did he really do that? For real?”
“He made a fuss for a while after giving me an impossible task.”
“There must have been a separate superior. Kowalski’s higher-up. Didn’t you think about requesting a change of handler from that person?”
“Who do you think inflated Kowalski’s achievements?”
“…I thought as much.”
Siegmund said that thanks to the lunatic Kowalski, he had seriously reconsidered his relationship with the Imperial Guard. He even thought about pretending to be crazy and crippling Kowalski to induce a new handler.
Of course, that would have led to interference from Kowalski’s superior in some way.
But who said it?
You never know what lies ahead.
Ironically, Kowalski and his superior withdrew from their positions on their own.
The Imperial Guard, impressed by Kowalski’s embassy drenching show, dragged Kowalski himself and his superior, who had been hiding in the Grand Duchy of Latuan, out by their hair.
“I heard the internal investigation department spilled everything. They inflated achievements, created non-existent double agents with the information I provided, and even received budgets for it.”
“So they were purged.”
“They even slashed his severance pay, I heard. His superior lost the money he was going to live comfortably with for the rest of his life? I was so irritated that I learned Kiyen because of those bastards. Honestly, I’m a bit grateful for that.”
Anyway.
After that incident, the Imperial Guard, belatedly understanding the situation, hurriedly requested a meeting with Siegmund.
Control was transferred from the existing Department 2 to Department 1, which should have been in charge of Siegmund in the first place, and the handlers were also replaced with veterans.
“It was winter of ’83, or maybe ’84. There was slush from melted snow stuck to the toe of my shoe. The place was Petrograd. I met a total of three people.”
“Their names?”
“Semyon Yudinchev, Oleg Yelichich, Ilya Kutuzov.”
“…”
The hand taking down the names stopped abruptly.
Frederick stared into space for a moment before raising his head toward Siegmund.
“The former head of the Imperial Guard, the former head of Department 1’s Counter-Intelligence Division, and the head of Department 1?”
“Two had retired, and Ilya is still active. He was a junior investigator then, but now he’s a key commander of counterintelligence activities in Petrograd.”
“…Huh.”
I wondered why those Guard guys were so desperate to protect him.
He was directly connected to the top brass. And a very high top brass at that.
Frederick muttered to himself.
“Good. Then let’s continue. First, what you did for Department 1, and who you had contact with.”
Siegmund answered as he unwrapped a new Gauloises Caporal.
“Let’s do that.”
*
The conversation continued, and time was already heading toward dawn.
The safe house was a mess.
The stale smell of cigarettes. Piles of tobacco. As Siegmund was about to empty the ashtray, he suddenly realized that there was only one pack of Gauloises Caporal left.
He put the remaining Gauloises Caporal in his mouth. And trying to focus his unfocused eyes, he struggled to read the writing on the paper.
“Can you see it?”
“…My vision has become blurry. I can’t see what’s written.”
“I’ll read it to you.”
Frederick took the paper he was holding and read the written text aloud.
Canicular Holdings Co.,Ltd.
“…Canicular Holdings?”
“Do you know about this?”
Siegmund, who seemed to be forcibly keeping his eyes open, looked diagonally at Frederick.
“It’s one of the overseas business entities of the Law Enforcement Corps. The managing director who is a founding member is their agent.”
“Which department is in charge?”
“The Accounting Department of the Law Enforcement Corps Secretariat. All money matters go through there. That’s also why the accounting department personnel frequently travel abroad.”
The shape came into focus as his vision, which had been blurred, brightened. Frederick was carefully folding the paper and putting it in his inside pocket.
He stuck his hands in his pants pockets in front of Siegmund. And with a slight sigh, he began to speak.
His voice was hoarse.
“Wali Al-Dadun. You’ve heard of it, right?”
“If you’re talking about the guerrillas of the Al Yabd Republic of Valekistan, yes, I know them well.”
Siegmund leaned back against the backrest and raised his head. His eyes were now almost completely closed.
“They’re known as an organization sponsored by the Law Enforcement Corps. Of course, only within the Corps. They’re still new.”
“They must have started supporting them recently.”
“They opened the channel through Mehregan Zulfikar Khan’s cousin and provided military funds and weapons. Do you know about the ships that were attacked on August 25th and October 4th?”
“Cargo ships approaching the canal. Since then, all ships traveling through the East Moritani waters have been cautious.”
“That was an operation requested by the Law Enforcement Corps. Not directly, but it would be more accurate to say they indirectly guided it.”
Is there evidence?
Frederick asked. Evidence that the Law Enforcement Corps conducted money games through a holding company, and evidence that they instigated attacks on civilian ships by warlords.
“There is. Not in my possession, though.”
“Will it be found if we look?”
The moment Siegmund nodded, Frederick smiled with satisfaction.
“Good. Let’s stop here for today.”
He approached the window and opened it wide. The clear and chilly air of dawn began to rush in.
While it was impossible to completely shake off the stale tobacco smell, it was more than enough to prevent drowsiness. Siegmund opened his eyes slightly with a clearer mind.
“…When can I see my family again?”
Frederick answered.
“I don’t know. It’s not my decision to make.”
“…But I can see them?”
“That’s also not for me to decide.”
Siegmund gave a hollow laugh.
“You’re not a chess piece. Just following where others move you.”
Despite the mockery, there was no particular reaction.
Frederick, who had approached the window, stuck one hand in his pocket and wiped the dust off the windowsill with his fingers.
“It’s all up to you.”
Siegmund turned his head slightly toward Frederick, who was standing behind him.
“Do you want me to pretend to defect to the Imperial Guard? Do you want me to pass on confidential information from within, is that what you’re saying?”
Judging as the person responsible for major intelligence.
It was highly inappropriate for him to be spending time with Frederick in this safe house right now.
Siegmund thought the price tag attached to him was quite large.
This wasn’t a judgment made as a Domovoi recruited by the Imperial Guard, but an assessment diagnosed from the perspective of Siegmund, the Director of Major Intelligence at the Royal Intelligence Bureau.
He knew that the Royal Intelligence Bureau perceived him differently from ordinary double agents. It meant they saw him as a more threatening entity than other spies.
This could also be glimpsed from the fact that the intelligence bureau had resorted to the extreme measure of kidnapping Helen and the daughters.
And from the fact that Siegmund had been sitting here for hours since arriving at the safe house.
“…If you had concluded I was an insignificant traitor, you would have killed me long ago. If you had judged me as a criminal to be punished, you would have taken me to your home country as soon as you brought me to the safe house. Instead of interrogating me while smoking cigarettes like this.”
From the perspective of the person responsible for major intelligence, all of this was an unnecessary procedure.
In any case, there was no way for him to avoid interrogation when he returned.
There was plenty of time until the Abas prosecution indicted and the court ruled, and the Royal Intelligence Bureau could leisurely extract the necessary information in the meantime.
The fact that it was specifically a safe house was also incomprehensible.
If the Royal Intelligence Bureau truly desperately wanted to prevent the leakage of confidential information, they would have had no reason to leave him in the Republic of Ashtistan.
Even a safe house isn’t a 100% secure location.
Rather than keeping him in a safe house where a spy might escape at any time or an enemy might raid, it would have been much more reasonable to take him all the way to the Kingdom of Abas.
In that sense, Siegmund judged that the Royal Intelligence Bureau wanted something from him, and the most convincing demand he could think of was a disguised defection.
To infiltrate the Imperial Guard and live as a double agent again.
“…Well.”
Frederick opened his mouth with an ambiguous voice.
He put both hands in his pockets, casting his gaze out the window.
“I’m not sure.”
“Do you doubt me?”
“No, not that.”
Frederick, who smiled softly, leaned against the windowsill and responded.
“Something seems strange.”
“…What?”
“The reason why you, Siegmund, were lurking around Shizya.”
I just don’t understand.
Frederick looked at Siegmund sitting down. Siegmund also turned his head to look at him, but due to the shadow cast, he couldn’t see him properly.
The man with the navy blue sky behind him opened his mouth again.
“Remember what I said earlier? That double agents have a habit of trying to make one last score at the final moment.”
“I remember.”
“But there’s a condition here. The premise that they have a safe way to escape, a definite backup plan.”
“…”
“Do you have one?”
Siegmund opened his mouth.
“I did.”
Frederick nodded calmly with a composed expression. Slightly pursing his lips. As if he had expected it.
The hand that had been in his pocket came out. He tapped the windowsill and said.
“It seems like you still have it. A definite escape route.”
Siegmund, who had been turning his head halfway, now completely turned his body. As if he had heard something absurd.
“What kind of sophistry is this?”
“You.”
Frederick, leaning against the windowsill, said.
“You had it from the beginning, right?”
“What?”
“Material that could prove I’m an intelligence officer.”
Siegmund looked at the other person with a gaze that was hard to understand.
“Have you gone mad from lack of sleep? If I had such a thing, I would have handed it over long ago.”
“No. You wouldn’t have. Because if you had given that material to the Guard, they would have immediately washed their hands of it. They would have just taken you and discarded the rest as leftovers. You anticipated that too.”
“…This is crazy talk.”
It was hard to listen anymore. Siegmund shook his head with an annoyed expression.
However, Frederick calmly looked at him.
“You’re saying I had such information? Then I would have negotiated right away! Why would I be sitting here like this?”
“You did. But it failed, your family was kidnapped, the situation got complicated, and you came to fix it.”
“Make some sense-“
“Hey.”
Frederick cut off Siegmund’s words.
“What kind of idiot moron would go looking for information that doesn’t exist after being caught spying?”
“…”
“You didn’t even know I was an intelligence officer when you were working at the Major Intelligence Division, right? You said you couldn’t find any material. So now you’re going to find it? Information you couldn’t get when you were in active service? From outside the company? In a situation where you might be tracked at any time? Bringing your whole family with you?”
The words spat out like a machine gun were scattered.
Siegmund, perhaps overwhelmed by the momentum, closed his mouth.
“You must have had some information stashed away. If the Royal Intelligence Bureau showed up, the people who would be most scared aren’t you, but the Guard agents waiting in Shizya.”
Frederick laughed.
I’ve already secured the evidence, so I’ll let you know when I arrive in the empire with my family.
I’ve hidden it in a safe place.
So the Royal Intelligence Bureau will never find it.
The Imperial Guard can’t find it either because it’s in a place only I know.
I just need to stall for time and see how things go.
After all, the one who gets caught and dies is the one who panics first.
Frederick said.
“I clearly said at the beginning.”
Let’s not use techniques because it’s embarrassing to get caught, so let’s be natural.
“Where did you hide your retirement money?”
“…”
“It seems better to speak quickly.”
Thud, a dull sound followed.
The cold sensation of metal felt at the back of the head is clear. Siegmund’s eyes close slightly.
Frederick pushed the gun muzzle forward.
“My finger keeps trembling like it’s got frostbite.”
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