Ch.59Episode 4 – Why Are You Only Picking On Me

“The magic tower is declaring independence?”

“Yes.”

“Is that, fuck, even possible?”

I couldn’t hide my shock. It felt like all the blood was draining from my body.

Like a life flashing before one’s eyes at the moment of death, memories from long ago rushed through my mind in an instant.

I wanted to deny the reality I was facing.

I wanted to run away.

But as always,

The world would beautifully trample on my wishes.

The Saint of the Order said,

“Apparently, they’ve already reached an internal agreement.”

“……”

“There will be an official announcement soon, so prepare yourself mentally.”

I thought to myself.

Maybe I should just quit right now.

Episode 4 – Why Are They Only Picking On Me

It took me about three minutes to calm down.

I rushed to the bathroom, turned on the faucet full blast, splashed water on my face, and vigorously wiped it with tissues before I could finally regain my composure.

“Phew….”

“Are you okay? Why don’t we call it a day and go home?”

“No. I’m fine.”

I wiped off the remaining moisture with the towel Veronica handed me while pondering deeply.

So, the magic tower is declaring independence.

“Ugh, Saint. About the magic tower’s independence. Wasn’t that matter settled long ago?”

“Settled? What’s settled?”

Veronica said, pouting her lips. Then she performed a comical gesture, acting out a farce.

“Look. They rose up in anger saying the heresy inquisition was shit, but then, oh fuck? They reached out to make peace, and I took their hand, but it turns out it was poisoned? And it turns out the bastards around me are applauding while I’m dying? The ones who helped me?”

“……”

“If you were in my position, would you grind your teeth in anger? Or would you just give up, thinking it’s all over now?”

Her tone and gestures were comical, but the meaning behind her words was not.

So Veronica’s performance wasn’t a comedy but a tragedy.

“The magic tower never gave up on independence. They just couldn’t speak up.”

“……”

When the magic tower rose against the Order, the continent unofficially supported the war using intelligence agencies. National intelligence agencies provided critical information documents to the magic tower, and military intelligence agencies sent all kinds of military supplies to the magic tower, writing them off as losses.

When the magic tower achieved victory against the Order and formed a small nation, all intelligence agencies trembled with anxiety instead of applauding.

It was only natural.

At that time, most countries were dictatorships with absolute monarchies as their political systems.

They had expected the magic tower and the Order to weaken each other and perish together, but the Order remained intact while the magic tower established a quasi-state.

And it was a democracy, no less.

How would dictators view the fact that “the people” had “united” to “rise up” and “oppose” religion? It might be called self-determination, but from the perspective of those in power, it was rebellion. Naturally, they feared the spark of revolution spreading across the continent. In fact, Fatalia underwent a regime change due to a democratization movement after witnessing the magic tower’s victory over the Order, so it was obvious that neighboring countries would panic.

Eventually, nations decided to put down their hunting dogs, and the intelligence agencies that had supported the magic tower became obsessed with destroying their former comrades.

If the Order hadn’t stepped in as a mediator with the Nastasiya Agreement, countless assassination and subversion operations targeting the magic tower would have been carried out.

Of course, all of this is ancient history now.

Most absolute monarchies have established constitutional monarchies, and the intelligence agents who were active at that time retired decades ago and have long been buried.

So the only people who remembered these events were scholars studying history, history students, and new recruits learning history at intelligence schools. All of this was just a distant tale from the past that didn’t really resonate.

Except for the magic tower.

“……”

Now, as the century-old aspiration of magicians was raising its head again,

No one could predict how the continent’s political landscape would change.

The Imperial Army might designate the magic tower as an anti-imperial force and launch military operations, or the imperial intelligence agencies, led by the Imperial Guard, might assassinate all the political leaders of the magic tower.

Perhaps the magic tower might not declare independence at all, or perhaps the Empire might grant independence to the magic tower.

After all, you never know what will happen in this world.

“……”

I kept trying to predict what would unfold in the future.

But since I wasn’t a fortune teller, I couldn’t know what would happen.

So I thought,

I need to do what needs to be done.

I need to do what needs to be done. I need to do what I can do.

And what is that?

“……”

I am an intelligence agent.

In the shadows where not a speck of sunlight reaches, I am someone who finds paths.

I need to find a path.

“…Saint.”

I asked Veronica.

“What else happened? There’s no reason for the magic tower to suddenly cause a commotion about independence. There must have been some internal circumstances.”

She replied,

“A lot. So much. If I explained everything in detail, it would take hours.”

“……”

“That’s why I told you to get a room, damn…”

The Saint ruffled her hair in irritation. After pondering for a while as if contemplating something, she began to speak intermittently.

“First, let me tell you where all this started.”

“Please do.”

“The Imperial Guard was the first to approach.”

*

Veronica is the 58th Saint of the Order.

Once a baroness, she became an orphan due to an unfortunate accident and entered an orphanage run by the Order. During the process of measuring her holy power, it was discovered that she possessed an unbelievably massive amount of holy energy compared to others her age.

This news caught the eye of an Imperial Guard domestic intelligence officer. The officer reported to his superior, and the information traveled up the reporting line through the director and bureau chief to the head of the Imperial Guard.

The head of the Imperial Guard ordered verification procedures, and after years of information gathering and analysis, the information was confirmed to be true.

The Imperial Guard submitted a report to the Emperor, and from that day, Veronica’s fate was sealed to become a Saint.

The imperial intelligence agencies conducted covert operations in various fields including assassination, destruction, politics, propaganda, and economics, and eventually succeeded in making Veronica a Saint. Thus, she became both the Saint of the Order and a lobbyist for the Empire.

“Lobbyist” was a nice way of putting it; in reality, she was a high-level informant under the control of the Imperial Guard.

For whatever reason, she grew tired of that life and eventually managed to escape by scoring a big hit against the Imperial Guard and the Imperial Family.

Not content with just that, she got involved with both the Military Intelligence Agency and the Heresy Inquisition, proving that she was definitely someone who could thrive no matter what she did.

In my report, I described her as a “bat-like figure” who “might betray if it’s not beneficial to her depending on the situation.”

In the end, she betrayed.

“You couldn’t stand it and stabbed them in the back? Not a bat but a carp, fuck.”

“Oh, come on! I didn’t betray them, so shut up!”

Veronica screamed at the top of her lungs, going berserk.

Then, pounding her chest, she ranted passionately.

“They came to me first! On their own! With money!”

“Does that make any sense? Why would they approach someone who betrayed them? Say something that makes sense.”

“If I had betrayed them, would I be blabbing about this? Use your common sense!”

Your very existence defies common sense.

“Hmm….”

Still, her words had some merit. Usually, traitors don’t react like this.

So I decided to believe her.

“Fine. Let’s hear what you have to say.”

After coaxing and calming Veronica down, I was able to hear the detailed situation.

She downed a glass of cold water in one shot and wiped her mouth.

“It was about five days ago. I was smoking a hookah at my regular spot when this tall, lanky man came up and introduced himself as a diplomat.”

“…Hookah?”

“Oh, damn. That’s not the important part right now. Anyway, this so-called diplomat said he was from the imperial embassy and asked me for a favor.”

“What kind of favor?”

“He asked me to tell him what was happening in the magic tower. When I asked what exactly he wanted because it was too vague, he said to bring anything that seemed useful.”

Information that seems useful.

Politics, diplomacy, defense, economy, society, culture, science, magic, technology. That’s roughly what comes to mind. Since the magic tower had no army, information on defense could only be obtained about military equipment that foreign armies ordered from the magic tower. And such information was the domain of the Imperial Army Reconnaissance Command, not the Imperial Guard.

In other words, he was asking her to collect information on almost every field except defense.

“…How many informants has the Imperial Guard planted in the magic tower that they need to ask you for this?”

“I wouldn’t know. I didn’t want to ask, and they wouldn’t tell me even if I did. I initially refused and turned him away, but he came back a few days later. With a bag of money.”

She recalled the incident in a calm voice.

The person who first approached her was probably a low-level intelligence agent from the Imperial Guard’s Order branch. Based on his apparent age, which she said was in his late 20s, he wasn’t at least a team leader. But the person who came shortly after was said to be well over 40.

An intelligence officer. At least a section chief level.

“He seemed really desperate. The vague requirements had become quite specific.”

“What kind of information was so important?”

“Information about the magic tower’s Oracle.”

Oracle.

The governing body that oversees everything in the magic tower. Like the Blue House in South Korea.

“Since one seat will be vacant in the Oracle when the current magic tower lord steps down, they wanted me to find out who the likely candidate for that position is.”

“……”

The Oracle is a body composed of multiple commissioners, like the Roman oligarchy.

Since having a single leader like the Order increases the possibility of dictatorship, one of the commissioners takes turns serving as the magic tower lord, and when their term ends, they quietly retire and live as an elder.

And now, with the term of the current magic tower lord ending soon, one seat in the Oracle will be vacant.

In other words, the political landscape of the magic tower is about to undergo a major shake-up.

I asked Veronica a question.

“…If a new Oracle commissioner is elected, they’ll be busy with coordination processes for a while. Is there any reason for the magic tower to declare independence at this point? They wouldn’t even have the leisure to—no, more importantly, isn’t the most likely candidate among the current nominees from the Empire?”

The magic tower’s greatest pride was that people flocked to it from all over the continent, and its biggest problem was that people flocked to it from all over the continent.

Since anyone could be elected as an Oracle commissioner, it meant that if some lunatic got into the Oracle, it would be difficult to stop them from causing chaos. The current commissioner serving as the magic tower lord is already in a questionable relationship with the Emperor.

A pro-imperial, pro-royal commissioner’s vacancy is filled by a pro-imperial candidate. Anyone could see this reeked of foul play. In other words, it was a political operation by an intelligence agency.

“The Imperial Guard—no, the imperial intelligence agency is likely to get their candidate elected, with two candidates in the running. How is independence possible?”

This doesn’t add up. A pro-imperial commissioner just sits back and watches the magic tower declare independence? That’s like saying the Chinese President supports Hong Kong’s independence.

But Veronica’s reaction was strange.

She asked me back as if I was saying something odd.

“Haven’t you heard the news yet?”

“What news? I just heard about the magic tower’s independence here.”

“That candidate is out now.”

“What?”

What the hell is this nonsense?

“The magician candidate from the Empire. You know he’s from a noble family, right?”

“Ah, yes. I know that.”

Searching my memory, something came to mind. He was from a prestigious family that ran a trading company and conducted large business operations overseas. That’s definitely what was written in the intelligence document delivered this morning—

Wait a minute.

His family runs a trading company?

“……”

“Their company was torn apart and went bankrupt. The family is completely ruined. Naturally, they couldn’t afford to stay at the magic tower and packed up and left long ago. The other one survived because his family’s business was domestic.”

Ah, life.

I feel like all strength is draining from my legs. I staggered and barely maintained my balance with Veronica’s support.

“Are you okay? Are you hurt somewhere?”

“…So who’s the likely candidate among the remaining nominees for the next Oracle commissioner?”

I looked at my informant and asked.

She answered,

“A shaman from Lushan and an alchemist. You probably know them, Major?”

That conversation from the train suddenly came to mind. The name she had mentioned slipped from my lips.

“…Francesca Ranieri.”

The alchemist.

“Those two are the most likely candidates now.”

So to summarize…

Due to the Imperial Guard’s stupidity, Klevins and I joined forces and messed them up,

In the process, all kinds of intelligence agencies swarmed in and beat up the Imperial Guard,

Now, as a result, one of the magic tower Oracle candidates pushed by the Empire is out,

So that alchemist, who was supposed to be eliminated from the succession plan,

Is likely to become an Oracle commissioner and later the magic tower lord,

And with the pro-imperial puppet whose term is ending gone,

They’re declaring independence,

Is that what this means?

“…Ah, life.”

I lay down on the hotel corridor floor and quietly closed my eyes. I’m not sure if tears are flowing, but my eyeballs feel moist.

Why do these things only happen to me?

Really, fuck…