Ch.607Episode 22 – The Kazinsky Test

# As the Devil Drives Out the Devil

Just as the saying goes “the devil drives out the devil,” the Inquisitor General’s decision to bring in the Saint was truly brilliant.

No matter how vicious werewolves might be as demons, how could they possibly compare to Veronica?

The Saint, who even the Pope avoided with disgust, was just as terrible as any demon—perhaps several times worse. It took less than three days for all the werewolf hideouts identified by the Inquisition to be completely wiped out.

However, there were two things the Inquisitor General hadn’t anticipated.

One was that the Hero was accompanying the Saint with similar objectives.

And the other was…

“There will soon be a large-scale attack by werewolves in Bahar. According to the report submitted by the Intelligence Assessment Bureau, the Minister leading the Lushan Federation’s International Cooperation Department, along with all Foreign Ministers attending the quadrilateral talks, have been marked as assassination targets.”

“They plan to kill government officials from Lushan, Kiyen, Abas, and Ashtistan? What an ambi—”

“Similarly, Saint Lucia, Francesca Ranieri, and Shamir Akande.”

“……”

“And we’ve determined they’re also planning to assassinate Miss Camilla here and the President of the Lushan Federation.”

## Episode 22 – The Kazhiski Test

Perhaps because it was located in a quiet suburb, the safe house was unusually silent.

Unlike Lucia, who considered noise merely an obstacle to smooth conversation, Veronica found bustling atmospheres comforting.

Chaotic sounds often served as excellent shields—a realization she had gained through years of working as an informant.

“…So.”

Veronica’s voice broke the uncomfortable silence. Her expression, as she scratched above her eyebrow while muttering indifferently, had darkened to a degree only noticeable upon close inspection.

Naturally, Camilla easily detected the cloud over her countenance. As expected of an aspiring intelligence officer with remarkable perceptiveness.

“So werewolves have some political objective and are trying to eliminate all those people at once. Is that it?”

“That’s the essence of it, yes.”

Murder typically stems from personal interests.

However, when the targets are high officials or prominent social figures, murder inevitably carries political implications. Especially when politicians or equivalent government officials are involved, the probability approaches one hundred percent.

Inquisitor General Pedro affirmed the Saint’s words and added further explanation.

“After Saint Veronica eliminated the werewolves, believers from the Bahar parish took action. They cleaned up the traces left in the area and recovered not only the werewolves’ possessions that the Saint had hidden, but also items left behind in various locations.”

The cleric commanding the Inquisition calmly presented evidence—a photograph of what appeared to be an eerie concrete wall in an abandoned building.

“This was discovered in the basement of the abandoned inn at address 185.”

The wall was covered with thin plasterboard.

Photos seemingly cut from daily newspapers, along with articles and columns from magazines containing trivial content, were densely attached.

Next to them were several large maps of downtown Bahar connected like patchwork, with threads chaotically crossing from several points across the paper, and marker lines following the road network.

The scene was somewhat familiar to Camilla.

And for good reason—the board captured in the photo was something she had experience creating herself.

A Crazy Wall.

An evidence board commonly appearing in crime genre media, and something intelligence analysts occasionally create. She had made one herself while training under Frederick at the Magic Tower, when solving an assignment he had given her.

Was it about locating a mid-level operative of the Al-Nusra Front? If her memory served her correctly, that was probably it.

“……”

Camilla observed the evidence photographed in the abandoned building with a complex expression. After all, she herself was included on the board created by werewolves.

Having realized she was being tracked—and likely targeted for assassination—she couldn’t help but feel unsettled.

With her blue eyes fixed on the photo, Camilla carefully began asking questions in a cold tone.

“Has the purpose been identified? If a specific group is planning to assassinate politicians and us, there must be a substantial background to it.”

“……”

Pedro glanced at Camilla briefly.

“Unknown. Currently, the Inquisition and cooperating agencies are investigating from all angles, but since werewolves themselves live in secretive seclusion, we humans have our limitations.”

“I see.”

“They appear to be acting in an organized manner, suggesting they’re planning a large-scale attack centered around a specific group… but since all organizations formed by werewolves have ceased their activities, it’s highly likely they’ve already disbanded. In other words, there’s no group of sufficient caliber to act as a behind-the-scenes force.”

“Hmm, this has become quite troublesome, hasn’t it, Inquisitor General?”

“Honestly, yes. However, one fortunate aspect is that we can at least guess at their purpose.”

Though they hadn’t identified a clear objective, the Inquisition’s theory was that this was a movement with political struggle in mind.

In other words, they were planning to achieve political goals through assassination.

Veronica’s slender fingers traced her delicate jawline, and her pair of obsidian-like eyes gazed into empty space for a while, seemingly lost in deep contemplation.

“Terrorism. If werewolves are planning terrorism, the ultimate reason can only be separatist independence. That’s all there is to it, isn’t it, Inquisitor General?”

“Yes. It seems their goal is likely the gradual securing of autonomy through the removal of their demon classification.”

“…Securing autonomy through assassination?”

It was a somewhat incongruous statement. Especially for Camilla, who was unfamiliar with the situation.

In response, Veronica, who had been conversing with Pedro, channeled a teacher instructing a student and began explaining step by step.

“Do you remember when I told you why werewolves were classified as demons, Hero?”

“You said they were considered demons because they were a species hostile to humans.”

“That’s right. I told you there were major extermination campaigns by the Imperial Court and the Ashtistan Royal Family hundreds of years ago. And additionally, that policy was inherited by the Ashtistan Republic government and continues to this day.”

Werewolves have been designated as enemies of humanity, classified as demons since ancient times.

Whenever the full moon rose, packs of werewolves would raid villages. Individuals addicted to the taste of blood would begin hunting from the moment the sun set.

Unable to bear the damage, the Kiyen Empire and the Kingdom of Ashtistan tried to appease the werewolves, but conciliatory measures failed to achieve proper results and often came to nothing.

“Originally, there was a time when conflicts between humans and werewolves who accepted proposals were resolved. But unlike humans who obeyed central authorities, werewolves at that time only banded together with their own clans.”

Werewolves, who thoroughly worshipped strength, extremely disliked situations where someone gave them orders.

That was the root of the problem.

“Even if agreements were made with the most powerful werewolves in the clans, other clans would usurp power and then nullify the agreements.”

Diplomacy is fundamentally based on promises made on trust. Even if countries are hostile to each other, once a document is stamped, there is an obligation to comply with the agreement without proper justification.

But werewolves frequently ignored their promises with humans.

To summarize in one sentence, it was like saying, “That was an agreement made with our predecessor, not with us.”

“Is that acceptable?”

“Of course not. It’s still a diplomatic agreement. But werewolves, who lived in seclusion among their clans and worshipped power, wouldn’t care about diplomatic conventions from humans they considered much weaker than themselves.”

Of course, it can’t be said that there are no cases where countries overturn the diplomatic policies of previous governments, but that’s something only occasionally done by superpowers with overwhelming strength. Countries of similar caliber rarely dare to do such things.

And the Kiyen Empire and the Kingdom of Ashtistan were countries that competed for regional hegemony with numerous great powers.

Both then and now, they had histories of countless nation-level conflicts.

The werewolves, ignorant of the ways of the world, didn’t know this fact, and the result was, predictably, all-out war.

“Eventually, things went wrong.”

“War?”

“Mmm. The merciful Shah of the Desert allowed werewolves to survive in remote lands, but the Emperor of the Empire wouldn’t even tolerate that. Knights who received the imperial order searched the entire north and exterminated all werewolves, even the cubs.”

Thus, the werewolves of the snow disappeared into history, and only the werewolves of the red sand maintained their lineage, wandering the desert.

In what modern scholars define as “no man’s land”—the ownerless territories beyond national borders.

The problem was that this life, barely more than survival, continued for hundreds of years.

Veronica lit her cigarette with a calm tone.

“The Desert Lycans—that is, the werewolves of the eastern Mauritani continent—sent envoys to the Kingdom of Ashtistan seeking help. About thirty years ago, I think? They said they would acknowledge the wrongs of their ancestors and ask for forgiveness if they were allowed to settle in Ashtistan again.”

“……”

“It actually came very close to happening.”

The phrase “came very close” implied that it ultimately didn’t happen. Camilla could guess the reason.

Is the culture of replacing leadership when things go wrong unique to werewolves? The sorcerers, tired of the royal family’s tyranny, joined the revolutionary army and drove out the Shah, and history repeated itself in the opposite direction.

Once her thoughts reached that point, she could naturally imagine what followed.

The subsequent explanations were so predictable that Camilla thought she didn’t need to hear them. And this was indeed an accurate prediction.

The Republic of Ashtistan nullified the diplomatic documents brought by the werewolves.

Saying that this country was no longer the Shah’s kingdom, and if they wanted peace, they should accept new demands.

As one might expect from humans, the new demands consisted entirely of unfavorable clauses that were difficult for werewolves to accept. The negotiations remained just that—negotiations.

And the blade of revolution, before the blood of collaborators had dried, was once again soaked with the blood of werewolves.

“Well, from what I hear, the Republic knew their conditions were unreasonable. They were in the midst of building a good relationship with the Kiyen Empire, which claimed the extermination of werewolves as an achievement of their previous emperor… There was no real benefit in accepting werewolves, and breaking an alliance to extend a hand was a bit much… The story is that they never intended to negotiate in the first place.”

“That’s cruel.”

“Anyway, after that, werewolves began to focus on securing autonomy. They wanted to establish a foundation in habitable lands rather than the uninhabited areas teeming with monsters, but such lands were already occupied by humans… You can guess what happened next, right?”

“Yes, quite clearly.”

Though her expression was dubious, Camilla could only nod.

*

After Professor Veronica’s thorough explanation concluded, Camilla was lost in serious thought.

“…Hmm.”

Persecution accumulated over a long period. She understood the history of why werewolves became hostile to humans.

The reason for wanting to assassinate foreign ministers was also somewhat understandable.

The Kiyen Empire had a history of exterminating northern werewolves, and the Republic of Ashtistan was the party that overturned peace negotiations by presenting unreasonable surrender documents (from a human perspective it might be mirror therapy, but from a werewolf perspective, it would be infuriating).

While the Lushan Federation and the Kingdom of Abas didn’t seem to have done anything wrong, they were understandable targets when approached from a “species versus species” perspective.

Regardless of different countries and whatnot,

In the eyes of werewolves, aren’t all humans the same?

If some werewolf who absolutely despises humans (though the comparison might not be appropriate, Camilla is currently guessing it’s similar to the KKK) is planning assassinations, it’s not surprising they would target Abas and Lushan as well.

But there was one thing that Camilla simply couldn’t understand.

Why resort to violence to solve the problem?

Camilla, with her brain working at 200% capacity, groaned as she sank into deep thought.

“Ssss….”

Using violence to secure survival and autonomous territory for a species.

At first glance, it might seem like a story from a distant land, but if you replace “species” with “nation,” it was a phenomenon occasionally seen on Earth as well.

There have always been groups using force to achieve political goals.

For instance, ETA (Basque Homeland and Liberty), formed with the goal of armed struggle after enduring long massacres and persecution following the Spanish Civil War.

Or the IRA (Irish Republican Army) and its successors, active in Ireland and Northern Ireland, advocating for complete Irish independence.

ETA tried to realize Basque independence by assassinating former Spanish Prime Minister Luis Carrero Blanco, while the IRA attempted to liberate Northern Ireland by bombing a hotel where Prime Minister Thatcher and parliamentary officials were staying.

But such violent separatist activities rarely gained support.

If it were possible to break away into an autonomous government by assassinating someone or taking hostages,

Why did the RSRSBCM (Riyadh-as-Saliheen Chechen Martyrs’ Reconnaissance and Sabotage Battalion), which dominated the Dagestan-Chechen Republic area, and ETIM (East Turkestan Islamic Movement), which advocated for the liberation of the Xinjiang region, collapse?

Because they gained no one’s support.

Moreover, even as the Russian Federal Security Service crushed RSRSBCM and Chinese Public Security demolished ETIM, with numerous allegations of assassination, torture, kidnapping, and other crimes surfacing, Western countries made no particular protests and instead maintained silence.

Why?

Because RSRSBCM was the main group behind the Beslan hostage crisis, and ETIM was the force behind the Kunming railway station knife attack that caused civilian casualties.

That’s why discussions about Chechen Republic independence were ignored by many countries after the Beslan incident, where many children died.

And when a knife attack occurred in 2014, while ISIL was rampaging, resulting in the death of even a 4-year-old child, the British government stepped in to designate the main force as a “terrorist organization” and condemn them.

(Of course, ETIM was already designated as a terrorist organization by the UN, US, and Chinese governments. They were caught receiving substantial help from “Al-Qaeda,” which was behind the 9/11 attacks. In other words, these guys were friends with bin Laden, who had been taken down by American SEALs.)

Anyway.

To summarize, “achieving political goals through violent methods”

From Camilla’s perspective, was no different from nonsensical gibberish.

No, even from a common-sense perspective, isn’t that right?

If someone threatens, “If you don’t meet my demands, I’ll burn down your house!” what kind of crazy person would respond with, “Ah, you seem very desperate. Alright, let’s hear what you have to say”?

A person with common sense would never negotiate under such circumstances.

Camilla believed this firmly, and based on her actual experiences, the “probability of negotiations failing” was unfortunately close to 100%.

“…That’s strange.”

“What is?”

Veronica, who had been stirring sugar cubes, stared at her face as if wondering what she was talking about.

At that moment, only the two of them were in the room.

Pedro had urgently left during their conversation after receiving a call from an inquisitor, so the quietly spread soliloquy rang more clearly than ever.

In response, Camilla answered with a troubled face.

“The werewolves. They’re trying to fight a battle they can’t win.”

“In a way, that’s true.”

Veronica smiled gently as she stirred her teacup.

“Perhaps it’s the custom of werewolves who worship strength at work. Strong power that doesn’t even allow the thought of resistance naturally brings fear and dread. Maybe they’re trying to change the world through those primal emotions?”

“Even though they’ve already tasted defeat as a species?”

“That might be why they’re taking a harder line.”

Gurgle. As she tilted the teapot, the yellow tea water took on a light apricot color when it met the air.

It was filled with a rich, sweet aroma. Veronica took a deep breath, blew on her teacup, and nodded.

“Hero, you know how chaotic the political situation in the Mauritani continent has been recently, right?”

“Of course.”

“The werewolves must have realized it, albeit belatedly. The Mauritani continent has always been tumultuous, but lately, particularly unusual events have been occurring in abundance.”

“Hmm….”

“Naturally, they would have many thoughts and developed ambitions.”

With both Kiyen and Ashtistan shaking for various reasons, and all the news being nothing but negative…

Just as beasts wait for the leader’s strength to wane before killing it in one bite,

The werewolves, who had been quietly waiting for an opportunity, finally judged that a golden chance had arrived.

That was Veronica’s argument.

“Of course, this is just my personal opinion, and it can’t be the complete answer. If I were to compare it to an exam, it would be a half-answer.”

“Because the timing doesn’t match up?”

“Yes. The quadrilateral talks were announced less than a month ago.”

Her explanation was as follows:

It doesn’t make sense that werewolves decided to assassinate the ministers of Lushan, Abas, Kiyen, Ashtistan, and Camilla’s group, and came to Bahar in time for the quadrilateral talks.

Because the foreign ministries announced the success of the quadrilateral talks less than 30 days ago—in the recent past.

It’s logically impossible that hundreds of werewolves smuggled themselves into Bahar with a meeting in mind that wasn’t even discussed a few months ago.

The Saint sipped her tea with a sneer.

“Unless they could see the future, it’s impossible.”

“Indeed.”

“If werewolves planned an assassination, they wouldn’t have started with such a grand scheme. I suspect they were plotting something in Bahar, and when news broke that the quadrilateral talks would be held and all sorts of dignitaries would arrive, they expanded their scale… If so, they would have hastily revised their plans over the past month, and preparations would inevitably be inadequate.”

“……”

From a common-sense perspective, that’s true.

It’s physically impossible to revise plans and perfectly prepare everything in just one month. If assassinating specific individuals were that easy, there wouldn’t be any politicians left in the world.

Moreover, werewolves had no way to obtain specific information about the quadrilateral talks.

From the beginning, isn’t even which minister is staying at which hotel, on which floor, and with whom kept secret?

Experienced journalists might somehow find out using all their connections, but even if they did, they would be stopped by federal police and the meeting’s security guards, making it impossible to enter the hotel. The same goes for the convention center where the talks were held.

With embassies of each country already cooperating with local intelligence agencies to prepare for terrorism, and combat magicians and special forces patrolling the streets and building interiors—scenes that have been broadcast multiple times—what audacity would it take to raid such a place?

Additionally, two Grand Magicians are currently in Bahar.

If they have eyes and ears, the werewolves would be aware of their presence.

They would know that if they moved carelessly, they wouldn’t even have bones left to pick up.

Of course, just because they recognized the danger doesn’t mean the werewolves would remain quiet.

If they had, there wouldn’t have been a murder near the resort where Camilla was staying.

What truly doesn’t make sense is why werewolves, who clearly understand these risks, revealed their presence by committing murder.

“……”

Camilla was engulfed in contemplation about the circumstances that led werewolves to commit murder.

Why did they do it?

Did they want to reveal their presence even if it meant killing innocent people? Or was it a declaration of war before a major attack?

If so, why give up the advantage of surprise? They must acknowledge they’re in a disadvantageous situation.

Do they really have the confidence to perfectly assassinate just the ministers and us? Then why kill an innocent family? Are they planning to kill all civilians too?

Perhaps they chose to create an even more unfavorable situation solely for propaganda effect and to maximize the achievement of political goals?

“…Hmmmm!”

While Camilla was deeply troubled, Veronica, who had been savoring her tea, casually dropped a remark in an indifferent tone.

“Why are you pondering so seriously? Whether they ate some strange fruit somewhere or not, these crazier-than-usual werewolves are just licking their lips while looking at a tree they can’t climb.”

She murmured quietly while examining the evidence Pedro had left behind.

“Shall I explain how sturdy the aerial barrier around the resort is? From what I briefly saw, to break it, you’d need to bring five regiments of Holy Knights and hammer at it for a whole week to maybe, just maybe, create a crack—”

“Oh?”

“Hm?”

“What did you just say?”

As Camilla raised her head urgently, Veronica blinked her round eyes repeatedly.

“Which part? The part about needing five regiments of Holy Knights to break the Grand Duke’s barrier?”

“No, no. Before that.”

“That the werewolves must have eaten something wrong because they’ve gone crazier than usual?”

“…!”

Bang. Camilla struck the desk and jumped to her feet.

Startled, Veronica fell backward with a “Waaah, thud.”

As Veronica, who had barely regained her senses, nursed her small head with an “Ouch…” Camilla rushed to her, grabbed her shoulders, and shook her vigorously while exclaiming.

“Wh-wh-what are you d-doing—”

“That’s it! That’s exactly it!”

“But what—”

“A group that would act on what a sane person would dismiss as absurd fantasy, firmly believing it’s the right path! A group with enough numbers and cohesion to spare!”

A gathering of novices trapped in their own world.

Composed of the most zealous and fanatical members, impervious to any logical persuasion.

Therefore considered the most dangerous organization in the world.

“…Extremists!”

Camilla, perched atop Veronica, raised her voice.

“Whether it’s hotels or conference venues, most low-priority auxiliary tasks are assigned to non-humans, right? Cleaning, facility management, and such. Here, they don’t pay non-humans much to begin with!”

It was the same with the Brussels attack. The terrorist who suddenly went to Brussels Airport one day and carried out a suicide bombing was a man who had worked as a janitor at Brussels Airport and the European Parliament headquarters in Paris.

All while being an active ISIL member who had even supervised hostages.

Though she had momentarily forgotten, this was information Camilla couldn’t ignore.

One of the many assignments she had submitted to get a recommendation letter for an intelligence agency internship from her department professor was “The Possibility of Terrorist Attacks at Heathrow Airport,” centered around the 2016 Brussels Airport bombing.

Come to think of it, groups like ETA, IRA, RSRSBCM, and ETIM were all organizations she had researched while writing that paper.

Camilla, who had abruptly lifted Veronica, demanded information without preamble.

“Find extremist groups created by non-humans. Quickly!”