Ch.81Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Spy, Soldier

Leading unofficial heads of household, I infiltrate the magic tower as a defense attaché to find the source behind the spy.

So far, all operations are proceeding smoothly. I’m slowly approaching my target, and my cover identity hasn’t been exposed.

However, what I didn’t anticipate was that our target is connected to an allied intelligence agency, and there’s another imperial military intelligence agency also pursuing the same target.

Even I didn’t expect this situation. Who in the world would have thought that multiple intelligence agencies would be entangled in a single objective?

There’s one cake but three mouths. And that cunning friend is begging for just one bite from the side. Whether he’ll really take just one bite or steal the whole thing and devour it, nobody knows.

The most important thing is the result.

I’ve said it repeatedly, but process and logic are unnecessary. Only results and the achievements produced by those results remain in reports.

In the end, that’s all that remains.

Five days remain until the moment that will determine this operation’s future.

If you don’t want to lick the plate that others have already eaten from,

From now on, you need to run like a dog.

Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Spy, Soldier

Camilla wiped away the beads of sweat forming on her skin and shook her hand once.

“It’s not as hot as I expected?”

“Of course not. It would be ridiculous for a magician to get hurt by their own magic, wouldn’t it?”

Camilla rotated her wrist a few times, then extended her arm and cast another spell. With a thunderous “KWABANG,” a water splash rose in the middle of the swimming pool.

Watching that scene, I couldn’t help but applaud.

“You’re amazing.”

“Heheh.”

Camilla scratched her head awkwardly at the compliment.

It was an unbelievable scale and power for a magician who had only discovered magic less than three months ago. Though I had seen Camilla’s abilities to the point of exhaustion during Operation Barren Land, it was truly strange that I still found myself involuntarily impressed.

Considering that in my 28 years of life, the only proper magic I’d seen was from my sister whom I’d like to erase from the family registry, Camilla’s abilities were exceptional enough to impress even my magic-ignorant eyes.

I handed a fluffy towel to her, now drenched with pool water.

“At this level, you have considerable skill. You could proudly show it off anywhere.”

“Is it really that good?”

“Of course.”

Though I’ve lived a life far removed from magic, thanks to the prospective officer magicians I met during my commissioning and my sister who lazes around at home, I know well how difficult magic is to learn.

It costs a lot of money, takes a lot of time, and one’s future depends on talent—that’s magic. It’s somewhat similar to arts and physical education, which makes it easier to understand.

And just like in arts and physical education, only a tiny minority achieve success after fierce competition.

Still, if you reach a middle level, employment opportunities open up, so the prospects are somewhat brighter than arts and physical education. But how would it feel to live as a struggling wage earner while others receive high salaries?

At least in humanities or sciences, you can say you fell behind because you studied less. Magic is a discipline where talent takes precedence over effort, so saying such things to even a close friend’s face would be asking to get beaten to death. There have actually been many murder cases for this reason. It’s rather strange that my sister, who has exceptional talent and good grades, is living as an unemployed person.

Since I’m not a magician, I don’t know the inside story of that industry, but I have a general understanding from what I’ve picked up.

Watching Camilla prepare her next spell, I casually remarked:

“Is there anything you’re curious about? About magic, perhaps. Or the magic tower.”

“Hmm. No? Not right now.”

“You said last time you had something to ask.”

“I’ll ask that later! It’s not something to ask about in a place like this.”

“…?”

Camilla waved her fingertips and smiled broadly. I had no idea what she wanted to ask.

Anyway, it was absolutely clear that she was a person with incredible abilities.

This was evidenced by the numerous intelligence officers dispatched overseas by the Military Intelligence Agency.

Half of the news that appeared on the secure line every morning was related to information activities of various countries’ defense departments and military intelligence agencies concerning Camilla. They were mainly focused on collecting information about her abilities.

As if that wasn’t enough, several military intelligence agencies with sufficient technological capabilities were waging cyber warfare on the Military Intelligence Agency’s servers, which clearly demonstrated just how intense the interest in Camilla was.

Perhaps intelligence agencies that had become overheated might attempt to make contact with her. Klevins said they would try to block it at the company level, but I’m not sure if that’s something that can be blocked even if they try. Honestly, it doesn’t seem like they could.

…Still.

I probably don’t need to worry too much.

“…”

“Hoit!”

That’s probably the case.

*

After finishing my role as Camilla’s caretaker, I returned to my embassy work.

Since I’ve already sketched the general outline, I just need to add some details to create a simple draft. Of course, that’s just a figure of speech—embassy work is never simple.

“Section Chief. I found the schedule.”

“Is that it? Let me see.”

First, I examined the document Jake brought to determine where Fabio Verati’s youngest daughter was headed.

While the Academy might sound like a university, it was actually classified as a secondary education institution like middle and high schools in South Korea, so notifying parents of the academic schedule through a school newsletter was an essential procedure.

And like any school newsletter, detailed information was provided on the back.

“Which class did Subject 51’s guardian belong to again?”

“Class 7.”

“Class 7… No absentees. Is this schedule definitely accurate?”

“Yes. We’ve contacted all the accommodations and restaurants booked by the Academy staff. If there are no major changes, it should proceed as indicated there.”

Jake reported all the intelligence gathered by the human intelligence team.

For reference, the human intelligence team collected information just by conducting a few inquiries. I knew this because that’s what Jake’s report said, and there was no trace of bribing informants in the submitted expense records.

It’s convenient to work in a neighborhood where personal information is managed so poorly. You can get most information just by visiting a real estate office.

“A 2-day, 3-night schedule with hotel accommodations. Wow, they must be rich? In my day, we just stayed at hostels.”

“It seems to be an academy in a wealthy neighborhood.”

“Then we shouldn’t kidnap near the academy, right?”

I wasn’t expecting an answer.

It goes without saying that kidnapping a child in a wealthy neighborhood would cause serious trouble. Such affluent areas generally have good security, and even if the kidnapping succeeds, it’s easy to be tracked.

I spread out a map of the area listed in the schedule on the hotel bed.

“There are several candidate locations, but two are promising. The place where the children stay on the second day, and the route they take when returning on the final day.”

Of course, it wasn’t a simple map—it was created based on data from foreign affairs police and magic tower police for this operation.

In other words, it was a map marking neighborhoods with high crime rates and those without. It also indicated checkpoints and all kinds of equipment monitoring crime blind spots.

“This downtown area. This shopping district is scheduled for redevelopment, has many alleys and few surveillance devices. The streetlights haven’t been replaced either, so the crime rate is relatively high.”

“According to the school newsletter, it’s a place they’ll visit briefly after dinner.”

Jake pulled out the magic tower’s sunrise and sunset timetable. I wondered why such a thing existed in a place where magic could change day and night.

A civil servant who served as a guide explained that the magicians who built the magic tower a hundred years ago designed it to change with the seasons because “to live like humans, one shouldn’t feel trapped inside a building.” If that gentleman had seen his design being used for espionage, he probably would have jumped out of his grave.

Anyway.

Jake alternated between checking the timetable and the school newsletter.

“The schedule barely overlaps with sunset. But isn’t it too close to the police station?”

“…Now that I look at it, it is close. If it’s about 5.4 kilometers in a straight line, how long would it take a magician to arrive?”

“It would take over 10 minutes by vehicle, but if they fly, there’s no way out. We can’t fly through the sky to escape. We don’t even have a magician.”

It was a reasonable point.

No matter how fast we drive, it’s difficult to escape if we’re pursued from the sky. So we either have to quietly kidnap and extract before a report is made, escape underground to avoid the sky, or prepare for combat and escape by force.

Pippin, who had been scribbling notes and tapping on a terminal beside me, spoke up.

“Our analysis team determined that the final return route is the optimal location.”

“Why?”

“First, there’s nothing within several kilometers. No surveillance equipment, and the road patrol intervals are wide. The surroundings are forested, so we could use that as an extraction route if necessary. And most importantly, the schedule says they’ll disperse on site and return individually, right?”

While he said it “seems fine,” it was essentially the correct answer.

What are the chances that a conclusion reached by multiple analysts working together would be wrong? If they failed at such a simple analysis, they wouldn’t be analysts.

Still, it was necessary to hear an expert opinion just in case.

“Right. By the way, when is the protest supposed to break out?”

“The Foreign Ministry says in a week. The Royal Intelligence Bureau expects around the same time.”

“Jake. Open a line now.”

“Yes. Where should I connect you?”

“Special Activities Division.”

*

Special Activities Division operations officer, Counterintelligence Division investigator, Technical Intelligence Department technician, and embassy officer.

After about an hour of voice conference, the operation’s outline was more or less established. In fact, I had already set up the basic framework, so it was merely a process of supplementing and revising with the opinions of the officers in charge.

Of course, it was a worthwhile meeting since these were the opinions of veterans with extensive experience.

Where to kidnap, how to kidnap, who would kidnap, what reason to use for approach, when to subdue, where to transport, what to do after it’s all over, and so on. The meeting mostly consisted of me making proposals and the officers identifying problems and suggesting alternatives.

Fortunately, we had plenty of time. If I had gone along for medical volunteer work today, we might have ended up having another meeting at dawn.

“…Saint?”

“Please call me Lucia.”

“Ah, I apologize.”

Speak of the devil—Lucia appeared just then. Meeting her in the hotel corridor, I greeted her warmly.

“You seem to be back early today.”

“We finished early because we used up all the prepared supplies.”

“I see.”

“It looks like I’ll have to stay at the hotel for a while.”

Lucia smiled calmly and said she planned to stay at the hotel until the next supplies arrived.

I couldn’t imagine how much they had traveled to use up all that holy water and supplies.

It was amazing that there were still so many people waiting for medical volunteer work in the magic tower even after using all that, and I found Lucia’s attitude of wanting to go back for more difficult volunteer work rather absurd.

“Is everyone alright? It seemed quite demanding.”

“Fatigue can be recovered with rest, but how could we rest from fighting against disease?”

“No, I meant the others, not you, Lucia.”

“Everyone seemed to be enjoying themselves.”

Lucia spoke as if it really wasn’t a problem.

What saint would contradict her when she said it was fine? It was an unreasonable statement by common sense, but the very person who uttered those unreasonable words had a serene face.

To anyone else, she might appear to be the very embodiment of a pure and benevolent saint, but in my eyes, Lucia was no different from a raccoon dog with a snake in its belly.

After all, she knowingly played along even though she knew Raul was using her.

“I see.”

She’s a person whose thoughts I simply cannot fathom.

Both Veronica and Lucia. Why do these two saints go around acting like raccoon dogs? It was utterly incomprehensible.

It seemed easier to just accept that this is how the world is and move on.

“So when will the next supplies arrive?”

“I heard in five days. Since we’ll need time to organize and classify the supplies, it will take more time before we can go out again.”

Hmm.

“How long do you think it will take to organize?”

“I estimate about three days. It seems I’ll need to stay here for at least a week.”

A week, huh.

The timing was remarkably coincidental. I looked around once and approached Lucia to speak quietly.

“…The Foreign Ministry says there will be protests in the magic tower soon.”

“Protests?”

“Yes. You should be careful for the time being. The local authorities are having trouble with these radical groups.”

I had already notified the Inquisition, but Lucia needed to know as well.

However, I omitted the reason why the protesters were rising up. Figuring that out was the role of the Inquisition protecting her, not her role. Since I had already informed them, there was no need for Lucia to know as well.

Lucia listened to me, pondered for a moment, then raised her head to ask:

“Are you saying I should postpone my activities?”

“The local police are aware, but situations don’t always go according to plan. While your own decision is important, please keep this in mind just in case.”

“…I understand. Thank you for letting me know.”

After thinking deeply, Lucia nodded and expressed her gratitude.

While prioritizing embassy work was necessary, protecting Lucia was also an important duty that couldn’t be neglected.

“By the way, does Camilla know about the protests?”

“No. I haven’t informed her yet. The magic tower authorities plan to control the protesters’ movement routes, so she shouldn’t encounter them. But when protests occur, security gaps appear in other areas, which is why I’m advising caution.”

“That’s a relief then.”

Lucia nodded with a remarkably calm expression. Her face showed no trace of concern.

Just as I was wondering whether she was brave or simply unconcerned about safety, Lucia resolved my doubts with a bright smile.

“I can protect myself well enough. I haven’t just been performing ceremonies.”

“Ah, I see.”

“But if you’re still worried, perhaps you’d like to accompany me again?”

What a dreadful suggestion.

“I appreciate the offer, but I have work to do, so I won’t be able to accompany you for a while. Haha.”

“You must be busy.”

“Well…”

I answered with my usual smile on my face.

“That’s just how it is being a civil servant.”