Ch.99Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Soldier, Spy

# Rochelar Mining Company, Kiyen Empire Branch Security Officer,

Esilu Motors Kiyen Empire Market Evaluator,

Tuhermina Shipping Kiyen Empire Branch Port Security Chief,

Financial Attaché to the Abas Consulate General in the Kiyen Empire,

Information Manager at the Office of Defense Attaché, Abas Embassy to the Kiyen Empire,

Or Commander of the 401st Brigade of the Abas Ministry of Defense, Chief of the Military Intelligence Bureau’s Overseas Operations Office, Kiyen Empire Branch.

Though Leoni has gone through countless identities, there is only one title that refers to her now.

“It’s been a while, Director.”

“Skip the pleasantries.”

Director of the 2nd Bureau of National Operations, Royal Intelligence Department, Leoni.

I met my former superior who had gone from the Magic Tower to become a policy maker in a national intelligence agency.

She sat in the back seat of the van with a very tired face.

“You look radiant.”

“Is that an insult or a compliment?”

“Take it however you wish. What brings you to the Magic Tower? Surely you haven’t returned to fieldwork?”

I didn’t know exactly what a Royal Intelligence Department Director did, but at that level, her duties were predictable.

Document approvals and policy decisions.

Though technically an operational position, it was definitely not one that involved getting your hands dirty in the field.

Leoni looked at me sitting across from her with a face that had aged about ten years.

“Do I look like someone who would do fieldwork at my age?”

“You’re still quite vigorous, aren’t you?”

“At this age, they neither ask me to go into the field, nor would they welcome me there.”

The seasoned operative gazed out the window. The heavily tinted glass separated the world from the van like a one-way mirror.

The window that divided the world seemed cast in shadow, and the operative’s reflection in the tinted glass appeared shadowed as well.

Whether caught up in the atmosphere or in the passage of time,

Leoni remained silent, lost in thought for a while, then suddenly spoke.

Her eyes still fixed on the outside world.

“I heard you were shot?”

“Where did you hear that from?”

“Are there any secrets in this world?”

Leoni naturally deflected the question, concealing her source. I didn’t bother to press the issue.

There were no secrets in this world, after all.

“Why are you here? I doubt you’ve come to offer me a job.”

“Wouldn’t it be strange for someone my age to be out headhunting?”

“…I suppose you’re right.”

Leoni continued speaking with her eyes still fixed on the window.

“Just out for a field inspection. Promotion’s right around the corner, so I’ve got a lot to do.”

A promotion from Director.

I nodded and offered my congratulations.

“Are you becoming Bureau Chief? Congratulations, Director.”

“It’s not something you should be happy about.”

“……”

I didn’t bother responding to such vague remarks. Leoni wouldn’t have called me just to make small talk. If that were really the case, I’d be slightly offended.

As I was thinking this, Leoni, who had been silently gazing out the window, pulled something out from her coat while keeping her gaze fixed.

“…What is it?”

“A gift.”

Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Soldier, Spy

Dmitrie asked me for information.

Personal information.

I read aloud as I flipped through the documents one by one. It was an intelligence report that analysts had processed from the information Dmitrie had provided.

“Graduate of Kubinka Military Academy, Commander of the 547th Detachment, 3rd Intelligence Brigade, Foreign Intelligence Bureau, Reconnaissance Command…”

The information Dmitrie provided was very accurate. The social affairs reporter’s instincts hadn’t dulled.

“Has this been reviewed?”

Pippin answered.

She was busy binding the intelligence document that she had diligently prepared with the analysts.

“We’ve cross-checked it with the Intelligence Bureau database. The unit exists, and according to our fixed agent’s report, he did graduate from Kubinka.”

“Is that so?”

The intelligence analysis team had compiled a thin document by combining information stored on the Military Intelligence Bureau’s server with the intelligence Dmitrie had uploaded.

Testimony from a defected spy, photos of the training center taken by a fixed agent, interrogation reports of non-defecting long-term prisoners by the counterintelligence unit, the general organization of the Reconnaissance Command collected by intelligence officers, and the detailed organization of the Empire’s intelligence units obtained by operatives.

What Dmitrie had brought was just one photo taken during training and military academy graduation records, but the analysts had extracted countless pieces of information.

“According to records from four years ago, there’s evidence he worked as a travel agency employee in northern Lushan Federation. Though the records are old, the intelligence was directly obtained by an intelligence officer, so its reliability is quite high.”

“How high exactly?”

“At minimum 40%, at maximum about 70%.”

70 percent.

That’s very high reliability even considering it’s an old record. Perhaps because it was intelligence directly uncovered by an officer rather than from a paid informant.

I scanned through the list of travel agency offices listed on the back page of the intelligence document.

“Give me a pen.”

“Here you go.”

Taking the pen from Pippin, I started crossing out offices starting with the most distant ones.

After a while of vigorously crossing things out with the pen, I was finally able to return both the pen and the document to Pippin.

“Deploy the staff and search the closest locations first.”

Time to release the hounds.

*

Based on the intelligence Dmitrie collected, I began searching for the mastermind behind the assailants. As expected of a former social affairs reporter with a sharp nose, he had brought useful intelligence.

Of course, I paid the price.

The Military Intelligence Bureau contacted a member of the Intelligence Committee and submitted “A Resolution on the Human Rights Situation in the Kiyen Empire” to the Senate plenary session.

It was a politically burdensome move considering diplomatic relations, but because the senator was from the opposition party, a hardliner who had served as a general in the military, and because it was submitted to the Senate, which was relatively less important than the House, it didn’t cause as much of a stir as one might expect.

For reference, the Prime Minister’s approval had already been obtained. More precisely, the Director of Military Intelligence had proposed it to the Prime Minister and received approval.

On the surface, this was an action taken not by the ruling party but by the opposition—specifically by a senator known for his hawkish stance—and the resolution was merely submitted, not passed by the plenary session. This allowed the Abas government to dismiss it as a “rash action” by an opposition senator.

And it’s not like the Empire being criticized for human rights abuses was anything new. Though they bristled briefly, the Empire’s diplomats smoothly moved past the incident, considering it a “show to secure a nomination.”

After all, it’s the intelligence agencies, not the foreign ministry, that do the dirty work.

In the end, the only group that took the resolution submission seriously was the Empire’s intelligence agency.

And the Empire’s intelligence agency was quicker than anyone to gather information.

-‘What the hell is going on now?’

“Watch your language. You’re a saint, for heaven’s sake. What’s with the profanity?”

Veronica called the hotel early in the morning.

It was past 9 o’clock, clearly a time when both civil servants and company employees would have gone to work, but surprisingly, Veronica had abandoned her duties to contact me.

“Where on earth are you? Why do I hear music? Don’t tell me you’re calling in the middle of Mass?”

-‘I’m at my regular place. Not the cathedral.’

“Why are you there?”

-‘Am I not allowed to go there?’

This is maddening.

-‘Tsk… Anyway, stop changing the subject…! Explain what’s going on.’

“What explanation do you need? Do you know so little about politics? It’s obviously just someone desperately trying to secure a nomination for the next election.”

I relayed the Abas government’s position without changing a single word.

As a diplomat’s job is to represent the government’s position, I had no choice. After all, even a defense attaché is ultimately a diplomat responsible for military diplomacy, right?

To be precise, I was a spy, not a diplomat, but anyway.

“That’s how they explained it upstairs. And I’m in the Magic Tower now, how would I know about the political situation back home? I’m not a politician. I’m busy with work, so I’ll hang up now and call you later.”

In any case, I used the solemn rules of the diplomatic and intelligence communities to package my nonsense and deliver it to Veronica.

It didn’t work.

-‘I looked into it, and that senator graduated from Kelsir Military Academy, rose to the rank of general, was assigned to the Defense Ministry’s Policy Office, was even seconded to the Military Intelligence Bureau, and now sits as the secretary of the Intelligence Committee. I find it hard to believe you don’t know this.’

“Uh…?”

I don’t understand why she knows so much about another country’s political landscape.

Seeing her recite detailed credentials that even I hadn’t heard of, I was momentarily flustered and even stammered.

-‘I can pretty much see what’s going on, so let me just say it? Right now, ministers and counselors are causing an absolute ruckus all the way down to the basement, and before I come over there, you’d better spill it quickly.’

Veronica fired off her words rapidly in an extremely angry voice.

She’s completely insane.

“Uh, uh, uh, I can’t hear you well because I’m at a protest near the hotel right now? Can you hear me?”

-‘I can hear you perfectly fine. What nonsense are you talking about? And didn’t you say earlier you were at the mission office?’

“Uh, Veronica! I’m busy now so I’m hanging up!”

-‘No, wait, hello? I can hear you just fine! Hell- Hey! You son of a b—’

Click!

With a bang, the phone call abruptly ended.

Worried I might have slammed the receiver down too hard, I looked around to find everyone in the office who had been working on documents staring at me.

“…I’m sorry.”

I bowed my head to those around me and picked up the receiver again as if nothing had happened.

How embarrassing.

*

Although the Empire’s intelligence agency was on high alert due to the Senate’s sudden action, it was decided to proceed with the operation without disruption.

The first reason was that the activities of Project 73 had not been detected by the Empire’s intelligence network.

Similarly, the second reason was that the Magic Tower’s counterintelligence agency showed no signs of movement.

The movements of the Empire’s intelligence agency were within the expected margin of error. Considering that the Imperial Guard wielded absolute power based on their intelligence capabilities, and that the Imperial Guard’s overseas intelligence network had recently suffered a major blow, this wasn’t particularly strange. However, the Magic Tower’s behavior was suspicious.

Even considering that the Magic Tower had essentially become a playground for various national intelligence agencies since the Treaty of Nastasiya, this was clearly abnormal.

An employee of a representative office—equivalent to another country’s foreign ministry—had died, and a defense attaché had been caught in a shootout. Moreover, it was a shootout led by an intelligence agency. This would constitute a violation of sovereignty no matter which country you applied it to.

Unless there was a civil war making it difficult for the government to continue functioning. But when you pull this kind of stunt in the middle of someone else’s perfectly normal country, diplomatic complaints are bound to come in.

Yet the Magic Tower had not issued any statement despite the passage of time.

‘Something… something is happening…’

My ten years of experience in intelligence warned me that the Magic Tower was highly suspicious, but the Military Intelligence Bureau saw this as a positive development.

-‘Just keep doing what you’ve been doing.’

“Are you sure that’s alright?”

-‘Why wouldn’t it be?’

Klevins began in his usual voice.

-‘If you think about it, the Magic Tower bears more responsibility. The overseas department has determined that it’s fine to keep pushing forward. Don’t you want revenge too?’

“Ah, yes. Revenge is good.”

The mention of revenge left a slightly bitter taste in my mouth as old memories surfaced.

“But isn’t this… a violation of sovereignty in a way? If we’re caught, diplomatic immunity or not, my face will be plastered all over the newspapers.”

-‘That’s why we have operatives—to avoid getting caught. If we proceed as planned, a clash with them is inevitable. So either we make the first move, or we make sure to crush them thoroughly before moving on.’

“Yes, I understand.”

-‘And you’ll be relieved from your attaché duties for the time being. We’ve reached an agreement with the attaché office, so don’t worry and take a break.’

That concluded my conversation with Klevins. I barely paid attention to his final words.

I gathered Pippin and Jake to relay the directives that had come down from the Military Intelligence Bureau.

“…And that’s the situation.”

After hearing everything, Pippin and Jake looked up at me with exasperated expressions. They looked like people who had been dragged in while heading home from work.

“Why are you looking at me like that?”

“Well, I appreciate you telling us… but did you have to tell us at 10 PM?”

“If you don’t like it, you can be the operative.”

“No, thank you very much.”

I sat on the sofa and disinfected my stitched wound. Unlike the yellowish-brown iodine solution, the transparent disinfectant swirled around.

I picked up a cotton ball with sterilized medical tweezers, soaked it in disinfectant, and carefully cleaned the wound. It wasn’t as painful as I expected, but it felt strange, like I was patting someone else’s shoulder.

While I was sitting quietly disinfecting the wound area, Jake, who was helping with a mask and gloves on, asked a question.

“Who stitched this up? It’s better than I expected.”

“I did it myself.”

“What?”

I gestured with my chin toward the medical supplies hidden in the corner.

“I bought everything and treated it myself. Who else would help me?”

“Come on, you treated a gunshot wound by yourself? Don’t lie.”

“Come here. I’ll stitch you up nicely.”

Just as I was twisting my body like a snake to beautifully knot Jake’s mouth shut, Pippin looked at us with an incredulous expression and let out a deep sigh.

“Sigh…”

“What’s wrong with you now?”

“You got shot and you still want to joke around? Hurry up and finish disinfecting.”

While Pippin kicked Jake away, I finished disinfecting and attached a new piece of gauze over the wound.

I took one each of the now-familiar painkillers and antibiotics, and as I was about to open a bottle of water to drink them, I remembered that I had been drinking with Dmitrie even though my wound hadn’t healed yet.

…Well, it probably doesn’t matter.

“So what are you planning to do now?”

“About what?”

“The operation. The higher-ups are approving pretty much all requests, but you haven’t said anything, sir.”

I opened the refrigerator as I listened to Pippin.

When I opened the refrigerator door wide, a small, cute dragon-like creature greeted me with a blast of cold air. I tossed in a water bottle, and the dragon hugged it like a body pillow, rolling around inside the refrigerator.

After throwing the water bottle as a toy, I took out a potion displayed at the very bottom.

“Have you searched all the travel agency offices?”

Jake, who was burning cotton and gauze with a rune stone, answered.

“No, sir. We still have a few left.”

“Really? Nothing to report?”

“No.”

When I held out my hand, Pippin placed a chart in it with a thud.

On the chart, neatly organized like an Excel spreadsheet, the offices that had been searched were crossed out with red lines.

“We’ve searched 11 out of 17 locations. Nothing has turned up.”

“Why couldn’t you search the remaining 6?”

“We went there, but employees were working, so we couldn’t search.”

“I see…”

Pop!

The potion cap opened with a cheerful sound. It looked exactly like a health potion from a game, but from what I’ve tasted so far, the flavor isn’t particularly good.

Maybe because it’s made from monster blood. It feels a bit unsettling.

I downed the entire potion. It was a slightly more expensive potion with added flavor.

“…Hmm.”

Grape flavor.

I threw the empty bottle into the trash bin and gave my orders.

“Prepare to search the remaining 6.”

“Yes, we’ll search them tomorrow.”

“No, not tomorrow. Let’s do it now.”

“…What?”

Pippin and Jake, with dumbfounded expressions, simultaneously looked at the clock.

Current time: 23:56.

“Gather all nearby staff and prepare to depart.”

It was the perfect time for a spy to operate.