Covert Unit (2)

“Tsk… if you had been sleeping quietly, we would have sent you off comfortably.”

“Was the surprise attack discovered…?”

The men spoke as they drew their weapons.

I tried to maintain my composure and drew the sword placed beside my bed, but my heart was racing wildly.

‘Holy shit! I was seriously terrified!’

I mean, who would expect to be stabbed with a sword while sleeping?

Was it when I was around 10 years old? If it hadn’t been for the experience of being ambushed by magical beasts when Her Highness Aine took me to the snowy mountains for survival training, I would have truly been at death’s door.

I calmly turned on the room’s lights.

As the room brightened, the situation inside became clear.

Two people standing, one person unconscious.

…And two more outside the room, I think.

Black-clad figures who were unmistakably assassins came into view.

Black attire, black hood, and necklaces around their necks.

It was a very familiar appearance.

“Are you from the World Tree Church?”

“…!!”

Oh, they’re flustered.

I guess I’m right.

“What business does the World Tree Church’s covert unit have with me?”

“You bastard…!”

Now they’re getting angry, so it seems my answer was definitely correct.

This is the church’s covert unit that also appears in the original story.

In the original story, the church played a significant role as Allen’s helper, and the covert unit also frequently operated behind the scenes as quite helpful assistants for Allen.

Their characteristics were the black cloth covering their faces, black attire worn all over their bodies, but most distinctly, the necklaces they all wore bearing the emblem of the World Tree Church, indicating they were believers.

Well… it’s a necklace that any believer could buy and wear, but people wearing masks and black clothes with the church’s necklace on top match the description of the covert unit from the original story.

“How dare a mere student…!”

“Don’t rush in rashly!!”

One person got excited and charged, while another tried to stop him.

But he paid no attention and charged forward nonetheless.

Again, they appeared frequently in the original story.

“Wind Cutter.”

“Kyaaak!!”

Therefore, their description was quite detailed, and I had a rough understanding of how strong they were.

A special unit developed to operate underground, accepting those whose combat skills developed slowly.

Well, frankly speaking, it’s like a collection of dropouts.

The man stepped back, screaming in pain as his sword arm was severed.

“You idiot! You must have seen his profile! He’s from the Wentos County in the north!”

“Kughhh…!”

The leader-like man who was scolding the man clutching his severed arm in pain shouted:

“Eta! Omega!”

At the leader’s call, the two people waiting outside the door rushed in.

The leader put his hand into his breast pocket.

What is he trying to do…

“Retreat! Take care of Zeta!”

“What?”

No, it seemed like they were about to fight, but now they’re retreating?

While I was momentarily confused, unable to grasp the situation, the leader took out an object from his breast pocket and threw it.

I was on guard against that movement, so I cut down what he threw, but.

Bang!!

“What…”

White smoke rose.

I was on high alert, nervous about a potential attack from within the smoke, but the smoke gradually cleared without any attacks coming.

What remained after the smoke cleared was a messy room, the hand of the man severed by Wind Cutter, and only the man who had been knocked unconscious by my magic at the beginning.

I couldn’t fathom why the church’s covert unit had attacked me.

Thinking I might be able to get some information from the unconscious man, I went toward him, but all I saw was a corpse with its throat slit.

The next day, the academy was in an uproar.

Naturally, because during the night, intruders had broken into the academy dormitories, specifically both buildings of Aurum Hall where high-ranking nobles resided.

It was fortunate that no one was hurt and the intruders were repelled, because if there had been even minor casualties, it would have been an incident significant enough to turn the royal capital upside down.

The royal capital military police were dispatched following a report from a female dormitory student who witnessed the situation, and an investigation was immediately launched.

Riel, Phyllis, and I were called in as key witnesses.

“Do you have any idea about their identity?”

“No, they were people I’ve never seen before.”

I didn’t say anything specific about their identity.

I only knew they were the World Tree Church’s covert unit because of my knowledge from the original story, but there was no basis to reveal their identity otherwise.

Rather, if I claimed they were from the church and the church firmly denied it, I would only be at a disadvantage.

“They did say something strange like… ‘for the church’…”

Well, I gave this false testimony that would cast suspicion on the church.

I nearly died in my sleep, but since I can’t explicitly name the culprit, isn’t this much justified? Yeah.

“I… I was in a deep sleep, so I don’t really…”

“I will provide the testimony.”

Since Riel was trembling with a pale face, Phyllis took charge of testifying about the incident that occurred in the female dormitory.

That was understandable, because after waking up during the commotion last night and hearing the full story from Phyllis, she learned that intruders had entered her room at night.

Of course she would be scared and trembling.

Seeing Riel trembling, looking pitiful and vulnerable, I held her hand tightly, and she looked at me.

“Hehe… thank you.”

Seeing Riel smile with a little color returning to her pale face, I smiled back at her.

“My, all sorts of things are happening on the morning of the last day of the festival.”

In Gransen Palace, King Gallarus deeply sighed upon receiving a report of the incident that occurred overnight.

According to the report, those who broke into the academy dormitories were targeting Riel Ignis and Kyo Wentos.

Weren’t these the very people mentioned by Archbishop Marconi yesterday?

Since the culprit was virtually obvious, he immediately summoned Archbishop Marconi to question him.

However, Archbishop Marconi feigned ignorance and denied it.

“It seems that proper protection for the priestess isn’t being provided, don’t you think it would be better if our church took charge?”

He even went so far as to shift the blame to the kingdom, suggesting they weren’t providing adequate protection.

There was strong circumstantial evidence, but no material evidence.

They had secured the bodies of the intruders and attempted to discover their identities through magic, but even that failed.

“Their brains were completely liquefied.”

To identify someone using magic, they use a spell that reads fragments of memories from a dead body.

However, this magic only works if the brain of the body is intact.

But the bodies all had liquefied brains.

According to the forensic officer, it seems a poison that dissolves organs upon death had been implanted in their heads.

It’s truly terrifying.

Other evidence included the World Tree Church necklaces that they all possessed.

But those necklaces are items that any believer of the church can obtain.

Besides that, there was the testimony from a witness that they said something like ‘for the church…’

“They must have been devout believers of our church… Although they committed crimes, I would like to pray for their souls.”

He denied it while saying such things.

And there was an artifact found on one of the bodies.

After investigating the artifact, they learned it was a magical tool possessed by the church and questioned him about it as well, but.

“It’s an item that was stolen from our church long ago. I’m glad to find it like this.”

He requested its return.

Of course, they didn’t return it on the grounds that it was an important piece of evidence.

“That raccoon-like old man…”

King Gallarus forcibly suppressed his desire to spew profanities.

Indeed, it seemed it would always be difficult to get along with the church.

At the same time, Allen Ludwig was holed up alone in his dormitory room.

His miserable defeat in the semifinals of the Mushin Festival. He even showed a disgraceful display while losing.

That wasn’t all.

As some students raised questions about Allen’s victories up to the semifinals, rumors began to spread that Allen might have cheated.

Within less than a day, those rumors spread everywhere.

There was no evidence whatsoever, but as information about the skill levels of those Allen had defeated also spread, the story was accepted as credible, and Allen began to be treated as a coward overnight.

“……”

Last evening, upon hearing those rumors, Allen finally couldn’t bear it and locked himself in his room.

Early in the morning, the girls he was close with came to the dormitory, but Allen refused to meet them, and they often went back.

He was momentarily shaken when he heard that intruders had broken into the dormitory and that Riel was a victim.

But in the end, Allen couldn’t move.

‘Anyway… Riel hates me.’

Just before he was defeated and lost consciousness.

He felt like he saw Riel’s face in the audience, looking at him with a cold expression.

Even though she was in premium seats far away, Riel’s cold gaze was unforgettable.

‘I want to quit everything. Wouldn’t it be better to just go back home?’

Allen, who wanted to give up everything, simply sat quietly in his room.

At that moment, there was a knock on Allen’s door.

“Mr. Allen Ludwig, are you there?”

“……”

“Excuse me.”

There seemed to be a bell sound, and then the locked door swung open.

Allen, who was privately surprised by the door opening despite being locked, turned his gaze in that direction to see a middle-aged man in priestly robes standing there.

“Nice to meet you, Mr. Allen Ludwig. My name is Marconi… I serve as the archbishop of the World Tree Church.”

As Allen simply stared at Marconi who spoke thus, Archbishop Marconi smiled and said:

“Would you like to know, Mr. Allen Ludwig? Your mission… and the root cause that’s hindering you.”