Chapter 19
At the same time, in the Kingdom of Eldresia.
The Director’s Office of the Kingdom’s Central Intelligence Bureau.
“……Is it true that the leaders of the antiwar protest have been arrested?”
In front of a wall bearing a massive map of the world, Colonel Octavian Leopold, director of the Central Intelligence Bureau, spoke without bothering to hide his irritation.
Crispin, head of the Strategic Analysis Department, and Phineas, head of the Operations Execution Department, stood before the director to deliver their report and swallowed hard in nervousness.
Watching the director’s reaction, Crispin struggled to open his mouth.
“Unfortunately, it’s true. Apparently, they couldn’t withstand the Imperial Military Police’s interrogation and confessed everything.”
Phineas, who was standing beside him, chimed in.
“Moreover, the Empire is using this as an opportunity to launch a campaign claiming that everyone advocating peace is a lackey of the Allied Nations.”
That meant the Intelligence Bureau’s plan to use the antiwar protest as a catalyst for a popular uprising had gone up in smoke.
Of course, even if they managed to start a popular uprising, it was obvious that it would be suppressed, but their primary goal had been to make the Empire’s citizens develop a negative view of the war and the military.
Once negative public sentiment began to accumulate, even the Imperial Household would no longer be able to ignore it.
If that caused the Empire to halt its offensive, the Kingdom of Eldresia could buy itself some time.
Time to rearm its defeated army.
But with the protest leaders arrested, everything had come to nothing.
Director Octavian exhaled a deep sigh, then looked at the department heads with a frown between his brows.
“Who was it? Just who got in the way of our plan?”
“……This man.”
Crispin lifted the file he had been holding in his left hand and offered it to the director.
After accepting the file, Octavian frowned at the photograph at the top of the document listing various personal details.
“This man again……!”
Black hair and black eyes.
His face could appear gaunt depending on how one looked at him, but his wolf-like gaze made him seem ready to tear into his prey at any moment.
【Imperial General Staff / Operations Staff / Captain Daniel Steiner】
He had become famous among the kingdom’s leadership after seeing through the surprise attack on the hills of the Tebaitha Mountains and killing Colonel Jeremy, the adjutant to a legion commander, in an instant as he retreated from the enemy lines.
The dark horse of the Imperial Army, designated a person of interest and placed on the next-priority elimination list.
That was Daniel Steiner.
“He keeps interfering at every turn. Every single time!”
Octavian wanted nothing more than to shoot the bastard right between the eyes.
However, he could not harm Daniel Steiner just yet.
Gritting his teeth, Octavian turned to look at Crispin.
“What have the Allied Nations said about this situation?”
“Well…… They’re condemning us, claiming that the unauthorized intelligence operation has strengthened the Empire’s unity.”
“Condemning? Did you just say they’re condemning us? Those lunatics!”
They had urged the kingdom to join the Allied Nations when it needed help, and now that they no longer needed it, they intended to cast the kingdom aside? It was utterly absurd.
“The kingdom has faithfully performed its role! The Allied Nations never expected the kingdom to defeat the Imperial Army! Our role was to divide the Empire’s strength by drawing half of it to the north!”
Octavian flung the file he was holding to the floor.
“Weren’t they the ones who failed to perform their role properly? What on earth are the Allied Nations doing on the Eastern Front? They’re merely dragging things out like idiots, alternating between victories and defeats!”
At Octavian’s shout, Crispin and Phineas could do nothing but bow their heads.
Octavian looked at his subordinates, then gave a low groan and raised a hand.
Yes. His subordinates were not at fault. After running a hand over his face, Octavian spoke with a serious expression.
“……Damn it. There’s only one way left. Set the dogs loose on the Imperial Household.”
At those words, Phineas, head of the Operations Execution Department, raised his head with a bead of cold sweat trickling down his face.
“But, sir! If we carry out that operation, the agents we’ve planted in the Empire will be slaughtered.”
“It’s only a matter of time anyway. They won’t want to become frogs dying in boiling water. So shouldn’t they at least break the Empire’s teeth?”
A brief silence passed between them.
Understanding the director’s intentions, Phineas lowered his head solemnly.
“Yes, sir. Then I’ll inform the agents that the time for the decisive battle has come.”
*
……Could there be a day when I want to go to work less than today?
Even now, thinking about Lucy asking for my immediate execution without the slightest change in expression was enough to make goosebumps break out all over my body.
Still, I couldn’t simply skip work without permission, so I trudged toward General Staff Headquarters.
I entered my private office to get ready before going into the Operations Staff Room, only to find Lucy there.
Lucy, who had been eating a croissant, immediately stood when she spotted me and gave me a crisp salute.
“Good morning, Captain Daniel Steiner.”
I merely nodded at Lucy.
“……You got here early. More importantly, is that a croissant?”
“Yes. The ones you bought for me yesterday were delicious. I also bought several for you. If you’re hungry, please have some.”
“No. I’m fine.”
As I answered, I walked to my desk, pulled out the chair, and sat down.
However, Lucy did not sit. She merely stared blankly at me.
I placed my briefcase on the desk and asked in puzzlement,
“……What’s wrong?”
“I’m waiting for you to assign me a mission.”
“You can do that in the Operations Staff Room……”
“The Chief of the Operations Staff said I could work in my private office today.”
……What? Why? As I blinked in confusion, Lucy added an explanation.
“The Chief of the Operations Staff asked me to tell you, ‘Captain Daniel earned another great achievement yesterday, but since there’s nothing suitable to give him right now, let him have an easy day at work.’”
Chief, please! I’m not even slightly comfortable being alone in this office with this woman!
Suppressing the urge to scream, I nodded.
“Good. Then let’s begin working right away.”
I took a stack of documents from my briefcase and held it out to Lucy.
“These are the documents to review today. Give them a try.”
“Understood.”
Lucy answered calmly, approached me, and accepted the stack of documents.
She returned to her desk, sat down, opened the documents, and began reviewing them.
The sight of her calmly blinking her red eyes as she reviewed the documents was that of a truly exemplary adjutant.
If I hadn’t known Lucy was a spy, I might have showered her with praise.
Moreover, if the adjutant before me had been an ordinary spy rather than Lucy, I would have showered her with praise simply to grow closer to her.
‘But this woman is Lucy Emilia.’
For some reason, Lucy had an extreme hatred of traitors.
If I approached Lucy and said, ‘I’m planning to defect, so let’s become friends,’ there was a high chance I would meet an unpleasant end.
……In that respect, she was a talent wholly unsuited to intelligence work. So why on earth was she here?
Although I was puzzled, my plan did not change.
Driving Lucy out of my private office was the only way to ensure my safety.
‘Then the quickest way right now is…….’
I had to inform my superiors that Lucy’s work was terrible and get her deemed unqualified.
As luck would have it, Lucy was reviewing documents at that very moment.
I remembered that when I first took on the position of adjutant, simply understanding and organizing the military terminology used differently from one region to another had been overwhelming.
Lucy was sure to make the same mistakes.
‘I’ll make you feel the fear of your superior down to your bones.’
You can look forward to it, Lucy Emilia. I’ll criticize you until you feel like quitting of your own accord.
Thinking that, I wore a demonic smile and read a book until Lucy had finished reviewing all the documents.
After about four hours had passed, Lucy brought the stack of documents over and placed it on my desk.
“I’ve finished reviewing them, Captain Daniel Steiner.”
Huh? Already? It was enough work to require about eight hours of review, but she had finished far too quickly.
‘As expected. You’re an inexperienced newcomer too, after all.’
She must have overlooked something in her review.
I accepted the documents and looked through them, preparing to begin pointing out her mistakes.
And I was involuntarily startled.
Lucy’s ability to review documents was astonishingly perfect.
She had not only comprehensively checked the accuracy of the information, feasibility, resource planning, risk management, and legal and ethical compliance, but had also examined whether the request properly reflected the opinions of her superiors.
To go one step further, she had calculated and recorded the expected effects of the operation and even created an evaluation table so that a superior could grasp the request at a glance.
Frankly, it was flawless.
It was so perfect that there was nothing to criticize.
The other documents were also reviewed with near-perfect thoroughness.
“Hmm……”
Since I couldn’t even fabricate something to criticize, I nodded.
“Excellent.”
“Thank you. Then now……”
“No. There’s one more.”
I opened a drawer and took out another stack of documents.
“These are Class II classified documents. Read them all and report back to me.”
“Captain? But the time is……”
“I won’t accept objections. Finish everything before I return.”
I stood up, left Lucy in the private office, and walked out the door.
*
After leaving the private office, Daniel headed to the Operations Staff Room.
He planned to watch Lucy through the CCTV system installed in the Chief of the Operations Staff’s office.
The Class II classified documents Daniel had just given Lucy contained military deployment plans and movement information for specific units in full detail.
They were documents any spy would drool over, so she would surely do something suspicious.
If he caught her in the act and told Ernst, he could say goodbye to Lucy forever.
‘Perfect.’
Thinking that his plan would succeed this time, Daniel entered the staff room.
“Oh? Captain Daniel Steiner?”
“Captain! I saw the newspaper! You handled another major matter yesterday.”
Daniel gave the soldiers and junior officers a perfunctory nod, then knocked on the door of the Chief of the Operations Staff’s office.
“Ah. Is that you, Captain Daniel? Come in.”
After receiving permission, Daniel opened the door and saw Ernst preparing to leave work.
Puzzled, Daniel exchanged salutes with him and asked,
“Chief, are you leaving work?”
“Yes. There isn’t much work today, and I have an appointment with someone from the Imperial Household.”
The timing was terrible. Even so, Daniel could not let an opportunity like this slip away, so he spoke with a serious expression.
“I’m sorry to bother you while you’re preparing to leave, but would you watch the CCTV feed from my private office with me?”
“For what reason?”
“I think you’ll understand once you see it. I understand that you’re eager to see your wife as soon as possible, but please spare me just a moment.”
Ernst tilted his head, looking even more perplexed.
“What are you talking about? My wife is at her best when she isn’t home.”
“……?”
When Daniel remained silent, unable to understand, Ernst gave a hearty chuckle and said,
“Don’t tell my wife I said that. Anyway…… yes. The CCTV feed from your private office is over there.”
Ernst raised a hand and pointed toward the edge of the office.
Several screens installed there displayed the private offices of the staff officers, as part of a counterintelligence operation to identify any potential traitors.
Moreover, because the CCTV cameras had been cleverly concealed, a newcomer would have no way of knowing where they were.
“I don’t know what you’re trying to show me, but since it’s your request, shall we take a look?”
Daniel nodded, then stood with Ernst in front of the CCTV screens.
The two of them looked at the feed from the Operations Staff’s private office and saw Lucy working diligently.
They watched for about twenty minutes, but there was no sign whatsoever that she intended to copy or smuggle out the classified information.
Just as it seemed he had come all this way for nothing, Lucy put down her pen and stared intently at Daniel’s desk.
‘Is she trying to take some other classified documents?’
He had confirmed that she had taken classified documents from the drawer, so it was possible.
But instead of getting up, Lucy silently moved her lips.
What had she said? Wanting to know for certain, Daniel turned to Ernst.
“Chief, could I ask you to enlarge and replay that scene?”
“Of course. If you wish, we can do that.”
With Ernst’s permission, Daniel rewound the CCTV footage and pressed the replay button.
Thanks to that, he could clearly tell what Lucy had said.
“Should I kill him?”
After confirming the shape of her lips, Daniel felt goosebumps break out all over his body and covered his mouth.
Ernst, on the other hand, chuckled as if he found it amusing.
“This is your fault. It’s almost lunchtime, yet you’re making her work, so it’s only natural for her irritation to boil over. Besides, that workload would be too much for a newcomer to handle.”
Unaware that Lucy was a spy, Ernst had taken that ‘Should I kill him?’ as nothing more than a subordinate’s cute little display of affection.
Daniel, on the other hand, had just felt his life threatened.
Daniel nodded slowly while covering his mouth and sweating cold.
“……I’ll be more careful from now on.”
I’ll have to do the work myself from now on if I want to stay alive. As Daniel thought this, Ernst stared intently at his profile and soon arrived at a realization.
‘He wanted to show me how capable his subordinate is, so he asked me to watch the CCTV. I thought he was nothing but cold and calculating, but I never expected him to have such a human side.’
It was both admirable and touching.
‘With such devotion to his subordinate, Captain Daniel will make a good superior someday.’
Unaware of Daniel’s true thoughts, Ernst nodded repeatedly with a satisfied smile.