Chapter 25
My intuition was telling me something.
It was telling me that something major would happen involving Lucy today.
Not to brag, but my intuition was usually right.
So I spent the day keeping a wary eye on Lucy, but contrary to my expectations, she simply worked quietly as usual.
“It’s time to leave work, Captain.”
In my private office, Lucy finished sorting the documents and turned to me.
‘……It’s already time to leave work?’
When I looked away from Lucy and glanced at the wall clock, it was six in the evening.
I stood there dazed for a moment, then cleared my throat and rose from my seat.
“Yes. Let’s go.”
I packed a few documents into my briefcase and left the office, with Lucy following close behind.
We went down the central staircase and stepped out through the entrance of General Staff Headquarters.
“Excuse me, Captain.”
Wondering what was wrong, I turned to the side and saw Lucy holding out an umbrella.
“This is the umbrella you lent me before. Thanks to it, I was able to stay out of the rain. I had intended to return it sooner, but since you’re always so busy, I never found the opportunity.”
Ah. I had lent her an umbrella.
“I’m glad it served you well.”
As I accepted the umbrella, Lucy looked up at me and blinked her red eyes.
“And congratulations on being awarded the National Sword Medal. Considering the favor you’ve received from above, promotion to major is only a matter of time.”
‘……What is this? Is she threatening me?’
Unable to determine her intentions, I stood there stiffly, and Lucy bowed her head slightly.
“Then I’ll be going ahead. I have a prior engagement.”
With that, Lucy walked on ahead.
Had my intuition been wrong? Nothing had really happened.
I stared blankly at Lucy’s back, then opened my briefcase and put the umbrella inside.
‘Well, I suppose no news is good news.’
I closed the briefcase and looked up at the sky. It was perfectly clear, without a single cloud.
‘Is it summer already?’
The sun had not yet set, despite it being six in the evening.
The breeze drifting by was pleasantly mild.
After taking a deep breath, I began walking with a light step.
‘I heard a new dessert shop opened on the outskirts of the capital. Should I go check it out?’
After being caught up in all sorts of incidents lately, I wanted to relax and enjoy myself once in a while, too.
*
“Boss. It looks like we’ll be able to distribute our goods on 23rd Street in Raven as well. We gave the police who patrol there larger bribes than before, and they say they’ll look the other way for the time being.”
In a room with an old exhaust fan turning overhead, the mafia boss Nickel chuckled in satisfaction.
“See? What did I tell you? If they don’t want to take a bribe, just offer them more money. Let’s keep expanding our routes and building a cell-based organization.”
When Nickel put a cigar between his lips, one of his underlings hurried over and lit it for him.
After Nickel took a few puffs and blew out a cloud of smoke, the underling backed away.
Nickel tapped the ash from the burning cigar into an ashtray and spoke.
“Tell everyone to put on suits and get ready. I’m meeting with a customs inspector today, so we need to grease that slick bastard’s belly a little. Then smuggling opium will be easier than it is now.”
“Yes! Understood!”
When the underling answered energetically, Nickel waved a hand dismissively.
The underling opened the door and went outside.
Seeing this, Nickel took a few more drags from his cigar, then rose from his heavy chair.
He shoved the squeaky chair back and stood in front of a full-length mirror, straightening his clothes.
Several gold rings adorned his hands, which were decked out in all manner of luxury.
As he admired his body draped in expensive finery, Nickel smiled greedily.
‘Easy. I never imagined it would be this easy……!’
Nickel had originally been a spy for the Allied Nations.
The opium trade had begun as a business meant solely to raise funds locally.
However, as it expanded and he came to command some thirty members, greed for money began to eclipse his loyalty to his homeland.
So he betrayed both his country and his organization.
Risking his life as a spy was several times less comfortable and prosperous than selling opium in the Empire and enjoying a life of wealth and luxury.
It had already been more than a year since he began ignoring communications from his homeland, but he felt no pangs of conscience.
‘My homeland treated me as expendable from the start, anyway…….’
He had no reason to obey them anymore.
Having finished rationalizing his betrayal to himself, Nickel was just about to turn around to meet the customs inspector when—
Click─
The cold barrel of a silenced pistol touched the back of his head.
Just as he wondered what was happening, the space behind Nickel’s body reflected in the mirror began to distort.
‘Optical camouflage……!’
It was an advanced technique that used mana to reflect and refract the light striking the body, making it appear transparent.
Consequently, only a tiny handful of people in either the Empire or the Allied Nations could use optical camouflage.
Then who was deactivating the optical camouflage now? After waiting for a moment with cold sweat trickling down his face, Nickel saw a red-eyed woman slowly come into view.
“……!”
At the sight, Nickel’s heart began pounding violently.
He had heard the rumors. There was a Red-Eyed Reaper who executed traitors to the homeland.
But hadn’t that been nothing more than an urban legend? As Nickel blinked in panic, Lucy slowly moved her lips.
“Nickel Meyer. The homeland has given you countless opportunities. Yet you refused them time and again.”
Her icy voice seemed to freeze his entire body.
Nickel’s eyes darted about as he spoke in a trembling voice.
“W-wait! It’s in the Allies’ interest to keep me alive! I’m spreading opium throughout the Empire! Even if I betrayed you, I’m not doing anything that benefits the Empire!”
“That cannot serve as an excuse.”
“Please! Th-then let’s do this. I’ll give you all the money I’ve collected—”
Lucy pulled the trigger.
Pfft─
The suppressed shot rang out softly, and blood sprayed.
Nickel’s massive body swayed for a moment before collapsing to the floor with a heavy thud.
“……”
Lucy coldly looked down at Nickel’s fallen body, brushed off her hands, and opened the window.
Though it was three stories up, that posed little problem for Lucy.
Like a cat, Lucy leaped down and landed lightly on the ground before slipping into a nearby alley.
Dodging the homeless people begging along the streets, Lucy eventually made her way into an empty alley.
All she had to do now was change clothes and leave, and the mission would be a success.
Thinking the worst was over, Lucy took a pair of sunglasses from her coat’s inner pocket and put them on.
Since her red eyes were bound to attract attention, it was best to conceal them as much as possible.
After readjusting her wig, Lucy took off her bloodstained coat and casually turned her head—only to stop short.
She had met the gaze of an Imperial soldier coming around the corner of the alley.
At first, she had only been annoyed at the prospect of extra work, but after taking a closer look at the soldier’s appearance, Lucy could not help but become unusually flustered.
‘……Daniel Steiner?’
The soldier with black hair and sharp, wolf-like eyes was none other than Daniel Steiner.
That caused a crack to appear in Lucy’s impassive expression.
‘Dangerous.’
What kind of person was Daniel Steiner? Not only had he achieved countless feats, he was a man thoroughly versed in tracking down and interrogating spies.
He was also no slouch in combat.
She had heard all about how he had killed Colonel Jeremy in a single strike and fought his way to victory against seven soldiers.
Moreover, when the Imperial Princess had been rescued this time, it was Daniel Steiner who had reduced eight Allied agents to a heap of corpses.
‘Of course…….’
If neural acceleration was the only technique Daniel knew how to use, she could subdue him easily enough.
But he was meticulous, calculating, coolheaded, and sinister.
There was a chance that, despite being able to use techniques other than neural acceleration, he had kept that fact hidden from the outside world.
Besides, even if she succeeded in killing Daniel here, she would be unable to escape the Empire’s investigative net.
An ordinary soldier might have been one thing, but Daniel was an elite among elites, awarded the National Sword Medal by the Emperor and a candidate for early promotion.
If such a man were found dead in an alley, a full-scale investigation would ensue, and Lucy would very likely be arrested in the process.
‘Then…….’
She had no choice but to muddle through this situation as best she could.
Fortunately, Lucy was currently wearing a wig and sunglasses.
If she pretended to be someone else and fooled Daniel, she might be able to return alive.
The worst-case scenario was that Daniel had been tracking her from the beginning and had entered the alley after her, but until that became certain, she decided not to act rashly.
Thus, while Lucy was racking her brain and considering various methods—
Daniel, too, was thinking along similar lines.
‘I only got lost on the way to the dessert shop…….’
I had turned the corner into the alley and run into Lucy with blood on her coat. It was the worst possible situation.
……For one thing, there was a reason I was certain that woman was Lucy.
I had entered the alley just before she put on her sunglasses, and had seen her red eyes flash.
‘She must have run into me while carrying out a spy operation.’
This was troublesome. If I gave any indication that I had realized Lucy was a spy, I might end up with a bullet hole between my eyebrows.
But the odds of that were low.
Unless she was an idiot, Lucy would try to talk her way out of this situation.
After all, she was wearing a wig and sunglasses, wasn’t she?
That naturally led me to conclude that she would pretend to be someone else.
‘Then is there only one way?’
Having done their best to calm themselves, the two of them stared at each other in silence.
At that moment, the two of them were thinking the following.
‘I have to deceive Daniel thoroughly.’
‘I’ll have to grit my teeth and let her fool me.’
Ironically, their hearts had aligned in the strangest of ways.