A Dark Fantasy Spy

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“What on earth have you been doing?”

With a look of disbelief, Camila awkwardly scratched the back of her head.

Suddenly, a gust of wind blew, and the rustling sound of a plastic bag reached my ears.

Camila held up the plastic bag and offered an awkward smile.

“Was it… a chemistry experiment?”

—

Episode 6 – The All-knowing Spy’s Perspective

After returning to the hotel, I was able to gather detailed information from the Information Officer of the Magic Tower Police, who was responsible for Camila’s protection.

Camila, who had gone missing during the security detail, was found covered in soot at the scene, following a loud explosion that echoed through the city center.

The cause was,

“You stuffed a bomb into the sewer?”

Child’s play.

“Rather, it was more appropriate to call it firecrackers—”

“Why on earth did you stuff that into the sewer?”

Camila clammed up at my question.

Having just stepped out of the shower, she looked at me with her wet hair wrapped in a towel and a gloomy expression.

“It wasn’t a joke. I happened to hear there was a Ratman nearby, so I just…”

“You mean to say you threw a bomb to deal with a pest?”

“Uh… did it sound that way?”

This was ridiculous.

“…Hah.”

I let out a long sigh and plopped down on the suite’s sofa.

It was absurd enough to escape the watchful eyes of the Magic Tower Police, but now she got caught messing around with bombs. And with the police—specifically the Information Police.

“You draw trouble wherever you go. What on earth were you thinking?”

“I’m sorry…”

Camila bowed her head with a rather sullen face.

I thought things had calmed down recently, yet now it seemed like she was intent on creating accidents.

I had been shocked to see her covered in soot, and when I grilled the police’s Information Officer about it, they said she had gotten dirty while playing with a bomb, leaving me with no words.

Fortunately, they decided to graciously overlook this incident, but it was a close call with the police. The media would have been all over the place if they caught wind of it.

“…Hah…”

I exhaled deeply and asked, “Where on earth did you get that bomb—no, how did you know there was a Ratman there?”

Camila removed the towel from her head and replied.

“Well… I was walking down the street when I saw some armed people, and I asked them about it… They said they received a report about a Ratman sighting…”

“And then?”

“They asked if I was a magician, and when I said yes, they asked if I could help…”

“…So you made a bomb and threw it?”

“Pueh-chung—!”

“……”

“Ah, cough. I’m sorry, I caught a cold.”

“That’s quite the brag.”

I increased the temperature in the room and placed a dry towel on her head while I listened to her explanation.

Camila’s account matched what I had heard from the police’s Information Officer.

After receiving the report, she had been dispatched to a suspected Ratman sighting location and threw a bomb into the sewer after being asked for help by some adventurers (mercenaries in this area).

According to the police Information Officer, since there are quite a few magicians in the Magic Tower, it’s not uncommon for curious magicians or those with an overly inquisitive nature to get involved in such situations.

It’s mainly the locals who do this, with some going out on their own to deal with pests like vigilantes, while others organize militias to hunt down threats for some compensation (rewards) in an organized fashion. Or sometimes, like Camila, they help out on a whim.

“Did you know that hunting pests without certification or approval from the local police is illegal?”

“No! Please just let this one time slide!”

“I’m not even the police, so what can I let slide…?”

I was a spy, not the police.

The situation with the Magic Tower police was tense, and considering Camila was from another world, it seemed reasonable to let things slide with just a warning, especially since she was a magician who was prone to accidents.

Of course, there was no one in the Magic Tower police who could reprimand her. In fact, when you consider it, there was hardly anyone in this world who could scold her. The only ones who might be up to the task were Lucia or me. But Lucia was a religious figure—a saint from a cult that wasn’t on good terms with the Magic Tower.

So, it might as well be up to me.

“Ugh…”

I let out another sigh. Lately, it seemed like I was just sighing more and more.

“The Magic Tower police have decided to drop this matter. I mean, since this Magic Tower is where many magicians gather, they can afford to be generous. In another country, they wouldn’t be so lenient. If a magician got involved, they would probably spend at least a day in detention.”

“…Yes.”

“Be careful. Please.”

Leaving a dejected-looking Camila behind, I rummaged through the plastic bag I’d seen earlier to grab what appeared to be a beverage bottle.

It was a drink I’d never seen in my life. The design was quite strange, but it resembled a cola bottle.

Anyway, since it was a snack Camila had bought, I figured it would be fine to have some.

Just as I was about to drink the liquid from the bottle without a second thought,

“Ah, no!”

“……?”

Suddenly, Camila shot up and began flailing her arms in a panic.

“You’re not supposed to drink that!”

But it was too late.

I was overwhelmed by the foul chemical smell rising from my throat and ended up spitting out the liquid right on Camila’s face.

“PUUURP-!!”

—

In conclusion, what I drank turned out to be citric acid.

In other words, it was a known chemical often used to add sourness to food, but it was also one of the main substances involved in making explosives, which is why it was banned from sale in many countries worldwide.

This was the case in this area as well, but thanks to the Magic Tower, where various chemicals are commonly used in magical experiments, such regulations didn’t apply. Walk into any store, and you’d find a chemistry corner right across from the beverage aisle.

Anyway, anyone at the Magic Tower could easily access chemicals, and Camila had bought various substances to experiment with alchemy she had read about. I mistook it for a beverage and drank it down.

The outcome was predictable.

I collapsed.

The chemical smell was so overpowering that, even as I was falling, I worried if I was going to die here.

“Are you conscious?”

Fortunately, I was saved by one of the continent’s top healers, who happened to be in the next room.

“Ah. Ugh. Oh.”

“You seem to be back with us.”

When I opened my eyes, an unfamiliar yet familiar face was looking down at me, wearing an expression that was half concern, half exasperation.

“Ugh! Ah, ugh, Lucia?”

“Yes.”

“Where am I?”

“This is the hotel. Just keep resting comfortably.”

I found myself in a room adjacent to the suite, and to be precise, it was Lucia’s room.

As one of the only two saints on the continent and a prominent healer, Lucia wore a peculiar mix of worry and disappointment on her face, all while donning blue surgical gloves one might see in an operating room.

“With both neurotoxins and chemicals involved, it seems like you’re not so lucky with chemistry or alchemy.”

“That’s just because I’m inherently a liberal arts person…”

“Your humor seems to be intact, so I guess you’ve recovered.”

I sat on the bed, covering my face with my hands. Lucia took a moment to glance at my mouth before sliding a chair closer.

We sat facing each other— a spy and a saint. Now, that’s a combination you’d see too often.

As I sat there watching Lucia, she wrung out the water from her towel and quietly spoke up.

“Are you feeling any better now?”

“Ah, yes.”

As I reached for a glass of water on the side table, Lucia spoke while tugging at her gloves.

“Is your shoulder alright?”

“……”

“I heard that your left shoulder was injured.”

Caught off guard by the sudden question, I couldn’t find my voice.

Lucia looked at me for a second before shifting her gaze and continuing.

“I was told that you had injured your left shoulder.”

“…Who said that?”

“Camila said so while carrying you in.”

“Camila did?”

“Yes.”

Lucia nodded as she methodically organized her tools. Judging by the texture of the stitches tied off, it seemed I hadn’t sustained a gunshot wound.

Yet she didn’t ask me why or where I had been injured. She didn’t add anything further.

Instead, Lucia changed the subject, as if it wasn’t important. Whether she was truly indifferent or pretending to be was anyone’s guess.

As she finished organizing her tools, she casually commented.

“I heard you had a fight with Camila.”

“Well, it wasn’t exactly a fight… there were just some… issues…”

“I also heard that you scolded her for playing around.”

I paused while sitting on the bed, organizing my clothes, and tilted my head.

“So in your cult, blowing up a bomb in the street is considered playing around?”

“Magicians are naturally curious. Especially here in the Magic Tower, it’s better to consider blowing up a bomb as a minor prank. Plus, Camila is someone from another world, right? She’s bound to be as curious as a child.”

“Even so, this time it went too far.”

“Please try to understand. It’s an unavoidable situation.”

In England, blowing up a bomb in the street wouldn’t be simply dismissed as a minor prank.

I almost spoke up, but then it struck me—Lucia likely didn’t know what England was like. So, I kept my mouth shut.

“…You really have a gentle disposition. If you keep letting her off the hook like this, she might cause a serious accident down the line. Don’t you think you should be a bit stricter with her?”

“I see the point, but perhaps you’re just overly worried, Lucia.”

Lucia calmly sat back down with a gentle smile.

It wasn’t a look of disbelief or mischief but rather a kind smile that reminded me of an icon I once saw in Eastern Europe.

“Camila is quite worried about you too. Because of you.”

“About me?”

“Yes, I saw her crying earlier.”

She recounted what had unfolded after I had collapsed.

How someone knocked on the door, and when Camila had run out barefoot to carry me, how she had been crying next to me while I was treated— the whole tale.

“Actually, she didn’t cry that much, just shed a few tears.”

“Where is Camila now?”

“She just went back to her room a bit ago. To be precise, I sent her back. She seemed quite fatigued.”

I enjoyed listening to Lucia’s story, feeling like I was watching the behind-the-scenes of a film.

Lucia brought over a teapot from one corner of the room and served tea, continuing to narrate while sipping the lukewarm herbal brew.

“By the way, she cried back when you were poisoned with the neurotoxin too.”

The saint casually mentioned about someone else who had sobbed.

It felt so natural that I couldn’t help but ask her.

“Were you not surprised?”

“Well, I’ve seen a lot of people cry, so I’m quite used to it.”

“At the prayer room?”

“No, in the field hospital.”

“……”

The “field hospital” she referred to was one near the conflict zone between the Empire and the Magic Kingdom. It was the very same place teeming with patients due to almost weekly local escalations.

The field hospital near the conflict zone was a location that caught the attention of the Empire’s spies, but it also happened to be the place where 17-year-old Lucia had served for two years.

Spies were interested in the ongoing research data about the medical systems developed by the Imperial Army. The conflict zone had become notorious for people dying and getting injured.

Receiving such a heavy answer for what I believed was a lighthearted question left me speechless. A discussion about someone’s death has its weight regardless of time and place.

“…Tsk.”

As I remained silent, Lucia chuckled to herself as if nothing was wrong.

“In any case, don’t be too hard on Camila. After all, she picked up something weird and got hurt because of it. It’s understandable that she’d shed a tear, worrying about you.”

“Shed a tear? That doesn’t change anything. Someone either needs to catch her or she needs to make an effort to change.”

“So, will you be more careful not to pick up anything weird in the future?”

That playful jab put a smirk on my face. After a moment of thought, I finally came up with a rather pathetic excuse.

“It wasn’t really my mistake that I misidentified it as a beverage. The manufacturers should have packaged it like a drink…”

Lucia watched me with a knowing smile.

“Just be more careful. Take care of your health, too.”

—

Lucia recommended I rest, but unfortunately, my schedule didn’t allow it.

Telling me to cut down on work and increase my sleep was easier said than done— especially since I’d already taken a day off.

For a civil servant who just took a day off, requesting to do so the very next day would be akin to asking my employer to fire me. And I definitely had no intention of quitting my job.

In the end, I left behind my tumultuous holiday and returned to work.

Thanking Lucia for her care, assuring the jittery Camila that it was okay, exchanging information with the Information Officer of the Magic Tower Police and Priest Rebecca from the Inquisition, then heading to the representative office to catch up on the backlog of reports from Pippin and Jake.

I read the documents, signed off, and sent out reports.

My daily routine flowed like that.

Fancy bar overlooking a resort and famous spots? Enjoyable times at a historic tailor shop or a pub? Sipping a martini that I didn’t shake and enjoying the company of ladies?

Certainly not.

Life as an Information Agency Agent came with its share of predictable tasks. While the work was unique, the thrill and excitement faded fairly quickly after a year— it’s tedious by the fourth or fifth year.

You can’t go home, late night shifts are the norm, foreign travel is heavily restricted while ensuring not to raise suspicion from counterintelligence, and although the salary was meager, the workload was overwhelming.

Moreover, dating or marrying is also restricted. If you get involved with a foreigner, you could easily lose your job. Even if you were to date or marry a native, a background check to get the green light would be mandatory.

Thus, employees in the information agencies constantly needed to be on guard. Calling it “staying cautious” would be the good side, while calling it “self-preservation” would be the bad.

Of course, most employees worked hard anyway. To be honest, everyone had a good sense of how things worked because no one wanted to end up unemployed.

I was no exception.

I was going to keep doing what was assigned, collecting intel vis-à-vis what I saw, and handling whatever was at hand.

So, I thought today would be no different…

“Damn…”

Today didn’t seem like my day.

“You have a knack for stealing someone’s time, don’t you, Saint?”

“What? Why?”

“Please, just back off. Let’s keep a distance of about five meters.”

I elbowed Veronica, who was sticking to me like glue, and pressed on my temples.

After finishing my morning shift and having lunch, I received a sudden call—it was Veronica. When I asked what was going on, she tossed a random address at me, ordering me to hurry over.

“Am I your pet or something? You’re summoning me during my shift like this?”

“When the Colonel doesn’t answer my calls, I have to call you, right?”

“That’s because you ring me at dawn.”

Veronica pouted, slightly adjusting her stylish sunglasses.

“I only have time in the early hours…”

“So what do you do in the evenings?”

“Ummm… recovery?”

“Aah, whatever!”

I threw open the car door and stepped outside. Half of me was craving fresh air to relieve my headache, while the other half wanted to escape from Veronica.

Of course, I couldn’t just run away.

“We’ve arrived!”

Dressed like a nouveau riche, Veronica beamed as she chatted away.

“Why are we here?”

In response to my question, she, carrying a forged passport and sneaking into the Magic Tower, leaned on the steering wheel and flashed a grin.

“I’m here to introduce you to someone I wanted to introduce the last time.”

I examined my surroundings as I asked Veronica further questions. Though it was my first time at this place, it certainly resembled a harbor’s marshaling yard.

We had arrived at a container terminal, a passageway through which all sorts of goods entered and exited the Magic Tower.

So to put it simply, it was a harbor.

“……”

Veronica checked her wristwatch while wearing sunglasses atop her head.

“Well, my sibling might be too busy to meet you today, but…”

“……”

“For now, let’s just see the goods!”

She pointed to a pile of containers.

“Shall we go?”