A Dark Fantasy Spy

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The Emperor has developed dementia.

After receiving the intelligence, I fell into deep contemplation.

“……”

As the National Intelligence Service keeps a watchful eye on Kim Jong-un’s health, intelligence agencies from around the world have shown immense interest in Emperor Nikolai VI’s condition.

Any intelligence related to the Emperor’s health could significantly impact the situation in the Kien Empire and international relations.

In reality, several operations have been carried out to ascertain the Emperor’s health status.

However, every single one of them failed.

The Empire’s Information Agency meticulously controlled all information directly related to the Emperor’s well-being, and the palace, guarded by the Imperial Guard, did not allow any physical infiltration.

In the end, the only methods available were to recruit the chief physician or attendants. But would the Imperial Guard HQ simply stand by and watch that happen?

All the information agents embedded in the palace were eliminated, and the operation was derailed before it could even get off the ground.

Thus, for the past several decades, information related to the Emperor’s health has been utterly elusive, even for the Abas Information Agency, which boasts the most advanced network.

However, suddenly, a piece of intelligence arrived.

“……”

I was engulfed in serious concern.

If this intelligence leaked, the Imperial Guard HQ would immediately trace the source of the information.

The first person to come under suspicion would be Lucia.

The Saint of the Cult is someone the Empire’s Information Agency cannot control. And being uncontrollable means it wouldn’t be surprising if information were to leak at any time.

It was strange that the Imperial Guard HQ would idly watch as Lucia treated the Emperor.

…No, hold on.

With the Emperor suffering from dementia, what can those guys do? Ultimately, all decisions made by the Information Agency lie entirely within the Emperor’s authority.

Even if the Duke brought the Saint to save the Emperor, it wouldn’t be easy for the Imperial Guard HQ to oppose that. Depending on the interpretation, it could even be seen as treason against the Emperor.

The Emperor, who should issue commands, was bedridden. Even if posthumous approval is given, the Emperor still needs to regain his senses first.

They must have concluded that reinforcing security wouldn’t pose a problem. Or perhaps they fervently prayed it wouldn’t.

But in the end, the matter blew up.

“…Is his condition very serious?”

“At least from what I see, it’s critical. Even the chief physician, who has been with him for 30 years, couldn’t recognize him. He could barely recognize the Duke’s face….”

Lucia began to falter in her speech. Her demeanor revealed just how serious the Emperor’s condition truly was.

“…Let’s keep this under wraps.”

I decided to bury the truth.

It was a decision for Lucia, and simultaneously for myself. The infuriated Imperial Guard HQ would surely decimate anyone, regardless of position. At the very least, it needed to be hushed up for now.

The truth was thrown into a shredder.

I didn’t report it to the organization. Related documents were carefully hidden in a place known only to me.

Thus, five months have passed.

And today.

The shrouded truth revealed itself.

—

Episode 16 – The Six-Million-Dollar Man

Even after receiving the intelligence report, Leoni remained silent for a long while.

She was staring blankly into space, lost in thought.

I waited for the Chief to speak.

“…Are you sure about this?”

Breaking the silence, Leoni posed her question, inquiring about the reliability of the intel.

“Saint Lucia is not the type of person to lie. She’d rather keep her mouth closed than tell a falsehood.”

“…….”

I disclosed the source of the intelligence.

“In January, during the Canonization Ceremony and Coronation Ceremony in Lateran, Duke Alexandra Petrovna and Saint Lucia met. It was an unofficial meeting, and it is suggested that a deal was made there.”

“What kind of deal?”

“It was a personal agreement between the Duke and the Saint. When they were tracking demons in the Northern Regions, the Duke reportedly proposed a deal: she would approve the Inquisition’s troop movements in exchange for her future request.”

That promise referred to the treatment of the Emperor suffering from dementia.

A profound contemplation began. Leoni covered her jaw with her hand.

I stepped forward to persuade her.

“Chief, you need to make a careful decision.”

The information that Nikolai VI suffered from dementia carries a consequence that cannot be compared to an internet meme about the American President being a dementia patient.

It is shockingly violent and destructive.

“According to the Saint, the Emperor’s state is extremely serious. He doesn’t even recognize his close aides, who have been beside him for thirty years.”

Nikolai VI has reigned for almost fifty years. To be precise, it’s slightly less than fifty, but that’s essentially the same.

This is the man who has purged his bureaucrats and distrusted even his own children. The only people who have remained loyal up to now are his childhood friend, the Chancellor who has been responsible for his health for thirty years, and his chief physician.

The closest aides. The Emperor is now in a condition so severe that he cannot even recognize those closest to him.

Leoni’s expression mirrored this seriousness.

The head of Military Intelligence’s overseas division spoke gravely.

“Does he recognize his progeny? The Crown Prince? Other princes and princesses? The Duke?”

“The Duke can barely be recognized. He’s been blurting out things like haven’t I congratulated you on your 90th birthday?”

For reference, Alexandra Petrovna has already surpassed 100 years of age. The Duke, as remembered in the Emperor’s mind, appears as he did a decade ago.

“According to examinations by the physicians, there’s a possibility that the Emperor’s mental faculties may return intermittently. However, the frequency and duration have been irregular.”

While magic and divinity exist in this world, diseases related to the brain remain a mystery here as well.

If the Magic Tower had conquered dementia, the Duke would not have felt the need to seek Lucia in the first place. In other words, dementia is an affliction that even the Archmage cannot resolve, and the chances of a complete cure with the Saint’s powers are slim.

“There’s no way to operate the state under these circumstances. The dementia has progressed to a serious level. It’s been like that for several years.”

“…When did the dementia symptoms first appear?”

“The initial signs were about eight years ago, and it worsened five years ago.”

Three years is ample time for an early-stage dementia patient to slip into the mid-stage.

And,

“When did the Duke retreat from public life?”

“Right after the Northern Conflict broke out.”

The Duke had been withdrawn from the public eye even before the Northern Conflict erupted, but after the conflict started, he vanished entirely.

Initially, everyone voiced their concerns regarding the Duke’s well-being, as the Archmage is not an immortal being.

But what if.

If the Duke’s retreat were due not to his health but to the Emperor’s issues?

“The timing overlaps.”

“It’s highly likely he was searching for a miraculous remedy to alleviate the Emperor’s symptoms.”

“The Duke enjoyed adventures in his youth. He might have stashed away some good herbs somewhere….”

News of the Emperor’s deteriorating health is serious by itself, but the real issue lies elsewhere.

I spoke in a serious tone about a potential scenario.

That scenario involved a military coup.

“You already know that the Crown Prince has been inheriting military authority. This is information passed down by the aide of a defector from the Empire last year.”

The Abas government has until now believed that the Crown Prince received military authority from the Emperor. An attempt to seize control of the military before claiming the throne.

However, the Emperor has been suffering from dementia for a staggering seven years.

Then who did the Crown Prince receive military authority from? What was the context behind the rumors that he began receiving military authority only after the Northern Conflict started?

Only the Crown Prince himself knows the answer to this question.

But predicting the situation is the specialty of intelligence officers.

“…He didn’t formally receive the military authority, did he?”

The Crown Prince, who has not officially received military authority, has issued orders to the military, explicitly without the Emperor returning to his senses to resolve the question of succession.

The Crown Prince is consolidating the military under his own command.

Leoni nodded in agreement, and I continued speaking.

“If this fact leaks out, the Empire will plunge into chaos. The government, having lost its commander, will debate whether to heed the Crown Prince’s commands or to wait for the Emperor to awaken. This turmoil will inevitably affect both the military and the intelligence agencies.”

The problem lies in the military’s unpredictable alignment.

In blunt terms, if these people were to initiate a coup claiming that anyone can be king or queen, what then?

The Emperor, suffering from dementia, was unable to pass on complete power to the Crown Prince, and in a dictatorship, any lapse of legitimacy can lead to a regime change.

I stated firmly.

“Chief, if we let this slide, we are out of options. If we delay any longer, an incomprehensible problem will assuredly arise.”

The Crown Prince, striving to manage the Empire in place of his incapacitated father.

But numerous enemies surround him.

“How many princes and princesses are there in the imperial family? I’ve heard the Emperor has nearly ten children; aren’t they all adults now?”

A potential fratricide over the throne.

“What’s the social situation like? Although the Northern issue was resolved, the real problem was the protests, wasn’t it? With the terror acts in Abas due to the dictatorship, if the word got out that the military suppressed protests with armed force, the universities would clearly be thrown into chaos.”

Citizens’ protests against a dictatorship.

The competition for the throne and protests are the imperial family’s and the Empire’s Achilles’ heel. But now, the masters of the imperial family and the Empire have vanished.

“Whom would the military pledge allegiance to in that case?”

“……”

The most ideal scenario would be for the military to swear ‘absolute loyalty’ to the Crown Prince. It’s a harsh thing to say for the citizens living under a dictatorship, but if a civil war breaks out tearing the Empire apart, it’ll cause chaos everywhere, both near and far.

Thinking about what happened when Hussein was ousted in Iraq, perhaps it’s better for the dictatorship to continue.

However, the concept of ‘absolute’ doesn’t exist.

No one knows whether the military will recognize the Crown Prince as a legitimate successor or if the ambitious generals will side with another royal.

Of course, the Crown Prince isn’t a fool either.

He has at least set up minimal safeguards.

“The Chief knows that there are commanders loyal to the Crown Prince within the Intelligence Agency as well.”

The Empire’s Reconnaissance Command has commanders aligned with the Crown Prince.

“Since last winter, reconnaissance troops have entered the capital. It’s likely that the Crown Prince mobilized his loyal intelligence units to deploy special forces into the capital.”

I recounted the conversations held in the meetings a few months back. The only difference is that Leoni interpreted it as the Emperor’s intention.

That hypothesis was supported by both the Royal Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Agency. At the time, it was deemed the most probable explanation. However, it’s commonplace for hypotheses in intelligence agencies to flip.

I presented a counterpoint to Leoni’s hypothesis.

“The special forces in a dictatorship are deployed for quelling uprisings, right?”

From the light infantry serving reconnaissance duties to the elite special forces, all units branded ‘special’ in the Empire operate under the command of the Reconnaissance Command.

The commanders of the Reconnaissance Command have lined up behind the Crown Prince while the Capital Defense Corps and the Imperial Guard remain focused on defending Petrogard and the protection of royal family members.

The Imperial Guard is traditionally loyal to the Emperor. The Capital Defense Corps was brought under the Defense Ministry’s command during the Emperor’s relatively sane days when he acted like a paranoid. Personnel movements of lower-ranking commanders are determined by the Defense Ministry, but the commanders and key leadership must be appointed directly by the Emperor.

If a military coup succeeds, what sort of treatment will those loyal to the Emperor receive? Whatever else happens, it’s certain the execution grounds will be bustling for a while.

In any case, if the capital’s armored corps, artillery, special forces, and the Imperial Guard are the only ones obeying the Crown Prince’s orders, then the citizens of Petrogard will be exposed to danger.

“Realistically speaking, the chance of a coup succeeding in the Empire is slim. Both the likelihood and the timeframe are low.”

“I know. But that only applies when the Emperor is alive and holding the reins of power, right?”

And the Emperor is currently a living corpse.

Absolute power inevitably corrupts, and the vacuum of power inevitably stirs the desires of all. Historically, when dictators pass away, the military has the most convoluted thoughts.

I asked Leoni.

“What line has the Imperial Guard HQ taken? What about the Counterintelligence Corps?”

“The Imperial Guard HQ has focused solely on intelligence work after the internal purges. They should be regarded as loyal to the royal family.”

To be precise, loyal to the Emperor. Yet that Emperor is now gone.

These guys are merely pawns.

When the coup breaks out, they can choose where to align themselves then, or sit idle while stammering.

“The stance of the Counterintelligence Corps is vague. Their allegiance splits according to internal factions, so no blatant political agenda is demonstrated, but many show inclinations towards someone in secret.”

“How much of that inclination belongs to the Crown Prince?”

Leoni frowned and waved her hand dismissively.

“Almost negligible.”

Damn it.

While the intelligence units are loyal to the Crown Prince, it seems the counterintelligence units are not.

Considering that the Counterintelligence Corps can legally intercept military communications, this is a significant loss. If the suppressing forces are communicating their maneuvers while being loyal to the Crown Prince, and the Counterintelligence Corps intercepts those communications, it means information about the operations will leak the moment the other side aligns with the rebels.

“In that case, we need to find out which side the Imperial Counterintelligence Corps has backed.”

First and foremost, we need information. Internal intelligence from the Counterintelligence Corps.

Only then, even when a coup occurs, will we have something to work with. At the very least, I need to know something to have a leg to stand on when called into the Prime Minister’s office, right?

The problem is,

“But who could bring that information?”

There was no one to fetch the intelligence.

Silence ensued.

While the Military Intelligence Agency could theoretically embed double agents in the Empire’s military counterintelligence units, to discover which royal family member they support, it would require luring in high-ranking military officers, at least equivalent to generals.

And in a nation sticking to active counterintelligence, luring high-ranking individuals from such institutions is practically insanity.

“…What if, Chief?”

Here, I decided to roll the dice.

“What if we leverage the cooperation of a person who has a close relationship with the Duke to monitor the military’s movements?”

“Speak realistically.”

“Since we’ve operated several times with the military in the North, I have connections with the senior officers. Including General Mikhail, who commanded the conflicts.”

Leoni began calculating in her mind.

“If he’s a person who has risen to the rank of general, he’s arguably a candidate for the next Chief of Staff. If it’s General Mikhail, the position is essentially his for the taking.”

“Even if it’s not General Mikhail, I have many acquaintances below him. How many of their peers will be serving in the counterintelligence unit?”

This means we could place an informant within the Counterintelligence Corps.

When intelligence agencies siphon from military or counterintelligence units, they typically turn to their alumni first. The identities of intelligence agents are protected, but field commanders are exposed. No matter how well hidden they may be, close friends know who has gone to the intelligence unit and who is serving in counterintelligence.

But that’s not the crux of the matter.

“As the Duke’s disciple, gaining access to the palace is relatively easy. While approaching the Emperor would be impossible for now, how about the other royals? They would certainly approach on their own without even needing to visit.”

Contact with the royals. This is the real key point.

Duke Alexandra Petrovna is the Emperor’s aunt, making her the grand aunt (Great-Aunt) to the royals. A more familiar expression would be Grand-Aunt.

According to Francesca, when the Emperor’s children were young, they regarded her as one of their own. Thus, there’s a route open to approach through the closeness with the Duke.

“Chief, please consider this one more time.”

“…….”

Leoni fell into deep reflection, her serious eyes fixed on the scenery outside the window. Though her expression remained hidden, her complex thoughts could easily be inferred from her silhouette.

The Chief spoke.

“If, by any chance, the tails are caught and the Hero or you are arrested, the organization will not be able to assist at all. While we’ll try to ensure your release from prison, everything that transpires afterward will be your sole burden.”

“…….”

“Will you still go through with it?”

The intelligence officer asks. To which the intelligence officer replied.

“What’s new about that? Hasn’t it always been like that?”

Hearing that answer, Leoni chuckled softly.

She walked back to her seat, returned to the desk, and said,

“Just go and do your work.”

The Chief said,

“I’ll handle the persuasion with both houses and the committee.”

—

Two weeks later.

A dispatch arrived at the Military Intelligence Agency’s overseas division office.

The brief message from the Mauritania Continent stated that operations supporting the warlords have been successfully concluded.

This occurred roughly one month into the operation.