A Dark Fantasy Spy

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A little earlier.

Frederick’s gaze fell upon three daughters while he was wandering around Timarshak Park.

“…White people?”

One was an older woman who seemed to be their mother, and there were two girls assumed to be her children.

The girls looked so young they might barely fit into the academy’s middle school.

If there were any distinguishing features, they were in the age range between elementary and middle school, and both girls had the distinctly pale skin characteristic of people from Ashtistan, setting them apart from the locals. Despite this, Frederick held no particular suspicions about the appearance of the white mother and daughters at Timarshak Park.

Although the Republic of Ashtistan had a slightly closed-off atmosphere, it was undeniably a country that engaged with the outside world.

Shizuya was a tourist hotspot that attracted immense numbers of visitors, also serving as a hub for foreign embassies, branches of private enterprises, and media correspondents, all coexisting.

Thus, encountering white people in such a location was hardly strange.

Yet, for some odd reason, he found himself continuously drawn to them.

“……”

The woman gripped the hands of her two daughters tightly as she kept scanning the surroundings. She had been behaving that way for a while now.

She scanned the park with an anxious glint in her eyes. After observing her for about ten minutes, her vigilance showed no signs of easing.

While fixating on her, Frederick pondered as he shuffled a newspaper.

“…Hmm.”

A human’s first instinct when placed in a hostile environment.

To subconsciously look around for an escape route.

Episode 20 – Who threatened with a knife?

When receiving the notification of acceptance along with a new assignment.

The disciplinary officer he had encountered as a trainee at the intelligence agency always emphasized to be cautious about “behavior.”

“……”

Unconscious movements and gazes are basically mirrors reflecting human psychology.

In both comfortable and uncomfortable situations, human instincts are expressed through non-verbal communication, and sudden behavioral changes deviating from the norm act as measures for gauging emotional reactions.

Behavioral psychology is a subject taught not only to investigative agencies but also to intelligence agencies.

Simultaneously, the unofficial disguise information agents dispatched abroad would also delve deeply into this field.

Thus, Frederick kept a keen watch on the behavior of the three daughters.

“……”

The girls laughed and frolicked like joyful little troublemakers.

Their playful bouncing around while holding ice cream in one hand was classic behavior for their age, utterly normal to the point of being hard to find anything strange.

In contrast, the mature woman looked extremely uncomfortable.

It wasn’t about whether she was admonishing the running children or watching them with anxious eyes; any parent would naturally worry over their children getting hurt and fret about it.

What was truly odd was how excessively protective the woman was of the two girls.

“Be careful! Don’t go too far!”

Raising her voice in clear Kien, the woman not only watched over the children but continuously gauged her surroundings.

She was vigilant towards the citizens passing near the trio and even pedestrians at a good distance away.

The woman kept glancing at the walking paths and alleyways nearby. From her attitude, Frederick instinctively sensed something was off.

That woman.

She is currently assessing the entire layout of the park.

“Hmm….”

Human tendencies and traits vary from person to person, but non-verbal behaviors revealing human emotions and instincts are somewhat universal.

To put it simply, “the body is honest.”

For example, the act of scanning the surroundings like that woman is a frequent response exhibited when one finds themselves in an unfamiliar or hostile environment.

In professional terms, this is known as the fight-or-flight response.

When exposed to strong external stimuli like fear, anxiety, or stress, humans seek solutions to overcome the situation. Just like deciding whether to “run away” or “fight” when facing a tiger.

In this process, the amygdala, a part of the limbic system, takes in external stimuli (information) and integrates them to produce emotions, becoming more activated the more immediate and intense the stimuli are.

It’s at this moment that impulsivity and aggressiveness tend to surge dramatically.

That’s why a usually calm person can suddenly show intense movements when crisis strikes.

In that context, the woman frantically darting her eyes around was highly suspicious.

It was difficult to dismiss her as merely “a married woman out taking a stroll with her children.”

“Camila? Can you come this way for a moment? A handler has appeared in a public place, and it seems suspicious… Am I saying it’s a terrorist? How the heck would I know? I just saw the person myself.”

Nevertheless, I was somewhat curious. What on earth is the identity of that woman?

Is she a Kien citizen? Or perhaps a mixed national from the Mauritania continent?

She might even be a terrorist, a member of a major criminal organization, or a spy.

Could the Priest of Al-Yabd have summoned me here because of that woman? If so, what is her connection with the Priest of Al-Yabd, and why did she drop hints about her presence here and now…?

Could I discover some important clues by continuing to surveil her?

Thus, I kept an appropriate distance to monitor the woman’s movements.

“Mom! Look at this!”

While I casually circled the three daughters, suddenly, my steps halted.

The familiar language that burst forth from the girls’ mouths clearly and distinctly echoed in my ears. It was a foreign tongue, not Ashtistani, yet it needed no separate interpretation.

Nobody generally tries to interpret in their native language.

“…Crap.”

It was Abasan.

*

Those who have traveled abroad can relate, but hearing one’s native language in a foreign land is an incredibly refreshing experience.

Whether the distance is near or far, whether it’s someone familiar or unfamiliar.

Amid the clamor of foreign languages, the sudden emergence of one’s mother tongue pierces through any sense of distance or acquaintance.

In that sense, it was quite an astonishing moment for a spy enjoying traveling at the expense of the taxpayers’ money.

“Why the heck did you come to the Republic of Ashtistan?”

Had they been caught after sneaking out for a little fun on taxpayer expense? No way.

Was it perhaps out of joy to meet a fellow Abasan in a faraway land? Again, no.

So why did the Abas official stop an Abasan citizen he met on the streets of Ashtistan?

The reason was exceedingly simple.

The Republic of Ashtistan doesn’t issue visas to Abas nationals.

“Don’t tell me you weren’t aware of the travel ban? Otherwise, you would’ve been stopped at customs with your passport in hand.”

Both the Kingdom of Abas and the Republic of Ashtistan maintained an antagonistic relationship.

Unlike the Kien Empire, the two countries had no diplomatic ties and, naturally, had not stationed embassies in each other’s capitals. Moreover, both nations had prohibited each other’s citizens from entering, meaning they couldn’t even pass through immigration in a normal manner.

“How on earth did you get here?”

The questions came forth incredulously, but Frederick had an inkling. He suspected the three daughters had entered Shizuya through illegal means.

Of course, even if visa issuance were blocked, there could be “possibilities” of visas being issued for unavoidable reasons such as official visits, international competitions, economic cooperation, volunteering, or event invitations. (As a reference, Frederick fell into this category).

But the likelihood of the three daughters having entered the Republic of Ashtistan through those means was practically zero.

This was information Frederick had confirmed through Clevenz, who had connections with the Ministry of Justice’s immigration management network and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs’ computerized network. He had checked this fact repeatedly while sending his sister Adela back to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs after a long day at work.

“Don’t tell me you didn’t enter on a counterfeit passport?”

Frederick flashed a bright smile as he posed the question.

The question wasn’t truly a query.

“There have been reports of people sneaking into travel-banned countries claiming they were on charitable missions, causing headaches for foreign diplomatic officials.”

To be precise, it was Adela who had fallen into a bit of a bind.

“Just curious if you’re one of those folks on a mission.”

“……”

As Frederick muttered absentmindedly, he couldn’t help but grimace.

It wasn’t for any particular reason; it just reminded him of the past.

Back when he worked in the Middle East, there were many Protestant groups sneaking into war-torn nations for missions and pilgrimages, right?

Some had utilized visa-free agreements to escape notice, while others defied borders with the help of brokers.

He still vividly recalled the expression on the veteran who reviewed the cables forwarded from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, muttering about whether they were spies or missionaries… what if they were National Intelligence agents themselves…?

From the experiences backing him, it was easy to speculate that the three daughters had entered Shizuya through a smuggling broker or using forged passports.

Frederick rubbed the back of his neck in exhaustion.

“…My, oh my.”

“……”

“I’ll explain everything to the Ashtistani police, so for now, please come along. If you wait at the nearby embassy, some diplomats from other countries will come to pick you up soon.”

Frederick poured out his words listlessly as he began searching for a friendly nation’s embassy that could protect the three daughters in Shizuya.

Of course, he wasn’t just doing it out of kindness. Even though they were Abas citizens, he had no particular reason to help them whether they got trapped in an Ashtistani prison or not.

But what about the kids?

“Why on earth would you bring your children here? Seriously, tsk….”

The Ashtistani government would scream about “how can we just send back citizens that illegally entered our country!?” but Abas’ Ministry of Foreign Affairs had no choice.

A responsibility to protect their own citizens in foreign lands. If they remained silent with their two underage citizens held captive in a hostile land, there’d be an uproar from all citizens.

Naturally, the Ashtistani government was aware of it.

If they didn’t rescue their own citizens, the Abas government would face a horrendous backlash from its entire populace.

The likelihood that they would use the safety of the three daughters as leverage for negotiations was extremely high.

This could entail easing sanctions against Ashtistan or the potential release of an Abas intelligence agent detained by counterintelligence, or dragging the Abas Prime Minister or Minister of Foreign Affairs to the negotiation table for domestic propaganda purposes. Regardless, it would definitely be a complicated situation for the Abas government.

Frederick could almost hear Adela’s lamentations already. Should he bring back a gift when he returned?

“Let’s see… where is the nearest embassy?”

The Suit Man hummed as he searched for the shortest route leading to various embassies.

As he peered into his PDA, he noticed the tiny hands gripping tight, trembling slightly. His large hand held onto the small one even more firmly. His brown eyes left the screen and caught the movements of the daughters.

And in that very moment.

“Run!”

The woman spun around and quickly led the children to flee in the opposite direction.

*

Watching the suddenly fleeing three daughters from behind, Frederick let out a faint sigh.

He had figured they might try to escape for some time. He had intended to stall until Camila arrived, but it ultimately backfired.

He briefly lifted his head to stare up at the sun.

The sun, unable to be completely blocked out even by sunglasses, was scorching hot and blinding.

“Vacation’s turning out to be quite the spectacle.”

His hand, which had delved into his inner pocket, emerged back into the world. The slide that he had locked in a position moved forward, and the hammer aimed at the primer of the chambered round was cocked.

Once loaded, Frederick gripped the weapon with one hand and swiftly pulled the trigger twice.

– ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ !! ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ ̶ !!

The twin gunshots reverberated through the park.

“What the heck?!”

“Ahhh!”

The citizens, enjoying their tranquil lives, were plunged into chaos. Scores of onlookers around the fountain instinctively dropped to the ground, and upon firing the pistol again, people began to flee in all directions.

In a park that resembled pandemonium, the religious police, who frequented surprise inspections, shouted into their radios while rushing toward the fountain.

Frederick pulled the trigger again, seemingly indifferent to the police. In fact, it was as if he would be expecting this moment.

In the middle of the park, having unleashed gunfire, Frederick calmly raised his hand, which had initially been lowered, to conceal it with the jacket that he had already shed.

He then pointed towards the three daughters, who had fallen to the ground, shouting towards the police rushing toward the fountain.

“Kidnappers!”

“Hey, the woman with the gun is kidnapping the kids!”

The term ‘armed abduction’ made the moral police’s eyes widen dramatically.

In addition, the alleged kidnapper herself.

“Uh…?”

“Stop right there!”

The moral police, wielding nightsticks, dashed forward all at once, leading the three daughters—who had suddenly become victims of kidnapping—to scamper away in a fluster.

In the meantime.

Kicking aside abandoned clothes and bags, Frederick trampled over bullets lying on the ground, muttering in disbelief.

“This is absurd.”

It was the outlandish utterance of a terrorist (fact) engulfed in a veritable spree of gunfire that could make even a serial arsonist gasp in shock.