A Dark Fantasy Spy

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The commander seated in the middle finally spoke up.

“How about assigning him the mission to track the target?”

With his rank significantly higher than mine, I couldn’t bring myself to ask why he thought he could delegate that to me.

The Information Chief, who was sitting opposite, countered.

“Isn’t a tracking mission one of the more complex tasks after establishing an information network? Can we trust a Major with such responsibility? Surely there are more seasoned operatives at the Magic Tower.”

It was a suggestion to hand it off to a well-seasoned operative who had gained some experience. Fair enough. Even I knew I wasn’t cut out for such a complex and dangerous mission. I could handle bringing in a suspect, but a covert operation was another story.

Yet, the commander shook his head.

“All the operatives currently assigned to the Magic Tower are engaged in covert operations for the Grand Empire. We’ve allocated too many tasks to far fewer personnel than necessary. We’re overwhelmed.”

“There must be some operatives available if we look hard enough?”

“Loss of the information network within the Empire has doubled the workload for the covert operations team at the Magic Tower. They’re also handling operations that the regular operatives were originally meant to undertake.”

“Huh.”

In other words, they couldn’t find anyone due to a lack of manpower.

The commander beside him clicked his tongue lightly, pouting his lips.

“See, I told you we should have recruited more newbies.”

“How long would we have to wait for the newbies to become seasoned operatives? Five years? Ten years? At this point, it would be faster to raise a chick and then fry it for a meal.”

“Can’t we just draw personnel from other branches?”

“Impossible. The environments are so different that an adjustment period is necessary, and even if they adapt, it’s questionable whether they can perform effectively.”

For a while, a heated debate surged among the commanders.

“Too inexperienced for such a crucial task,” “There’s no one available to take the job,” “Then let’s pull excess personnel from other branches,” “The localization training takes too much time,” “Then let’s assign it to the Chief Information Officer,” “That won’t work either; they’re overstrained”—and so on.

A fierce argument broke out around the table, with numerous commanders sharing their opinions grounded in their vast knowledge and experience.

And amidst this chaos, Clevenz maintained a friendly smile, choosing not to interject. Just as the atmosphere in the meeting grew heated,

“Now, now, let’s settle down.”

The Director, with a voice much softer than before, intervened.

“I’ve listened to your points. This proposal seems to have many practical issues, so let’s discuss it more in-depth at the next working meeting.”

“Understood.”

“However, we can’t overlook the opinions of the parties involved. Colonel Frederick?”

Why are you suddenly turning to me?

Hiding my unease, I fidgeted as the Director chuckled at me.

“Can you give us a brief debriefing right now?”

You want me to present my results.

Episode 4 – Why Me?

After several hours, the meeting finally concluded, and I stepped outside the conference room.

Looking out the window, I noticed the once blue sky had turned a lovely pink. I had stepped in during lunchtime and emerged just in time for dinner.

“Thank you for your hard work.”

“Ah, well, you worked hard too. You did well presenting under time constraints.”

“Thanks….”

The commanders patted my shoulders as they passed.

Just now, I had concluded a debriefing initiated by the Director, essentially reporting the results after a ‘job’ well done.

Typically, debriefings happen right after operations conclude and reports are prepared; however, due to my week-long mission, I could only conduct it now.

In fact, I had done the debriefing long before—just a week ago, the moment I returned, I had presented to Clevenz.

I wasn’t sure if that was the correct procedure, but since I was thrust into the role of operative without proper direction, I was told to report to the previous commander I had been assigned to.

Nevertheless, the debriefing had gone reasonably well.

The attendees of today’s meeting, including the Director, were already familiar with the report, having circulated it repeatedly. So, I merely summarized and conducted a Q&A session instead. Of course, that Q&A wasn’t exactly a walk in the park.

“Why was the execution of your subordinate team’s tasks detected by the Inquisition early on?”

“I believe it was due to an approach made by the Imperial Guard’s Counter-Intelligence Chief at the Embassy of the Empire’s soirée. Does the operative believe the disguise was successful, or a failure?”

“Why didn’t you adjust the schedule despite receiving intel about a potential follow-up attack?”

“I noticed your logs show several communications with the Special Activities Department during the operation. Even though encrypted communication was used, given the intensive surveillance by other agencies, this was quite a risky move. What were you thinking?”

“If their identities had been compromised and they had been detained locally, did you devise any contingency plans for such emergencies? Please elaborate.”

The commanders pressed me with questions as if they were about to peel the flesh off my bones. Handling dozens of questions from various Colonels was torturous. Had spoken words had physical strength, I might have already been crushed and rolled on the floor of the meeting room.

But I wracked my brain and managed to answer the inquiries adequately, defending myself fairly well with reasonable responses.

Those observing, including the Director, issued me the customary praise that “With a little more experience, you’ll likely be a Section Chief one day,” and left with the directive to incorporate feedback from the meeting into my report.

“….”

Right.

I’ll be frank.

I was floored.

*

The Military Intelligence Agency adopts a task assignment system by operation.

In other words, all personnel in the Military Intelligence Agency are designated to execute a single operation.

Operatives handle one task, investigators manage one spy case, and information officers focus on one piece of data collection.

Of course, this isn’t always a neat equation that perfectly lines up like a mathematical formula. When operations escalate, reinforcements are brought in to handle multiple missions simultaneously. Typically, experienced personnel are the ones to juggle such tasks.

The issue was that I, of all people, had been thrown into that mix.

Yeah.

In plain terms, I was floored.

And upon reflection, I realized there had been only one instigator behind this whole series of events.

“What’s with your expression? Did someone give you a beating?”

Just then, the very person who had orchestrated this approached me.

“No, it’s nothing.”

“What do you mean nothing? You looked like you just took a direct hit in the meeting.”

In a park situated near the Intelligence Agency, after the meeting, I had followed Clevenz, who suggested we take a walk, looking for lodging for the night.

Though it was called a park, this place was essentially reserved exclusively for Military Intelligence Agency personnel. The Ministry of Finance and the local council had been vocal about opening it to citizens instead of monopolizing the expensive land, but with the powers of an information agency that sticks a classified label on almost everything, the Military Intelligence Agency brushed them aside with ease.

This space was less about resting momentarily amidst a busy schedule and more about providing a venue for agency personnel to exchange secretive conversations. So, when colleagues would say, “Let’s go to the park,” it didn’t mean a break but rather, “I have something to discuss; follow me.”

In a nutshell, Clevenz had something to discuss with me.

As expected, the leisurely pace of Clevenz, hands behind his back, led him to break the silence.

“How’d the meeting go? Did you manage fine?”

“Yes, it was alright.”

“Glad to hear that.”

He directed me down a winding path.

The gravel-covered road had its own ambiance, and the trees adorned with red leaves brought a pleasantly cool breeze.

Clevenz walked quietly along the path, while I followed behind at a leisurely pace.

“…….”

The sound of gravel crunching underfoot echoed in the silence until somewhere nearby, the gentle rush of a flowing stream began to resonate.

As I surveyed the area, a modest brook was trickling by. The water swirled over stones, creating enough noise to easily drown out whispers.

Clevenz slowed his pace and opened up as we approached the stream.

“I didn’t mean to pull you away from your vacation to just throw work at you, but I’m sorry about that.”

“I’m fine.”

He gave me a kindly smile as he readily offered an apology.

It wasn’t particularly wrong for a superior to issue orders to a subordinate. It isn’t the best thing to pull someone from their vacation, but that wasn’t my concern.

After all, I was a soldier, which made it entirely normal for Clevenz or the Director to assign tasks to me. Unless they were asking me to do something bizarre, giving out standard duties meant it was my turn to do the work—whining about it would be mutiny.

So, I brushed it off. Sure, the workload increased, but my vacation wasn’t totally cut off yet. In the first place, creating a plan didn’t take that much time.

However, there was one thing that gnawed at me that I couldn’t dismiss.

“Um, Colonel.”

“Hmm? What is it?”

“About what you mentioned earlier.”

The remark Clevenz made about my attending the meeting.

That had lingered on my mind.

“Why did you say that?”

“Was that really that important to you? It was just something that drifted casually from my lips.”

“Yes, well.”

Clevenz, while smiling amiably, sidestepped the question, but I was curious about the intention behind his words.

It wasn’t my top question, but at the moment, it was my most pressing curiosity. If I were to call it a professional habit, perhaps that would fit. Or maybe I had slight paranoia that led to this intrigue.

My peers in the military school often teased me about my odd way of thinking, but honestly, it saved my life more than once, so I couldn’t help it. Habits are hard to change.

After a brief silence, Clevenz appeared to be lost in thought as he continued along the path. He then began to speak intermittently.

“I doubt it’s something you’d want to hear, but… To put it simply, there were two reasons.”

Two reasons, huh.

I pondered for a moment, but nothing immediately came to mind, so I straightforwardly asked him for clarity.

“What are they?”

“The first was an opportunity to build connections, and the second was an opportunity to build achievements.”

“…Opportunities, you say?”

“Exactly. Opportunities.”

As we strolled along the path, Clevenz continued to explain.

“You may not have realized, but your standing within the Intelligence Agency isn’t as firm as you might think.”

“……”

Though he didn’t go into great detail, I could instinctively grasp what he meant. It wasn’t about intricate political standings but rather my position as an operative.

Clevenz’s tone remained steady as he articulated his thoughts.

“You probably had some inkling that your standing was somewhat tenuous.”

“…Yes, that is correct.”

It was a straightforward situation.

I was an operative belonging to the Military Intelligence Agency’s Overseas Operations Branch, but having taken on the role of Clevenz’s aide, I had withdrawn from operational duties.

Considering that operatives are usually highly competitive, selected through years of accumulated knowledge and experience, I realistically lacked the qualifications to be among them.

Even if I did possess some qualifications, I hadn’t completed the necessary retraining to formally qualify as an operative.

Of course, I wasn’t incompetent. Just that I lacked the documentation to objectively prove my skills here.

“When you were newly assigned as an operative, there had been suggestions to replace you due to the performance of the overseas teams. The reasons are well known to you.”

“It’s due to my lack of experience, right?”

“Correct.”

I understood that. To be honest, I thought it was a valid observation.

Every claim must be substantiated, and for a civil servant, that substance comes down to paperwork. Normally, we refer to that as the personnel capability chart. Education results, performance reviews, recommendations, physical fitness, experience, etc.—all metrics for evaluating a person reside on this chart, and it provides the only means of assessing someone objectively.

When they looked at mine, it must’ve been rather evident that my experience was lacking, leading them to deem me an unsuitable candidate.

There was no point in feeling hurt about it. After all, we were civil servants.

“But why didn’t you opt for the change?”

“The situation was ambiguous. If we decided to replace an operative, we’d need to create a solid identity for the new person, but we realistically had only a week to achieve that. You understand how massive the investment of time and resources into a disguise is, don’t you?”

“…I can see your point.”

“But once the mission commenced, it turned out alright.”

“…What do you mean by that?”

What on earth did he mean by that? Looking at Clevenz, he leaned his weathered eyes toward me and elaborated.

“You did quite well, you know?”

“…Ah.”

“What I mean is, during the chaos with the bomb going off, you and the others were running around gathering information while everyone else was in disarray, thinking that the mission would go down the drain.”

Thinking back, I had almost stopped sleeping following the bomb incident, solely focused on information gathering.

We took turns resting, and every morning I went to the Inquisition to read through every report I could access. During lunch, I swung by the wiretapping office to gauge foreign intelligence agency activities, and in the evenings, I consolidated reports drafted by Pippin and Jake and sent them to the Intelligence Agency.

For the month and a half that followed, I had stuck religiously to that schedule.

“And by that time, the operational analysts were saying you were performing well enough to not warrant a personnel change. Following that recommendation, the situation eased up a bit.”

The operational analysts assessing the missions had begun to view me favorably. Although I had never even met these people face to face.

Clevenz murmured in a steadied tone; it was his usual, flat cadence.

“And when you successfully assassinated Cardinal Raul and the operatives from the Imperial Guard. The evaluations flipped entirely. You know well if you’ve been abroad—how clandestine operations are riddled with dangers and challenges.”

That was true.

Covert operations carry risks akin to a gamble.

The rewards from success are significant, but if it fails, you face severed diplomatic relations, plummeting approval ratings, loss of policy momentum, and potential regime change.

Essentially, covert operations serve as one of the two “high-stakes bets” a nation takes on. The other one? Warfare. The aftermath of a successful operation is seldom devoid of repercussions, and the two endeavors are similar in that regard.

Without even looking far, plenty of similar examples abound. Take Malaysia, where North Korea assassinated Kim Jong-nam, facing international backlash and subsequently severing diplomatic ties with Malaysia, its ally. Or look at Israel, which nearly strained relations with the UK when it abducted scientists leaking nuclear technology—tempers flared so badly that, had it not been for U.S. mediation, it might have led to officially broken ties.

When posed with the question of whether to gamble their own political life on such endeavors, very few decision-makers are quick to say, “Yes.” That was especially true considering the mild tensions simmering in certain regions.

Still, the fact that covert operations are inherently risky bets holds true, whether here or on Earth.

And I had triumphed in this dangerous gamble.

Quite successfully, too.

“Although you had the help of an operational officer, since you were the leading chief responsible for the mission, and it went off without a hitch, the chatter of replacing you was entirely quashed.”

“…Is that so?”

Clevenz nodded in affirmation.

Before I knew it, we had arrived at the brook, encountering the rapidly flowing water together.

I had completed the most perilous operation. However, no one in the Intelligence Agency was foolish enough to become blinded by their successes.

“But that doesn’t mean everyone has fully trusted you. You should know that just from attending today’s meeting.”

“…Yes, I am aware.”

The Military Intelligence Agency recognized my abilities, but that merely grazed the surface. Even the success of a sensitive operation wasn’t sufficient to command absolute trust among the highest-ranking decision-makers. In other words, my standing was still shaky.

Yet, considering all that I had done, I felt my evaluations were overly harsh. Standing there, frustrated, I was snapped back to reality when Clevenz unexpectedly commented,

“Make those commanders in today’s meeting come to trust you.”

Win their hearts.

“Use any method you deem fit, just make sure they see your worth.”

“…….”

“And accumulate results. There can be those who envy a person doing well, but rarely does anyone outright despise a capable person. If you keep building those achievements, you’ll find your place eventually. That’s why I called you to the meeting today.”

In simpler terms, this was about becoming a person so indispensable that I couldn’t be easily replaced.

I stood by the brook, pondering Clevenz’s thoughtfulness regarding me, his insistence that I win over the eyes of the decision-makers in that meeting, and why he bothered to take me this far to relay his advice.

“…….”

“There are complexities surrounding this, but that should suffice. It’s not exactly something for you to concern yourself with. So, do you understand what I’m trying to say?”

I quickly realized that I didn’t need to deliberate over this.

“…Yes, I understand.”

*

Time swiftly elapses.

Every morning, I reviewed classified documents related to the Magic Tower, drafting operational plans. I defined objectives, devised suitable frameworks, and assembled a team.

Once the overall blueprint started taking shape, it resulted in a quite plausible operational outline. I worked through the night to send those documents off to the Intelligence Agency.

And that ominous dawn, I got word from the on-duty officer that the Director had granted approval, and when the soft light of dawn began to break, an agent from the Inquisition notified me that the Saint would soon arrive.

And thus, a new morning dawned.