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‘…Director, what is the reason you’re giving this to me?’

‘Is it your first time seeing cooperation between companies? You’ve experienced enough to know everything, so why are you questioning this?’

‘I’m not capable of being called seasoned by someone who’s been in overseas operations for a long time. The Royal Intelligence Department and the Military Intelligence Agency are always fighting over results. You know that, right?’

‘……’

‘What is it that you want, exactly?’

A moment of silence passed.

She, looking out the window, finally turned her head to look at the person.

The seasoned operative spoke to the young operative.

‘I have just one expectation from you.’

—

Episode 5 – Journalist, Diplomat, Soldier, Spy

Most people don’t realize that information agencies have secret facilities all over the world.

Safe houses, cover offices, communication interception sites, and so on. The names vary according to their purpose and operating methods, but they are all clearly operated for similar reasons. Supply only emerges when there is demand, right? It’s a natural law.

Among the numerous cover facilities, there are those operated for interrogation and questioning.

People referred to them as black sites.

Visitors include self-proclaimed revolutionaries, foreigners with multiple passports, locals cooperating with those foreigners, and sleazy industrial spies.

The staff serving are employees of the company operating the facility. Occasionally, employees from foreign companies visit.

Typically, regularly operating facilities are covered with a military base tarpaulin, while irregular ones may operate out of ships or commercial buildings. Most facilities known to the public fall into the former category.

Today, the place I visited was clearly the latter.

“Welcome.”

“Long time no see, Gordon. How have you been?”

“I’ve been well. Please come inside.”

Led by a counterintelligence department employee, I entered the interior of the cover facility.

The staff waiting to receive me was Captain Aaron Gordon, whom I had seen at the research institute last time.

Taking off his jacket, Captain Aaron Gordon, dressed only in a dress shirt, opened a thick iron door and began to speak.

“As you requested, all preparations for the interrogation are complete.”

“Is that so?”

Following Captain Aaron Gordon’s lead, I descended the concrete stairs. We were going underground.

The art center I used to visit frequently was a ground-level building, but this facility seemed to be underground.

We chatted as we descended the stairs.

“Is there anything wrong with the head of Room 51? I hit him a bit hard to knock him out.”

“I worry about that. I’ve prepared a potion, but…”

“What about it?”

“He might have sustained a brain injury. It doesn’t seem like a big issue, but it’s hard to address it right away. We don’t have much time.”

Fabio might have hit his head hard.

If he got clocked by a baseball bat and fell onto the pavement, there’s a good chance that could happen. Unless he’s a clueless magical idiot wrapped in magic power, there’s no way special training strengthens the brain.

Information agents are just people too. When they’re hungry, they eat, when they’re sleepy, they sleep, and when things suck, they curse. They all live like that.

“…Hmm.”

“Have there been any special instructions sent down from above?”

“It’s hardly been long since we started, so they’re not pressing yet, but the elders are quite worried. There are issues with the Empire… and with allies…”

“This is quite burdensome. I just want to wrap this up quickly.”

I nodded in agreement with the captain’s complaints.

“Have you conducted the interrogation yet?”

“You’ll be the first, Director.”

So they haven’t done it yet.

“Well then, let’s take our time. There’s no rush. I’m just here to chat, so everyone should take a break before we get into the investigation.”

“Yes.”

The captain ran ahead to the end of the hallway and opened the half-ajar iron door wide.

“We’ve arrived.”

—

The mission of Task Force 73 was to track down the higher-ups of the spy infiltrating the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute.

During that process, they kidnapped Fabio Verati’s youngest daughter, contacted an investigator from the National Security Agency posing as a journalist, and clashed with the Empire’s military intelligence agency, the Reconnaissance Command.

Blood was shed.

Two foreign military bodyguards protecting Fabio Verati’s youngest daughter. Five commandos from the Reconnaissance Command who raided the hotel. A total of seven.

To explain, one could list the deadly nature of leaked classified information, the need for retrieval, the violation of the Nastasia Pact, the safe return of employees, my own safety, and the unavoidable sacrifices for a successful mission, but I will be honest.

I killed seven people.

There’s no room for defense, nor do I want to make a flimsy excuse. Those who question the purpose and reasons for murder are only murderers or terrorists wanting to reduce their sentences. I just killed people; that’s all there is to it. What noble purpose could there be?

Anyway, I killed people.

The important part isn’t ‘why’ I killed them, but ‘where’ I killed them. And right now, I’m in the Magic Tower.

Why am I in the Magic Tower? I came to catch a spy. More precisely, a shaman spy infiltrating the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute.

If you ask who sent that spy, I honestly have nothing to say. I truly don’t know.

The spy who infiltrated the Advanced Military Magic Research Institute impersonated Giada Bianchi, using her identity information to pose as Giada Bianchi and infiltrate the institute. To clarify, it was before she entered the institute, not after.

Investigations revealed that the spy posing as Giada Bianchi turned out to be a shaman. She is currently undergoing interrogation at the Military Intelligence Agency’s facility. The real Giada Bianchi is missing.

In other words,

The answer to all questions boils down to ‘where did Giada Bianchi disappear to?’

The Military Intelligence Agency found that clue in the official documents related to the Magic Tower’s national scholarship program. Giada Bianchi, who graduated from university, left for the Magic Tower on a national scholarship and went missing there.

And then, while investigating security incidents related to unlicensed communications…

According to the information provided by the Royal Intelligence Department at the time.

There was only one person who formed the closest relationship with Giada Bianchi in the Magic Tower.

“It’s been a while, Mr. Fabio Verati.”

“…….”

Fabio Verati.

“Did you sleep well?”

“…Are you insane?”

He glared at me. His wrists were cuffed, and those cuffs were connected to a chain in the center of the metallic desk.

“What’s the matter?”

“Do you not understand what you just did?”

“Well, I’m not sure…?”

I approached the interrogation table with a bright smile.

“What I did isn’t what’s important. Why should the past matter so much? What’s important is what we will do in the future.”

“…….”

“Do you know who I am?”

No answer came back. I kept my smile as I placed a disguise bag on the interrogation table.

The bright lights illuminated the interrogation room, which contained nothing but an unlit magical tool and a stand.

In the interrogation room, there was neither an investigator nor an interrogator. Apart from the staff behind the magic mirror running the recorder, nobody was observing the situation.

I glanced at my wristwatch to estimate the time, then looked at Fabio Verati.

“Do you know what kind of place this is?”

“…….”

“Exercising the right to remain silent is pointless here. This isn’t an investigation agency, you know that too, right?”

Leaving him there, glowering silently, I opened the bag.

“Before we get to the main topic… I tend to ramble since I like to talk. Since you might be bored, why don’t you take a look at this?”

Thud.

A document fell in front of Fabio Verati.

There was a picture of him looking at least ten years younger.

“This is an old performance evaluation record.”

“…….”

“Overseas intelligence officer assigned to the Magic Tower. This is a recent record, and it’s an official disguise… Originally, you worked in the Mauritania area, but the lack of documents from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs suggests that you were unofficially disguised at that time.”

“…….”

“But are you going to keep silent? Because if I keep talking to myself, I might just lose my mind.”

“…….”

“Well, if you don’t want to play with me, you can just listen.”

I spread out the National Security Agency personnel records for easy reading.

Then I took off my jacket and hung it on the chair, rolling up the sleeves of my white shirt.

As I finished rolling up my sleeves, I made eye contact with Fabio Verati.

“Don’t give me those eyes; I’m not going to torture you. It hurts my feelings.”

“…….”

Fabio Verati didn’t respond. I locked eyes with him and peered into his inner self.

With the lights turned off and no lighting on our faces, we could stare into each other’s eyes.

His pupils weren’t trembling. They were perfectly fine.

It didn’t seem he was feeling anxious.

In the bright interrogation room, just the two of us, I began to pace in front of the desk and spoke.

“Considering it’s the National Security Agency, you should have received some training at the very least, right? Survival, psychological warfare, resistance to torture, principles of interrogation response, and so on.”

“…….”

“Which intelligence agency doesn’t have such training? But anyway, I’m part of the Military Intelligence Agency. A Defense Attaché in name but actually affiliated with an intelligence unit, you know that much, right? Since you were an information officer.”

“…….”

“But.”

I shoved my hands into my pockets and looked at Fabio Verati.

“You know well that if an information agent gets caught, torture is almost inevitable, right? Why would they do that to someone trained like you? They know you won’t easily spill the beans, even if tortured.”

“…….”

The answer is simple.

Because they can’t endure it.

“Resisting torture isn’t as easy as it sounds. Both the torturer and the one being tortured understand that.”

“…….”

“So usually, the one doing the torturing has a specific goal. They’ll say to spill everything you know, but what they really want is only the information they need. Who did you meet? What did you do that day? Who’s the target? Who’s above you?”

“…….”

“As you stammer through it, the outlines begin to form, like a sketch. In a way, this is a guided interrogation….”

“…….”

“Honestly, I dislike that method. It takes too long.”

I flashed a bright smile.

In terms of lacking emotion, that was the inner self I wanted to show Fabio Verati.

“Some people can inflate a 500ml bottle in ten minutes for their first experience, but I can’t do that anymore. I won’t do it. Why bother with that tedious work? It’s bad for mental health.”

“…….”

“I’ve gone off on a tangent, but anyway, what I want to say to our intelligence officer is let’s not waste energy unnecessarily and approach things smoothly. Smoothly.”

I sat across from Fabio Verati, still smiling, and my eyes gently curled.

“If you cooperate sincerely, I’ll make sure to treat you well and let you go. I promise.”

I took out an intelligence document from the wide-open bag and kindly placed it in front of him.

Then I rested my clasped hands on my knees.

“Now, what shall we do first?”

“…….”

“Let’s start with the research institute.”

 

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